Today I’m writing this from Treehive Cafe & Play, where I’m trying to get work done on the laptop while letting the Little Mr play. We’ve been out and about since 7am this morning (renovations – more below) , going to Waffle House for breakfast, then to Target to pick up a birthday card and a bunch of things I didn’t actually need, and then to the mall to kill time at the play area there and buy a gift for the aforementioned birthday… and now I’m here. I tried knitting at the mall, but we’re still in that independent but not stage where I get maybe 5 minutes at a time before I have to put everything down and be dragged to see whatever it was he wants to show me. I think the only reason I’m getting away with writing today is because he can climb and look out a plastic porthole thingy to see me sitting at the table, so he can check in with me without actually coming to me. Sigh Motherhood is hard.
Anyway. Renovations are underway at the house, so everything is dusty and smelly and literally a mess. We’re turning the downstairs closet into a half bathroom (our old house just has 1 bathroom with 4 bedrooms), and while plumbing was being ran to that side of the house we went ahead and had them install a 2nd floor laundry so I can stop going to the basement for laundry. And then, after all that’s done, they’re tearing apart our full bathroom to gut it and redo it. Which is a much needed endeavor but is an even bigger project that I’m not looking forward to as far as the process goes. We’re looking at probably another 2 weeks of this mess at least and I know it will be worth it in the end, but goodness this is really a lot of mess. My cleaning supplies and linens are piled up in the craft room and the clutter is driving me crazy. There’s a layer of dust all over everything – I can’t touch a surface without feeling the grit all over it. Ugh.
In the meantime, while I have all this junk out and cluttering things up, I’m trying to downsize yet again. Do I really need a wreath for every holiday/season? Do I really need to decorate for Valentine’s Day? Can’t some of this stuff be dual- or even multi-purpose? Do I even need to decorate at all? It all just ends up a mess on the floor from the kid, anyway. So off it goes in a box destined for the Goodwill. I’m streamlining my cleaning products, too, and I’m trying to go for the more natural options with vinegar, baking soda, and some essential oils (I have some vanilla oil meant for lotions that I paired with orange for cleaning, and lavender oil with the vanilla for my wool dryer balls). I’m liking it all so far, and on the upside there’s no headaches from all those heavy harsh chemical versions I’ve been using.
