spring cleaning, decluttering and pre-baby projects

Hey Y'all!

Today is a revelation day for me.  The CVMA meeting has passed, (our monthly meeting) so I'm done making some get-back whips for motorcycles and doo rags (or durag, depending on which part of the country you live in.) for now.  I'm making more in about 2 weeks, but as for right now, I'm in pre-baby mode.

Nesting is taking an interesting turn.  I want to grab a snow shovel (hard to find in Alabama...) and start scooping up all the clothes and toys and crap that has accumulated everywhere and start dumping it into a trash dumpster.  Seriously- I'm tired of everything everywhere and it's rather hard when the kids outnumber you and you are 9 months pregnant and can't bend down like you used to.  Heck, rolling over causes me to groan and moan, imagine getting on my knees to do the little tasks I need to do to pick up whatever has fallen on the floor.

I feel the need to declutter.  Get rid of crap.  All of it- if it doesn't have a home, I haven't used it in a year (not holiday or baby stuff) or kids have outgrown or it's broken, beat up or damaged in any way, or even if I just don't LOVE it anymore, it's got to go.

So, for the next week (body allowing) I'm going through my school room, living room, dining room, kitchen, laundry/play room and bedrooms to prepare for the coming bambino.  Since I am having an out-of-the-norm birth, I need to have many, many things prepared.  This includes medical supplies if needed.

I guess you could call this spring cleaning a pre-baby project, but in addition to the cleaning, I also have about 100 diapers to still make (still have Abi and Elli in diapers, and Nate is only in them at night.), about 20 pairs of nursing pads and mama cloths (because I'm allergic to the paper ones sold in stores).

Oh, and another pre-baby project I'm doing:  Getting my dining room (at least!) decorated in the country decor that I want.  I have the stuff, I'm just needing my big, strong, strapping husband to get it up on the walls! I love that man- he puts up with so much from me.

I don't know if this is pre-baby or post- baby, but I have about 20 dresses I have to sew for my twins, about 10 skirts to so for Zoe, and some shorts for the boys for summer.

Looking forward to it, and of course, I'll keep you posted.

I bought another printer yesterday.. a lesson in impulse buying.

No, the impulse buy wasn't the printer.  I needed one because my old HP crapped itself.  To the point it wouldn't print a test page- with new cartridges.

SO, this time I decided to get a cheap version.  the printer I have now, does everything but faxes (don't need it to- no house line!) and I only want it for printing coupons and patterns for my girls' dresses (Shout out to Dawn at Olabelhe.com!  <3 her="" p="">
Anyway, I was on the phone with the guy from tech support (somewhere in India- I could barely understand him.  His supervisor- I could understand just fine.) and he offered me an extended warranty for 24.99.  While this seemed like a "good" buy, for 3 extra years, think about this- the printer is "supposed" to last at least 6 years by itself.  So if nothing happened, it would be a complete waste of money to insure my el cheapo printer, in essence paying $75 instead of $50.

Another reason I declined it was because he was only allowing me 2 minutes to make the decision.  I found out a long time ago to avoid impulse buying.  If I had to make a split-second decision to spend more money, the answer would always be no.  So, I declined his offer.  The funniest thing about this was he didn't understand what I meant.  I said "no, I'm not going to get it."  He didn't understand.  I think he was only used to hearing the positive.

Anyway, impulse buying- that will blow your money fast, so whether you're standing in line at target, the grocery store, or even on the phone with a tech support guy from India, my suggestion is unless they give you a really GREAT deal (1/2 the printer cost is not a great deal to me.) don't impulse buy.