My days. My nights. My life. Lived well.

So, with my clutter mostly cleared and 2009 behind me, I can start moving onto some new things I am hoping to do this year. My main goal this year is to create something each day. Spending 2009 dealing with stuff that has been holding me back has given me so much energy to create- write, take pictures, crochet, sew, cook, whatever. As I’ve been organizing for the past year- the only year where it actually seemed like there was an end to it- I’ve been thinking about all of the things I could do with the time I would have since I wouldn’t be organizing so intensely.

I’ve dug through Rubbermaid totes full of books, old crafting supplies, mementos, magazines and whatnot; I’ve had to learn to let go of things I thought I might do. This past year has been a huge lesson in living in the present. No keeping clothes that used to fit. No keeping books I’ve owned for 8 years and still haven’t read. No keeping the scrapbooking supplies still unused in the Creative Memories binder on a shelf in the closet. This year, I plan on sharpening the skills I have developed in the past year for organizing and letting go of things. I probably still have more stuff than the average person, but I have purged so much that I feel so light compared to how it used to weigh me down.

So, internet, here are the things I hope to accomplish in the last (first?) year of this decade 2010:

1. As I stated above, I want to create one thing each day. This can be a crafty project- and likely will be one of the millions I have bookmarked. But if I’m not doing a crafty thing, I have to make something. So a dinner or recipe from scratch (Trader Joe’s frozen meals do not count). Or a picture that actually takes some set up like a still life as a creative outlet. Writing also counts, so a blog post works or a chapter of a book I may have in my head.
2. I will crochet 365 granny squares this year. I want to do this for practice and so I can make a blanket or baby quilt or scarf. Again, this goes along with #1. It was going to be 1-per-day, but I honestly don’t crochet a lot in the summer, so the goal is 365 by the end of the year.
3. I want to go out and hang with Rob’s parents once a month. There are two reasons this is important to me. One is that I think we should spend more time with Rob’s family. The second is kid of selfish in that as I’m crafting more things I know I will run into techniques that I don’t understand or that I need a better explanation for. Rob’s mom is an absolute fountain of crocheting/knitting/sewing knowledge and she has provided me with several a-ha/lightbulb  moments as I have learned to crochet and sew. I figure I’m stupid not to use such a wonderful resource.
4. Eat out less. Part of doing all of this organizing has left me without the energy to really cook. However, I feel so much better when I do, and I know Rob appreciates it and so do our waistlines.
5. Travel more to visit friends. I have been meaning to go visit a million people in a million places here in the US, and I haven’t made the time. This is the year that I’m going to be more spontaneous and find cheap flights to visit my friends that I miss dearly or to go and finally meet some online ones.
6. Give more feedback. Sometimes when I’m buying something I go and look for reviews and I really appreciate good ones, so I need to put in my 2 cents about some things that I have so others have the information to make purchasing decisions. This also will include just telling people “great job” or “this could have been better- and here’s how” more.
7. Give more of myself by volunteering. This past year I have been pretty self-absorbed. My desire to conquer my clutter has been a pretty intense process, and I’ve been kind of selfish about it and selfish with my time. So, this year I want to balance some things out a bit and give more of myself and my time to my community. I haven’t decided how yet, but honestly after this year, even if I just volunteer for one event it will be an improvement.

There are some other things that I hope to do this year, but they’re on the backburner and not ready to be made public yet. So, did you make any resolutions or use 1/1/10 as an easy-to-remember start date for a cool project? I wanna hear ‘em.

Here’s a picture of the first thing I made in 2010- a granny square!

It’s been a long time, but de-cluttering my life has taken all of my energy.

I’m in the home stretch of the transformation and by 2010, you will describe me as this girl you know who used to be a packrat. I plan on writing a lot more about it in the future. It’s amazing how creative I feel and how much I want to write now that I am clearing the decks. It’s like this energy around me can circulate better.

But today is a very important day in Kristen history. It was just one year ago today that I woke up from having what I thought had been the worst.gas.ever with what felt like a knot in my lower right abdomen. A little Wikipedia and a call to a friend, and I had figured out I had appendicitis before I even went to the hospital. At least I knew I would be checking in so I took a shower at home and packed a bag to put in the trunk and it was off to the ER we went.

About 9 hours after getting there, I was waking up in recovery, and Rob was in the waiting room with Janie, Don, and Samantha who were in Indianapolis for Sam’s gymnastics meet. Then they took me to my room and I sent Rob home to get some sleep.

It seemed like I would never recover from my abdominal laparoscopic surgery and like I would never be able to lift more than 8 pounds again. I was disappointed that my packrat title-shedding goal wouldn’t be met for 2009, but looking back I don’t know how I ever thought I would make it there in ~3 weeks.

It was 3 years ago on this day that was also one of the most monumental days of Rob’s and my life together. In the morning we had to put Bud down. He had an intestinal blockage and he had been sick for weeks. It was so sad. I remember it was such a beautiful day. We cleaned Rob’s apartment and had the windows open since it was like 55º. Then later we went and adopted Beans and Nico from Petsmart and the vet’s office respectively. Just as we were getting home with our new kitties, Rob got a phone call that his Grandpa Bill had an aneurysm.

So, a lot of things have happened in our life together on December 6. I feel like we have experienced every emotion possible on this day in the past few years. This year, it was pretty uneventful. And for that I am thankful.

So as I was typing that title, Beans hopped over my laptop like the exclamation point. He has been my shadow for the past few days. It’s so cute!

Today I was woken up by a giant, cracking clap of thunder that I was sure had split a tree in the woods outside my house. I squinted to see what time it was, and saw Beans’s wide eyes asking me if that was the biggest clap of thunder we’d hear. I thought it was, so I tried to catch some more sleep and he plopped next to my belly and snuggled in. About 25 minutes later, there was another huge cracking thunder and lighting boom- the kind you can’t count seconds between to gauge the distance of the storm because you are actually right in the bowels of it. Trying to sleep anymore was a futile effort, so I gave up on that, but moved very slow for the next hour and a half. I just couldn’t get any momentum going since I needed another hour of sleep.

Then I lived the adult version of missing the school bus when I opened the garage door to see the back of the garbage truck going past my house. I had a garbage bag in my hand and a downpour between me, the half-full rolling can, and the back of the truck. I gave up on getting the garbage out and figured there’s always next week and shifted my mental energy towards breakfast. I’ve been enjoying Weetabix for breakfast the past few mornings. Rob thinks it’s weird old people cereal (pointing to the pictorial evidence on the box using all models over 60). I guess it kind of is, but I like it.

I stayed in bed most of the day catching up on the online reading while occasionally checking the basement for water as it stormed. I’ve mostly been closet purging and doing file cleanup and backup on my computer the past few days- physically and mentally exhausting work. The closet is done and organized and Rob has more space than just a little closet ghetto. I feel really good about my wardrobe and it’s easy to shop my closet for new looks. Yay!

Rob took me to the Four Seasons on the east side for dinner. I told him I wanted a Greek diner where I had a breakfast option. I had a gyro and we split a piece of banana cream pie. It was pretty good. When we came home I got that extra hour of sleep I missed in the morning. Then I had a burst of household productivity and started some laundry and made a list.

I finally ended the night listening to Sirius on my iPhone and doing some glittery Skittle nails. I just kind of rolled with the day and made the best of it all. Sometimes you just take a day for what it is and enjoy simple things like rest and reading. The best part though was having Rob understand what I meant when I spoke about “Dororthy Hamill times”

I love them and all bajillion colors it took.

Now I get to go to sleep with Beans curled up next to me. He’s been dreaming about chasing or pouncing on something. I love when his paws look like he’s running in his sleep. Tomorrow, I’ll wake up and give my mom a birthday call.

Nothing but love,

This is a classic YouTube favorite of mine (and Rob’s). We ask each other questions in this voice all the time while tilting our heads.

I’m off to meet Rob on an independent movie shoot. I’m going to do some photos from the set. It’s super hot in Indy today, and they’re shooting outside.

So, last night I was super tired and IU just didn’t have a lot in me after doing the online tech support for my pops. Not his fault or anything, I was just tired. So anyway, last night Jen came over and I scanned some pictures for her to put on Facebook. Now, I’m inspired to do some of my own. Perhaps this weekend. Rob has a show tomorrow at Zanies with Yuki. Apparently there are 4 bands playing (really?). So tonight I sense some laying low even though it’s First Friday. I kind of want to go out, but I also want to stay home and plow through some stuff. I have a feeling with the temperature drop, I’ll end up choosing the stay in option. Because I am lame like that.

Today on Twitter Rachel Maddow shared this Dutch train station video. It seems to be inspired by one from T-Mobile last year in England. After watching both of these, I get teary that all those people collaborated to bring some random joy (and probably pimp some products, but whatever). Enjoy them!