Back to Life, Back to Reality

As wonderful as it is going on vacation, it sure feels nice to be home too. Yes, even in the middle of the snowstorms we’ve been getting this week, I’m happy to be back.  I missed Garrett, the dogs, the chickens and this old farmhouse. It felt pretty good to walk through that door and feel like I was home. I just wish I could have brought all that sunny Florida weather home with me as a souvenir.

The dogs have been the biggest sucks since I’ve been home. They are constantly underfoot, or trying to curl up on my lap (while there is still space). You’d think I was gone for months, not two weeks.

 Whiskey in particular has been a big baby. I’ll admit I don’t mind all the attention and snuggles.

The chickens greeted me back with some HUGE eggs. They are so big right now, some of them almost don’t fit in the cardboard cartons. Since I’ve been home, I’ve made egg sandwiches for dinner one night, french toast for breakfast another morning…

…and a big batch of chocolate chip cookies. As tempting as it was to eat them all myself, I gave some to my sister, another bag for my brother heading back to school, and froze some of the dough for a treat on a cold night in the coming weeks. I used our family’s favourite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe (which also happens to be the one on the back of the bag).

While I was away I picked up a copy of Marie Kondo’s best selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. I’ve been hearing about it for the last year and I decided to give it a go. I’m only about a quarter of my way through the book, but I’m already finding it really interesting. It’s not uncommon for me to spend a Saturday afternoon cleaning up my desk, or going through all the kitchen cupboards, only to be disappointed a couple of weeks later when it’s all messy again. I’m excited to give her method a try and see if I can get everything tidy once and for all. I like that you sort it by categories instead of rooms, meaning you tackle all the clothing at once, then books, etc. Seeing as I’m between maternity clothes and regular clothes right now, I’m going to leave that one until after the baby comes.

The first thing I’m going to tackle is our Christmas boxes. I didn’t get a chance to put everything away before I left on December 26th, so I still need to put everything back. Rather than stuff it all into the same old boxes, I want to take the time this month to really sort through it and decide what I really love and want to keep.

The boxes had previously been stored in our apartment, storage shed and my in-law’s basement. I didn’t even think we had that much Christmas stuff until we pulled it all out this year. I’d like to get these boxes down from 6 to 3 or 4, full of only those things that we really love to put out each year.

The other big organizing project for this winter, is getting the nursery ready! One side is clean…and the other side looks like this. It’s mostly craft supplies, two tables, chairs, a few things my sister left when she moved this summer and boxes of decor we never put up when we moved in. All of it needs to either find a new home, or get donated. Then we can start the fun part of decorating this room in anticipation for baby girl‘s arrival this spring!

If you’re looking for some ideas on how to get your own house in order this month, check out some of my favourite posts on organizing: