Stuffocation Solutions

So, it seems my penchant for de-junking is more than just a pregnancy-induced mania to get rid of everything I own. Almost 2 months after baby girl was born, I carry the strong desire to discard excess. I see small piles of clutter all over my home. I'm not a slob, but I'm much more tidy when things have their own proper place. I dislike relocating sections of my pantry or cupboards to fit whatever space it seems to take up at any given moment. I always want to know that my canned goods belong one specific place, my boxes of cereal in their own place, etc. But if some item that appears on a rotating basis in my home (such as bills to be paid) doesn't have a regular and functional space to live in, my organizational world turns upside down. Said item floats from one surface to the next until it is dealt with and discarded--only to cause chaos once more when its replacement arrives.

I am not a hoarder, but I did once love collecting and holding on to sentimental things. In fact, I accumulated so many sentimental things that that was all I ever decorated with: knickknacks (if you forget my feelings about knickknacks and the like, read the asterisk beginning with "stuff"). One day in college I looked around my space and thought, "Wow. All this stuff is cool and funky, and I hate all of it." On a personal style level, anyway. All it really comes down to is that my living space did not/does not say what I want it to say. My space is beautiful, don't get me wrong. But right now it says, "warm and inviting," when what I want it to say is "calm and relaxing." A nuance, maybe, but those descriptions conjure up very different decor ideas in my mind. I'm not so much interested in creating a home that reflects who I am as I am interested in creating a home that makes its dwellers and its guests feel calm and at peace. I like a clean, contemporary look. "Stuff" just gets in the way of all that.

So, while perusing Merriam-Webster to make sure I was using the word "penchant" correctly, I came across an article of newly added words, including: Stuffocation. My home looks nothing like that picture. But I can certainly relate to the sentiment in the definition.

Luckily, we live in a digital age, and I'm hoping this will be my safety. Over the next year or so, it's my goal to get the Tingey house as paperless and digital as possible. I'm going to upload all my CDs onto iTunes and all my favorite books onto my (mom's) Kindle; then, I'm going to get rid of the physical copies. I don't even care if my computer crashes and I lose everything and have to start rebuilding a music library all over again. Our DVD collection is a little more tricky. The other day we discussed just storing the discs in binders and discarding all the jewel cases. I'm hoping that becomes a reality. Think of all the shelf space that will be able to store things that need to be kept around. Imagine a world with no clutter piles...

Sigh. I think I just reached Nirvana.

P.S. If anyone has a great solution for the "just walked through the door" clutter pile, I'd be MUCH obliged to hear what you came up with. See the "comments" section below? That's for you. :)

A Few of My Favorite Things

So, the whole concept of the Top 5 list sort of...well, disappeared, really. I kind of got bored with the whole thing. But this week, I kept thinking about how a few small simple items just make my life a lot better, and before I knew it, this post was half-written in my head.

Top 5 Little Things that Make a BIG Difference:

1. Kava Hairbrush: Several months ago a precious now-2-year-old threw my beloved brush into a toilet. Yuck. Last week, I finally got a new one (thanks, Mom!). We are reunited--and yes, it feels so good. Like a scalp massage with every brush-through.

2. Latex sponge foam pillow: Many years ago, I stole such a pillow from my younger sister Katy. I have not admitted it until this day, in spite of the fact that she knows I took it as well as I do. It's a long-standing transgression that I have not repented of, because I can not bring myself to regret my actions. These pillows... ah, can I even describe the joy? They practically bounce when you drop them on the floor. The springiness accounts for how you always get the perfect amount of soft resistance from your pillow. Sleeping on anything else literally gives me a headache. Does this make me a diva vis-a-vis the Princess and the Pea? Absolutely. And I'm not a bit ashamed of it.

3. Semi-sweet chocolate chips: Make a powerful contribution to any chocolate chip cookie (and to the size of my thighs, but... whatever). I. Love. Chocolate. Chips. In college while writing English essays or news articles, I kept a sizable handful nearby. Perfect to munch on while trying to figure out how to be brilliant.

4. Size 5 circular knitting needles: With needles too big or small, my hands cramp up after a while, and I can't get into a really great rhythm. But size 5 needles are bliss, the Goldilocks zone of my knitting world.

5. The Book of Mormon: A chapter a day keeps the devil away. Truly, I can't thing of any other thing in my life that yields so much from such little effort on my part. On really great days, I have time to sit and ponder. Mostly, it's just reading because I know I should. In spite of my lack of engagement, there is a power in just reading this book; it has the power to elevate my life from the "getting by" mentality to the "life is good/I'm so grateful/let's get things done" mentality. A few days without it (or Gospel study of some kind) and my perception of my world begins to deteriorate and the mean reds take over. It's like the difference between plain old vanilla ice cream and a super hot fudge sundae with peanuts on top. Only much more important. So grateful for my testimony of this inspired--and inspiring--work.

Ada's Blessing

Today we blessed our baby girl. It's been a lovely day. We were lucky enough to have both mine and Chris's parents in town, as well as some of our siblings and some beloved family friends.

It should be noted that Ada is the first daughter of a first daughter of a first daughter for a few generations back. Also the first granddaughter of a first granddaughter for... I'm not sure how many generations back. Really glad we got these photos today. Really glad I decided to take a chance on some big earrings. I never buy big jewelry, or big accessories of any kind. Being little myself, I feel like they speak louder than I do and pass over them as a general rule without a second look. But these are lovely, aren't they? Also, while I'm being vain, I may as well state that these pictures solidify that I like the left side of my face better than the right.

Also this week was Ada's one-month mark. Some notes about this girl so far:

*In one word: Hungry

*Has strawberry-brownish hair

*My mother says she's the spitting image of me

*Knew who her daddy was right from birth; daddy's girl

*Wakes 1-2/night

*Is fascinated by W

*Has a fussy spell each evening from about 5-8; giving her an extra feeding seems to help

*Deep blue eyes

*Favorite lullaby so far seems to be The Beatles's "Golden Slumbers"; also responds to "Sweet Baby James" (which I sing as Sweet Ada Jane, naturally)

*Already batting at toys in front of her

*At about 50% for both height and weight