A new year

So, where have I been, dear readers? (You are out there, yes?) Well, mostly I've been right here, where I always am. But in between the usual I have been successful at maintaining a moderate level of productivity around here (in real life that is, clearly not blogging). And what does that mean? It means that I've been purging all the way back to the deep dark corners of every single closet and cabinet and drawer around here, and it feels GOOD. Some local friends have put together a challenge where we each set our own daily goals, but *must* get rid of a set amount each day. I resolved to one garbage bag full. Per day. And I've managed to do it. It sounds insane, I know, especially after how much I've already done in previous months, but there have been some scary closets cleared out, and I'm feeling better and better as each bag gets to the curb or the donate bin. Paring down to just what we use, need, and love is so much nicer than hanging onto junk "just in case we need it someday."

Of course, whenever productivity increases in one area, it decreases in another. Or at least for me. While I've been staying on top of, oh, doing the dishes while in the midst of this crazy thorough purge, my cooking has gone off-the-charts terrible. For lunch today? I seriously pulled some bread out of the freezer, toasted it, slathered on some marinara from a jar, sprinkled it with mozzarella, and then microwaved it. I don't know what I was thinking. Thankfully, my toddler happily called it pizza and shoved the whole thing in her mouth. I choked it down and washed it down with a cupcake. And then an oatmeal raisin cookie. And then another cupcake.

It's a good thing I didn't make any weight loss goals for the new year, huh.

Another thing I set out to do is use my DSLR on the manual setting at least once a day, every day, in my own special 365 challenge. It's only been 12 days, but so far I've stuck with it, so maybe there's hope for me yet. You can check out those photos in this Flickr tag set.

I should head off to cook now. Actually cook. Like, cut up vegetables and turn on the stove type cookies cooking. Total Freudian slip there. Oh, this sweet tooth of mine...