So time to take a little bit of a gander at what I’ve found in the month just past.

Wondering why I do that ??  Well this post will fill you in a bit but really its because like most of you I love a good find – whether its a good book, a good basket, a burst of colour in my garden, the gift of a few minutes to write or think straight or a post thats grabbed me.  Anything that helps me do home or life better –  well it might just get a mention here.

So lots of little finds for sweet September.

At The Shops

Bit of a storage and organisation theme happening when it came to op shop and store finds. Maybe its spring that’s got me tidying up and throwing out and getting things all put away and clutter free –  who knows but it was  a month all about throwing stuff in things and I must say the house looks all the better for it. These two pots and my kids dropping  the most amazing array of items on the kitchen bench every day got me started.

Pens & pencils, toys, hair ties, loose change, batteries, Nintendo’s, sunglasses, lollies, lip gloss – I could easy go on. My solution  was to throw “all the things” into these two pots sitting close by on the end of my desk. Bought them with every intention of putting plants in them but this was a more pressing need. Worked a treat.   Everything easy to find when they want it and a clean kitchen bench in a jiffy.

Lets call it “casual” storage at its finest (and on a budget). Heres a rundown:

• Cute as a button yellow and white pot $1.00 from Target good for loose change
• Gold planter from the Reject Shop  for $7 that as said I use as a hold all because it’s a really good handy size to throw odds and ends in.
• Vintage yellow Tupperware in perfect condition at the kids school fete thrift stall for $2 each.
• Red basket tray /random paper file from the op shop for 50c .
• White cane basket from Freedom Furniture that I’ve had for a while but only just found the right purpose and place for. Less sturdy than my usual basket finds but a whole lot pretty – its now corralling the towels in handy reach of the bathroom.
• Wire basket from Kmart for $9 – a place for all the  lounge cushions to go apart from the floor when not propping up someones head or back. I don’t get why they can’t stay on the lounge but they  just never do.

 

Got any spring time/fall time organisation going on at your place?

So to other not so practical finds:

Found this little landscape at the school fete.  I always seem to be on the look out for a pretty landscape – beautifully executed ones yes  but I tend to like the ones that look a little bit “home done” too, a bit imperfect like someone was having a practice. Every now and then one will jump out and come home to live at my place for a bit. A way of me saying “I know your not a Rembrandt, not even close but your still lovely, your still inspiring, you  still have something to say so just go ahead and be you”. I don’t say it out loud or directly to the painting so I think we’re OK there. So this is one of those – I like her soft colours and lines  –  sitting on my desk at the moment, giving me something peaceful to stare at while the words percolate.

In My Inbox

Some AWESOME  posts

Why We Must Not Stop Grieving by Christie Purifoy

Loved this post which explains why I want to cry buckets  when I look at my kids baby photos.

And this post  from a woman who writes like no other

When You Fell a Bit Busted and Old: The Traumatic Disorder of Everyday Life by Ann Voskamp

This one hit every nerve and more than once. A great read.

On My iPad

Roots and Sky ~ A Journey Home in Four Seasons by Christie Purifoy  – no words for how much I loved reading this book so I’ll use someone else’s.

” I have been terrified of hope. Because if hope disappoints, does that mean that God is also a disappointment? Christie reminds us that hope like dreams, is made of stronger stuff. She invites us into a year of her life lived in real time in an old Pennsylvanian farmhouse, choc full of hope and decay, promise and weeds, work and wonder” Lisa Jo Baker 

Not too far in I found a paragraph that was a relief to read. Not so much inspirational words but real words that summed up entirely the frustration I  felt for so long  living in what felt like like a broken down, busted up house especially in the early years and no end in sight. The  frustration too of feeling like everything –  EVERYTHING – was working against me trying to make something lovely of this pile of bricks and mortar.  A feeling that almost stopped me writing a blog about making home when my own home  felt and still does at times like its limping, with too many frayed edges, with too much  undone and worn out and a limited capacity to set it all to right.  – – –

This was the paragraph.

We live so much of our lives with our hands tied behind our backs. With everything to do – more than we can possibly accomplish in one day – we are yet further hampered by illness, tiredness, a lack of money or time. This seems true even on good days. With twenty four hours in a day, how many must we devote to unproductive necessities like sleeping? Eating? Not to mention shopping for food or washing sheets or changing endless diapers. Some days we have more freedom than others but we are always, to some degree hemmed in by weakness, by need, by lack or by loss. We are hungry and needy as new born babies. we fool ourselves if we imagine anything else to be true. Roots and Sky Page 36

And then this:

This house is deteriorating. My body is dying. We are subject to the same terrible decay. But worth is not measured in such terms. Once upon a time, God called his creation good. And no curse of sin unwound those words. Gnarled maple trees. Plaster walls. An ordinary women’s ordinary body. All good. To care for these is to say to death, “You are not the end” Roots and Sky Page 54

Magic words. That’s right hope is made of stronger stuff. It remains, it flows relentless and regardless.  It keeps me looking for the good and God breathed and lovely even on the grittiest most ordinary of days and even while the gutters hang rusty and with the back fence caving in.

On My Phone

Along similar lines – this Instagram feed  @shannanwrites

Oh my, I love how this lady views life.  Her photos are of such ordinary things – sidewalks and streetscapes and swing sets – the things she sees as she walks her kids to school. A fellow lover of derelict houses as well. If you feel like your life is a little left of centre too than you’ll find a kind companion in Shannan.

You can take a peek at her Instagram feed here and her blog here

Found out this too:

Screen Shots are my favourite

What I realised putting this post together is how much I love and use screen shots  to capture info that I want to remember – things to read, podcasts to listen to, quotes I want to refer back to, recipes I want to try, rooms  that I love.  The reason it works for me – it’s incredibly simple – requires only a press of two fingers and its all nicely saved and stored. Anything more  complicated and I’m a goner.

Heres a sample.

So thats my finds for September. Any finds your way? Would love to hear

Big love and blessings from my  home to yours

Tracey xx

Linking up with Coffee and Conversation, Works For Me Wednesday, Inspire Me Monday Link Party