Chaos!!

  Chaos!!!  My life is in chaos!  If you all have been wondering what I have been doing all summer, I have been trying to bring order to our lives once and for all.  This summer was busy spent in the garden raising a bummer crop of tomatoes! (I had about 5 bushels from only 12 plants.  For me, this is exceptional.)

Not to mention raising cucumber and zucchini and rhubarb and green peppers.  It seems like I was canning for months.  In all honesty, if you add all the time up I think I did can for 3 weeks.  I ended up with 28 pints of cherries, 102 quarts of pickles and 42 quarts and 28 pints of marinara sauce.  I think that should last us for the winter and next summer.  I use the marinara sauce for pizza sauce, in lasagna and on spaghetti etc. 
  Another thing I have been trying to do is go through all of our junk.  For two years, I have not been able to park in our garage.  We had to move furniture, etc into the garage when we had foster kids a few years back and the stuff never got put back where it belongs.  AND more junk got piled on top of it.  My family has a habit of not putting away there things.  So long it is not in their way, then it is fine where ever they drop it.  About 2 months ago, I just couldn't take it anymore.  I was embarrassing for people to come over, you have to walk through our garage to reach our front door.  My husband already has one stall of our two stall garage full of his stuff and now as I am going through the stuff in the other stall I am noticing more and more of my husband's stuff.  On a positive note, I have already taken two pick-up loads to Goodwill and I know I will have at least two more and I have made about $50.00 on miscellaneous items I have sold on an online rummage sale site.  Crazy, I know!!!!
  The next step in this mass decluttering is the downstairs family room and spare bedroom.  I need to do this so the stuff from the garage will fit where it belongs. 
  During all of this chaos, we moved Bug's bedroom from downstairs to upstairs.  Her doctor thought her sleeping downstairs may be part of the reason she is getting sick all the time.  So we had to repaint two rooms, move her bedroom stuff upstairs and the craft room and office stuff downstairs.  It has been non stop going through things!

  I am so ready for all of the junk to be gone!  I have give myself and my family a deadline of being able to park in the garage by Thanksgiving.  I think that is realistic.  Also, the rest of the house hopefully will be done by the end of February, including the tubes and tubes of pictures from my mom's house.  This is one of the hardest parts, finding time with my sister to go through the family pictures and then when we both want one having a copy made.  This is why I am giving myself a little more time!  

  Well, wish me luck!  I am going to need it! 

Love to all,   Sara