Back to School

This summer has been the best summer I've had in ages.  It was one of those summers where I basically had one goal.  That goal was to declutter, organize & clean my house, have a yard sale in August and go camping a time or two.  Other than those things, nothing else was planned (a few appointments & family gatherings... but that was it). 

I started really decluttering late this past fall-early winter.  I had cleaned out toys upon toys from the Lego King's bedroom and stored them in our shed.  Plus, I had been decluttering odds & ends around the house & storing them out in the shed too.  By spring I had a HUGE pile.  I talked with King Turd of Poop Mountain about just loading up our trailer & getting rid of all the stuff or should I have a yard sale.  And which would be better - the tax write-off or the money from the yard sale?  He said that it would probably be better, since I had so much stuff, to just go ahead and have the yard sale, THEN take the leftover stuff to the Salvation Army.  So that's what we ended up doing.  Funny thing about that yard sale.... I had so much stuff, I had numerous people ask 'Is this a multi-family yard sale?'  OR  they said, 'This can't be all YOUR stuff, can it?'  ummmm.... yup...

Another thing about that decluttering process thing?  I've read a couple of different ways to do it.  I just had to do it fast.  To think about every little thing & think 'Do I love it?  Do I wear it?  Do I this or that with it?'.... too much for my brain to handle (remember, I've had three children - it tends to rot the brain cells)... it was overwhelming.  So what I did was just go through each room & get rid of things that were easy to get rid of.  Things that we'd outgrown as a family.  Things that we didn't like, didn't use, didn't work.  I know that had I gone through each room like that, I would have had tons more stuff (probably a whole 'nother household!).  I also know that I wouldn't have gotten rid of much of the easy stuff - because I wouldn't have had the time to get to it and my goal for the summer was to have that yard sale in August.

Two days ago the shower guy came.  I thought I'd have to clear out the cupboard at the end of the tub so he could install the shower.  Nope, didn't need to do that.  Oh well.  It gave me the opportunity to declutter the bathroom closet - again.  The bathroom was one of the very first decluttering projects I did.  So he's working away & I had all this stuff spread all over my kitchen table.  I got rid of a WHOLE garbage bag!!  Good Lord!  Where did all of that stuff come from?  I mean it hasn't even been a whole year!!  I realized as I was re-decluttering, that I could be tougher-ruthless... I had detached... which is a good thing.   To celebrate the Princess & I went to the Dollar Store & I got some bins to use.  I had a bunch of different baskets in there that worked, but took up alot of room (they were angled baskets & they had handles, so they wouldn't stack), there is almost a whole shelf now without anything on it!

Yesterday was my first day back to school.  I found out I have three classes with the Lego King.  He's totally thrilled... hahahahhahahhaaa - oh I just quack myself up.... hahahahahhaahahaa.  It will be a good year, a sad year too.  The teacher that I work closely with - my mentor - will be retiring.  He said yesterday - 'Today is my last 'first day' of school!'

Today we had the 'new to us' pool put in.  When our neighbors moved, they left their pool.  Just recently at their new home, they had a new pool put in.  I got a message from my friend asking if we'd like to have their old pool & deck - they'd give it to us!!!  Would we!!  That was a whole conversation in July!!  Should we keep the camper or sell it & get a pool.  We ended up keeping the camper AND we got a pool.  It was still in good shape - we just needed a new liner and we found some guys who tore it down (across the road) and put it up in our backyard.  Woo hoo!  The down side is that we won't be using it this fall - we'll be closing it up for the winter and opening it next spring.  Any pool tips would be helpful.... lol

This weekend will be spent doing last minute getting ready for school things.... some family time... and relaxing before the exhaustion from the first week of school sets in.

Have a Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Bye!  Love you!  Have a good day, Dear!