I felt like I made a stab at conquering some of the clutter. While my mom was still here, I made a list of some areas I would like to go through. The big surprise is that I actually accomplished things on the list! I cleaned out and organized our 2 small closets by the front door that have all our snow stuff in them. I put everything that wasn't needed for this year down in the basement, so hopefully it won't be such a pain to find stuff for everyone (if it ever snows . . .) I did realize we need a larger pair of men's snow boots (8 or 9), but so far I haven't been able to track any down. Apparently people who weren't having babies did this sort of thing back in October and bought out Target and Walmart!
I went through Caleb and Jonathan's closet and got rid of a ton of bigger boy clothes that we will most likely never need (husky-sized pants that we've been given, for example). I cleaned out the cabinet next to the fridge, which was full of unused baby bottles and sippy cups. With just one baby left to use them, it seemed silly to keep an entire cabinet stuffed full to the gills with those things. I got rid of more little boy clothes in the basement storage room, including an entire bag of baby boy shoes, which are the cutest things ever. So yeah, that was hard, but still . . . it feels good to be able to walk through the storage room again. I threw away a ton of old games and puzzles that are missing most of their pieces. Those had been in a closet out in the TV room in the basement, and younger kids felt too free to just take out whatever, so it was such a mess. Drove me crazy. I moved our collection of Lincoln Logs and plastic army men into that closet, so now kids can get those out. It won't irritate me so much if those get lost, LOL. I also went through a few boxes in the storage room and got rid of things like my collection of log cabin magazines from 1996ish. My parents had property in Alma, CO (between Fairplay and Breckenridge), and we had the best of plans to build a cabin on it. But in 1997 we had Nathan, and . . . well, the cabin never happened. Then neighbors encroached on the property on both sides with septic systems and wells, and now the property wouldn't support a house big enough for really any of us. So sadly my parents had to sell the property. I'm not giving up the dream of a cabin in Colorado, though--maybe someday, for our grandkids! We'll probably need at least 2 cabins, LOL.
Oh, I found some folders of stuff from our Okinawa days that my mom had saved for me. I did not throw that stuff away. It included this note of wisdom from a space-a trip we took in June, 1981, in a C-141. My mom wrote, "Well, then don't complain about being bored if you are choosing to not play with things in your backpack." Words of wisdom indeed, and ones that have in fact been re-uttered to this next generation. (I know the date of this gem because on the back of the note is a drawing of a C-141 cockpit and the date. Evidently I DID start doing something at least with the notebook in my backpack!)
In what I feel is my biggest accomplishment this past week, I started catching up on my Christmas scrapbook! I love this scrapbook of all our Christmas letters and pictures we sent out, plus a few pictures of what we did on each Christmas Day. You wouldn't think that would be too much to keep up with over the years, and yet it was. For us, Christmas stopped in 2007, it seemed! I had copies of all the letters and pictures from the intervening years, but no pictures of Christmas Day. So I made a massive snapfish photo print order. I also included a ton of pictures of the girls, in hopes that this summer I will be able to catch up on their individual albums, where I do a 2-page spread of each year. So I ordered over 300 pictures--none with a date stamp--so it will probably take me until the summer to sort out what pictures are from what year. What was I thinking?? At least the Christmas ones were easier to sort out, although did I make one mistake and put a picture on the page for the wrong year. When all your kids look the same, and you haven't moved in 10 years--well, it gets really hard to tell what year is what. I'm not actually all caught up on the scrapbook, but at least Christmas ends with 2011 now--4 years later!
I had hopes to finish the scrapbook up through 2013 the past few nights (because I just can't do it while the younger kids are up. I just can't . . .), but somehow I have developed a nasty infection under the thumbnail of my left hand. My thumb is swollen and throbbing, and cutting and writing just aren't happening right now. (I am left-handed.) I've been taking motrin and soaking it in warm water with Epsom salts, but it is not improving. It reminds me of the terrible time I had with an infected finger back in March 2008, and the awful lancing in the Bethesda ER. Bob was TDY, we all had strep and pink-eye, AND my hangnail got infected. Okay, after rereading that sad saga, I realize I am actually doing just fine! Nothing to complain about at all!
So our new year is starting off with a bit of a stutter (just don't touch my thumb!), but hopefully that is not an omen of things to come, LOL. At least we have a few more days before we start back with co-ops, practices, etc. I hope all of you have a wonderful year in 2015, where you draw closer to the Lord and become more like Him!
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