Decorating for Easter

It's taken me longer than usual but  I finally took 45 minutes this morning and switched out the fall / winter decorations in the house and replaced them with some springtime flowers and my homemade Resurrection eggs.  Take a few minutes to add some color and lighten up the inside of your home if you haven't already done so.  You (and your family) will love it!

Spring Easter Decorations Resurrection Eggs

Spring Easter Decorations

Harbinger of spring

The leaves are still falling in our yard but while taking a walk today I saw these white azaleas starting to bloom in my neighbor's yard. I checked my own few red ruffle azaleas and they had a few blossoms, too!



What harbinger of spring do you look forward to this time of year?

Spring Events : First Watermelon of the Season

There is something about slicing into that first watermelon of the season that marks the change of seasons.   We had our first taste last Saturday.  Here in  Florida spring started early (earlier than last year)  and a mild summer is already upon us, hence an early watermelon harvest...

No matter.  Still yummy and colorful for spring/summer.  A little "red lipstick" for any plate.  :)  Pick up one at your local farmer's market and enjoy!

Monday / First day of Spring Break! Cleaning House / Flowers / Ebay

From my windowsill:

Today is the first day of Spring break for my younger son and myself (10th grade homeschool).  First of all, we slept in which was good for catching up on rest but I missed seeing the space shuttle launch.  I must have really been tired because I didn't even feel the house shaking when it went up as other people have told me it did.  The night /early morning launches are the neatest ones to see with the light shining on the clouds. I  really am sorry I missed it.

After a 30-minute morning walk  (today was the first time in 3 weeks!), I paused to check on the flowers I planted last week.  It was nice and cool out so I hung around in the front yard for a little bit touching up here and there.  Here are a few of the flowers by our front door. This beautiful weather is really making them grow already!

Then I did a little bit of house cleaning and the usual laundry.  Then on to bigger projects.  


EBAY
I've been working for an hour or so already on my Ebay store. I went to a thrift store near us on Saturday morning and bought a few things to sell, plus weeding through a closet or two here at home.  Here is my mess on the dining room floor.  It's easiest to spread everything out there.  I just edited the photos and remembered my blog so I'm taking a break for a few minutes to type.

SPRING CLEANING
After lunch with my son who is also enjoying his spring break, I cleaned out the linen closet and put the final bits of fall flowers in the house in storage bins. I replaced the front door arrangement with a spring-ier one which is nice and cheerful.

That's about all for now.  Gotta get back to work!

Spring Cleaning / De-Clutter One Drawer at a Time

In March I did a series on Contentment.  My thought for the day for April will come from  a display I keep on my kitchen windowsill.  Here is today's:

Spring Cleaning...for some that phrase strikes terror and anxiety; for others, it's like a new lease on life to start cleaning out, throwing away, and starting fresh.  Far beyond putting away Christmas decorations and the tree, it's a deeper, more thorough aspect of getting your home and office tidier.  For me, I look at some decluttered spaces and it's like I can breathe more easily.  Desktops and wood appear where before, there was just stuff.   

I usually begin with the two desks I use most often. The tall one is in our bedroom; the shorter one (rolltop) is in our dining room.   I should have taken BEFORE photos of these because you could barely see the wood in both of these.

Then I moved over to my Ebay shipping center which is in a corner of the dining room hidden behind this screen.  Before I started, you could see a lot of stuff sticking up above the screen.  

Now it really is hidden and all the supplies are neatly organized in this red sectioned box which I got for free at Sam's Club.

My cardinal rule:  ALWAYS make the bed when you first get out of it. This is our spring/summer bedspread.  We have another for the fall and winter.  A cheerful bedspread makes a big difference in your bedroom.  I love the red in this one.  [On clearance at Bed, Bath & Beyond last year, plus I had a 20% coupon!]

Yesterday I started on my dresser. This one drawer full of nightclothes was organized while talking on the telephone for about 10 minutes.  Big projects are best done piecemeal. First, I emptied the drawer onto my bed.  This is pretty much how it all looked in the drawer.  :(

Then I spread everything out on the bed and sorted it all in "outfits" or by color.    If you try to do this while it's still in the drawer, it's a mess and you really do a thorough job.   This way you can easily see what you have, what you might need and what you want to discard, donate, throw away or put elsewhere.  There were two tank tops in there that I wear only in the winter, so they were put in the winter clothing drawer.  Everything was in great shape, clean, with no repairs needed.  I had about six completely different sleep outfits and most things can be mixed and matched with each other.   

Then everything was put back into the drawer where it belongs.

One step at a time, little by little, the house will be done.  I'll be working on this project throughout April.  Have a great day.