It's not hoarding if it's books....

I am not a minimalist.  There it is, I've said it out loud now for all the world to see.  In a world where people are making fortunes on books detailing how to fold your clothes and 'spark joy', whole websites are devoted to de-cluttering ones home and living with no excess 'stuff' laying around, I am the equivalent of the neanderthal!!  I have collections of everything from glass animals to stuffed animals, yardage and fabric scraps, everyday dishes and Christmas dishes, 2 sets of China handed down from grandmothers, enough yarn to carpet my house with crocheted rugs, files and notebooks of family history and census reports and birth certificates, beads new and vintage, and literally hundreds of books of all genres....well you get the picture.  The really horrible thing is I am not even sorry for being a packrat - I love it!  I love having stuff to make a project that pops into my head on hand, love having things that remind me of my family members who are no longer here - I guess my 'stuff' meets the 'spark joy' test!  Anyway let's be real honest, the reason Marie Kondo's clothes fold up into little packets that spark joy is because she is a little person.  Try getting the 3X sweatshirt to fold into a little stand alone packet!  I dare you!  This post was originally going to be my ode to 'clutter', but I looked up the word and it really means things that are disorganized, or disorderly. No, I don't like that.   I guess I will just share my craft room/office organizing project that has just been completed.

Understand, when I start the project and am visualizing how it will end up I see this in my head!

I go to the store and look at the prices of all of those little baskets etc. and then I come home and cover shoe boxes with contact paper!

Sigh...organizing with a cheapskate!

I took everything out of the room including the stuff in the closet, Hubby was looking a little amazed that "all that fit in the room" and then "do you think you can get it back in?"

The living room was full of my treasures and I did throw away quite a bit of trash.  The only expense was the black rack that was on sale at Lowe's for $29.00.

The rack in the corner has genealogy binders and boxes, photo albums and boxes of photos that still need to be scanned.  I have all of hubby's parents older photo albums circa 1950's that I am scanning as well as our own photos before digital cameras.

My craft table is a big metal table we bought at the company garage sale from hubby's work.  They built rocket engine parts on them!

Craft books and patterns and boxes of fabric. 

Gotta love the shoe boxes!

The other half of the closet looks the same, at least it is all organized and labeled...so it is not technically clutter.   It could still be junk...eye of the beholder and all that.  ;)

And everything did fit back in the room!

 Spring is here outside as well as inside.  The grass is greening up and the willows have that little hint of green in their branches when you look at them from here....

I am so excited about my garlic crop!  I made a map of all the bulbs so I would know what kind were where and all but one of the cloves I planted came up.  There are over 40 plants and 3 different types.....

The chives are coming up as well....

The corkscrew willow has leaves too.  The willows seem to be the first to put their leaves out...

Another exciting moment as 2 of the peonies that I planted last fall have started to come up...

 A group of us 'girls' (more like golden girls!) took a day trip to Twin Falls to see the Shoshone Falls. With all the snow and rain we are at flood stage and above on all of our rivers but it sure makes a gorgeous waterfall.  They say it is half again as much water coming over as usual. 

We had lunch and stopped at historical markers and had an altogether lovely time.  Nice after a rough winter to get out and do something again!

Hope you are enjoying the seasons changing wherever you are...

The International Day of the Woman.....and snowmen and popcorn

The International Day of the Woman is coming up soon (March 8) and I admit I am appalled by some of the ways women in America have decided to celebrate.  My attitude may be influenced by my age (very likely), my politics (not left leaning), my faith (Christian and Biblical) or a combination of all three (also very likely).

The International Women's Day has been celebrated since around 1910.  It was begun as a labor strike in New York and pushed by the Socialist Party in America.  It continued on unofficially until 1914 when a women's conference was held and it was decided to make it official, and the date was set for March 8 each year.  The IWD is even credited by no less a personage that Leon Trotsky for beginning the 'February Revolution' that overthrew the Monarchy in Russia.  (Russia was still using the Julian Calendar - in most of the world it was March 8th).  Primarily celebrated by communist countries as state holidays, the celebrations in the west still continued on their own until 1977 when the United Nations proclaimed the date and the celebration and urged member countries to observe the holiday.  These days they even have a theme for each year, this years theme is "Be Bold For Change". 

The nitwits (my bias showing) who brought us the 'March to Kill our Babies' (they called it the women's march but they only talked about abortions and sexual freedom) have decided to throw a 'day without a woman' party that includes not shopping and not going to work and maybe wearing red. (I'm not kidding they even have an official web page!) These are not ideas I consider to be bold or all that helpful!

I thought it would be fun to come up with some ideas for how to celebrate the 'Day of the Woman' and even accomplish something at the same time. Here are the ideas I have come up with so far.

1. Wear Purple like the queen of my world that I am. (just to get in the mood you know)
2. Send encouraging/thankful/uplifting Facebook posts to the women in my life who inspire me - flooding our feeds with positive messages for women.
3. Email my Representatives and Senators encouraging them to defund Planned Parenthood and save lives. (Planned Parenthood would still exist, just not on the taxpayers dime)
4. Flood the United Nations with e-mails and letters demanding that all of the countries that sit on the U.N. Human Rights council's 'Commission on Women' must allow women in their countries to vote, drive and walk alone on the street - at a minimum.
5. Donate to ourrescue.org to help rescue male and female children from sex slavery/trafficking around the world.
6. Buy a gun, mace, take a self defense class - it really is empowering.
7. Pray for our leaders and elected officials, even the ones I don't agree with. (maybe especially them!)
Add to the list or pick one of these - I guarantee it will be more productive than not shopping or going to work. (Except for number one, that's just personal preference - wear your own favorite color!)

OK that's it rant over....

While it has been cold and snowy I have finally managed to finish the popcorn process.  Popcorn was my "never done it before" crop this year and we got a pretty good harvest - 2-3 ears per stalk.  I dried them out and we picked off enough kernels to make some at Christmas.  I still had quite a few ears left - however my technique needed work.  Picking off the kernels with my thumb was a little painful!

 They came off the cob fairly easily but the friction needed was the problem - so I got out a small heavy spoon and tried using it like a peeler (sort of) and it worked really well (after I learned to cup my hand over the process to keep it from flying everywhere!)

It was much easier after the 'system' was worked out and there were fewer to pick up off the floor!  Out of one ring of corn I ended up with about a pint of kernels!  It really does taste good, popped in a pan with coconut oil...yum.  Pretty sure the stick of butter on the top negates any health benefits but it tastes awesome!

I have been documenting the build up and melting of the snow in photographs - have to admit this one made me a little sad.  Lily made a snowman (maybe a snow lump) on the 24th of December.

Last week the snow-lump was just about the last thing left in the back yard - a little pile of snow and several rocks (eyes, nose, buttons) it's been so cold he lasted a full 2 months!!  I know you're thinking of Frosty...let's move on quickly!







There are definite signs of spring though...it is hard to see but my garlic that I planted in October is beginning to push through the leaves.

We have been looking at all the seed catalogues as well.  We are very much ready for a change of season.

There is a lot of flooding in various parts of the country and we are keeping those affected in our prayers.

 Not getting too excited about spring as this is what it looked like on Monday...sigh!