Sarah Vs. the Black Thumb (part whatever the second)

After returning from Indy I wandered to my back yard to water my plants that had been neglected for four days. Apparently there was a really windy day at some point because the umbrella from our patio set had been whipped from its stand and the main post wrenched in two. Seriously...the metal just sheared off...I'm amazed.

Anyway, it landed on my garden. My heart stopped when I saw it. Rob has sincere doubts as to my ability to successfully grow a functional garden and I saw another year's efforts flash before my eyes. I peeked under the umbrella and dropped it in stunned amazement. Apparently it acted like a greenhouse. My tomato plants that I purchased at a farmers market three weeks ago at less than six inches tall are over four feet tall. Of course they weren't that big when I left so they are a sprawling undisciplined mess right now. And I have no idea where Rob stashed the tomato stakes and cages post move. Actually I'm not sure I have tomato stakes taller than four feet as it has been years since I had a plant get that tall.

So instead of trashing the umbrella or letting Rob fix it, I may mount it on a pole and plant it in the middle of my garden.

Adventures in Babyproofing

Apparently, I am not smarter than a seven month old.

Rob and I, trying not to be hovering overprotective parents, agreed to babyproof minimally as possible to ensure Gus's safety. Other than locking up the chemicals, we did nothing. We figured we would watch what he got into as he increased in mobility and we would address safety (or destruction) issues as they arose. Here is what we have learned we needed in the last month.

Sliding outlet covers for the outlets he has access to: he likes to try and stick his tongue in the sockets
All cords out of sight behind heavy furniture: he like to chew on them
Everything we don't want going in his mouth needs to be at least three feet off the ground
Gates needed for the office: he like to pull books off of shelves and chew on them and computer buttons are fun to push.
Lock for the freezer. It is fun to open and close, or open and not close
Gate for pet area: cat food is yummy
Need to keep doors closed to all the rooms and closets.

Basically he shows me something new he can get into everyday. Yesterday we pulled all the sheets out of the bottom 2.5 feet of the linen closet and unfolded them, got our self wedged between the cupboard and the toilet in the bathroom, pulled the drying rack over on ourselves, tried to rip down the curtains in the office. All this and he isn't even crawling or scooting yet. I am little baffled at how he manages to get around so efficiently. The bathroom feat was accomplished in the time it takes to switch laundry from the washer to the dryer, the linen closet while I went to grab the trash cans from the curb. Maybe we should just get over with and just babyproof the whole house.

Sarah Vs the Stuff (Part III)

The great unstuffing continues...

I told Sarah I would scrapbook with her. Easy right? I dug out the boxes with my photos in them. Not only do I have pictures from when I was four mixed in with college photos mixed in with wedding photos, I have pictures of everyone in my dorm one year at church camp to some guys I had crushes on when I was eight. Needless to say I spent the evening looking through my life in photos and pitching a good deal of it. Pictures of houses I thought were cool looking to a million pictures of cats being cute...seriously. I am only about a third of the way through a rough sort. On the upside when I am done I will be ready to finally tackle getting my wedding pictures in an album. Seems like that was on the to do list from five years ago.

Sarah Vs the Stuff (Part II)

Day Two of the great unstuffing...

I tackled the underwear drawer and dug out all the Outback stuff I had and took it in. Letting go of the Outback stuff was very sad for me. It made the whole leaving thing feel very permanent. It hit me finally that I'm really not going back. I was kinda bummed about it afterward and Kyle asked why I didn't keep my flair for the memories. I had had the same conversation with myself when deciding whether to take it in or not. Everything in my house has memories associated with it. How will we ever get rid of stuff if we hold on to everything that ever meant something to us? In twenty years will I be sad about getting rid of my flair collection? Probably not. Does it make me sad now? Absolutely.

Rob and I chatted last night about what we want for the house. We have come to the mutual understanding that our stuff is driving us crazy and he agreed to help me unstuff us. We want a simple life. Two or three hobbies that we can actually do because we can find the stuff for them, a really fabulous kitchen, serene and calm bedrooms, a living space that is easy to maintain, and a garage that doesn't kill you when you walk through it. How hard can this possibly be?

Picture Perfect? or Sarah Vs. Stuff (Part I)

We all do it...leaf through magazines with these pictures of perfect rooms and imagine how much stuff we would have to get rid of to make our house look like that. How much stuff do we really need? We have stuff exploding out of our closets and storage areas into all of the other areas of our lives. I have decided (again) that I am sick of it. With a move still hanging over our heads, this is perfect motivation to unstuff ourselves.

This has been on my to do list in some fashion or another for months and I just haven't gotten to it yet. So today, unable to find something I know I purchased, but unable to uncover it under all the stuff that has filtered into our house, I decided to get started. Another motivating factor was coming home two nights ago to my husband burning paperwork he has been promising to go through for five years. I figure that if he is in a unstuffing mood, I should take advantage of that.

I have used the Flylady system (www.flylady.org) for years to keep my house clean, but never really did the decluttering tasks as I hate working in 15 minute increments on anything. I prefer to make massive, unreasonable lists that I will never be able to finish and burn myself out instead. Or, I just invite family up to give myself motivation for marathon cleaning sessions. Now the birth of our child has put a major kink in my ability to do anything for more than 15 minutes at a time so today during one of his micro naps I started my journey with a drawer. The sock drawer I can't put socks into seemed a good place to start so I dumped it on the bed. How many pairs of white socks does a person who does laundry every other day need? Technically three, but I kept ten just in case.

Can I get the house decluttered before the move at an unspecified date? I want our next house to be magazine worthy. I want one of those homey, inviting rooms that you could live in...without tripping over the stuff you can live without.

A Nice Day for Sewing

Three inches of snow on the ground, my house is clean and warm and dry, I think it is a perfect day for sewing. I will work on diapers, and a bed skirt and a coat for my friend's puppy. Meanwhile, the raucous laughter of the Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me panel blends well with the soothing landscape...

Sarah Vs. The Crib Skirt

I was going to use the space under the crib to store baskets of blankets. Unfortunately, the rails come down too low to allow for smart storage, so I was just going to put a crib skirt on it to hide underneath. Crib sheets cost between $3 and $15 depending on where you get them. Patterned, cutesy crib skirts start at $12. A plain beige, tan, cream, white, or blue crib skirt will run you about $80. What!!! So I have my heart set on a boring, plain, non-patterned crib skirt and I refuse to pay 40 times what I paid for the sheets. So I today I went to the fabric store and bought plain colored fabric. Total cost...around $10. I am thinking that there is a business in there somewhere. It cannot be a new concept to offer solid fabric choices for baby bedding??

December

December already... The really great thing about new year's resolutions is that if you aren't organized enough to remember where you put them, you can tell yourself you accomplished all of them.

Usually December is my last ditch effort to accomplish those things on my January list. Since I cannot find the January list of resolutions, I consulted the list that I made in May when we found out we were going to have a baby. So far, the only thing not done on the list in making diapers for the baby. Every part of our house has been tackled and decluttered, with the exception of the Army paperwork, which scares me. All of our half finished home improvement projects are done and the guest room has been modified for the baby. So December's projects include two baby quilts, roughly sixty cloth diapers and a pretentious, multi-course Christmas dinner.

We are not travelling this year, so my best friend and her hubby are coming up for the holiday. After chatting last night, we decided to have a really pretentious dinner with china and courses and everything, since it will be the last chance to do it without babies underfoot. This is going to be so much fun... This is somewhat of a departure from my family's Christmas pot of Chili tradition. All I know about the menu so far is we are having a cheese course, and we are not having ham. I am experimenting with homemade gelato recipes and trying to come up with some good deserts that don't have chocolate, coconut or nuts in them...maybe cannolis?

Monday

My in-laws are coming to visit for Rob's birthday next Monday. It is the first time they will see our house and I am very excited. As the house is fairly clean, this gives me proper motivation to tackle the clutter issues that have plagued us since we moved in. It also wouldn't hurt to go through some of this stuff before the baby gets here.

Rainbow Scarf

Here are pictures of the 'rainbow' scarf and hat I did for my niece.