Project: Simplify - Hot Spot #1

I finally finished my first “Hot Spot” for Project Simplify!  The first project was the clothes closet.  I thought, “This should be easy!”  First off, we live in an old house that has tiny closets so it shouldn’t take too long.  Secondly, didn’t I just clean my closet?  Isn’t it actually pretty tidy right now?  Lol!  Oh I was wrong, so wrong.  Yes, it is small; I’d definitely like something with a little walking room.  And it’s true that I did just clean out some maternity clothes that haven’t been worn in close to a year, but what was hiding behind those doors was truly a disaster.  If I wasn’t so proud of the outcome there would be no way I would show the “before” picture, but the “after” picture only looks good when you can see the disaster it was before.  Here it is…

I started by emptying the closet completely.  I didn’t even realize how much stuff was in there until I started taking it out.  Yes, that’s my wedding veil hanging there.  I don’t even know how it ended up in this closet or when.  It’s now gently folded away with my silk scarves and other things I’ll never wear but *sigh* can’t throw away.  Not to worry, though, I did donate, recycle or trash a ton of stuff.  I had a huge purse collection from my teens that I was finally able to let go of and clothes I never wear will now find new appreciative owners.  When I was done it still didn’t look quite right so I headed to Ikea for some new hangers.  It did the trick, and now I can proudly show off my “after” picture for all to see. :o)



First Haircut!

Today was the big day.  Ryder finally got his haircut.  I could write about how the whole experience went from start to finish but I think the pictures speak for themselves.  :o)

Oh my sweet boy!  He hated every second of it, but doesn't he look handsome?  xoxo

Quiet Days

Days like today I call “Quiet Days”.  As in, when someone asks what you did today, you reply, “we had a nice quiet day at home.”  Meaning you didn’t go anywhere and presumably things were quiet.  I call them quiet days when Mark is working and we don’t have anywhere to go.  It’s just me, Ryder and our four furry friends.  To clarify, it’s not that my husband is particularly noisy.  In fact he’s definitely the quiet one in the house.  It’s just that when he’s working a day shift (only happens twice out of every eight days) there’s no schedule to keep, and usually no errands to run.  The dogs take it pretty easy these days too.  It’s almost like they know I’ve got my hands full with the little one and a walk is out of the question.  There’s also a good possibility that the house won’t be as quiet as when Mark is home.  I often have music playing or the television on loud enough to hear it over the music coming from all of our son’s toys playing simultaneously.  I sing, we dance, we play and we giggle.  It can be loud… not quiet at all.  I love it!

I was looking forward to today since we haven’t had a “quiet day” for a few weeks.  With Mark on holidays and then sick, he’s been home a lot lately.  I’ve been so thankful for him being home.  It’s meant that a lot more stuff around the house gets done.  It’s been great, truly, it has.  But now it’s time to get back to our normal routine.  :o)

We had fun playing with my cameras today.  I’m glad I have two because as soon as I would pick one up Ryder wanted the other one.  It’s mostly the lens cap that he wants to eat, and today he tried feeding it to Luke.  Everyone was in good spirits and when nap time came, Ryder fell fast asleep; the dogs interpreted my stern voice as “she means business” and obeyed when I told them “It’s quiet time.”  And it was.  The house was quiet for the first time on our “Quiet Day”.  I got some work done and tidied up after our morning of fun.

 

These are the simple things in life I enjoy so much.  I love these days, not just the “quiet” ones, all of them.  While Mark and I got away this past weekend for a night I was surprised at how much I missed my son.  I missed feeding him, hearing his laugh and even just carrying him on my hip.  It was only one night but I grew a new appreciation for all that I have and all that I am grateful for.  Tonight* I am grateful for so much.  I have the most amazing family.  I love them all.

*I wrote this post last night and had trouble connecting to the Internet.  After an hour of trying I decided it wasn't worth the effort and went to bed :).  Woke up this morning and Internet was restored!

Project: Simplify — Simple Mom

You might have read in my first post that I'm a bit of a pack rat.  What I didn't say is how I'm working on changing that by clearing out the clutter and getting organized.  Before I had my son, my best friend lived with us and taught me how getting organized can not only save you money but prevent stress too.  She organized my spice cupboard (among other things) and now I can find the spices I need and everything doesn't come falling out onto the counter.  Thanks Candice!!  :o)

I've been trying to get motivated to get the rest of the house organized but most days it feels overwhelming and I don't know where to start.  That's where Project Simplify comes in.  I subscribe to Simple Mom and recently got an email about their 5 weeks plan to attack different hot spots in your home to declutter and organize.  What a great idea!  The project started a couple weeks ago so I've got some catching up to do but figure this is a great way to motivate myself to get cracking on my big goal... a organized house where everything has it's place.  I can almost imagine it.  :o)

I'll post before and after pictures of the completed "Hot Spot".  This should be fun!

Why Blog?

My initial thought is that I want my very own place to share memories.  I want to post pictures attached to cute stories.  Not only do I want to share but I want to keep.  First off, I’m kind of a pack rat.  Even when I was little I hated to throw things out because I didn’t want to hurt the feelings of the person who gave it to me.  I’m still that way except now that I am a mother I don’t want to throw away anything that my son has touched, chewed, drooled on or looked at.  I’m afraid to lose the memories.  I want to keep everything.  I have a drawer full of things that have no home.  My son’s first soother was pink.  It was a part of a shower gift from my dearest friend and it came in handy when my son was a week old and wouldn’t settle when we put him in his bassinet.  So out came the soother.  It came in a pack of two and one was pink and one was blue.  When we were out of the house the blue one came with us but at home we used the pink one.  One night my husband was taking pictures of our son in his bassinet happily sucking his pink soother.  I laughed and said don’t show that picture to anyone.  A boy can’t be seen with a pink soother!  We are new parents and our every move is highly scrutinized (at least that is how I feel at this point) and a pink doo-tee (as it came to be known) was surely a sign we had no idea what we were doing.  I laugh now because it seems so silly and that pink doo-tee is in the drawer with all the things I can’t throw away.

My second reason for wanting to start a blog is to relieve that pressure in my brain that is constantly thinking about things I want to blog about!  I can be doing the simplest thing and think of way if could be worked into a blog entry.  It’s like constantly thinking about what your Facebook status should be. ;)  I figure sitting down on the computer and typing out a blog will be a more resourceful use of my time then posting on Facebook.  I have issues with Facebook on a few levels but still find it essential in my daily life for communicating with friends and sharing photos (so I’m not knocking it).  One of my problems is that it is not a great place to record memories.  It’s great for pictures but when I post a story to my status it eventually moves down my wall and off the page and really never to be seen again.  I realize it’s still there but if in four years my son is off to school and I want to get nostalgic for the times when he was only a year old I won’t want to be looking through pages and pages of my Facebook wall.  And that’s fine.  I don’t believe Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook with the intention that it was going to be an online scrapbook.  It has its purpose and a blog has its own. 

And lastly, I love reading blogs.  I’ve found some really great ones that I read regularly.  Occasionally I’ll find a random blog and how fun it is to read about what someone else is doing a world away from me or perhaps even in my own city.  The nice thing about a blog is you read it because you want to.  :o)

I hope you enjoy.

~Melissa