July is almost over and looking back at my July 4th post, I can see that while many of you have made great progress toward achieving your goals, my good intentions this month added paving stones to the road to a very warm place.

I've spent a little time on a ladder picking ripe Saskatoon berries from the tall bushes in my yard and freezing them. Have done a little sewing and a lot of child minding, but the clutter hasn't been noticeably reduced yet. I did manage to recycle three small boxes of obsolete computer manuals and teaching guides and to take a small box of miscellaneous items to a thrift store when I was getting the "guest room" ready.

My son got a contract for September to teach in a village two hours away from here. They found a house there and moved about two weeks ago. That meant that children were dropped off on a number of occasions for me to keep occupied while Mom and Dad packed so I couldn't very well work on a declutter project, could I?   Their move prompted me to clean out my "guest room", (aka temporarily relocate items stored there), so the five of them could use it while engaged in the long process of moving during which time they were neither here nor there and had no beds to sleep on at either house. I also would like to give them a "home base" for times when they want to come into town and not have to drive all the way back home again that night.

After deciding I must make removable, washable covers for the comforters and duvets that the family will use when the weather gets colder, I did a sweep through several thrift stores, looking for attractive sheets in good condition. I have two twin bed sized "duvet covers" pinned, ready to sew. I'll need to find two more sheets to make the third cover. I would have had enough sheets, but I fell in love with a sheet covered in small yellow roses and diverted it and it's mate to cover the foam mattress I use to sleep on the floor when the back pain is too bad to sleep on the more flexible bed. While I was looking for sheets I found two queen sized duvet covers in excellent condition, so the parents' bed will be well covered without me having to sew anything for it.

I've set aside two medium sized boxes of "inflatable items" such as beach balls, air mattresses, and tire inner tubes which were used by my son and his brothers many years ago. They all appear to still be usable. I think that someone who just bought a house, about a kilometre from a huge lake, should have them. I'll make sure that the boxes are loaded into our vehicle when we go to view the "new house".

The past couple of days, I've been losing sleep, trying to select photos to get printed, mounted and entered in the photography contest at out local Fall Fair (Aug. 11- 15). I'm entering as many categories as I can, so I'm hopeful that I'll be awarded a ribbon for one of them.

Maybe next month I'll have time to declutter?

rags