Craving the Crazy

It's been a long time since I posted anything about our home.  In the beginning that was my main subject on the blog and honestly, with all the beautiful stuff (mainly Instagram accounts!) out there these days, it is sometimes intimidating.  But then I remember why I love to blog, and tracking my progress makes me happy. Not to mention that it is fun to look back at the way our home has changed over the years.  It's kind of hard to do that if I don't take the time to document it every now and then.

Honestly, these last few years have been focused on running and beautifying our shops, and our home has kind of been placed on the back burner. There really hasn't been much to report. I mean, I am doing good if the laundry isn't piled up and the dinner dishes are done these days.

The bare minimum may have been happening, but lots of things were and still are out of hand.  You know those people that prepare for babies and toddlers in their homes before they are born even?  Well, that was not me by any means.  On top of that, Lily was a digger.  And not your average digger, but a Sonic the Hedgehog digger.  Are you familiar with those cabinet locks you put on drawers?  Galzilla ripped right through those like they were never installed.  This resulted in a panicked mom stashing things in all kinds of places.  I had tubs of toiletries on top shelves in my closet until just a few weeks ago.  Expired medications, baby ointments, and tanning oil from my college days (why did I even keep that stuff!)...that leaked over all of the above!  Our household was out of hand.

And I kept just letting it go and go.  Instead of getting to the point to where I had time to take care of these things, I kept adding items to my to-do list.  Sometimes I think I crave crazy!  After writing for Waco Mom's Blog for about a year, I've taken a break from that.  I do miss it but am also relieved to not have another deadline each month.  The school where Lily attends and I sometimes substitute has not been calling as often so that has also helped me get some control over the crazy, though I do still plan to fit subbing in occasionally.  Feel free to read more about why here.

Do any of you do that too?  You get one thing under control and add something else to ensure things are always out of hand?  I am working on not biting off more than is fun to chew.

Anyways, back to my finally making some head way around our home...

To start, can I make fun of myself a little?  We were having dinner at our house with friends a few weeks ago and when I came back from checking on the kids everyone was laughing.  Two of these things in the pic below do not belong:

Do you see them?

During one of my toddler proofing frenzies, I moved my china up to my open shelving in the kitchen which housed our dinner dishes along with farmhouse, primitive decor: cutting boards, canning funnels, and the canned peas and beans, which ended up in this (hard to reach) wine scene.

Our friend asked Jason, why we had old beans and peas among our decor? And we joked the rest of the night that I would soon invite them over for black-eyed peas and green beans.

It wasn't long before the dusty, canned beans were left for a gift by Jason's bedside and they just sat there for yet a few more weeks.  

I did finally got a spark under my fanny to clean, organize and refresh a few of the spots in our home. And it feels good!

 I decided to simplify  this area and eliminate some of the dusting.  Plus when Jason gets around to building a hutch and table for this area, I will have less to move...never hurts to drop another hint about this project on our to-do list.  Hi Jason!

Since Lily's crazy digging days are over, I was able to move my china back to the lower part of the hutch and spruce the open shelving in the kitchen.

 We use the dishes on the bottom shelf on a daily basis.  The top two shelves rarely get used, but with the simple decor in the kitchen, I love having the option for some added interest.

 Love these little jars of seeds from my Granny.  Though they are planted now, I did keep the jars with my sweet Granny's handwriting and if I remember will use them this fall to keep seeds for next spring.

Collections of great pieces make the best statements.

Don't you think?

And since I only have room for so many collections, having our shops is such a great way for us to share our surplus collections with you guys.

 Another part of the house that was out of control was our mudroom area.  Jason mentioned that we haven't used these lockers/bench for the intended purpose since day one.  I moved my decorative fan and cleaned out all the old, forgotten bags of random junk that was crammed in the lockers.

Baby bags packed with random baggies of Skittles, animal crackers, dried bananas along with clothes that might fit the baby dolls we bring along these days, but definitely not my Lily.  

 I relocated the shoe tray to our back porch to corral shoes there. The bench is actually a box with a hinged lid so offers storage for additional shoes.  

I think I've noticed Jason sitting on the bench to put on his shoes a couple times. I most oftentimes put mine on in the closet.

 The only purchase I really made for this little sprucing spree where these new, flannel sheets.  When Jason's foot ripped through our old ones, I knew it was time to upgrade!

I love the feminine print and the coziness.

That wraps up the little projects I've completed so far.  Nothing major but they have each made a huge difference in my mood.

We are far from having everything perfecto. 

We are on the hunt for a new dresser to replace this one.

It has always been loud and creaky but now that the drawer front has fallen off, maybe we will quicken our hunt.

Apparently this one is an odd size as all the ones we browsed at a local furniture, consignment showroom were not the correct size!

Keeping my fingers crossed that we find one soon.

Though I am saving time putting the underwear away...

Until then, I have plenty of other spring cleaning to tackle both in and outdoors!

I can do it!