hot.

And you know why I love it? Two reasons (neither of which is “because I adore having my clothing plastered to my body by sweat”):

1) Because things I hang on the line dry in minutes.
2) Because I can almost see my garden plants growing.

Tomorrow it will be over and we’re getting rain, so I’m going outside to read on a blanket under a tree.

decluttering

Well, you heard it here first: I am on a decluttering mission.

Our house is packed with far too much stuff (hand-me-downs….my God, the hand-me-downs). I’ve been working at paring down the kids’ stuff, getting rid of too-small stuff, etc.

But it’s growing faster than I can winnow. So, new plan: I’m going to donate a bag of stuff per week until I start to see daylight.

Here’s an interesting post about minimizing kid clutter by giving non-“stuff” gifts–I like all of her ideas. I’m giving these gifts from now on.

http://smallnotebook.org/2009/04/20/great-gifts-for-kids-that-don’t-involve-“stuff”/

spring is coming!

And we will be ready. We spent the afternoon gardening. I sowed some outdoor seeds (swiss chard, spinach, bunching onions, radishes, mixed greens, and snow peas), and some to start seedlings in trays (serrano peppers; Brandywine pink, Brandywine red, Yellow Marble, Delicious, and Cherokee Purple tomatoes; shasta daisies; and marigolds). We’re ready!

Here is our first sign that it’s time:

I had a lot of help.

Here are our newly-planted beds:

There was plenty of time to play.

But eventually Wesley decided he was tired and hungry.

One more reason to like nice weather: