I am pretty proud of myself.  I decided a while ago that in order to get and keep my house organized, I was going to pick a spot, any spot, each week to completely clean and organize.  Usually, it's a very tiny area like one bathroom drawer, one closet shelf, etc.  And so far I'm doing one each week, or more than one.  I take everything out, decide if there's anything I don't need (hello, expired medicine!), anything that should be stored elsewhere (goodbye, maternity clothes!), clean thoroughly, and put it all back in an organized fashion.

Now I'm selling some things I found on eBay, doing lots of recycling and packing up for thrift stores.  It's not an overwhelming thing to clean out one little area each week.  I highly recommend it.

All of this stuff was $20!

Major score on Craigslist today.  I had to drive all the way into downtown Chicago, but it was so worth it.  I got 58 articles of baby boy clothing in E's current size, and next 2 sizes, for $20.  This, plus a few things that I just bought using a $100 Old Navy/Gap gift card (from our credit card reward points!), took us from nothing to fully stocked for the summer, and probably the fall & winter, too!  Amazing.  

Another really amazing deal was a whole freezer full of Omaha Steaks.  The combination of a really good sale price plus more credit card reward points means that we have more than 60 servings of meat in our freezer for $40!  And it's good stuff, too.  I missed Will's grilling over the winter.  :)  

The weekend

This has been a very full weekend---and a very good one.  I can't really even remember everything that we did, but Saturday was pretty low-key.  We did a few cleaning tasks around the house, but for the most part just enjoyed a day off.  Then we had a wonderful dinner with good friends.  And to top it all off, Elijah was very pleasant--happy and smiley--all day.   

Today there was church, then I spent all afternoon running errands (more on that later), and then the church Planting Team meeting, which was really powerful and motivating.  I had a nice long chat with each of my brothers (happy birthday, B!). 

Perhaps the weirdest thing that happened all weekend was my accidental encounter with a major event in Skokie.  At first I had no idea what was going on, just figured something big was going on because there were remote parking signs everywhere, parking shuttles, and major roads were closed.  And THEN after navigating through a detour, I saw a small group of protesters holding Nazi and other flags.  OHHHHH....it clicked, finally.  The new Holocaust Museum in Skokie.  There were police everywhere.  I was just watching the news and discovered the other reason that everything was barricaded, detoured, etc.  Bill Clinton, Elie Wiesel, and others were there for the grand opening.  Hopefully I can get over to see the museum sometime.  Anyway, I don't have anything charitable to say about the people who were protesting, so I'll leave it at that.

Elijah has been handling the schedule interruptions very well; overall, he's a very happy little guy.  Sundays are always a little hard to figure out, when we have to squeeze in a couple of partial naps.  But he's not nearly as upset by this as he usually is.  And I suppose having a pretty consistent routine on the other 6 days a week helps a lot.  

All in all, a very interesting day.  And a very good weekend!  

Recent video...

I already posted this on Facebook...thought I'd add it here, too.

I'm a sucker for cute baby photos of all sorts, including this one of
a rare leopard cub. Awwwwww....

Yummy ducky!

Mmmmm....wood toys.

Smiles & Giggles!

What a Week

Is it really only Thursday?  Really?  Somebody please tell me I have the days wrong.  

The week started with me dropping--and exploding--a gallon of milk at the grocery store.  E has had a cold all week, no big deal, but he's had a fever for the last day or so, and has been really grumpy and crying for no apparent reason.  So off to the doctor we went, since last time he had an ear infection.  Not this time, at least so far.  Which is very good.

But the doctor did notice that in addition to the tooth that came in earlier this week (first one on the top), he has 2 or 3 more on the way.  Ouch.  Which could easily explain some of the discomfort.  And the chewing and drooling.

I have so many design projects in the works right now; it's crazy to think about.  I'm wondering how I'm going to get it all done.  I see many late nights in my future.  And it's looking like tomorrow will be a very busy day at work.

Eek, I have to finish up a bunch of little things before Elijah wakes up from his nap!  Gotta go.

He looks like he's going for a walk.

That's not too far into the future, I'm sure. He's starting to scoot backwards on the floor, which is funny and cute but also very frustrating for him because he keeps moving farther from where he intended to go.

Look out, house!  And look out, Mom and Dad....time to babyproof!

I just got this in the mail.

Instant coffee from Starbucks.

I haven't tried it yet, but I'm a bit skeptical. I'm not too much of a coffee snob, but I just can't imagine this being as good as brewed coffee.  Has anyone tried this?

I still remember my mom ordering decaf coffee at fast food drive-through  windows when I was a kid...and telling them if it was instant coffee (Sanka), to forget it.