Mother Nature is a Tease!

The first of mysterious things to grow.

I spent yesterday outside with the kids, in my yard, playing with my gardens.  It was fantastic, if not overwhelming.  I mean, I've never had a flower garden before, so I honestly have no clue what I'm doing.  I started out by just walking around looking at everything.  Now that the snow has melted, I have found a bit of trash throughout, so that had to be cleaned up.  I also found lots of things poking up through the dirt.  Things I didn't plant, which is really sort of cool.  My garden is like a little surprise.  What will pop up today?

Pretty purple flowers.

So I did a little, pulling out dead stuff, using my intuition to guess what needed to be trimmed, and what could be pulled.  I did pull out a few things that were probably alive, but I didn't like.  Like the bush like thing that seemed to grow out into the driveway.  I need to buy a pair of pruning sheers.  I have dead mums, and I *think* I should trim those, along with the dead hydrangeas, and other things that are just dead, dead, dead...except if you pull them you see things growing out beneath the surface.  I think I need professional assistance over here, there's SO much, and I know so little.

Irises maybe?

The only big concern about my yard are my apple trees.  Sadly, something (I'm almost positive it's rabbits.) has been eating the bark on my little trees, and now I am worried about their survival.  I know it's too early to tell, and it'll probably still be a few weeks for leaves appear, but they don't look as well as they did.  But it is still green under the bark that remains near the root, and I've been told that's a good sign.  So I'm hoping for the best here.

Sadly, it's supposed to snow.  Tonight and tomorrow.  And not just an inch or two, but 3-5 inches in the next 36 hours.  I mean, we're lucky it's not more (I believe NYC, CT and the like are estimated to get a lot more) but still...I think Mother Nature is laughing at us.  I think someone forgot to tell her that after a long winter like the one we had, no one laughs at the joke.

My poor damaged apple tree.  Damn rabbits.

Ah well.  Hopefully this will be the last of the year.  Next it'll rain, restoring my lawn to a healthy green (and not the ugly brown it is...) and helping all the trees to bud and bloom.  And then the sun and the warmth will arrive, and us Northerners can enjoy a nice summer, and I can enjoy a beautiful yard of my own.  If I don't kill anything...I actually don't have a green thumb.

I don't need a reset, though I do need to go to bed.

Ever have one of those days where one "tiny" thing just threw off all your plans?

That was my day.  The batteries in Liam's soother died at 4 in the morning, and he didn't like it.  It turned into a 5am Walmart run (wtf!) and a 2 hour break into our sleep time.  This hasn't happened in a long time, and I swear, it just made me so tired for the rest of the days.  Instead of doing the baking I planned to do today, I ended up knitting.  It's not a bad compromise particularly since it was work for a customer I was working on.

I also ended up taking a nap, which helped me get through the rest of the day.  It's not often that I lay down and fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.  It also got me out of cooking dinner, as John was tired as well.  So I guess I'm saying thanks to Liam for making us tired and getting me out of cooking...but try not to do it again.  Because we are still quite tired.  Not even sure why I'm up.  Good Night!

Lilia the cat-snow-dinosaur-monster person.

I dislike the weekends where I don't get anything done that I wanted to get done.  Boo me.  At least I worked on my knitting.

I just had the weirdest conversation with Lilia.  She came running to me, complaining that Little Bear, our cat, wasn't listening to her.

Lilia:  Mommy, Little Bear isn't listening to me!

Me:  Lilia, Little Bear is just a cat, she doesn't listen to people.

Lilia:  But Mommy!  Little Bear is a cat, and she's my baby and I want to be her mommy cat.

What do you say at this point?  It was just such a cute answer.  I told her I was sorry that Little Bear wasn't listening (She wanted Little Bear to get into the cat bed.) but since Little Bear was a cat, there was nothing we could do.

I love my funny children.

Project Simplify: Week 3...day 2...sort of?

Liam's pile of basement clothes

Continuing from yesterday...I was going to rest for the evening, but Liam woke early enough from his nap that I continued, though I had to stop in order to take the kids over for dinner at Grandpa's house.  The process was similar,  I started with sorting Liam's clothes downstairs, and then went upstairs to sort through his clothes.  I ended up removing quite a bit, but still had a lot left.  Enough that instead of bringing up the 2T and 3T clothes, I put the 3T clothes back, and will bring them up later.  I did decided to keep some of his 3T sweatshirts, mainly because he needed them, and because I didn't have to put them in drawers.

The ulled clothes

I emptied most of Liam's toys out, only keeping his trains, some cars and the animal collection.  I removed the rocking chair, and the old diaper cart I had in there.  Since he didn't have a lot of drawer space, I put a canvas bin in his wardrobe for socks, and another one for diaper covers/fuzzi bunz/inserts.  Almost everything was gone from the wardrobe now- shirts too small, and shirts I knew I'd never put on him.  To save space, I decided to hang up all his shirts, so he'd have more room for shorts and pants, and pajamas.

Closet nicely arranged...

After that, it was a matter of taking all the toys I took out into the basement, to sort into "donate" or "keep".  I also "cleaned" up, putting toys we did keep away, which you may think is a given, but Liam didn't think so.  He decided that since his track was all put together, that meant it was time to play.  And of course, time to play meant taking the track apart.  I think it's time to glue the track together.

It all looks really nice, I was glad (though sore and tired) I did it.  It made me think a lot about what I buy for the kids.  I wouldn't say my kids have a ton of toys, but even the small amount they have is too much.  I went through and asked myself what I've seen them playing with, and really, it wasn't even half of what they had.  And with warm weather approaching (ha!), it might be even less.

Shelves, nicely arranged.  Train table...it was arranged, but you know how kids are...and look!  GIGANTIC puppy tent that takes up too much room.

So next, I need to snag all the little toys floating around the house in miscellaneous places, and put them in their correct space- Lilia's room, Liam's room, toy box in the front porch, or basement. Or get rid of them.  Probably the latter, if I have my way!

Project Simplify: Week 3...day 1

This week's project wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but considering it's going to take me a few days to do it, it's still pretty substantial.

Summer/Bigger sized clothing

I usually sort the kids clothes twice a year, though it's usually later than this- closer to warm weather, instead of the cold we're still in.  I've got two (or more) boxes in the basement full of clothes that were handed down to me that the kids don't fit yet, or they aren't weather appropriate.  The first step I'll did was to go through those and see which I should bring up.  Originally, I was just going to grab the summer stuff in the appropriate size, and then put them in each child's closet, but I ended up pulling so much from Lilia's drawers that it all fit easily.  I brought up everything that was size 4T, leaving behind anything bigger.

Only the big clothes remain!

After that, I brought the basement clothes to my bedroom, then went to Lilia's room.  I emptied each drawer, looked at the size, and basically anything 3T and smaller was placed in the donation pile.  I kept a few things that I knew she liked to wear, trying them on her (when she got home from school) just to be sure it wasn't too small.  Most of the basement clothes were short sleeves, so I kept a few of her bigger 3T long sleeve stuff, but I did find a few sweaters.

Wow, all the clothes Lilia can now fit...

I then proceeded to clean Lilia's room.  The child has already informed me she likes her room to be messy.  For the most part, I don't mind.  It's more when she doesn't take care of her possessions that I get angry.  In this case, her favorite puzzle, the 5 little monkey's jumping on the bed puzzle, was scattered and ripped, so I threw it out.  I removed a bunch of toys from her room, including all the wooden puzzles she has, put ALL her books back in her shelves and put the rest of her toys away.  She wasn't happy with me, telling me she wanted the puzzles back.  I also removed the kitchen set from her room, but I think I'll put that back.

Lilia's very messy room

So I ended up with a large pile of toys that we'll either donate, use for toy rotation, or place in the "summer toy rooms" (aka, the basement and the front porch.)  I'm not even done though, since I only got to Lilia's room.  Liam's room needs a lot of work, and he has less room in his drawers and wardrobe.  While I was cleaning, I put some clothes in his wardrobe, and he found his huge puppy tent.  So it looks like I'll have to make some room for that for awhile.  He LOVES it, singing "Tent Tent Tent" all morning.  And when Lilia saw it, for some reason she grabbed a drum and wanted to drum in the tent...

The pile saying Good Bye

So now I get to say, stay tuned for part 2!

Wordless Wednesday

On the needles...

I'll be casting on the lovely hyacinth yarn to make a soaker for a customer.

I have too many knitting projects, lol!  This is a good thing, though it feels like I'll never catch up with my own stuff since opening Bozu Bottoms.  I am now working on my 6th sale, although since the beginning of 2010, this is my 14th project.  Plus I have a skirt for Lilia (about 50% complete) on another set of needles, and another cocoon (65% complete) on a second set of needles.  On top of that, I really want to make a hat and hair kerchief for myself, as well as make a few hair kerchiefs and hair accessories.  These I want to sell so I can donate something towards Japan.  And we won't talk about my desire to make a few overall/coveralls as well (and more soakers and shorties for Liam...)

My knitting has been consuming me a little, and it's not really a bad thing.  As crappy as the weather has been, it definitely combats boredom and cabin fever.  Not perfectly, mind you, but at least I'm not feeling as restless as I usually am this time of year.  It might be a bit more difficult when the weather is nice, although I can totally picture myself bring the needles and yarn and just sitting outdoors while I knit.

The best part, in my opinion, of doing so much knitting is that I'm learning so much.  I think each piece I do gets a little bit better, and I feel better with every piece that's purchased and given a good review.  And I've been getting enough sales that I don't feel like I'm wasting money and time, which is a really good feeling.  (And to be honest, after so many years as a stay-at-home mom, it feels good to contribute to the finances, even if it's just a tiny contribution.)

Something isn't right...

I was in an really bad mood all day today, and I'm just going to step up and admit it was because I woke up to snow, after being so psyched that all the snow in my yard was melted.  It didn't help that Liam won the award for the most troublesome 2 year old I've ever met.

I went to Target today.  I haven't been there in a month.  Usually, when that happens, I spend quite a bit of money.  Today...it was a whopping $33 dollars.  I got in the car, feeling a little confused.  But I resisted the urge to buy rain boots for the kids and myself.  I didn't really like the ones they had there, and figured I might be able to find them cheaper.  I didn't buy anything needless- everything I bought was needed.

I think my attempt to not spend so much money is working...how scary!

Guinness Cake

Guinness Cake, complete with Bailey's Frosting

 This is probably my favorite recipe, probably because I totally cheat and make it as simple as one can.  You cannot fail at making this.

Take a box of cake mix.  I prefer the extra moist dark chocolate mixes, as it seems to go quite well with the Guinness.  Follow the recipe, simply replacing 3/4 of cup of water with 3/4 of a cup of Guinness.  You could probably add more, but I think this gives it the right amount of flavor.  Bake as usual.

Let it cool, and then frost with the frosting of your choice.  I almost always make my own frosting here- simply put in a stick or two of room temperature butter, confectioner's sugar (I used an entire small package.) and some bailey's.  Combine the first two ingredients in a mixer, then slowly add one tablespoon of Bailey's at a time, until you have the desired constituency and flavor.  It's absolutely delicious.  Be warned, you will consume this fast, and without regret...until you see the scale!

You can also convert this into a cupcake recipe, and if your feeling very brave, make a Jameson ganache for the center.  Take a small spoon, and removed a small bit of cupcake center.  Usually about an inch deep will do the trick.  Heat a little heavy cream, a little butter and some Jameson, then pour it over some chocolate (bittersweet is a good choice), stir until melted.  Let it thicken a little, then carefully spoon into the cupcake.  Frost, and voila!  Car bomb cupcakes.  It's so good!

Project Simplify: Week 2

Paper clutter is evil, and my house has a bad habit of breeding it.  Oddly enough, it doesn't look bad this week, only because I moved the "newest" box of paper down to the basement a few weeks ago.  Sadly, I'm not touching it this week.  I'll do that when I get to the basement.  I'm pretty sure the basement will be our major cleaning project of the summer.  So, while it was a bit of a *facepalm* "oh crap" after seeing where this week's project was, I was actually glad, and faced it happily.

So this is where the bulk of my paper clutter begins.  It's a shelving unit that we keep relatively bare since the kids still like to get into things on shelves.  But as you see, it also seems to be the junk mail pile.

 The very top is bad too- Lilia's art projects from school get a place of "honor" up here.  I also have the top of my drawers in the bedroom, but I oddly didn't take a picture.  I thought I did.

I didn't really do much.  My biggest problem is I never want to throw anything away, as I get this "What if that was important?" thought in my head.  Even when I know it's not.  So what always happens is I keep it...sometimes for years, and then throw it out in one big clean.  Which is sort of what I did today.  I say sort of, because I did try to organize, and make it easier for me to keep it clean.  If anything I just need to remember to throw stuff away right away...

 The first thing was to clean this all out.  I sorted everything- recycles, John, junk and keep.  I'd say 85% was junk, or something to be recycled.  We don't have a bin- Herkimer doesn't have bins, which I have to say is really lame.  They take recyclables...in plastic bags.  I mean, what the hell!  Isn't the biggest waste of plastic bags you've ever seen?

So after that, I sorted the keeps into this little filing box.  I used to do this ages ago, and stopped.  It's been sitting around, keeping the stuff from 2006 - 2008 organized.  So I ended up throwing out most of that, and reorganizing the stuff in it for this year.  It didn't take too long, and hopefully...I didn't throw out anything we needed.  I gave John his pile, which he nicely went through for me.  I put a small box out for the "need to take care of" stuff, though at some point, I want to order something like this.  And I'm putting Lilia's art downstairs, and at some point, when it has a "playroom" area, I will hang it up.  Not all of it, but a few bits that I really like.

I think I will stop at Lowe's this weekend, and grab one of the generic recycling bins.  I don't know if Herkimer will take these, but it would be good to place one right there next to my mail slot.  Junk goes in, easy peasy!  I didn't throw away any of the piles of newspapers I have, but that's because those are going to be used in my garden this year.  Which I hope to work on soon.  A good chunk of the snow in my back yard has melted, though not all of it.  Soon!

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig

St. Patrick's Day is amongst my favorite of holidays.  Not for any reason, outside of the fact that I'm Irish,  my family is Irish, and we love Ireland.  In fact, I think I spend a lot of this time of year reminiscing about our lives in Ireland, and how I might not of appreciated it at the time, but I miss it now.

The first time I lived in Ireland was in 1999.  John and I spent a year at University College, Cork.  We had a pretty cool apartment in the city, living with a Taiwanese Medical student.  We got to travel a bit- Dublin, Galway and many other sites.  I think one of my favorite memories is traveling to Bantry Bay for the Mussel festival with John and our friend Phillip.  We spent the day eating various mussels and drinking a ton of Guinness.

The second time we lived in Ireland was 2006.  We lived in a sublet in Dublin, and I was 4 months pregnant.  Not as fun a time, as I couldn't enjoy a pint, but it was still a remarkable time.  As lazy as I am, I totally miss walking to the shoppes, and taking the bus home with a trolley full of groceries.

This St. Patrick's day, we didn't do much.  I returned to the dentist for a filling (boo!), but that gave me an excuse to grab a Shamrock shake.  I made some Guinness Bread, from a mix you can buy at Wegmans.  It's quite good- you add butter, milk, molasses (or treacle if you have it), and Guinness, then bake.  It's not bitter- both my kids enjoyed a slice.

Doesn't it look delicious?

Instead of our traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage (which we will make and consume on Saturday, at our annual St. Patrick's Day party), I made Shepherd’s Pie Twice-Baked Potatoes.  They were very delicious, and awesomely enough, it made so much that I now have a pan of Shepherd's Pie in my freezer for next week.  (And I halved the recipe!)

I didn't make any dessert.  I had wanted to do something with the kids, but we didn't get around to it.  We also didn't drink any green beer, but trust me, that's for the best.

Of course, Saturday will see many delicious treats.  Guinness (Didn't find Magners at Wegmans, how sad is that??), more Guinness Bread, Guinness Cake with Bailey's Frosting, Corned Beef and Cabbage, Cheddar with Irish Stout (omg, I can't wait to try that!)...just to name the Irish stuff.  The best part is good times with some really good friends.

"Wordless" Wednesday

(Shhhhh, you don't really see words written here...but look at the wall!)

Paint power

Another busy day for me.  First was the dentist, which I hate going to.  It was just a cleaning, and it honestly wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  There's something relieving about getting your teeth cleaned, particularly when you haven't had it done in a long time.  It didn't hurt too much- the most painful part was getting the bone density checked.  Ow man, isn't there a better way to do that??

After that, I picked up some lovely bagels and donuts from White Rose Bakery in Little Falls.  That's probably the best part of Little Falls, along with the co-op, though I never get there anymore.  The bagels there are absolutely delicious, and it's making it impossible for me to cut out carbs from my diet.

John and Lilia headed to Buffalo to go to the Sabres game.  I was a little bummed, but with Liam still sick, and me wanting to get some work around the house done, we stayed behind.  Liam napped well, and I got some paint on the walls.  I forgot how much painting sucks, but how much it improves a room.  Even with just one coat, the wall no longer looked like a prison wall.  It looks fantastic!  The smell isn't that great, and I only messed up one little part of the molding.  Guess I'll have to paint those too.  Ack.

I also did the second coat tonight, at 11 at night.  Now I'm tired, with a few blisters on my hands.  Pictures soon- I want to wait until the walls are dry!  (It feels so good to be back on track!)

Splish Splash!

Today was pretty fun.  I did a few things that were pretty relaxing and productive.  First, we finally got some paint for the living room.  My wall has been stripped and ready for a coat of paint for almost a month now, but this is really the first opportunity we had to get to Lowe's and pick paint.  We left the kids with my mother while they napped.  We also eyes some shelves for the wall, curtains for the window and fingered the dishwashers.  I won't even mention the Garden Center, where it took all the strength I had not to go buy packs and packs of seeds, soil and all that good stuff.

Possible Pool?

After Lowe's, we stopped at the Pool store, and priced pools.  Squeeeeee...that was exciting.  It was a bit more expensive than I thought, but apparently it was what John expected.  I like our options, so we have a few things to think about.  I constantly joke with John that we're not rich, unless we have a pool.  It will be fantastic to get one, a life long dream (Is that lame?) and something the entire family would enjoy.  Pool pool pool!  Pool pool pool!

We took the opportunity to go out for a quick snack, just the two of us.  We don't get that often anymore, particularly during the day.  It was almost a date! ;)  Actually, it was just really nice, even if it was just Denny's.

After that, we came home, and I worked on some paper flower pots for my cabbage seeds.  I'll hopefully be filling them tonight, but that will be another post.  But can I get an "Awe man..." for this week's Project: Simplify hot spot?  Paper clutter is the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE!  *facepalms*  I wonder if John will let me buy a filing cabinet this week.  Because honestly, I need one.

Spring Breeeeeak!

So it's Spring Break for our little household.  And while it won't be a week full of bikini clad beach bunnies, booze, sex and drugs (oh drat...) it will be a week of fun.  Maybe.  Hopefully.  Okay, so maybe not at all.  I have not one, but two dentist appointments this week.  Painting to do.  Seeds to start indoors.  A guinea pig cage to clean.  Whatever the next project on Project: Simplify is.  A bathroom to scrub.  A house to clean.  And maybe a trip to Buffalo with both kids in tow and a hockey game to attend.  That's honestly going to depend on how we feel.  Which right now, is still pretty awful.

But I'm planning a delicious Irish inspired meal for Thursday.  And Saturday is our annual St. Patrick's day celebration, which will consist of good food (Corned beef and Cabbage, Guinness Cake), plenty of beer, whiskey and Irish cream, and of course, good friends.  That's the part I most look forward to actually.

So yeah, while a trip down South, where it's warm and sunny, might be really nice...all I can say is not this year, but that's all right.  John and I, plus the kids, will do what we always do, and that's just create our own good time and make the best out of any situation.

Project Simplify, week 1...DONE

Ok, so I totally failed to post yesterday.  I blame it on Lush and laundry.  We folded about 6 loads of laundry last night, and then since my Lush order arrived yesterday, I could not resist the urge to take a Phoenix bubble bath instead of posting.  Oh it was so nice though.  I've been out of Lush bath stuff since October!

So my post yesterday was supposed to be the confession that I failed to do my Project: Simplify Week 1 assignment properly.  Don't get me wrong, I did it, and I'm satisfied...but I didn't exactly follow the rules.

Before

I didn't throw much away.  I didn't give much away.  The biggest problem I have with my closet is that it's filled with clothes I want to wear but am not comfortable in yet.  And tossing them out was still not something I was ready to do, for two reasons.  The first reason is that it felt like a waste of money.  Clothes I have only worn once or twice for silly reasons...I didn't like the idea.  But the main reason, and perhaps a folly, is that many of those clothes are just things I'm one size too big to wear.  Throwing them out is like admitting defeat, like I'll never lose that one size.  I know I can do it, it's just been difficult right now.

Maybe that's what everyone says.  But I'm not some size 12 woman aiming to get back into my High School size 6.  I'm a size 20 trying to get into my 18's again.  Maybe that is just as foolish, and I'm deluding myself, but I'm just not ready to give.

So this was my plan.  I took out all the clothes I like, but couldn't wear.  (And maybe I should explain...all of these things FIT.  But not in the way I want them to fit.)  threw away a few things that were in terrible shape, or things I knew for sure I never wanted to wear.  But the rest, I took in the basement.  I will keep them down there for a year.  If, after a year, I do not fit them, I will concede, and give them away.  Not exactly what you are supposed to do, I know, but that's the solution I'm happy with.

After

For the rest of the closet, I stopped using as a junk pile and filing cabinet.  I went through the drawers (which are next to the closet, though you can't see it in the picture), throwing away stuff we didn't wear, torn socks and underwear.  I got rid of anything in excess, particularly John's 200 white undershirts that I don't think he wears.  I think I saved 10, though even that seemed like too many.  I got rid of a bunch of tank tops I wear under stuff, as well as a few pairs of PJ shirts that I never wear as well.

The bins are all divided, my underwear, my socks, my bras, and other unmentionables.  I cleared out all the stuff that was there just because it was a good storage area, and put up a bunch of books that we are currently using.  Also put the blankets in the basement.  Is it bad I'm hoping Basement isn't going to be on the list in the next few weeks?

I might move my knitting supplies to the closet- I have 4 canvas bins, a plastic drawer for my needles and a bag for the yarn and supplies I am using at the moment.  Actually, I wish I could move a desk into our room and organize that into a "work" space, although that's dangerous, being married to the unorganized professor.  I'd soon find the space brimming over with papers, and books, on top of all my crafty stuff.  So maybe not a good idea.

I think it looks pretty good- pretty simple.  I had removed the closet doors because I hate sliding doors.  I might consider putting a curtain up that matches my bedroom window curtains.  Or maybe I'll keep it as is, and enjoy the clean look it has.  Now if I could just finish the other side of the room (the side with my crafts and books!)

Sleep...not a musical.

It should be against the law for everyone in the house to be sick.  All of us have some sort of cough/head cold thing going, though Lilia is the one closest to getting better.  I felt decent most of the day, though the headache, cough and sore throat still stuck around.

As I started this, I heard a very loud crash, and a child scream.  Liam fell out of bed again, so I rushed up and comforted him.  As he dozed back to sleep, I watched how he fell asleep, sort of in awe, as I don't see him sleep very often.  My kids were really never ones to fall asleep wherever, it's almost always in a bed, or a car seat.  Once they got past that newborn stage, they hardly ever fell asleep on me, unless nursing.  It got me thinking.

My kids are polar opposite when it comes to sleep.  Lilia hoards books and toys in bed with her.  She has since we first moved her into her toddler bed.  It's almost unbelievable that anyone could sleep in her bed- she has so many books, and so many various toys in her bed.  And removing them doesn't help, since she'll just put them back as soon as you leave.

Liam, on the other hand, doesn't want anything in his bed with him.  He has a pillow, and his blankets, and if you put anything in bed with him, he throws it out.  For awhile, he had his plush Rintoo, but even that got thrown out.  I bought a cute Thomas the Train pillow/plush, and he won't take that.  The only toy he wants is a little choo-choo ring (which he throws down as soon as the light goes off) and his soother.  I don't even hear that very often anymore.  In fact, when I turn it on before I leave his room, he turns it off.

He also sleeps in the cutest position.  On his back, with both hand behind his head.  Lilia...she sleeps wrapped in blankets in whatever position seems to meet her fancy.  I have found her curled into a little ball, sleeping  upright in the corner of the little sofa in her room.

I find it amusing because John and I are also pretty polar opposite.  He sleeps on his side, with tons of pillows, like a rock.  I toss and turn, wrapped in as much blanket as possible and as light as a feather.  (Well, at least most of the night.  By morning, I'm the one sleeping like a rock.)  I guess I'll always be fascinated by the way the kids are like us without us actually doing anything to make them like us.

Wordless Wednesday

Project: Simplify: Week 1

I've been a little quiet lately.  Both kids had coughs, and I have had the joy of a TMJ flare up which has sent me to my knees in pain.  Not fun, let me tell you.  And to top off that, the germ machines made sure that I didn't walk out unscathed.  I'm now hacking a lung every two minutes.  But hey, super mom doesn't stop, so why should I?

So Simple Mom has issued the first challenge this week in her 5 week attempt to de-clutter and organize our homes.  It's actually a simple one, sort of.  The Closet/wardrobe.  This will be easy for me on one hand, since I just did a good chunk of it in the Fall.  It's will also be hard because I have a hard time letting go of a lot of clothes.  I have a good amount of "not quite a good fit stuff" that I want to keep but need to lose weight to get into.  Last year at this time, I would've had the confidence to say I'll get down to the right size, but this year has been hard, and I don't have that confidence.  I've been yelling at myself for 4 weeks now to start Phase 1 of South Beach.

There's also the problem of my "10 favorite items" being ratty, ripped, full of holes and well...better off in the trash.  But they are so comfortable!!  I really do need to invest in new clothes, but it's hard to give up those "favorites".  (And I think that's another problem, getting rid of stuff just to go out and buy more!)

But I will give it a try this week.  If anything, it'll get rid of a bunch of socks and underwear that have holes in them.  That's never a bad thing.  And besides, maybe now I can actually give you pictures of the work I did in the bedroom so long ago!

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Wordless Wednesday