trying to love spring cleaning

dusty deck furniture

Sometimes getting ready for the warm weather feels like a lot of work. Today I mowed the lawn, which is a new thing for me. I’m more of a inside chore girl, but I really like hanging out with my husband after work and so does my daughter. If I can mow the lawn during the day, that frees up evening and weekend hours for more family time.

I also tried to clear off some of the “prairie dust” from the furniture on the deck. It’s been so unseasonably warm that my daughter has been running through the sprinkler in the afternoons. There’s literally no place to sit that isn’t covered by a gritty layer of this muck. I’m not sure why it settles just on our deck. Maybe the direction of the wind? I battle it all summer long, but let it go during the winter months. I’m sure it’s a mix of great things like ragweed and grass pollen with a little bit of dirt thrown in for good measure.

Now I have a little spot to sit and knit while my daughter runs around outside. There’s still a lot more to be done, but until I know Spring is really here for good (we’ve gotten snow in April before) that’s all I’m doing.

Have you started spring cleaning yet?

rainy days and mondays

Last Monday I planned to take a lot of crafty pictures for the blog. It was the first day after spring break and I was excited to get down to work. Within minutes of dropping my daughter off at school it got very, very, very dark. I couldn’t believe it! Huge storm clouds were rolling in. I was so bummed.

Then I thought: I can still take pictures, just not what I had originally planned. I stayed close to home because I was worried the sky would open up at any minute. I pushed myself discover something new within the familiar sights of the front yard.

Mother Nature didn’t give me a lot of time, but I got a few good shots before heading back inside. I love that little nest!

stormy pictures

stormy pictures

stormy pictures

inspiration and paper cuts

I’m still spring cleaning my creative space. Last night I went through all of my knitting and crochet magazines. I was surprised how much paper I was holding on to for just a handful of patterns. I cut out the ones I liked and bundled up the rest to pass on to my friends at knitting group on Wednesday.

Tonight I’m tackling my inspiration magazines. I rarely tear out pages, but after seeing all of the advertising that is just cluttering things up, I started ripping. How inspirational can all of these beautiful photos really be when they are mixed in with ads for all kinds of uncreative things? I’m cutting out what I love and recycling the rest.

Both of these steps are in addition to thinning out my craft books, which I did a few weeks ago. I put a lot of stuff on swaptree.com and have given some away to friends. My spring cleaning goal is to only have things around my creative space that are inspiring to me.

I know some of you are out there spring cleaning, too. What are you tossing?