A Big Change for the Littles - and the 40 Day Challenge

Katie and Emma have been happy nursery-goers at our church ever since they were two months old, when they were strong enough to be out of the house. We have a wonderful nursery attendant, Sandy, who has been a big part of the lives of all 4 of the girls. In fact, she speaks fondly of each of them when we talk, and says how hard it was when they moved up to the Pre-K Sunday School class. Sandy likes to tell the story of when the twins first started coming to church, people would stop by to have a look at them - she said she gave the guided tour.

This is the only picture I have of any of the girls with Sandy - this one with Feisty.





Which is precisely what has happened now with the twins. They were three on January 7, but were allowed to stay in the nursery until their due date, since they were 7 weeks premature. Sandy was very happy about that. But finally the day arrived that they had to " leave the nest."

We got there a bit early with them and enjoyed watching them scope things out --






They looked so big sitting with their sisters for music, waiting for classes to start --




It was time for us to leave them --




We made sure they were dressed differently - their new teacher was really nervous about telling them apart, so this gave her a bit of an advantage. Between Sunday School and Children's Church, the kids come over to the gym for donut time - several big girls were holding their hands and bringing them up for their treat - they never even looked at me. I was happy about that - a good sign.

Kristen and I both checked in with Sandy at various times during the morning - she was shedding tears each time. She really loves her babies and misses them terribly when they grow up. Fortunately, she still gets to see them on Wednesday nights.


Changing the subject drastically, just a little update on the 40 Bags in 40 Days challenge. I am going to be very open here and show you the horrid cupboard that I tackled first. I am embarrassed, but I'm keeping it real here.

I've watched parts of a couple of episodes of "Clean House" the last couple of days, and this one reminds me of their houses - sadly.

The plastic I showed in the previous post was mostly recycled, or some given away, and some thrown away. This is a look at the box that went to ARC the next day.




. . . and here are the "after" shots -- what is that I see -- empty space???







The next project I took on was to get my dresser drawers in order. After that was three closets - here is the result - three 39-gallon bags off to the thrift store.





Today I had the girls, so all I accomplished was one small drawer in the kitchen. It's exciting to see things shaping up, a little bit at a time.

The Best-Laid Plans . . .

So - I had great big plans for yesterday. I was planning to start the 40 Bags in 40 Days Challenge, as described here: Clover Lane: One Week From Now: 40 Bags, 40 Days. This is something I've needed to do for a long time, but lacked the motivation. I was primed to begin de-cluttering the many messy areas of my house.

But then - as so often happens to me, my plans took a turn. I should know better than to even make a plan, I guess. Just go with the flow. You know last year's word - flexibility!!??

Here's how it went:

• Kristen had a day off work and really wanted to go to the gym with me when she had a chance, so we did that.
  

• By the time we got done with this and other asundry little errands, it was 11:30.

• I decided to eat my favorite salad at Runza - Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad. I was going to just take my coin purse in, and was looking for my last $20 bill. It was gone - I have no clue where.
  
  
• In the process of this distraction, as I slammed the door shut, I shuddered - yep, the keys were still in the ignition - AGAIN! If you've been with me long, you know this is a bad habit of mine - locking the doors with the switch on the door rather than using the remote control. I must retrain my brain! I have had two of those magnetic boxes under the car that have both fallen off - which you don't know until you need it!
  
  
• I decided to go ahead and enjoy my lunch and deal with the problem afterward. I decided to walk home to get the spare key, which is hanging in the kitchen. When I started down the street, I changed my mind and decided to call my dear SIL, who lives close to the restaurant and is always willing to help. My cell phone was at home charging! Ugh. I could have used the restaurant's phone, but could not remember my SIL's number - she recently went to cell phone exclusively, and the number is programmed into my phone - I thought of it later, of course!
  
  
• So - back outside to head for home - about 2 miles. It was fairly warm, but also fairly breezy. I enjoyed the walk, though, reading my book as I walked. I stopped at our church, about halfway, to use the "facilities." There was a good friend, volunteering in the office. I told her my sad story, and she offered to drive me home, and then back to my car.
  
  
• We got to my house - guess what?? Someone has used the outdoor house key, which hangs in an obscure place - and didn't put it back. ARGGGHHHH!!! No way possible to get into the house. No key to the house, no key to the car - I called DC from her cell phone and he expressed Tough Love - he could not come home to bail me out this time.
  
  
• So - we went back to the church, I looked up a locksmith, who met us sat the restaurant within 10 minutes. It cost $40 for his two minutes of breaking into my car (the last time this happened, it cost me $48). I later found out I could put in a claim with my insurance, but I don't have a receipt from the first one. Oh, well, one's better than none! I found out from my insurance company that we have Emergency Road Service and that they would have taken care of it. How do you do that when your information is locked in the car and you don't know the phone number to call them??
  
  
• My friend, who was backing out of the parking spot to head back to church, almost ran into two blind people who were walking across the parking lot - very scary. I think they should probably not cut across parking lots.
  
  
• I gladly got back into my car and headed back home. By this time I was in no mood to start a major project.
  

So - that was yesterday. Today I thought maybe I could get something done on this project, even though I had the two littles. But - today turned out to be a beautiful spring-like day,and being outside was ever so much more fun.







We found our first flowers - snow drop flowers - appropriately named, because in March, we can go from spring to winter blizzard in a heartbeat. Hope not this year, but it happens.

And this is all I got done on my project today - how how does one acquire this much junky plastic stuff that doesn't have tops to match? Hopefully, most of it will be gone by tomorrow. I took a "before" picture, but don't know if I dare show it - embarrassing!