A Journey to "Little"

I'm on a journey. It's a very slow one. It's a rather difficult one. It's rather fun. It's a journey to having little because I'm a packrat. I always have been, and I will probably always have those tendencies, but I'm trying to KILL them. They keep resurrecting somehow.

I thought that perhaps, as a way to aid in my dejunkification, I might, every week, post a picture or list of the things I've cleared out and gotten rid of.

Friday I loaded up the trunk with stuff I wanted to get rid of. I was going to take a picture, but forgot, so here is my list.

Thrift or Donate
Clothes that no longer fit me.
Clothes that no longer fit Adeline or Georgiana, or that they never wear, or that is no longer my style. Shoes that Georgi won't wear.
Hats.
Toys.
Books.
Misc.
Stuffed animals.
Blankets.

I also went through Adeline's toys and threw a bunch away. All her puzzles had missing pieces, so they all went, as did her play dough.

I've already started this week's pile. First to be added? Two pairs of high heels that I love, but hurt my feet.

How do you keep your stuff to a minimum? How do you keep from being a packrat, or do you not have that problem? What are your tips to a well organized home?

Its Our Life

I am blessed. I forget that sometimes. I forget that most times.

I have a wonderful family. I have a house. I have food, running water (usually).

A few days ago I went to water a rose bush, and stupidly assumed that the two hoses were tangled up, so I gave a hugemongous yank. There was only one hose. A geyser, similar in proportions  to Old Faithful appeared. My husband still loves me.

Today, the washer made a weird noise and presently water was covering the floor. Every towel in my house was used up wiping the water up. Thankfully, I have awesome family members close who came to help me. And wash my towels.

Adeline and I have been reading The Little House books, and I've been continually inspired by their lifestyle. I want it. I really do. Even more so when things happen like today.

I am extremely blessed, however. Even tho this stuff happens, it's a little adventure. Plus, it would get annoying to have to draw water from a well all the time. Or a creek.

Of Stars and Stripes

July 4th.

Independence Day.

In times past, I have made Honey Bunch and myself fun shirts to wear on the 4th.

This set is from 2011, where I used old T-shirts and flowers from Dollar Tree.

2012 set

This time around, I have another daughter to sew for. I also decided to make a shirt for Hubby. Since I've had so much fun fabric painting, I decided to go with that. I was going to do and American Flag, but decided it would be fun to do our states. The ones we were born in. I used this freezer paper method before. I found my images by doing a Google search.

Here is my states, cut out, ironed on, and waiting to be painted. I decided not to do stars on mine and the girls' shirts, but use white buttons instead. (Buttons aren't manly, so I did stars for the Man.)

White is painted. It took a couple days because I had to let the paint dry in between colors.

Kentucky

 

 

Tennessee

 

Georgia

 

Rocking their Georgia Shirts.

Another Party Dress (or two)

Last month I was madly doing some last minute sewing for a bridesmaid dress for myself, when I decided that I wanted to make Adeline and Georgiana matching dresses for the same wedding. I literally finished them the day we packed and left for the wedding. 

I used this pattern one other time (A Little Bit of Sewing), but loved it way more this time. I think I'll probably use it a lot. Once I read the directions a few times, it was a breeze to sew. (if you have the pattern, I found the second set of bodice instructions so much simpler)

The back is supposed to be a long belt, but I didn't have enough fabric, so I just made it attached.

For the underpants for Georgi's outfit, I used Simplicity 2425.

Iwasn't to keen on having a huge belt for Georgiana dress, as I thought it would probably be very uncomfortable to lay on, so I skipped that entirely.

The back is supposed to close with loops like Adeline's dress, but I didn't feel like making such tiny loops, and I didn't think they'd hold right with the small buttons on Georgi's, so I used hair ties!! I've been meaning to replace them, since they are sort of different sizes, and all I had, but I just haven't gotten around to it.

My beautiful babes. rockin' their Party dresses.

Max

This post is a month old. Meaning, the contents herein happened about a month ago.

A month ago Max was born. We called the baby Max pretty much from the beginning of my pregnancy, even after we found out that "Max" was actually "Maxine".

There were several things I wanted done before she arrived. 1. I was repainting a dresser that I wanted finished. 2. I wanted Katy to be home. 3. I wanted my home a teensy bit more organized (read, unjunkified).

Through the month or so before my due date, Sara helped me with the de-junkifixation. Friday before my due date, Katy came home. Saturday before my due date John Lee brought the dresser over. Sunday, my due date, I went into labor.

All day long my contractions were easy, and we only left for the hospital (1 1/2 hours away because John Lee and my doula thought we should. I didn't.

Turns out, they were right.

We got to the hospital at 7:30 and after much labor and contractions and pushing, she was born at 1:49 on Monday morning. Via repeat cesarean.

Even that didn't really go according to plan. I lost more blood than I should have, she had to have her stomach pumped.

We both recovered fairly quickly, and went home on Wednesday.

We choose the name Georgiana Rhoda Elaine instead of Max (although Adeline and I both slipped up a few times and actually CALLED her Max). Her middle names are after JL's and my grandmothers, who just happened to share the name Rhoda. Elaine is after my mom (middle name). Georgiana is just a name we liked.

Adeline was thrilled with her sister.

Family Maternity Shoot

Max is due pretty much any day. I've been trying to get stuff done, write a birth plan, pack my bag, get clothes washed, house organized, etc. One thing I haven't done yet, is take maternity photos. With Adeline, it was a last minute thing as well. I didn't get any good ones of John Lee and I together, but a very good friend took some of just me. This time, I, um, waited until the last minute again. I've been wanting my sister to take some pictures, but since she's in Jamaica and not coming home until two days before my official due date, there is no guarantee that she will be able to do it. So the other day I asked my mom to take some, just in case Katy can't.

I didn't really want that many, and I think I got a few good ones. Now I feel like Max can make an appearance, and if Katy doesn't get some others of us, we have a newborn photo-shoot planned.

Adeline's 4th Birthday

At the end of January, Adeline turned 4. It was a Sunday, which I thought was pretty neat. My 4th birthday was on a Sunday. It was also scary. I remember my 4th birthday, mostly what I wore and my cake, but that's when my "main" memories start. I tend to think of her as my baby - who won't remember things. She does, however, have a very good memory. I started thinking about what memories I want her to have, and how I'm going to give them to her. I have no idea.   

The birthday girl.

She does things like:

"clean her room"

Yup. Definitely clean.

 

Love on her baby, Angelina (after Angeline Ballerina)

What do you remember most about your childhood birthdays? Or childhood at all? Earliest memories? What do you want your children to remember the most and also remember about you? How are you giving those memories?

And since I think it's awesome that our 4th birthdays were both on Sunday, 

here is my birthday picture.

Grow

No New Year's Resolutions. Only New Year's . . . Thoughts. In my head I know things that need to be changed, things I need to work on, things I need to learn, things I need to keep doing. I haven't written them down, and I don't know if it would help or hinder. Probably help since I love lists.

Yes, this is February, but it's still the beginning of the year. I can still be thinking about the year ahead and what I want from it.

Grow. or Learn.
Those are the words I picked for my year. I've never picked a word before, and these mean the same thing to me right now and are just what I need.

I need to grow/learn in my organizational skills. Which are at zero.

I need to grow/learn in my homemaking skills. Or, to put it another way, my making our house a home skills.

I need to grow/learn in my "Do not be a packrat" skills.

I need to grow/learn in my wifely/mothering skills. I need to learn to be present and take joy in those things.

These aren't resolutions, just sort of vague, and yet solid, things that I want to grow in and learn to be better at. I THINK I've been doing a little better. I've organized, gone through stuff, gotten rid of stuff, and cleaned. (Those things could also be attributed to nesting.)

So, what are your resolutions or words for 2014?

Robots are People Too

I haven't posted for eons, but decided a new year is a good time to change that. So here goes.

A while back, in church, someone said something about going through a hard time, and it got me thinking. I have a tendency to believe the world stops if I'm not around. No one feels anything, does anything, thinks anything. Only me. Everyone else is a robot, on auto pilot until they are with me, then things can happen to them.

It's selfish, I know. I guess I live in my own little world and expect others to notice things about me before I notice things about them. I don't try it. It just happens. I want to change. I just don't know how. I don't remember. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. I think that maybe they just want to be left alone (I do . . . . sometimes).

The truth is, I'm scared. I'm lazy. I'm selfish.

A while back, I was also reading some passages in the Bible that talk about the Church. The Saints. Those united by their common faith in God. We do have responsibilities to each other (even if we sometimes think or act like we can just do our own thing).

One of the main things we are commanded to do for others is . . . PRAY.

Yes, I suppose I can pray for others without knowing anything about them. Lots of people do it. But it is hard. I don't know what I'm praying for, so it generally ends up being something like "Lord, bless ________ and whatever they are dealing with. Amen"

Maybe that is fine, and I know that God knows and understands, but I have a hard time caring about people then. I think it probably goes both ways, because when I don't share, I don't feel cared for.

I'm not really making New Year's Resolutions. I have in my head things that I want to improve on though. One of them is caring for others. I don't know how though. So my question is, what do you do to care for others? What makes you feel cared for? What do you do for people? What do you want done for you?

And by the way,

Happy 2014!!

O, and the title of this post makes me think "Exterminate." But if you've never watched Dr. Who, you won't get it.