I feel helpless. And hopeless.

Today I am frustrated by the woes of the world. Wall Street, 1% vs. 99% and 53%, media spending too much time on the death of Steve Jobs and not enough time on the deaths of millions of people who don’t have enough food, water, medical supplies, etc. It is all so back-breaking; the weight of this world…on the people who give a shit. And I feel powerless. And hopeless.

Nearly 7 BILLION people inhabit this planet. There is NO WAY we will all EVER agree on anything; let alone everything. How can those of us who care actually change anything? How can we possibly make anything better when there will always be greedy, selfish, sons-of-bitches out there who will do anything to hold on to their “piece of the pie?”

They can see the poison in our air, they can smell it in the chemicals they use for “cleaning”. We can feel it burning our lungs when we breathe it and burning our skin when we touch it. Yet we continue. Like the problem will sort itself out. Like “one person can’t make a difference.” If we can ignore obvious things that we can see, taste, touch, smell, how can we ever hope to change the things that can’t be seen, tasted, touched, smelled or heard? Will people ever grasp that it is (we are) ALL connected?

People have yet to learn to respect each other. Why can’t people see, whether they be Democrat or Republican, Liberal or Conservative, Christian or Baptist or Methodist or Catholic or Agnostic or Atheist, et al, that the choices of one can affect the lives of many or all? I really just can not wrap my head around it. I really just don’t understand the ignorance, the arrogance, the indifference.

movie magic

There are moments in movies or on tv shows, when the perfect song is playing at the perfect moment and the perfectly intended emotion is perfectly evoked. Those moments help me realize all over again how much I love my family and how amazing it is to be a mom and a wife and to have a fantastic grown-up life with a fantastic life partner. And in those moments, I wish my life had a perfect soundtrack to keep reminding me every moment of every day how lucky I am; and how much love I have for and in my life. Because when the moment is shattered by my 4 year old whining, "she hit me" or by being slapped in the face by my toddler... I REALLY NEED the reminder!

Lost in the heaps

I think that just about says it all. More and more, or maybe rather over and over, the piles and heaps and projects....they just keep coming back or getting bigger. There HAS to be a way to stay on top of all of this Sugar Honey Iced Tea!!! There HAS to! I have been trying to follow the FLYlady, but even that seems improbable. I just want to simplify our life! Get rid of the crap, stop spending money on crap that we really don't need (I think this is seriously an illness!!) I'm going to post this... totally raw and incomplete because it'll serve as a reminder later.. but for now... it's just a Blah blah blah.

Starting the FLYlady babysteps again.

I have been thinking that I should start over establishing my FLYlady routines because I haven't been keeping to a functional routine since B was born. So day 1:

"Go shine your sink"

OK.  I can do that.

Today I spent the entire day organizing our tools in the garage.  They have been waiting for about a year (since we redid the kitchen and put some of the old cabinets out there.  K helped me put together a shelf and attach old babyfood jars to it to hold misc. nails/screws/etc.  It looks really great.  I LOVE having a place for everything, and having everything in its place.  It just makes life feel so much more peaceful.

I got a new "android" phone the other day.  So I'll see if I can figure out how to post a pic on my blog.

Before:

After:

decluttering

I have been avoiding doing much decluttering because I really wanted to try to have a garage sale to get a little bit of cash to spend (since we are trying to watch our budget and I still have some little things I'd like to get for organization), but I decided yesterday that I am not interested in spending an entire weekend with people rummaging through my old stuff and then end up taking half of it to the thrift store anyway and we need the space in our garage to make it easier to get B and her car seat in and out of the car.  I cleared out 2 huge bins of old clothes (that went to CT and back without ever being unpacked) that had tons of stuff that I no longer fit in, but even if my efforts to lose these excess pounds works out, I shouldn't wear anyway.  I have to face the fact that I am no longer in my 20s.  sad.. I know.. but it's true.  ;) And I cleared out some boxes that never got unpacked when we finished our kitchen remodel (almost a year ago).  I finally found our banana hook!  YAY!!

shiney sink

Oh my!  We actually had EVERYTHING put away in the kitchen last night before bed.  I'm talking... Everything!!  Waking up to a super tidy space this morning was like a wonderful breath of fresh air (I am missing that in this stupid winter inversion crap-hole weather!!)  It is so much easier to keep things tidy once you start. Today, all I have to do is keep up, rather than catch up.  As long as everything has a place, it is really not too difficult to put it there.  We'll see how we're doing by the end of the day.  So far, things are going well.  :)

FLYlady.net

I started "FLYing" a little over a year ago.  (About 2 months before B was due, I think.)  Having a baby and trying to stick to a cleaning/decluttering/"pretty yourself up" routine is really, REALLY hard for me.  But now that B is nearly 14 months old, it has gotten a little easier to get things done.  So, we are going to try to get back to FLYing.  I think I'm going to attempt to post our progress with before and after pics, etc.  Maybe if the whole world can see my clutter, I'll be more motivated to fix it?  We are going to start with the "Baby Steps," but since we started this before, some of them are already part of our routine.  Those, we are going to kind of skip over, or do 2 in one day, etc.
One of these days I will overcome my "perfectionism!"  :D

babysteals.com

Again, I have hopped on at a very inopportune time, but I just wanted to throw out there that I have become addicted to babysteals.com and kidsteals.com.  <3

The girls and I are off to Willard as soon as I pick Elli up from school, so I guess Daddy gets a very VERY rare, weekend ALONE!

it's been a very long time

It has been way too long since I posted last.  I have a hard time figuring out how to make this site function and I have a hard time remembering my password.  i can't believe the only thing I have posted about Bree is the fact that I was pregnant with her.  OI..... so much has happened since then.  I'm going to try to keep up on this a little better.  Just in case anyone cares to keep track.  :)

gdiapers

http://www.gdiapers.com/

I read an article about these little diapers a long time ago, but figured they were like cloth diapers so I didn't bother looking into them. I saw them in a great new store in Ogden called Green the World on Monday after our dr. visit so I asked the store owner about how they work. THESE BABIES ARE SHEER GENIUS!!! They have a cloth outside, but inserts that work like disposables. BUT... the inserts are not only biodegradable... they are COMPOSTABLE (the wet ones)!!! AND, the cloth outsides dont usually get wet or poopy, so you don't have the water consumption of cloth diapers either.

I have decided that I am going to go pick up a large starter kit rather than a new package of Huggies to use for Elli until she doesn't need diapers anymore. And then we can use them for the new baby when he/she gets into the large size. I'M SO EXCITED!