Protein Snack

I have less than a month of maternity leave left (sob) and am hanging on to ~ ten pounds of baby weight. It's okay. I've done basically nothing to lose the weight, so it's to be expected - but it's also time to hunker down and do real exercise again. And cut back on the beer.

Even though when you've been with a baby all day, putting him down to bed and kicking back with your husband and a beer is so nice.

Still. I don't want to buy all new work pants.

Cutting back on the beer.

Since I'm breastfeeding, though, I do need to eat a lot. Here's my new snack.

A just barely hard-boiled egg, half a teaspoon of mayo, half a teaspoon of mustard, and a hefty pinch of chili powder. Since what I really want is a heaping pile of mayo-laden egg salad on white bread, it's a decent compromise.

This didn't really need to be a blog post, but I liked the picture. Here's one of babykins at our hotel in Orange County:

That's a good one, too.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

I'm 26% through Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, which means I'm ready to write a review of her method. I bought the book after talking to two different friends last weekend who are following its advice. "My boyfriend is concerned that I don't have enough clothes left," said Jenny, wearing an adorable frock that made the cut. "Did you know that socks need to rest?" asked Brian, standing in his immaculate, minimalist living room.

The basic tenet of tidying, according to Ms. Kondo, is that it's about what you own, rather than where or how you store it. So if you have a beautifully organized closet filled with old sweatshirts and pants that don't really fit, you are not tidy. Every item you own should "spark joy," meaning it should make you smile and/or be useful.

After writing the last paragraph, I went all Kondo on my kitchen drawers. It works! I have several spatulas that I never use because they kind of suck, and several hundred mixing bowls for no reason. Did they spark joy? They did not. OUT THEY GO.

Then I did the socks. FULL Kondo on the socks. I even folded them per her instructions, without balling them up.

Glorious. Maybe socks do need to rest.

I think that the book's success in the US has a lot to do with her name. "Going Kondo" is fun to say, no? Also, it's insane. The woman thanks her coat before hanging it up, and encourages us to do the same. She thinks we should not store shampoo in the shower, or kitchen sponges in the sink. She swears that discarding all of our non-joy-sparking belongings will turn your home into "a sacred space, a power spot filled with pure energy." And you just know she folds her underwear.

Anyway, I enjoyed the book (I finished it since starting this post), although I have no doubt that this new and frankly time-consuming effort to organize/minimize my possessions will evaporate as soon as I'm back at work. But you should check it out!