Seven things, or maybe 1,000

I'm trying to implement a great new system for de-cluttering the house: the seven things challenge. The idea is to get rid of one thing every day, or seven each week. We urgently need something like this. Actually, I'd like to get set a goal of 1,000 things and see how quickly I can get that much crap out of our lives, but seven/week is more realistic. Feet of clay, or something like that. More like feet stuck in playdoh.

The kitchen is an easy place to start. If I can get some time tomorrow, I think I'll be culling extraneous gadgets.

Home

Packing up two parents, two children, and two dogs for a family Christmas celebration is not a simple task. Keeping a mischievous preschooler and a puts-everything-in-his-mouth baby out of trouble in someone else's home also isn't simple. Declaring that you will never again travel over the holidays? Also not simple, as families have a pesky habit of wanting to see you. Happily, we are all home, intact, and have 363 days until another Christmas.

Graham really loved Christmas, Santa, and the whole shebang this year. I enjoyed watching him bask in all the presenty glory. And he was genuinely impressed and excited about almost every single thing he received (not clothes, but he is a three-year-old, folks). Dean loved exploring wrapping paper. Tasty!

Graham is well, Dean is snotty but much better. Zach has a mystery illness compilation that has him somewhat nauseous and ear-achey. I have desperate need of the chiropractor for my wrenched and wretched back.

Looking forward to a quiet New Year's Eve with friends Chris, Stacey, and Rowan, and very excited to see the Seifert-Hobbinses tomorrow!

House of Ill Repute

Well, our house is ill, anyway. Graham recovered from the nasty fever/cold just in time for Dean to start showing symptoms. He has been sick since late Saturday night with a low fever and congestion like you wouldn't believe. The good news is that he went to the doctor's office on Monday and does not have an ear infection or strep throat. But he's miserable, and he's been keeping Zach and me up most of the night for four nights now. Having a sick three-year-old is a very different proposition than having a sick baby. With a little kid, you may not get very good information ("Does your head hurt?" "You gave me medicine."), but you will get a few answers you can work with. But babies are adorable little mysteries a lot of the time even when they're well. They are infinitely freakier than their big brothers when sick. Wish us a healthy household soon!

More to write about, but Graham is bugging me to let him play Curious George on the computer.

You love me good

First, some good news. Graham's fever broke overnight and he is on his way to good health again!

Last night he and I were chatting, and I told him, "Graham, I love you SO much." He replied, "Yeah, you love me good." That's pretty much my parenting goal: to make sure my children feel I love them good.
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Had a dream last night that I was picking up dirty dishes from around the house. How impoverished my inner life must be. I weep.
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Now for some entropy-fighting talk. Zach discovered a new product called OmniFocus and I think it's great. It's based on the Getting Things Done approach and helps you manage the multitude of tasks rattling around in our mental to-do lists.

How is this useful to someone who dreams about cleaning up dirty dishes? Well, right now I have half a dozen projects in the pipeline, and numerous single-item tasks that defy categorization (or maybe I just haven't assigned them to a project yet... another to do item, I suppose). One of my projects is to generate some doula work for the spring. So under that umbrella are items like put out my business cards at the local coffee shop (errand) and update my website (computer). One of the cool features of the system is that you can add items while you're in another application. For example, I came across a cool-looking nonprofit online recently (Train a Midwife) and I wanted to look into it further, but I was in the middle of something else. I sent the link to my OmniFocus inbox, and voila! I didn't have to waste mental energy trying to remember to check it out, and I didn't forget about it either. It's like having a second brain that takes care of all the detritus rattling around in this one, freeing me up to focus on more important and interesting stuff. Oh, and it lets me make infinite lists. I love to make lists.

Bonus Post!

I'm reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I love it. Ms. Kingsolver is one of those people who shames me with her productivity, managing a mini-farm, a family, and -- oh yeah -- a fabulous writing career. But in spite of my shame, I'm inspired. I've been slowly but steadily growing interested in living a life that is more in touch with the natural world ever since Graham was born, and eating locally is a big part of that. I realize that for most of my life I've been completely out of touch with what I eat, not knowing where it comes from, whether it's in season, or whether if, it's an animal, it lived a decent life. I'm ready to make some drastic changes in the next few years, especially when it comes to growing my food. I keep telling Zach that I want some "lay-and" -- I'm thinking Wimberley.

The Slow Food movement has been mentioned several times in the book, and it's something that appeals to me a lot. I admit that the first time I heard of it I assumed it was a group of psychos who wanted us to literally cook slowly. I had, and have, a lot to learn.

In other news, Graham has a nasty mystery illness. Fever since Wednesday, but he acted normal until Thursday evening, when his fever spiked to 103 and he went to bed at 5:30. It's been up and down today... long periods of cheer, aside from stir-craziness. Hopefully he will be well soon.

First Post

This won't be momentous. Hobbinski has mentioned several times that he wants me to blog. Also, my mother is reading Zach's blog, and it's only fair that we should both be cyber-stalked by her. And, you know, posterity and all that. So, here it is.