Wednesday, August 20, 2008


I'm sitting in my favorite chair drinking a great cup of home brewed coffee. My neighbor roasted the beans in a air pop popcorn maker turned coffee roaster. I can't even begin to describe how much better this coffee tastes than the beans I normally brew. The girls are eating organic mac and cheese and are watching Tom and Jerry (i.e. they are not at each other's throats). The boy is out and about the neighborhood - playing basketball, skating on his friend's quarter ramp, dreaming about fishing in the golf course pond that mom has deemed off limits. And the hubbie is sleeping off the night shift. In other words I've found myself a moment where nobody is demanding my attention. This seems as good a time as any to take stock of the past couple of weeks.


What I've accomplished in the past two weeks:


1) We ate every meal in (except for a birthday BBQ at the park which cost the price of a birthday present - still cheaper than eating out).

2) I bought only one coffee shop latte.

3) I sold a camera backpack I don't use on Ebay for $100.00.

4) I sold $35.00 worth of books and movies on Half.com.

5) The house has stayed relatively clean (the hubbie gets kudos here); we've kept up on laundry, dishes, vacuuming, etc.

6) The girl's room has been cleaned top to bottom - drawers and cubbies sorted, items to the goodwill, etc.

7) I went through my yarn collection and started knitting again. Can anyone say hand knit holidays? My poor 20-year-old nephew will have to deal with his eccentric aunt sending him odd knitted gifts (I'm thinking of poor Ralphie from A Christmas Story).

8) To counter my knitting with a touch of hippness (coolness? awesomeness? unsure as to the proper lingo here) I purchased a book Son of Stitch 'n Bitch: 45 Projects to Knit and Crochet for Men. Perhaps I'll knit the boys something they'll actually wear.

9) I bought additional yarn from Ebay and knitting needles from KnitPicks (i.e. good deals).

10) Found some great deals on LeapPad cartridges for the baby. (She has one year left before kindergarten and will be spending that time at home with me. I will be working hard to entertain and educate her).

11) Found some great garage sale deals on 100 piece puzzles for the baby. On our trip we discovered she loves puzzles.

12) Paid off my library fines and put a hold on the last Stephanie Meyer book Breaking Dawn. I'm mildly embarrassed to say I read the first three books while on vacation. They are written for 7th to 9th graders after all. Nonetheless it was a nice diversion and now I want to finish the series.

What I have not done in the past two weeks:

1) EXERCISE!!!!

2) Write.

3) Sort through and process all the photos from our trip.

At this point I'm going on the theory that every little bit counts. As I catch up on other things I'll slowly add in those that are lacking. Not bad so far, eh?

2 comments:

RANT: MOTHERHOOD UNCENSORED said...

No bad indeed! I am so jealous of the organizing, paring down, & selling off the useful. I'm in the closets today taking stock of camping supplies (upcoming trip), fall/winter clothing, etc. and all this STUFF just keeps falling out...it's everywhere I look now! Useful things IN EVERY ROOM that we do not use! It's time for this stuff to find a new home. I'm starting on the closets, then moving onto the books. Thanks for the motivation!

Loved your comment. It made my day.

Bridge said...

love it. there is always that pull at the end of summer that says...simplify, get it done...
lovely photo