Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

No, I am not bulimic; fortunately, I have never struggled with eating disorders. Eating – why yes, that is something I engage in regularly; but the purging part, well, not so much. I really hate to vomit. But I digress; on to the point of the post.

Every year in late Spring or early Summer I go into purge mode. When I’m purging there is very little that is truly safe; pretty much anything that isn’t nailed down is fair game. Matt can sense purge mode coming and begins to nail things down. Things like the dishes, clothes, furniture. You know, the stuff that every sensible person cleans out once a year. I mean, do you really need to eat off of a plate? Are you really going to wear that shirt again (no matter that you wear it once a week)?

The last several weeks I’ve been cleaning out. It all started when my neighbor, Lindsey, and I decided to have a yard sale. I went through the house ruthlessly searching for anything that we no longer used or needed, then I enlisted Matt’s help in the hunt. We ended up with boxes of things that we toted to Lindsey’s driveway in hopes that our trash would be someone else’s treasure. What didn’t sell went immediately to Goodwill. A couple of hundred dollars and more space in cabinets and closets were ample reward.

This weekend I attacked our paperwork. “Important” papers had grown to take up a two-drawer filing cabinet and a couple of other file boxes; I could take no more. It took a good portion of two days to sort through and shred all of the papers we were holding onto that we didn’t really need. I filled four kitchen size trash bag with paper and got down to one file box containing the papers that really are important. I feel a hundred pounds lighter.

So, today I am thankful for a husband who puts up with (even encourages to an extent) this quirk of mine and I am thankful for our cross-cut shredder. I’m sure the shredder is thankful for a day of rest.

I’ve been tagged by Sheryl at Peanut Butter and Jelly Boats for a five things meme. It’s a pretty long one, so here we go…

Five things I was doing 10 years ago:

1. graduating from high school (May)
2. working as a lifeguard at summer camps
3. deciding where to attend college (final decision was made in late June/early July)
4. attending the birth of my oldest nephew (June 14 – happy 10th birthday M!)
5. meeting Matt for the first time (August)

Five snacks I enjoy:

1. ice cream – particularly cookies & cream right now
2. microwave popcorn
3. salt & vinegar potato chips
4. chocolate (preferably m&m’s or chocolate chips)
5. Edy’s strawberry popsicles

Five songs that I know all the lyrics to:

1. Sweet By and By as sung by Bart Millard
2. most songs on Chris Tomlin’s Arriving or See the Morning CDs
3. Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee
4. You Are My Sunshine
5. Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam

Five things I would do if I were a millionaire:

1. donate a large portion to my church and other charitable organizations we support
2. pay off our car, mortgage, and the debts of a family member or two
3. put some aside for Little’s college fund
4. buy gifts for people whenever I had the urge
5. go on a nice vacation

Five bad habits:

1. “popping” my knuckles
2. biting my lips
3. snacking on not so good for me foods (see snack section above)
4. making a concious choice not to do what I should do
5. interrupting people in mid-sentence

Five things I like to do:

1. hike (although we haven’t done much since we moved from East Tennessee)
2. swim
3. take walks with Little
4. read books
5. drink coffee

Five things I would never wear again:

1. a side-ponytail
2. tight-rolled jeans with slouch socks
3. my brother’s clothes
4. stirrup pants
5. leg warmers

Five favorite toys (some are then, some are now):

1. dolls (especially my Cabbage Patch Kids)
2. play kitchen
3. big wheel
4. books (then and now)
5. iPod

Five people I tag (if they are interested in playing, of course):

1. Lu at Hyperactive Lu
2. Jill at Who Could Ask for Anything More
3. Diane at Chateau Smith
4. Lora Lynn at Vita Familiae
5. Nan at Life is Like a Lunchbox

I am a Daddy’s girl, through and through; as a child I believed I could do anything as long as Daddy was close by. I had faith that if I slipped, he would catch me; if I was hurt, he would make it better; if I needed him, he would come running. I knew that he loved me in a big way and that nothing would change that.

I believe that Little feels this way about Matt. She can’t yet verbalize it, but you can already see it in her eyes; she knows she can rely on him. She is blessed to have the best kind of Daddy – the kind that fears God and only wants the best for his baby girl.

Happy father’s day and I love you to the two most important men in my life!

One of the sweetest times of my day is peeking in on Little as I make my way to bed. She looks so sweet as she lies sleeping in her crib, surrounded by her blankets, hair tousled with sleep, a hand near her face. My precious baby girl, a gift sent from heaven.

Last weekend, armed with your wonderful comments and advice, I set out on a quest for the Crocs.

The first stop, on Friday, was Dillard’s where they offered chocolate brown and a few other varieties of color that didn’t interest me much. I was leaning toward brown after Sheryl’s comment about scuffing as I tend to be hard on shoes, so the lack of choices really wasn’t an issue. Trying on a brown pair, I determined pretty quickly that this was not the color for me. I’m not sure exactly what the problem was, whether it was the color itself or the material the shoes are made from, but the brown just wasn’t cutting it.

On Saturday, I made the next venture into Croc hunting. Dragging along Matt, Little, and my parents, we visited the outdoors store that is about 15 to 20 minutes from our house. I was hoping for a broader selection of said shoes, and was not disappointed. They did not, however, have the celery or lavender Mary Janes. I tried on a few more pairs (in various colors) for the benefit of my audience before deciding that this wasn’t the footwear bandwagon for me.

I did, however, find these little cuties by Teva, and they were more than happy to come home with me. These are the shoes I can most often be seen wearing these days.

Also at the outdoor store I came across this day pack, which I refer to as The Cutest Bag Ever. Unfortunately, I have to wait until I find something to wear to the wedding before I can welcome the bag into my home. I’m pretty sure the wait will be worth it.