Happy 4th Birthday

S. If I never go to sleep, does that mean the 28th will never come?

Can I stay up from the 27th until the 29th and just skip that day?  No one needs to think about what happen on that day? 

Or maybe staying up that long will make it so that day had never happen?

Those painful feelings would never have been felt.  Those countless tears never cried.  That loss never felt?

Nope!  Sorry Miranda but it doesn't work that way.

No matter how late I stay up, no matter how much I try to stay calm, no matter how much I smile and say "I'm fine" that day will have happened.

4 years ago today the most amazing thing happen. I had my 4th baby.  He was to be my rainbow baby.  The baby I had dreamed about and was finally here. 

Instead of being such a happy thing it was more a huge sigh of relief and then a roller coaster of emotions.  Relief that we didn't have to make the decision between my life or the babies.  And then a roller coaster of "holy shit!  This is happening to us. Right now"

I'm not sure why I find this year so weird for me.  

Tonight, laying in bed, Arnold put his arms around me and asked if I was ready for tomorrow.  And you know what?  It's the first we have talked about Otis, for a long time.  Neither of us have talked about him to each other or to or with the boys.  We haven't done anything like that in a while.  When we picked up our Christmas tree this year Q did ask if it was Otis's birthday.  It has been our tradition to pick up our Christmas tree on his birthday, but this year it just didn't work.

After school I hope we can decorate the tree.  I know the boys have activities but I would love to decorated it as a family.

I think another reason this year is so hard for me is that our son would be in JK.  His life would now be measured by school years. It's weird looking at these kids in my class wondering.. Would Otis be doing that?  Would he be ahead or behind compared to the others?  Would he made friends?  Would he be in my classroom?  Sometimes watching the kids I can see my own children at that age and I wonder of Otis would have been the same.

To answer Arnold's question... No I'm not ready for tomorrow.  I'm not ready to face the day. I'm not ready to be myself. 

But I am ready to wish my son Happy 4th Birthday in Heaven.  We miss you and love you so much.  I'm sure you are having so much fun with your sister <3

October 12th - A Month to be Thankful!

There is this fad... every November it seems like everyone on my Facebook feed is becoming ever so thankful.  They post things they are grateful for.  And I love reading them.  It's so nice to see people who are thankful for some of the things I take for granted.

So I'm trying to do the "Canadian Version".  I'm trying to do my on month of being thankful!

Day #12

I'm thankful!

I'm thankful for my kids!  Kyler and Quinton are amazing little men.  I was reminded of that on Sunday at the grocery store.  Between watching where they were going, not pushing into people and running to get things on our grocery list.  It was impressive.

A woman stopped me and told me how wonderful the boys were.  She said they were going to grow into incredible young men with my husband and my parenting.

Some days you need that.  Especially after having a rough day with them before.  It's nice to see that others are seeing the work and love you put into your children every day. 

I'm thankful for my boys.

October 7th - A Month to be Thankful!

There is this fad... every November it seems like everyone on my Facebook feed is becoming ever so thankful.  They post things they are grateful for.  And I love reading them.  It's so nice to see people who are thankful for some of the things I take for granted.

So I'm trying to do the "Canadian Version".  I'm trying to do my on month of being thankful!

Day #7

I'm thankful!

I am thankful for Jr High events!  Tonight is the second even that Kyler has had the chance to attend.  We are very excited for him to have something to go to.

It was hard being that "inbetween" family at churches we had attended before.  Our kids were too big for the little kid group, but too little for the big kid group.  Thankfully, we have found a church that is working on making their Jr. Highs included and we love it.

Tonight Kyler is going out to a DOXA event and he is excited.  It helps that today is a PA day and that he also didn't have school.

I'm thankful for a church that has things for my kids to do.

October 6th - A Month to be Thankful!

There is this fad... every November it seems like everyone on my Facebook feed is becoming ever so thankful.  They post things they are grateful for.  And I love reading them.  It's so nice to see people who are thankful for some of the things I take for granted.

So I'm trying to do the "Canadian Version".  I'm trying to do my on month of being thankful!

Day #6

I'm thankful!

I'm thankful for pizza day at my school. 

Not just my school, but my kids school and my place of work/volunteer.  I love my school.  The staff there are amazing.  The kids are very cool.  It is a wonderful place to be.

Today is Pizza Day.  This day is always crazy.  It starts with a crazy amount of kids bringing forms down to the office and delivering the bags.  Then it means my friend and I sort the money and forms all morning, and most of the afternoon.  After that we go shopping and we get the juice and cookies and order the pizza. 

Today is the big day.  We have all the forms sorted and money counted by now.  And now we get everything ready to go to the classrooms.  We fill the bags with supplies, figure out how many pizzas, plus or minus slices, need to go to each room. 

Then the craziness begins.  Our pizza is delivered by 11am or so.  We just go go go!  We can get the pizzas and bags out to each room before too long.  I'm always impressed with how well we do.  Most of the time there isn't a problem. 

Today, I'm thankful for pizza day, as it means we didn't have to prepare lunches!!

October 5th - A Month to be Thankful!

There is this fad... every November it seems like everyone on my Facebook feed is becoming ever so thankful.  They post things they are grateful for.  And I love reading them.  It's so nice to see people who are thankful for some of the things I take for granted.

So I'm trying to do the "Canadian Version".  I'm trying to do my on month of being thankful!

Day #5

I'm thankful!

I'm thankful for my water bottle.  Silly I know but I love it!  Last year for my birthday, my parents got me an Amazing mop!  Oh... and a S'well water bottle.  It is fantastic.

If you have one you understand!

I didn't really use mine until this summer.  I was camping with my parents during a heat wave (AKA the whole summer) and my mom would fill up her S'well water bottle with ice and some water and she would have it ALL day.  So when we were packing for our trip to Disney I decided to put it in.  Best choice ever.  It kept my water cold.  And I mean COLD all day long!  I love it!

I'm still using it ever day.  In fact for my birthday I asked for an ice maker (along with a blender or food processor and GC's to AdditionElle) so that I could fill it with ice in the morning and have cold water all day.  It is wonderful!  Not only do I get cold water but I actually drink it.  I fill up my cup a lot.  I'm getting my daily requirement of water, and more. 

I'm thankful for my S'well water bottle!

October 4th - A Month to be Thankful!

There is this fad... every November it seems like everyone on my Facebook feed is becoming ever so thankful.  They post things they are grateful for.  And I love reading them.  It's so nice to see people who are thankful for some of the things I take for granted.

So I'm trying to do the "Canadian Version".  I'm trying to do my on month of being thankful!

Day #4

I'm thankful!

I'm thankful for my parents.  They are amazing!  My parents have been so supportive, no matter what crazy stuff I do with my life. 

I'm even more thankful that today, "oh so many years ago" my parents were born!  That's right.  Mom and Dad have the same birthdate.  How cool is that?

I'm thankful my parents are around to see my kids, my family and my life.  My parents are incredible grandparents and make a point of making sure my babies are well taken care of and loved.

I'm thankful for my fantastic parents.

October 3rd - A Month to be Thankful!

There is this fad... every November it seems like everyone on my Facebook feed is becoming ever so thankful.  They post things they are grateful for.  And I love reading them.  It's so nice to see people who are thankful for some of the things I take for granted.

So I'm trying to do the "Canadian Version".  I'm trying to do my on month of being thankful!

Day #3

I'm thankful!

I'm thankful for health care.  After Arnold's accident two years ago I could never have imagined the costs of having him in the hospital.  Arnold was in and out of the hospitals, never ending doctors appointments, seeing specialists, lawyers appointments and phone calls all over the place.

Even today.  We are going to another doctors appointment... 2 years later!  How crazy is that.  We are still checking on his health and making sure he is ok.  Thankfully, any problems we have had he is doing better and seems to be continuing in that direction.

I'm so thankful for health care in Canada, and for God's grace in keeping my husband safe.

October 2nd - A Month to be Thankful!

There is this fad... every November it seems like everyone on my Facebook feed is becoming ever so thankful.  They post things they are grateful for.  And I love reading them.  It's so nice to see people who are thankful for some of the things I take for granted.

So I'm trying to do the "Canadian Version".  I'm trying to do my on month of being thankful!

Day #2

I'm thankful!

I am thankful for cold meds.  This week my kindergarten class learned to share. But in learning to share they all shared their colds.  I love the hugs, high fives and hand holding but eventually it takes its toll on me.  It's my first cold of the year and it sucks.

I am very thankful for my husband who takes care of me and took me out to get medication.  I'm thankful for my friends who watch the boys so I can have a nap this afternoon.  I even used my coupons to get halls.  Yeah!!

October 1st - A Month to be Thankful!

There is this fad... every November it seems like everyone on my Facebook feed is becoming ever so thankful.  They post things they are grateful for.  And I love reading them.  It's so nice to see people who are thankful for some of the things I take for granted.

So I'm trying to do the "Canadian Version".  I'm trying to do my on month of being thankful!

Day #1

I'm thankful!  I'm thankful for food!  I LOVE food!  I love how it tastes, how it smells how I can present it on a plate or the table.  I love feeding people!  I love helping people out and I love love love eating!

I also love eating healthy.  A few years ago I read about these sisters who had a new "way of life".  They had a book out called "Trim Healthy Mama".  I bought the book but had a hard time seeing it in person.  Most people I knew who had done anything on plan were online, and I had never seen them.  Some of their results seemed to be in the "too good to be true" group.  And that throws me for a loop.  I want to see in real life people do it!  And when I finally did it was a good kick in the ass to get moving.  I've done pretty well so far.  I'm down just a bit over 10 lbs this summer.  In total, I'm down 30 pounds from July of last year.  I'm excited for that!

Because I love food I have to be careful with what I indulge in.  I'm blessed that my family loves to try out things, and loves me so they just eat it :)

I've failed

There are those days where the whole world seems perfect.  Everything went just right. 

Your hair was wonderful when you woke up.  Your breakfast was amazing, kids didn't bother you or fight at the table.  Everything was.... perfect.

Today is not one of those days!

My brain is still catching up from vacation mode.  I've been feeling so much lately that it's overwhelming at times.

I've forgotten to pay bills.  I've over or underpaid bills.

I've forgotten about expenses we already said we would do for sure and now.. I'm so confused.

I'm feeling lost in life.

I'm not sure what I'm putting in my body for food some days.  Grocery lists always seem to have something that is forgotten.

Some days... I'm just feeling like I'm failing at everything.

Today was one of those days.

Late start (rough night with a kid with nightmares); laundry not coming out clean after using washing it 3 times; dinner was a crockpot meal that had to be made before school and just not feeling it; forgetting to follow through on a promise I made; feeling unneeded or overused at work.

It's just one of those days.

Thankfully, they don't last.  Thankfully every day will get better and today is just an icky day.

Needless to say, I'm looking forward to tomorrow!

That next step in time

8th Floor,
Cute boy across the hall,
Look-a-like twin a few doors down

First year in University!

I loved Kings.  I still do.  I remember all my time there very fondly.  It was an amazing time to meet new people, hanging out without parents checking in all the time, learn new things, and just absorb everything there is to university life, and a new city.

But this one person.  This one person lived next door to me on the 8th floor.  She didn't have a roommate (or maybe she did for a bit but not too long).  I always found her kinda weird.  She was *way* older than us (read maybe 15 years) and she was just odd.  It was her first time coming to university and, in my opinion, she should have been married with kids by now.  (See what was on my mind?)

Slowly I got to know her.  She helped me out when my mom came when I was sick.  She would give me a place to study on my own.  She drove us places (Walmart was "so far" to walk).  She would always help out where she could.  She really, truly was an amazing person.

I still remember, end of first term, there were 4 of us who went out for dessert.  She drove me and another friend from the music department and Arnold met us there after work.  Arnold and I weren't dating.. AT ALL.  But that night.. he asked if I wanted to keep talking.  I looked at Shannon (who drove me) and gave her this "what do I do?" look.  She offered to take my friend back to school and I stayed with Arnold.  And so it all began.

She was one of the first people who knew we were engaged when we came back to REZ.  It was after quiet time and we were so excited.  Screaming and jumping up and down started it.  She was so happy for us.

She was even at our wedding.  She was one of the few people from Kings that was able to fly out for the wedding.  It was awesome to see her there.  She was always able to make us laugh.  And she cried and cried during the wedding.  When I asked her why, she kept telling me that she was so excited to see everything come full circle.  Us meeting, dating, getting engaged, and now getting married.

When we found out we were pregnant with Kyler she was, again, one of the first to know.  She was even more excited.  She came up to the hospital to see us and say congrats.  She really loved on our family.  It was like having an older sister.

She had the best dog.  His name was Freckles and every year on my birthday she would send me a video of her and Freckles singing "Happy Birthday" to me.

We went to visit her when Q was about 18 months old on our first trip to Alberta.  She was so fun, even then! 

While we grew apart, and didn't talk or email much, she is so loved by our family.

Today I got a message from a good friend telling me she had passed away.  After some quick googling, it was true.  I have no idea what happen to my dear friend but I miss her just the same.

Shannon, you were just what my 20 something self needed in university.  I will never forget you, your friendship and your family.  I'm sure you are rejoicing with God's angles right now.

Why I have boobs.... Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I was sitting in church this morning getting snuggles from my kids. 

Kyler was leaning on my one side and Quinton on the other.  I looked down with love in my heart and realized what made me different than my husband.... My boobs.

My boobs have really done a lot for me. 

I have use them to nurse my babies.  For years (18 months for one and 15 months for the other) I nursed my little boys.  I fed them every day, multiple times a day for years.  It was an amazing time of being their mom.

I use them to snuggle my boys.  When Kyler was little he would only be able to snuggle with a bump.  He would roll up his legs and be in this little huddle... But he needed a bump... And in came boobs!  He would snuggle right overtop.  For anyone really, but it was so nice.

Even now, Quinton snuggles up to me and they are the perfect height to be pillows.  I guess it's a good thing I have them!

Kyler is now the perfect height to use them to hide in!  When K gets out of school and comes to give me a hug they are the right height to cry or hide your face in.  It has happened more than once, and I'm OK with that.

Buying shirts can be a pain in the ass as you don't want the buttons to pull, or fabric to look horrible...

But really, they are a huge part of what makes me a mom.

Happy Mother's Day!

Diary of a Wimpy Mom

I am a wimpy mom.  

I am not one that deals with vomit well.  

I can't handle when my kids are sick.  I hate seeing them in pain.

I hate it when my kids fall down and there is blood.  I can do it to a certain amount but after that,  it's Daddy terain.  Not for me.

I still remember being about 11 or so and my mom was watching a little girl.  I was laying on the floor and she was sitting on my tummy.  She leaned over me and threw up all over my neck and chest.  I remember thinking I would never ever be able to have children.  My mom laughed and told me it's different for your own kids.

She was right.  It is different, but I"m still not at "super mom" level.

Do I like it?  NO!  

Do I deal with it?  Heck yes!  They are my babies and I am here for them the moment they need me.

Now... Me on the other hand... This is why I got married.

I decided this year I would take care of myself.  This meant getting up to date on doctors appointments.  Taking them my concerns and making sure I was getting things done right.

Well... What a backfire!

I have no been to the dentist a few times.  In March my mouth hurt.  Just for one day, the teeth on my right side hurt then it went away.  At the end of March I went back in and had them look again and my dentist goes "WOW!  You cracked your tooth!".  

This then resulted in freezing and seeing how far down the crack went... I hate needles.  TOTALLY hate needles.  So this scared me.  Thankfully my hubby was with me because the boys were going for their physicals after and we're both nervous about getting needles so Daddy was with them for that.  

I ended up holding hubbys hand well they tried to crack the tooth down and see what was going on.  Thankfully I just need a filling put in and maybe a cap... That is next weeks problem... And hubby is coming again for that one.

I went to my family doctor to get caught up on my visits and we decided to remove some skin tags and moles and see what was going on.  Today was my visit, and guess who came with me? 

That's right, my husband.  He worked on his phone while I squeezed his leg and talked about what was scaring me about this whole thing.  He was there the whole time.  

As you can tell, I'm a wimp.  A huge wimp!!  I feel back but hey, sometimes you just need a hand to hold during it all.  I am so glad that God gave me Arnold to do that for me.  

But if anyone asks, I am a wimp and proud of it!

From my journal

Today is the day.  

Today is the day that 3 years ago we buried our son. 

Today is the day that is almost as hard for me as the day he died.

Today.

Today I'm going to share from my journal.  I got this journal in the hospital.  And while I haven't written in it a lot this is from one of my first journal entries.

Dec 1st 2012

"...It meant it was all over.  ARnold was by my side the entire time.  His eyes never left mine.  We cried, hugged, talked and exchanged 'I love you''s.  Eventually we decided we needed some time time before seeing our son.  We also needed a name!  We slept for about an hour then began our crazy day.

Arnold texted my mom and dad who were home with our boys and told them.  They began getting ready to come over. 

Arnold and I took our time meeting our boy.  Arnold saw him first.  He held him for a few minutes.  He was so small.  No bigger than one of Arnold's hands.  Arnold put him back down and came to me and we cried and cried and held each other.  Arnold prepared me for what my sweet boy looked like and when we were ready I had the nurse bring him to me.

Arnold held me and I held our baby. 

Our sweet little boy was so small.

They had him wrapped so only his face was showing.  His Boyd and head were so small that the hat he was wearing was way too big for him.  He had the sweetest "old man" face.  His Boyd hair was so with it looked like a must ash and big eyebrows.  He had the "Leverton turn up nose" that my sister has.  His eyes weren't open and with that he sort of looked like he was pouting or angry or upset.  Heck, I would be too!  

What a baby he was.  We were so full of hope, promise and plans for our baby.  All of those were taken from us in just under a week.  It's so hard to believe sometimes.

When I was holding my son I just wanted the world to stop.  I wanted all the time with him.  To know every detail of my boy but I couldn't.  

I kept telling myself that he wasn't there.  My baby was in heaven with God.  He was happy, healthy and in the best possible place he could be.  It may not feel like it now but he was.   Our little boy was in heaven, in Jesus's arms and meeting all of his family up there..."

And then it snows!

We have rules.  We have rules that the boys come home and empty their bags, get their lunch dishes in the dishwasher, put their school homework on the table and then we start homework.

But then it snows.

The boys LOVE snow!  And I'm very glad they do.

Today the went outside for a half hour to play before dark.  Before doing any of their jobs after school.  Before anything was play.

I'm not calling them in until it really gets dark.

Sometimes snow is more important than school.

Work for Hire

Work For Hire!!

We are now on week 3 of our "Work for Hire" board on our fridge.  It's great!  The boys have been focused on their new bank cards.  And with that, their way to make money.  We have them on an allowance at our house.  It is a dollar for every grade you are in ($5.00 for K and $3.00 for Q).  10% must go to Tithing or Donations.  40% is for spending on whatever they want and 50% is for saving (directly into their bank accounts).  We used to have everything in ziplock bags but now we have it all in the bank.  And I won't lie... Being able to transfer everything to their account is awesome!!  It takes us about 10 minutes every Saturday.  We write down in their accounts book what is going in and why and then we write the totals.   Now the boys can write about their work they do around the house. 

Kyler and Quinton are both saving for something.  What it is?  Who knows!  It changes daily!

Right now they are both working to get as much money as they can.  Each of our "Work for Hire" jobs are worth $2.00 unless it is stated otherwise.  So for things like cleaning the car.  That job is $2.00 except if you vacuum, to Mommy standards, you get a bonus $5.00.

You should have seen their faces when I told them that!  Kyler was so excited for bonus money.  I read them every "job" and told them what they had to do.  We talked about bonus money.  So for example the car thing.  They were excited to hear about the bonus $5.00 for vacuuming.  Then I said, in the summer you can get a bonus of $10.00 for waxing the car.  

K and Q " WOW!!!  $10.00!!!"  A few minutes later... "What's waxing the car?" 

I guess we have to teach them that first!

But for now the inside jobs work great!  I've had my doorknobs and light switches disinfected.  I've had my cupboards wiped down on the fronts and the handles wipe down.  I've had my fridge cleaned inside and out.

This week I'm looking forward to having things cleaned up again.  The boys are doing so well with being responsible with cleaning and getting work done.  It really has been good for them.. And us!

Laundry Room Declutter

This past weekend I was lucky enough to have a house to myself for a while.  Arnold took the boys out on Friday night to a Jr High thing.  They had a blast shooting nerf guns and hiding behind cardboard!

Me... I dove into the basement. 

It's horrible.  I need to declutter if we ever want to do anything down here.  And to be honest, I kinda hope that will happen sooner than it really will!

I attacked the laundry room.  I keep telling myself I'm totally going to do this but I really did!  It was great.  I filled up 2 bags of garbage, one huge container of recycling and 1 and a half LARGE bags for donations.  I couldn't believe how many sheets we had.  I mean really, how many sheets does one family need.  We had 6 sets for our bed.  One set was from our wedding... Over 12 years ago!  Wow right?  Someone could use those for rags now!

Anyway... I should have done this before as our school had their annual clothing drive but I just couldn't find the time.  Instead I had the motivation of the Canadian Diabilties Assoiation coming the next morning and that was more than enough!  They do a free pickup at your door.  You just have to place stuff outside (or I put it in my front porch if raining) and they come and pick it up and bring it to the drop off.  I love it!  I do, however, miss the discounts you can get for dropping it off at Value Village.  So sometimes we do that there too.  I was just glad to have a motivation for getting this done.  Below are the pictures of my success!  I was wonderful to get up in the morning and know I wasn't going to trip on anything, or I wasn't going to have any problems getting to the bathroom in the dark.  It's so pretty!

My Linen Closet

Storage Corner

Washer Area

Bottom of the stairs

AFTER:

Linen Closet

Storage Corner, completed now with everything you need for laundry.  And everything on those chairs is for recycling!

Washer Area

Bottom of my stairs.. Those are the donation bags (clear) and the black garbage bag.

I'm really proud of how it looks now!!  One space down, a million to go!

Rainy Nights and Bright Lights

I went out for a walk tonight.  It's raining.  It is not that bad actually!  I thought it would be pretty gross but let's face it, sometimes you just need to walk in the rain.

I didn't need steps.  I didn't need the time off of the boys.  I didn't need to "take a break".  I just needed to walk in the rain.

I got to enjoy the beautiful weather.  The +4C weather, with a sprinkle of rain.  I got to enjoy the dark of the night.  I got to enjoy the bright lights.  I got to enjoy having some time out of my house and enjoying some time alone.

I got to see some awesome Christmas lights.  And I'm currently obsessed with taking pictures that make the lights look like circles... Mainly cause you can't see how beautiful they look without taking my big camera out and getting people to look at me funny!

#vscocam

Today was one of those days.  Ever had one?  I have.  ALOT!  Hey now!  You can't tell me that you have never had one of those days.  I'm positive you have.  And if you haven't then.... I'm either bowing before you or... I'm ducking to not get hit when your nose grows!

My battery in my phone seems to die faster and faster so I brought it upstairs and then put it right on the charger.... Which meant.... I left it at home again today.

I got to school and realized I was about to photo copy something for the kids to bring home that said "I'm easy to wrap, just take a crap"...... Yeah.... Back to the computer to fix that one!

I skipped down the stairs and felt my back "pop" on the landing.  One of those funny steps where you can just feel something wrong.  And it's continued to bother me all day now.

I found out a dear friend of mine had a miscarriage and never said anything.  (Oh trust me, she got lots and lots of hugs!)

I worked out in hopes that my back would feel better and my muscles would stop hurting... And it didn't work!

I spent $12.00 on 3 bags of chips cause I was too tried to stop at the grocery store and went to the corner store instead.

I got home to no Diet Coke.

I had to remember grade 5 math!  Ugg....

I had a son come to me so scared because the bbq hood was stuck down and when they started the bbq the lid jumped up *he is fine and his dad was with him*

I have 2 never filling boys... Seriously they are eating more chips now after we finished 12 burgers in our family of 5.

My TV wouldn't work today.  For some reason it kept blanking out nod we had some serious net problems!

My popcorn popper broke.  WORST DAY EVER :)

PLEASE don't get me wrong.  My day had some amazing points!  Kyler informed me his marks had him in the top 5% of his class.  My co-worker got me some amazing lunch, my all time favourite!  Another co-worker shared her amazing coffee with me.  I got home to a dog that wasn't upset for being caged for the morning.  I got to play some online games.  

I got to go for a walk.

Sometimes all you need is rainy nights and seeing bright lights.

Are we Hibernating?

Did you make any New Years resolutions?  Our family did.  Nothing too crazy but we did.

Now I'm told that making New Years resolutions in Janurary is a BAD idea.

Apparently we are like animals and need to hibernate.  So this means we don't want to get out of the house, or be more active, or make big changes.  We want to stay at home and do nothing.  Just sit around and binge watch tv shows and eat comfort food. 

Studies have shown that if you make a big change in your life, it is better to make it in the Spring time.  

That being said, changes that need to be made in the winter are things that deal with your house, or being inside and not doing to much crazy work.

To me, this makes our decision to declutter even better.

We have a huge box at home that is for donations.  There isn't much in the donation box right now, a few dishes from the kitchen and some odds and ends we don't want.  I'm hoping to fill this box and even more in the next little while.

We also have a few clothing bags ready to go at our house.  Our school is going to do bag donations of clothing and shoes.  This is to help people overseas.  I'm excited about this one and we always try to fill up as many bags as we can.  Last year we did some serious downsizing of our stuff before the kitchen Reno.

I'd like to say our main floor is done.  And it is... Well sort of.  We have the Kitchen, Pantry, Living Room, Dining Room, and the Main Floor Bathroom.  What still needs to be done is the Front Hall, Main Hall, Boys room, and the Outside Decks (front and back).

My hope is to get through those rooms in the next month.  Hopefully I can!  I just need to organize and declutter.

In the mean time, my new goals are to not hibernate so much!