An easy sewing project: pj bottoms

two pairs of pajama bottoms, all tied up in ribbon for gifting

I hope your week is going well. In our house, we call Thursday, "Friday Eve". So, happy Friday Eve!

I had some serious sourdough bread cravings earlier this week. I got my sourdough starter fired up again, after a lot of neglect this winter. I left the sourdough sponge on the counter overnight, hoping to achieve a really good tang. It still turned out rather mild. I'll keep working on that tang that I crave.

one of two loaves of sourdough bread -- it goes fast around these parts

For now, though, I thought I'd share my adventures in sewing pj bottoms for my two daughters. For anyone interested in learning to sew, I wanted to show the process, so that you could determine for yourself if this was a project you would want to undertake.

Remember, I was making these as my Valentine's gift for my two girls. (from the post The Valentine Dog)

I have a short attention span for these sort of projects. I don't like to unnecessarily frustrate myself with a long stretch of sewing or other needlework. So, I limited myself to about 45 minutes to 1 hour at a stretch on these. It took 4 days of work to complete both pairs. If I was one who could tolerate doing it all in one stretch, I could have made these two pairs in about 3 hours (but I would not have been a happy camper at the end of it all -- hence breaking my work up into chunks).

I worked on the 2 pairs simultaneously. I pinned and cut out both pairs together. I sewed seams one pair right after the other. I hemmed and put in elastic waists, one pair followed by the second. This seemed to be the most efficient use of my time. My only wish is that I'd done a third pair, one for me!!!


Day 1: I sized down the pattern that I had for my own pajamas, from a Women's size 6-8 to a Junior's size 3-5. It was all guess work, as these were to be a gift, so done in secret. I used white tissue wrapping paper to transfer my pattern to. It's not as transparent as pattern paper, but it worked fine.

First, I laid out the old pattern on the table, traced the cutting lines for my size onto the white tissue paper. Then, I re-drew the cutting lines about an inch in on the straight side seams, and took up the hem by several inches. That was it for Day 1. It took about 45 minutes (a lot of time spent wondering if I was on the mark, size-wise).

Day 2: I pinned the new, white tissue pattern pieces to the fabric, and cut out. Again, for both pairs, this took about 45 minutes.

Day 3: I pinned my seams to be sewn,

then, sewed the two front halves together, two back halves together, the inner leg seam, and the side seam.

I trimmed and reinforced all seams with a zig zag edge, very close to the straight stitching.

This took me longer than previous days' work, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

Day 4: I made the casing for the elastic waist, hemmed the legs, ran the elastic through the casing (using a safety pin to help thread the elastic), and sewed the little flower trim to the center front. I was done in about 45 minutes.

And both pairs were complete.

Pj bottoms are a fairly simple project for a beginner. If you take your time and break the work up into several sessions, a beginner could definitely do these. (Although, I would not recommend sizing down a pattern for a beginner. I'm just cheap frugal and didn't want to buy a new pattern.)

• For winter wear, I used flannel. Summer pj bottoms could be made from a woven cotton. I'd like a seersucker pair myself for wearing around the house on lazy summer days.
• Pj shorts would be even quicker to whip up, with shorter seams.
• If you have several kids to make pj bottoms for, (and you'd like them all to be of the same fabric -- some families do this at Christmas), you can use flannel sheets for the fabric, and save some money on the project.

You can see how they turned out. I was surprisingly close to accurate in my guesses on their size. I had left a tiny bit of stitching undone on the waistband casing, so that I could adjust the waist if necessary. After they tried them on, I closed up that small gap, and now I can hardly get my daughters out of their pjs on the weekends.

I'm beginning a small sewing project, using the scraps from this pillow that I made for the family room. More on that project another day.

Thank you for visiting today. It's been good to have you here.
I hope that you found inspiration, ideas, or just moral support, for your next project. 
May your day be full of cheer!

Saving money on groceries: Meet "neat" balls

Good morning! I hope you had a wonderful weekend (with a holiday bonus, for those in the USA). I've been catching up on various tasks that were awaiting me when we returned from our trip to the sunshine.

Our weather has been a mixed bag, here. But that's typical of Seattle spring (okay, so it's still winter, but I can dream, can't I?). Sunshine on Friday, rain on Saturday, with hail in the evening, then just clouds on Sunday and Monday.

Late Saturday afternoon, very dark clouds rolled in. Looking out into the woods behind our house, I felt like I was living in a fairy tale. Not a fairy-tale life (too much grit in my own life for that), but something out of Little Red Riding Hood. I half-expected to see the Big Bad Wolf in the shadows of our uber-tall evergreens!

But all this gray was whisked from my mind, Sunday night, when a very sweet young woman friend of my son's, gifted me with these! She just knew I would be needing a spot of color in the house! Lovely, thoughtful girl.

On another floral note, the branch cuttings from the red-flowering currant that I took on Friday are very close to showing color. I'll post a pic when the blossoms open.

But, I'm way off topic for the moment. What I wanted to share with you, today, is one of the ways we save money on our grocery bill. We eat several vegetarian dinners per week, specifically, we eat beans. I buy them dry, in large sacks, spending somewhere around 75 cents to $1 per pound, dried. When reconstituted with water, this per pound price drops to about 40 cents, or so, per pound. Not bad for good quality protein!

So, beans are cheap thrifty (trying to banish that "cheap" word from my vocabulary). They're also a good protein source. They're high in fiber and low in fat. And beans are great for a cholesterol-reducing diet. Beans are an all-around healthy food that are light on your wallet, too!

I like to mix things up a bit with my bean preparation. After all, beans could get monotonous, if we only ate them in a few ways.

Here's one variation on the theme of beans -- "Neat" balls.

Meet "neat" balls.

"neat" balls on homemade wheat roll, topped with marinara and cheese

"Neat" balls are a vegetarian alternative to meatballs. They are bean and grain based, held together with egg.

A batch of about 35 "neat"balls (8 or more servings), costs about 65-85 cents, a fraction of the meat alternative.

In these photos, I've used black beans, as that's what I currently have in the pantry. But I've also used pinto beans, garbanzo beans and small white beans. I mash mine with a potato masher, but they can be run through a food processor, for a more uniform look (great for disguising the bean-iness from the finicky eaters in your household). You can make them with canned beans or cook your beans from dried.

Here's what I use and how I make them:

about 4-5 cups drained, cooked beans
2 large slices bread (I use whole wheat sandwich bread, but any bread product will do fine)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon salt or 1 teaspoon beef soup base
4-6 small (or 2-3 large) cloves garlic
1/2 to 3/4 cup minced onion
dash red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 cup rehydrated bulger wheat (optional, but it gives a nice chew to the balls)

• Beat the egg in a large bowl. Tear the bread into pieces, and allow to soak in the egg. Mash or puree the beans into the egg/bread. Stir in remaining ingredients. Allow to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge, to firm up the mixture.
• Butter a large baking sheet. Form the bean mixture into walnut-sized balls and place on the baking sheet. 
• Bake at 350 degrees F (176 C), for 20-25 minutes, or until firm when pressed lightly.

before baking

These can be used right away, or frozen, as is (no sauce), to be used later.

Some variations on the "neat" balls themselves

• for Italian neat balls, add oregano, basil, parsley
• for teriyaki neat balls, add ginger and chives

after baking -- lightly browned and firm to touch, and ready to sauce up

"Neat" balls will fall apart if left to simmer in a sauce for a length of time. So, ladle the sauce over just before serving.

Saucing up "neat" balls

• We eat these Italian-style with a marinara sauce poured over, and served atop pasta, or,
• in marinara sauce, on buns, then topped with mozzarella cheese, and toasted under the broiler until bubbly, for "neat" ball sandwiches.
• "Neat" balls, served in a mushroom gravy is a delicious comfort food when served with noodles.
• If made teriyaki-style, I serve on a bed of rice and pour a thickened teriyaki glaze, with green pepper and pineapple, over all.

The texture of "neat" balls is not much like meat. As well, they tend to be drier. So whichever way I serve "neat" balls, I allow for a lot of extra sauce.

Mixing things up a bit with the beans.

Forcing blooms indoors with cuttings from spring-flowering shrubs

I came home to beautiful winter-spring. That's what this time of year feels like to me. The morning was foggy as I drove my two daughters to school yesterday morning. But it was light out for a change. The fog burned off by 9 AM, and we had a glorious, sunny, but chilly, day -- so I call it winter-spring.


I walked the yard in the morning, looking for a hint of color. I found some primroses about to bloom.

butter-yellow primroses, all set to begin adding color to the spring garden

Crocus have broken through the soil,

in the garden, these creamy yellow snow crocus aren't ready for bloom

both in the garden and up on the deck.

but in a pot on the deck, Blue Pearl snow crocus are beginning their show

Rhubarb is just now popping up.

I can hardly wait for rhubarb pie!

Of the flowering shrubs, the flowering currant and forsythia are the first to bloom here. I can see the currant branches are aching to put on a show for me.

several of the red-flowering currant bushes have buds 

So, I ran and got my clippers and took several red-flowering currant branch cuttings and a couple of the forsythia as well. I think the forsythia still needs a few more days outside for good bud formation.

red-flowering currant branches standing in a sink of warm water

In less than a couple of weeks, I hope to have a nice show of color indoors!

I chose a wide-mouth canning jar for my branches.
I think they'll look lovely once in bloom.

How to force blooms on branches indoors

• February and March are the months to force forsythia and flowering currant. In our area mid to late February is the ideal time. The shrubs need about 8 weeks of below 40 degrees F temperatures, for bud formation. If your winter was late in beginning this year, wait a few weeks longer
• a woody plant such as forsythia is one of the best candidates for indoor forcing, but you can also force pussy willow, flowering currant and any of the early spring-flowering fruit trees. 
• leaf buds are the smaller buds on a branch, while flower buds are the larger ones. Look for branches with plenty of larger buds 
• take cuttings on a day when the temperature is above freezing. You can even do this while there is still snow on the ground, if the air temp is above freezing
• using pruners, clip off several branches about 2 to 3 feet in length
• bring indoors to a sink of warm water
• under water, cut off about 1 inch more, to allow uptake of water into the branch
• allow branches to stand in the water for 4 to 6 hours, 
• we have a rainy climate here, so the branches were wet with rain when I cut them. Standing the branches in water is sufficient. But if your climate is dry in winter, then you may wish to submerge the branches for this time period, to hydrate them thoroughly. 
• re-trim the ends under water once more
• stand in a vase with clean water. You can add flower preservative, if you have some. But I've taken cuttings and had them last beautifully for a couple of weeks, without any of the preservative.
• some people cover the branches with a plastic bag. In my experience, this just invites fungus to set in and ruin the blossoms as they form. But perhaps in drier climates this isn't an issue.
• keep out of direct sunlight, in a coolish room, about 60 to 65 degrees F. Too warm and the blossoms mature too quickly, then degrade rapidly
• keep out of direct air flow from heat registers. If air is particularly dry in your house, spray with a plant mister once or twice per day.
• if the buds were large to begin with, then you should expect to see some color within 4 to 8 days. If the buds were small at cutting time, then it will take longer to see color
• change the water and trim ends once per week

Enjoy your taste of spring!

Using my everyday dishes as Valentine's decor

It's the day of love! Everything is rosy and life's problems just need to take a breather for just one day, don't you think?

You know I do practically everything on a budget, right? Well, here's my version of decorating for Valentine's Day (or part of it, at least).

I've been collecting dishes since I was 20. This is our everyday spring and summer set, that I began acquiring 30 years ago. We have a fall and winter set, in brown tones, as well.

Every year, on Valentine's Day, I swap out the dark winter dishes for these pink, burgundy and white floral, spring and summer dishes. I let Valentine's Day mark the first day of spring for me. (I'm ready, by now, to move out of winter.)

Our everyday dishes are on display 24/7. When we redid our kitchen, several years ago, I knew I wanted something simple, vintage-looking and beautiful to store everyday dishes in. I didn't want to keep them all locked up in a cupboard, but wanted them to be a part of my overall decor.

I scoured books with photos of vintage kitchens. What I found, that I liked, is something called a Welsh dresser, basically an open hutch atop a cabinet.

This hutch-display is built in, constructed of cabinet pieces from Home Depot, and painted to complement my kitchen colors of yellow, white and blue-green. We call this our dish dresser. It's built into the eating nook of our kitchen, just steps away from the work area.

Putting away dishes is a breeze. I stack all the dinner plates from the dishwasher and carry them over to their stack on the dresser, about 10 steps away. I keep the dishes most frequently used on the side of the dresser that is closest to the dishwasher.

In our old kitchen configuration, I had an upper cabinet, just above the dishwasher, for all of our dishes. The kids couldn't reach the top shelf to get something down, or put away the dishes. And I kept banging my head on the corner of the cupboard door, while bending over and standing up with the dishes to be put away. An open shelf of some sort, at a lower height, seemed like such an obvious solution.

So here we are, Valentine's Day. My everyday dishes are in just the color palette to suit the holiday. And because I keep these dishes tucked away for winter, they are new and fresh today. Using my everyday things as Valentine's decor.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Cooking up a storm before a vacation

It's winter vacation time!!! I began planning this last summer in August, and have been counting down the days since!

Having fun! Wish you were here! And all that jazz!

Okay, so my daughters and I are out chasing the sun this week. But before we left, I had a lot of work to take care of. Oh yes, the usual, laundry, checking on schedules, going by the bank, packing suitcases. But what really kept me busy was all the pre-vacation cooking to be done. Yep, I said pre-vacation cooking.

I had all the usual cooking to take care of. Then because this was just a girls' trip (guys staying home), I had meals to prepare for my husband and son, so they wouldn't starve. And of course, I had some things to make, for us to take with us, to keep our eating out limited to meals that we really wanted from a restaurant. I don't enjoy eating out in mediocre restaurants. If I'm going to eat out, I want it to taste great.

And then, I wanted to prepare some things to have in the house for when we returned. A dinner in the freezer to heat that night, and some lunch things for to-go lunches the next day. You know how it is after a trip. You come in the door and just want to drop your bag and lie down. The last thing you want to do (but everyone expects you to do) is jump back into the kitchen and make dinner.

So, as much as I could, I doubled up everything I made for a week, plus had a couple of cooking sessions on three of the days last week.

In total, for the trip, to be eaten here, there, and after, I made 6 7 loaves of bread, a double batch of granola, a batch of cookies (and after half of those disappeared, a batch of brownies), a mac and cheese casserole to heat, a rice and beans casserole, a pasta and Italian sausage casserole, a large pot of turkey-noodle soup, some cranberry-orange muffins, a quiche, some beef stew, 2 pizzas, a container of refried beans (with the rest of the fixings for burritos), and a large container of egg salad. Believe it or not, the majority of this will be left behind for the guys to eat up. They're the big eaters in our house, not surprisingly. I am hoping this will hold them for a few days. I've also left them a huge container of carrot sticks, some frozen spinach and frozen mixed veggies. Maybe they'll think to try some of those?

To take with us on the trip, we've packed cocoa mix, koolaid drink mix (some places the tap water tastes terrible), crackers, string cheese, microwave popcorn, some candy from Christmas, cookies, a couple of sandwiches, bananas, nuts, a bag of carrot sticks, and raisins.

I like to bring a bunch of snacky things with us. We can stretch the time between formal meals with a good snack. Our motel has a breakfast provided, which we always enjoy fully. I can always find something healthy to eat. Most of the places we stay have at least fresh fruit, juice, oatmeal, whole wheat toast, hard boiled eggs, and yogurt.

We'll have a fridge and microwave in our room. The three of us will walk down to a market and buy some sandwich stuff to last a few days. We actually fare pretty well with our dining-out budget when we travel. I'll give you more details when we return.

I hope you're having a splendid week! I'll be back in just a couple of days.

Do you take food with you when you travel, too? Making sandwiches in the hotel room, to take to a park or the beach, can save quite a bit on the travel budget.

Easy-to-make heart-shaped pancakes for Valentine's Day Breakfast

Good morning! Are you counting the days to Valentine's Day? It's fast approaching!

What's on the menu for Valentine's Day breakfast at your house? 

If you want easy, you could pour strawberry milk over corn flakes. You could toast up a cherry Pop-tart. You could make toast, spread with strawberry jam and make cut-outs with a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Or . . . . . . .

Are you looking for an easy, fun, kid-friendly, and budget-wise breakfast for this Valentine's Day? Here's what I make for Valentine's breakfast most years. Pancake hearts!!

All you need is pancake batter, a griddle or skillet, large spoon (I use the serving spoon that came with our cutlery) and metal spatula.

Make your pancake batter a bit on the thin side, so that it pours well from the spoon. I like to add a teaspoon of vanilla extract to the batter. The vanilla cake is nice with the fruit syrup.

Fill your large spoon with batter. Think of the heart as two halves. On the first halve, begin dropping the batter from the tip of the spoon, as you would a regular pancake, making the rounded portion of the heart half. Don't use all the batter in your spoon, save about 1/4. Now, with the tip of the spoon, draw the batter down to the pointed part of the heart.

Quickly refill your spoon, and begin the other half of the heart, fairly close to the first half, so the two halves will join to make one heart. Finish up the point, joining the two points. That's the heart! Use the last bit of batter in the spoon to fix any edges that didn't fill out properly.

These don't need to be perfect, because a lot will be hidden by the whipped cream.

When the pancakes' bubbles have mostly popped, flip them over.

Make your syrup while the pancakes are cooking. For syrup, melt some red jelly or jam in the microwave, mixed with a tablespoon or two of water. (Here I've used a couple of packets of strawberry jam blended with crabapple jelly.)

Place one or two pancakes on a plate. Pipe whipped cream (I use spray whip cream) around the edges, following the heart shape.

Spoon syrup inside the whip cream border. Voila! Valentine's Day pancakes.


These pancakes can be made the afternoon before, and reheated in the morning. When Valentine's Day falls on a school day, I make them the afternoon of the 13th, then reheat in the morning.



Or . . . . . . .

Just not sure about making heart-shaped pancakes? Not a problem. Here's one other way to make Valentine's pancakes.

You'll need round pancakes, a heart-shaped cookie cutter, a pink jelly/jam syrup, as above, powdered sugar, sifter and dried cranberries.

Make your regular round pancakes. After cooking, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut a heart out of the center of each pancake. This works best on a wood cutting board.

On each plate, place 2 or 3 round pancakes with the heart cut out.

Fill the empty heart with red jelly or jam. It's okay if the jelly/jam bleeds underneath the pancakes. It won't be visible.

Take the heart cut-outs, place on another plate and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Place the cut-outs on the plate along with the round pancakes.

Sprinkle with some dried cranberries.

Okay, so a little bit of fuss for Valentine's Day. But it's fun to do, and these treats for the family are my gift to them.

Just to let you know, I'm chasing the sun for a few days. My posts will continue Tuesday and Thursday, and I'll try to check in from time to time. Internet access will be hit or miss. I'll catch some rays for you, and send them your way! ~Lili

Cheap vegetable seeds: are they worth it?

Can't you just feel it? Spring is almost in the air! Right? Okay, so not so much in some parts. Well, it will get here! And winter will be not much more than a memory. For now, how about some armchair gardening. It's all the fun of gardening, without the sore back afterwards!

I was at Dollar Tree yesterday and discovered that they had their vegetable and flower seeds in stock for this year's planting season. The cashier said they had just received them and put them out. They price their seeds at 4 packets for a dollar. On many varieties of seeds, this is a phenomenal price. I snatched up 16 packets of seeds, and spent just $4.

This brand packages their seeds for the discount market. They put less volume in each packet. But there are many instances where these are still a great deal.

• if you just want to have a couple of plants of a variety, such as zucchini, eggplant, peppers, winter squash/pumpkins, tomatoes, cucumbers
• if the seeds themselves are very small, so a few grams are still a lot of seeds, such as carrot, lettuce, radish, turnip, broccoli, cauliflowers, kale, green onion, or cabbage seeds
• if you like some of a vegetable, but not a farm's worth. I find this is true for us for beets, chard, yellow wax beans and arugula.
• you are growing in pots, or otherwise have limited space available for planting

Of course, there is an instance where these smaller packets are not the great value that you'd think.

• large seeds, that you want to grow an entire row or square of, such as peas and beans. I think there were only about a dozen seeds in each of these packets. I'd need to buy about 5 or 6 packets of the beans to plant a square for the summer. I should be able to find bean seeds for around $1 to $1.50 in larger packets, off the rack at Home Depot or our neighborhood drug store. Both these places discount most of their seeds. And I'll have more varieties to choose from in both the peas and beans at HD or the drugstore.

And there's also the consideration that these seeds are not for you at all.

• if you are looking for heirloom varieties, these are the modern varieties.
• their variety within a seed type is limited. They package only the most widely available seeds. Only 2 kinds of bean seeds, 1 kind of pea, 2 types of lettuce, etc. Other vendors offer a larger variety. And if you have found one specific variety that does well for your garden, you may be better off to stick with that one.

You may be wondering if these seeds are viable -- will they produce? My experience has been, yes. Just because they're cheaper doesn't mean they are of inferior quality. The lower price is more a reflection of their ability to buy in volume and limit selection, than of being a lesser quality.

I will occasionally find some chaff in the packet, along with the seeds, or a broken large seed like a bean. But I figure for the price, I can overlook a tiny bit of waste. When I'm just not sure if there will be enough seeds in a packet of what I want, I buy 2 packets. It's only an extra 25 cents -- a small price to pay for insurance that I'll have all the seeds I want to plant this year.

I spent $4 on seeds so far this year. I'll also be buying bush green beans and snow peas at a place like Home Depot. So my total seed expense should come to about $7 to $8. In comparison, in years that I've bought all my seeds at Home Depot, I've spent about $20 to $25 on seeds for the vegetable garden.

If you are interested in this sort of seed deal at a discount store, you'll need to act fast, as their supplies tend to be more limited than nurseries or big box stores. The selection at our local Dollar Tree is picked over by the first of March, every year.

When there is clutter, you cannot see the beauty of what you love

Editing out the clutter

A landscape architect friend of mine kept telling me that I needed to "edit" my flower garden. This is just a very polite way of saying, "girl, you need to WEED!"

Well, I have also come to note that my interior needs editing as well. The weeds inside the house come in the form of clutter. If the definition of a weed is something that pops up where you didn't intend it to be, well, I have many "weeds" in the house.

I am admittedly a clutter-bug. I have so many "things". A good share of my problem is lack of organization. But the other part is not taking the time to "edit" my surroundings.

I have taken on the challenge to edit out what is just so-so, and leave what I truly appreciate.

Case in point, this is my dresser. Ugh! I am so totally embarrassed to even show you. I debated whether or not to just show the "finished" version. But I figured a blog is an excellent place to expose things about myself. I can show you my weaknesses, then either work to improve them, or decide I'll accept myself exactly as I am. A blog gives me the opportunity to stop, and decide how I want to view my life and the people and things within. So, here's the ugly. Hopefully there will be a good as well, and perhaps not a bad at all.

I've been keeping all my nutritional supps on the dresser, to make sure that I take them. The television, I only watch on Sunday evenings, so I could probably find an alternate place to keep it. I have numerous "things" waiting for me to do something with, like a return to a shop, a recipe to go back in files, receipts to log, and general clutter to be put away. Thank goodness I don't have a stale cup of coffee sitting there. Now that would be embarrassing, but not out of the realm of possibility.

Focusing on one small space at a time

I asked myself. . .

What is the purpose of this space?
Which of these things bring me the most joy?
Do my things have space around them, a visual frame, of sorts? How much space is needed for this visual frame?
How have I been displaying items? Are they grouped? Which items should have front and center designation?
What is out that doesn't need to be out? Can I find a place to keep these items, such that will remain functional to me? 

Next, I removed everything from this small space I was working on (my dresser for this one), and laid it all aside. One by one, I selected items, and put them back in an order of importance to me. I didn't follow some interior decorator's advice of placement. I placed items exactly how I liked.

I cleared about 2/3 of the "stuff" from the dresser's top.

What did I leave? A collection of perfume bottles given to me by special people in my life, sitting on a tray that my great aunt gave to me when I became engaged. (I know, she envisioned I'd be serving canapes on that tray, but this works better for my perfume bottle collection.) A comb and mirror that my mom gave to me just before she passed away. Two small paintings done by my grandmother. A crystal tray filled with some bracelets that I wear often, and a couple of hair accessories. My cross. A covered china box that my grandmother and grandfather were given on their marriage. Some silk flowers. A framed poem that my daughter wrote for me. And a small stack of books that I like to refer to for inspiration. In listing it all out, that's actually quite a lot. And it tells me something about myself. I'm a very sentimental person.

That was the easy part, putting back what I love. The hard part was finding homes for the stuff that I still want, but don't wish to have on display.

Gone are the stacks of magazines, papers, supplement bottles, items that had homes but had been left out, coins, a shop bag containing an item to be returned, and miscellaneous other items.

When I had everything that I wanted to have on the dresser, I was left with a large pile of items to sort through. I discovered something, not placing something on the dresser did not mean I didn't want it at all. It simply meant that there are some things best left in a drawer, cabinet or closet. I live by this in my kitchen, so why was this such a difficult task to undertake in the bedroom. It would be silly if I felt I had to have everything on the counter in the kitchen. Shouldn't a dresser top function similarly to a kitchen counter? There's a place for a few select items to be left out while still leaving work space.

It not only looks tidy, now, but the gleam of the wood is visible, which I think is so very pretty.

Over the last month, I have been going around the house, editing our possessions, and finding the right balance of beauty and use.

Editing my life

Editing my life follows a similar format. It's an exercise in thought, deciding where my focus should be. And just like my dresser, there are areas in my life that I want to have center stage. There are areas and commitments that I still have use for, but just don't wish to pursue them as often. And then there are the things, groups, and activities that once had meaning to my life, but I find irrelevant today.

What is the purpose of my life?
Am I living out my purpose?
What events, work, commitments and activities bring me the most joy?
Am I giving these activities some space around them? The down time between events serves not only to rejuvenate, but also to provide a "frame", setting each activity apart from the next.
Which commitments and goals from years past no longer feel relevant to my life today?
If I were to wipe the slate clean, so to speak, which events, work, commitments and activities would I choose to put back, and which would I part with?

I've come to understand that it's okay to let go of what no longer has purpose and meaning. As I get older, my perspective shifts. I no longer value youth and beauty over function and comfort. I don't dress in the hot trends any more. My shoes are comfortable flats most of the time. Who cares is my waistline is no longer smooth.

What is important to me, now, is relationships. I'm afraid that I was careless with a few relationships in my youth. Now, I give my relationships as much of my time as I can.

I continue editing my life, as my needs and desires change. One thing is for certain in life and in belongings, too much clutter keeps me from seeing the true beauty of the people and things that I love.