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Little duties, little efforts, the better for being seen by no one, except by Him in whose eyes nothing is little. – a quote I loved from The Secret Diary of Elisabeth Leseur, p.157
What a week! We started with boiling 90-100° weather and ended with a severe thunderstorm downpour. Our area has been in a moderate drought this year, so that rain was so welcome!
Torrie recently shared her minimalism goals and I was super inspired by the way she broke down the areas of her house into tiny sections. I’d like to do another declutter this fall and this was just what I needed to get started. I made my list and began with the school room bookshelves. In just an hour, I had tidied and organized, tossed a ton of used workbooks, and was even able to find 35 items to donate or resell. I felt very accomplished and excited to keep going.
We had another fun week in science. The little boys are learning about rocks and minerals and we dove into this rock and mineral kit. So fun. My fifth grader read a book called The Secret Life of a Snowflake: An Up-Close Look at the Art and Science of Snowflakes, which was so interesting! The author is a scientist who photographs snowflakes under a microscope. Each one is completely unique. We’re already praying for snow this winter, so we can see this for ourselves, ha!
New additions to my mother culture book stack: Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives by Siddharth Kara, The Collapse of Parenting: How We Hurt Our Kids When We Treat Them Like Grown-Ups by Leonard Sax, MD, PhD and The Cortisol Connection: Why Stress Makes You Fat and Ruins Your Health And What You Can Do About It by Shawn Talbott, PhD, FACSM.
Hey, look at that! I’m so glad you found the post useful! 🙂
Also, your list breakdown looks sooooo much cuter than mine because your handwriting basically needs to be made into a computer font <3
Thank you again for the inspiration! I look forward to picking one tiny spot to work on each day and then (of course!) being able to check it off the list, ha!
Oh, I love that Elisabeth Leseur quote; how did I miss adding that one to my quote book? I’ll have to copy it down – so encouraging.
I like the look of that rock and mineral kit. My 2 youngest really like rocks, and that could be fun to do.
About the snowflakes… I’m guessing you’ve heard of Snowflake Bentley, but if not, the book is amazing and inspiring. The book was written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin, and is a lovely picture book that won the Caldecott Medal. Also, Wilson Bentley wrote a book entitled Snow Crystals.
Many blessings on your week,
Melisa
I was just going to mention the 2 books about Snowflake Bentley! The one by him and the picture book about him. I found mine at a thrift store and it is just lovely. He had an interesting but also sort of sad life, I thought.
I have heard about Snowflake Bentley before, but we have never read it. I’m thinking I need to add that to the list for winter! Thank you!
The Sax book is pretty good – I read it last year. He also publishes a newsletter once in a while with links to articles he writes.
I also loved the declutter guide to your home. My notes are usually written on scrap papers and get food and water all over them before I finally toss them in the trash. I did a pretty decent declutter earlier this summer after totally going down a Clutterbug (lady on YT with blog) rabbit hole. I found tons to sell, donate and trash, but I know I missed some things because I have been gathering more bags recently. Fall I think is a good time to go back through drawers, bookcases and cabinets.
I need to check out Clutterbug – sometimes I need that little push to keep going. Thanks for the recommendation!
The kitten has grown! Your mother culture books sound interesting, especially the last one
These pictures! I love all of them. I love your handwriting on your decluttering list (and I am now inspired to write up my own) and your sweet orange kitty! I decluttered our ENTIRE upstairs in August and it feels so good to know that I know what is in very drawer, cupboard and closet. But now I have the downstairs to do, and it’s a little more overwhelming.
I love the rocks (I am a HUGE rock nerd and always joke that in another life I would have been a geologist) and the pics of the snowflakes. Your rainstorm is beautiful. Isn’t life just awe inspiring?
I’m decluttering and organizing at a snail’s pace but it does feel SO good! Breaking the house into tiny sections that I can accomplish in 15-20 minutes has been really helpful in this busy season.