[12:24:41 PM] Aaron: Rush Limbaugh: Success is getting paid to do what you love doing. Whatever you want to do first thing when you wake up in the morning is what you love.
[12:24:51 PM] Aaron: Should we sign you up for some sleep experiments?

Those of you who know me well (or have visited my house even once) know that there are so many things everywhere.  Even though we have less furniture than most (though we are gaining on regular people) because we purged heavily when we went to Ecuador last time, we still have so many things.

And I am a semi-packrat.  I say semi because I work hard at not being one, but it is definitely my natural inclination.  If I didn’t occasionally intervene in my own junk it would be nuts.  Ok, it would be beyond nuts, because right now (after 1.5 years of living in the same house) it is pretty close to nuts.

When I begin to purge things I have the worst internal battle which I am sure that so many struggle with.  “What if I need this later?” “Even though the older kids don’t really like this (but I do) maybe the baby will like it when she’s older…”  “I remember when I got this, that time was so fun/special/great, and this (piece of junk) makes me think about it.  I can’t possibly let go of this…”  And so on.

[An idea suddenly occurred to me, that when I find junk that I don’t need to save that reminds me of something special, I should write it down in a notebook of memories.  Then I can have ONE things that contains it instead of lots of randoms.  I have taken pictures of things in the past, but probably writing it down too would be better.]

The biggest annoyance to me lately is TOYS.  People with more than three kids, how do you even survive???  I admittedly buy the kids too many toys.  I try to buy high quality toys, but I also let them buy pure junk from the dollar store, etc.  And, truthfully even if I were to buy exclusively “high quality” toys, there are simply too many out there, and my kids don’t need to own all of them.  Also we are blessed with a lot of generous family members who spoil our kids with lots of gifts, and lots of excellent hand-me-downs from my younger siblings (hello 3 awesome giant bins of legos, robotic construction set, etc.!)  The fact that all my kids have birthdays in the two months right before Christmas doesn’t help either.  So naturally come January I feel ready to explode/purge.

On top of the actual feeling of suffocation from too many toys (and breaking your ankle/impaling your foot with toys every time you cross the room) there is also the idea of how too many toys ruins your kids.  I read this article a while back, and while extreme, I sometimes want to take away all my kids’ toys like this lady did.  I do find that when my kids have too much stuff it becomes worthless to them and they begin to act more greedy/entitled/demanding/begging for things.  And that is stinky and not how I want my hooligans to behave.  Sometimes I do take toys away for a while, but I have yet to take away all the toys forever.  I still maintain that is too extreme.

Anyway, I am rambling.  The point is, we have too much stuff in our home.  And I am fighting desperately (against myself) to stop.  It is hard to stop the purchasing (oh this is on clearance at Target, maybe I will use it one day…) and also hard to purge (but I love the print of this shirt that will never fit me correctly…) but I press on.  Last week I went though my closet and made myself try on everything that I hadn’t worn in a year to prove to myself that I was going to keep it.  This was a good start and I filled a really large cardboard box of clothing.  Today I am tackling toys, I will be purging and also storing some away to rotate in and out so they don’t always form a layer on the floor.  The kids always want to seem to save the broken junk they never play with, and so this will be an activity I will will be trying to do alone.  Wish me luck…

Anyone good at not keeping a lot of stuff?  Or keeping it orderly/useful?  Any ideas other than moving out of the country every so often?

Kelsey’s 24 in 365*
1. Eliminate all unworn/ill-fitting clothes
2. Read 25 books
3. Finish surprise quilt (I can’t say who for, in the off chance they read this)
4. All photobooks finished up to 2013 and Allison’s 1st year book.
5. No restaurant eating for one month.
6. Learn a new skill
7. Assemble a car first aid kit.  And put it in the car.
8. Baby books up to date
9. Shoot and develop one roll of film
10. Finish 5 already started sewing projects
11. Read 2 books in Spanish
12. Work on Ecuador book
13. Visit 3 temples I have never been to before
14. Can something tasty
15. Learn a new song on the piano
16. Send 12 pieces of real mail
17. Sort/get rid of extra toys
18. Send birthday cards to nieces & nephews.  And maybe siblings and more.
19. Have a super fun party.
20. Blog 14 times
21. Build a front entry bench
22. Get dressers
23. Watch an old movie that I should have seen already
24. Save up for a new heavy duty sewing machine

*All activities may be substituted for taking a nap of 1 hour or longer duration.

Aaron’s 14 in 2014
1. Make a quilt (I said I didn’t want to learn computer programming, and how would he like to make a quilt?  Apparently a lot.)
2. Pay off our car
3. Make an abridgment of The Hobbit to be read as bedtime stories
4. Get in shape
5. Make jerky or smoked meat
6. Go to the temple
7. Go surfing
8. Find a delicious new restaurant
9. Do something super fun with each of the kids
10. Climb a mountain
11. Plant a garden
12. Make a new friend
13. Camping.  Real camping!
14. Send Kelsey to the spa.

The end.

Where do you have babies?
A. At home for fun
B. At the hospital for safety
C. In your wagon because it is freezing outside

What kind of vehicle do you own?
A. A VW bus
B. A Honda Odyessy
C. A wagon

Which is your favorite?
A. Being lazy
B. Exercising for fun
C. Walking and working hard

Favorite Food?
A. Soda & Fries.  And Cookies.
B. Mysterious Green Smoothie & Tofu.  And Kale.
C. Anything you can find.  You’re not picky.

How often do you bathe?
A. I think about showering occasionally
B. Daily.  No exceptions.
C. When we ford rivers.

What do you do in your free time?
A. Sleep.
B. Clean your house
C. Sing around a campfire

———————————————————————————-

Mostly As: Hippie for sure.  You are weird and maybe a little stinky, but that is ok because so am I.  Everyone knows hippies don’t really eat nasty foods like tofu.
Mostly Bs: You are insane and I’m not sure we can be friends anymore.  Seriously.  Exercise and Kale?  Two strikes you’re out.
Mostly Cs: Pioneer.  You are crazy tough and I respect you.  But I am lazy and could never be like you.

(If you got a good mix of As and Bs I think we can still probably be friends because maybe you just like routine but you have a dr. pepper addiction.)

My wonderful cousin gave us his swing set/play house he was retiring.  This became a huge project for Aaron, necessitating many power tools, much lumber, and multiple trips to Lowe’s.  Several months later it is (mostly) completed and everyone rejoices.  Except now instead of hearing how someone shoved someone else on the stairs/slide (the slide/platform have been finished for several weeks) I get to hear about someone not letting the other have a turn on the swing.  Even though there is an identical swing right next to it.  3 and 4 year olds…  But we are all grateful to Aaron for his hard work on the awesome playset.

I currently have a quilting obsession.  It seems my obsessions revolve.  I go in and out of being friends with my sewing machine and perhaps that is part of it.  Maybe when it gets cooler outside I can return to lip balm and hard lotion bar making & selling obsession.  The heat makes that kind of impossible.  My blanket making obsession is so bad that I have opened (another) etsy shop to sell them.  So I can buy more fabric.  To make more quilts.  That makes sense.

I am doing something so stupid and unlike me.  Except that I did it one other time.  I joined a friend’s 8-week diet/exercise challenge.  It is terrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrible.  Did I mention that it is only day 4?  I need to stop being vain and get back to eating cookies.  Because let’s not lie, I am not doing this challenge to be healthy.  I am doing it to be less pudgy in my middle.  Stupid vanity.  Cookies and not exercising are soooooooo much better.

My birthday is in less than a week and I have planned no awesome party.  This is very strange and I can only contribute it to my lack of brain power due to lack of sugar.

I have a really great post in my brain about people who reserve the sidewalk but it will have to wait for another day.  But now that I wrote that here I will have to do it.

-I need to learn how to finish projects.  I will often start something with grand intentions, get 2/3 done and then put it away when I hit some sort of giant snag.  This applies to quilts, crafts, books, cleaning, organizing, putting pictures on walls, and laundry.  Ok the laundry is never actually 2/3 done (I celebrate when it is clean, forget about folded and put away) and books usually get forgotten about because when I have the time (night time) I am far too tired to read.

-I am pretty sure I was nicer before I had kids.  I think I used to be able to wait patiently in lines and not want to neck chop as many people for their misbehavior.  I’m not blaming my kids specifically for this change, but since one bedtime takes all the patience I used to need in two weeks of pre-children time I am a lot more jerky.  Ok also I used to sleep more.

-My dad calls me a pioneer to my face but a hippie behind my back.  This amuses me to no end.  I fully acknowledge my tendency to do weird things like buy unscented shampoo so I can add essential oils to make it smell how I want and have babies at home, but feel like my ability to eat an entire pack of girl scout cookies and seven cokes really balances me out.

-I am apparently also obsessed with water bottles.  Yesterday I brought home one of those plastic cups with a lid and straw from the grocery store, which made Aaron wonder how many water bottles a person needs.  The answer is lots.  And their kids might need lots too.  There is nothing wrong with hydration, people!

-I wish I blogged more.  I think of such funny things to tell all four of you at night while lying in my bed.  But in the daytime I can’t remember them.  Maybe I should get one of those voice recorder things so I can dictate a blog post for the next day.

First child: Everything is a life threatening disaster.  The baby is crying and I don’t know why!  Read all the books!  Call The Super Nanny!  The baby touched grass!  Is there any in his mouth?  Call 911!  How on earth are you supposed to bathe a slippery tiny baby?  We are failing!!!

Having a second child when first child is hardly a year old: AHHHHHHHH!  All the babies are crying!  Now I’m crying!  I got one to sleep… NO!  The awake one woke the sleeping one up!  I will never sleep again!  Ok, now they are both asleep at the same time…  Do I shower/eat/clean/sleep or exercise?  And don’t even get me started on trying to go anywhere.

Third child, intelligently spaced 3 years after the second: Sure, eat grass, you will be just fine!  If those other two survived so will you…  I hear you crying, I will be there after I wipe up the cup of milk your sibling spilled/wipe someone’s bum/break up a fight/stir the soup/finish this cookie!

But seriously.  Some people say that having three kids made them go nuts.  I think that having two babies so close together was significantly harder.  Now that I have two older kids (3 & 4, ha!) that can walk, dress themselves (if they want), speak in complete sentences about their dislike of my cooking, and occasionally entertain themselves for 5 minutes straight it seems that having a baby isn’t as difficult as I remember.  Don’t get me wrong.  Babies are still insanely hard, and three kids is not like having only one, and if you see us at the store you will probably judge me to be completely insane (correct judgement), but really, REALLY it is so much easier than the transition from one baby to two babies.  Three kids is much smarter than two babies.  (No offense twins.)

So anyway, if you were thinking about having three kids, I recommend it.  Especially if you like fighting with three small humans at naptime, bedtime, mealtime, getting dressed time, shopping time, clean up time…  Wait, this was supposed to be pro-3 kids…

Dear Amazon.com,
We need to break up. It’s not you it’s Aaron.
Regretfully, Kelsey

Dear Icicles,
Please stop scaring me half to death when you break off the roof and smash on the other part of the roof.  That’s rude.
Tired of heart attacks, Kelsey

Dear Aaron,
You snore really loud.  Even if you deny it.  I promise to stop plugging your nose to wake you up if you promise to stop doing it.
Love, Kelsey

Dear Body,
I think it’s rude you don’t magically lose all the baby weight.  Exercising is hard and terrible.  And my clothes don’t fit.  Also bacon is super tasty and so you are going to have to solve this problem on your own.
Lazily, Kelsey

Dear Sleep,
I miss you so bad.  What did I do?  I can change.  Please forgive me.  I’ll do anything if you come back.  Think of the good old days!  Just give me another chance…
Please!  Kelsey

Dear People Driving 50 in Parking Lots,
You need to knock this off immediately.  One of these times I am really going to pound on your car with my bare hands.  Just be glad that normally my hands are full of children’s hands or you would really get it.
Hatefully, Kelsey

Dear Winter,
Thanks for making all the spiders disappear.  I think you killed them all forever, and I am refusing to believe the people who tell me you are just temporarily frozen.  You are the best.
Love, Kelsey

Aaron: You just love Facebook because you are a voyeur.
Kelsey: I prefer the term stalker, thankyouverymuch.

Why does the box of colored goldfish crackers claim they taste the same when they don’t?

Why do my kids hate sleeping?

Why is cherry coke so good?

Why can my two-year-old eat more pancakes than my husband?

Why are there so many annoying flies in my house?

Why do I love double stuf oreos infinity much?

Why are there so many terrible children’s books that managed to get published?

Why are the Target clearance stickers so hard to resist?

Why do I look 100 times more pregnant at almost 7 months than ladies due next week?

Why can’t I remember to buy glue at the store?

Why does a giant spider think he can live on the handle to the shed I need to open?

As you can see, I have some really pressing issues I’ve been pondering.