This week has felt a little out of kilter. Some weeks [days, months, years] are like that.

Perhaps it's the adjustment with a blind dog around the house. She is learning to navigate, making her way around with less confusion. Her diagnosis is diabetes. Another trip to the vet to learn to give the insulin shots, twice a day. It will be her boy's job, giving her the special care she needs. We are walking her every day, taking the familiar route, going farther each day. She enjoys getting out, learning new commands like "step," for curbs, "left" and "right,"  and listening for her boy's voice, feeling his nearness, using his eyes. He is enjoying the challenge, learning together with her.

He pulled out two of our favorite old dog books to read. Follow My Leader, by James Garfield, is about a young boy,  blinded in a firecracker accident. His trauma and adjustments are helped by a seeing eye dog, with the training involved for both of them. Another book our kids have read many times, is Inky, by Elizabeth Heppner. As a 4-H project, the boy raises a seeing eye puppy, adding lots of fun and action to their farm life, and the turn of events in his life.


I have been reading, browsing mostly, through three books I picked up at the library.
Real Simple, The Organized Home
Better Homes and Gardens Storage with Style
Restore, Recycle, Repurpose. (Create a Beautiful Home) by Randy Florke (A Country Living Book)

Lots of good, simple, "why didn't I think of that?" ideas.

An old, drawerless, useless dresser hung on a wall as a china hutch. Brilliant. (BHG Storage with Style)

Both of these home offices (BHG Storage with Style) are compact, efficient spaces. The top one shares a laundry room in a 6 x 9 foot space. Below, is in a 6 x 8 foot corner of a room. Love this inspiration. In this house, here,  I have the luxury of desk space in an open loft. When we move to a smaller house, these ideas will be useful and practical.

This is a little blurry, but can you see the plastic picture hanger on the wall and on the back of that frame? It looks like the frame would drop onto the piece on the wall. Any idea what this is? Have you seen it before? I can't find anything like it, or find a description of it.  (from Real Simple, The Organized Home)

Each week, I tackle an organization project. I start with the theme, "Get Rid of Half." I pull out the pile, empty the shelf, dump out the box, whatever it is. First, I separate it by half. Half of it goes. Not always easy to do. Then, I can take what is left and easily sort it where it belongs. The empty space, the order, the freedom of having less stuff is good. Traveling lighter.