Subtraction

Here's a pic of Katharine for today - eating/washing her hands. She's teething and is drooling all over the place now and chewing on her fingers and everything. 

Actually I took that picture cause I liked her little curl that I gave her after a bath - You can see it better with the tv behind her - 

We often have discussions about side parts or middle parts for the girls' hair. Now K is wondering - "side curl or middle curl?" Cute baby...

She is getting busy and starting to move and shake a lot! Here's a little video of her after school today. 

Corey fixed the fridge for our water today - 3rd time was the charm? Well, almost - the metal clamp cut through the tube and it blew off in the furnace room and was spraying everywhere. Thankfully that room has a drain!

4th time was the charm - one last trip to Home Depot and it was officially fixed. Yay. One thing on our list checked off!

I recently listened to Jody Moore's podcast (episode #380), and she shared something that I hope will enact much change in my life. She talks about how she's in a rut right now (I was feeling in one too, which is why I clicked that one to listen to) and gave some ways that she's able to identify that she's in a rut, and some ways to get out of it. The way that most people try to get out of a rut, a funk, or a bad mood, is to go BUY something, go EAT something, or CONSUME something. That leads to a quick dopamine hit, but it's only a distraction and doesn't help us long term. As Laura Dixon said in her podcast recently (last weeks or this weeks', I can't remember) she said those quick distraction hits of dopamine "Are fast, but they don't last!" That is exactly what Jody said. So instead of consuming something for a quick hit, do some harder work that will yield some good results that last longer: Try to SUBTRACT! So I've been going around my home thinking "subtract - subtract - subtract" and I saw this sign and I put it in the donate box. 

Cause I bet I'll actually BE ABLE TO live simply and laugh and love without all this stuff in our home. I don't need a sign. Stop seeking inspiration with little signs - just do it. So one think I did was clean up the tooth brushes and tooth paste. The shoe hanger they were in was looking a little gross, so I got a newer looking one from the laundry room (the things I was storing in there are going to have new homes) and I threw the bathroom one out, so now it looks fresh, I got rid of unclaimed tooth brushes and toothpaste, and it looks better. It felt good to subtract.

Since we have so many kids brushing their teeth, the over the door shoe hanger thing works well for our tooth brushes. The bathrooms are small, so I'm streamlining in there first. I'm also hoping to fix our towel problem. There's only one towel rack in there, so kids put their towels over the stair banister, which is annoying, but I agree there's not a place for towels to dry, so I'm thinking how to fix that next. 

I have a hand cleaning tip that has worked out well for hand washing here at our home. I don't like the mess left by bars of soap, so I wanted the pump soap, but the bottles of liquid soap are used up too quickly, so I wanted the foam ones. They last longer and I refill them myself with dish soap! I like the Dial soap bottles cause they are clear without instructions, decorations, words or whatever all over them. (You get a point if you can see Peter in this photo)

So buy those at the store, and then when it's gone, fill it up with water until just past the circle around the "Dial" logo, and fill the rest with soap, and voilà: foam. I use Meyers soap in our room cause I like the smell more, I also sometimes put a few drops of essential oil in them. This tip has been helpful for us with our large family and the many people washing their hands.