eBay

I swear, eBay is out to get me this week.  I'm in purge mode right now and I want to post a bunch of things on eBay and I can't.  I cannot get past the "pick a category" stage.  It keeps telling me I haven't picked a category and won't let me go any further.  It is super frustrating and I haven't had a reply from eBay help yet even though it's been a few days.

I'm on a roll and would like to continue. Stupid software bugs.

Clothing Purges

I've in the past week been working on clothing purges.  My hubby, Munchkin and I really do have to many clothes.  We many not necessarily have the right clothing, but in general we have too much.

On Sunday I did the Munchkin pile.  My sister was bringing over a few boxes of baby/toddler clothes that a coworker had passed along for me.  He is very nice that way which is awesome.  However I was running out of room to store all the clothing I have for my little guy (several people have given us stuff which is most appreciated but can be a little hard on the storage space).  So we lay everything out on the bed by type and size and did an evaluation.  There was stuff in the great pile from 6-9 months all the way up to 4 years old.  Mind you as the size goes up there is less stuff.   Little boys start wearing it out.

We kept a large amount of stuff, but were also able to put a bag aside for Goodwill and 2 diaper boxes for on of my sister's friends.  Now all I have to do is go through the too small stuff I have and divide it up for the people I will be passing it along to.   And I have to make a Goodwill bag of stuff I don't think my friends will use.


Next post......purging my clothes.

Yay less stuff!

Today was a good day in the reducing stuff we own.  We returned a baby swing and glider to someone we had borrowed them from.  We no longer need either of the items.

Our Munchkin doesn't really use a swing anymore and we have replaced the glider with an old fashioned rocking chair as our Mr. Munchkin doesn't seem to want to hang out in a glider.

But less stuff in the house is great!

I also spent part of the day going through Munchkin's baby clothing and I have another big pile of too small/won't fit next summer clothing to go to any boy children we know.

Great Article on how to simplify

I just read a great article on how to simplify life and I thought I would share it.

Simplify your life by Eliminating these 7 Problems

I think it's given me some items to ponder and see about implementing.  I am really on the bandwagon of the less stuff the less responsibility.

A Mish Mash of stuff

I haven't been posting so much lately.  It's been a bit of a whirlwind here.  Lots of things on the go and little time to sit, contemplate and write.

As to the busy.  We've been having a number of medical appointments with our Munchkin so that's been taking up a bunch of our time.  We are also in the middle of a renovation (bathroom) so I've been working being out of the house as much as possible with Munchkin for the renos to get done without him there.  And just general seeing people and running errands.  It all seems to take so much more time with a small person.

So on to the getting rid of stuff.  I forgot to take a picture of my porch full of stuff that went last week.  It was beautiful.  Sadly it doesn't look like it in the house.  Mind you, a truckload of renovation garbage went this week too and the back porch doesn't look like anything was taken.  Funny that.  Stuff just seems to sprawl to all available space.

I haven't really been getting rid of a lot of stuff because of the busy.  But I did return a bunch of borrowed baby items to a friend who had been very gracious and lent them to me.  That made me feel good on two fronts.

1.  the stuff left the house
2.  I got the person the stuff back in good condition and nothing bad happened to it.

Another reason, is I'm working on getting the house back in some semblance of order/cleanliness after destruction. It's a lot of work, but I'm working on getting rid of some stuff while I do it.

Getting closer

I'm getting quite excited.  This Thursday, I'm having a lot of the stuff I've been purging picked up by a local charity.   Right now there are bags and boxes of stuff all over the house just waiting to go.  Having all of the stuff actually gone is going to make me feel more accomplished about the purging I've been doing.

Yay!  Let's just hope they show up this time.  Last time the other charity didn't.  I have high hopes though.  I'll see about taking a picture of it before the pile goes and posting it.

It's very interesting though.  I'm told that sometimes if stuff sits around in bags waiting to go, you are tempted to take it out and keep it.  I haven't been feeling that, which is good.  I think my desire to be rid of stuff is greater than my desire to keep some of it.

I've got more purging to do, but it seems to be going well.  Yay less stuff.

Walk of Hope

Today is the day that my Munchkin and I are doing the Walk of Hope (Fundraising for ovarian cancer research)  for the first time.  I'm a bit nervous about it actually.  I've never really been the type to participate in these sorts of things.  I've always been a bit of a loner and not really into big "group" activities.  Probably part of the whole tormented goth thing, but hey.  Also, probably the fact I didn't used to be into exercise and the like either didn't help much.

I also have mixed feelings about these large events.  I always wonder how much money they are actually raising vs how the event costs.  I do hope the registration fee does cover it.

I think part of the nervous is going to do a big group activity where I know no one.  I'm sure it will be fine and we'll have a good time.  I do have my built in conversation piece that will be hanging off of me.  The bike ride for the Ride for the Heart has been fun the past couple of years, but I was doing it as part of a corporate team and therefore knew a bunch of people.

But I'm doing it.  I felt it was important to do something towards fundraising since I had that damn ovarian  cancer in 2010.  And maybe it's making me feel a little more involved than just throwing some money at it.  I'm not sure why as I'm not actually doing anything to cure the cancer or research.  I'm just going on a walk.

The only bad thing is I did a dumb baby toe stubbing yesterday that still hurst so I'll be wearing the Tevas instead of my running shoes.  Ah well.

It will be interesting to meet some of the other survivors too I'm sure.  I know many many people went through far worse than I did.  I mean hey, I've got Munchkin now.

More stuff gone

Well, I should clarify this..... a lot of this stuff has been put aside to go away.  The nice people form the Cystic Fibrosis association are coming by next week to do a charitable donation pickup and hopefully sometime next week the construction pile of garbage will go away too.

I did get rid of a couple of knives, a bathroom caddy from the old bathroom and a bottle dishrack.

And I suppose I shouldn't really call what I'm doing hoarding in the tags.  It's really purging.  I'm not actually a hoarder, i just feel crushed by a bunch of my stuff.

Knitting!!!!

My little Munchkin is actually taking naps that last a little while and don't require me to hold him the entire time so I tend to have a little time to do things now.  So I'm being a little selfish and have started to knit something for me!  I haven't knit anything for me in years.  I'm making this wrap/poncho.  I'm not using the yarn they suggest, which is too bad.  I'm hoping the that what I'm using will work out well.

I'm not terribly impressed with my needles though.  I'm using some bamboo circular ones and they are catching on the wool.  :(

Working on Stuff

I didn't do too much in the way of getting ride of things over the past few days.  Mostly because I was at the cottage and it's kind of hard to work on purging things whilst away.

I was pretty pleased though, we only came home with one extra thing from my parents cottage.  Usually on a visit we end up coming home with more stuff (we also give them stuff too)  This item was also prearranged and it isn't really adding to the household.  We're swapping out a rocking chair.  We had been  given a previously loved glider by a friend through a friend.  However, it didn't work out with our little Munchkin so we haven't been using it.  But when we were up at the cottage, he seemed to love being rocked in an old school rocking chair.  So my parents were able to pull out of nowhere an old rocking chair that is currently sitting in our kitchen.  It's waiting to go for a wash tomorrow.  If it all works out, it will get painted too as it's in pretty rough shape finish wise.    

Today I did work on getting rid of some items.  I got rid of (well they went into the piles going places):

About 15 onesies etc... that don't fit Munchkin anymore.

A couple of keychains

A curtain rod from the bathroom that is being renovated

A big pile of socks.  It was just time for them to go.  

I think a bunch of this stuff can go towards the getting rid of two things a day that I missed while I was away.  

Not so Much in the past couple of Days

In order to keep myself motivated, I'm going to try and keep a mostly daily record of the purging here.  It may end of being not quite so daily as I do get busy with my little Munchkin, but I will try.  And there should be some other stuff in here, with the fun stuff I hopefully get time to do.

I didn't really work on the purging yesterday.  I did more fun things like go on a picnic.  But I did manage to pass off some of the shoes that I have decided to rid myself of to a friend who will give them a good home.  I have two more people getting some shoes.  Then the rest will either be sold or sent off to Goodwill.

Hopefully I can make the pile go soon.

Shoes Shoes Shoes

So today was the day I went through my shoe collection and tried them all on to see if they fit after having my small person.    I figure almost 9 months is long enough to wait.

Sadly most of my shoes had to go.  It sucks.  You think that the one thing that doesn't change about you is your shoe size.  Gain/lose weight your feet would still stay the same.  Or so I thought.  I'm a half size at least bigger than before.  Mind you I think my feet started to get longer before I got pregnant.  

I think I've had to get rid of over 20 pairs of shoes/boots.  All of my fun shoes are gone now and most likely will never be replaced.  Many of the shoes are no longer made.  

Goodbye Platforms, Buckle Boots, Fluevogs, Swears and assorted other nifty and cool shoes!  You were awesome and I loved you.  May your new homes treat you well.  I will miss you.

And now I have lots of lovely empty space where the shoes were.  

And may there be nifty shoes in my future.

I do feel lighter now though.

Getting rid of the past

I find it interesting the reasons why it can be so hard to get rid of stuff.  There is the obvious one I usually seem to have trouble with is the "but's it's useful" or will be someday.  As a boss once said "I ended up buying new ones anyway because I couldn't find the useful stuff in the basement".  So he pretty much emptied the basement.  I kind of like that idea to a certain degree. I shall be working on it.

So today I've been working on the keeping stuff because of memories/sentimental value.  I went through a few of my clothes in the basement.  These are things that I don't want to let go of because they remind me of fun times in the past or who I used to be and would perhaps want to be again.  There are also items that I just like to remember and like to think I would wear again.

So today I got rid of a few a few items.  One was a jean jacket I used to love.  Way back when, Black Label (the beer for those who don't know) had a fabulous ad campaign (I think it was at least 20 year ago now).  Really cool graphics and the like.  I was the lucky recipient of a boatload of the promotional material (ie. jackets, T-shirts, watches etc).    I've hung onto the jacket ever since.  I'm never going to wear it, again, but it brings back good memories, especially of the caring and kindness of the person who arranged for me to get all this stuff.    But today I decided that it was time to let it go.  So it's in the pile to go up on Ebay.  I'll have a picture of it and some fond memories.

The other that I'm letting go of a bit is some of my uber goth clothing.  It doesn't really fit anymore and it should just go.  But it feels like I'm loosing a little bit of who I am by doing that.  But the stuff has got to go.  We don't have the room and I need less stuff to look after.

The other easier things to let go of have been the rollerblades from the failed "learning how to rollerblade " incident from at least 7 or 8 years ago.

Now all of this stuff is in the house, it's just all prepared for leaving.

I think I'm feeling a little lighter already.

KNITTING!!!

I forgot to mention this....  I actually had a few minutes to knit in August.  I was at the cottage and a certain Munchkin would actually sleep in a crib like thing for little while.  So I had time to knit.  It was kind of cool.  I of course knit a baby hat for someone.  But I got to knit and it was awesome!

Getting there

So today I managed to post a couple of pairs of shoes on Ebay.   It's a start on the shoe purge.   It pains me to get rid of them.  I do like them, but they no longer fit me.  Stupid feet growing while pregnant.

I'm getting the feeling that ebay is the way to go on selling stuff.  My efforts at selling items on Craigslist don't seem to work well.  I've only managed to sell 1 item successfully ever on Craigslist.  I've bought items and that's gone well, but I just seem to end up with all the flaky people who don't show up.

Ebay can be annoying to, so we shall see.

I did try on a couple of more pairs of shoes today and sadly they didn't fit.  Tomorrow I'll have to do something with them.  I think most of my "gothy" shoes and boots will get sold on ebay or craigslist as I feel like I should get something back from them and they would be likely to at least get at some money too.

I'm slowly getting there with the decluttering.

And the purging be slow

Got a little sidetracked over the past couple of days.  Yesterday was on the busy side with exercise class, birthday parties and the like.  And today was a bit of a write off.  Due to all the storming and the like my brain has been mush.  Which kind of sucks.

But yesterday I did at least manage to get rid of a couple of pairs of shoes. Well, they are in the Goodwill bag waiting to go.  But that's essentially getting rid of them.  I really do have to sit down and go through my shoes and purge them.  I keep putting it off in the hopes that my feet will shrink.  But I think they aren't going to.  It's been 8 months since Mr. Munchkin came along and other than not being all puffy and swollen they haven't shrunk any lengthwise.

It's a cruel trick.  You always think that your feet stay the same.  No fat or how skinny you are, your shoes will stay the same.  Not true!!!!  Getting pregnant can make them grow :(

There are so many of my shoes that I'm hoping I will fit back into one day.  Alas I don't think it will happen.

And the Purging Continues

More work on general purging today.  We've had to evacuate part of the kitchen for our bathroom renovation.  We need access to the pipes and stuff in the ceiling.  So we are juggling even more stuff around the house right now as we had to empty a shelving unit, and a bank of cupboards that our glassware lives in.  We also had to rearrange some of the kitchen to accommodate the fridge and the like.  Well, my husband moved around most of the stuff while I was out avoiding dust with our little Munchkin.

So I'm taking this opportunity to get rid of a few things.  Some glassware is going and some other miscellaneous items that seem not to have a home in the kitchen.

I think I'm pretty much going on a rampage here.  I really really need the clutter to go away.  It's driving me insane.

Cookbooks

And so my attempts to purge are continuing.  It's actually pretty hard sometimes for me to let go of things.  You often think you might need it some day and you will get around to making something, doing something with it etc................

But, the house is full and constantly messy which is bothering me even more so out things must go.

This morning I worked on cookbooks and recipes.  I love looking at recipes and planning what I'm going to make.  So I've often clipped recipes, saved magazines and bought a few cookbooks with the intent on making these items.  The reality is that I often don't get around to it.  Sad but true.

So this morning I copied a bunch of recipes I've recently looked at and would like to make into my recipe database with not to try them and tossed the paper out.  I got even more into it and got rid of a number of cookbooks I never use.  I even just got rid of a giant pile of "possible recipes"  I collected them years ago and haven't made them.  So out they went.

I think my new rule about cookbooks is that if I haven't used them for more than a year, they should be gotten rid of.  I also vow to copy recipes to my database so if I get rid of a cookbook it I won't lose a recipe.  Publish Post

I do have a few books I need to go through and copy the 1 or 2 recipes I use and then get rid of them.  But then my cookbook purge should be done.

I feel very accomplished this morning.  And a bit lighter.  Although I think the bit lighter will feel even better when the bag of stuff is out of the house.

Northwind Book

Well I finally managed to publish a photo book I've been meaning to for a couple of years!  I really procrastinated on that one.

Ahh well.

Northwind by Jeanette Parker ( Jen Parker) | Make Your Own Book

The M Coat

This was one of the best pieces of clothing I bought while I was pregnant.  It was most practical as I was very pregnant in the winter.

It's a fantastic winter coat that you can wear when pregnant, not pregnant and for baby carrying.

The M Coat

It's a big expensive, but you can wear it for years.

Babies, Babies, Babies

Wow, it seems like every time I turn around someone I know is pregnant.  This is good as it will mean there will be a bunch of little ones for my little guy to play with, but at the same time I don't know if I have enough time to knit everyone a wee hat.  I hope I can get them all done in a timely fashion.  Perhaps if my wee guy starts sleeping properly I'll be able to do it. 

Not that people shouldn't be having babies because I don't have a huge amount of time to knit for them. 

More on the home organization/Purging

I managed to get rid of a few more items this week.  That was pretty cool and I made a wee bit of money selling stuff too.

The big thing I did though was go through the cupboard under the kitchen sink.  It's now clean, mostly empty and awaiting some shelf paper.  I really should have put shelf paper down when we moved in (well over 10 years ago now), but I never go around to it.  Other shelves in the kitchen have shelf paper, just not those.  So it will be quite nice to have a clean area under the sink when I'm done that.

The bad news is that most of what was under the sink has now gone to the basement and is awaiting a home there.  I had decided to get a jump on child proofing the main floor.  The basement is last.  I'm figuring we'll just keep the small one out of the basement until he's a teenager.  It is really child unfriendly down there.

Still baby steps.

Posting A Contest

Because doesn't everyone want an iPad?   :)  And  I get multiple chances to win if you enter too!  So it's probably a bit selfish on my part.  But look at all the fun toys you can get!

Yarn Purge

On the topic of getting rid of stuff.  This past week I went through my yarn stash to pare it down and make some room for future baby toys.  Up until last week I kept my yarn stash in an ottoman in the living room with a briefcase upstairs for all my needles.

I decided the ottoman is going to be far better used as a toy box.  Hopefully this will keep the living room a little neater (I can dream can't I?).

It was a bit of a struggle to get rid of some of the yarn I did.  There is always that "don't waste it, it might be useful one day" thoughts.  But I was fairly ruthless.  Realistically I'm not going to be doing that much knitting for the next while with Mr. Small guy.  By the time I'm doing a lot of knitting again, I'm not likely to want to knit the "possible projects" I've got waiting for me right now.

So I feel fairly accomplished with that purge.  I still have to go through all of my knitting needles, but that can wait for another day.  And going through that is just to rid myself of duplicates.

Hmmmm....I wonder what the next purge should be?

Too much stuff

I recently read The 100 Thing Challenge by Dave Bruno.  He also has a blog.  He managed to live with a whole year with only 100 personal items.  I don't think I could do that myself.  It seems far to minimal. However, many of his ideas are smart and I should adopt them because:

I have too much stuff!

There I said it, it's true.  I live in a small house with my husband, baby and two cats and we are drowning in stuff.  The house is full.  And it's only going to get worse as my little man gets bigger.  The solution is to get rid of stuff.  That's the hard part though.

So my first step I think is to avoid bringing in more stuff.  The problem with this is that I like shopping and see things all the time that I want/think is useful etc....  Mind you at the same time, I am on Maternity Leave which means a reduced income so that will probably help with that.

The second step is getting rid of stuff.  This part is harder I think because of a few factors

Time

Lack of time.  I have a small person now.  He seems to take up all my time now and who wants to sort and clean when their child is napping?

Ease of Removal

Small trash/recycling is easy.  Out the door it goes.  Anything bigger is harder.  It often gets stuffed in the basement to wait until we go to the dump (rarely).  It was easier when we had a truck, now we have to borrow a trailer.  Then there are all the items that aren't trash.  Some of it goes to charity, some we should sell and some we should give away.  All of these things take time and effort.  Items to charity isn't so bad.  We just have to get around to dropping it off.  Still the messy pile waits until there is enough to warrant a trip.  Selling items can be a pain in the rear end so i put it off (although I did list something on cragislist this morning).

Emotional Attachment

This I think is the hard part.  And the emotional attachment is even....I will use it some day.  I find for many items you aren't going to actually use and it is the idea of using you are attached to.  Mr. Bruno addressed it in his book and I found it super useful to think about while going through things.

I think we have to attack the idea of less stuff with a vengeance this year as I think I'm going to go batty tripping over everything we have in our house.  I'm hoping it will free up some of the clutter in my mind too!

Momzelle

Since i've gone and had and offspring i've obviously become more interested in clothing that facilitates breastfeeding.  For the most part I've been very disappointed.

I bought a couple of nursing tops from Thyme Maternity.  They were on the expensive side for glorified T-Shirts and after about 2 washings they looked like I had washed them about 50 and they looked a little on the worn side.

Then I tried a Gap nursing top I got from ebay.  I was much happier with this, however I did have to get my mom to modify it a little bit so it wouldn't gape.  Also, the V-neck is a bit low for people wearing nursing bras.  Their sizing is on the larger side so I should have bought a medium.  Mind you I did get a medium about a week ago and it still needs a bit of modification.  The up side though is that is is super comfortable.  The Gap does have comfy T-Shirt material.  The other downside is that you can't buy them in Canada as they stopped selling them in Canada reasonably recently.

I did find a really good shirt.  And it's a Canadian company too which makes me happy.  This company Momzelle makes fantastic t-shirts.  I ordered 1 and  tank top.  They are super comfortable, the openings are easy to use and they just make me happy.  Also in the grand scheme of things they aren't that expensive.  They are more than I would ever want to pay for a t-shirt or tank top, but at the same time they are less expensive than many of the other nursing tops out there that can go for about $70.  I would recommend these shirts to anyone.  I bought the V-Neck Nursing T and the V-Neck Nursing Tank.

Chicken Fajitas

When I was at my sister's place a couple of weeks ago, I borrowed her copy of Jamie's Food Revolution because I was interested in seeing what it was like.  They also told me it was a pretty cool book.

I've been perusing it and thinking of which recipes to try.  I really do have to get a bit more organized to have all the ingredients on hand.  Anyway, the other night I tried his Fajitas recipe.  It was really tasty and so much better than the made up recipe I've been using for years.  I will use that recipe in the future.  I think I may have to purchase myself a copy of the book.  

Vanilla Chai Cupcakes

Awhile ago I tripped across a recipe for Vanilla Chai Cupcakes on a blog I follow called What Megan's Making.  This blog has many tasty looking recipes.  She has a bunch of pumpkin recipes on there that i need to try as well.  I've been wanting to make these cupcakes for awhile as I love chai, but hadn't gotten around to it.  Today we'll be celebrating Easter with my husband's family and I'm in charge of dessert.  So I thought these would be great.  They turned out pretty well as far as I'm concerned.  They are tasty and they don't look half bad (I'm not always so great on presentation).

My only issue with making these cupcakes was with the cloves.  All I have right now are whole cloves and silly me thought grinding them in a mortar and pestle was going to be easy.  Not so much.  It smelled great, but took forever.  I will be looking for some ground cloves for the next time I make these.

some of the million cupcakes I made

Chicken & Dumplings

I've been a little brain dead lately, most likely due to the sleep deprivation that comes with babies.  This means I haven't been the most creative with the cooking.  To remedy that I've been trying some new recipies.  I did try one from Chatelaine's April issue last night.  It was Chicken & Dumplings.  I was a little disappointed in the results.  It was kind of bland.  I may try doing it again adding a little more spice.  Perhaps that it's that I like a little more spice and flavour, but it was a little sad.

Chinese Restaurant Almond Cookies

Well, I tried the  Chinese Restaurant Almond Cookies this week.  They were tasty, but didn't turn out quite as pretty as the ones my Mom made.  I think that's just due to her talent at pretty cookie making and my lack thereof.  Next time I will remember to take pictures.

Adventures with Cookies

I've been experimenting with different cookie recipes in the past month.  Usually when I make cookies they are Chocolate Chip Cookies.  My old standby and super tasty.  But, I may not be able to have chocolate at the moment because I'm nursing.  I still haven't quite figured out if chocolate makes my little boy gassy or not.  I haven't quite done a real test yet.  So in the meantime I've been avoiding chocolate and so my forays into non chocolate cookies.  Last week I finally made shortbread for the first time ever.  I didn't realize quite how easy it is to make.  I would have made it a long time ago.

Tonight I wanted to make some cookies but realized I was out of white flour.  I do have lots of whole wheat so to the internet I went in search of a recipe.  And lookie what I found.....Whole Wheat Sugar Cookies.  So I tried making them and yup tasty.  I didn't put the grated orange peel in only because I currently don't have any oranges in the house.

This recipe will indeed be a make again.

My next try are going to be these:  Chinese Restaurant Almond Cookies.  My Mom made them when I was visiting last week and they were super super tasty.

About the Baby Hats

I don't think I've ever mentioned the pattern and the yarn I use for making the baby hats.  The pattern is the Umbilical Cord Hat from Stitch 'N Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook.  It's quite a simple pattern and at this point I have it memorized I've made so many of them.  I think I've made more than thirty of them in the past few years.

With experience I've found that my favorite yarn for making the hats is Nashua's Cilantro.  I find it knits up really nicely and give the hat some stretch so it fits the small person a little longer that way.  

I've also found that if you are doing stripes you can combine it with another cotton or bamboo based yarn without as much stretch and it still turns out ok.  

More Hats

While I've been busy with my little boy, I have made a little time for knitting baby hats.  Many people I know are having babies and my little guy needs a hat too!

Today I finished a preemie hat for a little one who has arrived super early.  Beside it is one of the two hats I made for my little guy.  The second photo is the other hat I made for him.  It is one in the team colours for his dad's Aussie Rules team the Central Blues.

Long Time No Post

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted.  I've been a bit on the busy side.  My little one arrived a bit on the early side (7 weeks early to be exact) in December and had some surgery after he was born as well so we've been a bit occupied with that.  Needless to say I haven't been doing too much besides looking after my little guy since then.  I did manage to finish his baby blanket the day he was born.  That's what I did to keep myself occupied while he was over at Sick Kids and I was in my hospital across the street.

Soon I hope to be back to making things again.  But I think my little guy is going to be taking up most of my time.