November 6, 2007

So, I think our first night in the new house – if I remember correctly – was October 23rd. That means that we’ve been living there for two weeks now. We’re still living out of boxes and bags, but we are definitely making progress. The most difficult thing I’ve run into so far has been getting my husband to get rid of anything. I’m being brutal and getting rid of stuff that I haven’t looked at in a year, doesn’t fit, or things I’ve been keeping because I MIGHT use them someday. I’ve been using a keen eye, too, looking for items that might sell well on eBay – just to get a little extra cash flow. My intent was to spend all of last Friday going through stuff to reduce everything we own by at least half. That, however, did not work out. I got quite a bit done, but there’s far too much to go through in one day! I can’t believe how much useless and unused stuff we’ve accumulated over the years. I’m talking about t‐shirts that we’re keeping for reasons unknown even though they’re full of holes and cannot really be worn, happy meal toys that were enjoyed for approximately 5 minutes and then discarded, coffee cups we NEVER use but are still taking up space on our shelf, and paper, paper, paper. Everywhere I look, there’s another pile of paper. The paper thing is a result of us stupidly putting our filing cabinet in the basement when we moved into the tiny house on California Ave 3+ years ago. We have not having filed a single piece of paper since August of 2004 – SHAME ON US! This is a project I intend to undertake immediately as I cannot handle not knowing where our important files are anymore and this will also significantly cut down on the clutter factor. Another thing that makes me crazy is laundry everywhere. I’ve lived with it for a very long time now because there wasn’t anywhere to put it – but now we have some more space – and there should never be laundry all over the place anyway! AC & UB kindly purchased two sets of hampers for us, and now we have a hamper in each bedroom and one in the linen closet in the bathroom – so there is no excuse anymore. Charlie has decided it’s very cool to have his own hamper and has been very good about using it. I think he likes having it neat, too. (Now if we could just get him to feel the same way about his cars...we’d be doing well!) On to another subject, quickly! Greta Marie stood up, in her crib, all by herself, on Friday, Nov. 2nd! I put her in there so I could get her a bottle, go to the bathroom, advance the laundry and probably do something else, too. I don’t think I was gone for even 3 minutes and when I came back, she was standing and dancing with a huge grin on her face! “Hey mom, look what I can do!” I don’t know, but it seems a bit early for her to be standing up, doesn’t it? I mean, she’s not quite 8 months old, yet! Anyway – I thought it was a fluke. Maybe something she was only going to do once and not be able to accomplish again for a while. But no. I went back a bit later and she’d done it again. She’s now done it about every time I put her in her crib – so I know it’s not a one‐time deal. Well – so goes the battle. Hope everyone is well! TTFN JMS