I never meant to take a break or did I? It’s been so long I don’t remember. I do remember around the latter part of Lent I decided once again I hated social media and stopped Instagramming and decided to never go back. I think I updated once since then but I’m fully off and it feels good. Too many photos and information and ideas in my eyeballs make my brain feel like it’s overflowing and not enjoying the stuff that’s right in front of me. Or coming up with ideas of my own just for the sake of my humanity instead of just to share.

Continue Reading Hello! at Clover Lane

The Challenge to Buy Less After 40 Bags in 40 Days

Last year when I introduced this Lenten challenge, I really ransacked my house. And I found that at the end of it all, I was a bit disgusted in myself.  I really thought that I, who was someone who liked to keep a simple, uncluttered home, could never find 40 bags of “stuff” to get rid of.  But I did easily.  And it really got me thinking that I needed a challenge to buy less, and every Lent I’ve had less and less to donate.

You say, ‘If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.’  You make a mistake.  If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.

Continue Reading 40 Bags in 40 Days™ The Challenge to Buy Less at Clover Lane

I’ve compiled some no-clutter, useful affordable Easter basket gifts that are our favorites around here. If you have participated in 40 Bags in 40 Days, you definitely don’t want to be bringing anything but useful things-or things that can be used up-back into your clear, cleaned out house.

It seems now that Easter has become the second Christmas and that’s not what I want to buy (literally!) into.

The Easter bunny has become wiser in it’s years around here and usually brings jelly beans and chocolate and candies and a little gift in each basket. As my older kids have become adults, I am thinking about making one big basket for them, or a cute Easter charcuterie board for everyone to enjoy.

Continue Reading Great No-Clutter Easter Basket Ideas For All Ages at Clover Lane

I thought I’d write a “little” cancer update but it turned out to be a “long” cancer update, sorry about that!

Try to feed her to keep her weight up was our goal.

Thank you so much for all your prayers and encouragement, notes, emails and gifts for Abbey. I have the kindest readers ever and we both appreciated it so so much.

She is officially finished with treatment for Stage 2B Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and working at recovering fully. The cancer is gone and she has a great prognosis.

Port placement (a device that is implanted under the skin in the chest and hooked to an artery to be able to give chemo easily) and bone marrow biopsy was not a fun day.

Continue Reading A “Stupid Cancer” Update, And A Thank You at Clover Lane

I look forward to spring every year and love breaking out our favorite springtime books! Some of these favorites were from my childhood and others were ones that we were gifted or found at the library and ended up purchasing because they were favorites. Even though my kids are getting older, we treasure these books.

I also have a little list of some favorite chapter books we have read recently.

Favorite Springtime picture books:

Bunny Hopwell’s First Spring

A little baby bunny can’t figure out what “spring” is and looks all over for it, until he discovers it is all around him.

Continue Reading Springtime Picture Books-Our Favorites, and Some Favorite Chapter Books Also at Clover Lane

How To Create More Peace In Your Brain With Careful Discernment-Get Rid of Brain Clutter!

We are bombarded with information these days.  Images, ads, stories, news, opinions, ideas, recipes, debates, and conversations never seem to stop from the minute we get up until the minute we go to bed. Outside stimulation can be non-stop if we let it.  

I know I’ve had times where I just feel my brain is scrambled with way too much information, and going a million miles an hour.  This can make us tired, but unable to sleep, inattentive, frazzled, distracted, late, and affects our mental, emotional and physical health.

Continue Reading 40 Bags in 40 Days™ How To Create Peace in Your Brain at Clover Lane

Do you want to be content with your home?

I think I’ve found the secret to “house love”-stop comparing your house to other homes!

Just pay attention to your house, wherever you may be right now, whatever it might look like, and work at turning it into the coziest, cleanest home it can be within your budget.

7 Ways To Be Content With Your Home

1. Clean and everything will look better to you.
2. Put your house in order-keep things very orderly, where everything has a place.
3. Less toys, furniture, clothing, junk is always better.

Continue Reading 40 Days Tips and Tricks™ How To Be Content With Your Home at Clover Lane

A simple organized clutter-free closet of clothes is so refreshing to me. I’m going to teach you how to purge your clothes using the 40 bags in 40 days method!  I’m going to break this down into three easy steps.

You are going to start with two piles, a garbage pile, and a donation pile. (If you want to add a re-sell pile do this also, only if you are serious about reselling and plan to do it right away.)

How to Purge Your Clothes Using Three Easy Steps

First Step – The First Pass

Go through your closet and dresser drawers and purge what you know you do not want right away.

Continue Reading 40 Bags in 40 Days™ How To Purge Your Clothes at Clover Lane

Thinking:

One of my favorite bloggers for years and years has been Andrea Dekker.  If you subscribe to her weekly email it’s always a breath of fresh air.   Real, simple, frugal, carefully tended fresh air-just the kind I like.  I think her blog is a gift to every young couple just starting out and I enjoy it so much now because she always reminds me that simple is better. 

On that same note, I’ve been updating all my 40 Bags posts and plan to add one about digital media clean up.  We won’t fill an actual bag of course, but have less cluttering our inboxes, so we can read what challenges us to stay focused on what is truly important. 

Playing: 

Janey has been into American Girls lately, which I love.  We’ve been reading some of the historical dolls books.  We sent Abbey’s old Felicity into the doll hospital.  She had a terrible incident with scissors decades ago and her head needed to be replaced and limbs needed to be tightened.  She came back refreshed and brand new looking!  Abbey had tears in her eyes when she saw her- so many good memories of adoring that doll.

Continue Reading Thinking, Playing, Reading, Making at Clover Lane

We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.”

Fredrick Keoniq

40 Bags in 40 Days-Decluttering Kid’s Spaces Easily

I have found that children’s rooms and spaces become cluttered rooms in the home quickly. From excess clothing that isn’t worn to birthday party favors, on top of too many gifts, room decorations, and a plethora of things in between, they can become unmanageable very quickly. This makes them disorganized, overwhelming to clean, impossible to find things and that in turn leads to angst, frustration and underappreciation by the child and by us, the parents.

Continue Reading 40 Bags in 40 Days™ Tips and Tricks For Decluttering Kid’s Spaces at Clover Lane