Time is ticking

In less than 2 weeks I will head to Utah to see my (hopefully) brand new grand baby!

I say hopefully because babies come in their own time and, well, she's not here yet.

I'm very excited for the trip.

It'll be a little vacation from my regular life

and obviously it's exciting to be meeting my grand daughter.

But I'm realizing that this one trip is just not going to cut it.

One week 

with this little baby

and my daughter in law

and my 2 sons that live in Utah

and my brothers an sisters that are there

Well, gosh there just isn't enough time!

So now I'm trying to figure out how to get out there for a more extended visit in the summer.

Since Carter is 14 (Oh my gosh, he'll be 15 by then!), he has a pretty full life

Scout Camp

Youth Conference

EFY

friends he wants to spend time with

So it won't be easy to fit it in.

But I'm determined...

even if I have to drive across the country, I'm going back to Utah!

Plus, babies change so much in the first year

I really have to go out as much as possible

Don't I?

Yes, Yes I do.

My favorite things right now

Texts from my kids

Calls from my kids

salt and pepper Pop Chips

Alone time

Freezer meal cooking

A clean house

Just in case you were wondering.

Stuff

There's nothing like moving to cause a person to analyze the "stuff" in their lives.

Our house was wonderful in many ways but one thing we really loved about it was that it had LOADS of closets and storage spaces:

a huge walk up attic

a pantry in the kitchen

an office space with cupboards off of the kitchen

a laundry room with shelves on all the walls

A basement with a huge pantry

A big closet under the stairs

And a big set of cabinets that could be loaded from the back/opened in the hallway on the front

Then there were extra bedrooms once the kids started moving out.

All of this fabulous space meant that I could store Christmas decorations, big platters, table leaves, extra folding tables (6!), etc. and none of them were in my way on a day to day basis.

But I seriously felt like swearing when I was moving and would find yet another closet that had to be cleaned out.

So now that I'm in my new place, I'm trying to be a little more mindful of what I really need before buying anything.

 I've never been a hoarder or anything

and I do try to divide wants from needs in general...to teach my children if nothing else

The one thing though that I have moaned about on occasion is that we have never gotten a bedroom "set".  I don't need all matchy matchy but in 24 years of marriage, we still don't have a headboard?

We used my sons changing table as our dresser for YEARS.

But now we have 2 lovely (if a bit scratched up) Costco dressers that used to belong to our sons who have now moved out.  

And I got our nightstands as a gift to myself with my last paycheck as a nurse in Oregon.

They were from the unfinished furniture store and they cost $30 each.

We used them exactly the way they came out of that store up until this last year, when I finally painted them black.

I'm not sure why certain things never make it to the top of our "to buy" list.

I seriously doubt I will ever have a headboard unless I make one from scrap lumber...which is on my to-do list, by the way.

And, honestly, the bedroom doesn't bug me that much right now because we're in this condo with purple walls and 1985 curtains.  So it kinda squelches the interior decorator in me.

And now, the reason this whole rambling blog started...

I bought something!

My first ever purchase of good cookware.

I have owned every possible type of cheapo pans (all non-stick of course) over the years.

I've never liked them but since I don't love to cook, I never felt I "deserved" good pans.

Well, I've been cooking more

and

I've been ordered to eat a healthy diet (that requires more cooking) by my doctor

So I broke down and bought them.

Aren't they just so pretty?

And I will be finding a new home for my old pans because I am no longer that girl with the big attic who keeps doubles of things "just in case".