My dream house: please note the white picket fence
and turquoise shutters!
and turquoise shutters!
Lately I've been having dreams where I find new rooms in my house. I think these are dreams about creativity and possibility more than actual houses. But might they also be dreams about finding unexpected riches in my very real house that seems to me without surprise or enough light?
This summer we've been working on a big decluttering project. I feel like I'm always working on a big decluttering project, but this one has had some real muscle behind it. The Man decluttered his study, and we completely emptied out Will's room to paint it and refurnish it. It's now a whole new room, with a futon couch and orange chevron curtains. Will went through boxes of stuff and threw a lot of it away or sent it to Good Will or the recycling bin.
As a result of the decluttering project, I now have an empty wicker trunk in my front room. Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project and Happier at Home, writes about the importance of having one empty shelf in your house. The wicker trunk is my empty shelf. It feels so good to have a box of empty air where a bunch of papers and old videotapes used to be stored.
The quilt I just finished for my mom--she turns 80 this month!
We are not that far from the end of the summer. The boys start back to school on the 25th. Jack is eager, Will is not. Same old story. I think they've both had good summers. Jack went to an academic camp at Georgia Tech and got himself a (long distance) girlfriend, his first. I'm excited that he gets to be sixteen and in love. And I'm proud of him for not being afraid to fall in love. It's a scary thing, but worth the risk.
Will has been lazy, lazy, lazy. No camps at all. But he has been working on a big multimedia project about college football, which has included keeping a blog. He's done a ton of work on it, and I can't help but wish he'd work this hard for school. But frankly I was the same way. I fed my passions, ignored the rest. It's amazing I ever graduated from any institution of learning, given that I only learned what I wanted to.
One of the best things I've done this summer is go to the Quilt Alliance conference in northern Virginia. Two days of talking about quilts--heaven! The Quilt Alliance has some quilt documentation projects that I hope to contribute to some day. Go here if you want to find out more: http://www.allianceforamericanquilts.org/projects/
The garden is wild and overgrown. The house is decluttered and still messy. I'm dreaming about houses and trying to make mine loveable and liveable. I'm dreaming about fall. What are you dreaming about these days?
4 comments:
I feel like I found an empty shelf this past week since de-stinking an old trunk that I've neglected. It's going to be fun to think about that empty space and what might find its way inside.
I like the quilt you made for your mom. She's a blessed mom.
I'm dreaming about tomato sandwiches. Just the cherry tomatoes are ripe.
Your last paragraph sums it up beautifully for me!!
Sounds like a busy summer with the boys being industrious about areas of life important to them, I.e. Girls and football. All will change quickly to expansive areas of more expanding interests.
Finding more rooms in your house is an exciting thing...you too, finding more rooms to fill with growing activities, more possibilities. Maybe even books to write?
As always, your quilt is a thing of pure beauty. Your mum will be so thrilled!
What am I dreaming about? School holidays that arrive in five weeks. We are half way through our third term, but getting used to working full time after 20 years of being at home or part time is a whole thing. I am so tired. Dh is trying to get well from three weeks of a cold. I am trying to stay well. I have a icky-ish throat and I am dosing up on anti-cold vitamins.
I am dreaming of spring and holidays and housekeepers. How does one go about getting one of those? I have no idea. But this poor ol' house is in desperate need of some love that I can't give it!!!!
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