Spring Cleaning (my whole life)

I have sort of a "trial run" for my new life this week as I'll be home with The Cupcake every day. It comes at a good time as I just wrapped up a lot of obligations with my part time job, and I can actually "relax" a little and not worry about getting a million other things done...in theory...

My house is out of sorts and has been for some time. We've never really been daily cleaners, more a "panic the hour before people are coming over" variety of housekeeping. And then of course post-TC life has been all about survival. I've come to accept a lot of it, which shows a good amount of growth on my part, since despite being a terrible cleaner I was also really paranoid about people seeing such things, and would fret and freak out and generally make everyone miserable as I tried to get it done.

So now my house is messy, and I can accept that, but still hope to change it. And soon, with my house being my primary surroundings 24/7, I think I will attempt to take some action. I want to get into a routine of covering the basic household chores so things don't pile up and feel so overwhelming to tackle at their boiling point. I want to organize and find procedures and short cuts that work for our lives.

In furtherance of this quest I'm currently reading a book I found via NotMartha called Discardia: More Life, Less Stuff. It's pretty good so far, nothing real ground breaking but a few helpful tips and a lot of reaffirming stuff I already do, which makes me feel smart and important. Yeah, I just admitted that. It's both about streamlining your life and making room/energy/priority to find and do the things that make you happy.

This comes at a very opportune time for me.

If I had an iPhone I'd definitely get one of those apps that gives you gold stars (or points or whatever) for doing household chores and checking off to-do lists, because I thrive on those tiny victories, but until then I'll just have to post my accomplishments here (sorry!). Per Discardia I'm doing small things to build up good habits, the important thing being to do "something," even if it is the wrong decision at least it is momentum and it is easier to correct the route of something in motion than to get it started in the first place.

Today I went through the refrigerator and dumped all the outdated food (we suck at leftovers). I didn't worry about scrubbing down all the surfaces, because if I had to do all that too I probably wouldn't have done any of it. Starting small, with  accomplishable mini goals that eventually lead to good habits. And I also love the idea of not punishing yourself for all the stuff you don't get to or don't choose to do - I'll work on that. I also ran 2 loads of dishes, took a 3 hour nap (YAY!) and picked up a bunch of plastic storage tubs at Target for further organizational fun. Yipee!

Five Lessons learned today:

-Not all JBF sales are equal. This was the FIRST day of the Andover sale, and it was ridiculously lame compared to the Coon Rapids one. If you can believe it, I didn't buy ANYTHING!

-Thursdays are 1/2 off kid stuff day at Goodwill - scored 2 nice zip front sweaters for P (she wears sweaters ALL THE TIME right now over short sleeve outfits) for just $0.99 each! Bonus: Even dad can get them on her without too much trouble.

-Wendy's has 2 kinds of lemonade. The new "All-Natural" (sure) one is fantastic (and comes in a fancy cup), but if you don't specify "NEW ALL NATURAL" then they give you the minute maid crap from the soda fountain. Not fantastic.

-I will never buy jeans at full price again! I just got 4 nice pairs for $6.99 each at the Goodwill, less than one pair of jeans retail, and they're fun brands like Gap, New York & Co., etc.

-I really can't stand low rise jeans. My muffin top does not need to be encouraged.

To ponder: I'm putting weight back on (boo) lately, though I'm still under my pre-pregnancy weight. Will staying home help, in that I won't sit at my desk and eat all day or be tempted to go out to lunch (since we'll be broke), and I'll be chasing TC around, or will it be worse because I'll be within such close proximity to my refrigerator, my couch, and my jeans?

Hmmm, time will tell...

Canon in D

I will miss a few things about my working life...

I like getting paid. I like having discretionary money and my own bank account. I like being able to check my email frequently, and I like having an abundance of office supplies at my fingertips. I have a really nice desk chair that has treated me well these past years. I like unlimited internet surfing with nobody tearing the computer out of my hands and running away with it.

And most of all, I like my copy machine.

I would take it with me if I could.

I don't think it's anything special, just a Canon ImageRUNNER according to its label, but I will miss it dearly. I love the crisp clear predictable printing, and the ability to do 11" x 14" posters IN COLOR! and labels and cardstock and transparencies. I got a big HP printer a year ago and while it will do the size, the quality is not even in the same ballpark. I love being able to scan ticket stubs, greeting cards, or old photos to help with my scrapbooking. I love being able to sign and return forms via scan/email rather than physical delivery. I suppose I could do that with my home printer, but it takes more than a quick flick of one button and will never seem the same.

I'll miss you Cannon. We had some good times.

Bank on it

My bank is going to start charging me $15 a month so I'm looking for a new bank. And then get to spend hours trying to change all my auto bills and other housekeeping. Who really pays those outrageous fees? We can get it "waived" (oh, what a generous offer!) if we meet a bunch of other circumstances (that generate a bunch of income for them) or if we have a bunch of money to begin with (probably those aren't the people who need the "waiver?") but we don't meet any of them, especially now that I QUIT MY JOB!

Yup, I'm officially a stay-at-home-mom in 1 month. I guess that means I didn't quit, I gave notice, and a really nice extended notice at that. What a great employee.

I shall work hard to observe the Dooce rule on this public forum, but I think I can safely say that I never loved my job, and I have no career path, and I have high hopes that this will be a major positive change in my life.

Primarily this decision comes as our amazing childcare situation comes to an end - The Cupcake might be the luckiest little monkey on the planet as her grandmother generously watched her this past year after I returned to work. And "watched" can hardly be considered accurate, Grandma fawned and doted and chased and sang and dressed up and cooked homemade meals for and otherwise enjoyed the biscuits out of TC 3 days a week while I tried to keep bringing home some bacon. It was never a permanent situation, but it gave me a little more time to think. I couldn't imagine a better environment for TC than what she's had this past year, we are so thankful. As it comes to an end I considered daycare or Montessori programs, but at this point I'd be working JUST to pay the daycare bills, and since I don't love where I'm at, there are few reasons to stay. It's not like this job will eventually lead me somewhere better, in fact, I'm probably hurting my resume in many respects by working so long in a field I have no desire to be in. But with my cautious nature I'd probably never make a leap to something more enjoyable/potentially less reliable at the risk of being irresponsible, so this will be a wonderful catalyst (I hope) that allows me to leave the safe but yucky job and eventually find something much more fulfilling, or at least not quite so deflating.

And in the meantime, I'm going to mom the crap out of this little monkey:


I have a LOT of hopes and dreams, and a "to-do" list a million miles long (find a new bank...find the kitchen table under the piles of crap...find out what I want to do with my life and make a plan for it...teach TC to talk so I can reason with her about SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!) but in my heart I know that this adventure will probably be a lot like my birth process was - I could research and form ideas and even make a "plan" on paper...but I'm not going to really know what it is like, what my limits are, and what will bring me joy until I'm in the thick of it (and then the "plan" will just be hilarious kindling from the naive former life). I'm scared that I'll be MORE tired without my "sitting on my @$$ time" at work. I'm terrified we'll be destitute and that will be NO fun, not to mention probably end up in me getting a worse job at a fraction of the pay. I'm sad I have to leave my copy machine and scanner. I'm excited to go to storytime at the library, and grocery shop during the day, and walk to the zoo whenever we want. I'm not sure if I will be able to handle not having "my own" income for the first time in a long time or if TC will just miss her grandma and wonder when I'm leaving again...

Cheers to new adventures.

Shoe Shopping

I had a very brief shoe obsession during what I now lovingly refer to as my "spice girl days" (when we talk about skeletons in the closet, all mine are actually in my closet - crimes against fashion and possibly humanity. Ahhh, the ignorance and wonderful audacity of youth).

But lately, I could care less about my own shoes (as long as they are comfortable), it seems I'm much more attracted to little girls's shoes! Such as:



Aren't these adorable? Another one of my bargains from the JBF sale. I paid $7. They retail for $35, though they have some on clearance for $15. These had just tiny scuffs on the toes, which TC would have done in her first wear anyways, and they didn't have their squeakers in them (they squeak with each step, which encourages the kid to put their heel down and not walk on their toes, which is their first impulse). I emailed the company and they sent me new squeakers FREE, so I got these half price for just their tiny toe scuffs! And I love them :)

The Cupcake wore them out to eat last week and the hubby let her walk out of the restaurant holding his hand - boy did she make a stir! The squeaks aren't loud enough to be annoying (at least not for short periods of time) but they sure got a reaction. I stayed behind to hokey up the floor (many goldfish crackers had met their death that dinner) and cracked up hearing all the exclaimations "Oh goodness!" "Isn't that cute!" "She has those squeaky shoes!" "I've never seen those!" And let me tell you, the little miss enjoyed EVERY BIT of her attention :) They're a hit!

Take a picture, it will last longer

I was REALLY excited this morning to attend Heather Barta's "Life at Play" photography workshop geared specifically at moms interested in photographing their children. I've had my "nice camera" for a couple years now (wow! More than that even, now that I look!) and I've pretty much only used the manual settings and never been able to figure out lighting/flash use very well. a

The Cupcake doesn't hold still for long (or at all) these days, and while she is cute as a button in "real" life, she's not terribly photogenic, and I keep catching her at moments like this:

(no, we didn't feed her lemons. Pretty sure that pucker is all about teething - bringing on the molars).

Much to the grandparents' dismay, I've been struggling and not really taking a lot of photos or getting good shots lately, so this came up as a great time.

I didn't learn anything groundbreaking, but I learned exactly the basics I needed to dramatically improve my photos - the basic shutter/aperature/ISO triangle and how to change said settings on my camera (a few things that were NOT in the manual!). We had a short "lesson", fiddled with our cameras, and then got to practice on Heather:

And then she brought in some of her clients for us to practice what we had learned on:

We descended like paparazzi :)

Perhaps the biggest "tip" I got was the advice to buy a new lens - the "kit" lens most of us had only went down to a 3.5 aperature, which meant we needed a very high ISO to counter for the dreary day, or indoors in general. Even then, I felt like my pics were a little flat, or the high ISO risked being grainy. Heather let us try her preferred 50mm/1.4 aperature and the difference was AMAZING:

it felt a little weird because you don't have zoom, you have to mover yourself instead. But the difference in photos was instantaneously apparent. Since one of my major problems has been lighting, the larger aperature helps immensely - letting more light in without trying to manipulate the flash is easier and more flattering. I was convinced. I hit National Camera on my way home and came home with a similar lens - 35mm 1.8 aperature, which allows me a slightly bigger field. I raced home and couldn't wait for The Cupcake to wake up from her nap so I could try it out:

AND I LOVE IT!

SUCH A DIFFERENCE!

I FINALLY FEEL LIKE I'M USING MY CAMERA!

I still caught a few pretty terrible/hilarious faces, such as this shriveled gnome during dinner time:

But even then, it's well lit and a way better photo overall! (She was actually laughing, but I guess it's an ugly laugh. I about had tears when I saw it, from laughing so hard myself!) That's banana all over her nose.

I'm definitely looking forward to getting some egg gathering shots tomorrow if the weather agrees (and if I can chase TC quickly enough). Grandmas, I'm working on sending you both some photos! I promise now! And while it may be bold, I'm also ready to cross off the other half of #12 on the bucket list - Learn to take great photos and get a “real”
camera. I'm sure I'll continue to improve, but I think I've taken a GIANT leap forward and I'm feeling pretty good about it so far!

Now if only I wasn't already 13 months behind on scrapbooks...

:)

Spring Cleaning - in theory...

Despite all my talk about recent acquisitions, I'm actually looking forward to streamlining in the near future. I think our early spring is wreaking havoc on my urge to organize, but I just can't get that to the top of my priority list with everything else going on, so things go in stacks and piles for a bit longer. With The Cupcake now fully mobile, those stacks and piles have to be strategically placed on the mantle, behind the locked door to the attic, or sprawled across the dining room table, which is a constant battle.

I've made a few minor steps forward, getting this armoire (ridiculously cheap and on sale at Sears, where they even loaded it in my car). It went together fairly easily, with the exception of the tracks for the drawer which I put on wrong a few times, and one of the screws for the handles is missing, but after some trial and error we decided to leave them off for the time being - kid proofing doesn't always mean locking! It's more of a deterrent, I'm sure she *could* get the drawer open without them, but she doesn't try so all is well. She does occasionally walk over and jiggle the giant plastic child proof lock on the doors, just to see if it happens to be open, and when I take it off to get something out she goes into ninja mode and is at my side before I can blink. It feels really stable and looks much more expensive, but since we really only need it to protect stuff for a few years, it is just right. I keep my camera and chargers in there, paperwork for coaching, and other things that I need to access regularly but not immediately. My mom's computer lives on top, along with a stack of bibs for the day and usually some mail. I still need to get a better system down, as I tend to swoop up piles of paper and "lose" important mail in the process, but it's a start.

The attic (formerly "craft room") is the worst, it's been a dumping ground since Xmas 2011. I've spent a handful of evenings up there in the past year and a half, but not enough to do more than move a few piles around and make a path. I did clear out a TON of stuff at the JBF sale - nearly all of TC's baby clothes and all of my maternity stuff sold, which was GREAT and made justifying my purchases MUCH easier! The next step is a yard sale, which I usually do pretty well with but which are also a crapload of work. I donated my tent to MNLove, so I'll have to figure out new logistics, tag everything, haul it down, spread it across the lawn, and simultaneously entertain The Cupcake. Hmm.

At the same time, there is always the danger of getting rid of too much - what if I send something out the door for a measly quarter, and find out I need it again down the road? I'll kick myself, especially since I plan to remain poor at best for the next great while. Oh, the great dilemmas I face daily!

Also, remember when I posted all that jibberish about how I was taking control of my closet, and I'd set out these great rules? Yeah, I failed at that pretty darned quick. I believe my very next purchase was a dry-clean only dress (super cute, and I wore it several times, but come on, what was I thinking? It's $15 a wear! That is NOT my lifestyle.), followed by 2 pair of pants that desperately need hems taken up. I had a few JC Penny gift cards, and somehow talked myself into the wrong things. They really are good rules, if only my legs were 3" longer and I could wear dress pants and khakis off the rack! And I bought some cute shirts I thought fit just fine when I tried them on, but my bra straps always end up hanging out, so I'm thinking I should just throw in the towel on them...add them to the piles. Also, I need to remember I spend half my day bending over and running after TC, so my necklines need to act appropriately.

I'm also currently getting excited about finishing a few projects we started in the basement only to sideline myself with more monetary worries. We took out our bar this winter, realizing that it was cute but totally non-practical. We used it for Halloween parties in our old lives, but otherwise who would sit at a bar and stare at the wall? It had turned into a dumping ground, and the room was wasted. We decided to turn it into a playroom and the hubby & my dad set to work doing what I thought would be a simple uninstall...only to find the bar had been built piece by piece in it's location, and was NOT coming out in any other way. I had hoped to be able to sell it to finance some of the mini renovation, but it was totally destroyed. Last weekend I finally went and picked out a new cabinet to put in it's place (we're reinstalling the sink, and staging the whole thing as a bar again, but flat against the wall, more like a serving buffet than a bar you sit around). As feared, there was no carpet underneath what we removed, so we have a giant gaping hole right now, next to a section of stick on faux parquet, and I have to decide whether to replace the flooring for the whole basement now and enjoy it, throw a rug over it and wait till Norm dies and we decrease our chance of ruining new carpet, or just wait till we're going to move. Either way, something has to be done, it's just a matter of when and how much we are willing to put into it. So far I'm not sure. And so it all sits.

Anyone else have spring fever?