Stuff

Too many things have accumulated in my house over the last four years or so. Yesterday, lists were made. Instead of delaying, I started clearing out my extraneous kitchen items immediately. I really do not need dishes for sixteen(partially un-matched) with only four people in the house. It just ends up meaning more dishes to wash.
One friend volunteered to take any yarn I might be willing to part with, mentioning that you could probably cram quite a bit of yarn into a flat rate postal box. After this morning, two decent sized boxes full and not being done yet, I'm thinking it might end up cheaper to ship it in bulk.
There's the sewing machine I replaced over a year ago, that never recovered from whatever my children had managed to do to it many years before.
Clothes that haven't seen the light of day in years.
Boxes that got re-packed and thrown in a truck before I had a chance to go through them during the last move, currently taking up space in my horribly disorganized garage.
Frequently used, but now disintegrating bedding and towels taking up space in my linen closet.
Time for it all to go.
While not the first household purge I've done, it is the first time Husband has been fully with me on it instead of asking " Umm, why?" It's also the first time it has not felt like a chore, which is quite novel and rather enjoyable. I am loving the idea of just making space. Not making space for anything in particular, just space for it's own sake. I might just bliss out on breathing room.

Pondering a different approach

After spending the shortest night with a bottle of wine and a book, ( good wine , good book and everyone else was sick or occupied), I started thinking that maybe I should start taking a bit better care of myself after looking at myself in the mirror this morning.
I do wish this meant a trip to the store to rummage through the beauty section and purchase anything and everything with "age defying" and " radiance" on the label, that I might coat myself from head to toe. That would be too simple. Spending money on products that just make my skin cranky, no matter what the labels say and with no regard to the fantastic packaging, would be at best disappointing. A different course of action must be contemplated.
Words like "exercise routine", "fruits and vegetables", and "made using stuff in the kitchen" have been bouncing around in my brain. I have had these minor epiphanies before, with obvious inconsistent dedication. I need to figure out how to lend some self-discipline from other parts of my life to the taking care of myself part.
Maybe I should just add it to my daily housework list?

Getting ready to sew!

These are at the top of my "To Make" list. There are two others that I plan on making as well, but I intend on making multiples of those particular patterns. I splurged a bit on the fabrics. I decided to go with stuff I really love like linen, silk and high grade cotton in lovely jewel tones. Now I just need to actually start working through my list!

There was cake...

Mint chocolate chip ice cream with whipped cream frosting, picnic style, because it was decided ice cream cake tastes better flopped on the floor. There were giant water guns, squawkings over new video games and a new soccer ball, as well as a couple of science experiment books and 3,4, and 5 of the Fablehaven novels.
There has been a handful of blackberries harvested and we are waiting for tomatoes to finish ripening.
Mostly we look at the horizon, look at the gray brown that blankets much of the sky and wonder if the fire is out yet.