I’ve been on the cusp of a cold for the last week or so, but was able to mostly go through each day as usual. But today I woke up officially sick. I don’t really have the energy to write my usual report, but I found some helpful posts and articles from other sites that I recently read and found useful.

• At 2 a.m. I was rifling through my medicine cabinet, which didn’t take long because it’s pretty empty, in search of something for my screaming sinuses. We didn’t have anything on hand, and it made me wonder what staples we should always have on hand. This list from Real Simple is pretty comprehensive. I’m always hesitant to stock up too much because I feel like I end up tossing lots of expired things, but doing a fall/winter restocking might be a good idea. This is a good list for parents.
• I’m trying, and failing, not to think about Christmas. But it’s really hard when I find myself hit in the face with Christmas stuff in every store I walk into. Since Emma’s 8, I think this is going to be the last year of her believing in Santa. It won’t really be the same once she knows so I want to play up the magic angle one more time. This post from Momastery resonated with me because I love the idea of locking kids into their lists by Thanksgiving, completing shopping by December 1 and enjoying the rest of the month relatively stress-free. I want to keep the holidays simple for practical reasons, so I don’t have to find room for stuff we’ll hardly use, but I also want to minimize stress and embrace the real meaning of the season.
• Lately I’ve found lots of great ideas on Pinterest. One of them was this post about “The Biggest Decluttering Mistake You Don’t Know You’re Making.” It has to do with the role of touch and while it’s not something I’ve thought about, there were some ideas I’d never thought of.
• One of my small annoyances is the state of my handbag. It’s always a mess. Right now I’m using this bag: I’ve had it since 2008, and love it. It’s my go-to fall/winter bag. But because it’s slouchy I have trouble finding things in there. I used to have way too many small cosmetic bags, but kept a few and it seems like they’ll have a purpose. This post from Organizing Made Fun gave me some great ideas.

And that’s all I have for tonight!