Ahhhhh . . .

I am pleased to report that I started out this weekend more relaxed than I've been in . . . well, a really long time. My massage was WONDERFUL! Sooooo worth it. I told the lady that my main problem areas were my shoulders/upper back, and that is what she worked on for probably 45 minutes. It was heavenly. I could just feel the knots work themselves out as she did deep-tissue massage on the affected areas. As soon as she started working, she said, "I can see why you are having shoulder problems!", as the knots were that obvious! I laid with my shoulders flat, but hips turned a little to one side, and a pillow under my belly/one leg. It was very comfortable, and it enabled her to work on both shoulders. I floated home, and in fact, I still feel a bit like I am floating! I slept better last night than I have since I started having these numbness problems with my arms--6 uninterrupted hours!

Feeling more relaxed also allowed me to be a lot more productive yesterday. I systematically went through the bookshelves in the study, which is where I keep all our homeschooling stuff. I have been in desperate need of time to rearrange and organize in there, because I am running out of room on my shelves. Yesterday I took out a ton of material that we simply are never going to use. I can admit it! I think we've been homeschooling now for going on 9 years, if you start with Nathan's kindergarten year, and I pretty much know what works for us for the elementary years. And I have no energy to do anything extra or just try new things for the fun of it! So one big box of stuff is sitting in the middle of the study floor, and my shelves are so much more organized. Hopefully we'll have a used curriculum sale at the end of our co-op this year, like we did last year. If not, it's still going somewhere else!

Unfortunately, all this cleaning did not turn up 2 things that are missing. One is an answer key to the Henle I book we just started. It is mildly annoying that I can't find that book, especially since I know I have seen it around, but no big deal--I have to put in a Rainbow Resource order, so I'm just going to order another one for $5.50. The other big thing we are missing is a library book on apes and gorillas (and lemurs, which is the reason we had it out in the first place). Luke has to do a research paper on an animal, and he picked the lemur. He needed 3 sources by Jan. 4, so right before we left for Ohio, we went to the library and got out 3 books. When we got back home from Ohio, and co-op was starting up again, we couldn't find any of the 3 books! After much frantic searching, we discovered 2 of the books shelved on our bookshelves, along with all our books. Whew! But . . . where could the third book be? We thoroughly searched each shelf on the bookshelves, as well as the usual places--under the couch, coffee table, and beds, behind the couch, in the playroom, etc. Luke and I have both spent quite a good deal of time searching for this book, and it is not in any of the obvious places, nor in quite a few very unobvious places! It's a big, green, hardcover book--you would think it would not have been so easy to lose in such a thorough way! Grrr . . . there is not much that bothers me more than having something missing. Although I will say that it has bothered me less after my massage, that's for sure, LOL. Still, I was disappointed that all this cleaning and decluttering did not turn up at least one of the missing items!

I am hoping to continue using the weekends to declutter. We just have so much extra stuff around, it seems. It's hard to keep things clean, and it's hard to keep track of things we really do need! And hopefully I will continue to have more restful nights, because I am sure I will be more able to actually do things like declutter if I have a tiny bit more energy.

***Update*** Well, what do you know?! I walked into the family room, and I noticed that Grace had gotten some books out of the bookshelf, which were scattered on the floor. On top of the pile was . . . 100 Things You Should Know About Monkeys and Apes. What in the world?! Luke and I BOTH looked through all the books on those shelves! My jaw about hit the floor! Okay . . . well, that gives me hope that other missing things might mysteriously turn up out of the clear blue sky, LOL. And in the meantime, we are all praising the Lord for this little miracle!