Take a Picture...It Will Last Longer!

My sister once asked me "When is enough enough?" I didn't think much about it and just kind of laughed it off but that question has been going through my mind a lot lately since this move. When is enough enough? When do you have enough clothes? Or stamps? Or kitchen tools?

This move was a killer! We thought we were so prepared, but ended up reloading our truck twice due to loading problems...ended up giving lots of stuff away that didn't fit...just struggling because of STUFF! So...as we have been unpacking, I have said "Enough IS enough!" and we are trying to declutter! Obviously we have WAY too much (and moving into a house with 1/3 less space is helping this decision). We have been making weekly runs to the Goodwill, the library (to donate books), the recycling center, etc...but it is a slow process and not as much fun as buying all the clutter in the first place. It must be a shopping high...to find that great deal, to find just what you are looking for, to wrestle the last one from the other frantic shopper *smile*...but we have to find other ways of getthing that euphoria. We are making the decision this year to "Make memories...not clutter" at our house! I am trying to use the money we would shop for and take the kids places and see things...rather than buy things!

A friend back in Texas was chronicling on her blog a quest to get rid of 100 things...and she took pictures of them. It was very cute but I am not that patient LOL! Here is my latest get rid of bag (and I dropped off another one filled just as full to the Goodwill):


One thing I have started with the kids is: If it was really special to you but you don't feel the need to keep it, take a picture! We have been able to get rid of many things with this saying that they really thought they needed *grin* This was a unicorn wand that Kimmy has had in her bedroom for over 14 years (even though it is gastly ugly) just because it brought happy memories of her time at the Renaissance Festival) Well, now she can just look at her picture!


I know it's just the first step in a lifetime of changes, but it is a big one in ours! I always love to read clutter books (My kids ask "How many clutter books can one have until they are clutter too?) but still have problems "Just saying NO" to that cute __________ (insert any word there *sigh*) How do you keep clutter away?

Kites, Flowers and a Tired Mommy!

Today was the 44th Annual Kit Festival on the National Mall sponsored by the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Of course, we HAD to go be a part of that! (Besides...who really needs their house unpacked if you never stay home long enough to use anything??)

We did decide to take the metro to town since we knew there would be a TON of people! The kids absolutely loved riding the trains!! When we lived here before, that was Stevie's favorite part of going to DC...and 12 years hadn't changed him that much! Even Missy will have some sore cheek muscles from smiling so much--my little girl who "doesn't like to smile"!

It was insanely busy in DC, but it was such a beautiful day it was SO WORTH IT!! We got to fly our kits, watch other people fly their kits, have a picnic in a beautiful flower garden by the Smithsonian Castle, go to the National Gallery of Art, watch more kite flying, ride trains, explore Union Station, have pretzels from a street vendor, listen to the violinist in the subway, shop, ride escalators, look at the cherry blossoms...

...I guess you can just pretty much sum it up by saying...it was an AWESOME day!

Oooh...let's do our nails!

I guess I just had a case of cabin fever today...I just could not get my brain into the school mode! Kimmy had decided to make a goodie but we didn't have vanilla, so I was MORE than happy to decide we needed to run to the store (shhhh...I know she could have made a different goodie, or even not make a goodie, but I wanted OUT!!)

We took a very scenic route to the grocery store...we drove around the base, stop and dropped off some books at the library, dropped off recycling, stopped at storage to pick up more boxes to unpack...I wasn't in a hurry *grin*

Next door to the grocery store was a Dollar Tree store, so in my "I-don't-want-to-do-school" mindset...of course it was important we go in to find something I couldn't live without! We bought a few more toys for our free sandbox (now up to $44), a container for the paintbrushes, and then I found this awesome blue nail polish and some silver and gold eyeshadow. Well...I was bored while Kimmy ran into the ID card building to get her ID fixed (more school avoidance errands) so I painted ONE fingernail blue just to check the color (which was very cool) but then she came back out and we headed out to avoid school some more! It wasn't until I started getting weird looks that I remembered "Oh yeah...your thumb is bright blue" that I decided maybe I should either paint the other nails blue or take off the polish *grin*

So...in true avoidance of all things school...Missy and I decided to paint our fingernails. We tried to involve Stevie--but unlike years past when he was a toddler and his dad would freak when he came home from work to a pink sparkly nailed son--he wouldn't join us. We even offered to paint his nails black for him. So, he got to work on his science semester final and we girls (well, minus Kimmy who was making chocolate chip cookies) decided to paint our nails!

This is Missy's final result...blue and sparkles! I decided to be boring and just go with a pinkish color *smile* My time of being the blue-fingered sluffer was enough! Stevie was more than happy to take photos for a few (and therby postpone his science test) and Kimmy was super cool and brought us YUMMY cookie dough to eat! It was a fun afternoon...though not very productive! Imagine that *smile*

Where Did My Baby Go?

Last night, the Young Women in our ward held their "New Beginnings" program at church. This is for girls in the Young Women program and those girls coming in during the year. WOW!! I had to attend for MISSY becoming a Young Woman. I am pretty sure she is not that old yet is she? And I am definately sure "I" am not old enough for my youngest child to be leaving Primary!! Where does the time go? It was just a couple years ago we were anxiously awaiting the birth of her...Steven had just deployed to Korea and I had moved home from Maryland with the two older kids (Kimmy was 10 and Stevie was 3) to be closer to family when she was born. I was pregnant at the same time as two of my nieces--we were about six weeks apart in due dates. Amazingly enough--all three baby girls were born within 24 hours of each other though--in fact, I was in the delivery room next door to one niece! Not knowing what each was naming their child, we all names them M&M names: Melissa, Marissa and Mattea. I think there were three beautiful little girls in Heaven who didn't want to be separated when it came time to be born--they must have been the best of friends! I love you Missy girl...it will be fun to see the young woman you become!

Our New Project!

I decided the family needed a service project to work on. Since we have started playing the coupon game again AND my mom keeps me so thoroughly flooded with good coupons (Thanks mom!), we decided we would start collecting pet food for the local pet shelter. We did this for a Girl Scout service project when Kimmy was in Brownies and the shelter LOVED it. We are going to spend about $10 a check and see what $10 using coupons will get us. Today was a good day...we got 3 bags of cat food, 4 Meow Mix cups, and all those cans of dog food in the second bag! Not too shabby...and the kids were excited about the project. We'll have to see how our pile grows--I figure we can drop off every 4-6 weeks. It teaches the kids about sharing and money management too (Love those life lessons *grin*) We did have a pretty funny moment today when Stevie was helping put away the groceries and came across all the pet food (He and Missy didn't know about the project yet). We told him that groceries were getting too expensive and I was going to try to save some money by using pet food to cook with LOL! I think he even believed me for a second...silly boy!

Did I Forget to Mention...

I know I skipped over a BUNCH of stuff we did after Steven got home from Iraq {sigh} but it was crazy chaotic! Hopefully I can catch up a few things...but we will see *smile*

One thing I DIDN'T want to skip over though was this story! Steven had been home from Iraq MAYBE a week or so and his team he had been with in Iraq decided to have a family dinner. Steven and I were sitting on the couch the night before the dinner cuddling and he comes out with "Maybe I ought to tell you this before we get around all the guys I work with..." Well, that is not really a good statement to hear...makes you wonder huh?

He goes on with..."Remember there were two badges you didn't want me to earn in Iraq?" I had to think about that for a minute...one was the Purple Heart and the other? I made him type up WHAT he earned and WHY! What I can't believe is that he didn't tell me about this until almost 10 months later!!! Ugh! Anyways...here is his story (and the badge is in the picture just above the "US Army")

"February 22, 2009: My team was on a patrol from the 2-7 Cavalry Battalion. We had left our FOB (Forward Operating Base) Garryowen, about 8 am and were heading into the city. I was in an armored Humvee in the second place in line. An EFP (Explosive Formed Projectile) exploded between the truck in front of me and approximately 10 feet in front of my vehicle. I felt the concussion and the noise of the explosion was quite loud. The vehicle in front of me got hit by a few pieces of shrapnel, damaging one antenna and puncturing a spare fuel can mounted on the back. My vehicle was not damaged. This was the second IED (Improvised Explosive Devise) attack during one of our patrols. I was awarded the Combat Action Badge for this action."

As proud as I am of this handsome man...HOW COULD YOU NOT MENTION THIS TO YOUR WIFE??? {grin} I know...I know...worrying wife...it would have stressed her to know! And he is probably right!