Thirty Years Married

I sure love this great man.

We spent our day together, doing little things like getting a "wedding" cake at Costco (I always feel like eating wedding cake on our anniversary) and shopping for housey stuff, and had dinner with the kids at home. Later this year we'll do something bigger to celebrate.

Here's to the next thirty years! 

Ugh

M and L were involved in a car accident going south on I-5 today. Thankfully no one was hurt, but the Nissan is out of commission for a while.

Everyone feels like crap.

The bright spot of today was H coming over and having tacos for dinner with us. 

Self-Interest Saturday

Ha HAAAA! My shrink told me on Tuesday that with everything my family and I have been going through lately, I must make sure to treat myself well and "be gentle with myself". That's exactly what I did today.

1. Coffee and library with Emily. She's so lovely and funny and good - spending time with her is always enjoyable. I checked out four books:

Emily and I also talked about my organizing business. She is thinking of having me help her reorganize her fabric. SWEET.

2. Grocery store with Hubby. We made some plans for spending our anniversary together on Monday. I'm excited!

3. Decluttering. Every little bit helps. I spent time in this room.

4. The Sims. Yep, I love The Sims. And I did more decluttering in the basement computer/toy area, every time my Sims went to bed. 

5. Dinner/lying around. 

6. Bedtime: 9:15 PM. Wish I could do this every night!

Addicted

This morning I woke up thinking about decluttering at Mel's house yesterday and feeling disappointed that I don't have a house to declutter today - I mean, other than mine. It got me thinking about how much I love creating orderly spaces and I WANT TO DO IT NOW AND ALWAYS.

So I got busy. I posted a thing on Fakebook for my family and friends about decluttering their homes. Of course most of the offers I received were half-serious and from other states - maybe someday this will be possible, but not now. I did have one local inquiry, which I'm excited (and nervous) about. I'll be meeting with this client next week. I'm sticking with people I know, while I gain experience.

I also thought back to decluttering work I've done lately and in the past, and reached out to my mom, Mel, my old friend Pam, and Kat, to see if they'd mind writing a little blurb about me and my work efforts. Here's what I've received so far. I'm extra grateful.

Concert band wasn't as fun today but I did have a funny conversation with Richard, my fellow third clarinet.

Me: My thirtieth wedding anniversary is on Monday.

Richard: Wow, thirty years! How old were you when you got married - two?? 

Me: YES.

Richard: I don't know anyone who's done ANYTHING for thirty years.... Think it'll last?

I called Ernie and we chatted, had a great talk about whatever. I mentioned that I'm decluttering at Mel's house and he said he'd love it if I came over to his house and worked on the master bedroom. I'd love to!

R and I went shopping at JoAnn F*brics - beads for her, iron-on patches and pins for me. She makes such beautiful things. I have a big rip in my favorite pair of jeans, and I'm taking a sewing kit over to Sandy's to hem her pants next week. Gotta have a nice new stocked pincushion.

It was a beautiful day. Traffic was slow this afternoon, which allowed me to get a half-decent shot of Hood while crossing the Glen Jackson bridge:

We visited H for dinner at his job. It's always fun to hug him right there in the restaurant - he's always good for a big hug, and it's funny to see the looks on the other diners' faces. 

It was a good day. 

Snow! and a New Decluttering Gig

It was fun to wake up to this!

Catness is opting to snuggle my sun hat instead of checking out the snow. Smart girl.

So this was fun: I spent a few hours decluttering a room today! Enjoy the "before and after" shots! I need to work on my photography skills, but I'm excited to be gaining experience at decluttering for other people. I had a very willing guinea pig! 

Stuff I Enjoyed On This Day

Folks having some Together Time in B's room.

Concert Band rehearsal. Quote: "How do you get macaroni and cheese out of a tuba?"

I started organizing my Good Mail onto a bulletin board, so I could hang it on my wall and be reminded that I want to be awesome at sending Good Mail to my Good Mail friends (and yes, you have to capitalize it every time you say it).

Our last Pep Band performance. Quote: "This isn't Disney, it's a community college."

Coming home fried and dealing with shrieking toddlers. It's a good thing they're cute!

2/22/22

Visited with my therapist today. I love her. We're making some progress. 

Presidents Day 2022

I spent this important occasion working in the basement bedroom again, finding lots of goodies. It's gonna be Laundry City here for a while. Hubby got brave and came downstairs to check things out. We're excited to get M and the babies into that bedroom soon.

Speaking of babies:

Whew.

Catching Up

Lunch: I hadn't seen Chantell since Autumn 2020. We worked together at Bri*r. It was so great to see her! We went to a Georgian restaurant downtown and enjoyed it - I had never eaten Georgian food before. Tasty.

After lunch, I drove to Kat's father's house and helped clean it out for a couple of hours.

Then it was home to spend time with these two:

 

The Little Misses

Chillin out. The babies love to pop up onto our bed and goof around, especially when we're there.

Baby C wrestling Giant Bluey. Toddlers in the house = chairs on the table

I did more work in the basement today. Tomorrow I'm organizing for a new client, and having lunch with Chantell. That'll be fun.

L picked up Baby R for an overnight stay.

This Beautiful Brat

She's just waiting for me to stand up so she can take my warm spot. Well I'M NOT FALLING FOR IT. Spare me your cuteness, Catness. 

She seems to be locked into some kind of psychological battle with this guy. He keeps hanging around, I think to bug her, because she just looked at him and did some kind of weird chirpy meow thing.

(Please excuse the as yet un-Swiffered floor, and enjoy Hubby's legs - he's working from home today.)

Haha! FOILED! Thanks, giant stuffed Bluey! 

Today I spent another hour cleaning the basement - at some point I hope to have it ready for "Before" pictures, let alone "After" - and came upstairs to shower and get ready for concert band rehearsal. Once in the car, however, I saw that the gas gauge needle was sitting on bone-dry empty (which, yes, is a setting). Discovering that I'd also forgotten my phone, I decided to ditch band and head to the gas station instead. 

We needed a couple things from Wal-M*rt, and since I heroically gave up rehearsal, a treat was necessary. 

Later activities included ironing, taking the laptop to be fixed, dinner from Costa Vida while Hubby and R went to the girls' basketball game, and hanging out.

Transfixed By Frozen

Baby R and Baby C digging on Anna and company...

In other news: 

- M and L are officially no longer together. It's so terribly sad for these sweet baby girls. I'm babysitting them a lot lately while M works. 

- Hubby, R and I are heading to Phoenix next month to visit Mom and Bob. It's good that we'll be getting away from stuff at home for a few days and have something to look forward to, because everything feels hard right now.

- My job and Shipt are no longer doing it for me - financially, or in any other way - so after the trip, I'll be job hunting again. I did this less than a year ago and I'm not happy to have to do it again, but life happens. 

This is the pattern that I also saw in fall quarter: I worked four times this month (it would have been twice, but Dan got sick and I was asked to come in to work) and have nothing scheduled for the rest of February. So far in March, they've scheduled me for two shifts: on the 8th and the 15th. It's not nearly enough. Performing with pep band has been a more lucrative job than working at the bookstore! What??

I have no idea if M will continue to need my help with the girls, so looking for a new job may be a moot point. At any rate, I have a few weeks before I have to get serious about it. 

- Hubby and I chatted about the whole job thing and decided to just let things play out for now. There's not much else to do. 

Honestly, I'd love to just stay at home and take care of things and maybe sew for people for my job. Maybe after the basement and garage are presentable, I can start doing that. I did more housework today and just relished being in my home (when I wasn't feeling like hot garbage, worrying about money, or chasing after two toddlers).

- A bluebird perched in one of the baby trees and was sitting there when I walked outside to put something in the recycle bin. It made me really happy.

Things that are helping me stay sane today

1. This old friend. I buy a new one every year. Like the Weather Channel and other weird things, it calms me down. 

2. This song on a loop

3. Band practice (aka "church")

4. This yumminess (those drums!)

5. Driving through Blandford Canyon, again

6. Cracking wise:

7. This naughty lady. Look at that naughty face.

8. PEP BAND and my bandmates. Georg brought a plastic reed for me to try. It's a stealth reed! I love it and will be buying one sometime soon:

Uriel is into origami lately and made this red frog for me.

9. This guy.

This morning I spent some time un-grossing H and C's old bedroom in the basement, using my trusty new vacuum cleaner, a few cardboard boxes, and 17 garbage bags (slight exaggeration but it felt like it). Since then I've been laundering towels and washing dishes that I discovered languishing down in the dungeon. Once we're finished with that bedroom, M and the babies will be taking it over and we'll get our family room back. Everyone is thrilled at this prospect. 

I have lots of YAY feelings about the basement being reclaimed, but I also miss my boys, very much.

What's Even Happening? Am I Alive?

So, so tired. Babysitting the grandbabies is taking it out of me. 

Today was a good day though.

Happy Valentine's Day

Worked out. Band practice. Lunch with Mel and Cousin Jen. Hubby and I put together Valentine's Day goodie bags for the kids, and gave the babies stuffed animals.

These three.

Missing: Chad, who was trying like heck to dart into the ice-cold garage (as one does).