Living simple.

I have been on a big organization and clear out kick as of late. It’s funny how fast things can pile up when you aren’t watching, and how important it is to take a look at things in the house now and then and decide what to do with them.

I love the idea of simple living. It has been a mission of mine to clear out anything that we don’t love or use from the house. It has also been important to plan good, effective, systems for the things that we do need to keep. The point? To create a happy home that doesn’t take a lot of time to care for. Simple is better!

There are a few projects that I am working on right now in the quest to simplify things. The first is a binder project. I already have one binder for house ideas, where I keep anything that I like from magazines. It turns out that I need two more binders, one for good recipes from magazines, and one for workout ideas from magazines. I love to pull out the things I like for keeping, then recycle the magazine somehow. This cuts clutter and makes it really easy to find what I am looking for.

Slow going.

The pond project is moving at snail speed. That’s alright though since it is still too hot to plant anything, but the hole is just refusing to be made. I worked on it a little the last few days, and there were so many rocks it just took forever. And it’s been getting dark early (rain clouds, but no rain).

So, since it is hot, and muggy, and dark, I have been thinking a lot about the inside of our home and what to do next. I think that the major projects are mostly done (there are still some things we want to do that are big, but mainly it’s just paint and such now for most rooms). What we do need is some good, old fashioned, organization and clearing out.

What are your favorite organization tools? Best place to shop for organization items? I have some ideas,  like getting all of our software CDs into a binder, and getting some extra shelving things for the pantry. Otherwise, I think a lot of clearing out should happen first, then we will know exactly what to organize and what to buy.

Anyone else organizing and clearing out?

Pond progress.

Or rather, lack of progress. I did start the task of digging the hole, and boy did I run into rocks! Couple the hard conditions (big rocks, high heat) with my recent lack of health and the pond has just been slow going. The upside? It gives me loads of time to plan what this pond garden of mine is going to look like. I have a few ideas:

• A mountain theme, since we do live in the mountains. I found a cute solar powered cottage, and some dwarf pines. There will be rocks in the garden as a feature, so some Alpine plants would do well too.
• A Japanese garden theme. This is my favorite so far, I would love a small Japanese maple, some pretty grasses, and a pagoda statue.
• A Harry Potter theme. Yes, Harry Potter. Why? There are plants mentioned in the book that are real, and it would be kind of cool to have them. Of course, a few of them are actually poisonous, so that’s not exactly good. It could still be a fun theme though!
• A cottage garden theme. This could be fun too, with a lot of pretty colors and textures.

Which theme do you like best?

The pond is here!

The pond form is here now, and the next step is going to be digging a hole. I don’t know what the soil is like where you live, but here at our house we have tons of rocks, some of which are really big. Good for drainage, bad for digging. It’s always a chore to dig even a small hole, but now I get to put my shovel to the dirt and dig the hole for the pond (hopefully with help from hubby now and then).

We aren’t going to have any fish, the pond form is just not big enough, but we do plan on getting some pretty water plants and having a fountain. Just the sound and beauty of having a pond at all will be wonderful. Luckily the spot the pond is going to be has already been cleared of grass, and is also right next to an outlet.

Now I just have some digging to do! Photos to come.