Feeling Boxed in by our Blog...

I'm sorry to interrupt the flow of our Handmade Holiday Week!  I have a few things though I need to get off my chest, and need to get done, (see image above of one very messy homeschool room that needs organizing)!!!

When Shanti and I started this blog, we weren't sure where it was going to go...that's the beauty of blogs I think, they just ever evolve and change as need be.  We liked doing our "theme" weeks...they worked well for us to give us a focus, and at times it was fun!  Other times though the themes acted like a noose around our necks...forcing us to do crafts that our heart wasn't always into!

I was thinking that this week would be fun...however, then the heat wave came, and the zucchinis won't stop, the crops need canning, the homeschool room needs my attention, oh yeah, and I have a couple of kids who occasionally need me to focus solely on them!  I realized that I just don't want to be boxed in by our blog anymore...I want to write about the things that I'm doing every day...sure we do loads of neat crafts in between it all, but today...this is what I was trying to do...

This is the other side of my homeschool room...I'm starting here and working my way over to the other side...it was much much worse when I started.  I want to make this a space where Ruby will want to work!

Last year I bought her a "school" table, (it's a fold up card table). The table allowed me to go over and get Ruby started on whatever we'd be working on, and then I'd go back to the breakfast table and deal with the mess.   This worked really well for our family, and Ruby LOVED having her own little space to do her work.   My plan is to start our "school" year on Sept 7th, so the clock is ticking!

I find that September for me is like Spring. It's a chance to re-evaluate what's important.  Also a great time to declutter, purge, and create the space in your home where you will want to spend the colder months that are going to be coming soon!

This is our "living room" space...our downstairs is all open concept, so with the 2 pictures plus this one, you've pretty much seen my entire downstairs!  Yes, we live in a small house, it's how we are able to afford a home at all...but I love it!  This picture is dark, but one of the things I am constantly dealing with in a small house is storage.  I tend to be a bit of a busy body, and I'm constantly pulling out things...felt, thread, cds, papers, and I'm not so good at putting them back!  By the time I'm done with this clean up, I'm hoping that I can have every surface clutter free!  I promise that I will post after pictures of all of these spaces!

And in between it all, I preserve stuff for winter!  This is a pot of "fruit ketchup to be".  Every day there is something new on the stove getting canned.  I don't talk about it much, but I'm big into preserving...I take great pride in pulling out jars from the pantry all winter long.  This is actually one of the first years where almost nothing in the garden has gone to waste...I've canned or frozen nearly everything...and we're seed saving too!  woohoo!

So...here's to the start of September, to breaking out of the box! 

We hope you'll stick around with us.

xo maureen