Intrepid Murmurings

Not too good in the blogging department this week -- life is getting in the way!  

Everyone still in various stages of recovery from this nasty cold.  Emma was gloriously happy to go back to school after a missed week, but I had to keep the babies home from a twins playdate because they slept like CRAP last night and needed an AM nap.  As did I, but organized and cleaned up the spice cabinet (aka random stale spices in a sticky ocean of honey) and did online price comparisons for overnight diapers (so worth it!) instead.  FUN!  And they slept for almost 2 hours!  Ran out to pick up Emma from school, and then around lunchtime Elsie became a sad, screaming mess thanks to an ear infection*. Luckily I was able to grab a 5:30 Dr. appointment, fed everyone first then got to the appointment, got the required meds (thank you modern medicine, especially numbing ear drops because ibuprofin wasn't touching it!), and then literally was home for 15 min before heading out again (leaving Lonnie with three screaming kids at bedtime, yeeps!) to arrive half an hour late to a parenting class.  Halfway through the class I realized I left my phone in the car, and called home to check in and they were all asleep.  Whew.  

For two hours every Tuesday night I am taking a class on Positive Discipline at Emma's preschool.  LOVING IT!  Its really great (except for the part where I have to ROLE PLAY, OMG) and I will post more about it soon.  

I've also been tackling various housecleaning and organizing projects (in small chunks, since thats all I can handle) and thats been good.  So much more to do, but it feels like progress.  

Right now I am eating ice cream and listening to silence.  Heaven.  

*as for the ear infection, its actually great that we've made it this far through the winter without more problems, since last year both Elsie and Delia were getting them with every cold that came through.  This is the first since early last spring!  No more talk of tubes, at least for now.   Of course now I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, since in the past if one had it the other always got it too.  So far Delia seems fine (though she was up a lot in the night, too), so we'll see.  I'm guessing its about 75% likely I will be back to the Dr's office within the week for her... 

As do millions of folks, I am sure, January is the time of year I make big plans for organizing our house and lives.  I've never been able to stay on the wagon long enough to tackle it all, but I feel like we have been making gradual progress over the past year!  I am hoping to make a lot more progress this year, and maybe get to a point where its mostly maintenance work, not big overwhelming projects.

Since the babies were born a month after we moved in to our new house, a lot of things that I would have done got put on the (very) back burner.  Like hanging artwork.  After 20 months, I am proud to say we have art hanging on the walls now!  In the past week or so I have put up some of my own art in the living room, some prints in the upstairs bathroom, some cool old Raggedy Ann and Andy cutout/paintings (made my grandma for my baby room!) in Elsie and Delia's room and a cork board for art in Emma's room. Lonnie helped today with hanging two things in our upstairs stairwell, too, hooray!

I still have lots to do, but I am trying to find time to do at least one organization thing each day. Sometimes it is very small -- yesterday it was tackling the barrette and hairband drawer (which is admittedly a big-ish project around here, ha ha)! Some things I hope to do in the next week or so: 

-file paperwork and pay bills
-drop off a box of things to Goodwill (and hopefully fill another one)
-list (and sell!) a few things on Craigslist or my multiples club classifieds section
-take a lamp in to be fixed (that has been sitting broken for at least a year!)
-begin sorting our CD collection into CD binder books
-order some prints of photographs of the girls and our family to be framed and hung

Think I can stay on task and actually get these things done?  I hope so!  What tops your organizational to-do's this month (or year)? 

Wow,  its been quite a year!  What a difference 12 months makes!  Things were definitely starting to look up this time last year in terms of getting a handle on the baby insanity, and have only gotten better and better as the months progressed.  Its been nice to be able to get back to a more balanced life, in some ways!  We certainly have room for improvement, but in generally I think we have been doing pretty well.  

Things I am proud of accomplishing in 2009:  

Working hard (but gently) to create and keep our girls on a good, solid sleep schedule.  Serving our girls and our family good, healthy, home cooked meals, 3 meals a day, 7 days a week.  Keeping up with laundry and basic cleaning (admittedly with help there for awhile, but no longer!).  Taking the girls on more outings and activities during the week.  Volunteering my time with the multiples club. Doing more writing, and planning for more.  Slowly, slowly, slowly tacking projects around the house, including organizing, yard work, etc.    

Things I hope to accomplish in 2010:

Reaching out and connecting with more old and new friends IN REAL LIFE, not just online.   Purging and organizing our home and routines, to make it a more peaceful and efficient place to live.  Working more diligently on budgeting, especially in terms of groceries and household purchases.  Getting the kids out of the house (and outside) more often, even in the winter months! Building more toddler & preschool friendly projects into our days at home.  Reaching more people with my writing.   Going out on date nights with my husband EVERY month.  Or more?

What's some of your accomplishments or goals for this past year, or next?  Any tips for me on mine?