A New Series....

This blog is almost two years old. With each passing year, I take a lot of time to reflect on this space, whether to continue to use it or to be done with it. Actually, these thoughts don't just come to the forefront of my mind in the Fall, but often throughout the year: is it time to wrap it up or keep going? My blog is often quieter during these reflective times.

But when I prayerfully make the decision to continue on with it, I usually then embark on a new series of some sort. That is how the Book Talk came to be, as well as my series of Adoption and Infertility posts.

I have also done photo series, changing it up every Fall. The first year, it was Monthly Learnings, a post filled with pictures of the done month, which shows what we've all learned in those 30+ days. After a year of that, I started P.H.F.R.T.L. (I looked back and saw that my last PHFRTL post was in June. Oops.)

Anyway, seeing as another year has almost passed, I would like to start a new series called Before and After, using mostly pictures. How did I come up with this?

Well, it all started a few weeks ago, looking at the clutter in my house. I had a dear friend over, and I was explaining to her that I have a few hotspots that I just wish I could get rid of but I don't always know how to start. She stood up and said "Which spot bothers you the most? We are going to tackle it right now." And so, with her help, we tackled a cupboard and counter that just seems to collect every piece of paper, toy, paper clip, sticker, nail, light bulb, paint swatch, pen lid, scissor, "beautiful" craft, screw driver, keys, charger for this, charger for that......well, I think you get the idea. :o)

It took all of half an hour and I was left with a beautiful-cleaned up-everything-in-its-place (i.e. garbage or into Nathan's tool chest in the garage) -organized and very usable space again. And let me tell you, it felt good!! And left me with "Why didn't I do this earlier?!"

The unfortunate thing though was I never took a Before and then an After picture of it. But *that* is how this idea came to be. And since then, I've been snapping lots of Before and Afters. And while doing this has kept me motivated to get things done in the cleaning department, I am not limiting it to just that. So you'll have to stay tuned to see what I mean.

For now, I will leave you with a Before and After of my sliding door. As you can see in the Before picture, it kind of needed a cleaning. I never tackled it all summer long for obvious reasons. It would be like that saying that I am sure you've read before: cleaning your house with kids around is like brushing your teeth with Oreo cookies. That's right - useless.

And now the After.....drum roll, please.....

Aaaaaaand, proof of why I chose not to touch them all summer long:

I'll be honest - while I love that I now have an unobstructed view of my beautiful backyard, I am missing the intricate little designs the shadows made on my floor from the sun shining through my dirty windows. Good thing I didn't have to wait too long for those shadows to start showing up again :o)