It has begun!

Oh my. I just looked back and saw that I only officially finished two of my Christmas movie entries. Lame-o. I have a draft written with the other movies that I wrote about. But, to be candid, December was kind of a cruddy month. We enjoyed our Little Man's first Christmas, had a great time with family, and probably appreciated them more due to all the mayhem...but there were other circumstances going on that just really...sucked. My dad always got mad at me when I used that word; he said, "Vacuums suck." Haha. I know it's not a very proper word...but it seems to communicate my feelings rather well. I probably appreciated all the little things more because of these unpleasant things, but still...

Any way, I may or may not post my Christmas movies later. I don't want to make MORE promises that I can't keep :P
Due largely to the same circumstances, I also didn't make any more progress with (at least in posting) the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home. And, while I haven't posted about it, I have actually done several things in working toward getting more organized. I have spent a lot of time perusing one of my favorite blogs, I Heart Organizing. Ooooh, this woman is a genius! I drool reading all of her posts. I look at the pictures of what she's done, listen to the ideas that she has and has implemented, and let my mind wander and dream. It's like therapy. It's delicious :) I know, I sound like a crazy person. And, while you would never know it from the current state of my house...deep, deep, deep in the recesses of my brain, perhaps even my soul, I am essentially OCD. I "developed" it when I went off to college. Two people sharing a very small space was much nicer when things were organized. It still got kind of out of hand, every now and again, but I always felt calmer, and more at peace, once everything was back in its place. That feeling only intensified as my education continued. It was at its peak when I had an apartment at the university where I obtained my degree. But then...I got married :D
My Love is a great many wonderful things, but he is not OCD. He is not a neat freak. He is not even, in general, remotely neat (as in tidy - he is a remarkably interesting person, IMO). So, to maintain my sanity, and the health of our marriage, I adapted. Fast forward six years, and now I'm a bigger slob than him. Funny thing is, there's a constant anxiety that gently buzzes around my insides when things are out of sorts. Which means that I'm dealing with constant anxiety! ;)

So again, I find myself, to maintain my sanity, and the health of our marriage, adapting again, only trying to revert back to those glorious days of OCD, with a healthy balance of reasonable expectations and grace that should be attributed to any person with a family and pets.

The main area where I have succeeded the best at being organized is Little Man's room. I'm about to re-organize, as he is growing like a weed, but I'll try to remember to post a before and after even of that. I'm grateful and optimistic that I've been able to maintain an organizational system, as well as make changes to it in order to improve it. It gives me hope that I can do it elsewhere in the house. Here's hoping!

I do intend to use the 4 Weeks to a More Organized Home, and hopefully soon. When I do, I hope that I'm good about posting results.

In the meantime, I took one of the cabinets in our kitchen that was previously littered with drink koozies, medicine, my recipe box, and other miscellaneous things. I decided to convert it into a Little Man cabinet - that way, all of his food, utensils, and feeding accessories could be in a central location.

[mom rabbit trail] We're just now entering the solid foods arena. Or, well, really entering it. We've dabbled with rice cereal, cereal puffs, and pureed baby food. I wanted to buy some to determine what sorts of things he liked before I started buying fruits and vegetables in mass, and pureeing everything in sight ;) I'm getting a handle on his preferences. Thus far, though (thank goodness), he doesn't appear to be a very picky eater! So now I just have to beef up my knowledge on making baby food, and get to it! The cabinet might change again once those changes have been implemented. [end of mom rabbit trail]
I know there are far more important things in life. but this little cabinet is somehow symbolic to me of taking ownership of my life again, and starting fresh. Re-evaluating what is important, what isn't, and living in a way that is more simple, and enables me to give to others more.

I'm hoping, once I get a grip on things, that I can catch up on art projects LONG overdue. While doing that, I plan to also brainstorm art ideas, and hope to begin taking my "future" in art more seriously. I want to develop some products, and maybe put them in an etsy shop. If that does alright, I hope to add more. At some point, I'd love to be able to contribute reasonably to our income, and start saving for going back to school to get my associates in art. It's a mad dream...but they are goals for me to strive for. And I think that's what I have been missing, to some degree, lately. Direction. Not that my life is or was without purpose, but perhaps personal goals? I'm not sure...still mulling it over.

That's all for now.