Last year around this time last year, I caved in and bought a membership to Costco. For the most part I've been *relatively* good at only buying what we actually need. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't bought a new pair of yoga pants or several books...
I usually end up at Costco about once per week to bring home a collection of items varying between fruits and veggies along with the usual milk and eggs. I caved last week and brought home a box of brownie mix. With our oldest being on a high protein and veggie diet, we've virtually cut out all extra sugars and a bunch of processed foods. Bringing home a box of brownie mix is a huge deal in this house. Just having the kids look at the box is enough to get them a sugar high. Seriously.
Now since the giant box of brownie mix has no home in our pantry, it has been taking up space on our counter. It's been sitting there just asking me to make some. I gave in on Saturday evening. I made a super think batch too. Go big or go home, I suppose. It baked in the oven long enough for several of us to lay and "rest" by the fire burning in the living room. Unfortunately for the kids, they had to go to bed before the brownies were *completely* cool. (Also known as mom and dad not wanting to share.)
After all three kiddos were tucked into their beds, I cut out two brownies to share. As I was leaving the kitchen, I spotted a creeper on the stairs watching and glaring at me. He was promptly sent back to bed with plenty of hugs and brownie-breathed kisses. (HD later tattled on me to his brother the next morning. JP walked up and attempted to give me a mean glare but since he can't seem to keep his glasses pushed up, his glare didn't have the same effect.)
Upon our arrival home Sunday morning from church, the boys headed to the basement to play Legos while the rest of had breakfast. To reward ourselves for doing so, we treated ourselves to a brownie. A three-year old trying to hide a brownie from her brother is probably one of the best things to watch. Ever. As the three of us sat down to start eating, HD came sprinting up the stairs, as if he knew what we were about to do, and he was missing out. I whisper-yelled, "Hide it!" I've never seen her grab a brownie so quickly! She hastily put it on her lap, leaving a trail of crumbs behind while the hubby and I simply used our hands to shield it from his view. He proceeded to ignore us and walk down the hall to the bathroom so we relaxed and began to chow down. When his footsteps were heard in the hall again, the three of us simultaneously covered our treats again and sat with a deer-in-the-headlights look about us. He wandered over to us, standing close enough to very easily see at least one of the three brownies at the table. He stood there yammering on about something for what seemed like an hour but was only a minute before he headed back to the basement, leaving us without having to talk through our brownie filled mouths. Just before we thought we were in the clear, he turned around to ask me a question. He was satisfied with several grunts before returning to the basement and he was none the wiser as to what he missed out on.
I never should have even made those darn things because for the rest of the afternoon, I was being asked when they could have their special treat... We gave in after dinner. I supervised the dinner table while the hubs cut up dessert. In the meantime I sent our squirmy little girl to get her jammies on. She detoured to the bathroom and danced about in her room before actually getting them on. This gave dad ample time to warm up and pass out brownies to JP and I, and devour his own. To urge her along, he called out to her to hurry up before he ate her brownie too and then switched her plate with his empty one as she scurried down the hall to the table. Upon seeing an empty plate, the meanest look over came her face so she was sent back down the hall to shut off the light in the bathroom and the one in her room. She stormed down and took care of her room while dad switched the plates back. She lit up when she came back but was sent back to shut the bathroom light off. This time my plate with a little brownie was switched with hers. We giggled as she came back mad again, and promptly switched them back.
Sometime I feel like my kids, particularly my oldest and youngest, are living DVR's. Immediately after something happens, they either re-enact it, re-tell it, or begin a story with "Remember when..." literally seconds after it happened. This incident was no exception. While our sweet girl began chowing down on her brownie, our oldest began re-telling the story. Just as he finished it up, JP looks up, chocolate all over his face, his white little fingers turned brown, and responds, "So that was yesterday?" He was so enthralled with his brownie, he failed to take in his surrounding and completely missed out on the "joke" but also solid half of the story. Confusion overcame him as he finished the last pieces of his brownie, not understanding why we were all dying of laughter as his listened to the story being re-told yet again.
And that my dear friends, is how we treat ourselves to desserts and a nice little laugh. Brownies are good for the soul!
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Monday, March 13, 2017
Upstairs Bathroom: Repainted and Done
It wasn't until Saturday when my hubby and I went to our next door neighbor's estate sale that I realized how fortunate we were to have a few updates done to our house. The kitchen especially! They had been the only owners of the home and lived there into their 90's. With the exception of a bathroom that was made to be handicap accessible, everything appeared to be original furnishings from the 70's. I'll be curious to see what the new neighbors do it.
Over at our place though, the updates they did were either painting over the wallpaper, wallpapering over the wallpaper, or wallpapering over the wallpaper and then painting it. It's made for a long removal process. One of the rooms that didn't have wallpaper, but did at one point, was the upstairs bathroom. I was so in love with the bathroom we re-did in Missoula, that I wanted to re-create it - in a sense. I'm not entirely sure why I chose this to be my first project though but I'm happy to report it's almost done!
When we first arrived in December, we had this baby blue bathroom with brown cabinets. The floors are a white and blue linoleum but sound sticky when you walk on it. Slightly annoying in my opinion. By the end of the 4 days I was here, I had the walls and ceiling painted.
I've been trying to decide what color to paint to the cabinets because this tanish-brown just wasn't working for me. I was going to with white, but since the counters were already white, I wasn't sold. I did however have left over paint from the dining room and figured, why not? We were going to go to the coast this weekend to watch the crab races in Tillamook, but decided we'd stay home and work on a few projects since it was supposed to rain all day over there. (When is it not raining though...?)
I feel like I spent the entire day in this bathroom, but I'm so glad I did! I love how it turned out! Remember how I said there was an estate sale going on next door? While I'm elbows deep in paint, our doorbell rings a few times and some people walk in as I'm on my way to the door. They quickly turned around in a panic when they saw the kids, exclaiming, "This is the wrong house!" I'm sure it doesn't help that I was getting a StitchFix delivered at the same time...
In order to paint the linen closet, I carefully removed the towels and sheets and placed them in nice piles in the freshly cleaned bathtub. By the end of the day I had a tub of towels to refold. There is a kid in there. Somewhere. This time around it might have been JP. I suspected a child might do this at some point. I figured that was where JP ran off to after dinner but I paid no attention to him as I put the handles back on the doors and drawers until my towels started vibrating and giggling.
We're going to replace the flooring at a later date, and I'm going to have to repaint the already painted counter tile, but for now I'm done with this little project. I really like how the cabinets turned out. They fit in perfectly with the shower curtain and towels that were already in there.
I might start to tackle our master bathroom soon now that this one is done. It's covered in wallpaper though so it'll be quite the project... So much wallpaper in this home!
Monday, March 6, 2017
My Anxiety Kicked In Again.
It's nearly been a month since I've been back to my blog. At the beginning of the year, I said I really wanted to get back to blogging regularly, and I still really do! Every time I think about sitting down to write for a few minutes about some significant happenings, I get overwhelmed with what to write about, and instead jump on to Shutterfly to work on my yearbook. I've been making one every year for the past several years, and while everyone enjoys looking through them, it really bogs me down in January and February. I finally hunkered down last week and put the final touches on it - I'm eagerly awaiting it's arrival next week!
In the meantime I've been keeping busy with home projects - mainly painting. My dad gave me a seven day notice of his and my mom's arrival. It was just enough time to complete the "paint the ceiling" project that started when we moved in. While I was at it, I painted in the kitchen ceiling too. It was white, but needed a lot of love from all the cooking that had been done over the years. The last painting project I finished up before their arrival was picking a paint color and painting the dining room/transition-into-the-kitchen wall.
Picking paint colors has been a huge stressor for me. I sent myself into a little downward spiral when it came to picking colors for the living room. It was terrible. This time around I tried really hard not to over think the color, though I did spend a good chunk of time thinking about what color to make it. All of my walls were a shade of grey - brown. I love color, but went neutral and love how everything has turned out so far, but I knew I want to add a bit of personality to the mix. Keeping with the rustic feel of our home that we are trying to achieve, I was going to go with a mossy green, but somehow found myself going with more of a teal. The color I chose was called "Grey Green Teal" which on the swatched looked more green. When they mixed the paint, it looked green, when I poured it into the painting pan, it was green. However, when I started painting, it was blue. And Perry wonders why I get so much anxiety over colors...
Fast forward to yesterday - we swung by Home Depot to pick out some paint for the basement, and a few other things. After asking for my hubby's opinion on the final colors and his response being "I don't care," I was sent into a bit of an anxiety attack. My heart started racing and I started feeling sick. His response was just the "stick that broke the camel's back" after having to re-think my stairwell project and wrangling the boys in the process.
I haven't felt this way since last fall with my neighbor fiasco. I can handle feeling sick and having sweaty palms, but I absolutely hate when my heart feels like it's racing. It's a very uncomfortable feeling. The most frustrating about it all is not having my husband understand. I can't just stop feeling the way I feel, and I can't just calm down. I over think things all the time - I can't help it!
In the meantime I've been keeping busy with home projects - mainly painting. My dad gave me a seven day notice of his and my mom's arrival. It was just enough time to complete the "paint the ceiling" project that started when we moved in. While I was at it, I painted in the kitchen ceiling too. It was white, but needed a lot of love from all the cooking that had been done over the years. The last painting project I finished up before their arrival was picking a paint color and painting the dining room/transition-into-the-kitchen wall.
Picking paint colors has been a huge stressor for me. I sent myself into a little downward spiral when it came to picking colors for the living room. It was terrible. This time around I tried really hard not to over think the color, though I did spend a good chunk of time thinking about what color to make it. All of my walls were a shade of grey - brown. I love color, but went neutral and love how everything has turned out so far, but I knew I want to add a bit of personality to the mix. Keeping with the rustic feel of our home that we are trying to achieve, I was going to go with a mossy green, but somehow found myself going with more of a teal. The color I chose was called "Grey Green Teal" which on the swatched looked more green. When they mixed the paint, it looked green, when I poured it into the painting pan, it was green. However, when I started painting, it was blue. And Perry wonders why I get so much anxiety over colors...
Fast forward to yesterday - we swung by Home Depot to pick out some paint for the basement, and a few other things. After asking for my hubby's opinion on the final colors and his response being "I don't care," I was sent into a bit of an anxiety attack. My heart started racing and I started feeling sick. His response was just the "stick that broke the camel's back" after having to re-think my stairwell project and wrangling the boys in the process.
I haven't felt this way since last fall with my neighbor fiasco. I can handle feeling sick and having sweaty palms, but I absolutely hate when my heart feels like it's racing. It's a very uncomfortable feeling. The most frustrating about it all is not having my husband understand. I can't just stop feeling the way I feel, and I can't just calm down. I over think things all the time - I can't help it!
I haven't slept through the night since before I moved. While at mom's house, I chalked it up to having a child sleeping in bed with me. After the big move, I figured it was because I was just too hot at night, which might be part of it, but when I keep the room really cold... I've started taking melatonin before bed, which has helped a little, but I still toss and turn every night. Is it my anxiety? I'm not sure. I just want to sleep! I've expressed to my hubby numerous times about how I feel lazy and don't accomplish much throughout the day because I'm just so tired.
Right now I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with all the projects going on at home. I started taking down wallpaper in my stairwell so I could get that painted before our guests arrive this week, but that was put on the back burner when I saw my hubby peeling wallpaper in the basement so he could put up trim around the windows. I know he was trying to make it easier for me when it came time to paint the basement, but that ended up with me striping a good half of the basement of wallpaper. Just as I was cleaning up the mess, he started tearing down wallpaper in the bathroom for the same reason, to make it easier for me when it came time to paint it. Now I have too many open projects and I want to do them all at once.
One of these days I'll get up a few pictures of all the updates we've done around here. But not today. I'm going to try to complete a few of these projects in hopes of feeling less overwhelmed...One thing at time.
Saturday, February 11, 2017
Because the Birthday Boy Loves Green...
My baby boy is now seven. SEVEN! I am so proud of the young little guy he has become. There isn't a day that goes by that he doesn't just melt my heart. I asked him the other day if we could just not celebrate his birthday so he wouldn't have to turn seven. "As long as I can still open the presents, we don't need party." Well...that's not how it works. "Then I guess I'll have to turn 7." Ugh. I know he's *only* seven, but I carried him to the bus stop the other day. I'm not going be able to do that for much longer...
He's been anxiously awaiting his birthday, especially this week, as his presents started arriving from his relatives and stacking up in the corner. I ventured out earlier this week with little C to Toy 'r Us knowing it was going to be a rough trip. She did alright all things considered. There was a lot of reminding going on..."We're here for JP. We're looking for something he will like, not you." Her willingness to not pout through the entire store won her a trip to the pet store to look at the kitties. Win win I would say! Because dad had to go into work early today, I let him only open one present before we managed to scoot out the door for school. (Thank goodness my little sister called *at the crack of dawn* to talk to the birthday boy, or we might have all over slept since my alarm was set for 6pm...)
I had every intention of getting a really good jump start on his cake yesterday. I baked it first thing in the morning and then while it cooled I took upon the task of painting the ceiling in the dining room. Not all of it, but some of it. But since I did that, I figured I better just go ahead and paint the short wall so we could put the old curtains back up. And you know, the other wall is only a couple feet wide... so by 5:30pm H was cooking mac 'n cheese for dinner. So much for working on the cake. Today was the deadline and JP was already asking about it at 7:30a. Such a procrastinator I've become. I remember when I'd start cakes on Tuesday to be done by Friday night! C tested her patience by holding spatulas and beaters and later danced her Barbie dolls around the kitchen while I she tested my patience. I finished it up with 15 minutes to spare - just enough time to dust off the powdered sugar and walk to the bus stop to get H, JP, and one of JP's new friends.
I just love him so much! Just look at that cute little two-year old face of his!
He misplaced his glasses somewhere in the house last week and we've yet to find them. He looks so young without them on! You knew he was going to have a green cake, right? He's that predictable. A couple weeks ago I realized we hadn't had the "birthday cake chat" yet. He rolled his eyes and knowingly said, "A lego cake, of course." Of course... I made H a lego cake for his 6th birthday, but yeah, we'll do legos again. As his big day neared, he made it known that he specifically wanted a Lego Ninjago cake, but didn't specify which one. I should have messed with him and made the blue or yellow one.
I resisted and made Lloyd. I gave him yellow hands at first but his hands were struggling to stay up (you know since I procrastinated...) so I switched it up and used black. He looks a little more Ninjago-ish with the change.
Though we didn't originally plan it, we had an impromptu sleepover with his friend. I didn't realize it until it was bedtime, but this was our first sleepover! JP has been to a sleepover before (I don't think HD has though...) but we've never had the opportunity to have a friend stay the night so the boys were extra excited about that. Getting three boys settled down for bed is no easy task, but we conquered :) They seem pretty excited about puffy pancakes for breakfast!
Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Super Bowl Sunday Highlights
My kids have been anxiously awaiting this day for weeks now - mostly because of all the snacks we have out to eat, but hey, family time is family time. I was somehow blessed with a husband who is a fan of the Patriots, and I, being his loving wife, always, ALWAYS, cheer for whoever is playing against them. It keeps it interesting. Unfortunately for me, every team I cheered for during the playoffs lost, so it was only fitting the Falcons would lose too. I'm hoping this losing streak I'm on doesn't carry over to the Lions' next season!
Aside from the ups and downs and cheering and screaming from our Super Bowl "party", we had a fairly mellow day. We finally had a weekend free of commitments and temper tantrums. (Yes, I had a rough weekend last week trying to decide what color to paint the living room. It's such a hard choice when your husband is color blind and you yourself are indecisive!) I had spent this past week painting the walls with the little energy I could muster up, and sleeping the rest of the week away. My energy levels became so predictable that my 3 year old was asking me when I was going to lay down for a nap.
I'm not staying up any later than I normally would and I'm not getting up extremely early. I get a solid 8 hours of sleep each night, but by 1:00p I'm so done with the day. It's terrible. I'm starting to wonder if I might be displaying a few signs of depression or if it's a problem with my thyroids. I just want to feel better overall, but I also don't want to jump to conclusions, since I did just move here. I wouldn't say I feel lonely, just unmotivated to do anything. I'm surprised I didn't put off painting the living room longer than I did...
I am happy to report that today was a better day overall for me though. We had plans to go to church at 9:00a, but we didn't get out of bed until after 8:00a so we opted for the later service. I spent some of my free time on Saturday searching for churches in our area to check out. I stumbled upon Crossroads Community Church and after some reading, I decided we'd check that one out first. A huge plus that it was in an area of town I was some-what familiar with. My hubs cooked breakfast for our crew while I finished getting ready to go. Life-saver! I wasn't expecting the church to be so big, but it also has a school on the same campus so that made it feel much much bigger. Both boys contained their excitement when they walked into the kid's gym and saw a bounce house. Inside their little heads I knew they were screaming! The younger kids were broken up into classroom by their age and my little girl was like a magnet to the play kitchen they had in there. All three kids said they are excited to go back. That's a win right there! Hopefully that means no more whining when the word "church" is said.
I enjoyed the sermon too, but I'm a little hesitant to jump to claiming this church as "mine" because of the size. I don't want to be another face in the crowd so to speak. I can clearly see why it's so big though, I mean, like I said, I enjoyed the sermon, and it was obvious the Pastor was enjoyed by many. They're in the middle of the book of Daniel - this week he was speaking on the multi-metallic statue Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt about from chapter 2. His sermon revolved around the idea that God knows our future before we even do. That really resonated with me as I kept thinking back to early this summer when I confessed to my sister how I felt I was ready to move and start a new chapter in my life. Over and over my Hubs kept asking me about jobs here and there and I was always overcome with anxiety at just the thought of him applying. This time around, regardless of everything else that was going on in my life, I just felt at peace with him applying and going through the motions to earn a higher position. I was confused as to why the thought of staying where we were caused so much stress and grief to develop inside but moving, which is supposed to be very stressful, caused the opposite feelings. I felt good about it and so I realized this week that God was just preparing my heart this past summer for a new adventure. He knows the path I'm supposed to be taking, that's why moving never felt right - it wasn't His timing.
Now I'm here in the house I cried in when we toured it 4 months ago. I felt guilty for wanting to take a nap after returning home. Perry is constantly on the go doing something productive and I'm over here barely able to keep my eyes open for 5 hours. I powered through the afternoon, and with some help from the kids, managed to remove wallpaper from a small wall in the dining room. It's ready for paint now but the ceiling needs a little love first. I finished up just in time to see former President Bush being wheeled off the football field.
I'll tell you what though, wallpaper removal is not for the faint of heart! I'm seriously considering painting over it on the long wall in the dining room... There is two different patterns of wallpaper going on, and it took nearly two hours to remove one PANEL of it. That's like a 1.5'x9' strip. And we have 50? more feet of it to remove...I don't know if I want to invest that kind of time...
I'm not staying up any later than I normally would and I'm not getting up extremely early. I get a solid 8 hours of sleep each night, but by 1:00p I'm so done with the day. It's terrible. I'm starting to wonder if I might be displaying a few signs of depression or if it's a problem with my thyroids. I just want to feel better overall, but I also don't want to jump to conclusions, since I did just move here. I wouldn't say I feel lonely, just unmotivated to do anything. I'm surprised I didn't put off painting the living room longer than I did...
I am happy to report that today was a better day overall for me though. We had plans to go to church at 9:00a, but we didn't get out of bed until after 8:00a so we opted for the later service. I spent some of my free time on Saturday searching for churches in our area to check out. I stumbled upon Crossroads Community Church and after some reading, I decided we'd check that one out first. A huge plus that it was in an area of town I was some-what familiar with. My hubs cooked breakfast for our crew while I finished getting ready to go. Life-saver! I wasn't expecting the church to be so big, but it also has a school on the same campus so that made it feel much much bigger. Both boys contained their excitement when they walked into the kid's gym and saw a bounce house. Inside their little heads I knew they were screaming! The younger kids were broken up into classroom by their age and my little girl was like a magnet to the play kitchen they had in there. All three kids said they are excited to go back. That's a win right there! Hopefully that means no more whining when the word "church" is said.
I enjoyed the sermon too, but I'm a little hesitant to jump to claiming this church as "mine" because of the size. I don't want to be another face in the crowd so to speak. I can clearly see why it's so big though, I mean, like I said, I enjoyed the sermon, and it was obvious the Pastor was enjoyed by many. They're in the middle of the book of Daniel - this week he was speaking on the multi-metallic statue Nebuchadnezzar had dreamt about from chapter 2. His sermon revolved around the idea that God knows our future before we even do. That really resonated with me as I kept thinking back to early this summer when I confessed to my sister how I felt I was ready to move and start a new chapter in my life. Over and over my Hubs kept asking me about jobs here and there and I was always overcome with anxiety at just the thought of him applying. This time around, regardless of everything else that was going on in my life, I just felt at peace with him applying and going through the motions to earn a higher position. I was confused as to why the thought of staying where we were caused so much stress and grief to develop inside but moving, which is supposed to be very stressful, caused the opposite feelings. I felt good about it and so I realized this week that God was just preparing my heart this past summer for a new adventure. He knows the path I'm supposed to be taking, that's why moving never felt right - it wasn't His timing.
Now I'm here in the house I cried in when we toured it 4 months ago. I felt guilty for wanting to take a nap after returning home. Perry is constantly on the go doing something productive and I'm over here barely able to keep my eyes open for 5 hours. I powered through the afternoon, and with some help from the kids, managed to remove wallpaper from a small wall in the dining room. It's ready for paint now but the ceiling needs a little love first. I finished up just in time to see former President Bush being wheeled off the football field.
Thursday, February 2, 2017
Have We Been Here a Month Already?
Where oh where did January go? Our first week settling in was chaos. Unpacking boxes and so much painting! We had a couple days to get settled and get the ceiling painted in the livingroom and the master bedroom before the carpet arrived. I couldn't wait! Gail had four encounters with tack strips on her feet. I think I might have had five. Just as soon as it was installed (with H's help!) we had Perry's sister + husband + daughter as well as one of Perry's friends + wife + son join us for New Year Eve get together.
This was the first year we allowed the boys to *try* to stay up until midnight. JP passed out on the floor around 11, and H barely made it to see the ball drop. I continuously poked at him for ten minutes to make sure he saw the ball drop. Hubs konked out shortly there after. Gail might have made it until 10:30p.
The next afternoon we took a drive south and wandered around the Pearl District in Portland until we found Powell's Bookstore. So many books! I'd love to go back when I have more time.
Just a couple days later, I took the boys to their new school, which looks like one of our high schools to get them registered. There is approximately 800 students compared to the 350 students they were used to... And every form had an English version and a Spanish version. I think about half the staff is bilingual. Hubs and I took them to school on their first day so we could meet their teachers. Unfortunately Ms. Gail was hacking up a lung so Perry stayed with her in the car. I briefly met JP's teacher before leaving him with her and wandering off with HD and his teacher.
The next morning they rode the bus. Mornings are a little rougher now that they leave the house 45 minutes earlier than they used to. Luckily if we have a slow going morning, Perry can take them to school half an hour later when he leaves for work. That might be a common occurrence... Before we could get back into the routine of school, we were hit with a massive snow storm.
8pm vs 11pm vs 8am
School was cancelled Wednesday - Friday. We had about 16'' come in a matter of about 12 hours. All of our trees were drooping with the weight so Perry spent the day knocking snow off trees and shrubs.
Somewhere under there is a demolished reed bush-thing.
The kids had so much fun playing in the snow. Unfortunately we didn't anticipate getting any snow while we were here so we left all the sleds at Nanny's house. Not that we would have had any room for them in the car...
JP spent an afternoon having a contest (with himself) to see who could make the biggest snowball. Him or....? HD spent his time eating snow.
Our deck has some kind of plastic covering it and with all the snow on top, the beam in the middle was starting to bow so Perry spent several hours pushing all the snow off with some kind of device he made.
The sunsets were unreal though!! SO pretty! Check out that tree line though...we've got some trimming to do!
Let's see, other happenings in January include Ms. Gail being her fabulous self and HD and I having handstand wars. JP has been working diligently working on putting his collection of puzzles together (and staying up too late to do so!)
We also took a little drive to the north to celebrate our cousins/niece's 2nd birthday. H took great pleasure in helping making popcorn in their mini-vintage machine. It reminds me of my days as a popcorn girl at the Hi-Line Theatre.
My neighbor and I also ventured into Portland the other day to check out the Fabric Depot. The store is about an acre in size and there is so. much. fabric! I decided I was going to try to make this sweater and since she's into making clothes, she said she'd help! Mine is going to be a burnt orange color. Just as soon as I get all my sewing stuff set up...
In the meantime to fill up my days, Ms. Gail and I have been spending our time working on the livingroom - removing wallpaper and painting. We spent several days unpacking boxes to organize my "office" closet. I'm also happy to report I'm getting really good at starting a fire! I've never had to do it before. I'm also anxious to get our taxes done... I'm awaiting three more forms and then I can file. I'm not going to lie, money is tight right now. Between having an old thermostat, an ancient water heater, and original windows from the 70's, it's costing a TON to heat this place. We're working on upgrading things, but without the funds it's a never-ending cycle.
So while I still have a little bit of motivation left, I need to a) find my coffee and b) re-start the laundry. Here's to a grand February filled with more blog posts and more coffee!
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Welcome Back!
Welcome to my "new" blog! It's a new version of the "old" blog. Our new house needed an updated blog, but I didn't want to lose the memories of the former, so I brought them along with. Win-win for everyone, plus I love going back to read random posts!
As timing would have it, it is also the beginning of a new year, and I am so ready to put the harassing I received from my blog (that I thought was over) behind me as I start over building new friendships and networks in a completely new area. I used to update my blog pretty frequently and enjoyed sharing the links for everyone to enjoy and I'm really hoping to get back to that. It'll take some time, but that's what I'm striving for - to get back to doing what I enjoy and that's taking pictures of my family and sharing our memories.
Over the last few weeks I have been racking my brain to come up with a new name for my blog. I wanted it to still be about me, but less personal. One of my finalists was "Mud in the Entry" and I almost settled on it, even though I wasn't in love with it. It references my home and my children - because you know it wasn't me bringing in mud into my house. Plus now that we're in the Pacific Northwest, I imagine there will be plenty of mud to trudge in with all the rain. It also nods at my housekeeping skills - no matter how clean the house rest of the house is, there is always going to be one place that still needs some work. Isn't that true about our lives too, though? No matter how put together we seem to be, there's always at least one aspect of our life that needs some work, whether it be emotionally, spiritually, physically, or mentally.
The night I came up with "Coffee in the Cupboard" might have been the same night, or the night after, I read a post on Facebook from a dear friend (you know who you are!) about drinking her morning coffee that evening. This is me to the "T". Except I'm probably worse, because I often wander around the house with my cup of coffee and then set it somewhere and forget about it. Perry is always asking me why I bother with even pouring myself a cup if I'm not going to drink it. It's not that I don't want to, I just don't have 15 minutes to just sit and drink it. It instead gets brought to the bathroom and left on the counter. It gets toted to and left in the laundry room for me to find that night when I'm re-fluffing the already re-fluffed laundry. It gets sat on the mantle because it was out of the way when I started the fire that morning. It gets placed on the counter when making breakfast and then I walk away to get something and completely forget about it. While I haven't actually put my coffee in the cupboard yet, I'm sure one of these days it just might happen with all the chaos around here. I honestly don't know where my coffee is right now, but clearly I need some more... It's like a spin off of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" but "If You Give a Mom a Cup of Coffee..."
Maybe some day I finish a cup in the morning, but for now "Coffee in the Cupboard" is my life as a mom. I'm all over the place between cooking and cleaning and this little human needing that and the other two little humans fighting over toys - it's chaos around here. So welcome, or re-welcome as the case may be.
As timing would have it, it is also the beginning of a new year, and I am so ready to put the harassing I received from my blog (that I thought was over) behind me as I start over building new friendships and networks in a completely new area. I used to update my blog pretty frequently and enjoyed sharing the links for everyone to enjoy and I'm really hoping to get back to that. It'll take some time, but that's what I'm striving for - to get back to doing what I enjoy and that's taking pictures of my family and sharing our memories.
Over the last few weeks I have been racking my brain to come up with a new name for my blog. I wanted it to still be about me, but less personal. One of my finalists was "Mud in the Entry" and I almost settled on it, even though I wasn't in love with it. It references my home and my children - because you know it wasn't me bringing in mud into my house. Plus now that we're in the Pacific Northwest, I imagine there will be plenty of mud to trudge in with all the rain. It also nods at my housekeeping skills - no matter how clean the house rest of the house is, there is always going to be one place that still needs some work. Isn't that true about our lives too, though? No matter how put together we seem to be, there's always at least one aspect of our life that needs some work, whether it be emotionally, spiritually, physically, or mentally.
The night I came up with "Coffee in the Cupboard" might have been the same night, or the night after, I read a post on Facebook from a dear friend (you know who you are!) about drinking her morning coffee that evening. This is me to the "T". Except I'm probably worse, because I often wander around the house with my cup of coffee and then set it somewhere and forget about it. Perry is always asking me why I bother with even pouring myself a cup if I'm not going to drink it. It's not that I don't want to, I just don't have 15 minutes to just sit and drink it. It instead gets brought to the bathroom and left on the counter. It gets toted to and left in the laundry room for me to find that night when I'm re-fluffing the already re-fluffed laundry. It gets sat on the mantle because it was out of the way when I started the fire that morning. It gets placed on the counter when making breakfast and then I walk away to get something and completely forget about it. While I haven't actually put my coffee in the cupboard yet, I'm sure one of these days it just might happen with all the chaos around here. I honestly don't know where my coffee is right now, but clearly I need some more... It's like a spin off of "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" but "If You Give a Mom a Cup of Coffee..."
Maybe some day I finish a cup in the morning, but for now "Coffee in the Cupboard" is my life as a mom. I'm all over the place between cooking and cleaning and this little human needing that and the other two little humans fighting over toys - it's chaos around here. So welcome, or re-welcome as the case may be.
Sit back and enjoy your coffee (or glass of wine if it's after noon ha!) as I go on the never-ending search for mine. Side note: If you're reading this on your phone, just know that it looks cuter on the computer. :)
P.S. I love knowing who my readers are! You guys keep me going! Feel free to leave me a comment before you leave!
P.S. I love knowing who my readers are! You guys keep me going! Feel free to leave me a comment before you leave!