Derby Time

22 Mar 2012 5 Comments

by Natalie in What We Do/Make for Fun, What's a mom to do? Tags: , , , , ,

My boys are 3 and 5. Well below the typical Cub Scout age. And yet this past week I found myself whittling away at a rectangular block of wood, trying desperately to make it resemble a racecar.

All because my church is putting on a Pinewood Derby Party tonight for people of all ages.

I heard about the party months ago but brushed it aside. It wasn’t until church leaders started talking it up to my 5-year-old that I had any desire to participate. He got so excited at the idea of making a racecar that I couldn’t tell him “no.”

I tried to get my dad to help him. I remember him and my brother working on their Pinewood Derby cars for hours when I was younger. I think they actually won the grand prize a couple of times.

But time ran out and we needed a car. Fast.

So I spent two afternoons hacking at two awkwardly shaped pieces of wood transforming one into a “shark car,” the other into a “fire jet.”

If it weren’t for my friend Heidi, I don’t think I would have ever thought I could do it. But after I saw the awesome Ghost Buster van and Mermaid mobile she made with her two young kids, I was inspired to grab a hack saw and try making our own cars.

Of course the boys wanted to “help” but their poor little arms couldn’t make the old-school saw move up and down. They mostly played on the lawn while I sawed until my sides hurt.

For double what I paid for the wooden block, I could have bought a precut car at the store. But this frugal mom wanted to save $4.

Thank heavens for my parent’s electric sander. It helped smooth out and camouflage the rough and uneven saw marks. If you look closely you can tell that one side of the shark’s fin cuts in more than the other, and you just may see fire jet’s curves in its slant, but it’s the best we could do.

And my boys LOVE their cars. They have been carrying them around ever since we made them. We probably won’t win any type of award tonight, but we had fun working on our first cars.

Luckily the party isn’t an official Pinewood Derby race so there aren’t any official rules. We didn’t have to worry about design or weight restrictions. Who knows what we will do when we enter a real race.

Just Shoot Me Now

15 Mar 2012 4 Comments

by Natalie in Pregnant After a Loss Tags: , ,

Thursday nights have become a real pain in my butt thanks to a new medication I’m taking.

As if I weren’t in enough pain already, I decided to add a shot into my life every 7 days.

Since my second child was born 4½ weeks early, my new doctor suggested I start taking medicine at my 16th week of pregnancy that should prevent me from going into preterm labor this time.

Little did I know that medicine was administered by weekly injection. Oh, and in order to save $30 a week, I was going to have to give the shot to myself or have my husband administer the shots instead of a registered nurse at my doctor’s office.

It has been a real learning experience. The first week doing the shot at home, my two little boys wanted to watch. But as soon as the needle was ready they started screaming bloody murder in the hallway outside our bathroom.  That did wonders on my nerves.

I know I’ll never forget the week we lost the needle off of the syringe somewhere on our bathroom floor. Then, found it again when it stuck my husband’s thumb. I sure hope he doesn’t go into preterm labor now.

But all joking aside, I am a big baby when it comes to needles. Normally I have to turn my head when a nurse draws my blood or I’ll get lightheaded. I have been poked and tested more times in the past 18 months than ever before in my life, but that doesn’t mean I have grown to enjoy the skin pierce.

Not to mention the pain that comes after the shot. Normally the medication makes my whole leg sore for a day or so.

But despite all of the pain, I have never wanted to have a baby more in my entire life than I do right now. I am scared, anxious, ecstatic and thrilled to be pregnant. Too bad being thrilled does nothing to soften the needle’s point.

I think that no matter how many times I go through with this weekly ordeal, and no matter how many times my husband tells me to “relax,” I will stiffen up like a corpse during every injection.

But I am determined to do all that is in my power to ensure that the baby I am carrying has a fighting chance at life. For me that means things like no Ibuprofen and weekly shots.

The things you do for love. And heaven knows I love this baby — a lot more than I ever thought possible at this point.

One day I’ll look back and be glad I did this, but for now I’m going to keep my eyes closed and try not to flinch.

Up All Night

08 Mar 2012 5 Comments

by Natalie in Parenting Battles, What's a mom to do? Tags: , , ,

It happens at least twice a week. I am slumbering soundly when I am jolted awake by an outcry from my offspring.

It’s 1, 2, or 3 a.m. and one of them needs something. Usually it’s something simple, something they could easily fix on their own, but they seem to forget how to do anything in the dark, cold night.

My husband and I end up taking them to the potty or tucking them back in. Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather they holler out than wet the bed, but I am left wondering where I went wrong.

I have failed to teach my children how to climb out of bed, walk five feet to the bathroom and go potty on their own. I have also failed to show them how to tug on their sheet corner to pull covers back over their little cold bodies.

They just can’t seem to do it without help.

Every once in a while they actually NEED help from a parent. But they cry wolf so many times I don’t know when to believe them.

The worst is when they wake up sick. I am ashamed to say I am not a good parent when it comes to helping them feel better in the wee hours of the morning.

I should be patient, loving and consoling. Instead I transform into a grizzly she bear who is woken from hibernation and just might devour her cubs.

I can’t help myself and normally after I go back to bed and get a couple of winks of sleep in, I wake up feeling like a complete jerk.

A few weeks a go my oldest went to bed with an earache. He ended up sleeping a record of 2 hours before hollering out for help. At 10:30 p.m., when I was just getting ready to tuck myself in, he shouted out in pain.

We tried relieving the pressure and pain by using an old home remedy of steamed onions and a warm rag. That helped for about five seconds. At 11:30 my husband ran to the nearest Wal-Mart and got numbing eardrops.

By midnight he was a whole new kid. And we were ready to go back to bed. Well at least my husband and I were. My oldest was wide awake. We set him up downstairs watching Netflix on the LoveSac. Thirty minutes later he was up by our bed wide eyed and whining.

We forced him back onto his bed but he wasn’t going to go to sleep. He wasn’t tired and he wasn’t happy. I lied in bed listening to him scream at us for 30 minutes. He wanted me to sleep by him.

We hollered back and forth to each other for what felt like forever. I was so tired I was delusional and immature. I had some pretty stupid comebacks including something like, “Don’t you realize that I have to get up in less than 5 hours?”

Yeah, I am sure that my 5-year-old with an earache can calculate his mother’s sleep total.

My husband hit the breaking point at 1 a.m. and went to lie by him.

We got about 4.5 hours of sleep that night – way too little for a tired, pregnant mother.

But it’s sort of my fault. I should have gone to bed an hour earlier. And, had I laid by him when he was wide awake at midnight, I could have got at least six hours.

I just can’t think clearly in the moonlight. All the sick little boy wanted was his mommy to lay by him while he fell asleep. I should have done that.

I’ve got to learn to control myself when jolted from bed in the night. My boys are 5 and 3. It’s okay for them to holler for help in the night.

But I think I might try having cover-pulling-up contests and potty-break practices to get them trained on what to do when they wake up with minor incidents.

Then maybe we can all go a couple of weeks between nighttime episodes. Until we have a newborn that is.

I’m dying to know, how do you keep your cool when woken up by your babies at night?

My Artistic Son Update

01 Mar 2012 3 Comments

by Natalie in What We Do/Make for Fun

Several months ago I wrote about my artistic son who was drawing me out of house and home. I am happy to announce I have finally finished putting together a crafty way to keep his masterpieces. Well, most of them.

After my original blog post I had several great suggestions on what to do to keep his work. I decided to bind his best work into three books – his big book of artwork, his medium book of artwork and his little book of artwork.

I am so thrilled at how the books turned out I decided I’d share what I did – just in case you too are living with a mini Picaso.

I had hundreds of pages with sketches of Megaladon sharks, monsters, dragons, dinosaurs and more. If I would have hung his work up on my home’s bare walls, the pages would have made a wall paper several layers thick.

He has drawn hundreds if not thousands of pictures during his lifetime.

I gathered up his work from all corners of our house. There were stashes of his drawings in my bedroom, hall, closet, kitchen, van and any baby bag we have ever used. I had armfuls of pages that I laid out on our kitchen table.

I sorted out his best work and recycled the rest – yes I did let go of a few of them.

Then I placed them into three different piles based on page size. I trimmed each page’s edge to make them all uniform in size.

My good friend Jolene let me borrow her do-it-yourself binding machine. After getting each pile in an order I liked, I used the machine to punch the sides. My boys were so excited about he books they wanted to help. (It probably took twice as long with their “help” and I know I lost my temper a couple of times, but oh well.)

I bought thick comb-style binding and plastic covers from my local office store’s copy center. When all the pages were punched, I laced the binding through and voila! Instant art books.

I made six total – three for my 5-year-old and three for my 3-year-old.

It took me several weeks to get all of this done and of course my sons haven’t stopped drawing, so I’ll have to do this all again in a year or so. But I love flipping through the pages and seeing their talent grow.

I also love that my oldest has moved past his mom’s-always-angry-in-my-artwork phase. He has now started drawing me straight-faced. It’s not a smile, but it’s a vast improvement.

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The Prenatal Screening Debate

22 Feb 2012 1 Comment

by Natalie in Pregnant After a Loss Tags: , ,

I was outraged this week when I heard a news story about Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s opposition to prenatal testing.

I saw a story Tuesday morning on the Today show that said he was opposed to the portion of Obama’s health care law that would require free prenatal screening to insured individuals. His reason for opposition? That screening would lead to more abortions.

Excuse me? As a mother of a stillborn baby who is now pregnant again, knowledge is power. I want to know everything I can about my unborn son. Just ask the ultra sound technician I had last week. She was annoyed by never ending questions  — specifically those about my unborn son’s umbilical cord.

I understand that there may be others who don’t share my opinion. That there may be some tragic cases where a mother hears the results of her prenatal screenings and determines to terminate her fetus. But opposing a healthcare plan that requires those services be free of charge is ridiculous.

A CBS article states that Santorum said he was specifically talking about amniocentesis when discussing his oppositions to prenatal testing.

I would like to think that all forms of prenatal screening enable doctors and staff to know how to aid in the delivery of babies with special needs.

I would like to think that prenatal screening would allow a mother to prepare mentally and physically, before delivery, for a baby that will require special attention.

At first I gave Santorum the benefit of the doubt, thinking he didn’t know what it was like to lose a baby. Then I stumbled across an article that said his wife delivered one of their sons at 20 weeks. That little baby lived only 2 hours.

Santorum and his wife were alerted early on in the pregnancy that something was wrong and that the fetus would not live long.  Would he have rather not known that something was wrong with his unborn child, but find out suddenly when his wife went into premature labor?

No prenatal screenings could have told me that my baby would die at 37 weeks. And yet I wish they could have. Maybe that would have given me time to wrap my mind around carrying an angel. Maybe I would have lied in bed with my hands on my bare belly when he was active at night just so I could feel as close as possible to my unborn, living Luca.

I read an article recently of a family that found out their unborn baby would not live. They chose to help it “live” the best they could while it was in the womb. I love that article and their inspiring attitude. (https://www.deseretnews.com/article/695257510/When-A-Birth-Is-Also-A-Death.html)

I wish I would have made an effort to help Luca “live.” I guess we should never take any life for granted, no matter how short — and regardless of our prenatal screening results.

No Cookie Dough Love

16 Feb 2012 6 Comments

by Natalie in Cooking/Attempting to Cook, Failed Housewife, Parenting Battles, What's a mom to do? Tags: , , , ,

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I love making sugar cookies and I love my boys. But I do not love making sugar cookies with my boys.

That is one more activity I am going to add to my I-wish-I-had-the-patience-to-do-that-with-my-kids list.

I have tried a few times to make yummy treats with my little ones’ “help.” But it never happens the way I think it should. The way I daydream it will. I guess it’s too much to ask a 3 and 5 year old to whip out their Martha Stewart skills.

My sons have no sense of order. No sense of tidiness. And when it comes to making cookies I swear they think our kitchen has transformed into an evil scientist’s lab. Either that or a Playdoh making factory – especially when we get to the cooking cutting part.

Last Sunday I decided to make heart-shaped Valentine’s cookies with the boys. It was going to be a great reverent Sunday afternoon bonding experience.

Yeah right.

We hadn’t been cooking five minutes before the first splash of flour rained down on my recently mopped kitchen floor and the stress sunk in. Our reverent activity turned into a nagfest as I tried to control them as they dumped ingredients into the Kitchen-Aid bowl.

Things only got worse when we started rolling out dough. I turned my back for a split second and they shoved their hands into the can of flour. I turned back around to a puffy white cloud and four pint-sized flour mountains on top of their “cookies.”

That’s when I lost it. I yelled at them for making a huge mess. All of a sudden our “fun” family activity had taken a turn for the worse.

My husband offered to help the boys finish. I am sure he could tell I was nearing a breaking point. But I was too stubborn to stop our fun-filled activity.

I had a giant ball of dough to roll out, cut and then bake and I realized my children weren’t going to be any “help.” So I gave up on getting their help. I gave up on keeping order.

I gave each of them a ball of dough and let them have at it. They rolled and cut and mixed who knows what into their dough samples for a long time. They each made their own “delicious” cookie filled with all kinds of goodies and topped with cherry fruit snacks.

Giving up on the perfect cookie-making experience did wonders for my nerves but it was a devastating for my poor, innocent kitchen. When we were finished I swept up an inch of flour from off of the floor.

I have fond memories of rolling out dough and helping my mom make treats. Those memories don’t include my mom ever yelling at me for the dough sticking to the table or for flour getting on the floor. How did she do it? How did she keep her cool? We always had a great time. I am worried my children won’t have any memories like that. I wish I were more patient.

I think a lot of times I set my expectations far too high. I should have realized that making cookies with two little boys was going to be disastrous.

Maybe someday I’ll be ready to try making sugar cookies with them again. But probably not until I can get on some anti-anxiety meds.

Heaven on Earth

09 Feb 2012 1 Comment

by Natalie in Dealing with Death, My Angel Baby

There’s something about the beach that draws me near to heaven and my little one who is waiting for me there. 

Our family has been to San Clemente, California, three times since I buried my baby in April 2010, and each time I could have sworn he was right beside me sitting on the sand.

I can’t explain it and can’t put my finger on why it happens there.

I know it’s not the wetness of the water. I rarely dip my toes in. It’s always too cold and slimy for me. And it’s definitely not the sand. After an afternoon on the beach I’m crawling with the itchy stuff and can’t brush it off fast enough.

Maybe it’s the vastness of the ocean that makes me feel like a tiny speck on this planet and helps me put things into perspective. Or the cadence of the waves that methodically reminds me that my life here is but a small moment – a blink of an eye.

Both confirm to me the existence of a higher plan. That life is much more than my mortal journey.

Both help me find a tiny piece of comfort in the loss of my baby boy. The beach revives a sense of trust I have in my Maker and my commitment to him.

I’ve got to find a way to make it back to California regularly. The feeling is so peaceful there I wish I could bottle it up in a seashell and take it home with me.

Take That Turkey

02 Feb 2012 2 Comments

by Natalie in Cooking/Attempting to Cook, Failed Housewife

It’s no secret that I struggle in the kitchen. I set off the smoke alarm every time I make French toast or pancakes. So I was probably being a little ambitious when I decided to try cooking a turkey.

Right before Christmas I saw a killer deal on turkeys at my local store. I rummaged through the pile of frozen birds and found the smallest 97-cents-per-pound one that I could see. I took it home and chucked it in my freezer.

I thawed it out a few weeks later and got ready to put it in my Crock Pot. But no matter how I arranged it, it was not going to fit. At least three inches of the bird’s backside was still sticking out the top.

Not only did the turkey not fit in my pot, I couldn’t find the giblet packet. The instructions said it would be by the gravy pouch, but they were nowhere near each other. No matter how many times I peeked inside that naked bird, I couldn’t see it.

So the giblets were still inside and I had nowhere to cook my turkey. I found a broiler pan in the drawer under my oven and decided to try to cook it on that. I was going to cook the turkey all day in my Crock Pot, but it only needed to cook a few hours in my oven. So I cleaned everything out of my fridge’s bottom shelf and stuck the pan and the bird in there to stay cool.

When it came time to throw it in the oven I didn’t have an oven bag so I poured some sautéed celery and onions on top and brushed some vegetable oil all over the turkey’s skin.

I was scared to death that we would cut it open and “poof” it would be hollow like the one on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. So every 45 minutes I opened the oven door and brushed more oil on top.

Success! Several hours later it was done and it was juicy. My husband even found the giblet packet. It was near the turkey’s rear, not front.

Those burnt looking things on top are the onions that I used to season the bird. And no, we did not eat those.

My family had a great turkey dinner and we ate sandwiches for days.

But the best part about my turkey turning out was the fact that I was able to use the cooked meat for two other main dishes. I made Creamy Chicken (Turkey) Noodle soup and Chicken (Turkey) Enchiladas from the leftovers. Two of our family’s favorite meals! I’ve included the recipes below if you want to try them.

The turkey-cooking success was a step in the right direction. I’m not ready to cook prime rib or anything, but I am getting better. I just need to keep trying.

What have you made lately that has been delicious?

Here are the recipes for the soup and enchiladas. I got them from two of my best friends who really do know how to cook .

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:
2 quarts water
5 chicken bouillon cubes
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
3 cups cooked cubed chicken
celery and carrots (as much as you like)
1 box of mini farfale (butterfly) pasta noodles or a bag of egg noodles

Instructions:
Chop celery, carrots, misc. Boil vegetables with the water for the pasta noodles. Cook the noodles in the water with the vegetables as directed on their box. Then put 2 quarts of water in a different pan with bouillon cubes until cubes dissolve. Then add cream of chicken soup and sour cream. Drain the noodles and vegetables and add them too.

Chicken Enchiladas

Sour Cream
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
Milk
Onion
Small can of chopped green chilies
Tortillas

Take about one cup or so of sour cream and mix it with a can of cream of chicken soup and a small can of chopped green chilies. Pour a small amount of milk in until it is creamy. Take a tortilla, line the middle with a small amount of the sauce, a handful of chicken and some cheese. Roll it into an enchilada shape then put in a baking dish. When you have used up all of the chicken, take the remaining sauce and pour it over the top of the enchiladas. Sprinkle the top with cheese.

Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes.

Gender War

26 Jan 2012 11 Comments

by Natalie in Dealing with Death, Pregnant After a Loss

I have had a few different reactions from people when I tell them I am expecting. Several people have told me that they hope I have a girl.

I have my 16-week appointment today and may actually find out if I’m carrying a boy or girl.

But honestly I don’t care what I have. I feel bad because last week I snapped at someone when they said they were hoping I got a girl. I told them, “Well, I just hope I get something.”

That’s the cold hard truth. I don’t care if I’m carrying a boy or a girl. I just want to be able to bring it home to sleep in its bassinet next to my bed at night.

But I wouldn’t be completely honest with myself if I didn’t admit that there are two main reasons why having a girl would ease my mind. (Notice I said “ease my mind” not “make me happy.”)

Neither of those reasons has anything to do with the fact that I have never hairbowed or ponytailed my offspring. Heaven knows I love playing with my boys.  And I can draw on a pretty mean pirate mustache and sew a great bowtie.

But I have already had some nervous, anxious moments during my pregnancy. For some reason as I get further along, I feel like having a girl may ease my chances of completely succumbing to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I guess in my mind a gender change would make things seem a lot more different therefore lessening my chances of a repeat stillbirth. It makes no sense I know, but I’m not of a sound mind these days.

What will I do if it is a boy? Probably worry day and night like I am already doing. I have made some other changes this pregnancy. Hopefully a new doctor and new hospital to deliver in will make things seem different enough.

But there’s another reason a girl baby may ease my mind.

We watch the movie “Hook” a lot at our house. There is a scene toward the end of the show that has been haunting me lately. Peter Pan goes back to check on his mother several years after he left her for Neverland. He flies to her window and sees her with a new baby.

She is very happy, as a new mother should be, but Peter takes that to mean that she has forgotten about him. That he has been replaced.

My heart would break if somewhere in the heavens Luca would ever think that he has been replaced. I can never fix the hole his death left in my heart. I am pretty sure I will live my whole life wondering what things would be like if he had lived. I will probably always watch kids who were born his same year and dream of him doing what they are doing.

I don’t know why, but the thought of having a girl lessens my worry of him feeling replaced. My husband and I have always wanted several children. Losing Luca hasn’t changed that. Had Luca lived I may have been trying for my fourth by now anyway.

I know a lot of this sounds crazy. Boy or girl, above all, I just hope that my baby is healthy and born kicking and screaming.

And If it is a boy, I just have to hope that the Lost Boys will keep Luca company until I can find my happy thought and find the strength to fly to the “Second star to the right and straight on ‘til morning.”

The Purge

19 Jan 2012 8 Comments

by Natalie in Failed Housewife Tags: ,

I have big plans for my house. Big plans that I don’t always have enough energy for. But regardless of my energy level these days, I am determined to enact one of my biggest plans so far. I am going to affectionately call it “The Purge.”

I am going to go through every inch of my modest home and remove everything that we don’t use or need. I am going to purge our junk pile.

I started last week with my kitchen. I have dreamed of a bigger kitchen with more cabinet and countertop space for years. But that doesn’t mean it’s ever going to happen. So, rather than keep dreaming I went to task.

I put together a giant box of old pans, cups, Tupperware and small appliances that I have not used in the past 7 years. Why on earth I was keeping some of that stuff is beyond me.

I packed it into the back of my van and drove it to the nearest Deseret Industries before I had a chance to change my mind on items like my worn out skillet that no longer has a temperature gauge.

Now when I open the door to grab a cup for my kids, I don’t have mismatched plastics falling out on my head. The insides of my cupboards look good.

But the kitchen is just the beginning. I plan to purge every room in my house.

My husband thinks I am already nesting, but I know it’s more than that. I actually got the purging idea from my friend Amanda who completely overhauled her house last summer. She got rid of nearly everything that wasn’t a necessity.

That totally inspired me.

They talk a lot in my religion about living within your means. For the longest time I thought that meant, “Don’t buy anything you can’t pay for.” But I’m starting to realize that it’s not just about money.

I visited Amanda after her purge and she heI have big plans for my house. Big plans that I don’t always have enough energy for. But regardless of my energy level these days, I am determined to enact one of my biggest plans so far. I am going to affectionately call it “The Purge.”

I am going to go through every inch of my modest home and remove everything that we don’t use or need. I am going to purge our junk pile.

I started last week with my kitchen. I have dreamed of a bigger kitchen with more cabinet and countertop space for years. But that doesn’t mean it’s ever going to happen. So, rather than keep dreaming I went to task.

I put together a giant box of old pans, cups, Tupperware and small appliances that I have not used in the past 7 years. Why on earth I was keeping some of that stuff is beyond me.

I packed it into the back of my van and drove it to the nearest Deseret Industries before I had a chance to change my mind on items like my worn out skillet that no longer has a temperature gauge.

Now when I open the door to grab a cup for my kids, I don’t have mismatched plastics falling out on my head. The insides of my cupboards look good.

But the kitchen is just the beginning. I plan to purge every room in my house.

My husband thinks I am already nesting, but I know it’s more than that. I actually got the purging idea from my friend Amanda who completely overhauled her house last summer. She got rid of nearly everything that wasn’t a necessity.

That totally inspired me.

They talk a lot in my religion about living within your means. For the longest time I thought that meant, “Don’t buy anything you can’t pay for.” But I’m starting to realize that it’s not just about money.

I visited Amanda after her purge and she helped me to see that rather than always dreaming of a bigger house, nicer things, and more of everything, I need to be satisfied with what I have now.

That’s what’s behind the purge. No longer am I going to hold onto unnecessary items because someday I may have room or need for them. I am not going to live in a dream world where I keep everything I get because someday I may have time to use it or have a bigger home to put it in.

My husband and I have talked about moving in a few years, but what if we don’t? I love my house now, why not make it the best I can and be happy with what I have?

It probably sounds easier than it really is going to be, and I am going to have to conquer my inner pack-rat tendencies to get this done, but little by little I am going to purge my life and my attitude.

I’m starting on the laundry room next.

What have you purged from your life lately? What do you do to minimize all the “stuff” in your house?
lped me to see that rather than always dreaming of a bigger house, nicer things, and more of everything, I need to be satisfied with what I have now.

That’s what’s behind the purge. No longer am I going to hold onto unnecessary items because someday I may have room or need for them. I am not going to live in a dream world where I keep everything I get because someday I may have time to use it or have a bigger home to put it in.

My husband and I have talked about moving in a few years, but what if we don’t? I love my house now, why not make it the best I can and be happy with what I have?

It probably sounds easier than it really is going to be, and I am going to have to conquer my inner pack-rat tendencies to get this done, but little by little I am going to purge my life and my attitude.

I’m starting on the laundry room next.

What have you purged from your life lately? What do you do to minimize all the “stuff” in your house?

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