Just thinking, again

I'm feeling a lot better tonight.

Thank goodness.

It was afternoon before I realized I hadn't really fed my kids all day.

They had gotten into the last of the Halloween candy, string cheese, go-gurt, apples, and crackers, on their own.

I finally made them some soup.

I still have this painful knot in the left side of my upper belly.

But at least I don't feel like I'm gonna yak.

Anyway, I got a lot done this afternoon.

Got my room cleaned up.

The kids roomed cleaned up.

Clean sheets on all the beds.

Upstairs vacuumed.

The towels and washcloths put away.

All the random laundry from my room *sorted*.

I did one load of laundry, it's in the dryer now, and the diapers are soaking in the washer overnight.

(FYI, in case anyone was wondering, through a little trial and error, I've found the best way to wash diapers... every other day, start a small hot wash load at night, add one cup baking soda and a half cup of free and clear detergent. Let it agitate for a few minutes, then turn of the washer and let it soak over night. In the morning, turn it back on, let it run through. Then wash it a second time, on hot wash/cold rinse, with one cup baking soda and one cup (not an actual cup, ya know, the measuring cup that comes with the detergent) of free and clear. I've heard that a lot of people fill a Downy ball with white vinegar so the vinegar is released during the rinse cycle, but I haven't needed the vinegar yet anyway, the baking soda takes care of all the odors. Also, do yourself a favor and take the inserts out of the diapers as soon as you take the diaper off the kid, so you don't have to mess with that after they've been sitting for 24-48 hours... the smell will be really strong and you want to just be able to dump it right in the wash, not sit there and play with the inserts with the smell in your face. Tumble dry on low heat for about 20 minutes, and you're done.)

Tomorrow's plan is to do a couple more loads of laundry, get all the clean laundry put away, and get the downstairs CLEAN, swept, and mopped.

Clean the bathrooms.

Then *hopefully* pizza and a movie with Jason, Hannah, and Jake.

(as long as no one else starts yakking or acting sick)

Then Sunday, we're just gonna lay around all day.

I might print some pics and work on my scrapbook.

I have a photoshoot coming up on Friday, with Tina and Kassidy (first post, I believe, on my photography page!).

I'm really excited about that, because Kassidy was my first real session, they were the first people who didn't know me, to ask me to take pictures.

My photography has come a loooong way since a year ago!!!

I've got a few more photoshoots to schedule within the next month or so, too.

It's hard to find time, especially when it's usually way too hard to concentrate on taking pictures if my own kids are there. So I have to work around when Mom can stay with the kids, for now.

Hopefully soon I can find a babysitter that I'm comfortable with, and since I'm starting to charge for my services, I'll be able to pay for childcare.

This is a good thing.

I'm feeling really good about dropping facebook.

I didn't actually delete my account, I just made everything private, so I'm not tempted to update my status and sit there for half the day.

It's amazing, the things I have time for, now that I'm not thinking about what 230 people are doing at any given moment..

My pictures are still up, I can still be contacted on facebook (the way most people contact me about pictures), and I can still go on and check on the people I actually care about finding out what's going on with them.

But I have no reason to sit there for hours on end anymore.

And it feels great.

Already.

It's amazing how senseless things can suck so much life out of you.

Anyway, it's 10pm and I've had a long, rough day.

G'night :o)