26::365 { One Photo a Day } ... The Pantry

I immersed myself into the pantry today. We have an awesome walk-in pantry, but it becomes a dumping ground for lots of things. And you can imagine it was... um, well... a freakin' mess! It took me pretty much all day but it's complete. I have boxes upon bags of things to donate, and two large recycling garbage bins full of cardboard. 

Now I can breathe a little easier. Simplify, simplify, simplify. My mantra for 2011.

Here's a few more pics to document this event. Sorry, they're not the best quality but you get the idea. Now 2/3 of the pantry is dedicated to food (it was only 1/3 prior), and we dedicated three full shelves to arts & crafts, party supplies, etc. 

Can I get an amen?

25::365 { One Photo a Day } ... Rescue Heroes

Rescue Heroes. Sean's newest love. He's been asking about them for a few months. You see he inherited these from his second cousins, Cullen & Logan, along with a ton of Geotrax. And I secretly banished these guys to the basement in hopes that we could wait a while before introducing them to Sean's toy rotation (this of course sounds like I have an organized rotation system in place... but I don't... unless you call once a year tossing a bunch of "old" toys into storage bins an organized system).

But lo and behold Sean started asking about his "super heroes" a few months ago. I played dumb for about six weeks, pretending not to know what he was talking about. And then he started explaining he got them from Cullen and Logan, his cousins, and I couldn't really play dumb any longer. The heroes were released from banishment. Sean plays with them nonstop. And they are frequently lined up like you see here, just waiting to rescue someone.

24::365 { One Photo a Day } ... Saving

When your husband is out of work for over a year, you learn how to cut corners and collect coupons. I follow several couponing blogs daily, and have saved hundreds of dollars on groceries, personal care, household items, clothing, toys and more. Just today we received more than $30 in checks in the mail for rebates, surveys, etc.

Mondays are my day to go shopping. I primarily hit Jewel for my groceries and Target for the good grocery deals, household, toys, etc... too many stores makes me crazy. And this receipt is proof of my savings... 56% off retail. Not bad for a day's work. And to add to the sweetness I had a rebate debit card in the amount of $12.86, so I charged less than $20 to my credit card. I won't bore you with everything I bought, but trust me when I say my cart was pretty full.

The good news is I think I'm getting into the rhythm, and feel like it might just be a lifestyle change. Going simple in 2011.

23::365 { One Photo a Day } ... Go Bears (not!)

I took a handful of photos today of things we did to support our Chicago Bears in their playoff game versus the Packers. Such as yummy cupcakes, and a cute little build-a-bear baby bear in a Bear's jersey (how many time can I say bear?). But the Bears lost 21-14. Bummer. The game was really weird... the Bears didn't show up, and the Packers didn't play well in spite of it. Anyway, as a true Chicago fan I say, "there's always next year!"

This was the one non-Bears photo taken today. My heart melted and sighed "awww" looking at his baby blues and that beautiful smile. And the lighting was yummy in the playroom. I need to take my pictures here.

22::365 { One Photo a Day } ... Playroom

I worked pretty much all day cleaning, decluttering, and organizing the playroom. It really. really. needed it. And surprisingly Sean went along with it, and even helped me pack away some toys he's outgrown.

What I loved best about going through everything was to find things we'd forgotten about -- like these parquetry blocks I got while I was working for Learning Resources. Sean loved them, and we had a fun time working on colors, shapes, and matching. All that fun preschool stuff. And he's clearly got that whole hard-working, sticking out my tongue look down.

A walk in the woods

Sean and I went for a walk in the woods a few days ago, and had the most awesome time. He has been dying to get outside and play in the snow, but we haven't had a lot of time this week. But this day I made the time, and we went to Veteran's Acres Park just down the street from our house.

It is such a gem of a place, and I often have to remind myself not to take it for granted. There's lots of open land, large old oak trees, a big pond with lilly pads (not right now, of course), open prairie, pine groves, forest, and just the right amount of deer to make you stop and gawk with awe. I used to go walking here a lot before Sean was born. I would walk through the woods and into the open prairie, and never fail my spirit would be lifted and transported to a much calmer state of being.

Lucky for me I didn't get my act together earlier in the day, and we ended up leaving the house around 3:30 in the afternoon. This didn't help us much with the dropping temps. But it did provide for some very yummy lighting for pictures.



Since Sean's been born I haven't had much time to go here regularly for walks. That bums me out a little. But now that he's older I'm excited about the adventures he and I can have together here. Promise.



21::365 { One Photo a Day } ... Baby, It's Cold Outside

Baby, it's cold outside. Right now it's -5 degrees, wind chill -15 degrees. We stayed inside all day... I did step out to snap this picture, but that was it. It's too darn cold.