Letting go of stuff

I have a terrible time letting go of stuff. And it's really starting to bug me.

The closet in our guest room, where I stash the stuff I don't know what to do with, is busting at the seams. So is the hall closet, and my closet, and the dresser, and my nightstand. And then there's the 48' storage unit we have in Richmond.

I just can't seem to let go of this junk. I get really attached to things for some reason and it's really annoying. I want to live in a clutter-free home. I don't want to feel guilty for giving things away that I don't use anymore. And I want to enjoy things given to me - and not feel like I need to save them.

The other day I found a three-pack of gourmet mustard in the pantry. I had received it as a gift and was saving it. I finally pulled it out to open it up - and it had expired back in January! What is wrong with me? Why was I waiting for the absolute perfect moment to eat mustard?

Last week we got a gift of gourmet olive oil from Sterling Vineyards. Don immediately opened it up and poured some to eat with some crusty bread. My first reaction was GASP! he opened the olive oil. What is he doing? Then I realized that this conversation in my head is unhealthy and duh, the olive oil was given to us to be eaten. Let's not have another mustard incident. So I ate some too, and it was delish.

Lucky for me Elli doesn't have this issue. In fact, I find myself getting my feelings hurt when she so casually says I can throw away the stuffed animals I picked out for her long before she was born. She doesn't connect herself to things (except her blankies) and she lives a much healthier life.

Elli is at work with me today. I gave her a pack of stickers to play with. She immediately ripped open the package and stuck every sticker on a picture she was working on. Right on! I would never have done that myself.  I would have saved those stickers until I was too old to have fun with them. I can learn a lot from her.

See this picture here? It's a stash of stuff under my desk. I moved offices recently and wanted to unload my junk drawer. Well I did. Right into this box. And here it sits. I think I'll toss this stuff today. Elli's with me. She'll help me through it. Plus, I can see right now that the brown box is garbage! Oh my gosh, I'm turning into my grandmother. Holy schnikes.

I know it's all mental. But I'm finally ready to let things go. It's cluttering my mind and stressing me out. I don't want to become that woman (like my grandmother) that collects paper towel tubes and newspapers because I can't throw anything away. My parents have a garage full of stuff, too. Most of it from my grandmother's house. It's in my genes.

Is it just me? Am I the only one with this issue? How do you purge your things? If you have a garage sale in Connecticut watch out for gypsies. They'll rob you blind. Seriously, they will.

Book Club was a success!

 4/1/10

Book Club Update:  my good friend Kerry, who teaches 3rd grade in Connecticut, just told me this is a 5th grade level book. Oops. She asked who picked it out. Uh, that would be me and Elli. What do we know?  So now I am SUPER DUPER PROUD of Elli for finishing it. She's a rock star!!

 
We successfully hosted book club at our house last Sunday. So now I can quit stressing about it.

First, Elli and I had to finish reading the book we picked (Mrs. Frisby and the rats of NIMH.) It was a great story and we really enjoyed reading it together. However, it was kind of long, and a little bit hard for Elli to read and understand. So it took F-O-R E-V-E-R to read. It was painfully slow sometimes. I admit, I read a few chapters outloud just to speed up the process.

Only two of the six girls actually finished the book. That's not good. That means the book was a tad hard for everyone. I have no regrets picking it though, because everyone, mom's and daughter's, enjoyed the story. And Elli was so proud of herself for being one of the only girls to finish. And it really pushed Elli.

You wouldn't believe how much I thought about, and stressed about hosting book club at my house. My house had to be perfect. The food had to be perfect. My head spun round and round in the kitchen all day Sunday. Don avoided me, which was wise, as I was swearing under my breath about all the chaos I had created - shopping, cooking, baking, cleaning, and laundry. While he sat at the kitchen table finishing our taxes and watching basketball ALL DAY LONG.

I went with my cousin Sarah's suggestion and set up a Burrito/Taco Buffet. It was a hit with everyone. Although several girls had never made their own taco before. Say what? I thought taco night was a standard in most households. Guess not.

I made 4 new recipes for the evening. And they were all keepers. Three recipes are all adapted from The Tasty Kitchen/Pioneer Woman website. (I just love the Pioneer Woman.)

1) Roasted Tomatillo Dressing - great as a dip with chips and veggies, or poured all over burrito, or as a salad dressing. The flavors in the dip get richer the longer it's in the fridge. And when I say longer I'm referring to days in the fridge. As in today was day 3 and you could really taste the garlic and lime today.

2) Mexican rice - yummy, colorful, made it ahead and reheated it in the oven. Yummy and good. Also really good on day 3.

3) Lemon Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze - mmmmm So good at the party, and the leftovers will be treating us for weeks. I've wrapped pieces and put them in the freezer for future enjoyment! (Big secret here. This is a box cake mix. Not your everyday box mix - it's from Williams Sonoma and it is FAN-TASTIC.)

4) Chocolate Sprinkles Cupcakes with THE BEST FROSTING EVER.  The Chocolate Sprinkles cupcakes (mix is from Williams Sonoma) were good too. But man, the frosting was AWESOME!

You can't believe how relieved I am that I have one of these behind me. I had myself all stressed out for no reason. Stupid, I know. Like who cares if there is a splatter on the bathroom mirror. Oh wait, I DO!!!

Relax dummy. It's all over.

PS. Of course there was WINE too. Duh! I was so focused on the best frosting ever I forgot to include the vino!

A little Cava sparkling from Canals & Nubiola, Some Zolo Gaucho Select Unoaked Chardonnay and of course Tapiz Malbec. Three favs to share with the gals. 

Mexican Rice

Olive oil
1 whole shallot, finely diced
2 whole garlic cloves, minced
1 whole red bell pepper, diced
1 whole green bell pepper, diced
2 whole jalapenos, finely diced
1 14-½ ounce can,  petite-cut diced tomatoes, drained
1 T. tomato paste
1 cup water
1 T better than bouillon chicken base
1 cup long grain rice
1/2 t. salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
2. Add the shallot, garlic, red and green bell peppers, and jalapenos. Saute for 3 – 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the tomatoes and stir until heated through. Add the tomato paste, water, bouillon base, rice, and salt and pepper. Stir thoroughly and cover.
4. Cook on medium for 20 – 25 minutes until the liquid is absorbed.
5. Season with more salt and pepper if desired. 

Roasted Tomatillo Dressing/Dip

4 whole tomatillos, roasted
½ bunch cilantro
1 whole jalapeño, seeded
1 clove roasted garlic
olive oil
1 whole lime, juiced
½ cups milk
1 package (about 1 Oz. Packet) Buttermilk Ranch Dressing Mix
½ cups Sour Cream
1 cup light mayonnaise
Fresh vegetables - baby carrots, celery sticks, broccoli, jicama, radishes

1. Preheat toaster oven to 425º Start by roasting the tomatillos and garlic. Remove the husks, wash, quarter, and roast on a baking sheet for a few minutes until they brown a little. Drizzle a little olive oil on a clove of garlic, wrap in foil and roast in the toaster oven until soft.
2. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Chill until ready to serve. 
4. Serve dip with veggies on a platter.

Fluffy White Vanilla Frosting

5 T. flour
1 cup milk
1 t. vanilla paste
1 cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar (not Powdered Sugar!)

1. Bake your favorite chocolate cake and let it cool.
2. In a small saucepan, whisk flour into milk and heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens. You want it to be very thick like a brownie mix is. Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.  It must be completely cool before you use it in the next step. Stir in vanilla.
3. While the mixture is cooling, cream the butter and sugar together in your kitchen aid mixer with the whip attachment until light and fluffy. Add the completely cooled milk mixture to the butter and whip until it resembles whipped cream.
4. Frost cupcakes and enjoy!

3rd Grade Book Club

A few of our friends invited us to join their book club for 3rd graders. We went to the 1st meeting a week ago.  It was really fun chatting with the moms, having dinner, drinking some wine, then listening to the girls discuss the book. I don't hang around moms much because I'm always working. So it was fun getting out.

Last month's book was perfect for Elli, Hearbeat by Sharon Creech. Not too hard. Not too long. "An easy book" according to all the moms.  Hmmmmm

So at the end of the evening as we're all trying to leave, one of the mom's asks who wants to have it at their house next month. Somehow my name got tossed in the ring because they know we have a clubhouse here and before I knew it I said "Sure, I can rent the clubhouse. We can meet there!"

What they don't know is that I immediately started to panic. What book would I pick? We joined the book club so that Elli would learn that reading is fun and that she needs to start reading harder books. She doesn't like reading, it's a huge battle every day. But picking the right book is a lot of pressure. It can't be too easy or too hard. Aaaaaaaah!!! I had no idea what book to pick. None.

I asked her teacher for advice. She gave me a long list of authors and ideas. But not a definite "this is the perfect book for the book club." My friend  Cori said she could give me suggestions too.

So I went to the book store. Elli picked out every book with a puppy or kitty on the cover. "No, that is not book club appropriate," I would say.  It had to be harder than a book Elli would pick and it definitely would not be a comic book - nice, Elli.

I finally found one that looked interesting and Elli begrudgingly agreed, only because it had a few illustrations sprinkled throughout the book.  We (I) chose Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. It involves animals, but not puppies, and it's 233 pages. Gulp. Honestly, I'm not sure how we'll get through it.

Last night we sat down and read the second chapter together, OUTLOUD. Because I need to read this too, so we're going to do it together.

I was actually pleasantly surprised (relieved) to find that she's a pretty good reader when she's focused. She got stumped by a few words, but they were hard, and she has a tendency to run right through the period which makes it hard to understand the paragraph. But with a little help from me, she got through the chapter and she actually enjoyed it. Thank goodness.

So now we have until March 28th to finish the book and write up 10 discussion guide questions. I have to reserve and pay for the club house, then figure out what to have for dinner for 10 girls and 10 moms (taking into consideration the milk and wheat allergies that I know two people have - because we discussed it over wine.)

Honestly, this is stress and pressure I really don't need. Of course I'm causing all the stress and pressure myself. No one is making me do this. It's just supposed to fun. Don just shakes his head at me as usual.

I know, I'm a dork.

I love Roald Dahl.

I've been trying to get Elli to read every night. It's like pushing a boulder up hill. She doesn't want to do it. I've bought her a million kinds of books and she's checked books out of the library. We even joined a book club with some of her friends so she could see how fun and exiting reading can be. Her idea of reading is picking out a book meant for kindergartners with lots of pictures. The problem is,  she's in 3rd grade now and needs to be reading chapter books.

Each week they go to the library at school. They are allowed to choose any book they want. She would bring home comics and picture books. I finally put my foot down and told her no more baby books.

It wasn't working. She would cry and pout and generally make MY life miserable. I knew I was walking a fine line. I don't want her to hate reading, but I knew the minute she found a book she liked, this drama would be over. We just hadn't found that book yet.  Until this week.

Elli came home from school so excited. Her friend Iso brought in a book she thought Elli would like. Matilda by Roald Dahl. She read it in class and loved it. Now she plans on reading every book he ever wrote.

The first book she brought home was BFS. I think it's the first book he wrote. It's the first one listed anyway. She is so excited she is literally going to read them in order, if she can. We sat together on the couch and she was giddy with excitement at how much she liked the story and the illustrations. She read the book out loud to me and was so happy she could hardly sit still while reading.

You have no idea how relieved I am and thankful there was someone like Roald Dahl to write so many fabulous stories like:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Cinderella
Snow White

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Jack and the Beanstalk

James and the Giant Peach

Little Red Riding Hood

Matilda

We have a lot of fun reading ahead of us.

Now if I could only find the trick that will get her excited about cleaning her room. One thing at a time, I guess.