Clothing the constant shuffling

I've never been good at organization. My clothes especially. I've always had boxes of out of season or sentimental items. Yesterday I unpacked the last, I hope, box of my clothing. In an effort to eliminate the 'storage' box, I hung, tossed or chopped the stuff. Sentimental t-shirt got chopped up for rags and the picture part was carefully cut for a future quilt top.
Now if doing all my clothes wasn't bad enough I have two kids and a husband. Kids have been easy as I started a 'no keep or save for future kid's rule from birth. I also politely decline most hand-me-downs from family and friends. I just can't deal with sorting or storage. I saved adult size shoe box of A baby clothes and V does have a big tote from my mother of my old dresses. So my rule isn't hard or fast. It is frustrating to feel constantly dealing with everyone clothing. Not to mention towels, sheets and blankets (which I honestly admit we have large numbers)

Anyway I switched dressers with husband and kids. Unfortunately the old kids dresser never lived up to it's usefulness. Leaving a sad husband without. The new closet works great for shirts and pants, but socks and unders need a home., Not to forget our wool base layers we love in the winter.

So far a solution hasn't presented itself. Semi permeant Ikea bags of clothes still decorate the closet. More in number and more sturdy hangers are still needed to get the winter gear (heavy coats, bibs, coveralls and snow pants) out of totes.  Money is tight and I will just have to use what we got. Typically I can come up with something. Maybe the kids dresser will get used after all. Who knows. Back to shuffling!

Closet nearly done!

The closet laundry room is finally functional. I installed the closet rods last week and am in the process of moving our clothes back in. We'll be leaving one high up closet rod in the storage room for winter coats and other less used gear. We are thinking about replacing the wide chunky trim thought out the house. So I didn't put it back into the closet laundry room.
Here is the sneak peek picture. Eventually I'll get a pretty all organized picture but not today.

Closet remodeling - photo dump!

Summer sure is moving quickly. We spent a very busy weekend working on the closet. We tore out lath and plaster. Found unique wood shavings as insulation. Added plumbing. Put up sheetrock. Installed a new bathroom light fan combination. Took measurements for a potential new front entrance way that would add a much needed coat closet and draft free front door. Whew that's a lot to do. I didn't include the three parts runs and much needed pizza break.

My internet access is limited. So I'm going to dump these photos of our makeover with little explanation. Pictures are worth a thousand words, right? The room isn't 100% but close and functional.

Empty without shelves. Can't find a true before we emptied the room.

Before- only removed linoeum

Messy plaster mess

Bathroom shared wall. White box is the mirror cupboard in the bathroom

Discovered that the outside north wall is insulated with wood shavings. Wow!

Packed in tight! Stayed in place after removing the lath

Sub floor and plaster removed

Dirty dusty job, removed rotting floor boards. Installed new thick plywood sub floor

My very handy Father-in-law, saved the weekend with his skills

Plumbing in the crawl space, not fun.

New studs

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Drywall, blue for water protection. Also note the dryer vent hole.

Helping Dad!

We had to install the washer dryer combo before we were done. It barely fit through the doorway after we removed all the trim. If the washer ever dies we'll have to rip out the doorway to make it wider.

Mudding and taping

TaDa! Thus is how the room looks today. Just needs a final coat of paint (it has been primed). Add the trim and put back the door. 

Closet makeover

We'll be moving the washing machine out of the kitchen soon. Last weekend we emptied the large  closet in the house. This is in fact the only closet in the house.  It had shelves and two odd hanging rods. We even put a dresser in there. But it just wasn't a good use of space. The closet shares a wall with the bathroom, the access panel for the tub and shower.
Now I never expect renovation to be easy, simple or straight forward. This time was no exceptions. We found under two layers of mosaics linoleum and tarpaper and some other paper stuff glued down  tight. Mold and rot in the corner. Not surprised at all. There is suspicious evidence that perhaps maybe the room was at one long time a bathroom. Yikes it would have been small. Oh well we hope to repair the floor, probably replacing the sub floor with new plywood and then put a laminate tile on top. That's the plan. My expert father in law is coming this weekend to give advice. Not sure we'll get it all done. Since we are putting a vent fan in the bathroom and measuring for a front entry way.

So here are the before pictures. Enjoy your weekend!

P.S. we got a new stove!!

Before empty

The special mosaic linoium

Empty and where we left off to get advice.

No internet

Life is Life. We had to cut the internet. The promotion we got when we moved has expired. It just costs too much. I've been down the no internet access at home road before. It is difficult but not impossible. I have my phone and a small data plan. Not much else. Library is free WiFi. Other places too. Just have to adjust my habits.

Garden is starting to grow. A bunny rabbit ate half my long rows of beans. The rose bush is blooming. The Peonies are blooming. Things are growing. I go out daily and water and weed.

Garden

When the neighbors across the ally offer to till the garden, the answer is Yes, Please. We got the whole big spot tilled. Big tiller, dug it all up nice and deep. Funny how small interaction can have a big impact. We learned the neighbors garden outside of town, putting in a half acre of veggies and another half acre of just of sweet corn. The wife, retired, puts most in the freezer but also cans salsa and beans. She offered us extras for when as she put 'i get sick of picking'. Very nice couple. The husband offered to till the garden again in the fall.

Last weekend we knew there would be lots of rain focast (indeed there was) I planted two long rows of parsnips, sweet corn, one of Bush beans, a short row of small pumpkin, a row of dry beans, swish chard, turnips, and the garlic, and also bunch of spinach.

Still yet to plant are the carrots and Basil. I had couple cucumbers, one yellow squash and sunflower seed ling's that I put in the end of the garden beds. Oh and the peas we put in super early are coming up cherily.

Helpful A points at the peas he helped plant.

Other flower beds are growing up strong. We took a road trip to Kansas to visit friends. We lived together for a few months three years ago. It was hot and miserable as everyone got sick. But I got a bunch of plants to add to my beds. Irises, daylilies, purple cone flower, black eyed Susan are some of the perennials. Oregano, three kinds of mint, are the edibles. Plus some others I can't remember. But my flower beds are filling in and looking great.

Back yard, flax flowers. A messy bed I thought was only weeds

The garden and the giant lilacs

This is the north side of the house between the lilacs and the house. I can identify day lilies, irises, lilies of the valley and a wild violet, and a fern. Time will tell if anything blooms

Before and after tilled garden

I want to keep writing. I loose track of time and suddenly it has been weeks. I think I'll set calendar reminder, then maybe I get my once a week updates. Happy spring

New Aquarium Fish

I'm addicted to my aquarium hobby. R even told me he really seriously enjoys my tanks in the house. Likes looking at them. And he told me he doesn't mind helping me build parts and pieces to go with the tanks. Even said someday he wants an aquaponic system to raise peppermint and bluegills fish. Tea and supper.

Last weekend I got the opportunity to go to an event held by the Minnesota Aquarium Society in Bloomington MN. I took my youngest daughter and an old friend. A real treat to leave our big kids at home with dads.
It was the Society annual auction. All sorts of things dealing with the hobby. Tanks, fish, equipment, aquatic plants. Everything you could want or dream about. The event was free, held in a large church gym. Very clean and well run. I was having so much fun bidding and general entranced by all the activities I didn't take any pictures.

However I did pick up some very neat cat fish. Corydoras variety called "Sterbi" I've been drooling over pictures on the internet. They are just neat looking both spotted and striped, with orange fins. Corydoras can certainly very shy fish. My new ones are in a quarantine tank for a few weeks before putting them in my big tank. It is fun because in the smaller space I can see them much better.

Very Eco Friendly

Just wanted to share. Credit Chris Madden off Facebook.

Big Garden

Tiny House, Big Garden

Earth Day 2017. We spent as much time outside as I could handle with the kids. Weeks ago when we were still getting hard frost, we staked out the side yard for the garden. Now we are busy removing the grass sod to make our garden. I'm finding clever places to put the sod. Filling in low spots in the yard. Can't hurt, R says the worst will be the lawn mower will kick up dirt if the sod doesn't grow. With way the low spot will be a little more filled.  I try to get outside to remove the sod a little everyday. It is a big task. After all the sod is gone we have a tiny tiller that R thinks he can get running. The soil seems to drain well and is on the sandy side. Compost would be helpful and I will get some from the city when I figure out how to haul it.

It is interesting to watch my flower beds around the house. The renter clearly dug up most of the perennials. However she missed some. The tulips are easy to identify but until the rest get bigger I can only guess. I recall seeing day lilies but that's about it. As I didn't pay much attention. The tulips got disturbed and don't seem to be bluming this year. In fact all the perennials that are coming up are much slower then my neighbors. Maybe mine know that there will be one last snow storm or something. 

I planted some peas in a corner of the garden. I used dead branches from our lilacs bushes for the peas to climb on once they start growing. It is also a good marker for where I've planted. 

I have a rose bush on the corner of our small side yard. Having read a good article about pruning roses (link below), I confidently got to work. 

Pruning roses

I maybe should trim down the big tall one but it had buds all along the stem. We'll just have to wait and see. I wonder what color the flowers it will have? There were rose hips from last year on the ground. 

Tiny kitchen​ and forgotten bulbs

I promised a kitchen picture. Here you go. Rarely is it this clean, I try but end up baking and get flour everywhere. Or life happens. Dishes - I'm making a resolution to wash and put away every day regardless of how many or few. We have had a dishwasher in the past, but honestly I'm just lazy.

  I noticed something new in my front flower beds, bulbs are sprouted. Tulips I'm guessing. Renter must have forgotten them. It will be fun to see what they turn out to be.