Unexpected treasures

Andi came home from work the other day with a big bag full of...what's that? Lovely wool and cotton yarn and tons of crochet hooks? What a wonderful unexpected surprise! A gift from a friend, who knits and knows I've begun to crochet. Thanks, Melissa! My crochet class was canceled last week due to (ridiculously-over prepared for) snow and this week to school vacation, so I'm itching to get back and find out what I might be able to do with this new treasure. I'm so excited to have a "stash" of yarn and hooks! (If you knit, you'll definitely want to check out Melissa's blog. She's made gorgeous things for Lucy, and she's got a book coming out soon!)



Another surprise came at the thrift shop, where I'd gone to look for potential treasure for the upcoming Vintage Swap. Naturally, as soon as I promise to swap some great stuff, I find nothing; I've been to several thrift shops in the past few weeks and walked away empty-handed--unheard of! (Sorry, Lorena! But don't worry, I'm still looking...) But I did spot this, which somehow found its way into my cart:



It's not well-made, or even old, but I like it all the same. I've got this vision of someday having a collection of old and new globes in all different sizes and colors (now we have 3). Already, I've overheard one precious after-nap conversation (the new globe is in the library, where the children nap), including this 4-year-old analysis: "The real earth is much bigger than that. It is bigger than a tree. It is bigger than a house. Way back when dinosaurs lived, it had to be bigger than they were!"

Fresh corners of my own

I read Soulemama's "Fresh corners" post earlier this week and desperately wanted some fresh corners of my own. So today, we tackled the kitchen. While Andi caulked and scrubbed, I emptied, scrubbed, weeded out, and reorganized shelves. It's amazing what a re-organized cupboard can do for your mood. So far...

I started small and manageable: the little tea cabinet. It was so stuffed, we couldn't shut the door properly! Now it all fits (barely):



(I've got to polish off some of that boxed stuff, because I want to fill this cabinet with my own grown and foraged herbs.)

That was satisfying, so I felt able to tackle a bigger mess: the cookbooks in my island. They'd outgrown their space. I gave each book a critical perusal, and was able to weed some out. Nice fresh shelves:



(There are toys interspersed because if I put toys in there, the babies and toddlers are less likely to pull out my cookbooks. The basket contains the heap of bibs.)

Time for something more fun. I did these shelves, refolding my vintage aprons and dish cloths and re-arranging a few tchotchkes:



With all that accomplished, I felt able to tackle the biggest task of all: the dish shelves. These were a wreck. The dust! The spider webs! (The stuff way up high is rarely used, or, apparently, cleaned.) Some of the shelves were crammed too tight. Some of the stuff we use daily was on the top shelf, where (short) Andi could never put it away. Some stuff had no place. Now, it's SO much better. (Of course, I still envy lovely cohesive things like Martha Stewart's all-white dishes, but this is more real-life us; things given to us or bought over the years, old and new, all mixed together.)

A peek into Lucy's room

I was tidying up Lucy's toy-strewn floor this afternoon, and I realized I haven't shared any photos of her room here. That's because it's not finished, and I tend to want to wait until everything is just so before sharing it. But I love seeing photos of other people's homes, so thought I should show a bit of it (it will never be "finished," anyway).

This is the main storage in her room. We use her closets for other purposes (they're tiny, and better suited to--for example--cold storage of apples, than clothes. Doesn't everyone store apples in their baby's room?) so we wanted a lot of storage in her room. Ultimately, this room will be shared by two children, so eventually these shelves will be chock full of stuff, but for now, we can keep them sparsely populated.

Like everyone else on the planet, apparently, we envisioned the IKEA Expedit shelf in this space. But the big one wouldn't fit, and the small one was too small. I loved the shape of the Markor, but it was dark, dark brown. Five coats of paint later, we have this. (I swear I spent all last winter in that room, painting.)

My best friend, organizer extraordinaire, arranged things on the shelves for us originally. I recently re-arranged a bit, to make the bottom two rows of shelves just right for our now-mobile baby. (And there's the fact that we just can't fold blankets in the perfectly neat way she could...)

What's on the shelves?

There's some practical stuff--lots of blankets, washcloths, hats, and shoes.

There's some sentimental stuff--our childhood teddy bears, a yo-yo clown from my childhood, her baby book, and a lullaby book made by that same friend.

There are many stuffed animals and other toys that were gifts from friends and family, as well as hand-me-downs from a friend.

And there are some books--but don't be fooled--most of our bookshelves look nothing like this. I used a few decoratively here, and put some of her favorites down at the bottom, but this is about 1,000th of the children's books in our home.



Beside the shelf is this little vignette of special objects--a framed card from my aunt (of "The Owl and the Pussycat," a poem we recite for Lucy all the time), a bird I made while waiting for her birth, and a decoupaged light switch (from a Gyo Fujikawa book).

I feel very self-conscious sharing parts of my home--it never feels as "finished" as other people's. But here it is. Maybe I'll go scrape some paint off the windows now, and share another corner soon.