Spring and Confessions of a hoarder

I absolutely can't even belive it has been almost 2 months since my last post!!!   Thank you Brenna for the little "SHOVE" to update my blog....even though your SHOVE was a couple weeks ago!!!!   :-)

It is now officially SPRING!!!!  YIPEE!!!!  I LOVE SPRING!!!!  

Here are a few spring pictures from the yard:

New growth and a baby Fig  ( and wonderful Palm Trees)

Blossoms on the Peach Tree

Blue Hybiscus

The best part about Spring is that Mel will be home soon. Soon as in tomorrow!!!! WOO HOO!!!! It has been a long winter, but then again, it has flown by....

My goal for this winter was to downsize a bunch of my fabric, baskets, etc. I would say I have made a dent, quite a large dent, but for anyone who didn't know how much I had, it still looks like I have a TON!!!

I attempted a fabric sale weekend before last - my sewing friends wanted to see what I had before I donated anything. So... I spent a decent amount of time measuring and pricing stuff - I didn't really advertise, just word of mouth and it seemed quite a few people were going to show up.

Here are a couple pics of what the sale looked like:

Baker's Rack full of patterns, kits, books and bolts and some baskets

Table with solids, prints by color and florals

Christmas fabrics and Fat Quarters and a few baskets for sale also

Flannels!!!

A TON of fabrics

In the process of going thru all of this fabric and baskets I came to realize and admit to myself that I was a hoarder!!!!  I say was because I know I am on the other side of it now.   I have such a different life now.  

When you see shows about hoarders you tend to see a house that you can barely walk thru, but that isn't the only way.   I am very organized and methodical about everything I do, so everything was folded just so and put in plastic bins and stacked up nice and neat......I knew there was no way I would ever be able to use up what I had, but I continued to buy and sort and pack away.   I know now it was my way of trying to make myself happy.  I felt good and it was fun to buy, but once I got the stuff home, I was right back to my old unhappy self.    This went on for several years, and during that time I didn't even sew.....not a stitch.  I can't even begin to tell you how good it feels to be going thru all this stuff and getting rid of it.   SIMPLIFY!!!!!

So.... I had everything all set up and Cathy came over to help and we had a whopping total of 5 people show up, that was it!!!!    All that work for ------nada

I was pretty bummed, but I knew I would have fabric left that I would donate, so now it was just a matter of finding organizations that wanted it.   10 days later and I have given away about 75% of it and will put another 20% out on the front porch tomorrow morning for a gal from another local quilt guild.   I have just 1 box left of kids fabrics that I was holding for another organization.   Whew, I will have it all gone by the beginning of next week!!!!

After the flop of a sale, I needed to get some fresh air and regroup.  I decided to play outside in the dirt....that always makes me feel better.    I got my garden planted...... I planted Green Beans, Snow Peas, Snap Peas, 2 kinds of spinach, 2 kinds of lettuce and some cucumbers.    A week later, this is what had popped up:

 

This is lettuce of some kind....seems large for lettuce, but that is what I planted in this area.

If you look closely across the center, you can see the Peas just popping thru....after 7 days!!!

I love this picture - there is a cucumber plant just getting ready to pop thru.

 

I also planted 5 tomato plants:

These I was not going to plant from seed.  At the nursery I found some great varieties.  I have never planted Heirloom Tomatoes, but they had some really fun sounding names.  I got 4 that are small tomatoes like Cherry Tomatoes: one called Banana Legs - long yellow tomatoes   one called isis Candy - they have stripes, An orange colored cherry size and a regular cherry size and then a Roma.   I don't seem to do well with the larger tomatoes so I tend to just plant lots of the little ones.  I thought all these colors would look pretty in a salad.

As I was going thru my pictures to see what to write about, I found that about 99% of my picture for the past 2 months were e-Bay items.   That pretty much sums up what I have been doing for the past 2 months.  I am glad to say I have sold quite a bit of stuff - baskets, sewing notions, quilts that were started and not finished, anything and everything you can think of (including a pair of 4" embroidery scissors for $139.00!!!!)  YEP!!!! Amazing!!!  Some stuff I am pretty much giving away and other stuff I am soo surprised at what I am getting for it.  I still have a ways to go, but I am definitely making progress and earning some $ along the way...

OK, I better get going for now.   I wanted to get an update on here now, because I know when Mel gets home I will be busy and won't have time for another little bit.   I will post more pics of the garden once it gets to where you can see it.   Hee hee

Have a Wonderful SPRING!!!!