Finer Things Friday!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Amy's blog, The Finer Things In Life.  I seem to star every post she writes in my Google Reader.  Her posts always remind me to cherish the little things, which is one of my most important goals to become a better mom and person.  She started a link up where she shared the little things she cherished this week, and I thought it would be a good contrast to my Dirty Little Secrets posts.  A little good karma never hurt anyone, okay!?  Swing over to Amy's and link up if you want to count your blessings this week!

1. The Basics.  Obviously this has been a HUGE week for counting blessings since we've all see the devastation in Japan.  I couldn't imagine not knowing where my family was, having no home or basic necessities, or any real hope in the near future.  I am so glad that I have a home, food, and my family all near me!

2. My bed warmer.  It seems so stupid after #1, but I hate getting into a cold bed, and my electric mattress pad makes sure that never happens!

3. The look on my kids' faces when they learn something new, or are proud of themselves.  I wish I could can it and ration it out for the rest of my life.

4. My dump run.  It felt SO good to stuff my van with empty boxes, crap I'll never use, etc. and GET RID OF IT!  Who knew you could have so much fun for the $5 dump fee?  I felt so much better once it was out of my life.

5. Facebook.  I know, but seriously, I love that I can feel like I know a little about what's going on with my circle of friends even if we don't have time to personally call each other all the time.  Plus I can fit it into my life when it's good for me.

6. My new family room, and my husband who motivated me to get it done.  We finally swamped out our old "game room" and repainted to make it a nice room for everyone.  The kids love playing down there, I hopefully will have less of a mess in my living room, AND I gained a photo studio space out of the deal.  Mr. Wright got a happy wife and kids- what more could he ask for!?

7. That I'm a Stay At Home Mom.  I'd love to actually stay at home one of these days, but I'm am so blessed to be able to not work while my kids are young.  I love that we can actually spend quality time at home together while they're on Spring Break, instead of me needing to work during that time.

8. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  I can't end this all sappy!  Peanut Butter Cups are like mommy fuel... or maybe like Mommy crack, I'm not sure which is more accurate.  All I know is whenever my kids get them they know to hand them over because they'll end up disappearing from their stash eventually anyway.  They're just dang good!  Mmmmm!

40 Bags in 40 Days Check In!

Is anyone else participating in the 40 bags in 40 days this year?  I have to admit that I've gotten off to a less than stellar start this year, but it seems to be motivating me to "catch up" since I've only donated 4 bags so far, and they were already filled with stuff even before I started the challenge.  Plus it's spring break so I have more free time to work on the house instead of playing chauffeur all day!  Sooo, as long as I'm decluttering it doesn't matter that my kids are living off Lunchables in their jammies, right!?  Yeah... you can get back to me on that one!

I know I have enough crap to donate, and none of it is currently getting used anyway since I can't find anything, but I have to fight that constant feeling of "needing" that, even if it just wastes away.  I'm trying to break through that cycle and ditch anything that doesn't get used or loved.

As soon as I publish this I am heading down to my hoarder like laundry room to get rid of the "easy" stuff that's just in the way.  Hopefully I'll have some better totals next week!  Clearing out my life one garbage bag at a time sure worked for me last year, and I'm hoping it will again!

Total bags (Week One) 4
Remaining bags             36

How's your 40 bags in 40 days going??

Merit Gone Wrong

Okay, so I totally blew it with the Merit for Moms thing, but who is really surprised?  Life got in the way... I started working a few days a week, the after school activities started again and my family reminded me that they prefer clean dishes to dirty ones.  They're all snooty like that...

Mr.Wright and I have been redecorating the family room to change it from the unloved ex-game room to a room we can all enjoy.  We painted part of the room this fantastic shade of blue that is so buttery you just want to swim in it.  We're still finishing up the painting, and since we had to clear the room to paint all my crap ended up in the garage.  You never really realize how much stuff you have until you have to take it out load by load.  Then you realize that you have a LOT of crap, and since we never hang out down there it's pretty much wasted crap.  Keeping up so far!?

Tomorrow happens to be Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent ( I think, I'm kinda a Catholic drop out!).  Last year for Lent I did 40 Bags in 40 Days and got rid of a different ton of crap (yes, there was MORE crap).  So, starting tomorrow I'll be taking the challenge again.  Since I actually finished that challenge last year it should be more promising than the Merit challenge!

If your interested in joining the 40 bags in 40 days challenge with me link up your progress on Wednesdays (starting tomorrow!) and we can cheer each other on!  I'm excited (and a little disgusted) that after this challenge I will have dumped EIGHTY BAGS of stuff.  Don't tell my husband or he'll just tell you that I have at least 80 more hidden ALL over this house.  Shhh!