Contentment.

Yes. Diapers on a line speak contentment to my soul.

I accept that I am strangely peculiar. I'm okay with that.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, I'm gearing up for a garage sale this weekend and stuck in sorting/pricing/organizing/planning insanity. =)

I have shredder, hear me squeal.

4 bags of shredded paperwork in my garage. And I haven't even opened the filing cabinet(s) yet. (Blush. I'm a paper packrat, admittedly.) But - WOO! - no more! The shredder has changed my life, tell ya what. My closet has never looked better, I'm fluttering around with the glee that always cheers me when my home is organized and in order. I know, it's a sickness!

After a week "off", I am satisfied. We spent days doing much. And days doing very little. It was all good.

The things on the list that I/we did/were better at/focused on:

• Sew - Pillows, Reconstructed Denim Skirts for the girl.
• Make yogurt. YUM. Granola. Double YUM.
• Try once a month (once every two weeks?) cooking.
• Try new recipes.
• Read more. Frequent the library. Filled up my hold queue!
• Spend more time with each of the kids individually every day.
• Play WITH the kids more. Stop telling them to "go play", and GO. Play.
• Eat healthy consistently. Plan meals. Eat out less.
• DAILY devotions. Pray more.
• Go to the gym consistently.

Decluttering progress: Red spaces are undone as yet...

• Kitchen (pantry, cookware, serveware, pots and pans, fridge - everything)
• Upstairs Bath storage
• Chickie's Closet
• Downstairs Bath storage
• Bug and Monkey's Closet
• Playroom Closet
• Master Closet

Things I still want to work on:

• Take the kids to the park, gymnastics center, Bouncin' Bears regularly.
• Spend more time with each of the kids individually every day. (Yes this one is in both categories. On purpose.)
• Do more crafts. (I loathe most kid's crafts. Bug LOVES crafts. It's a worthy sacrifice.)
• Read to the kids more often.
• Just hanging out with the Papa in the silence. We fill it up too much. TV, internet, movies...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We have a barbecue planned here tomorrow night. I think we've got a total of 18 adults and 10 kids coming over to grill and chill. I'm looking forward to seeing some family who just flew in from Outside, along with good friends. =)

$72 richer.

The kids and I delivered two totes of their outgrown clothes to Kid 2 Kid this morning. A little over an hour later, we walked out 72 dollars richer, many pounds lighter, 2 closets cleaner... I'm adding that money to our "redoing the family room fund"; we eventually want to update it with a flatscreen wall-mounted TV, fresh paint, and a rocker recliner for the Papa.

I'm eating spoonfuls of granola mixed with honey-sweetened yogurt as I type. It's almost too sweet - I feel funny saying so, but I was a bit scared to taste my fresh homemade yogurt without sweetener! Next time I'll try it without any extra honey. It is thinner than store-bought yogurt and I'd like it to be a bit more creamy, so I'll probably let it set another hour next time, and if that doesn't thicken it enough, maybe I'll try adding some pectin or gelatin. It tastes very *fresh* and there's a definite difference. The Papa raved when he tried it this morning for breakfast, so I suppose I'm going to need to keep this up!

We stopped by the fabric store on our way home today and picked up some remnants for pillows and fabric for more reconstructed skirts.

I'm going to Bunco with my mom tonight, filling in for one of the regulars who can't make it. I've never played before, so it oughta be interesting!

I made a skirt. Or, rather... I reconstructed jeans into a skirt.

For Chickie. See?

My friend Emily inspired me with her own version of mama skirts made from jeans, I googled a bit, and wound up just making it up as I went, no pattern. First time doing pleats, and they're a little off kilter, but 'tis ok by me. =) It looks longer than it is in this picture, it hits around her mid-calves. She's outgrown 12-18 month jeans and pants by length, but the waists are still perfect, so I figure she'll get at least another 6 months or so of wear out of these "jeans" this way.

This fabric is a remnant of a favorite mei tai of mine, a custom freehand I carried Chickie around in most of her young life. I love getting to see it on her, especially now that she isn't enjoying being worn as much.

My granola turned out very tasty! I wanted a simple, no frills recipe that I could add to as desired... so I melted a stick of butter, added about 3/4 C. of honey, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, a sprinkle of nutmeg and a couple of shakes of cinnamon. Let it cook until it was all blended and syrupy, then stirred in 5 C rolled oats. Baked at 350 for about 20ish minutes, stirring every now and again. YUM.

This morning's yogurt has been poured into containers and set in the fridge. I'll report on that after I try it with fruit and granola (hee!) tomorrow morning.

Yogurt "cooking" in a thermos on the counter...

if this works, tastes good, and is really so simple -- well, I'm just gonna kick myself for having waited so long to try it. *Smacking forehead* It's ridiculously easy.

And considering that I added it up and discovered that we go through about $14 worth of yogurt cups every two weeks, and that's when they're on SALE... well, my grocery bill might enjoy the benefits as well as our bellies!

Next up for today - decluttering the boy's bedroom and playroom closets.
Next cooking project - granola. Also feeding the freezer some baked goods.

14 dinners in my freezer...

$200 worth of groceries.

5 hours in the kitchen.

One sliced thumb. Not deep, but ouch.

Not having to think/plan/prep dinner for at least the next two weeks? Mmmm, happy sigh.

Prepping and putting together.

The larder. I wish it was more revealing, but they're all stacked up in my 5 cu.ft. chest freezer in the order I suppose we'll eat them. Close your eyes and picture aluminum foil lined baking dishes and bowls full of yumminess. You get the idea. Even better, imagine the relaxation of knowing you don't have to think about dinner! I am psyched about that!

I used a book I picked up a couple of years ago, thumbed through often, but never put to use: Once a Month Cooking. I used the first two-week cooking plan and followed the recipes to the letter. There were a couple of recipes I'm certain we'll really enjoy, a couple I'm not sure I'll be making again, and the rest were likely keepers, even if not family favorites... They include chicken, ham and beef dishes, burgers, casseroles, a roast, pasta, rice... The proof will definitely be in the eating, so I'll update as we eat our way through the full freezer. =)

Oh, and tomorrow? I'm making yogurt.