New Exercise Idea--Do Some Farm Work

My SIL, DD and DH got some good exercise yesterday at the farm:

Exercising on the Farm--Racing Against the Rain Clouds

Mom and Pop Organizational Methods

On a trip to Charlottesville to pick up a piece of furniture our friends treated us to a de-lish lunch.  The hostess, knowing my love of organization, excitedly showed me her spice drawer:

If you look closely you'll see that anise is at the top left and the lower right spice might be tarragon.  Yep, they're arranged alphabetically.  Go Sheila!

To be fair to her engineer husband, who was born with the D for Detail gene type, I'm including a photo of a section of his shop:

Please notice that the C-clamps are all oriented in the same direction.  Go Bill!

Big Beauty

We have a canal walk in Richmond and it is being developed more and more over time.  Went to a restaurant near the canal walk with a gaggle of girlfriends for lunch today and was delighted to see this enormous mural, by Ed Trask, painted on one of the flood wall panels.  Beauty all around, and it was big.

Don't Be a Scaredy Cat

Walking around Lexington, VA with a good girlfriend on Friday was glorious--warm temps but not humid, bunches of fine arts/crafts shops (favorite:  Artists in Cahoots ) and a creative spot for lunch (Blue Sky Bakery) right on the edge of the Washington and Lee campus.  We were too early for the First Fridays Art Gallery walk and wine tasting event but it was a treat to visit so many open galleries.

Driving south on Route 11 to Buchanan was beautiful and we easily found the swinging bridge there.

After the initial trepidation of entering via that awkward slope, it was delightful and only a little "swayie" but not really swinging.  Once we arrived on the far side we were treated to a passing train only 30' or so away. Great tootin' horn and rumbling on the tracks.

 Via the public boat launch and nearby water outfitters there were lots of ways to enjoy the James River.

What's Not to Love?

 Rhennie was sitting on the top shelf in the closet we recently attacked, waiting for someone to love on her.  Closet Rescue True to form, my DD wasn't interested in keeping her so we quickly looked up comparable solds on Ebay and learned we could only sell her for very little.  What to do?

An all-call to friends on Facebook did not yield immediate requests to adopt her, so I started thinking about a new neighbor's granddaughter--she has flaxen blond hair and might love to have her.  I almost called my neighbor and then the answer came via Facebook--my good friend for 20+ years had a 6 yo granddaughter visiting her and might like to have Rhennie.  My hopes were high.

Sure enough, the little sweetie adored Rhennie from first hug.  Happy Success!  But, there was a bonus.  She was just the right size for the purple unicorn Halloween costume my mom had made about 25 yrs ago and she has a younger brother would might love the green dinosaur costume my mom made for my DS at the same time.  Super success!  It's so much fun to give stuff away, especially with happy endings like this.

Washing Windows--Terror on the Rungs

When I work in the garden and come across a spider or ugly critter it's easy to scoot away.  The fact that I wear gardening gloves also makes me braver.

But, when I'm up on the ladder washing windows and the spiders are dangling over me and the hornet scout is checking me out with a fearsome buzzing, there are only two choices--develop some nerve or jump off the ladder.  Good thing I just have a one-story house.

Closet Rescue and Repurpose

When we had overnight guests two weekends ago I was very afraid that they would accidentally open the closet doors in their bedrooms and see the messes inside.  To me, the inside of my purse and the inside of my closets tell the true story of what life is like inside my brain--confused, over-sentimental and slow to make decisions.

My DD made an appointment with me to help me clean out the closet in her old bedroom and yesterday we worked for 2+ hours on that one space.  Very little of the items inside were hers but I still felt like I needed her "permission" to let go of some things, since they had been handed down by family or dear friends.

Good thing she and my DS aren't the least bit attached to family stuff; we ended up filling up the entire back of my little car with bags to take to the thrift shop and I made sure to run them over today.  What a relief.

This afternoon I transferred sewing materials and a few other items from the master BR to this closet, so it's full again.  The closets are playing leapfrog since I'm moving some items from one space to another in order to combine similar things.  After cleaning out the master BR closet this afternoon my car is filled to the brim again, ready for the thrift store run, and includes a package labeled, "Jeans for making quilt--2003."  So sad.