Some Rambly Stuff

Ian and Sam returned home on Sunday afternoon, happy and exhausted from the retreat. I slept well with all my people under the same roof once again.

Tomorrow is Garbage Exemption Day and I am very excited about that. We have a two bag limit on garbage and if you want to put out additional bags then they have to have a $1 tag on them. It's hard to pack six people's worth of garbage, diapers, dog poop bags and cat litter into two bags. We cheat by using contractor sized bags, and our pick up guys look the other way. I appreciate that.

But tomorrow ....tomorrow is a free for all. We can put out 1,000 bags if we want to. Same as last week. Oh boy, last week we went on a tossing binge and got rid of a lot of crap. Tomorrow will only be a three bag day.

And now you know my garbage pick up habits and information.

You know that one drawer in your kitchen that is a catch-all for all sorts of crap you don't know what to do with but you can't throw it out? Yesterday I cleaned mine out. Lids with no bottoms. Bottoms with no lids. I cleaned that out yesterday and felt so good about it that I kept opening the drawer to look inside. Today I cleaned all the excess stuff off the bulletin board in the kitchen and only re-pinned the important stuff.

I had coupons pinned there that expired in 2009. I guess I figured I'd use them someday. You know, like when 2009 rolled around again.

I also bought a calendar that sticks to my refrigerator. With six people in this house, Mama needs to know what's going on, and when. I feel better when things are written down and I know what to expect.

Jordan and I delivered three bags of outgrown children's clothing and two cans of formula to the local church this morning. For almost 20 years this church has been providing struggling mothers with clothing, diapers and baby food. A mother comes in, selects the clothing she needs, then when the child outgrows it, she returns it all for the next size up. This ministry is very, very, dear to my heart. While I have not needed it personally, I know someone who has, and it was a beautiful example of love in action.

After the church Jordan and I dropped off our empty beer bottles. All eleven of them which netted us $1.10. Six of the eleven were from last summer. As in 2010. There was dust on the box.

Remember when I built this dresser for Jordan a few years ago? It took me 11 hours and 2 minutes, but I did it all on my own. I was a little psychotic about it and refused to let anyone help me with it. By hour 10 I figured I was headed for a mental breakdown. Well, I bought another one for Matthew last month and decided tonight was the time to put it together. Nothing like taking care of things right away, huh? With the assistance of a power drill and my wonderful husband, the dresser was put together in under two hours.

A power drill and a wonderful husband are two very handy things to have. Ian never lets me use his power tools, not since I almost drilled a hole in his arm. But we don't need to talk about that.

Tonight I learned that Coffee Hour resumes tomorrow morning instead of next week! I'm looking forward to being with my Christian sisters again, and studying God's word together. I'm in a really rough spot spiritually, and I need this like I can't even explain.

I am completely addicted to Google Earth. You can type in an address and it zooms from outer space right to that particular spot. You can even drag and drop a man-thingy to get a street view. I travel all over the world and see places I'll never get to in my lifetime. If I read a news report, I will fire up my Google Earth and take a look at where the crime happened. If I'm watching a movie, I will type in the address and look all around. Lately I've been using it to look up small towns, then I price out the real estate. I think it's a sickness. But it's a cheap sickness.

So that's it. I'm off to bed. Busy day tomorrow.