Simple Woman's Daybook

{From now on, every Wednesday I will post a Simple Woman's Daybook entry.  Join in here.}

Outside my window...

The last traces of daylight are fading away and the darkness is almost complete.

I am thinking...

I am thinking of how differently my words can come across when written here on this blog than they sounded in my head as I was writing them.  Sometimes my thoughts can be so very hard to convey clearly.  I want my writing to be just so, and often I feel that I over-think my word choices and sentence structure.

I am thankful...

for my baby.

In the kitchen...

I am planning on making a new dish tomorrow that I found on another blog.  It involves cabbage, onion, bacon, dill and sour cream.  I need to stop by City Market to pick up some cabbage, then after I have cooked it up I'll try to remember to post at least a little something about how I like it.

I am wearing...

Soft, black cotton shorts. a white nursing cami, and a thin, black and white patterned cardigan from REI.

I am creating...

Nothing but this blog post at the moment.  I have a knitting project that I would like to start sometime soon, but spring cleaning has become an obsession and is what I have been spending most of my free time doing.  So I guess you could say that I am slowly creating a cleaner, less cluttered home.

I am going...

I am finally going to Titlewave tomorrow to drop off some old books and movies and maybe pick out some new ones.  I have been putting this off for a few weeks and so I am putting it at the top of my list of priorities for tomorrow.  I am sick of having a bag of old books take up space on my living room floor!

I am wondering...

I have been wondering why there is not a single clothing company that makes a good variety of nursing tops for women.  I would just love to find a soft, long-sleeve top that makes it easy and comfortable to nurse Riggs in public.  I really dislike having to lift up my shirt, even if I have a nursing tank on to cover my stomach.  It just isn't comfortable for me.

I am reading...

You Are Your Child's First Teacher, by Rahima Baldwin Dancy.  So far this is a very inspiring book.  I just finished The Vaccine Book, by Dr. Robert Sears and The Parents Concise Guide to Childhood Vaccinations, by Lauren Feder, both of which were eye-openers for me.  I highly recommend reading them, especially if you are pregnant or have a newborn.  They helped Steve and I feel that we are actually making an educated decision regarding vaccinations for Riggs.

I am hoping...

I am hoping that I can permanantly stick to my goals of eating less refined sugar, exercising more, and getting outside every single day, regardless of weather.

I am looking forward to...

Buying a house.  Having less stuff.  Summer.  The Hobbit Movie part I.

I am learning...

I am learning to listen to my heart {as corny as it sounds}.

Around the house...

I have been going through our belongings with a very critical eye, weeding out so many things that we do not use and therefore do not need.  I have a strict guideline in mind when trying to decide whether to purge or keep an item - if we have not touched it in a month, I should probably let it go {obviously this doesn't apply to certain items, like winter/summer clothes, keepsakes, etc}.  This might seem strict, and sometimes it is hard letting go of something we payed good money for, but it is helping me learn an important lesson:  only spend your hard-earned money on things you know you will use and use often!  Regardless of how much money you spent on an item, if you aren't using it, you aren't losing any money by letting it go!

It feels so good to be simplifying our lives.  Unfortunately, there are still many, many things that need to be purged from our home {at least in my opinion.  I have come to realize that the kind of home I dream of is one free of run-of-the-mill items, and instead furnished only with things that we really and truly love}.  It is hard to admit you were wrong, and I have had to admit it many times a day as I bag up item after item that I know I should never have brought into our home {and not because of the cost, but because I didn't need or even truly want that item!}, so this has been sort of a roller coaster ride of emotions.  Even though I know we don't have that much stuff compared to most Americans, I know that it's still too much for us.  At times I have been very hard on us, feeling down and thinking that if we had just controlled ourselves a little more, there would be a lot less stuff cluttering up our sacred home space and a lot more money in the bank for spending on things that are a lot more important, like a house and planning for the future.  Sigh.  As Steve keeps reminding me, at least we are figuring it out now.

A favorite quote for today...

1 Thessalonians 3:11-12 "...to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one." 

One of my favorite things...

The wool blanket that Steve got me for my birthday last year.

A few plans for the rest of the week...

Riggs' two month appointment and a Homer trip.

A peek into my day...

...and now I am off to bed, sweet dreams everyone!