Feelin' froggy...er...Toady.

Like Mr.Toad, one of my all-time favorite literary characters, I tend to get ideas that quickly turn into a new mania.  I can't sleep or sit still until I've made happen whatever it is that I want to come to fruition.

I promised my boys new bedrooms "after Christmas".  This meant as soon as things settled down and I start spring cleaning and don't stop until...maybe...July.  I had intended to be finished repainting and decorating by now, but there was so much clutter to deal with first that after I spent days going through every thing they own and let them decide what they wanted to keep and what they felt they could part with, I was too exhausted to even think about painting. 

As a military family, even though through most of my husband's enlistment we were childless, I grew used to going through all of our possessions and keeping them fairly minimized as a result of frequent moving.  I loved moving time (decluttering time) for this reason.  Now that we have been settled in our own home and have been at the same residence for over five years, I get a little antsy.  I have to do "pretend moves" every once in a while just to keep up with what we have and donate what we don't need.  Sometimes I look around and wonder when the next move will be, almost wishing for it.  For someone who used to freak out about the smallest life change, this need to turn everything on its head still amazes me.

Well, the boys' rooms were so cluttered that I told them that I would only buy paint for their rooms when they have stayed uncluttered for a month.  They have really been staying on top of it.  Nothing like a little motivation and a big reward to keep kids on track.  But, honestly, I wasn't trying to motivate them at all.  I just refuse to do all of that work and then have my heart broken to walk back in and see it cluttered up again.

So while I wait for weather warm enough to garden outdoors and the four weeks of cleanliness to pass, my head is spinning with ideas.  That always happens this time of year, but with a newly structured meadow area, thanks to the new septic system which was massive, that is all that I have left of our old grape arbor and terraced garden bed that was original to the farm, I've spent the fall and winter waiting to work on that part of the land.  My ideas have run rampant and have now spread to inside the house.

A little idea my husband had a few months ago has lodged itself into my brain like a tick on a hound dog and I just can't seem to shake it.  So I'm taking my spring cleaning a little further and converting our lesson room, which adjoins the kitchen, into a breakfast nook.  Have I mentioned what a genius my husband is?

When the boys and I started looking around the lesson room, we realized we use one file cabinet drawer, the computer/printers, the closet that's in the corner of the room, two hanging file boxes, and two small cork boards with attached calendars to do our lessons.   Do we really need a whole room for that?  Nope, not now that they are older.  They do all their work at the kitchen table, anyway.  We might as well put the table they use in the room they use.

I'm very excited!!  It's the sunniest room in the house.  My food pics. will look so much better taken in all that natural light and I can grow herbs in the windowsill without worrying about spilling water on the electronics which are below the sill now.  I can just see it painted Coke bottle green to match the kitchen or all on its own in sunny yellow with our red and white chrome legged 1950s kitchen table with red vinyl chairs; my father's old utility shelf that he gave me when he moved out of the Victorian home he'd always intended to open as an inn.

We will sit eating our breakfast watching Mr. and Mrs. Bickerson quacking away on the other side of the glass; hear from the lunch table our chickens laying fresh eggs.

The kitchen will get a slight makeover, as well.   A doorway that goes from it to what will be the breakfast nook will be removed and where the range is now, the wall will be cut out to make a pass through.

A gas range will eventually be located in another part of the room.

The room that will be the breakfast nook has plain plywood ceilings painted white right now, but years ago, by looking at the edges where a careless homeowner had left it unfinished, I noticed that there is bead board underneath...the real thing.  I can't wait to take my hammer claw to a section of plywood to see what condition the original bead board is in.  I figure if it's in bad shape I'll just nail the plywood back up and pretend the old wood is not there.

So, enough jabbering.  I have lots of work to do!  I'll betcha dinner will be served in that room tonight.  Once I get going there's no stopping me.  I have to sleep, after all.  Wish me luck.  I have broken two fingers with a hammer on two different occasions, so really...wish me luck.  :)