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November Wrap Up

Well now that we're winding down to the end of the month I figured I should tell you about our holiday and weekend in Maine. (sorry no pics for the big events.)

We celebrated our first ever Thanksgiving with no family. We planned to make our annual trek to Maine and be with our family up there, but Boo thought he would have to work on Friday so we made arrangements to feast with some friends in our neighborhood. We split up the cooking which was a great learning experience since I usually just chop a few vegetables and then watch the process from the sidelines. But instead I made my own cranberry sauce, which was so fulfilling - for some reason to listen to the berries pop open and then to watch it all turn to the most beautiful color of red was all I need to be convinced that there is no satisfaction from canned cranberry sauce.
We had an interesting experience with our turkey however. (not one of my items to cook) Our friends decided to try out the ever-so-popular frying method. After much research and advice they thought they were set. It smelled great when we got to their house, but for some reason it didn't heat up enough to "fry" so it basically boiled in oil. Luckily some other friends had an extra turkey that they were willing to donate to our cause. We ended up eating the meat from both birds and both were really tasty.
Later that night I was processing the holiday while trying to sleep and realized that of all the things I was supposed to take and seems to be a Thanksgiving staple, I totally forgot. STUFFING! I forgot to make the stupid stuffing. We had so much food that we didn't notice. So i guess we'll be eating stuffing as a little side dish for the next few months.
Now we're in Maine enjoying the weekend playing games with lots of cousins and watching movies. We were sorely outnumbered for the Utah vs. BYU game and were so sad to see such a sad display of athletics. Its not often that we get to see a game on TV and then to watch them lose is pretty sad. Then to add insult to injury with a bunch of BY-Pooh fans. Lame.
The upcoming week will provide a nice kick-off to the holiday season as I assemble my Christmas cards and attend the annual wreath making party with the church. We're still trying to decide how to decorate our tree so that Destruct-O Noelle doesn't get the best of it. I think the antique glass ornaments will have to wait a few years.

THankSgiviNG

Sometimes I like to be a complainer and decide for a while that I don't want to be thankful for anything, because picking up my house everyday isn't fun to me, and I'm not always thankful for the stuff I have. And then sometimes I'm not thankful that my local grocer is giving away free turkeys if I earn 20 stupid turkey points because I always fall short and never get the dumb thing and end up saving scraps that do me no good and are still in my purse well after they have expired. And sometimes I'm not thankful for my car that needed repairs exceeding our expectations and costing four times more than we planned.

But then I remember that even if I hate picking up books every single day and shuffling crap from one room to the other, I am thankful to have a roof over my head and room for my guests when they come. And that I am thankful that I have a car at all considering this time last year we had only one car and Boo had to take it to work most days. And I am thankful for people who call out of the blue to offer me their extra turkey points so that I can have a free turkey. I'm really happy for these reasons of thanksgiving. I hope all my blog stalkers find things to be thankful for at this time of year too! Happy Thanksgiving.

BTW.. That is my favorite tree in all of Belmont. Well at least it was when I took the picture although we still have some amazing colors just up the street. Fall in New England is the best.

Video of Noelle Reading in Her Easy Chair

Well I guess third times a charm? I have tried to post this a couple other times but it wasn't working right. Anywho, this is a little ditty I put together of Noelle reading. She pretty much will sit on whatever is her height and usually clears out the bookcase daily. Her voice is pretty funny too. If you listen closely you can understand what she's saying, a little bit.
To view this video click here.

Organization and De-Cluttering A House

That was the topic for today's parenting class or "mothering" class that is held for the three wards that meet in our building. Every month they have a member who might have an expertise in a particular area lead the discussion.

Our discussion leader had some great credentials and some great ideas, however how is a person or people like myself supposed to get over the fact that it just might be genetic? I don't know why - my mom is the MOST sentimental person I know and like some people she saves outfits from 35 years past because they have some kind of attachment to a special event in her life. Great. Fine. But don't pass that on to me. (BTW.. you should listen to the broadcast from NPR about "Too Much Stuff" - Click on the link to listen.

I have the desire to be greatly organized and have my Rubbermaid bins all labeled and sorted, but the truth is I don't. I even have spaces in my house that are catch-alls. More than one - more like four (that I can either see or think of off the top of my head.) I would like to think of them as spaces of good intentions. "I intend on sending that baby gift to Lacy, but every time I repack the box it doesn't get sent and I have to pull out the outfit because by now her baby has outgrown it."
"I intend on sorting through Noelle's clothes and putting the overly used ones in the goodwill box and the rest in the attic, but the bin sit in her room where I occasionally open it and remember that I was going to do something with it."

Maybe its that we just have to much crap?! Ah ha - that's more likely the case. Because like one or more of our parents we too see the value of free stuff that might be useful to us someday. And who knows what it might be useful for, but heaven knows I'll have it. Like the computer monitor that we will NEVER use again since it takes up the entire desk, but Boo says we paid good money for it and its a "really good" monitor.

On to the next point, which is that we may possibly be moving to a less expensive/ more efficient apartment. Its absolutely magnificent because its all brand spankin' new and we'd be the first to occupy such space. But where will be put all our stuff? The idea is to move and save some money and be happy and hopefully someday purchase our own space. (even if real estate prices are going down, we still won't be able to buy a square to squat on.) But what will we do if we can't have all our "stuff?" How much will we be able to store in those nice walk-in closets? I guess we'll have to get rid of it - oh please let us get rid of some stuff. I'm not moving that monitor one more time.

I'd like to hear anyone's thoughts on this.
Here are some links from the class that may also be helpful to any of you.
Ineedmoretime.com
The Container Store
Organize.com
Organizeit-online.com
Organized-living.com