"Homemaking Thursday" : Spring is springing

Ooooh we're *that close* from Spring official start now ... and these last days it really did feel like spring already ! As most of you already know (friends & long time readers), it's strictly forbidden, where we're currently living, to hang your laundry to dry outside on the balcony. (we're on Mickey's territories -Chessy, 35km east of Paris- & I suppose he doesn't want to see my undies ... oooh shocking !) So ... from September to April or May, you're obliged to dry your laundry indoors. We don't have a drier (and never will) so I hang everything (laundry for 4 begins to be quite a nice one already) on the "drying-thingie" (oops, don't know its name in English, sorry), in the living room, next to the heat. But when the sun pops out & that it's reasonably warm outside, like these days between 10am to 02pm, I open the French windows, and gets the drying-thingie as close to them (windows) as I can. And it gets dry a bit faster, with the helpful "hands" of Mister Warm Sun & Mister Spring Wind or Miss Gentle Breeze. ;-)

And who means spring ... also means ... spring cleaning (or spring fever, as you like it !) ... no I've not been cleaning like mad, not at all (even though yesterday was filled almost exclusively with houseworks) but decluttering the whole family's clothes. Phew ... I have removed from the boys' shelves a couple of short sleeves T-shirts, a great -almost new- winter jacket (belonged to U) -will be given to a friend of mine-, I took the summer clothes out of their boxes (not to put them on our shelves, but to list what the boys have/don't have/can be given ...) & removed yet again other clothes. I have also removed from our shelves some very warm (for very cold winters) items, and knitted hats, scarves & mittens/gloves. And of course after that, my mom (on the phone) let me know that next week will be very cold .... aghhhh !! Oh well, I have not removed ALL of our winter clothes !! LOL So now I have a big bag of clothes of all kinds to give to charity, and another one, smaller, but even greater, for a friend of mine. It felt great decluttering like that & I feel I'm not finished yet. Oh, and there were other clothes that I decided to keep in order to ... um ... cut them with my scissors & re-use in crafty projects. Like cushion covers or other things like that.I never did such a thing (decluttering our clothes, that deeply) before, and I have at my parents' tons of clothes that I'll have to sort out (with the same idea in mind ... less is more, and that excedent can become someone else's happiness, and can get a 2nd, or 3rd life !). Oh my goodness there are so many of them ! We have planned with Chris to sort out, one day during our coming vacations in the south, ALL OF OUR STUFF that remained at my/our parents'. (a bit in transit between two moves) Boy it's going to be therapeutic, because 99% of the things we have there have a sentimental value. But life is life & we can NOT move to our new place with everything we have here + everything we have there (at our parents') ! It's not sane, and totally useless I think, to think we'll let all these things there, forever & ever. Things that remain in boxes, unused, are pointless to me. If they are not useful right now, they will never be. (except for baby stuff if you plan to have more !) I think you understand what I mean ... don't you ? (please say yes ! LOL)

Planning for this coming move made us think about saving money, because let's face it, moving costs quite a bunch, and settling in a new place always mean getting some new things, more particularly pieces of furniture. So we've been trying to save a bit these last months, and we treated ourselves this week, with brand new pans from Lagostina . We have an outlet store very nearby, so it would have been stupid not buying them here before moving. (PS : we NEEDED to get high quality, once for all) We are so happy about them !Yesterday I also changed the boys' bed linen, and removed the big, heavy, soft, and ooooh so cozy duvet covers my mom had sewn for the boys this winter. I had one load done yesterday & one is currently working. Boy these things are even heavier once wet ! (my arms still hurt !) So, all in all, I had quite a day filled of housework, and today will start just as busy. Today was predicted to be a huuuge day of strikes over here in France, and the fact is that both Chris & the boys were able to go to work/school. No teacher or express train strike. Weird. So I'm off to wash the dishes, hoover, hang laundry, and then, maybe then I'll have some time to craft, which had been totally zero yesterday. Nothing crafty (for me or the shop, I mean). I wanted to go jogging this afternoon as the weather's good again (though a little chillier) but I have a gigantic pile of clothes to iron, and I can NOT ignore them anymore, so I guess this will be my workout this afternoon. Wish me luck LOL. OK, time for me to leave, you must have fallen asleep on the keyboard by now. WAKE UP !!!!! eheheh. I hope you day is filled with sun, joy & love xoxoxoxo take good care !
PS : I wanted to share a recipe, but I clearly do not have the time. So, I'll prepare this for next week !