Me Without Three!!

Bye, kids!

Bye, Babe! 

I love you!  Don’t hurry back!

Because I have a long “want to do” list, just waiting for a quiet household with no one in my way. I put all the Christmas cards on the wall in new frames that no longer get in the way of the barn door (I love seeing our evolution).

I caught up with a similar project from our Mother’s Day family photos on the dungeon wall.

Christmas filled our recycling bin, so most of the mess in the  office now is bags and boxes of papers that need to be recycled, because not only did I organize what you can see, but I cleaned out papers older than a year from the files.

Christmas Chaos (The Room That Must NOT Be Entered by anyone other than Mama in December) is now back to being a guest room (while also storing a certain bicycle hidden behind pillows for someone’s 9th birthday in a few weeks and a plethora of boxes until recycling day).

Downstairs game/books/video shelf got some TLC and decluttering.

The most important regrouping was for my mini office in the coat closet.  I also mostly caught up with cabin paperwork.  Phew!

I also shampooed the upstairs carpets, and cleaned out our bathroom a bit.  (Anyone need a new-in-box pregnancy test?)

And Kyla often gives me a box of random things to sort and get rid of.  She had some ornaments that  really have no sentimental attachment to her. My only reaction is to keep things with names and dates (Baby’s First Christmas!  Must keep always!), and I love that she knows that this isn’t her style, doesn’t love it on her tree, and can’t see needing this as she gets older.  My only regret is that it can’t really be donated (see “2006”), but otherwise, she’s completely correct.  But she’s the  lucky one—she fills a box, hands it to me, and I’m the one who has to best figure our most appropriate disposal of all the items.  But that’s my job and it’s worth having less stuff and a live in Role Model!

Thanks for the 48 hours at home by myself, Babe! Best present ever.