Weekly cleaning projects

My focus this week was in two areas.  The first was fall yard work.  While the kids played outside at the beginning of the week I cleaned out flower pots and planters and cut down dying perennials like peonies and lots of hostas.  I also tried out the vacuum/mulch function of our new leaf blower to try and make a dent in the leaf piles.  I actually really enjoy yard work of any kind.  However, for some reason it's always hard for me to pull out still-green plants from pots and dump them.  I feel like I'm cruelly cutting their life short or something.  As if letting them die a slow, painful death from the cold is any more humane.  I guess I'm just weird like that.  Anyway, Austin took the day off of work today to finish raking and hauling away all the leaf piles I and the wind had created over the last couple weeks.  I think it took 6-7 trips to the yard waste dump with the truck.

My second focus was my new reading corner in the basement.  As I mentioned before, I plan on spending a lot of time down there this winter with the kids.  While there are hours and hours worth of cleaning and organizing projects staring at me (including at least five boxes of stuff that still have not been unpacked from the move), I decided to start with a place to relax.  The book shelves were already set up down there.  I just brought in a reclining lounge chair from the deck, the basket of newspapers from upstairs and added a great little end table/floor lamp I found at Goodwill this week to hold my water bottle and a box of Kleenex.  What more could you ask for?