Making a List, Checking it Twice...

I’m a list maker. It’s one of those things I can’t stop myself from doing. I keep lists at work, and other lists at home. I sometimes think I’d lose all bearing in life if a list wasn’t there to nudge me in the right direction.

This, for the record, is just one of my personality traits for which I probably need therapy.

The other day I lost one of my lists, and it was a doozy. The “To Do before Baby comes home” list was long and only partially checked off. When I realized that it was gone, I panicked a bit. What if I couldn’t recreate it? What if I forgot to do some all important task? My Mom (dear that she is) tried to help. “It will be fine, even if you don’t get everything done. The Baby will not care.” She was right, and somewhere deep in my psyche, I knew that. It was still difficult for me to just let go though, so I went about recreating that missing list.

Truth be told, we don’t have much left “to do” anyway. I’m a fairly organized person by nature and most of the big stuff has been marked off for a few weeks. Still, I felt better when I could hold another list in my hand and mark off all the items that we’d completed.

So, what’s left?
• We need to reorganize the family room (though it’s now known as the “toy room”, and rightly so) to make room for infant related stuff. That’s the room we spend most of our family time in, and we want to carve out a space for our newest addition to enjoy it also.
• We need to go to Wal Mart or Target for a little shopping trip. Nothing extravagant, but we want to pick up all of those little items that we’d like to have on hand, but have thus far neglected to purchase. Those first weeks go by so quickly, we’d prefer to spend as little time running errands as possible.
• We need to find birth announcements. Evidently I’m the only person left in the world who wants to buy the little cards and write the info inside. So far, none of the retailers I’ve visited have carried any at all. Going to Hallmark this weekend. Surely they still have some.
• We have to put batteries in, well…everything. (Note to self: Consider buying stock in Duracell)
• I need to finish Baby Boy’s quilt. Honestly, I’m not sure this one is going to get done in time, but I’ll try.

Other than having the baby and bringing him home, that’s pretty much it. The end is near, and we are so very excited to soon be welcoming home another sweet little guy to hold and snuggle and love. There is so much we want to share with both of our boys…so much we want them to experience and marvel at…so much that we hope they won’t miss…..

Maybe I should make a list?

Just what We Needed!

Last weekend our little family trudged through a packed flea market looking for bargains (one of our favorite weekend activities – regardless of crowd size). We usually go with nothing specific in mind, and just wait for things we “need” to jump out at us. This time, we did have one item we were specifically looking for: a chest of drawers for Baby Boy’s nursery. The closet in the room he will use is tiny, and extra clothing/bedding storage will be required.

We had only been pushing our way through the crowd for a few minutes when I spotted one that was about the right size for the space we have. It was also a good color (blond wood finish – matches our changing table). It was sturdy, clean and didn’t have a lot of scratches or dents! My heart rate began to accelerate. I pulled out each drawer to see if they were in good working order. They were! The overall look of the thing was a bit dated (60s or 70s maybe?), but I’m not one to worry about things being terribly modern. In pretty much every aspect of my life, I am much more concerned with function, value and comfort than I am with style.

So, after sizing up the chest, and seeing that it would be a great solution to our problem, I nervously flipped over the price tag.

$12.50

Woo Hoo!!! So, we bought it of course, and the seller helped Hubby load it into our vehicle. It didn’t really fit, but the seller gave us a bungee cord which kept everything in place (even with the back hatch open) as we drove home. We put it into the Baby’s room, and it’s a perfect fit there. I gave it a quick wipe-down, and can now mark a big item off our “to do” list for Baby.

Sometimes a bargain hunter has to “settle” on whatever happens to be in the desired price range. We were very lucky to find something we actually thought was perfect, at a truly perfect price!! Now all that’s left is filling it up (and that will be the most fun of all).

Spring Cleaning

We live in a lovely little house, but it is indeed little. Like many from the same era (it was build in 1957) though charming, it lacks storage. Each of the three bedrooms has one closet. None are terribly large. One is downright tiny. We do have one linen closet and one coat closet, as well as some much appreciated storage space in the basement.

This hasn’t been a big problem, up to now - because we’ve only needed two of the three bedrooms. But it won’t be long until Baby Boy will be moving into that third bedroom. Baby Boy's nursery (which we also used for Little Guy as an infant) is the room with the tiny closet.  It is also the room which is currently used for nothing but storage.

A co-worker asked if we’d be moving to a larger house now that our family is growing. The answer is no. Though our space seems small by modern standards, we certainly have more space than many do. There is plenty of room for two fun little boys to run, play, eat and sleep. And plenty of room for the parents of those boys to lead a comfortable and happy life as well.

Besides, anytime I start to feel even a little frustrated with how much space we do (or don’t) have, I am reminded of the typical frontier home (think “Little House on the Prairie”). Many families lived in one room cabins or tiny sod structures – and they often were raising several children in those cramped spaces!

So, it’s not the house that’s the problem. It’s our accumulation of unnecessary and meaningless“ things” that brings trouble.

The time has come for some spring cleaning!  We need to review those things we have and toss what we don’t need or use. We did something similar when I was pregnant with Little Guy, and we had a big garage sale to get rid of a lot of our stuff. I remember that almost being more effort than it was worth though. This year, I think maybe it’s just time to purge – taking everything right over to the Goodwill store as a donation. Someone can then get use of the clothes and dishes and etc. which we don’t need or use anymore, and we’ll have a little room to move again (well, for now anyway).

Our purging will have boundaries of course. My sewing and crafting supplies are off limits. Hubby’s collection of sports stuff and ball cards: ditto. Anything that holds sentimental value will stay put. You get the idea.

This weekend I plan to start with the clothes in my half of our bedroom closet (I know it's a small step, but I have to start somewhere, right?). I’ve been toying with the idea for a few weeks, but have now been inspired by my Blog-friend topchelseagirl to get really get started. 

Spring cleaning...here I come!