Dreams {The Barn Quilt Kind} Do Come True!

I've already written the first part of the story in this drawn-out tale of how I got my barn quilt.  But here, at last, is the final chapter.  :)

Wednesday, Jeff's day off, gave us an afternoon that was beautiful--sunny and warm--perfect for being outside and getting things accomplished.  Jeff, the hero of this story, chose to spend part of his afternoon, when he could have been doing so many other things, finishing this barn quilt project: first, by overseeing the application of sealant to both sides of it to (hopefully) protect it against water damage and extend its life, and second, by hanging it on the north-facing side of our woodshed.

I was thrilled--THRILLED!!!--to watch this happen.

 Of course, the kids wanted to watch, too--such an exciting event!

I'm grateful to have this picture because it reminds me that, although the barn quilt is made out of a piece of wood and some paint...

...it's really LOVE that made it.  Jeff showed me love every step of the way by not only agreeing to my plan, but also doing virtually all of the work for this!  ;-)

And the love I have for him?  Well, it's even more than the love I have for this barn quilt!

Way, WAY more!!!  :)

Project of the Day: The Garage

Maybe it's because of the springtime.

Maybe it's because the hectic pace we've been running at as a family has slowed considerably, leaving me actual "free time," including entire days in which I don't have to leave my house.

Maybe it's because I've been reading a fantastic book, The More of Less: Finding the Life You Want under Everything You Own by Joshua Becker--arguably the single best book on home organization/decluttering/minimalism I've ever read.

Maybe it's because, whether pregnant or not (I'm not), the nesting bug hits me every so often, and I must do something to satisfy it.

Whatever the reason, I spent time this past week doing significant cleaning and organization in three rooms of my house: Benjamin's, mine, and the garage.  I didn't take pictures of the first two rooms (but I will say that I am loving the fact that my room is so neat and peaceful these days!) :), but yesterday, as I attacked the horrendous mess in the garage, I did pull out the camera to document the transformation.

Here it was at the beginning of the day.

That pile of stuff on the floor included snow shovels, sleds, pool noodles, a car mat, bikes and helmets, lids for storage boxes, trash, a stroller I haven't used for Benjamin in a long time, and assorted other items.

What a mess!

It wasn't as if the whole garage floor was covered with it.

No, we've been able to keep one side clear so we could park one of our vehicles inside.  But when it was in the garage, there wasn't much room for walking around on either side of it!

I didn't have anything else pressing I needed to do yesterday, and I was very inspired to tackle this project and see how far I could get with it.  I had brought up this Jeep walker from my dad's basement, stuck Benjamin in it for the first time so he would be happy and safe (and truth be told, out of the way, because having a baby scoot through the mess on the garage floor wouldn't help one bit).  :)

And then I got to work.  Rather, we did.  The four middle kids (Josiah was away at the barbershop, helping Jeff) were good helpers, pitching in to do what they could and, when they weren't needed, having fun playing outside on a beautiful warm day.  It was a great arrangement for all of us.

When the task seemed overwhelming, I reminded myself that all I had to do was pick up one thing at a time--just one thing--then make a decision about what to do with it before going on to the next thing.  One item at a time, the mountain of junk started to shrink.

It was during this time that the neighbor boy, Jason, came over to play: and I had to laugh when he remarked innocently about how LONG it had been since we had cleaned out our garage--"it's been YEARS!"  :)

A break to fix a quick lunch for the kids to eat outside and to put Benjamin in bed for his nap, and then the work continued, and amazingly, we reached bare floor!  :)

David has a lot of experience sweeping since he does that job weekly at the barbershop, so he grabbed a broom and started working.  He did remark that it felt odd to sweep without wearing rollerblades!  (He always wears them at the barbershop.)  :)

What a pleasing sight to my eyes!  Open space where a big mess had been a few hours earlier!

I had told my kids this was Phase One of the garage project; as thrilled as I was with all we accomplished, there is still a whole lot of junk in the garage that needs to be sorted and gotten rid of!

But for the moment, it was rewarding to savor the progress we had made.  All that room!

Some of that open space disappeared when we had to put the bicycles and various other vehicles back in the garage.

I guess I'm the only one of the family that doesn't have a bike or trike or other means of transportation in this group, so that adds up to a lot of wheels.  :)

And even though those vehicles take up some of that valuable open space, it's definitely worth it to see the smiles on my kids' faces when they get to ride their bikes, like Moriah was doing on Shav's old bike with training wheels (and, although I didn't get a picture, Shav was doing on a bike without training wheels, since he is fully capable of that this spring).  :)

That grin more than makes up for the labor that went into this project!  :)

My Beauty Picks Beauty

Ever since the spring of 2012, when Moriah came into the world, she redefined beauty for me; and in my eyes, she's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.  To me, she is beauty--but not only that.  She also finds, creates, appreciates, and shares beauty.

Today, that all happened in my front flowerbed.  :)

 For a few days, Moriah has been eyeing the tiny little purple crocus blossoms that have peeked out; but since there are so few of them, I had asked her to not pick them but instead wait until the daffodils started to bloom, since we have an abundance of them and her picking some wouldn't strip all the color from that flowerbed.

 Well, they started to bloom.  :)

 And Moriah, after asking permission, got to work.  :)

 I got a vase for her, showed her how to cut the stalks low to the ground so they would be tall enough to fit nicely in the vase, and suggested that she include some leaves as well as the flowers...and then I let her have at it.

 After she filled one vase, she asked for another.

 After she filled that one, she wasn't done yet.

So I got a jar from the cellar and told her she could put a bouquet in that to take to our dear neighbor, Barbara.  :)

 The daffodils, with their captured sunshine and cheerful promise of warmer days ahead, are lovely.

 She is lovelier still.

To me, she always will be.

Tobin's New Big Project

From a very young age, Tobin showed a noticeable interest in animals and the outdoors; and in recent years, he has become Jeff's right-hand man in the garden, so when we were contemplating what to do what the patch of ground that used to be our chicken yard (now that we've retired from the chicken "business"!) ;-), it didn't take us too long to decide to let Tobin use it as his own garden plot.  He has been SO excited about it.  :)

Last Wednesday, he and Jeff did quite a bit of work in it: removing old fences and assorted other boards/wires, cutting down a tree that had grown up through the years and would have blocked too much sunlight, and preparing the soil.

The very next morning, Tobin was out there bright and early.  The first thing he planted?  Onions.  :)  

He planted one full row on Thursday, and the next day when he went out to work in his garden, he checked it carefully for weeds (I'm not sure how he could have found any to pull yet! but that will change in the future), then planted another full row of onions before watering it all carefully.  And then he lamented that he didn't have more to do in his garden!  ;-)

I'm delighted to have a son who is so interested in the worthwhile pursuit of growing things in one's own land...and very grateful that he has a daddy who has inspired and assisted him!  :)