Why we clean

I have been gone/subbing/busy for the last week.  Thursday was my only day off.  I made a list, turned on my timer, and got it all done!  I was so pleased when it was all done, and felt like we all feel when we've done a good job.  Why is this important?  I always think "...it will be clean if someone just stops by."  How often does that really happen? And, I don't know about you, but people only "just stop by" when my house is a mess, anyway!  What's up with that??  Anyway, I am working on not worrying about that.  I'm worrying about how I feel.  After all, isn't it all about me?????  Being in my home makes me endlessly happy.  Being in my home when it's nice and clean, well, that makes me feel just short of heaven.  Where did I ever get the idea that I was working for people who stop by?  The only people who 'just stop by' are my friends, and their houses are semi-messy, too.  So, I need to learn to relax about my house-cleaning.  It's done for me, and if it's not done perfectly or always, that's ok.  It's still home.

Crafty Fall

Reading my blog, one may have noticed I just might be a bit ADD...Oh look, a butterfly! I have finally brought everything together and am going to show you what I've been working on to do some cheap fall decorating.  I'm really proud of myself, and find that I'm starting to get back into crafting...Danger...All it took was 20 years and the kids out of the house!

First of all, I found this great idea over at Sassy Style.  Lo and behold, I had a small vintage red wagon that was sitting on my hearth.  I had planned on doing something cool with it, but it just sat there.  Also, my ds tried to ride it like a scooter and broke one of the wheels (really?  a 260 pound lineman could do that??)  Since my living room has red in it, I thought this idea would work great.



The top picture shows the little wagon in it's original state (cobwebs??   must be just a fuzzy picture...)  I started by removing the wheels and such.  The front nut and bolt were so rusted together, dear hubs ground that part off (can you see the sparks?)  He just rolls his eyes when I start these things, but fortunately he goes with the flow!  The last picture shows what it looked like after everything was taken off.  I decided not to paint or anything, just scrubbed it really well.



Here it is, the new tray on my coffee table.  I didn't add the handles.  The pumpkin is a Dollar General find, and I just love it!

I went to a thrift store and a fabric store with a friend yesterday, so here is the next project.  Pumpkins made from toilet paper rolls covered in fabric.  So easy, even I can do it (directions - google "toilet paper pumpkins").  These took about 2 minutes each, and I think they are so cute!

How cute are these?  I made a couple for friends as well.  I also found some dead branches in my wooded yard, and used those as the pumpkin 'stem.'

I finished up what I wanted to do with my little table in my dining area:

The little runner was some fabric I found that I really liked.  I bought 1 1/2 yards, ripped cut it in half lengthwise, folded it, then tied it with some cute ribbon on both sides.  Voila!  The candle was 25 cents at the thrift store, and there is one of my new little pumpkins!  I am so excited (easily amused...obviously :))

So, that kind of wraps up the current house reformation and crafting.  Stay tuned for more!

 

Redneck fire pit

So I got a bunch of cool projects done this weekend and I was going to blog about them, but then something else happened tonight that I knew I had to write about instead!  My dh is one of those people who like to keep stuff "cuz I'll use it somehow again," and he actually does.  He can build and fix most anything.  I'm lucky, I know.

We were sitting out on our pergola (that he built about 3 years ago,) and the temperature was dropping.  We have talked about getting a fire pit, but the pergola has a roof structure over it, and we were afraid of the fire getting too high.  He was talking about getting a new grill, and as he walked off, I thought 'he could take that old weber grill and make a fire pit out of it!'  Lo and behold, he came out of the woods with the old, old Weber, and an idea was born.  



Enter, the redneck frugal fire pit!!

That's right, folks.  The bottom of an old Weber grill set inside a large truck tire rim.  Hubs is loading it up ;)  Yes, it's still daylight out, but the temp was dropping.





Yea fall!!!  Yummy warmth :)



This is a shot from the deck looking over the porch (ribs smoking on the grill. yum yum) ~ and the bucket was the first try at the base of the fire pit, but hubs decided that would be too tall.  Past the deck is the pergola, where we live in the warm months - redneck grill ready to go.

So that is my post of the day.  We are both challenging ourselves to 'do with what we have,' and hubs came through on this one :)  I take back anything bad I might have said about him over the last 21 years...

I'm crafting! Film at 11 :)

Let me repeat what I've said before.  I am not crafty, artsy, etc.  However, with my HGTV and decorating blog addictions, I think I'm becoming a fairly decent decorator.  Slowly but surely, and done on a tight budget (I'm challenging myself in that area, but it's been fun!)

I know I said I was going to put up more of my fall decorating pics, but I thought I'd wait until I'd finished up with that.  Plus, I did something spontaneous today and I wanted to share.  About a month ago, I bought a 9 x 12 artist canvas on sale for $1.00.  I'd seen a lot of ideas using those, and I had originally planned on covering it with some cool fabric.  However, something came over me today and I decided **Paint it** instead!  I didn't think it through (typical...), I just went for it.  Here it is.  Don't judge...

Paint left-over from many projects.  Trust me, there's more in another room.  On my list of things to clean/organize this winter.

The dollar canvas





Painter's tape put on haphazardly.  No, I didn't measure anything.  Again, just did it without thinking.  It may come back to bite me, we'll see.

The area when done.







Ok, so this is what it ended up looking like.  They are all shades of green, although they look like shades of  brown!  All are greens with brown tint, I suppose.  The dark is from my son's room - hunting theme, so it is like a dark green camoflage.  The other colors come from the dining area/back hall, the laundry/mud room, and the kitchen.  I'm not sure where it's going, but I guess it will fit in any of those places (except ds's room, as it's getting painted to be a guest room someday soon.)  I'm going to put a on second coat tonight, then I'll take off the tape and then re-tape and finish it tomorrow or Thursday.  Of course I'll post my results.  Unless they're really crappy :)





This is a window I bought a couple weeks ago for $2 at a flea market.  I painted it the green from ds's room and am planning on hanging it in my re-done upstairs bathroom.  It doesn't have a window, so this is the next best thing???  Maybe I'll put the picture with it...
When I brought it home I sat it by the car while unpacking the day's goods, and the door closed accidentally and broke out a pane of glass.  Now I have to get a new pane and some window putty.  Getting kind of expensive for a cheap window!!

Fall decorating for FREE!

Ok, this blog is all about my fall decorating, but I had to put up a couple of garden pics while I was at it.  Today was a day that had "fall" written all over it.  Cool, crisp, and sunny.  My garden is not looking as good as it was earlier this summer, but I'm enjoying what I have left.

After reading fall blogs all day yesterday, I was fired up to do some decorating.  I have a few (very few) fall decorations.  Some were given to me as gifts from students over the years, a couple things I bought at the dollar store, and I bought 3 boxes of "fall do-dads" from Yankee Candle a couple of years ago for a total of about $5.  The pumpkins came from my garden (the only ones that were salvaged after the squash bugs began attacking...)  There are also a few other things from the garden.  I know I need a little extra here and there.  I have a $5 off coupon from Dollar General for this Friday, and since I have to sub in the town where they have a DG, I'm going to pick up a couple more CHEAP things to add.  Remember, I'm not a designer, and I don't play one on TV.  It's not beautiful, but it was free :)

Dining area:

Before:

Yes, that's a cat on the table.  They think that's their private spa when the sun is shining in the window.  My tablecloths are usually hair-covered.  Fortunately, dh and I usually eat at the bar... Is that too much info?

After:

That's right, more cats on the table...

Kitchen window, before (sorry, sun was shining through, so these pics didn't come out so  clear.)



After.  I just added this 1950's vase and put in some oat grass and blackberry lily branches from the garden.  They look good during the winter months. I've never put anything red in my kitchen.  Oops!  I guess the dishtowel is red lol!  The walls are green, btw.





 That's all for tonight, I'll post the living room tomorrow ~ computer is acting up.  I would love to see how others are decorating on the cheap :)

Have a great Tuesday!



Inspiration

So I have done a lot more subbing lately than I had inticipated, but when I haven't been subbing, I've been cleaning, cleaning, organizing like crazy, and throwing out everything that doesn't belong!  Ok, not everything, but I've really put a dent in things.  I am in a groove!!  I've never been a "keeper," per se, but I figure you can always go through and get rid of stuff.  It is so freeing!

Anyway...We spent the weekend with the fam at ds's college for "family weekend," then we got back in time to watch our beloved KC CHIEFS go to 3-0 on the season by beating the 49ers!!!  So exciting to see them playing better.  The last few years have been so depressing (I may not have mentioned that I love football??)  After the game, I sat down at the computer (biiiiiig mistake...)  After reading my emails, I started looking at blogs.  I had one of those days where I probably looked at over 100 blogs.  I think I could read them all day!  I get so inspired.  I was going to work on cleaning tomorrow, but after all this reading, I'm ready to start doing some fall decorating.  I've never been much for doing much decorating for the seasons (except Christmas,) so I don't have much to work with.  Ahhh....I love a challenge.  Tomorrow I'm going to take some before and after pics so I can post them.  I'm going to try this with spending no money :)  I have been "shopping at my own house" lately, and I'm going to see what I can come up with.  We'll see what happens.  I will have pics up tomorrow :)  With temps that went from 90 last Monday to 50 as I write this...Fall is here.

The definition of clean...

clean    verb –adjective
1.free from dirt; unsoiled; unstained: She bathed and put on a clean dress.
2.free from foreign or extraneous matter: clean sand.
3.free from pollution; unadulterated; pure: clean air; clean water.
4.habitually free of dirt: Cats are considered clean animals.
5.characterized by a fresh, wholesome quality: the clean smell of pine.
9.not ornate; gracefully spare; forceful and simple; trim; streamlined: a clean literary style; the clean lines of a ship.

I can't believe how long it's been since I've blogged.  It has been a very busy week.  I subbed a couple of days and spent the rest of the week cleaning the house.  For the first time in 20 years, I haven't had a kid in the house to follow me around and mess up what I've cleaned.

As I walked around smiling and satisfied on Friday afternoon, I wondered, just what is the definition of clean?  It has got to be different for everyone.  When my kids were toddlers, my definition of clean was when there were less than 10 toys strewn around the floor and no more than 3-4 sippy cups out on the surfaces.  As they got older, clean meant their dirty clothes were not thrown around where everyone could see them, and there were only a few pairs of shoes littering the downstairs (instead of in the laundry room where they passed through and then took them off mid-stride through the kitchen / dining room / living room...)

My house looked lovely, warm, and homey to me.  Everything was picked up.  The vacuum and swiffer had done their jobs.  The bathrooms were clean (shower, tub and all!!), as was the kitchen and all its counters.  The laundry was done and put away, and the laundry room was clean.  Lots of extra "deep cleaning" had been done.  I even painted the back doors.  To me it was paradise. 

Here's the kicker.  Most of my house was not dusted.  The closets are less than cleaned and organized.  My pantry could use a good cleaning out.  Most of my baseboards need a good scrubbing.  There are hundreds of areas around my house that need deep cleaning.  But you know what?  To me, my house was still wonderfully clean.  It was GOOD ENOUGH!  I would have been proud if someone would have dropped by (of course, no-one did...they'll wait til it's a mess!)  If I were a "type A" personality, would I have seen my house as nice and clean, or would I focus on all the things that "are left to do to make it perfect?"  All I can say is, thank God I'm not "type A."

**You'll notice I used the past tense...My ds came home from college late Friday night, and my beautifully clean house quickly became no more!!  That's ok - it's great to see him, and I can pick it up after he leaves tomorrow.

Remember - clean enough is clean enough.  I don't think you can ever get every spot completely cleaned at the same time.  Who would want to spend their time worrying about that, anyway?  You'd never enjoy your home.  What a waste that would be.