Settling In

I've been nesting. Not nesting in the "I'm about to have a baby" nesting. More like, I plan to stay in this house for about a year more so I want it all clean and organized sort of way. I started with the heart of the home... the kitchen. There is something so satisfying to me about having a clean, well organized, smoothly running home. Everything in its place.

I amassed no less than 4 boxes of unwanted kitchen things, which my daughter Jill went through already. She took some nice pieces. We had to hide the box she took from my husband as he thinks I give too much stuff away. Why are you giving away these onion soup bowls? I could hear it already. I cleaned every cupboard, went through my spices and discarded old ones. Filled up the jars that were empty. All neatly arranged with no labels, in no particular order. I like that too. I can tell which ones they are without having a label on them. Labels get in the way of the beauty of the thing. Know what I mean?

The cookbooks were sorted through. Some given away. The loose recipes torn from magazines were all sorted through, hole punched and organized as well. Loose recipes put into a new recipe box my sister gave me. All so readily available and easy to access.

I sorted Athena's toys and books as well. She had so many presents for Christmas and her birthday that she doesn't even know what people gave to her. I put half of the gifts away, to be brought out at a later date. She won't notice. The child doesn't really play with toys, won't really miss them, will she? Auntie Jill bought her an Indian Play set, which she loves. But speak of fusion, can you see Dora and Diego being confronted by a bear? I dare say!

My oldest daughter Jen bought me this Monthly Breast Exam aid from Curves fitness. It helps a woman to do her breast exams and is incredibly sensitive to anything it comes across. We tried it with sugar on the counter top. Amazing. Needless to say, I was kind of nervous to try it. What if I found something? I waited and waited and finally tried it the other day. Quickly. Very quickly. I found nothing. Perhaps next month I'll muster the courage to do a thorough exam.

Oh, and I lost 12 pounds since September. This is thrilling to me as I lost it without dieting. I attribute it to walking Athena to and from school and my yoga practice. I certainly is not from cutting back on wine. (rolls eyes) My clothes fit so much better, I feel better and I look better.

It has been unnaturally warm her for January. And very dry. We have negligible amounts of snow. That is about to change. We have a Colorado Low forecast for the weekend. Lots of snow. We are keeping our fingers crossed because we are longing to make a snowman. So we have stocked the fridge, filled the wine rack, picked up tons of library books and a few movies.

We plan to skate on the backyard rink, roast hot dogs over the fire pit, snuggle, read, knit, play games. No other plans than to just BE.