Spring, I mean, late summer cleaning

We went to Charlotte last weekend to visit Daniel's family and do some shopping at IKEA and Trader Joe's. Friday was spent with William. We went to the Matthew's farmers market and toured the organic CSA that William is involved with. It was encouraging to see a beautiful, successful organic farm.



Saturday we spent the day at the pool by Gail's house. Here's Ellen and aunt Anna playing in the pool.


Sunday we stopped at IKEA for a new bunk bed for the girls' room. They have been sharing a double bed since we moved to Columbia. They didn't ask for a new bed, but we thought it was a good time to give them their own space. We had quite a fiasco when we got home to Columbia ard realized the box of bed pieces was missing two of the long boards that hold the slats. Daniel had to drive back to Charlotte to get those pieces since IKEA wouldn't ship or deliver them to us. It was quite frustrating, but everyone was calm and collected and we finally got it all assembled on Monday night. The girls were right there with us at every step putting the bed together--reading directions, sorting pieces, holding things, tightening screws, hammering, etc.

Since we were moving the double bed from their room to the office we decided to go ahead and rip up the carpet in those two rooms. There is nice wood flooring in there. That inspired us, or rather forced us, to do some rearranging around the entire house. We moved the office, bedroom, dining room and den around. We now have a guest room where the office was. Daniel and I cleaned out files along with many other things. We loaded up my trunk twice with all the stuff we got rid of. I still have a pile of old carpet and a recliner on my porch waiting for the next load to the dump. Here's a picture of the massive pile of papers Daniel recycled.


It feels so nice and refreshing to clean, organize, and de-clutter the house in this way. I think it's a good thing that we don't have much storage space (no attic or garage). It forces us to get rid of things that we don't need and would probably store if we did have the space.