Checkin' off Boxes

I'm a planner-organized-check the box kinda gal.  Forms on the first day of school make me smile.  A neatly stacked cabinet or freshly straightened area is happiness.  Tackling to-do lists is my jam.

(Now, please don't think if you stop by my house you'll see perfection.  While I love a clean home, housework is not on my list of faves to do!  Life is too short to scrub toilets and floors every day!)

This past weekend however, we were super productive.  Saturday was packed with accomplishments, for both Tim and me, and with each checking off I felt a sense of contentedness.

With the summer we've had, wish lists and need-to-dos have piled up more than I care to admit.  Whenever I've tried to plan something, life has had a way of turning things upside down.  But, thanks to a healthy dose of energy, we knocked out much of my internal list.  Because school starts in days, this has me breathing a little easier.

I'm not sure why organizing and back to school go to together but they just do.  Last night, Noah and I cleaned out last year's battered backpack and kept what we thought was reusable.  I've definitely passed down my OCD to him, as although the exterior of his bag was well-worn, the inside was immaculate and everything had a spot.  How he's grown from the early days of finding soggy banana peels on top of permission slips shoved deep into the scary bottom of the backpack!

Before he'd made it home, I surprised him by finishing his laundry and organizing the closet.  Dirty clothes is a chore I gladly assigned to him when he hit puberty.  Stinky socks, no matter how much you love them, are not fun to touch.  Plus, I know this is a life skill he will need when he moves away to college, or marries a girl who thanks me for teaching him.  Luckily, everything had been washed, just not put away.  The back-to-school shopping bags from weeks ago were still stacked, waiting to be put on hangers.  So, I helped him out.  In doing so, I quickly discovered this boy has such a collection of T-shirts, he could literally wear a different shirt through the first nine weeks - and then some!

As soon as he entered his room, he made a U-turn and gave me a giant bear hug in gratitude.  That was so worth the hours spent tackling the task.

Tim spent Saturday repairing our deck.  Ten years of sun and weather had worn it down to the point that one of our steps was nearly broken.  It's a blessing that he noticed it before someone's foot found the damage.  He's become quite the handyman the past few years.  Hearing the saw and hammer and watching him work quickly filled my eyes with tears.  When you've seen them down in sickness, normal feels amazing.  I lifted a prayer in thanks for the healing he's had over the summer.  My guy is a doer so I know he felt the same relief and praise for a day's hard work.

Lots accomplished, yet I still went to bed with dishes in the sink.  Guess it gave the ants something to do...I'm a sharer like that!

Outside My Window

Simple things bring me joy.  Sometimes simple, random things.  Like windows.  This week, windows have brought me a tremendous amount of joy.

One of my favorite things about spring is that you get to open your windows and let the breeze come in.  There's just nothing better than a cool, sweet breeze drifting through your house.  All the sounds of the season carry in with the wind, like children riding their bikes, singing birds and wind chimes.  I feel that, as the breeze whips through the window and across my floors, it awakens the house.  Spring winds wipe the sleep out of the eyes of my home.  Winter is swept away at once.

As well, going to sleep with your bedroom windows open is like camping from the comforts of your bed.  You get the scents from the evening winds and the sounds of the crickets chirping, but without sleeping on rocks and dirt.  And, without having to pack, unpack, and put together a tent!

The best part of all is that I can open my windows now without worrying about bugs and any other critters making their way in.  You see, new screens have been on my honey-do list for a long, long time.  We're talking years.  To a man, I guess they just don't seem as important. A window is a window is a window?  Or, as busy as my hubby is, he just didn't prioritize that as a high need on ever growing list of things to do.  Either way, every season I'd hint and every season it wouldn't happen.  This year, it did!  Tim spent most of the afternoon Sunday putting them together.

I took pictures. 

He laughed and called me silly.

It was a happy moment and I wanted to share!

Last but not least, I'll leave you with a toe-tapping little diddy we heard on Positively GAC...

called appropriately, "Outside my window"

Happy Spring!  Let the sunshine in!