I keep meaning to post entries more often but that rarely seems to happen. So, I’m going to try an experiment. A bulleted list of down, ups, cute Calvin moments, and simplification. I’m listing downs before ups because I believe everything should have a happy ending. Regarding the simplification, I’ve become increasingly annoyed at the amount of stuff I have. One of my new goals — not a New Year’s resolution, the timing is just coincidental — is to consign one thing to give away/discard everyday. Or, alternatively, implement some sort of time-saving scheme.

Downs

• Didn’t get a chance to exercise today
• House is still disorganized from vacation
• The cats, probably mostly 5, vomited over huge swaths of the carpet while we were away

Ups

• Calvin slept in till 7. That’s about perfect because he didn’t go to bed till after 12 so I needed to sleep later but it also wasn’t so late that it threw off his nap schedule.
• I was able to take a short nap while Calvin napped. Normally I’d be exercising during this time but I felt sleep was more important given the previous night.
• We’re back to a normal schedule. I really like routines so even though I greatly enjoyed vacation and took the opportunity to catch up on my sleep, it feels good to be back home.
• Calvin was in a relatively good mood today.

Cute Calvin Moment

• After I brought him home from daycare, we were playing with some of his new toys. I was rolling a truck around and made a “VROOM VROOM” noise. Calvin looked startled for a moment and then started laughing. For several minutes, every time I VROOMED, Calvin giggled. Naturally, this wore off before Jaeger came home. Calvin doesn’t laugh very much which is why this is noteworthy. He smiles a lot but seems to only laugh the first time he encounters something new and amusing.

Simplification

• For Christmas, I received a set of measuring cups. I just needed 1/4 cup but they don’t sell 1/4 cups by themselves. This meant I had 2 full sets of measuring cups and 2 partial sets of measuring cups. Since I cook a lot, it is useful to have more than one set but the partial sets didn’t seem very useful. So, I consigned all except the 2 full sets of measuring cups to the thrift store bin.
• My favorite large silicone spoon died recently and Jaeger finally convinced me to get rid of it. Also, my pancake flipper had a bubble in the plastic which made flipping pancakes a bit of an art. I requested replacements on my Christmas list. Mom gave me a very nice set of silicone kitchen utensils but it duplicated some that I had bought in college. Her utensils are a higher quality so I weeded the others out and put them in the thrift store bin also.