Not too late for blackberries

Sunday we both decided we shouldn’t wait any longer to try to go blackberry picking. It is a good walk from our house, but worth it to bring home a free harvest! Thankfully, we had not missed all the good ones. We were also thankful we wore jeans and old tennis shoes even though it was a hot day—much better for traipsing through the briars!

My little one tired out before we were done, but she did a great job resting in the shade! Can you see the purple around her mouth? This event lent to getting out  Blueberries for Sal to read again!

 

Another victory (in addition to bringing home a bunch of berries) was taking care of the blackberries before they all went bad. First I washed all of them and laid them out to dry on old dishtowels. Then I laid one layers worth on a jelly roll pan to freeze—2 pans worth. The next day I put the frozen berries in freezer bags. The rest I put in the fridge for eating soon (and they’re almost gone)! We also made a Blackberry Buckle introduced to us by my dear friend Rachel when we lived in Germany.

What should I do with the rest? We’ve tried blackberry lemonade in the past. I already have some blackberry jam in the fridge. How have you had success with blackberries?

Linking up to

Eye Sore No More

Another eye sore in our home (or outside of it) is somewhat conquered! We are blessed to have an inset grill and sink on our back patio. It has taken us a while to get reacquainted with charcoal grilling, but my husband is getting the hang of it. As well, it’s taken us over a year to take time to make the grill area an attractive place, rather than the place to wash out paint brushes or throw the kids’ yard toys under.


After taking an assessment of what I had to “decorate” the area with without buying anything, we decided to go with a shabby garden theme with a few touches from the ocean.


We used an old milk crate to store my current gardening tools and gloves. I cleaned off the pots that fit the “shabby” bill and lined them up with the watering cans.



My husband made the chicken wire frame years ago, and it hasn’t been used in our past two homes, until now. I painted my clothes pin jar lid (our laundry lines pull out from the wall adjacent to the jar). I had bought the Fleurs sign at a dollar store in Germany, so it was waiting for a spot too!


I’m not sure what the purpose of this wooden box was originally. Again, had it for years, waiting for the right place to use it. It was always challenging to find something to put in it and the thing still be seen. This time, old tea cups, garden supplies, dried garlic, and shells (and an urchin) we’ve found at the beach filled it nicely!

It’s so nice when you don’t have to be embarrassed for people to come out to the grill AND when things have their place!

Linking up to: Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest,
 

Stuff Control!

Motivation that turns to action in organization is a gift that I have to grab before it flies away. Thankfully this gift has lent to attacking several problem areas in our home!

First of all, we bought a rolling set of drawers from IKEA to keep homeschool supplies and activities in. I keep the curriculum we currently use in a rolling bin that rolls out to the dining room table. This new cart will keep me at the table rather than running back to a room to find something else!  The decided home for this cart was our kitchen pantry/laundry room. It was getting out of control:

We removed the lower shelf, found spots for the bins and recycling, added a melamine covered board as a countertop and shuffled other things around or threw them away!  Here is the reorganized look (and I’m being thankful for this when I’d love for it to all be hidden away!):

I was also ready to see less stuff hanging around in the girls’ room. (I forgot to get before pics of the bookshelves and their closet.) First, I removed books I thought the girls had outgrown (so hard to do when I think “they’ll be able to read that themselves soon!”). I needed more space for all the new books we brought back from America. Now the girls have dedicated spaces in the room for their “treasure boxes” (jewelry boxes) and a new rule that they can only keep as much stuff in them that will allow the boxes to close.

 

I also bought plastic drawers for one side of their closet for toys, purses, CD’s and other things that were in bins on the shelves, making more room there. The games are more accessible (or at least less likely to be forgotten) in this new spot.

Lastly, we hung up two peg racks for the girls’ necklaces and bracelets in their closet and put all their lip glosses and such in a little tin.

 

Now for training myself and them to put things back where they go! It feels like you can breathe in these places again.

There are still problem areas TBA (and attacked)! My hope is that others will sense they can also be vulnerable and productive in their stuff management along with me.

I’m sharing this at ABC and 123’s:

and

Stuff Control!

Motivation that turns to action in organization is a gift that I have to grab before it flies away. Thankfully this gift has lent to attacking several problem areas in our home!

First of all, we bought a rolling set of drawers from IKEA to keep homeschool supplies and activities in. I keep the curriculum we currently use in a rolling bin that rolls out to the dining room table. This new cart will keep me at the table rather than running back to a room to find something else!  The decided home for this cart was our kitchen pantry/laundry room. It was getting out of control:

We removed the lower shelf, found spots for the bins and recycling, added a melamine covered board as a countertop and shuffled other things around or threw them away!  Here is the reorganized look (and I’m being thankful for this when I’d love for it to all be hidden away!):

I was also ready to see less stuff hanging around in the girls’ room. (I forgot to get before pics of the bookshelves and their closet.) First, I removed books I thought the girls had outgrown (so hard to do when I think “they’ll be able to read that themselves soon!”). I needed more space for all the new books we brought back from America. Now the girls have dedicated spaces in the room for their “treasure boxes” (jewelry boxes) and a new rule that they can only keep as much stuff in them that will allow the boxes to close.

 

I also bought plastic drawers for one side of their closet for toys, purses, CD’s and other things that were in bins on the shelves, making more room there. The games are more accessible (or at least less likely to be forgotten) in this new spot.

Lastly, we hung up two peg racks for the girls’ necklaces and bracelets in their closet and put all their lip glosses and such in a little tin.

 

Now for training myself and them to put things back where they go! It feels like you can breathe in these places again.

There are still problem areas TBA (and attacked)! My hope is that others will sense they can also be vulnerable and productive in their stuff management along with me.

I’m sharing this at ABC and 123’s:

and

Back to Business (and a winner!)

We’ve been back in Portugal 3 days after 5 weeks in America. We had a wonderful time AND it is good to be back (apart from the crazy wake-up-every-night-feeling-I’m-on-American-time syndrome AKA jet-lag!).  I’m looking forward to delving into my craft/cooking/gardening/organizing/home school world again (and sharing it with you!) but I’m taking the resettling process one step at at time.

I did want to say we had a winner in The Girl Creative’s give-away for my etsy shop, Retrosaria Rua. Christa at Modern Vintage Interiors won and chose the vintage metal soap holder. Congratulations to you Christa! (Go check out her amazing work and beautiful blog!) Thank you to everyone who entered/visited the shop!

I also thought I’d share a few favorite pictures from our trip although there were many more memorable moments.

shucking corn with cousins (in matching dresses from Nana)

profile shot with Nana

being the bowling ball at our conference’s carnival

beauty all around us (wishing I had a recording of the water streaming by!)

going to the circus with Grams, Pops, Uncle Matt, and Aunt Erin

more cousin time

and kitty time

And now back to the present (and good things to come!) in Portugal…