Finally the picture has loaded

Here is the hat I mentioned yesterday. Ignore the dorky smile. Apparently I now know where my son picked that up. Ben smiled like that in a couple of school pictures until I convinced him that he should give a full on teeth smile for me.

The hat is actually darker than it appears. Stupid lack of sunshine.

So last night was girls' night out. I got a new book called Organic Housekeeping. It is all about how to get rid of the chemicals polluting your house. I don't usually buy books in hardback because I am to chincy to pay the price when you can wait a few months and get them in paperback, but I was sucked in when the jacket talked about the cleansers we often use on our faces include the same ingrediants as antifreeze and brake fluid! Considering the allergies all three of the boys have, the fact that fibromyalgia is a misunderstood disease that no one knows what causes and that I have to get Remus monthly shots for his allergies, I decided to give the organic thing a go.

I have a steam cleaner (everyone should have one these things are awesome). It gets stuff out of the vinyl floors that you wouldn't believe, but I have trouble convincing my husband that the floor is clean if you use it. He feels the need for a cleaning agent. I banned lysol a couple of years ago and we now make our own multipurpose cleaner so this will just be going to the next step.

In addition, I have been working on decluttering my house. This ongoing project (2 years now) has been stalled this summer. We just haven't been home enough and when we are home I have been playing with the boys. So it has been time to start again. I am working my way through the office/dining room in the hopes of putting the computer up on the desk.

I think the next step will be getting rid of books. I have a history degree with a number of history masters classes and have a collection of history books from those classes that I haven't been able to get rid of. I keep thinking I will use them again, but I know that if I do go back to school I will be doing something more practical (like accounting, I also have a math minor) so that I could find work no matter where we live. So it seems silly to keep the books that I haven't opened in more than two years. Mind you, not all of the books haven't been opened. I do still enjoy reading historical works, only if they interest me.

So for all you readers of nonfiction out there, anyone interested in any books? I have just about all time periods in US history, some Japanese history and European history after 1800s. If anyone is interested in these, let me know and I will give you more detailed information on what I have. You pay the shipping and they are yours.