It's the first day of SPRING.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Happy Spring
It's the first day of SPRING.
Saturday, March 16, 2024
Well Read
Saturday, March 09, 2024
It pays to clean
For over a year I have not seen the surface of this vanity. (Don't judge.)
While cleaning the under-the-bed Inferno, I found that the dust bunnies were hoarding a portrait of me someone had made me in college. I had entirely forgotten about this moment in history.
They got my nose all wrong.
In fact, I appear quite Barbie-ish in this portrait (which I assure you was never an accurate representation.)
Nevertheless, it is a sweet memory that was once lost and then was found.
I plunked it in a frame and it makes me smile. (Even though now I am even less Barbie-ish than I was back then!)
In cleaning up the rotting fruit bowl, I decided to make banana muffins for breakfast tomorrow and Ina Garten's no-sugar, no-flour oatmeal raisin cookies this morning. The cookies were an experiment.
If YOU are ever tempted to try no-sugar, no-flour cookies (even if they are from Ina Garten), I am gonna stop you right there.
Just don't do it.
You're welcome.
Thursday, February 29, 2024
It's almost pizza night!
The extended Newman family decided to have a Pizza Party. The idea was for everyone to bring a pizza (or two) from a favorite local pizza joint and we were all to decide which place made the best pizza.
I paid an exorbitant price for a single pizza at a local pizzeria and while there, I asked if I could have two extra boxes...
and then I made my own pizzas to fool them all.
BBQ chicken and onion |
Buffalo chicken |
Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Race to Spring
It happens every.single.year around this time.
Surely, I am not the only one.... right?
Too much stuff. Too long disorganized. Too many drawers spilling over. Too many and too long ignored spaces. Too much to do. Too little time. Too daunting to even want to begin.
My day-to-day chores are hard enough to keep on top of. Laundry is done every day and never done. Meals are made constantly and still there are growling bellies. Homeschooling is always and never done.
But the fact is- those utensil drawers that get clogged every time I open/close them (and drive me crazy) will continue to get clogged until I actually DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
(I know, profound.)
For "before" pictures, just imagine layers of dust and no showing surfaces |
When my life feels too chaotic and out of control, it always makes me feel somewhat more in control if I can actually rein something in. Even if it is just the top of the fridge.
So... I made a list of all the teeny, tiny, long-neglected spaces/jobs that I could think of that would take about 10 minutes to tackle (or so I tell myself) and I am now in a race with Old Man Winter to see how many of these things I can cross off by March 19th. (That's the first day of Spring, you know.)
The goal is not just to clean and dust these places but to organize them and purge at least 3-5 things that add more clutter than value at this point. Or to focus on a tiny task that I have been avoiding.
Most of the time it takes longer than 10 minutes. (Sometimes, even hours.)
(Washing all these shelves and jars took WAY longer than 10 minutes) |
The list is constantly being added to.
But the list is constantly being checked off too... and bags and boxes of stuff are being thrown away, given away and/or donated which means... those particular things will NEVER drive me crazy again!
And that makes me supremely happy.
Friday, February 16, 2024
Funny Little Valentine
Corynn surprised me with these beauties last week. Sweet girl. |
Wednesday, February 07, 2024
Goals for 2024
It took a bit longer to get my goals up for this year than I expected. My apologies to the masses! ;-)
Here is what I am working towards in 2024:
I see a lot of value in continuing and expanding some of the habits I developed last year so hosting Matt's parents for dinner one night a week, taking vitamins, being active/exercising at least 3x per week, writing one letter/card a month, Christmas shopping throughout the year, and being sure to fit Morning Time with Mama into my weekdays will be a priority for me this year as well.
In addition to those things (which, let's be honest, are going to keep me busy), here are some new things I would like to accomplish this year.
(Or in the remaining 11 months of it, anyway!)
~ Read Paradise Lost (this was a roll-over from last year)
~ Host ladies + children from church once a month at our house.
~ Get a different vehicle (ours is one breath away from death)
~ Get Andrew into his own vehicle (we will go halfsies)
~ blog once a week (These may be short and sweet but I think my Faraway Girl might appreciate them so I want to try.)
~ Fix up dining room (if not a full do-over, at least repair the broken drywall by the table)
~ Start saving up money for a home generator
~ Sort/Purge Granary in order to make a play space in the upstairs for children
~ Write six long letters (not just cards)
~ Get grapes on fence or arbor
~ Do a better job recording important info into our Hopestead Journal
~ try to grow carrots
~ try to make a new variety of cheese (maybe cheddar?)
Here is what my January looked like:
Do you have any particular goals for 2024? How are you doing on them?