Still in Love

Friday was our 5th wedding anniversary. Five years we've been married, and 7.5 years since we've been together. Seems like just yesterday that Loren and I met, but it's been 8 years since we first started chatting with each other online. I love my husband. He is my soul mate, my partner, my best friend. I can tell him anything. Including stuff he really would rather I didn't share but I do anyway. He supports my dreams. Even if I am a bit wishy-washy and easily sidetracked. He makes me laugh. Even when I don't feel like it or want to. He is a great dad and I love watching him play with our boys. We make beautiful babies and I would make tons of them with him if he would let me. We are a team. We're always there for each other and we both want what's best for each other and for our family as a whole. Things have been tough at times but we've been able to get through them together. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with this man!


I think the lyrics to the first song we danced to on our wedding day still sums it all up the best:

When You Say Nothing At All

It's amazing how you can speak right to my heart
Without saying a word you can light up the dark
Try as I may I could never explain
What I hear when you don't say a thing

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

All day long I can hear people talking out loud
But when you hold me near, you drown out the crowd
Old Mr. Webster could never define
What's being said between your heart and mine

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

The smile on your face lets me know that you need me
There's a truth in your eyes sayin' you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says you'll catch me if ever I fall
You say it best when you say nothing at all

-Written by Don Schlitz & Paul Overstreet

Justin is (Terrible) Two

Justin turned two on Thursday, October 22, 2009. My silly little Monkey-man has always been a sweetie and pretty laid back, but he is definitely two. He's got a little bit of an attitude now and has a definite opinion and temper about things. He's also a bit of a klutz and a daredevil (two things that should probably never mix) and has a number of bruises and bumps to show for it, most on his head. I have a feeling he'll be the first kid to send us to the ER.


Justin is sort of counting to 10- he counts them 1, 2, 6, 7, 8. And he is copying his brother saying his ABCs- A, B, C, D, E, F, G, a, a, a, a, T, U, V. It's so cute!
Happy Birthday (a little late) Monkey-Man!

Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons. ~Author Unknown

Again, I post my baby boy's birthday wishes late!

Loren turned 5 on Thursday, September 24th! Five! Just in the past couple months I've seen him grow into a young boy. He's not a baby anymore. He's much more mature (although we still have occasional tantrums when he's tired), he's very polite, and very loving. He has started preschool (NM cut-off for K is Sept 1) and is making new friends. And he's very smart. I would probably put him at a Kindergarten level academically and he knows lots and lots of random facts (gee, I wonder where he gets that from?).

We had a Transformers party for him on Sunday, September 27. We invited a few of his friends from MOPS, my family, and Mike's family. A few people couldn't make it because the flu is going around our town, but it was still a nice party. I've been waiting to post this so I could post pictures but I have been having issues with my computer freezing up. Here are some pics!

We've had bad luck with our kids - they've all grown up. ~Christopher Morley

He didn't look back

Little Loren started preschool today. As I mentioned in a previous post, he qualifies for Occupational Therapy through the school district. We had his IEP (Individualized Education Plan) last Friday and they will be taking him out of his classroom for 1/2 hour a week (2 days, 15 minutes each) and the rest of his time will be in his classroom. He will go Monday through Thursday in the afternoons which works out great because our playgroup meets on Thursday mornings and he can still go to that, and then our playgroup does our extra activities on Fridays so he can still go to that too.

We talked up school all weekend, asked him if he was excited, and just really encouraged him that it would be fun. Last night I asked him what he wanted to wear and he asked me if he had "a Transformers shirt." I told him he doesn't, so he decided he wanted to wear his Dino Robot shirt. He also wanted PB&J for lunch so I called the school this morning to make sure it was ok to send peanut butter. It wasn't an issue so he had PB&J, a cereal bar, carrots fresh from the garden, some chips, and a water bottle with Ocean Spray drink mix in his lunch box.


We got him dressed, loaded up his backpack and lunch box, and then it was time to go. Loren stopped to pose for pictures on our front porch, although he wasn't very cooperative so I don't have any "happy" pictures of him. Then we all got in the car and drove to the school. We have to wait in line for his teacher to get him out of his car so I took another picture. Then it was time to let him go. His teacher came and got him and they went and sat down on the sidewalk outside. He didn't even look back or wave or anything. I got a tiny bit teary-eyed but didn't really cry. And I'm not too entirely convinced that Daddy wasn't misty-eyed either- sunglasses are good for hiding those things.


Justin asked about him a few times while we were running our errands and stopping at home for lunch, but he didn't seem too upset. We'll see how he does when this is a nearly every day thing.

Finally 3:15 came around and it was time to pick Loren up. Daddy couldn't go to pick him up, so it was just Justin and I. We pulled into the pick up lane and when it was almost our turn, I almost started bawling because I missed my little buddy and was excited to see him. I pulled up to the pick up spot and got the biggest and cutest wave from Loren when he figured out it was my car waiting there. His teacher said he did great and they had a really good day.

Loren said they sang some songs about green and black and pink, he drew some sort of ship, and they played with pretend dinosaurs outside. I'm not entirely sure what it all means but he had fun and wasn't upset or scared or anything so I'm pretty proud of him.

Now I'm getting teary-eyed again. He'll be 5 next week and I'm just not ready for that!

There are two lasting bequests we can give our children.
One is roots. The other is wings.
~Hodding Carter, Jr.

"Music?"

Justin loves music. A few months ago we were at my parents' house and he was playing my mom's piano. He doesn't pound on it like most kids do, it sounded more like he was playing actual songs. I had been playing a few songs using the music and when he saw it, I told him that it was music. Ever since then, he recognizes music notes everywhere we go and always says "music." The day after I told him that, we were at the church for my cousin's wedding and he found a prayer book. The first half of the book is all of the readings for the year and the second half is all songs. When Justin first opened up the book, he told me "story." Then he kept turning pages and found the music and told me "music." It's kind of cute the way he says "music." He pronounces it right, but he always says it with a question mark at the end- "music?"

A few days later, we were home again and I had gotten a dictionary down for some reason. Justin was looking at the dictionary and came up to me and said "music" and sure enough he had found a page that had music notes on it. He finds music notes all over everywhere and always asks me to play music on my computer. He bounces all over when he sees me going into my music folder on my computer. He recognizes a bunch of different instruments as "music" even if he doesn't know them by name yet.

This last weekend we went to my parents' house again for my dad's birthday party. My sister and I were sitting on the kitchen floor and we were talking to Justin and playing with him. All of a sudden he stops and says "peeneano" (piano) and runs to my mom's piano. I opened it up and he climbed up on the bench and started playing. Nobody said ANYTHING about the piano but he suddenly remembered that Gramma has a "peeneano" and had to go play it. Pretty much all weekend he played the piano, even after he smashed his fingers when he tried to close the keyboard lid at bedtime. He even saw my high school senior portrait with my violin and told my dad "Mommy, music."

I'm excited to see this interest in him- music runs on both sides of the family and I think music is such an important part of life. It will be fun to see where this passion grows.

Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you,
following you right on up until you die. ~Paul Simon

Big changes around here...

The biggest one is that little Loren is going to preschool after all. I took him in last week to be evaluated for speech because I wasn't sure where he was in relation to his peers. They screen for speech, OT, and another one (I forget what), and they said that he was fine for speech, but that he qualified for OT.

I thought it was just because I'm his mom and he's 4.5 that he doesn't pay attention and doesn't follow directions, and I thought he's just being shy when we're in strange places. He's really not all that shy, but he does get very easily overwhelmed if too many new people pay attention to him all at once. Once he knows you though, you have a friend for life. My husband's whole family is "type-A" personalities and LL is already struggling with perfectionism- I discovered this when I was trying to teach him how to write his name and he got frustrated when he couldn't write the letters perfectly every time.

I'm nervous about sending him off, but it's only afternoons for less than 3 hours and I know they'll be helping him learn what he needs to do to cope. I'm still hoping to homeschool him starting next year, and I am planning on continuing to work with him on K stuff this year. But for now, we're waiting to have an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting with his teacher(s?) and occupational therapist(s) to see what goals we have for him. The school district started this week so they're trying to get settled with what they have and then get the new students in. So it will be about another week or two before he actually starts. I asked him today if he wanted to ride the bus (he has the option) or if he wanted me to drive him, and he said he wants me to drive him. I'm perfectly okay with that!

The other big change is that Loren (hubby) is leaving his job at Job Corps. The management there leaves MUCH to be desired and they're just getting worse instead of better. I told Loren a couple weeks ago that I was tempted to tell him to just quit and focus on building up his judo club. At the time he told me "no, I have to stay at Job Corps." A couple days later he called me and told me he was going to turn in his 2-weeks notice. Friday is his last day. Right now, he's working on several leads for part-time work in the mornings and is going to work on building up the Roswell Judo Club in the afternoons. I'm not really as freaked out about the sudden change in income as I thought I would be. We've been through worse and we know what we can live without and what we can cut back on. He's also working on a couple other things, but right now I'm not at liberty to disclose that information.

Fall is a busy season for us no matter what, and these next few months will definitely be crazy with our new changes, but I know we'll come out the other end doing just fine. God always takes care of us.

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies. ~Author Unknown

We saw a toad today!

We've gotten a lot of rain since the beginning of July, so the creatures are taking advantage of the extra moisture and coming out to play. Loren has been working on fixing everyone's vehicles (finishing Michelle's truck, replacing my brakes AGAIN) all weekend at his mom's house and when we were playing "musical cars," he decided to sweep up a little bit of the dust and debris that had accumulated under Michelle's truck. When he did that, a toad (we thought it was a frog at first) hopped out from the grass by the fence. He chased it with a broom to the other side of the carport area where he was working so I wouldn't run over it. When I parked my car, I went around the side to see if I could see the toad.

He* was just sitting out in the open all fat and happy, so I went to go get the boys from inside the house. When we got out there, I couldn't find the toad. I was pretty bummed that the boys didn't get to see him and little Loren went back inside. Justin and I were just hanging around watching Daddy and I decided to look a little harder for the toad since I figured he was hiding in the vines on the other side of the fence. Sure enough, I found him hiding under the vines and showed Justin, who thought he was pretty cool. Then we went and got little Loren back from inside the house. I used a stick to gently nudge the toad to see if I could get him out into the open but he just jumped further back into the vines. I found him again and it was actually a better view of him where we could see his whole body. The boys thought he was pretty neat. I would have tried to catch him but he was already scared, and I didn't have anything to put him in. Then I decided it was time to leave him alone, so we all went back inside. The ONE day where I didn't have my camera with me, we find something cool. Oh well, such is life.

I figured since there probably aren't very many amphibians in New Mexico, I could probably find him on a list of NM frogs/toads somewhere on the internet. Sure enough, there was an almost identical picture of the toad on Wikipedia. I'm fairly certain our little friend is called Bufo speciosus or Texas Toad**. Loren (hubby) said he must be a little lost to be in New Mexico instead of Texas, but I found that the species does not limit it's range to within the Texas border *wink*. Little Loren decided to name our little friend Megatron (after the Transformer, of course) even though we didn't keep him.

*I have no idea if the toad was a boy or girl. I just figured using masculine forms would be easier.

**It is quite possible that "Megatron" could also have been a Bufo woodhousii (Woodhouse's Toad) because they appear to have very similar markings. The toad we saw was fairly large (about the size of my fist) and the Woodhouse's Toad is at least an inch larger than the Texas Toad. I guess that will teach me to have my camera with me so that we can take pictures in order to correctly identify our finds. I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting adventure of identifying creatures from here on out.

I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the "lower animals"
(so called) and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man.
I find the result humiliating to me.
~Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth, 1907

Carlsbad, Old Friends, and Puppy Love

Last weekend, the National Park Service had their second fee-free weekend of the year. Apparently they do this for one weekend in every month during the summer. There are about 13 national parks/monuments/historical parks in New Mexico and the closest one to us is Carlsbad Caverns. I told Loren I wanted to go, and he agreed. He just happened to talk to our friend Mike (best man in our wedding) that night that we decided to go, and Mike said he and his family would like to go and meet us there.
We left Roswell at about 1:30 and got to Carlsbad Caverns at about 3:30. Mike, Carrie, Sophie, and Sam were already there, but just barely. I put Justin in the Moby Wrap- backpack carry, Mike put Sam in his backpack, and we got our free tickets. It was already too late to go in through the natural entrance, so we just rode the elevators down to the Big Room. We started hiking and the kids (little Loren and Sophie) did absolutely wonderful. They didn't complain at all and they asked a lot of questions and just seemed to enjoy it. Justin and Sam weren't so thrilled- Justin got bored and wanted out of the carrier about halfway, and Sam fell asleep about that same time.
Partway through the hike, I looked over and Sophie had grabbed little Loren by the hand. They see each other only two or three times a year, but little Loren has a puppy love crush on Sophie. He always talks about how they got married a while back when we were visiting (she put a ring on his finger when they were playing house) and how they have all kinds of cool stuff at their "house in Albuquerque." They pretty much held hands all the way through the Caverns and were showing each other "look at this" and "look at that!" I'm not sure anything will turn out from their little "romance" but it sure is cute, and I wouldn't mind having Sophie for a daughter-in-law. She's cute and smart!
We messed up with eating dinner, so instead of going to Carlsbad and then coming back for the bat flight, we ended up just staying at the Caverns for the bat flight. The bat flight wasn't as exciting as we had hoped- maybe better luck next time. We ended up driving to Carlsbad (15 miles from the Caverns) and finally eating at Chilis at 10:00 at night. It was great being able to visit with Mike and Carrie. I miss hanging out with them, well, mostly Mike since he met Carrie after we left Las Cruces. But they're a fun bunch and I wish we lived closer to them. I think Carrie and I would get along great, and of course Mike and Loren have been friends for 18 years or so.

I am learning to live close to the lives of my friends without ever seeing them. No miles of any measurement can separate your soul from mine. - John Muir

My heart melted

Just a little while ago, we were all saying our "good nights" and "I love you's." I was holding Justin on my lap, nursing him, and called out to little Loren "I love you." Justin stopped nursing and yelled "Ove You!" So sweet. And then I said it to him a couple more times and he told me "Ove You" back several times and then fell asleep in my arms nursing. Oh, I love being a mommy, and I especially love his age!

My love/hate relationship with my job

I've been doing this paper route for the Roswell Daily Record for a little more than a month and I've developed a love/hate relationship with it. I'm still trying to figure out the pros and cons and make sure the pros still outweigh the cons.

The money is pretty good. Not as much as I originally anticipated, but it's better than me bringing $0 in. Of course, losing 40 customers all in one shot because they're not paying didn't help with the amount I expected and the amount I got. The newspaper collects the money for the carriers now, so my direct customer relations are pretty minimal.

I really like that I don't have to deal with many people. I always kind of thought I was a "people person" but I like doing my job alone. I'm really my own boss so as long as the papers are delivered and I'm not doing anything stupid, the Record doesn't care what I do while I'm delivering. My paper route is also my "alone time" away from the kiddos and I can listen to my radio and not have any running commentary from the 4.5-y-o and 21-m-o peanut gallery. I had to take the boys with me a few weeks ago when Loren went out of town and it was horrible- they stayed awake most of the time we were out and wouldn't be quiet.

The physical demands are actually a little more challenging too. I currently have to roll 225+ papers every night and then also throw them to the customers' driveways or put them in their tubes. My arms get tired after rolling every night, and my butt and back get sore from sitting in my car seat for 3.5+ hours. I try to leave my house around 1:00am and have the papers delivered before 5:15am, so I usually get to sleep around 5:45. Lately I've been sleeping until noon. But I know I'm not getting enough sleep, and definitely not enough *quality* sleep. My body has adjusted to the "time change" (on Mondays, when I don't have to deliver, I stay awake until about 4:30am) but I still feel like I'm in a bit of a fog when I wake up.

I try really hard to get up around 11 because it's not fair for the boys for me to sleep late, but it's hard to wake up. LL is pretty good about staying out of trouble in the morning- he'll watch tv most of the morning and can get his own breakfast most days. Justin is still in his crib and has actually been sleeping in too, so I haven't really worried about him much. I want to be able to go out and do fun things with my kids, but by the time I wake up and get everyone fed and dressed, half the day is gone and most of the things (ie. story time at the library, free movies at the theater) are already done for the day.

My car is taking the new "workout" pretty rough. Loren had to replace my brake pads and rotors on Sunday to the tune of $150- money that we didn't exactly have (well, sorta, since I DID get paid on Friday). Tuesday morning, I got a flat tire and thankfully enough, I was close enough to Job Corps that he met me there (thanks to Tara for going to the house to watch the boys) with no damage to the wheel. And he's my hero for fixing the tire in no time flat (no pun intended)- not even needing to just use a spare. Now I'm getting less than 10 miles to the gallon on gas, and my oil looks low.

Overall, I like my job, and I'm grateful for the job. I keep telling myself that I need to stick it out for at least a year. I don't think I've ever had a job that long, except for the vets and that doesn't count because most of that was volunteering. I plan on going back to school in the spring, but hopefully I can do school and work and keep up with the boys. And I also still plan on bringing Kiowa down here too. I'm getting tired just thinking about it!

Work isn't to make money; you work to justify life. ~Marc Chagall

An update

Been busy, busy! My sister, Jessica, graduated college in May, and then my cousin, Stuart, graduated from high school the week after that. So the boys and I spent a whole week up in Pojoaque with my parents, brother, and sister.

When I got back, I got a paper route. It took me about a week and a half to really get into a groove but I'm really enjoying it now. I've almost completely cut my time to 4 total hours out of the house. Except on Sundays, when the papers weigh 1 lb each and are extremely difficult to roll. The only thing I haven't learned (and am afraid to try) is how to roll and drive at the same time.

Someone asked me the other day which of my kids was the most difficult. I laughed and told her that they both are. Justin is my most difficult child in that he gets into the most mischief. He's always getting into things he's not supposed to, and swallowed a dime the other day. I still haven't seen the dime, but that doesn't mean it didn't pass. He loves to color and draw and he's very smart and observant. He talks a lot and it is fascinating to watch him express himself so much more.

Loren is my most difficult child in that he's got a very strong temperament. Loren (hubby) is out of town to New York this week and little Loren has been seriously pushing my buttons. He can count to 10 without help and can count to 20 with help. He knows all of his letters and their sounds and we're working on teaching him how to read and write. He's still addicted to Transformers and has requested a Transformers cake for his 5th birthday.

Um, not sure what else to update on right now. It's getting late and I gotta get the boys to bed before I have to put them in the car to take them on my route with me. Can't wait until Loren gets home so I can go all by myself again!

Frustrations

I'm not usually one to get easily frustrated or let things bother me. And all things considered in the events of the past 2 years, 2009 has been going fairly okay for us. But there have been a few things lately that have been frustrating for me and I guess I need to let this all out.

I posted a while back about needing hearing aids. I decided to go ahead and start the process and paid my half of the cost with some of our tax returns. Thankfully our insurance paid for the other half of them. When I paid for my half, I had already gotten my ear molds done so as soon as I paid they sent them off to the factory and told me that they should be in in 2.5 weeks. Last Wednesday was 2.5 weeks and I hadn't gotten a call, so I called them. The gal at the office said that she would call the factory and get right back to me. She called back later that afternoon and said the factory was still working on them but they should be done by the end of the week and they would have them overnighted. Fast-forward to today and the main guy himself called. He said something had happened and that the factory had lost my molds and that I have to go back in and have them redone. I'm frustrated by this because I am ready for them. I know I'll survive 2 more weeks without them- I've survived 21 years without them. But I have already come to terms with the fact that I need them. I want to know what I'm missing out on. I may not always want to hear my boys' constant chatter sometimes, but to be able to hear them clearly would mean a lot to me. I'm tired of waiting.

I have been waiting for a paper route from the Record. They offered me a route to Hagerman, but I turned it down because I'm not driving a 100 mile route every night. Last week, again on Wednesday, they called me and offered me a rural route west of town that wasn't as many miles (60 instead of 100). I figured that beggars can't be choosers and accepted it, even though it's still a lot of miles. They told me to come in at 1am and they would show me the route and then I could do the paperwork the next day. About 2 hours later, someone else called and said that the original paper route driver changed her mind and decided to keep the route. Why couldn't she have changed her mind BEFORE they called me!? Why couldn't they tell her "oh, sorry, we already gave the job to someone else!?" I'm anxious to get a route because I know I would do well at it.

I've also had a few problems with my cake business that I'm not going to dwell on here because I'd rather forget it. And business has been a little bit slow after my inital rush at the beginning of the month.

And I'm ready to plant my garden, dangit! The weather here has been all wacky. Warm for like 2 weeks and then a nice cold front comes and freezes us all. I want things to be steady warm so we can get our garden started.

Oh well, I'm sure things will right themselves and this will all be a moot point soon. One can hope, and one can pray.

Patience: A minor form of despair disguised as a virtue. ~Ambrose Bierce

My new camera

Back in November, my Kodak point-and-shoot digital camera broke. The piece that held the lens in place completely vanished. Apparently it fell off somewhere when I wasn't paying attention. So I've been without a camera for almost 5 months. Not fun, especially since I have two growing boys I want to photograph all the time.

I finally got my new camera in the other day. A Nikon D40. I LOVE it! We went to the zoo on Saturday and I got to play with it a little bit. I've still got a lot to learn, but I am beyond thrilled with the quality of the photos I've taken so far. I'm hoping for some big photo wins at the fair this year if I can learn more about composition, and of course learn more about all the vast aspects of more professional quality photography. One would think that I should know a lot about composition since I took 4 years of art in high school, but when it comes to photography, I still struggle a little. I'm just glad to be able to take some new pictures of my boys that aren't with my cell phone camera.

A good snapshot stops a moment from running away. ~Eudora Welty

My New Business Venture

For about 8 months now I have been dabbling in cake decorating. I took 3 of the Wilton cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby and I love doing it. I love the challenge that every cake gives me, even if I have similar requests. I don't even mind seeing my cakes get eaten- in fact, I kind of prefer it, because then there's less cake for me and I don't need it.

I did quite a few projects for friends and family, and for our playgroup last year, but I've only had a few "real" orders so far. I'm still trying to figure out my price set, and need to write up a basic contract, but I'm making a little money. I promised little Loren that I would use any money I made from my cakes towards riding the Durango train and our annual camping trip to Ouray this summer. I'm not sure what I'll save up for after we do that.

I posted a picture of one of my cakes from the fair back in October, but here are my most recent creations, which have not been posted on my website yet:

Bad Boys Basketball cake was for a local youth basketball team. I never did find out what exactly they were celebrating, but I did hear they absolutely loved the cake.

This cake has a bit of a bittersweet story that I won't go into on here. But I do have to say I am positively thrilled with how this Hannah Montana cake came out.

I'm very excited about this new business venture. I don't anticipate "getting rich" off of it, but it gives me a little extra money to put towards something special (like the train trip). And I enjoy doing it, which is, of course, the most important thing. My website for my cakes with a full gallery of my most recent creations can be found here: Treasure Heart Cakes.

If the people have no bread, let them eat cake.
-Attributed to Marie Antoinette

New Year, New Things

Okay, so it's been 2 months since I've posted anything. It's 2009. I am not making any real "resolutions" for the new year, but I do have some things I want to accomplish this year. Maybe if write it here, I'll be a little more diligent about it.

1) Get organized and keep the house neater. I'm trying, but sometimes I just get into a funk. I absolutely hate doing laundry, and right now that's my biggest crutch. Loren is trying to help me get the kitchen better organized, so hopefully I can get everything in the kitchen running smoother.

2) Take better care of myself. Let's face it. I'm so very out of shape. I feel "old" both mentally and physically. I saw something on tv the other day that said that the best way to improve your mental health and just your overall ability to mentally handle everyday things is to keep your physical health intact. I'm not so good in that department anymore. I might join the gym if I get a job. Which leads me to...

3) Get a job. We can survive with what we have now, but we're going nowhere fast. Me getting a job will give us that much-needed push to get better financially. My friend suggested delivering papers. I'm usually still awake at 1:00am (it's 1:33am as I right this, by the way...), so I could easily go out there, pick up my papers, roll them, and have them done by the time I actually go to sleep most nights. I'm also working on setting up a website to sell my crafts with another friend of mine, but I know that won't be something we could actually depend on to live. It's just something to do to get rid of all these crafts that I'm making that I don't really have any use for but need something to do and that keep piling up all over everywhere.

Um, I'm sure there's more, but I got sidetracked. Oh well. Here's to a new year!