Last Week of September

I am still feeling under the weather, this just seems to be hanging on which means we are still having a lot of comfort foods. This is coupled with the fact that it is the end of the month so we are working with the end of the groceries on hand.

This week's CSA share. I traded off the cucumbers and gave away the squash and pepper.

Second Week of September

This past weekend was full of activity which has made this Monday extra hard. I am really longing for another weekend. The jumping from one activity to the next is why my CSA photo is just a box shot. I gave the bell peppers and lettuce you see peeking through away.

With the veggies/fruit left from last week and this box I came up with this menu plan:

Sunday Sept 9th:
Breakfast: donuts
Lunch: chicken with friends
Dinner: Grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches

Monday Sept 10th:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: Arby's on the run to meet someone for an offerup sale
Dinner: Got home last night and realized we still had leftover sausage to use up so I made Jolean's Cheese Potato and Smoked Sausage Casserole from Genius Kitchen instead and will just bump Monday to Wednesday and go from there.

Tuesday Sept 11th:
Breakfast: Part of a kolache that the birthday boy did not finish
Lunch: The biscuit I had purchased myself for breakfast and a plum
Dinner: Met friends for fast food at the birthday boy's favorite place

Wednesday Sept 12th:
Breakfast: Honey Nut Cheerios
Lunch: Chicken strip kid's meal at Wendy's with friends
Dinner:Chicken Pasta with Bacon and Spinach in Creamy Tomato Sauce by What's in the Pan. The sauce separated on me ( I was cooking it in a separate pot) and so I just dumped it and served the dish without it. Even without the sauce this was a really tasty dish.

Thursday Sept 13th:
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Chinese buffet with friend
Dinner: Peppery Beef and Broccoli from Cooking Light with steamed rice

Friday Sept 14th:
Breakfast: Kaloche and chocolate iced coconut do-nut
Lunch: Pepper chicken and Lo Mein
Dinner: Stir fry using some leftover steak and noodles

Saturday Sept 15th:
Breakfast: biscuits
Lunch: whatburger on the run
Dinner: Homemade Beef Stew Recipe from Ciao Florentina using leftover steak

September Shopping and the First Week's Menu!

September! Here in Texas we are hoping for fall but still topping out over 90 degrees. The beauty of the extended summer is great produce still showing up at the farmer's market and in our CSA share. I also have just ignored the temps and have put soup on the menu plan for the week using up some leftovers.

Breakdown: $100 total
Bacon: $12
Whole chicken: $16
Pork cutlets: $6
Ground Water Buffalo: $9
Beef Jerky: $12
Cantaloupe: $2
Watermelon: $4
2 heads butter lettuce: $4
Cookies (4): $4
Sourdough bread: $5
tomatoes: $4
Purple hulled peas: $7
Black eyed peas: $4
Gouda cheese: $9
2 bath bombs: $2

This week's CSA share which was a $12.50 investment because I pre-paid for 42 weeks at the beginning of the season.

This plus 2 cases of water came up to $205.71 so my total for the month is $305.71 as I am not counting the cost of the CSA share. 


This week's menu plan:

Sunday Sept 2nd
Breakfast: donuts
Lunch: potluck at church ( I made pea salad, bread pudding and took watermelon. Phillip smoked a pork butt)
Dinner: Spanish Potato Soup from A Little and A Lot served with toasted sourdough. I made the soup using the leftover pork butt from lunch. This is one of our favorites and despite it's monochromatic appearance it is really good. 

Monday Sept 3rd: 
Breakfast: cinnamon rolls
Lunch: birthday lunch out with family
Dinner: little smokies in BBQ sauce and homemade mac-n-cheese

Tuesday Sept 4th:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: subs out with coworkers
Dinner: Italian marinated pork loin served with roasted potatoes and fresh green beans

Wednesday Sept 5th:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: working lunch of nachos and watermelon
Dinner: Pulled Pork Rigatoni from Life's Ambrosia served with a garden salad and toasted sourdough. I used leftover pork to make the rigatoni and the one adjustment I would make is to cut the amount of cumin. It initially did not seem like that much in the recipe but it was a bit strong. 

Thursday Sept 6th:
Breakfast: cereal
Lunch: Gyro with fries ( Lunch with a friend)
Dinner:Easy Garlic Ginger Glazed Sticky Pork from Foodie with Family using leftover pork served with steamed rice. 

Friday Sept 7th:
Breakfast: biscuit with butter and strawberry jelly
Lunch:Pizza out with coworkers
Dinner: smoked sausage, steamed corn and leftover rice

Saturday Sept 8th:
Breakfast: Biscuits
Lunch: Salami and cheese
Dinner: Pizza at birthday party

Print Books Mar 7th Through August 22nd

My goal this year was to not check out anything in print, just read the books next to my bed....I did not follow that goal at all it seems. I checked out Pack by Jeaniene Frost as soon as I saw it was a stand alone book. I have really like her other books and thought this would be a win also but I was disappointed. If this one led to a series I am sure I would pass on it. I can not say I read the entire Carbon-Free Home: 36 Home Remodeling Projects to Help Kick the Fossil Fuel Habit by Stephen and Rebekah Hren since it was a step by step guide for actual remodeling projects. I really just skimmed through the book to see if there was anything that would work for me.  The Naked Lady Who Stood on Her Head by Gary Small was technically a kindle book. I try to keep one for emergencies which do not happen often but are known to happen. This one was a quickish read and I did enjoy the stories.  The next book took me forever to read. It was interesting and a topic I love but for some reason I could just not get through it in a timely manner. The Man from the Train: The Solving of a Century-Old Serial Killer Mystery by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James. The next book finally was one from the stack in my room! Don't Sweat the Small Stuff...and it's All Small Stuff by Richard Carlson was good if dated information. Once I finished this one I registered it on goodreads and released it to a little free library. I continued in with Richard Carlson by reading Don't Sweat the Small Stuff With Your Family. This one was a bit more dated than the other book so there was not much information I gleaned from it. Just as the last one I passed it on in a little free library.  I did stack the books next to my bed by subject so that may be why the next book I picked up was Many Ways to Say I Love You by Fred Rogers. I love stuff that Mr. Rogers said but as a kid I did not like the show. I know reading the books was one resolution but minimizing our possessions was also a resolution so this book joined the others in a little free library. Next up was a book the boys actually bought me from Christmas. Never Shower in a Thunderstorm by Anahad O'Connor was a fun book of useless facts in answer to old wives tales we have all heard. I loved it and passed it on in a little free library so someone else can love it. An author that I have been following since her first book just published another one and so I actually purchased the kindle version since that is the only way it is available. Ronan by Teresa Gabelman was a quick fluffy read. I swear every time that I am done with the series and then I purchase the next one. One day I will have some self control and be done with it. Lastly for this time period I re-read Born of Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon just because I wanted some smutt.

Audio Books Mar 7th through August 22nd

Audio Books I have listened to from Mar 7th through August 22nd


I have been listening to more podcasts lately which has been a dent in the amount of audio books I can listen to as there are only so many hours in a day. The first up in this time frame was My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman which I loved. A lot of the reviewers were put off by the fantasy aspect of it but I thought that added to the story. Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting by Michael Perry and I am on the fence. His writing style is easy to read but found it a little incomplete. It never fleshes out any one subject, just jumps from topic to topic without a resolution. Next up was Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks. I really,really wanted to like this book since I love Tom Hanks and he narrated it but I just could not wait for it to be finished. The stories loosely are connected as the same characters pop up in a few but none of them are satisfying or complete. I could not connect to any of the characters because the stories made little sense or abruptly end before you can develop the connection. I quickly listened to She Persisted:13 American Women Who Changed the World by Chelsea Clinton. This was a short listen as it is a children's book but I have recommended it to friends with small kids, especially girls. The same day as Chelsea's book I listened to The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson and was disappointed. I have loved his other books and Ted Talks but this book just did not cut it for me. I think it was a bit all over the place and not focused which took away from any point about mental health care he was getting at.  The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson was for me a waste of a couple of hours. It was less about cleaning out stuff and more about her life. My audio reading life redeemed itself with the next book Political Tribes: Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations by Amy Chua. I really was set to not like this book as her most famous book really rubbed me the wrong way. I however found this book full of information and insight. My reading high was diminished with the next book. The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win by Jeff Haden. The was another absolute waste of my time. I do not equate being rich with being successful. I think being content or happy is what we should strive for and would love to read those books. Because of the Amy Chua book goodreads suggested Hacks: The Inside Story of the Break-Ins and Breakdowns that put Donald Trump in the White House by Donna Brazile. This book gave me information that I was looking for but did it in a whiny, I am the wounded party way that made me not like it. A different political time was up next. Churchill and Orwell: The Fight for Freedom by Thomas E Ricks was a good historical account of this time and relationship. Britt-Marie Was Here by Fredrik Backman finally became available at the library so I listened to it. Britt-Marie was introduced in his previous book and she is just someone you have a hard time liking. In her own book you warm up to her and actually hope she has a second book. I delved back into the non-fiction world after Britt-Marie with So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, this is one of those books that I recommend to everyone. One take away is that you can acknowledge your advantages without discounting your disadvantages. I do not need to play one up with anyone. I have had a few disadvantages in life but that does not mean I have not had advantages. People of Color or in other disadvantaged groups are the ones who say what counts as racist/sexist/ageist/ablist and not those outside the group. More holds became available at the library about this time so Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House by Michael Wolff, this book really just confirmed thoughts I already had about this administration. Minecraft: The Island by Max Brooks was the next book I listened to. My older son is a minecraft fanatic and so we listened to this together in the mornings. It is narrated by Jack Black and even though I am not into Minecraft I enjoyed listening to this with him. Fredrik Backman's short story And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer was up next. This was an extremely short and sad listen.  Switching gears I listened to B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton which I found entertaining but a bit dated.  I plowed on right into C is for Corpse also by Sue Grafton and still had the same opinion. It was entertaining but dated. After a stint in the detective world I listened to This Messy Magnificent Life: A Field Guide by Geneen Roth which I really wanted to love as the forward was from Anne Lamott whom I love. I just zoned out through a lot of it because it was so repetitive and light on the information.  Mystery was in the air again as A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny came available at the library. Louise Penny can make me forget about time with her effortless writing. Self-Help called my name and I gave Option B by Sheryl Sandberg a chance. I really felt for her story but just did not have any lasting impressions from this book. I honestly forgot I had listened to it until someone mentioned her and loss. The State of Affairs: Rethinking Infidelity by Esther Perel. I am not sure that I got as much out of this book as I hoped to. She is a marriage therapist and all I really took from this book was communicate with your partner. I tried to gain some knowledge from Neil deGrasse Tyson next with his new book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry and it was a fail. I can not tell you a single fact I learned from this book.  I fell back on crime thrillers with D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton but started really hating the main character.  Still trying to plow through the series I listened to E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton.  I increasingly noticed the judgy, prejudice nature of the novels and started hating the main character more than before. Flat Broke with Two Goats: A Memoir by Jennifer McGaha was a promo book offered free for a period of time to the library so I listened to it. I really had no sympathy for the author. There are things that befall us and there are things we bring on ourselves. The author definitely had her head in the sand and then whined about the resulting disaster. F is for the Fugitive by Sue Grafton was my  attempt to get through the series. I just can not take any more of these.  Semi switching gears and going back to non fiction. I listened to Creative Quest by Ahmir Questlove Thompson. This one was an easy listen and introduced me to his podcast. Tried a parenting book next which is an addiction of mine because I am convinced I am screwing my kids up and they are going to need therapy. Voice Lessons for Parents: What to Say, How to Say it, and When to Listen by Wendy Mogel. Still sure my kids will need therapy after this book, I do not feel like it led to any lasting change in my life.  I do not agree with everything Madeleine Albright says in her book Fascism: A Warning but I did think most of it rings true with our current political climate. While listening to my books I was also listening to Zombies Attack: An Unofficial Minecrafters' Adventure by Mark Cheverton. I do not play minecraft as I mentioned before but I like that I can listen to these books with my son and we can discuss them. I promise that G is for Gumshoe by Sue Grafton was my last attempt at the series, I can not let my OCD change my mind. The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny will likely be my last book in that series. I like the detective, the town it is set in and the mysteries but the side narrative in the books really has put me off. Hiking has always been something I enjoy and I want to hike a section of the PCT sometime in the near future so I tend to pick up any books about hiking. North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail  by Scott Jurek is one of those books. I did like the book although I did not find it transformative as some reviewers did. I has put Esther Perel's book on hold before reading the other one based on her Ted Talk. I was disappointed in the first one but thought I would still give this one a try since it was on hold for so long. Same review on Mating in Captivity as her other book. I really just did not gain anything useful from it. Finishing this book actually left me with nothing else to listen to ( besides my podcasts) so I  just did a search on the library app to see what was currently available and Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now by Jaron Lanier caught my interest. This book was a quick listen and had some really good points. It made me rethink my Instagram usage and watch other pages that are "free". It did not convince me to delete my facebook account though. Evidently the next author is well known although I had never heard of him. Charlie LeDuff's book Sh*tshow!: The Country's Collapsing and the Ratings are Great left me angry. Angry at him, angry at the system and angry at the current administration. I have been working for change in my life and community but this showed the problem is deep and widespread. Why Courage Matters by John McCain is another book I really wanted to like and I just could not. I know he went through unspeakable horrors as a POW but I really want to believe that is not the only type of courage in the world.  Expanding my understanding of experiences unlike mine led to I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown which I am still digesting. Working in a multi cultural space and living in a neighborhood where we are the one of the only white families lulled me into believing I understood the experience of being a POC in America. I was wrong and I need to keep exploring this topic.  Soon after finishing this one my kids and I took a long road trip to visit my family so we listened to a few audio books specifically for them. My older son loves the I survived series so we listened to I Survived the Eruption of Mount St Helens 1980 by Lauren Tarshis. I had read an adult book on the eruption and of course was alive for the actual event. Having these experiences I realize that the I survived author put some thought into the characters having a "happy" ending by surviving. For my younger son we listened to a really and I mean really quick book. Pete the Cat's Train Trip by James Dean and although it was brief it was a fun one. In between the kids books, mainly while they were napping or watching DVDs I listened to I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara which was published weeks before they announced the suspect had been arrested. There was one more kids book Cars 3 Junior Novelization by Walt Disney Company that we made it through. It was a shortened version of the movie which the kids enjoyed. Once home I started God Save Texas: A Journey Into the Soul of the Lone Star State by Lawrence Wright . I liked the book overall but it was very repetitive and lots of name dropping.  The View from Flyover Country: Dispatches from the Forgotten America by Sarah Kendzior which again was enjoyable but repetitive. It is a collection of short stories on the same subject so it is hard to have no overlap but think maybe this should have been shorter or in a broader collection with other authors. We are to another kids book which we listened to while riding around town on errands The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary. This was one of my favorites as a kid so I was excited for my kids to listen to it. They really seemed to enjoy it and are excited to get the second in the series from the library. How to Change Your Mind: The New Science of Psychedelics by Michael Pollan. This book was a little too long which I am not surprised with since it was written by Michael Pollan. It will be interesting to see where this research goes. Still non fiction but a different subject captured my interest next. I saw Blood, Bones and Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton available and decided to check it out. I was not familiar with her despite her seeming fame. The book was a good read and an interesting look at someone else's life. Due to my recent reading history Killing It by Camas Davis was recommended and since it was available I jumped on it. This one really made me think about the cuts of meat I am purchasing. I already try to buy everything straight from the farmer but have never thought about the cuts that they are not offering. The second book in the Ralph S Mouse series was not available so we listened to Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary and again the boys are excitedly waiting for the rest of the series to become available from the library.  We are almost caught up in time with the books I have listened to! A Future of Faith: The Path of change in Politics and Society by Pope Francis. I checked this one out as I really loved the last book by the pope. This one was in interview format and I just could not get into it. And Finally The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker was recommended in a fb group I belong to. It was essentially 3 hours of someone telling me to trust my instincts.


I will do another post with the print books I have read which will not equal this in number but I thought this post had gone on long enough.

More Resolution Progress

I have made some progress on my resolutions even though keeping track of it on here was not one of those things.

We got new carpet in the 3 bedrooms of our house which meant we had to take everything out of those rooms. I have been going through every box before putting it back to make sure only things we need, use or love make it back into the rooms. All the other items are finding new places to live. We are not completely done with going through the boxes and have another construction project coming up which will mean cleaning out another room. As much as this makes the house a disaster zone for a brief period it means the end result will be a calmer, better house for us to live in. I use the word calm as in our stuff will not take all our attention, the house is never truly calm with 2 small boys in it.

Resolution Progress

I am still trying to be easy on myself about this process. I worked on the medicine cabinet or in our case it feels like a closet. I cleaned it up and took some stuff to be destroyed. I also used items to make up a first aid kit for the car and set aside some for our trip to FL this summer.

Phillip's project car is coming home so we worked on cleaning out the garage this weekend to make room. I listed a bunch of stuff on my trade site as well as sale sites and craigslist. Tonight I am meeting someone to trade some canning jars for tomato, basil and broccoli plants.

Last night I managed to clean out one dresser drawer, it was only one drawer but that is one less drawer that I have to clean out.

2018 Resolutions 3 Months In

I have been working on my resolutions for 3 months now.  In case you have not read that post or have forgot my resolutions while accomplishing yours they are:


For 2018 I am working on the following:
1.) Minimizing our possessions
2.) Spend more time present with friends and family
3.) Finish the backyard and spend a huge amount of time out there with the boys.
4.) Read the stack of books next to my bed
5.) Hike more
6.) Bike ride a lot with the boys now that I have a helmet.




Progress on #1 is going WAAAAAYYYYY slower than I hoped. We have passed on, traded and sold a lot of the larger items we wanted to get rid of. I have also made many trips to the thrift store with boxes of donations. There is still a ton of stuff that needs to get out of the house. This weekend I plan on dropping stuff at various charities and getting by the kids resale shop. This will still leave a large box of stuff I am working on trading and selling. I also have a lot of stuff still to go through and hopefully get rid of.  Lately I have to keep telling myself that it is a year long resolution and speed is not everything. It will get taken care of. 

Progress on #2 is going better. I no longer say no right off the bat when we are invited to do things. The stuff from #1 is going to be there when we get home so it will not hurt to go have fun with friends. 

Progress on #3 is just getting started since the weather is warming up. I spent several hours over the last couple of weekends working on clean up. The back yard is like the house and I somehow want it to magically come together in an instant but it just takes lots of labor initially. 

Progress on #4 is slow but I knew this one would be. I am on the last of the library books I kept checking out on a loop. I have been looking to see if some of the stack are available in audio form from the library as this will enable me to breeze through them faster. I have only moved one out of the stack thus far but I am optimistic that much progress will be made. 

Progress on #5 has not happened yet but I do have plans for tomorrow night which I hope work out. A state park within a short distance of us is doing a guided night hike tomorrow night. 

Progress on #6 is in progress. The boys have been riding more and Phillip has even gone out on the tandem with Clark but I have not got my bike out yet. 

 

First Full Week of March

March started with a bang, the weather is all over the place and I am trying to complete a ton of projects. In all the chaos I pre-paid for a CSA share that will start on the 24th and managed to go grocery shopping.

Sunday Mar 4th:
Breakfast: Donuts
Lunch: Potluck at church
Dinner: Grilled cheese for all but Phillip, I made him a grilled turkey and cheese


Monday Mar 5th:
Breakfast: bagel with cream cheese
Lunch: pot pie and blackberries
Dinner: Chicken Florentine Gnocchi from Serendipity and Spice with a side salad. This came up a lot runnier than I thought and really was not for me. The boys  did not think it was horrible but also did not rave about it. It will not be in regular rotation.

Tuesday Mar 6th:
Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese
Lunch: Gyro with a friend
Dinner: BBQ pork, cinnamon apples and 5-minute Parmesan Ranch Broccoli from Yellow Bliss Road. 

Wednesday Mar 7th:
Breakfast: Bagel with cream cheese
Lunch: Pot pie and strawberries
Dinner: Smashed potatoes and Rustic Chicken with Garlic Gravy from Seasons and Suppers. I trimmed the recipe in half and you still would really need to love garlic to eat this recipe. We liked it and Phillip was really happy to have some gravy.

Thursday Mar 8th:
Breakfast: bagel with cream cheese
Lunch: Chicken fried chicken and okra with a friend
Dinner: fish sticks with homemade shells and cheese.

Friday: Mar 9th:
Breakfast: Bowl of cereal
Lunch: bean burrito and small nacho with friend
Dinner:Tostadas rather than tacos that were originally on the menu.

Saturday Mar 10th:
Breakfast: cinnamon rolls
Lunch: Worked in the yard for 5 hours, did not have a formal lunch
Dinner: Slow Cooker Tuscan White Bean and Sausage Soup from Foodie Crush and buttered bread. I originally intended to get a good sourdough from the farmer's market but I never made it so we had buttered sandwich bread.  This soup was really good and will be lunches for me for a few days.

Additional Clean Out

Cleaning out one area leads to another and another. I cleaned out and organized our linen closet as the boys got new bedding for Christmas. I then worked on my spice cabinet which was out of control and then my cookbooks.

The linen closet was actually the first project after Christmas that I undertook.

All the spices came out of the cabinet then were sorted by use. The right hand stack are the spices I use on a regular basis and then the middle stack occasionally and the left stack rarely.

This was a hard sort as I love cookbooks. I have a limited space for them so I narrowed it down to just the amount that would fit in that space. The others will be listed on Amazon so hopefully someone else can enjoy them.

Tackling Projects

In going through the project boxes I decided that the first one of the year that I am going to complete is a scrap quilt. There are several boxes of fabric that I have intended for years to use in a quilt. In addition to this fabric I decided a quilt would be a good way to use material from the boys old clothes that I am having a hard time parting with and are stained. This year is different in that instead of just boxing up the project and saying I will get to it I actually have started disassembling the boys clothes and cutting the triangles.

In addition to tackling this I am also back to making the belts and have orders for 3 so far!

Supplies

Finished Belt

Closet Clean Out

As part of my resolution to minimize our possessions I tackled my closet. There were a ton of items that I just did not like or did not fit anymore. I cleaned them out and sorted by size and condition. The t-shirts that had holes in them were sacked up for one of the farmers at the farmer's market to make sacks out of and then I listed a ton of them on my trade site and offer up.

All of the clothes from my closet

items that are seeking a new home

Next project is my dresser drawers, I think I will tackle those 1 at a time until the project is completed. Seeing an end in site is calming.

More Resolution Progress

#4 on the list also ties in with #1. I want to clean up the huge amount of books next to the bed. For me this means finally reading them and then either passing them on or putting them on the bookshelf as a permanent member of the house. Clark was super excited to help with this clean up and sorting.

I sorted them by genre and will start to tackle them as soon as I finish the last couple I checked out from the library. I really think I want to start with mystery first and then go from there.

These are the books that you will see show up on my reading log posts with some audios from the library thrown in!

Tackling The Resolutions

I really went full throttle tackling resolutions this year, at least #1 so far.  The #1 goal is to minimize our possessions, this really started as a way for me to limit the time I would need to spend cleaning up stuff.  It has continued because it is so calming to not have stuff coming out of every nook and cranny in the house. It helps the boys because all of their toys have a home and they know where they are. Of course we are not finished so not all of their toys have a home or fit where they should. I am letting them thin their own items as they want rather than just throwing their stuff away. In the past the pictures I am about to post would embarrass me but in the pursuit of truth on social media and honesty about what my world really looks like I am going to post them.

This is the original pile of stuff I culled from the house to get rid of. I had already started sorting this when I took this picture.

I sorted and hauled off 2 trunk loads to a thrift shop, gave 2 boxes to a charity offering beds to children in domestic violence situations. I sold some back to a local book store and dropped a bunch at a friend's who works with the homeless. I still have a bag of formals I want to donate to a charity helping with prom dresses for those who can not afford them and some work clothes from days when I had to wear business formal I want to donate to a charity getting people back into the workforce. There is a bag going to the farmer's market with me tomorrow I hope of old t-shirts with holes. One of the farmer's at the market turns them into reusable sacks for the produce. I have a sack that is going to the western wear resale shop and a ton went onto the trade page and offer up.

After tackling that stack I went after my project tower!

Each box represented a project I meant to get to but just had not yet. I started resorting and culling projects I was never going to get to.

This is the stack now. Most of the remaining boxes are paperwork and pictures that I need to deal with an will take more time. By the end of this year I want this all dealt with. I am not delusional thinking that I can get rid of all of these boxes but I want to pare it down to a "reasonable" amount. 

Resolutions for 2018

For 2018 I am working on the following:
1.) Minimizing our possessions
2.) Spend more time present with friends and family
3.) Finish the backyard and spend a huge amount of time out there with the boys.
4.) Read the stack of books next to my bed
5.) Hike more
6.) Bike ride a lot with the boys now that I have a helmet.