Getting Started

Today is the day to clean out the garage and start getting some of the chaos organized.  The eventual goals of today's tasks include:

• A large garage sale at the end of the summer
• Bringing up the workbench from the basement and putting it in the garage
• Putting the file cabinet from the garage into the basement
• Repairing and painting the garage walls (and floor!)
• Hanging shelves on the garage wall to organize seldom needed items like empty canning jars, unused rolls of paper towels, etc. 
• Installing sturdy storage shelving in the basement storeroom
• Having the basement store room organized and functional
• Being able to park my car in the garage this winter

It's a case of needing to do one thing, before another can be done.  In this case, there is an enormous stack of EMPTY boxes ~ the nice banker type boxes, that for what-ever reason, I couldn't seem to get rid of.  They take up nearly one quarter of the garage.  Then there is also a good stack of other brown corrugated packing boxes that I've emptied that need dealt with too.  That's where we'll start today. 

My youngest son is coming to help me.  I need the moral support.  That has to do with the enormous (2 1/2" diameter!) spider I found lurking in the garage last week.  I think that spraying the garage for spiders is another task to be completed today! 

Before... 

and After...
Looks a bit better, though there is still lots to do.  that pile on the right is for garage sale. Should see even more progress tomorrow as we get some shelves up on the wall and organize some of the junk in the back. 

Starting Anew

A long time has passed since I last updated this blog.  It has sat here for 6 years, testament to my time in nursing school and getting my first nursing job.  For a while, I wanted to share my idyllic view of my dream world, but nothing ever came of that and instead I focused on my other blogs where I have shared my home, my art and stitching, as well as my travels.   Through it all, I've longed for a place to share my faith, my frustrations, my hope, my struggles ~ and yes, even my dreams.

Now I've come back to Rosebud Cottage to record my journey to a simpler life.

When I was in England during the summer of 2012, I wrote the following:

This trip has changed me.  Changed my expectation of what I want in life - though I was already headed in that direction - it sped it up.  I don't want such a busy life that I don't have time to pause and reflect daily.  I've loved  this time with my journal.  I've loved the time to walk daily, to spend time with people, to have the flexibility to decide on a whim what to do.  I want to live simply, surrounded by a few things I love but not weighed down with the excess.  Enough to be content and happy, little enough not to be a burden.  I need to watch the books!  Too easy to accumulate in large numbers.  I need to refocus on painting - watercolors and oil - and less of the fabric arts.  They don't stand the test of time... sadly.  And worship - privately, publicly - a day to day life of living God's peace and spreading His glory.   

A year later, I still feel the same.

There is much to share in the coming days about this journey.  It is my prayer that God the Father will have his hand on the journey, that his word will guide and encourage, that I and all who join with me in the journey will find their life enriched as the great Glory of God is shared.

postscript:
While the focus of this blog has shifted, I have left the original posts about my journey through nursing school.  It was time of tremendous faith growth for me and some may find it helpful to read through that journey.