purging...

2011 is the year of reducing things.  We need to clear out this house of all of the "stuff" we don't use and most certainly don't need.  Last night we started with a closet.  It is a little closet, but it was jam packed with stuff.  Toys that had been boxed up and put away for later and in case we ever had another child.  Toys that have been boxed up for the better part of two years and haven't been missed.  I have a hard time getting rid of things, not because I have an attachment to them myself but because a lot of the toys the kids have were gifts and I remember who gave them what toys for what occasion (it is a sickness I know), and I feel guilty about getting rid of stuff that people have so generously given our children.  But here is the thing, we don't have a lot of space in this house and we have little to no storage, so the fact that we have shoved this much stuff into this house is astounding.  We have NINE diaper boxes full of toys and stuffed animals that we have removed from the closet/toy box.  And we haven't even touched the toys in the kids rooms yet.  We will get there, and hopefully soon, but we have made a start and that feels pretty darn good!

I have some sort of bug that has landed me in bed for the day even though I was supposed to work today and really wanted to go visit a dear friend and her new baby!  Instead I'm going to lay down and take another nap and hopefully kick this thing out of my system for good. 

I cannot get well fast enough so I can go meet my new "niece" Molly Elizabeth Goodness born 1.17.2011 at 10:11pm.  So happy for Ben & Amanda, lots of love to you guys!