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keeping busy

I would LOVE to know what you all are doing to keep busy while staying at home. On March 13, four days before I closed my business and ten days before our Arizona governor mandated a shutdown, I posted this on my personal Facebook page:

Now, when I said I’d wear face masks all day, I didn’t mean or even imagine the ones we are now wearing when out in public. I meant the moisturizing type. I wasn’t as smart as it might seem when I predicted a run on face-masks. But I have been doing all those other things, including returning to this blog, obviously.

First on my “to-do list” – I took my time and spent three days cleaning out my garage.

The photo above is the before and the photo below is the after. You may not see a big difference, but trust me, the difference is huge!

When I pull my car in, I can actually get out on the driver’s side without tripping and squeezing around ladders, ice chests, storage bins, and a bike.

I spent another day cleaning out the garage refrigerator/freezer. It was nearly impossible to take a before photo since things would fall out when the doors were opened. I brought bags and boxes of chocolates, baking candies, and a dozen different varieties of flours to my niece, Raina, the baking goddess. Now the bottom drawer of the refrigerator holds plenty of flour, cornmeal, and the like. The drawer above that holds chocolates, the next shelf has more flours and nuts and the remaining shelves hold additional baking items, water, sparkling water, and beer. As for the freezer -you’ll find the usual items like meats and soups plus a whole bunch of Harmony Boards ice packs and loaves of bread that are used as props for grazing tables. The point is, it’s cleaned and organized, so YAY!

The next cleaning adventure was the Harmony Boards shed. Oh my! This should have been the first project because …. oh my! Above is before. Below is the after.

The ability to open the door and actually walk in and be able to walk around the center island – well it makes me ecstatic. I am so grateful to have gotten this done before the temperatures rise.

Once my outside projects were done, it was time to focus on the inside. These cubbies hold wine and spirits. You’ll have to trust me when I say that I don’t have a problem. Anyhow, this area didn’t need to be organized much, but it desperately needed to be cleaned. It is a dust collector if there ever was one.

All of the bottles came out and were wiped down. The cubbies were wiped out and these great magnetic lights from Costco were put in before the bottles were replaced.

Life is so much more pleasant with clean bottles of alcohol! I’ll continue tomorrow with my home projects. In the meantime, I’d love to know how you are keeping busy. If you’ll send me before/after photos and/or stories, I’ll share them here, it’s great to see what others are doing, I’m ready for more ideas and inspiration while staying home.


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5 comments

1 Cheryl { 04.21.20 at 12:33 PM }

Wow! Looks great. This is incredibly productive, Linda. I’m very impressed. I’m needlepointing a stocking for a new granddaughter, on the way. It usually takes me 4 or 5 months to make one. I started it March 15 and I’ll be finished the entire thing in about another week.

2 Sloane Hansen { 04.21.20 at 12:46 PM }

Impressive garage! We did the same thing last week and the termite man also did his thing. Thank you for all of the flours and chocolates you dropped off for Raina, she used it for 2 batches of cookies for Grandpa! (dad) I have organized my jewelry, socks, garage and this week, I wash the windows inside and out!

3 Ann { 04.21.20 at 7:01 PM }

Great work Linda! I, too, have been on the organization project. I started with gleaning old tax files – from 1998 – which resulted in lots of shredding. Then it was off to the kitchen where I started with my 2 pantry closets and then off to the kitchen: all of the drawers and cupboards. It feels so good! Now I will be headed back to my office – big job, but I’m up to it! I just wonder how many days it would take before I run out of projects???

4 Linda Hopkins { 04.22.20 at 6:06 AM }

Hi Ann, Wow, impressive! The office is a big job, one I’ve been saving for when I’m desperate! I will email you with my cell and if you’d like, share photos of your pantries and/or kitchen projects and I’ll share them here.

5 marissa { 04.23.20 at 9:43 PM }

Cooking! Next up… making meatballs & pie! (Completely separate recipes.)

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