Out with the old. In with the new.

Some days I get lost in the shuffle.  It starts to feel like the world really does revolve around laundry piles and dirty pampers and I forget that there are pear trees starting to bloom and cashiers that smile at my baby.  The end of winter has a way of making you wonder if spring forgot to come.  Every living  thing seems to be holding its breath and after about a day or week or month of this, something just has to GIVE!  So I have been trying some new things to switch up the routine of my days and break up the "end of winter, almost spring blues."  None of these are earth shaking in any way, but I've been surprised what a difference small changes can make in my general outlook on life.

• Meal planning

I am a foodie only if someone else prepares it.  When it comes to my own cooking, I run out of inspiring ideas pretty much as soon as breakfast is over.  I would hate to know how many times this winter we have had breakfast for supper.  I told a friend that I'm pretty sure every person has a quota on how many meals they can make in a lifetime and that I had reached my quota.  Finally, in desperation, I grabbed my planner and wrote out a weeks worth of menus.  It's such a relief to go about my day without the weight of "Should we have waffles or pancakes for supper?" hanging over me!  The one thing that always kept me from meal planning was I thought I would spend more money on groceries if I had all these fancy menus planned out.  But I'm finding that I actually spend a little less because I have a plan and know exactly what I need.  No more grabbing random items off the shelf only to get them home and wonder what in the world I'm going to cook with that?

•  Doing laundry every day

I always thought laundry was my least favorite chore.  I would track down every last sock and try to do it all in one day.  Soon, I had a couch full of tangled clothes waiting to be folded and it just overwhelmed me.  So I tried just doing one or two loads a day and now I actually really enjoy it!  I'll take a basket or two over a couch full any day.

• Knitting

One time the yarn got tangled and me and my kind friend spent an hour and a half undoing knots... and yet I still find it relaxing.  I saw a library book full of beautiful things to knit and immediately I wanted to try it.  YouTube tutorials have taught me the little bit I know.  I'm trying to make wrist warmers.  MAYBE I'll have them done by next winter.  I'm really wondering why I started with a project that involves a thumb??

• Purex baby detergent

Do your Walmart shopping with a friend sometime.  You will both have fun buying little seed packets for your garden.  You will show her the little pressure cookers and she will make you sniff the Purex baby detergent.  You will fall in love with that smell and be shocked how much cheaper it is than Dreft.  When your baby is dressed in such sweet smelling garments, you will randomly pick her up just to nuzzle your face in her neck and drink in her scent.  Then you will kiss her fat cheek and she will run off wondering what came over her mother.  Its a win for everyone.

• This blog

I'm having so much fun here.  It's so nice to finally share my favorite hobby with someone.


And that concludes my short list of new things I have been trying and loving.  I hope it inspires you in some small way.  Happy Tuesday! :)