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| This one is a bit random but had to show Grammie his newest favorite way to look out the window. Silly mommy that did not figure out he would do THIS when she "reorganized" the children's bedroom this week. |
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| Not sure how or why, but this little man does have a way of keeping his mother in constant state of near heart attacks. |
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| My refridgerator could look like this... |
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| But in reality, looks like this. One day while especially frustrated with the constant state of mess in our tiny apartment, I wanted to clean OFF/OUT EVERYTHING. When I looked at my fridge, my heart did flip flops. I could not do it. This "mess" represents hours of drawing by my little lady girl and she LOVES that they are displayed on my fridge for me to see "everything I open the door!" Some neatness and order are just not worth it. |
As you know, my man started work again in April, PRAISE THE LORD! God has been so gracious to us and we just have to worship Him for taking such good care of us. After seven long months of no income, the two of us found ourselves staring at a rather daunting list of needs to prioritize. Like, where does one start? Work shoes for the man who walks several kilometers a day to get to and from work, winter clothes for the woman is always freezing in the SP winters and winter quickly approaching, a new bed as ours has springs literally poking through the sides now? Clothes and shoes for two rapidly growing children?
As we talked and prayed and talked some more, the deep desire to buy a bigger house kept coming up. But the reality was quickly recognized as humanly impossible today. Property prices are greatly inflated in SP right now and continue to skyrocket. On the contrary, our itsy, bitsy apartment is paid off. The end of that story is we are both completely at peace to stay put. For now. So I started my list, room by room, of a few things I thought would help us stay put and not lose our minds at the same time!
After researching the tiny house movement several weeks back, I came to the realization that we don't need
more space, we need to organize and utilize the space we
have. So, I made the suggestion that maybe we should just invest in a few items in this place and simply get organized better.
As everything to do with furniture or organizing is outrageously expensive in SP (actually just
everything is expensive here), I decided to start with organizing boxes. I dearly love organizing boxes and are pretty sure they can solve many of life's problems!
So, here is what I have accomplished in the 10 days since our return from California!
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| BEFORE of the children's middle section of their closet. |
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| AFTER: I had Everson remove the sliding mirror as the boxes I brought from the US were too long. Opps for not measuring the depth of the compartments! But might I say I am THRILLED with this project? The two top boxes house my scrapbooking and card making supplies while the colored ones below are the children's toys all neatly organized and divided up by category. Now, we are working on the concept of getting one box down at a time and putting it back before getting another out to play with! |
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| Project #2. I was SICK to death of opening up this main cupboard in my kitchen and having stuff fall out at my feet every.single.time. This is my tupperware, pans, oil/vinegar, blender, mini food processor, cleaning supplies cupboard all rolled into one highly ineffective space. Yes, notice that my plastic ware is in plastic bags. They had actually been in a way-too-small plastic container but that got broke months ago. NOT GOOD. |
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| Yesterday I bought FOUR boxes and came home way happier than any woman should be about boxes! This cupboard now only houses my pots and pans, blender, processor, hand mixer, oil/vinegar/salt and one small plastic with sponges, etc for dishes. |
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| And until we can purchase another piece of furniture for under the kitchen window, my plasticware has been banished to the space underneath the cabinets! But it is easily accessible and it.all.fits.in.there and so I am pleased. |
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| Project #3: Big bummer I don't have BEFORE pictures of the children's room and this right end of the closet. Actually maybe it is better to just forget what it was like. All I will say is when the closet doors were slid open, all manner of shoes, sandals, slippers and rollerblades fell out at one's feet and it.was.highly.irritating. They all had to be thrown back in in order to get to the other parts of the closet so it was a source of fussing between the little lady and I...nearly every.single.day. NOT GOOD. |
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| We obviously need another box but these two made a huge difference, as well as getting rid of all that no longer fit! This part of the closet houses the children's hang up clothes, Chloe's shoes and my vacuum. |
Just these seemingly small improvements have made a huge difference in how I feel about my home. I feel we can actually open closets and cupboards and walk around the house without stubbing our toes, stepping on items falling out at our feet or worse, on our heads! Here's to organizing. I HEART it!
We woke up this morning and made a very sponteneous decision to take the children on an outing. After checking out the weather forecast of 50/50 chance of rain, we decided to go the Sao Paulo Aquarium. Wonderful idea...except every other parent in the city had the same idea as we did. We shared a very small location with literally HUNDREDS of Sao Paulans, but had a wonderful time this wet, dreary, cold morning.
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| Trying to show how FULL the place was. At one point I nearly had a claustrophic panic attack. Only in SP! |
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| Our family selfie! |
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| My two little captains! |
This weekend we are just enjoying family time. No deadlines, no set plans, nothing that
has to be done. A true treat. We are most blessed! May your weekend be as delightful and full of just loving on those you love.
Just feeling content,
Jama
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