Efficient

In the past couple of months, I've hosted bunco, dominoes, and yesterday a bridal shower.  This translates to a cleaning, organizing, tidying frenzy that left me feeling accomplished and satisfied.  Last Friday I cleaned my kitchen windows (no small feat in an older home with storm windows) because that is where I have no curtains or shades.  My house was swept and dusted and I pared down the clutter and knick knacks yet again.  Eventually I'll be down to a chair, a table, and two place settings.  Not really, but still.

I've had some articles come through my Zite app about tiny houses so maybe that's where my incentive originates.  Tiny houses can be 100, 200, 300, etc., square feet (I don't know what the cutoff is) and include living space, a bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen.  The use of space is economical and efficient, and the storage is for essentials, not extra stuff.  I'm fascinated by people's ability to live in tiny spaces, and wonder if I could do it.  I have things that I wouldn't part with but I have an awful lot of stuff that I've accumulated over time.  I also have things I could (should) get rid of because they just take up space.  That's my target and I'm making a little headway.

When R closed up his shop, he brought home tools by the boxful.  It took him several months to get started, but he finally began to go through them and sort them into bins to keep, donate, or offer to the kids.  Today he hauled a fairly large air compressor to a friend's with a large workshop / garage.  It was really too large to use around the house, but would work well for bigger tasks in a larger space.  As often happens with him, it is hard to start these projects but once he does he feels better.  My job is to suggest, remind, encourage, and then flat out nag him to get busy.  If I really want to be efficient, I should just start with the nagging.

He's been working on the yard and has tidied up the back yard to the point where we could start planting things.  We added a new area for shade plants under a tree that was planted after my dad died.  The tree, now quite large, has really dense shade so grass won't grow underneath.  I've pretty much blown my plant budget this year (and then I took a little trip, then I bought a recliner, then we fixed the A/C in his van #poorisme) so it may be a project for next year.  It doesn't matter, at least we're not looking at a yard of dirt and weed beds.

One last thing.  We had a nest in a bush by the front door with a mother cardinal sitting on four eggs.  Yesterday we saw the hatchlings and they couldn't have been more than a day old.  This morning, I thought I'd try to take a photo with my phone and discovered the nest was empty and a little ransacked.  We think a cat may have found it, or maybe a large bird, but it's all over now.

At least it wasn't our cat.