Ch- ch- ch- changes

I've mentioned before that I feel I am in an in-between time right now with children having switched to learning via dual enrollment and my role becoming rather miniscule. Earlier this week as I was working in my studio, I looked around me at the hundreds of books that we used for homeschooling and stored in my studio and realized that I could close that aspect of my life. While the memories are all very good memories, the sheer weight of it all was becoming a bit much. I didn't want to be surrounded by it all all the time anymore. Plus, I could use the space. 

On Friday I began the process of moving books off of shelves, made a huge mess in the middle of my studio, became overwhelmed, and left it. At that moment I didn't really know if I could physically or emotionally tackle such a daunting task. J. offered to help and we came up with a game plan which involved tackling every bookcase on the second floor, both in the studio and out. By the end of the day, we had sorted and moved all the books and shelves and all that was left was putting some odds and ends away. It was a huge task and it feels so good to have it done. 

We emptied and moved out four bookcases, moved moved five bookcases out of the studio, and put a lot of books in boxes. Here is the studio now. (If you can't remember the before, just picture each of those walls with completely filled floor to nearly ceiling bookshelves. 



I am thrilled with it. (Okay, I'm not really thrilled with the lavender walls, but that's a project for another day. Let it also be an object lesson for you that you should paint the walls of your new house before your furniture arrives. Because even though you will have the best of intentions to paint later, you won't.) It feels so open and light and I can move around it so much easier. 

And those books? Well that was the conundrum. Our solution was to put them all in our front porch (there's no rain in the forecast) and invite people from area homeschooling groups to come and "shop". I would love for them to go to other families who can use them. Whatever is left after a week or so we will donate to a local library's used book sale. 


This is just a fraction of what's out there. If you want to come shop, send me a message. 

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