Good Morning everyone! It is cold and snow on the ground here in SE Ohio. I spent the day yesterday cleaning and sorting. the kids receied several new gifts, so they did some room re-arranging and sorting out as well. I still have to clean my bedroom, and catch up on the laundry. Cale is off muzzle-loader hunting, and the kids are getting ready to go outside! They won't be out long I don't imagine, it is cold!!

It is kind of funny this week between christmas and New Years, almost like a week of limbo! I like to have everything clean and organized before the new year. I have taken down a lot of Christmas decorations but the trees are still up. I will take then down on Sunday afternoon I think.

Some of my goals for January include putting pictures in albums, The kids gave me a new photo album for Christmas. I also want to make new curtains for the famnily room, and my bedroom. Another project is to sort out all of my dishes ans pots and pans. Some of them just need pitched out (I will save them for animal feeders and watering pans)

I am on a continuing quest to streamline my life. It is so easy to accumulate too many things. I am saving all kid-type items for the 4-H club. For our fund-raiser this year we are having a sale during the community yard-sale day ,in June. All of the members will donate used toys, books, and other items appropriate for children and set up a table to sell these things. We also plan to have a bake sale and sell pop. We thought this would be better than selling some type of over-priced catalog item. Two-fold project: clean out your un-used items, and recycling rather than throwing them away. I am saving these things in the tubs I keep under my bed, as the Christmas items are now out of them.

We also donate many items to the firemans auction each year. I put all of these items in a section of my attic and when May comes around we load them up and take them to the fire-house. They make over $3000 every year from the items that people in the community donate. It is fun to go and see everyone and buy a few things.

So these are a few of my work projects and maybe I can convince Cale to do a few small building projects as well!!

I hope everyone has a good day!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), December 27, 2001

Answers

Melissa, Thursday morning means back to work. Luckly the next couple of days are slow and ill do 3/4 days. Drive in was fun. It is cold and snow on the ground here in North Central Ohio as well. Not a whole lot of snow (under 2 inches) on the ground but the idiots are out driving and causing accidents. WHen will city people figure out, Its Four wheel drive, Not Four wheel stop.

Was home yesterday, wife spent the day re-arranging things. Getting the boxes back out for the xmas oraments, re-arranging the kids room to move out the old toys and move in the new. Me, I just kept out of her way.

-- Gary (gws@columbus.rr.com), December 27, 2001.

We are taking down our tree tonight. Pretty dry by now, but we put it up really early this year. I started back to work (day care) yesterday. I was sure not ready for that!!! I am not so tired today. My oldest son still at home got a Foodsaver for me for Christmas, so I plan to play with that today during the kids naptime. Was going to have a yard sale with my cousins this Sat. but it is supposed to rain so we cancelled. ( I am in Calif. where we have that sort of thing all year) I am actually releived. I love Christmas and I agree about this limbo week. The kids are out of school, but moms are back to work, so I have even more kids to watch...older ones. And it will seem so blank without the Christmas decorations and lights and all. I am furiously knitting some slippers for my dads birthday Jan 3rd. They are from yarn I spun, and are the kind with the suede soles that will be sewn to the bottom. They are in greens and browns..a varigated yarn...masculine loooking colors. I hope he will like them. I am not much of a shopper (except for feed stores and books and garden type plants) so I didn't go out and take advantage of all the sales yesterday. We have a New years birthday in our family. My sister in law..so Our new years celebration will be her birthday party...and then home by 9 or 10. We usually fake a midnight for the little kids about 9pm so they can go to bed and feel they saw the new year change. Then we will probably stay up until midnight and do quiet activities and then go to bed. I am up that late most nights anyhow. Last year we played Monopoly. I hope I have these slippers done....if not I will still be knitting like crazy. Have a great week everyone!! Jenny

-- Jenny (Auntjenny6@aol.com), December 27, 2001.