Some New Changes, All Around

There have been several changes made in the Pasture View household. One of the more obvious ones is the collage of the kiddos at the top of the blog! I love having *slightly* more time on my hands during the summer months when school is out and I can devote some time to getting creative.

Summer vacation is a great time to work on special interest projects, household projects, crafts, gardening, blogging, whatever may strike your fancy. A few of the summer projects I have on my list are paint Cece's bedroom, sort through and organize all of the clothing, maximize space in the closets, set up a functional and attractive work room and figure out what to do with ALL THOSE TOYS!

Last week while it was raining, Chris was home more because well, you can't mow sports fields in the pouring rain. It is unwise to mow any grass in the rain, but sports fields are especially vulnerable to damage and can alter the playing performance of the field... but, I digress. So together we began to tackle Cece's room... we modified the dresser (cutting it down from four drawers to three), moved her bookshelf, and sorted through some of her blankets and clothes. We prepared 2 bags of clothes in great condition to go to the Goodwill. Next Chris needs to patch a hole in the sheet rock that he needed to make when he rewired her light switch a couple of years ago so I can paint.

Also done last week, I sorted through all of my clothes and Rex's clothes. I prepared a bag of clothes to pass on to a family member, gave some of my clothes that *don't fit quite right* to my mom and prepared three more bags to head to the Goodwill. In the end I had a place for everything, everything in a place and three really organized closets!

While I still need to finish the bathroom, there is a new shower curtain in there... so that is a start!

Our office/work room have also seen some great changes in the last week. While the kiddos and I were on a three day trip to see Alyce and her family in New York, Chris was busy with a couple of surprises for me when we got home. During the weekend he worked night and day (sleeping a combined 6hrs) to design and build a new filter system for his turtle tank and built me a new (very big) work bench.

Turtles are messy and keeping their tank clean with a commercial filter is often difficult unless you change the water about every three days. We have been battling with a "green tank" for a while. Chris decided to do some research on filter systems and decided to build a wet/dry biodiversity filter. So far the filter has been in place for two weeks and working like a charm. The water is clear and I feel so much better about the condition of the tank.

The work bench he designed and made out of basic laminate counter top like you would find in a kitchen or bathroom. It stretches the entire length of one of the walls in the office and is plenty big enough for me to run my business, and do my lesson plans, scrap booking etc. There is space under the counter where we are going to put in some storage shelves or drawers, and space above where more storage can go. And while I have yet to get the downstairs organized to the maximum functioning condition as the upstairs, it is *ahem* on the list.





Amidst all of these changes and searching for a new teaching position for the fall, I am in the very early stages of trying to get my business up and running. Country Baby Diapers and Designs began last spring when I wanted to outfit my son in cloth diapers and save some money. I drafted my own pattern and began sewing and selling my diapers. I sold quite a few diapers and had a good customer base going when I needed to begin working. For more information about the diapers, to see what I have currently sold, see what is in stock and/or read customer reviews about the diapers, the right column of the blog is devoted to the business. Also, at the bottom of the page there is a Country Baby Diaper and Designs banner which will take you to my etsy store for available in stock diapers for purchasing.