March 28: Drink Displayer?

Day 322

I purchased this large drink container on clearance at WalMart a couple of summers ago and I've used it exactly once. It takes up a huge amount of space and I just don't think it's worth keeping around anymore. It's sort of like the relish dish I purged in my first week of this project...it's nice to have around in the event that you need it, but otherwise it's difficult to store and not getting used often enough.

March 27: Another Mug

Day 321

Today I'm purging another mug:

March 26: Walk With Me

Day 320

Now that it's spring, my favorite way to exercise is to go for a long walk. Though we live outside of city limits, we're only a mile from main street (it's the best of both worlds), so we often walk to town and back. Here are some pictures from our walking route.

First, we get Petie ready:

His outfit says "Pinch me, I'm crabby" on the front. an homage to my dad.

Then we load him into his stroller...this is a hand-me-down jogging stroller.

We come to a bridge:

There's still water in the creek! There's also a dead animal carcass. Gross.

We come to another bridge:

We arrive on Main Street: 

The large building in the middle is my favorite thrift store in the world.

Yes, we have a prom/bridal shop.

And a florist's shop!

We round the corner and come to Walter Chrysler's boyhood home:

That's about it for exciting landmarks. Bridges, main street, and Chrysler's house. We like it anyway.

Today I'm purging a set of coffee mugs. Call me crazy, but I'd rather keep our hodge-podge mug collection than our matching pairs!

March 25: Lampshade

Day 319

Today I'm purging a lampshade:

Aunt Jess gave Peter a helium balloon and he flips out whenever a) he gets near it or b) I have to take it away from him for some reason.

March 24: Hoodies

Day 318

I am off on my numbering. I believe that I have posted 320 times, but I'm only reading that I've posted 318. Oh well. I guess it's nothing I should lose sleep over. I actually became aware of the misnumbering a while ago and now it's way too late to go back and find the errors!

Today I'm purging Clint's slippers. He doesn't like them because they fall off his feet.

Peter and I were both wearing hoodie jackets this morning. When I wear this yellow hoodie, I think I look kind of like Big Bird.

March 23: Cake Pan

Day 317

This cake pan has seen better days.

Peter loves to ride on Clint's shoulders. He's such a big boy now! He also loves my orange spatula.

March 22: Shed Hunting

Day 316

Our weekend at the farm was great. Clint and I both went to reconciliation on Saturday night and we both had a wonderful experience. Sunday we went to mass, then Craig took me and Clint shed hunting. Shed hunting is when you walk deer trails trying to find antlers. This version of hunting is right up my alley. Adult, male deer loose their antlers every year after the rut, so it's possible to find the antlers anywhere where the deer regularly walk or congregate. We drove out to the creek and walked about a mile along some very wind-y deer trails and we had some success. Craig almost immediately spotted a deer carcass with the antlers still attached. Then I found a tiny antler from what was probably a 2-point buck. We took Zoey with us on this outing and she ran about four times as far as we walked.

At the turn-around point, we were all sitting down for a minute and Craig looked over to where Zoey was panting in the shade and said "What's that over there?" I went over to check things out and there was a large antler. The boys came over to inspect and Craig said, "It sure would be great to find the matching antler." Then I exclaimed "There it is!" It was less than two yards away. Apparently finding such a large set of antlers is rare and Craig was pretty impressed. He's even letting me keep the antlers, which I'm going to put in the Kansas room. It was a fun day.

Craig shows Peter the antlers.

I'm purging another of Clint's shirts today. The boy has more clothes than he can wear!

March 21: To the Farm We Go!

Day 315

This afternoon we're headed to the Clint's family farm. We haven't been since Christmas, so we're all looking forward to it. Especially Petie.

In this picture he's wearing basketball shorts and a large white t-shirt. T-shirts and shorts are a good look for him, but they make him look like such a big boy! I also think that when his hair looks dark, he looks an awful lot like me. He loves this wide-tooth comb for some inexplicable reason.

Today I'm purging one of Clint's shirts.

March 20: Maternity Shirt

Day 314

Today I'm purging a black maternity shirt. I rarely wore this before Peter was born because it is so dang short. Why would any clothing manufacturer think it's a good idea to make short maternity tops? This pregnancy I'm sticking with extra long tops!

March 19: Bag Sale II

Day 313

It's not easy to try and buy non-maternity clothes when you're halfway pregnant. As I stated yesterday, I went a little nuts in the bag sale and though I really like this skirt, there's no way it will fit me post-maternity. My waist just isn't this little anymore!

March 18: Bag Sale

Day 312

Last week my local thrift store was having a bag sale. When you went in the store you were given a large brown, paper bag and you could jam-pack it with as much clothing as you wanted for just $3. I went a little nuts. I think I bought 20 items, which means each item only cost about 15 cents. I kept telling myself that I only needed three quality items to justify the purchase of the whole bag (since clothes are usually $1/piece). As a result I ended up with a couple of things that I wanted to get rid of almost immediately. This skirt is one of them. Leopard print and floral are just not a good look for me. I think Clint's response was "Wow. That's different." Exactly.

I did find a cute pair of pajama pants for Peter, a Nautica shirt for Clint and a yellow zippy sweatshirt for me that are all definite keepers. I guess my purchases were justified!

March 17: Luck O the Irish

Day 311

To be honest, I forgot that today was St. Patrick's Day. I didn't wear a stitch of green to work. Luckily no one pinched me. Today is also my dear friend Kathleen's birthday! She and her husband just had their first baby, a little boy named Rory. After seeing his birth announcement, I quickly concluded that Rory is the spitting image of Kathleen's husband! He's so cute and I'm so happy for my friends.

Okay, so I had more library text books than I thought. This is the last one:

I'm hoping Clint can unload a few of these on E-bay, but too much time may have passed now.

March 16: Nicodemus

Day 310

This past Saturday I took a small group of library patrons to the nearby town of Nicodemus. Nicodemus is a neat little community and a VERY historical one. Nicodemus was settled entirely by freed African Americans during Reconstruction. To this day, Nicodemus is an all-black community and it is the only remaining all-black settlement in the United States. Nicodemus is a National Historic Site and a National Park. We drove the hour north to Nicodemus, but in 1877, the first settlers had to walk the 40 or so miles to their destination.

While in Nicodemus, we had a tour with Angela Bates, who is the executive director of the Nicodemus Historical Society and one of the main advocates of the community. Following the tour, Angela served us a catered lunch in her home (Angela also opperates a seasonal business, Ernestine's BBQ, in Nicodemus). Finally, we attended a program on African American hat culture. It was fascinating and beautiful and different than anything I'd ever seen before. Here are some pictures:

This is a cake!

The lady in orange was honored as a "hat diva" for her extensive collection and ability to wear a hat.

Some of these hats were called "showstoppers"

I've never lived in a time when women regularly wear hats in public or to church. Seeing this hat show and listening to the pride these women had in their hats made me want to go out and buy a hat...until I found out how much they cost. These women invest LOTS of money in their hats...sometimes more than $500!

I'm purging another text book today.

March 15: Pipers Piping and Drummers Drumming

Day 309

Have you ever listened to a band of bagpipers and drummers in a confined space? No? Well let me tell you, it's LOUD. Today I had a bagpipe band concert at the library and Clint was nervous to even let me attend because he though the music might be too loud for the baby...my unborn baby. My doctor reassured me that the concert would be fine and that the baby would probably even enjoy the music, so I attended the concert today. I learned all about bagpipes, tartans and Scottish lore.

Yet again, I'm purging a text book:

March 14: Happy Birthday Mary!

Day 308

Today is my older sister Mary's birthday. Mary is a pharmacist, a mom, a wife and a hurricane survivor :)  Mary famously taught herself how to read by listening to Tiki-Tiki-Tembo over and over again. Mary loves Diet Coke, Garth Brooks and redheads.

While Mary and I had our share of disagreements when we were young, I have many tender memories of my fair-haired sister. When I was in kindergarten, my sister was in charge of walking me from our bus to my classroom. At the age of 5, I had a terrible fear of black toilet seats (they reminded me of snakes). I refused to go to the bathroom during the four hours I had to be in kindergarten, so my sister would take me into the bathroom every morning before school and cover the black toilet seat with white toilet paper so I wouldn't be afraid. This is one of my clearest memories of kindergarten. (I still have a fear of black toilet seats. I don't refuse to use them, but whenever I walk into a stall that has a black toilet seat, my first reaction is still fear. Weird.) I also remember that when I was in 7th grade, my sister sent me flowers on my birthday. No one had ever sent me flowers before and this stands out as a remarkable act of thoughtfulness on my sister's part. There are few things better than being 13 and receiving flowers at school. Mary has always been a thoughtful, tender-hearted person and my memories reflect those qualities.

So maybe I can't send Mary flowers on her birthday, but I can dedicate this blog post to her and to all of the kind things she does.

I love you Mary!

Mary with Peter

Today I'm purging another text book:

March 13: Text Book

Day 307

When I first became a librarian I imagined that I would often be referring to my library textbooks. How wrong I was. Librarianship is a profession that requires an advanced degree and yet, it is a profession that is very hard to learn from a book. Everything I know about being a librarian, I've learned since becoming one!

March 12: Ear Tubes It Is

Day 306

The verdict is in, Peter will have to have ear tubes. The up side is that the surgery can be done locally. The down side is that the ENT is so booked that we can't even get a consultation for two more weeks. Petie is so strong and good humored, but I think two more weeks of ear infection may drive us all crazy!

Today I'm purging a puzzle that I had bought for a library program last year. I guess I'll put it on the free cart or donate it to the adult dept.

March 11: Books and Beaus

Day 305

Today I'm purging a book I had taken from the free cart. Today I return it to the free cart.

March 10: Clint Shirt III

Day 304

Another of Clint's shirts today, and yes, this is the pile of purged items in my room. My room is less a sanctuary than a dumping ground. ughh.

March 9: Sonogram!!

Day 303

Today I went to the Dr. for my 20 week appt and I also had a sonogram. The baby is a mover and a shaker, so we barely got any pictures. We also found out the sex! I will eventually announce the sex on this blog, but in the meantime, I've sent little cards to my parents and siblings to let them know. Be watching your mail!!

Petie also went to the Dr. today and he has to have antibiotic shots all week. If his infection still doesn't clear up, he'll have to have ear tubes :(

Today, another one of Clint's shirts. This is actually the shirt he wore on our first date!

March 8: Still a Sickie

Day 302

Poor little Petie is still a sickie. He's now had a cold for three weeks and an ear infection for two. He's also running a fever. I guess we'll go back to the Dr. if he doesn't feel better tomorrow. I got some great pictures of him today though.

I'm purging a few of Clint's shirts this week: