December 19: The Turning of the Tide?

So last night was ... better. Only 35 minutes to get to sleep the first time. Two wake ups (at 10 pm and 4 am). On the whole, better. Still heart-breaking, but better.

Today was a work day. We cleaned quite a bit (prepping for a party that we had for G's band), which was good. I've been doing a little project lately -- purging 35% of our unused "stuff" before the end of the year. I had quite a few piles around the house of things that were to be purged, but today we got them into the garage and into the recycling bin. It was nice to get them out of the house, but it just underlined how much further we have to go. Tomorrow should be a big day: we're purging clothes (mostly G and I), books (again, mostly G and I), and A's toys. We've got a ridiculous amount of toys at this house, and with the holidays... You know.

I'm a little mortified at the amount of waste our household generates. After the "stuff purging" project gets done, I'm going to focus on reducing the amount of waste we produce. And while we do recycle a lot, there's just a lot of waste that is either going in the garbage can or the recycling bin. I know we're a little limited on the overall percentage we can reduce in terms of things going in the trash (due to diapers, primarily), but we're going to try for a 35% reduction -- I seem to like that percentage for some reason! :-)

We finished up holiday cards today. It's a little later than I had hoped for, but at least they are done. I'm putting them in the mail on Monday. I had hoped to get to the post office today, but it just didn't happen. I have four packages that need to get out, as well. In any case, I'm posting the holiday letter as a separate blog post. I think next year, we're just going to send photos with the blog address -- maybe save some paper

We had an interesting conversation with A today. We were reading his world history book (it's more of a picture book that generates conversations, as opposed to a story or a story line) and there was pictures of a battle during the crusades. A soldier was on the ground, and appeared either injured or dead. A wondered why the soldier was on the ground and we explained that the soldier was either hurt or dead. A then wondered how he died, and we said that it was likely a sword wound or a spear. Well he was surprised! He had no clue that swords actually could injure or kill someone. He just thought that they were "clangers" --> he likes the noise. It's so odd how I think that he gets something when he in fact has no real clue. It also makes me concerned that he parrots more than he ever understands (which is like a lot of kids, but still).

In any case, we had G's band over for a concert and dinner. They are *great*! I really enjoyed their music and look forward to hearing them play out at some gigs. We had lasagna, rolls, and salad. The menu is becoming a bit of a standard (we did it last weekend as well), but it is so quick to put together with the no-boil lasagna noodles and the breadmaker. And, I gotta say, it's pretty tasty (and a good leftovers generator --> great for lunches). B and A were so good while the band was over. It was a really relaxing evening!

Poor little B was so tired after the excitement of the evening, he fell asleep almost immediately. There was just a few squawks and then peaceful sleep. Hopefully, the sleep sticks for the evening!

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