I may never recover.

That’s an awfully long time to spend not only standing in a closet, but looking at yourself. In a full length mirror. In various degrees of your altogether. (No pictures. You’re welcome.) Not something I’m terribly comfortable doing!

Why was I doing this, you ask? Because my closet has, over the past 7 years, become an oasis for every stray box and unneeded whatsit we’ve been unable to find a proper place for in the rest of the house. I’m tired of taking my life in my hands when I enter my closet. I really would love to see my clothes, shoes, hand bags, and that tiny bit in the far back that Hubby is allotted for his clothes. ;) I’m sure he’d really like to be able to get to them too!

So for 3 hours, I went through racks (and to be honest, heaps) of clothes, trying every single item on. Anything that has ever made me cringe? Gone. Anything that is too big due to Jenn 2.0? Gone. Shoes that pinch my toes or fall off because I bought them a ‘smidge too big because they only had them in that size’ ? Gone! Also gone are my favourite Nine West red pumps that fit perfectly, but the lining in the toes is turning to some sort of weird clay-like sludge?? What’s that all about? Yuck!

4 big garbage bags full of clothes – some that still have the price tags on them too – are now sitting outside of my closet. And I’m not done. My eking-out groove was interrupted by a torrential rain storm that took out our power for a couple hours.

Because the internet was also MIA due to the power failure, the Teen busied herself making beaded bracelets (her newest craze… which I keep stepping on this morning, and Boo is having a grand time chasing around the kitchen floor! *sigh*)

Wee One thought it was great fun to be put to bed via candlelight, and asked me to leave the candle on her dresser because it was “soooooo beautiful”! (I didn’t though, don’t panic!)

Today I’m ‘back in the closet’, paring down even more, and getting rid of crap I didn’t even know I/we had. Enough with the clutter, already!

I hereby solemnly swear the following;

1. To always try clothes on before buying. What looks good on a hanger in the store doesn’t always translate to looking good on the bod.

2. To stop buying clothes that don’t fit properly. I hate wearing tight clothes, but clothes that hang because they’re too big don’t look any better. Enough.

3. Stop buying jeans. I discovered that I have over 2 dozen pairs now, and that’s after I got rid of about 10 pairs!

My name is Jenn, and I’m a Shopaholic.

Back to the closet… wish me luck.

Consequently, and because we had near-summer temperatures all of last week and into the weekend, we have an early spring happening here! Plants that never poke their heads out until later in April are well underway. Take a walk with me in my back yard, and I’ll show you.

Look at how green the grass is! Granted, it didn’t get all the way brown over the winter, but in the space of a few days, it has become vibrant again!

My french lilacs are in full bud, and doing really well by the looks of it. Note to self: Plant hanger is looking less rusTIC than rusTY – time to replace it!

These gorgeous delicate wildflowers are everywhere… they’re called Blue Eyed Grass, and we have 3 varieties growing hither and yon.

These paper hyacinth are about 4 weeks ahead of schedule!

These lovely orange tulips are timeless… our spring last year was so nasty, and everything was delayed. So in desperation for some colour, I put some dollar store fakes in the garden (and never removed them!) ;)

Remember Floyd? He’s still here, guarding the serviceberry trees. Hard to imagine that these scrawny sticks will become lush with green leaves, and heavy with berries in only a few weeks’ time.

My lovely heather – how I wish it would bloom all season.

So much work still to be done – doesn’t matter how many times we cleaned up the leaves in the autumn, living in the “rural” part of town means you never get the job done.

And colour me happy that I have an early reason to use this lovely screen door fob now! Thanks for the gift, ShaMoo! I should get one at dog-height so Sadie won’t keep trying to plow through the door in the dark…

I’m itching to get my planters done, but I realize it’s still too early for that. I might just get some hanging baskets this week, and bring them inside if there’s a risk of frost… I’m happy that our many many (TOO many) gardens are full of perennials, and only require some minor upkeep.

Thanks for joining me on my walk!

And remember when I told you the same thing a couple days later, and I was still pretty nice, but getting that expression on my face that sometimes makes you and your dad apologize without quite knowing why?

So last night, you should have known I meant business when I said that I would throw away every single toy that was left on the floor if it wasn’t cleaned up by today… right?

Can you explain to me then, why you went into hysterics when I quietly started placing said toys into the garbage bag this evening? Did you really think it was a good idea to ignore Mommy all that time, and keep dumping out those itty bitty Polly Pocket outfits, shoes, and other assorted plastic junk all over the floor?

I know that’s a lot of questions, Sweet Pea, but I’m really just trying to understand what your thought process is. You know Mommy always does what she says she’s going to do, so it couldn’t have been a real surprise for you.

I know that room is generally considered your toy box, but before you came along… it used to be our family room. I’d kinda like it back, if you don’t mind. Even, in fact, if you do. You’re welcome to stay, naturally, but your toys have to find another place to live. Your bedroom is pretty big, so let’s start there, shall we?

You know what I found particularly interesting, during your sob-fest, Baby Girl? I found it extremely enlightening that you were only upset that I put your stuffed dog in the bag, and didn’t seem to care about all the dolls, doll clothes, Polly Pocket stuff, Littlest Pet Shop animals, Barbies, or anything else for that matter.

I think maybe I have a kid with too many toys. I think maybe… just maybe, mind you, you might be a teensy bit spoiled. For that I fear I must take full responsibility.

I see a big toy clean out in our future.

Don’t forget about the contest!

Where did I get rid of all of these things, you ask? Freecycle! I love Freecycle. There are so many good things to say about it that can rarely be said about donating anywhere else. The best part is that you handle it all via email, and the recipient of your item comes to pick it up from your house. You can even leave it on the doorstep for them! I love that. No more carting bags or boxes of donations to the Salvation Army (who in my experience never appreciates it anyway) or Goodwill (same thing), and you can give your items to the person you want to have it, based on your own criteria. I love giving things to students and single parents, and people who are experiencing a rough time financially. Gives me warm fuzzies. I had a stream of happy people coming up my driveway today, and it was great!

We also had burgers and that corn recipe from a few days ago for dinner tonight, and it really was as awesome as I predicted!! The flour and parmesan cheese made the butter able to stick to the corn rather than dripping off, and the flavour was… Mmmmmmmm! I think I’ll make some modifications next time I make it though.  I used fresh basil, and next time I’ll use dried. I’ll also use a bit more flour and another full TBSP of parmesan cheese. We had 5 cobs of corn, so I used a bit more butter, too. It was very yummy though! A hit with not only hubby and myself, but both kids too – that never happens! We will definitely make this for our next BBQ.