We're having a

Garage Sale. Yard Sale. Tag sale. A sale where all the stuff that's crammed into our house is going to be on the lawn or the driveway waiting for people to come and pay me to take it off my hands. So I don't have to walk around all the stuff. Or try to keep Lex from pulling things on top of himself. Or tell Eliz yet again, not to play with that. After going thru each room in the house, and removing anything we don't need, use or want, we have a lot of stuff sitting around. It's quite literally lining the walls. I was going to wait a couple of weeks to do the sale, but I can't take the clutter. Esp since having all this stuff around is just the opposite of what I wanted to achieve when I started this, which is create more space. Bry-D was saying just throw it on the sidewalk and hope it disappears, then we started talking prices on some of the stuff, and I think he's come around.

On a different note, I've gotten up early three or four days this week, while going to bed ealry or at the time I wanted to, and I must say, those were the best days of the week. Our schedule will be up in the air the next few weeks, as we'll be babysitting at my sisters house a few times each week and Tater Tamater will start preschool, and the days she's over will change. MOPs will be starting soon, and if we're going to do school this year, I've really got to get my butt in gear-we started off okay last year, and it just keep disintegrating as my pregnancy went on.

The more I read and study, the more I like the idea of a combination of Montessori and Waldorf. Perhaps because I'm both an artist's daughter, and the daughter of a mechanic; logic, order, discipline give me a sense of security, while simplicity, freedom, creativity give me a sense of peace. I think Eliz would do well with either, and since I am hard pressed to really choose between the two, I'm going to try for the middle ground. I've long wanted to have Eliz journal, which is part of Waldorf. Her curiosity for why and how we do things around the house is best satisfied by doing them herself-Practical Life of Montessori. She loves to paint, draw, sculpt, why not have her create things she's learning about-hello Waldorf! She adores puzzles, and much of Montessori is done with puzzles. Routine is paramount to me, and with Lex on a schedule that's trending towards 3-4 hour feeding, with stops for potty, play and naps, a "flow" rather than a "schedule" will probably work best. Add in some outside the house responsibilities, and a schedule sounds far to restricting.

I'll be spending this week pricing, sorting, and setting up. Sale dates are the 13th, 14th, and 15th of August(Thursday, Friday and Saturday) come on by-I may have something you need. Or want.