It often takes hours to find me and then I run out of daylight before I run out of motivation. The two big things today were to do some cleaning and tackle a project that I’ve been wanting to do for months.

This morning I did three loads of laundry and cleaned the bathroom. I love Seventh Generation products. I’ve only used their all-purpose cleaner, toilet bowl cleaner, and tub/tile cleaner but I’m very impressed. I then re-organized the shelves in the laundry room and was amazed at the difference it made just putting logical items together instead of just sitting something on a random shelf. The laundry room is never messy but it’s tiny (you almost have to back out of it) so even one thing out of place changes the mood.

Looks like I need to empty the garbage. 

The unfinished wall came with the house. It’s not a priority right now.

There are a lot of items on those shelves that I would like to get rid of because I don’t use them but I feel guilty throwing them away since they’re still more than half full. My laundry routine consists of homemade powder detergent (Borax, washing soda, Oxy, and grated Sunlight soap) and vinegar in both the bleach and softener cups. I use dryer balls and Natura static-free sheets in the dryer. I’m trying to clean with vinegar and water and other common items but I still have Febreeze (haven’t used it in over a year), Windex, Shout, bleach, etc on the shelves. 

This afternoon I finally broke out the staple gun and quilt batting and took apart two footstools I had that have seen better days. I love them because they’re small (about 13.5" square by about 18" tall) and neutral but they’ve become worn and every time I vacuum I’m sucking up flakes and shreds of reed.

Once all the little staples had been removed, the reed "fabric" slipped right off like a cover.

I covered the sides with two layers of quilt batting and, later, the top with four layers of batting.

Before I put everything away for the night I had both stools all batting’d up. I trimmed the batting at the bottom and also at the top edge before putting the layers on the top, stretching it slightly over the edge. The next step is to find some fabric (hopefully in my stash; hello, budget) to make a permanent cover to go between the batting and the print fabric that I’ll use as the outer. I wasn’t going to do the extra layer but I think it will make it so much easier to slip the outer print on and off if/when I need to wash it. Instead of trying to wrestle it over grippy batting, it’ll hopefully slide a little better over a cotton woven. It won’t be effortless (I want it to be snug) but hopefully easier. But that’s a step for another day.

I’ll leave this post with two more pictures, the first being of a pair of $3.99 shoes which I found, brand new, at Value Village last month. B tried them on this morning and I think they’ll fit for summer provided he doesn’t grow a full size before then. He has room in the toes but I couldn’t tell exactly how much.

So ugly they’re cute. I like them. Minus the socks and pajamas.