Hobbit-ish Potpurri: Observations on Cleaning House

Good Evening Humble Readers...

I hope that you all have been keeping well.  I haven't been around much for the last few days, and I am woefully behind on reading and commenting.  I will attempt to get caught up in the next couple of days.

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Sunday was a restful day, for the most part.  Church, lunch, then grocery shopping.  The danger of living across the back lane from a small grocery store is that you can go for weeks without doing a 'real' grocery shop.  I only bought what we needed (ok, we didn't need the dulce de leche ice cream) and it was still ridiculously expensive.  And why is it that when you spend a chunk of money on groceries, no one follows you home to put everything away?  That should be part of the price shouldn't it?

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Monday and Tuesday were big time cleaning days.  Check out the Mission Impossible page for an update on my list.  We haven't made as much progress as I had hoped, but the house really is looking much better.  We have already made two trips to Va.lue Vil.lage with stuff we don't need anymore, and we have yet to hit the storage room and the second bedroom.  Two laundry baskets full of books, a set of dishes, an old crock pot... lots of goodies.

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Why is it that cleaning the kitchen takes the longest to do and looks like you made the least difference?  I spent all day yesterday reorganizing cupboards, cleaning behind the stove, washing walls, and it hardly looks different (until you open a cupboard anyway). 

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When I was cleaning out the kitchen cupboards, I was struck by a few thoughts.  First up, never again will I keep my tupperware containers separate from the lids.  I know it takes up a lot more room, but it will save my sanity in trying to figure out what the hell was happening in that cupboard.  I seriously had an avalanche of tupperware.  Second, why don't all companies that produce canned goods design their cans so that they stack nicely (like the soup ones do).  I am sick of tomato paste cans falling all over the place.  Lastly, when corriander seeds spill in your spice cupboard, you are going to be cleaning them up FOREVER. 

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Today, we took a break today and I took the most glorious nap.  It was wonderful.  This afternoon, I had an intake appointment with a chiropractor.  Have any of you moms had chiropractic treatments during your pregnancy?  I'm hoping that it will help with my sciatica.  The doc was really great too, altho I had my first ever 'are you sure you're old enough to be a doctor' moment.  He was a young'un!  One interesting thing he noted when doing the initial exam... he had me stand on two scales (scary!), and he had only ever seen one other patient who was 100% balanced like I was, and that it was especially surprising given my size.  Hmm, who knew?

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I dragged my Beloved to the craft store today.  I picked up a shadow box... one that I had planned on getting ages ago.  I have some things that are reminders of our angel girls (some pressed autumn leaves for Emily and a Christmas ornament for Olivia), and I have wanted to frame them nicely for ages.  I came across them again when I was reorganizing the bookshelves, and got re-motivated.  Hopefully this weekend I will be able to get it assembled. 

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At the craft store, I also picked up a ball of pretty green yarn and a pair of knitting needles.  I learned how to knit when I was in junior high, but haven't done any in decades.  I tried to teach myself how to crochet a couple of years ago and it went very badly.  I was afraid that I wouldn't really remember what I was doing with the needles, but it has come back pretty quickly.  I started knitting a baby blanket and I've gotten about a quarter of it done.  My tension needs work, and I think I dropped a stitch somewhere back near the beginning, but I'm enjoying it.  I don't know how to do anything fancy, but I really wanted to make something for the Halfling. 

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Pregnancy Update:  Not much to report.  I have had a few panicky moments over the last few days.  My symptoms really have faded away, except for the fatigue and occassional constipation and water retension.  I have caved and have ordered a doppler.  I should get it next week.  I am almost done the prometrium.  Another couple of days I think. 

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We have had a drastic switch in our weather.  Yesterday it got up to 28 degrees (that's celcius)!  And yet we know that we aren't out of the woods yet for snow.  May long weekend is coming and it always snows sometme around May Long.