by the way

Sorry if my blog posts look squished and weird. I'm still trying to get my computer to cooperate. I'm using a new browser which should help - but until that kicks in - it looks awful.

Days

Lately:

have spent the last two days with a quilt in my lap, hoping to be done today

saw a mouse in the garage - can't figure out where it's living, but it did clean the PB off the traps

need to start cooking again - real cooking

just realized Christmas is in less than two weeks - lots to do

starting to get excited to have the kids home for the break

am on a perpetual elf hat hunt - checked 6 stores with no luck - my elf may just be hatless in the upcoming school play

almost had flowers delivered to me yesterday - only to catch the delivery guy getting back into his truck, the flowers were for someone on the next street named Dawn - oh well

had a better day with my 3-year-old yesterday - only 11 1/2 more months to go...

One of those days

Clarie snapped this picture of Rose, being Rose

Today was one of those days I do not wish to repeat. Actually, most of my day was OK really. It was this evening...when it all went to pot. I love my dear daughter, I really do, but I'm at my wits end. Having Rose around when I'm trying to run errands or do anything important really is like have some sort of personal gremlin, sent to torture me. I thought things would get better since the twos were so awful, but that proved to be wrong. Three-year-olds are crazy. That's all I can say and keep thing polite.

Hiccups

Rose ready for a walk with Dad

(the puzzle pieces are in her backpack, but she insisted on carrying the empty puzzle box in her hand)

It seems to be getting darker earlier and earlier around here. I don't really mind it. I'm just grateful for portable heaters, fleece vests, wool socks and lap blankets. After living in places with cold winters for almost half my life, my preference scale is starting to tip towards places with cold winters over hot summers. Luckily here is St. Louis, we get the best of both worlds. But every time I go to Texas in the summer, I melt.

Life continues on as normal here, despite a few small hiccups (my antique spice rack falling off the wall - which was loaded with spices) or large hiccups (like my dryer kicking the bucket). But with good friends to help out, we just keep sailing through.

I would be lost without my friends.

Toasty

Pictures of my baking center, as promised. I have plans to add some shelves on the wall above to store my baking supplies in jars, but it'll have to wait for awhile. And one day, when I get beautiful mixing bowls, etc, they will go on the shelves below. It takes time to know what I want there. I love love love having this extra working room. Such a blessing!

So I killed the toaster the other day. I dropped it. When I told Ryan, who was still in bed at the time, he asked "That's what I heard?!" I dropped it nice and hard; almost on Claire's feet.

Being toast people, I thought I had better get out there and get us a new toaster and quick! I wanted to get a better one, but when it came down to it, I got the exact same kind, even though I kind of hated our toaster. It had 10 settings, but if the dial accidentally was turned up to 3, a piece of charcoal would eventually pop out. Which made me think, what would happen at lets say, setting 6? An inferno? What about setting 10!? A mushroom cloud maybe?

Maybe I should have spent the extra $20 for the primo toaster (primo according to Target...) so I wouldn't have to babysit my toast anymore. But maybe, just maybe, the maker of my red chrome Oster toaster will have gotten the settings toned down sometime in the last 6 years since I bought the original. I did notice that this new red chrome Oster toaster only has 6 settings...

And that brings me to the movie, "The Brave Little Toaster". Any of you remember that? I loved watching it on TV as a kid, but when I checked it out from the library to watch with my kids, I found it to be really weird and disturbing. My kids didn't like it at all...so what was wrong with me when I was a kid?

World (ok a log cabin) Turned Upside-Down

Last winter sometime, I started this cross-stitch sampler that I found in the book Embroidery Companion found here http://aliciapaulson.com/. I love her designs and I thought this one would be perfect in the girls' room. I happily started sewing, distracted here and there by kids and life. I started with the log cabin and then moved onto the fence and it wasn't until the fence was done that I realized I sewed the fence on upside-down (in relationship to the log cabin). Now I would call myself a pretty experienced cross-stitcher and this was a major uh-oh. I was so mad that I threw a small tantrum (that Ryan witnessed) and vowed to throw it away. The fence, while easy, was very time consuming, so there was NO WAY I was going to rip it out - it wasn't worth it to me.

So I put it away (Ryan convinced me not to throw it away just yet) and didn't touch it for a few months.

After the sting was gone, I pulled it out, figured out how to make it work without ripping out a single stitch and bam! It's done. I couldn't find a wood frame that I loved, so Claire and I picked out an unfinished one, painted it, and here is the finished product, upside-down cabin and all.

I love how it turned out. It's hanging on the wall next to Rose's bed and the blue ties in with the blue in Rose's quilt and Claire's bedding. Anyway, check out Alicia's book and her blog is great. She is such a gifted lady and lately, her blog has brought me to tears.

Finishing

Well, it's here. My computer arrived last night. The keyboard layout is a bit different, making me erase a large percentage of what I type, but I'll get the hang of it. And while it's great to have a computer that works, I forget how much I hate getting acquainted with a new operating system and having to "personalize" it all over again. Again, I'll get the hang of it.

But while I have been waiting for its arrival, I have been a busy bee. My many projects are all underway and I have spent the last three days making a quilt and staining furniture. The project above was an inexpensive way to test my staining skills. In the end, I didn't love the color for my other projects, so I did end up buying a darker stain. But last night, I finished putting on the three coats of finish and it was a success! Now onto the real stuff - they have color, but need finishing.

I think I like finishing wood, but I'm not sure yet. I'll wait until it's all done to decide - things could go very badly yet.

Off

Now that the house is off the market (for the winter), I've decided to continue on with my home improvement projects. A paint color has been chosen for William's room (though it was not his first choice and there were many tears shed -by him, not me- but life goes on and I know he'll love it when it's done), I have three pieces of furniture to stain, which I'm a little nervous about... And I'm once again dreaming of a new front door.

So we move forward, hopeful that the housing mess will somehow all work out in the end. But in the meantime, I'm excited to make our little home a little more homier and I hope soon to be able to post some pictures of my new kitchen worktable. It is awesome! And it only took the cooperation of three other families to get it here!

On a Monday

We're just here; trying to take things a little slower so everyone can heal. Life keeps trying to creep in and keep us too busy.

Just have to make sure we leave plenty of time for prayers, scripture reading, snuggles and good food.

Oh, what would we do without these blankies?

Whatnot etc,

No pictures today - laptop crashed. But I'll give a brief update for those of you I don't communicate with often and for personal history purposes. We've had a busy week, some good, some bad.

Monday was of course busy with Halloween.

Tuesday was clean up and recover day, had to pick up kids from school because William had a bloody nose that wouldn't stop so he couldn't ride the bus home.

Wednesday was the usual until Rose fell off the couch, onto the coffee table resulting in 5 hours in the ER and 4 stitches.

Thursday (today) was taking kids late to school because I was up until 3am because of the ER, and the kids didn't fair much better, squeezing in a parent/teacher conference, playgroup where Rose got a nasty nosebleed (it didn't last long, but it wasn't pretty), washing bloody clothes while Rose and I napped, Project night and here I am.

I'm hoping that tomorrow will be a little calmer and less bloody. Some good, some bad. I take them as they come.

Creating Linus

This Halloween, William wanted to be Linus from "Peanuts"; we're big fans of Charlie Brown. The costume seemed easy enough. All I had to do was find the shirt; but that proved to be harder than I thought to find just the right thing. So I ended up making the striped shirt. My friend Jennifer had the great idea of how to put the thin black stripes onto the red shirt and I must say - it turned out awesome and was really easy to do!

I used masking tape to create the lines that I would paint.

Painting with black fabric paint - I was worried the paint would bleed through the tape, but it didn't! Oh, and I put cardboard inside the shirt to protect the underside.

A view from the back - I ironed on letters so that people would be sure to know who he was.

Linus

This was a great costume because it was cheap (only had to buy a shirt - cheap at the craft store, fabric paint, and red socks) and easy. He loved wearing it because it was so comfortable; not much different from what he usually wears everyday. And the best part? He got to carry around his favorite blue blanket, just like Linus.

Goodbye Terrible Twos?

As Rose nears her 3rd birthday, something very unexpected has been happening; Rose is chilling out. Lately, she is quieter, calmer, and less...well, crazy. I have found her sitting quietly in her bed, looking at comic books, listening to music for an hour at a time. She will play quietly with her legos or squinkies for hours. It is all very un-Rosie-like. I'm not sure what to think about it. She's not completely calm - she will still stand at her post on the top of the slide and yell at the dog across the street to "go to sleep, dog!" and scream at passing cars, but other than that, she has really mellowed out. We hear "the scream" less and less (which I am totally OK with). I don't know...I don't want to speak too soon or jinx myself, but I think the twos may possibly be worse than the threes for Rose. Claire was a three-year-old from you-know-where and William was always his sweet little self. Who knows, but it's kind-of weirdin' me out.

The Rose I'm used to...mopping the car.

Monday

As Halloween and a certain birthday inch closer, I've realized that I had better get moving on my plans. Claire's costume is so close to being done, William's is bought, but needs some assembling and I think Rose is ready to go. I just need to finish up and put a little more thought into someone's 3rd birthday! We have been busy as of late - not too much on the calender, but a lot of other "stuff". I think I will be ready for November next week. October is always a little crazy with so much going on. I have found that I like my calm and quiet days, which I don't get too many of. But I love them when I can get them.

The other day, I made these pumpkin scones from this book. It was so, so good. But I had to alter the recipe a bit to make it work. Turns out, that corrections for that recipe have been printed - which I didn't know about.

And our garden yielded A LOT of basil; here is some of it - we canned several jars of pesto and didn't bother harvesting the rest of the basil.

And I want you all to look at the above picture. Do you see that small square of counter space? Well that is all the counter space I have to work with. All cooking, food prep, baking, everything, takes place on that small bit of counter. I'm telling you...a shoebox...but I have plans in the works. Only a few more weeks...

Goodnight Moon

It's been a long day; a good day, but long. As much as I love getting out and doing things, my favorite place to be is home, with the ones I love most.

Have a lovely weekend.

Getting Cold(s)

I am glad that I live in a place that has definite seasons. Fall is my favorite; I don't even mind the wind and cooler weather. It's a nice change from the humidity of the summer. But with the cooler weather, comes colds. Luckily, the kids have been doing pretty well thus far. The start of school always means the kids start bringing home gross viruses. I like the excuse to slow down, sit down and enjoy quieter activities. I also love all of the snuggles I get from tired children. I will miss these when they grow up.

Back in Business

Once again, we are picture-less and until I get a new computer, it might stay that way. I hope you won't leave for lack of pictures.

The past two days, I have not been feeling well. Yesterday was the worst of the two, but I woke up this morning renewed. I'm not back to full energy yet, but it came just in time. Even though my husband did the best he could with the house while I was semi-conscious on the couch, it still amazes me how quickly things can take a turn for the worse. I spent almost the entire day today, just getting the house back in shape. There is still much to be done, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

I'm so thankful Ryan was willing to step in and bathe kids, wash dinner dishes and make lunches. What a good man.

But I think our FedX guy thinks I'm either a drunk or high because when he knocked on the door yesterday, I had to pull myself out of a benadryl-induced stupor to answer the door and my throat was so swollen, I couldn't say anything intelligible. And there was the fact that I must of have looked atrocious and could hardly sign my name with the electronic pen-thing. Let's just say, it was bad. I can just hear him telling his wife..."you wouldn't believe the crazy lady I delivered to today!".

TV schmeevee

More than a month ago, we got rid of cable. There were several motivating factors in this decision: high expense, kids watching too much, parents watching too much, and I wanted to rearrange my living room and the TV cable wouldn't reach where I wanted to put my TV and there was NO WAY I was going to pay someone to move the cable line because of my crazy furniture rearranging whim.

And unfortunately, our digital converter no longer works making our TV useless except for movies. Have we missed it? Maybe here and there. I will tell you, I don't miss hearing all of those obnoxious pre-teen Disney and Nick shows. The kids haven't seemed to notice. They just play with their toys or go outside instead of laying around the living room. In the evenings, I read or put on a favorite movie while I sew.

When we need something new to watch, we get things from the library. I won't even go into the fact that I think most of what's on TV is pretty trashy and some of it is just plain awful. That being said, so far, this has been a good thing and I don't regret our decision...much :)

Another Rose Story

If any of the kids have given me a run for my money, it has been Rose. I can not figure her out, after almost three years, you would think I could predict her, but I'm still amazed at what kind of crap she can pull.

This morning, after the kids left for school on the bus, Rose and I went to a nearby park. I took her mostly because she was feeling sad at being left behind. My local friends will know of which park I speak - the giant wood playground by the pond.

Well, Rose and I were the only ones at the playground (it was 8am) and the only other people at the park were old folks walking the gravel trails. She played while I finished my book. All was well until I accidentally stuck my finger down the back of her diaper while trying to situate her on the tire swing. Well, the diaper was filled with poo and I quickly retreated to the car to get a wipe for my hand and a diaper for Rose. The car was very close and Rose was occupied on the tire swing. I quickly returned to where Rose should have been, but wasn't. I said out loud "Oh no she didn't" She did. She had escaped out the back entrance of the playground (which has a wood fence all around except the main entrance and a small, hidden back entrance), which I didn't know she knew about. She had not only escaped, but was running full speed down the empty park road that runs next to the pond. She saw me chasing her, screamed and ran even faster. I caught her, wrestled her to a park bench where I changed her and then promptly returned to the car. What a pill!! I wonder how long and far she would have run if I had let her.

And as I write this, she has taken off all of her clothes (diaper included) and is rolling around on the wood dining room floor with her blanket.?? I hope we survive the threes.

Oh, come on!!

Once again I am thwarted in my efforts to put on new pictures - my laptop is about done. It's been a good computer; it has lasted me 5 years, which for a laptop, is pretty good. I'm seriously thinking about getting a new one next month.

We had a lovely weekend, but honestly were relieved when it was over. I am excited for some improvements that I'm making to the kitchen/dining room that I will share when it's done (next month). Speaking of the kitchen, we had a house showing last week. I spent much of the day getting the house in spic-and-span order then I had to take my sleeping toddler out in the car for an hour while the showing took place. Well, the next day, we got the results of the showing. The people were not at all interested due to the size of the kitchen. They liked everything else and had positive comments, but the kitchen would not work for their needs at all and so had no interest. Here's my thought - there are 25 freaking pictures online, many of the kitchen and the dimensions are ON THE MLS PAGE!!! If having a big kitchen is that important to you, then get out a measuring tape and measure the size BEFORE you make someone clean their whole house and yard AND leave for an hour so you can be just be "curious" or whatever. I was glad someone was looking at the house, but annoyed with these people. Yes! I know the kitchen is small - it's what I hate most about the house, but for crying out loud, if it's that important to your happiness, do a little research. There are like 100 houses in this area in this price range to choose from...whereas when we were buying our house, there were maybe 5. Oh well. What can I do?

Next time I go house hunting, I will be sure to be considerate in which houses I view - if I'm not serious, I won't look at it and save everyone the trouble.

On a different note, a few weeks back, we had this morning fog roll in, making it look like we live in a rain forest.

And what's with Daylight Savings? Is it normally in November? I'm not loving it being so dark in the morning.

Weekend

A lovely, but crazy friend of mine has offered to have my three kids join her four kids (one of which is a few weeks old) for an evening of fun so that my husband and I can go out. I will admit that I can't remember the last time we did something, just the two of us. It must have been last year.

Anyway, our weekend is off to a good start as we have a full, fun day planned for tomorrow. I love Octobers here in Illinois. It is my favorite month; the leaves turning, fall activities are in full swing and the weather is perfect. Come November, it will be cold until spring. Right on cue, while we try to enjoy our perfect month, lots of other things keep cropping up to keep us busy. So Ryan and I will battle to keep our one useful month free in order to enjoy our family and nature.

I always have good intentions to blog over the weekend, but it never happens. So be on the lookout Monday for some mind-blowing pictures and inspiring prose. Well, maybe not mind blowing...

The Help

Rose is having a very productive day, making my day very unproductive; pictures to follow. But who can stay mad at this girl?

Now that my allergies are finally a little better, I have begun work on my many projects. I've decided not to start another on until I finish what I have started. Well, maybe one more... Have a wonderful fall day!

Hobbit Day Revisited

Last year, my lovely sister informed me of a tradition among Tolkien fans called "Hobbit Day" (Bilbo and Frodo's birthday). She was making a seed cake and eating Hobbit-like fare. I thought it sounded fun, and being a moderate Tolkien fan, I wanted to join in. So this year, my sister reminded me of the upcoming day and I was (somewhat) prepared.

I can't remember what I had made for breakfast, but I was sure to eat both breakfast and second breakfast. I baked seed cake (which was delicious!) and when the kids got home from school, we had a tea party. I'm afraid it wasn't very Hobbit-like, more English I guess, but we had a great time! We've had afternoon tea parties before, but I had to make this one special. So I dressed up in something out of the ordinary, strung some twinkle lights, made some paper chains and brewed up a pot of apple cinnamon herbal tea. When the kids walked in the door, they were very confused by what was going on, but as soon as they saw the tea, my mop cap and heard my atrocious English accent, they joined right in on the fun. We had a lovely afternoon tea and I had to fight the kids off from eating all of the cake so that we could save some for Ryan.

For dinner, we had crispy bacon, biscuits and jam, cold chicken with berry sauce, and taters sprinkled with Rosemary from our garden. We had a wonderful time and plan to continue the tradition every year! Thanks Molly for the great idea!

Categories

So how would you categorize yourself or your family life? I read a couple of blogs that really inspire me (or depress me depending on the day) and I get grand ideas of how I want our home life to be. Let me give you a sampling of categories that I wish I fit into, but don't:

• Extremely creative families - who are always working on art projects, creative food, decor, etc.
• Food families - again, amazing meals every day
• Farmhouse families - have the farmhouse of my dreams, chickens and other barnyard animals, make their own syrup, garden, can food, etc.
• Home school families - lots of happy children running around the house/city with mom, doing all sorts of amazing things
• Crafty families - this kind of goes with the creative families, but Mom is especially gifted in some sort of "craft" - whether it be photography, textiles, paper, etc.
• Natural families - eat whole food, use natural products, connected with nature
• Reading families - lots and lots of reading going on by everyone

Some other categories that I don't fit into but I see on a day to day basis around me:

• The Soccer Mom - running kids from activity to activity after school and on weekends
• Well-to-do - families that seem to "have-it-all" even if it is a facade
• Blue Collar - lower income, working parents, struggle to make ends meet some months
• Working families - both parents work many, hours usually at white color jobs, make good money, but are never around and we see a lot of their kids, but never the parents
• Lots of family - people that have a lot of family nearby - lots of cousins to play with, big family gatherings/dinners, built-in birthday party guests and babysitters.

These are just some of the types of people around me. Most families are a combination of things. I grew up with both parents working at professional, albeit low paying, jobs. We were in every activity known to man and both parents had demanding church callings.

So now, where does my family fit it? It doesn't. My kids are not in a bunch of activities mostly due to cost and frankly, we don't enjoy going to endless softball games, dance classes, etc. We aren't blue collar, Ryan and I are fairly educated. But then we're not technically a student family anymore, yet Ryan isn't into his career either - in limbo I guess. The kids go to a public school that I would rank as average. It's not some special Montessori/nature school or art magnet school or anything like that. It's safe, the kids are usually happy, the staff is pretty friendly and the kids seem to be learning the three Rs. It works. Ideal? No, but it works.

I try to cook healthy foods, but lets be honest, fresh is expensive, organic is expensive and my kids tend to be somewhat picky (there goes my dream of being a "food" family), and my kitchen is the size of a shoebox - seriously, anyone who has seen it would agree - making baking and cooking a logistical nightmare. Despite this, I cook dinner almost every single night - we don't eat out, who can afford it?

When it comes to being crafty/creative, we try our best, but it's nothing to write a book about or even a blog post in most cases.

The things our family enjoys, many people don't and many things we despise, many people are "into". So while I'll probably still try to squeeze myself into a category, I'm hoping that eventually I'll give up and be happy with where we are, wherever that is.

Hello Again Friends!

Now that we are back into a schedule and life has calmed down (relatively), I hope to blog once again. For many months, I was either traveling, planning our travels, getting our home ready for potential buyers or just staying busy with the usual summer-start of school business.

I have put off many "homey" projects due to the fact that my main goal was keeping the house in tip top shape for buyers. But seeing as how our house seems to be going nowhere, I've decided to start up again with my many hobbies that I have begun to miss. But first, here's a quick catch-up on us:

• Ryan completed his Ph.D. in July, making him a Dr. of Computational Biology
• We spent a total of a month traveling to Texas and Oregon
• I am no longer serving in the YWs group at our church, but have moved on to the womens group
• We put the house up for sale, had a flurry of interest in the beginning, but it has tapered off as the economy tanks
• The kids started school again - Claire in 4th and William in 1st
• Ryan is now a post-doctorate fellow and will be for a little while yet

So that's about it, really, besides the normal day to day stuff. I have a lot of fun things to share, but will have to wait until tomorrow to add some pictures, as my external hard drive is in the other room. But we have had a lovely Hobbit Day today and I thank my sister Molly for informing of it - she always has something fun going on. See you again soon!

WILL E

I hope this picture gives you a smile on this sun-shiny Wednesday.

Friday

Another favorite moment from our day. I asked the kids to make sure the fabric I was putting on the line had a lot of clothes pins due to the high wind. They took me literally. That fabric is going nowhere.

Happy Friday!

Images

Some of my favorite photos from this past week.

I hope you are all having a wonderful day!

April Fool

Keeping with blogging protocol, I must post about our latest birthday. Much to William's disappointment, it wasn't his birthday we were celebrating, but Claire's.

I think she had a good day. I saw her all of two hours, maybe three that day. In a nut shell:

cinnamon rolls for breakfast, presents, new outfit to be worn that day, school, talk to grandparents, packing her bag, off to the hotel for a friend's party. They share the same birthday, so the cake had both of their names on it. Apparently, the party at the hotel was a blast and way better than anything we would have done at home that night. It sure made my life easier!

Sat was conference and birthday cake. It was one of my ugly, but tasty cakes. I really should take a cake decorating class or something...

"Better late than never" birthday cake

The denim tote (stuffed with goodies) I made for her friend's present - see previous post

I asked Claire to pose for me...this is what I got.

I have uploaded a new crop of photos, so I should have more posts this week. Things have been a little busy around here, to say the least. See you then!

denim blown wide open

Whenever I picture any of my school teachers from elementary school, they're all wearing denim skirts with matching vests either covered in buttons or little embroidered school motifs (rulers, apples, chalkboards, pencils, etc).

But when I got my copy of Heather Ross's book Weekend Sewing, I loved her "Everything Tote" p. 15. Seeing as how my current purse was dying and I couldn't find another one that I liked AND could afford, I set out to make myself one.

Enter, the denim.

I don't remember how many yards I got, but it wasn't more than 3 with a coupon at JoAnn's for $11. I got a very dark denim, nothing stonewashed, keeping with contemporary denim styles.

That $11 has served me well. With it, I made my "Everything Tote", me a skirt from Simplicity 2600 skirt D, a skirt for Claire Butterick B4722 skirt E, and a small tote packed full of treats for Claire's friend's birthday present. There's still enough denim to make something small (bean bags, quilt squares, pot holders, whatever).

I would say that's pretty good for $11. The only project that took any real time was the Everything Tote, seeing as how I had to adjust the pattern a bit. Considering I'm a "Stay At Home Mom", I had time in my quiet afternoon hours to do some sewing, and for the most part, I enjoy it. If I had the choice to either go to the store and buy some article of clothing or sew it, I would choose to sew it. I don't particularly enjoy shopping and as I get older, I like it less and less.

I have another couple of yards of a darker denim that I plan on making aprons for my two older kids for Easter. We'll see how that goes. Despite it's bad connotations of my early life, denim has found a place in my heart.

Pictures of projects to be posted later.

I meant to do that...

As a youth, I was considered "clumsy". I attribute it to the fact that I grew so much so quickly. Grace and poise has never been my strong point, so I have learned to adapt. I embrace those embarrassing moments, share them, laugh at them and hope people have short memories.

For those of you who live in the St. Louis area, Wednesday was very blustery; perfect for line-drying my laundry. My last load was our bed sheets. I kept an eye on them as they precariously blew on the line. I was standing at the back door when I witnessed my flat bed sheet (despite being held on with 8 clothes pins) blow up in the air, off the line, over the fence and into the road. I dropped the three-hole punch I was holding to the floor and ran out to save my sheet from being run over. It was about as embarrassing as the time I fell into the culvert while I was mowing the lawn (and a car stopped to ask if I was OK). Or the time I tried to hop my 4 ft fence only to pull a "Napoleon Dynamite" fence fall in front of many of the neighbors.

There is something to be said for a sense of humor and strong bones.

May the Force be with him

William has become my little entrepreneur. He went looking for his light saber the other day only to discover that I had thrown it out. But before you judge me and my throwing everything away habit, the light saber was broken. It took one too many beatings at playgroup.

So William has set out to earn the money to buy a new one. My kids don't get an allowance. I don't know if they ever will. They are expected to help around the house as being a part of the family and when they have a reasonable request, Ryan and I will help them pay for it. However, I think a replacement light saber is not a necessary item, so he's having to earn the money. Now I've been having to come up with jobs that I don't normally make him do (or I was planning on doing, but needed a little help). Here's what he's done so far:

• fold cloth diapers because I ran out of time to do it
• pull weeds from the back yard
• sweep the front porch and back patio
• vacuum the whole house and put it all back together

I feel like there's more, but I can't think of them right now. Some other possible jobs are:

• vacuum out the car
• wash the car
• sweep out the garage
• vacuum out the couch cushions (and he gets to keep any money he finds in the cushions)

I'm still trying to come up with new jobs. Any ideas?

Ryan told William that he would pay William a penny for every night he doesn't come in our room to sleep on the couch. It's working! If the time comes to purchase the light saber and he doesn't have enough, if I feel he's worked hard and saved, I will help make up the difference.

Farewell, my friend...

For those of you who know me, I enjoy a good Dr Pepper. I didn't always. Coming from Texas, all of my friends grew up drinking this stuff and come high school, I spent a lot of time at their homes drinking...well, Dr Pepper. There are have been years of not touching it, but during my pregnancy with Rose, I had chronic headaches that continue today. Dr Pepper gave me enough caffeine to kick the headaches with some help of a pain killer.

But in the name of frugality, I'm giving it up...again. Is doesn't make sense to save money not using my dryer only to turn around and spend those saving on DP. So for the sake of my health (look, I know it's bad for me, I am fully aware of the bad qualities) and my budget, I'm kicking the habit.

So here's the thing: I am SO tired! I didn't realize how much of my energy came from the caffeine. Holy cow, so so tired. I am definitely going to be less productive than before. Man, no wonder those coffee drinkers get so much done in a day. I just hope this is temporary because, crap.

A Renewal

Maybe because it's spring, maybe because I don't want to squander our tax return, maybe because I have recently landed myself on a very slippery slope, but for whatever the reason, I have renewed my efforts to be a tightwad...or maybe I should say, frugal...thrifty? Whatever you want to call it, I am working hard once again to watch my spending/budget.

I have been on this road many times before and as the year wears on, I find myself slowly letting expensive, or should I say, less cheap habits creep into my life. Better laundry detergent, getting a $5 pizza once a month or so, pricier trash bags, dish soap, shampoo, etc. We're not talking Tide, Aveda, Dawn, Windex, or Pampers here, but the middle of the road stuff that when added together, really adds up.

I don't know why I keep having relapses, but it happens every year or so. I have never "let myself go" spending-wise, not even close, but as I said before, I have found myself on that slippery slope and I'm bound and determined to not only get off, but stay off...for good.

So some of my recent efforts have been:

• cloth diapers (again - I stopped this with Rose a year ago or so - it is also aiding in potty training)
• natural light only during the day (except in the bathroom of course!)
• frugal meals - not letting anything going to waste in the back of the fridge
• homemade cleaning products

This picture doesn't fit in this post - it's just so darn cute

• washing dishes in bulk loads with minimal water for cleanliness (same goes for laundry)
• shorter showers (5 min or less for Ryan, Claire and I)
• less bath water for other two kids
• condensing errands - I usually do this anyway as a time-saver, but now even more so

• line drying clothes
• comparison grocery shopping with my price book (I may explain this another time)
• buying in bulk when it's a good deal
• mostly shopping at ALDI because even in bulk, their prices are hard to beat
• buying the cheapest toiletries/soaps/detergents I can find that get the job done

So you know, old egg cartons (paper) filled with seed soil is by far the best seed-starting kit. We've tried the bamboo and plastic irrigation trays and both breed mold. The egg cartons are cheap and drain perfectly. Don't waste your money on the expensive systems.

• growing garden from seeds
• reusing things I would normally toss out

Those are a few of the things we're doing. There are more, but I won't go into too many details. There are more drastic changes we're making in regards to total living/shopping/spending habits, but these are some of the smaller things. We're also cutting back with activities, getting rid of cable as soon as our contract is up, etc.

What I really need to change is my attitude. A general feeling a gratitude and contentedness would go a long way. So would not caring so much about the mainstream expectations, because the mainstream is in debt up to their eyeballs. Starting with having let my Better Homes and Gardens subscription end - embracing frugality and letting go of that picture-perfect home is a step in the right direction!

Claire-isms

While the kids were playing with the Egyptian Playmobil, this is what I overheard:

Claire - Cleopatra was very beautiful.

Willliam - Is she still alive?

Claire - No, she died a long time ago. Now she's all covered with white stuff and looks like beef jerky.

When I asked Claire how we could save money, this was her reply:

Claire - We could buy a lantern and move to Texas overnight.

Me - How would that save us money?

Claire - I don't know, I've just always wanted to do that.

Concerning Claire's bus driver:

Claire - She's really mean. She talks to us like we're monkeys.

Me - Monkeys?

Claire - Yeah. Idiot monkeys.

Whatnot

We have been gearing up for spring around here, so the snow yesterday really threw us off. But we continue to stay busy with the everyday life.

Ryan is working harder than ever to be done soon. We don't see much of him.

I have been attempting to upload two years worth of photos to be printed, it is taking FOREVER! I will never get this far behind again.

After working on the finances, I have a renewed sense of thriftiness and am revamping my budget - again. I can't seem to get a hold of this long term.

Claire is currently in the middle of the ISAT testing. It will be over Thursday and then we'll all get a break from hearing about it.

William is picking up stuff from school friends everyday - some good, some bad.

Rose is currently wearing a pink princess dress everyday, complete with a magic wand and Claire's flip flops.

William in his scuba mask he made at school,

he wore it and his backpack for about two days straight.

We spent all of Saturday cleaning up the yard; getting out leaves, twigs, etc. from the winter storms. I am still sore, three days later. I had better get in shape or this summer's yard work is going to kill me. Time to shake off this winter sleep!

It's that time again!

That's right! It's time for a Rosie update. This kooky girl is always up to something, usually no good. While thanks to her growing ability to communicate using words and not screeches, we all get along much better. She's still two, so there's no getting around that, but her logic, sense of danger, and general brain use is increasing. But she's still Rose, and anyone who has met her knows of what I speak.

I was trying to get a picture of her, covered in colorful yogurt, and I caught her screaming "DONE!!" at me. Her patience was gone.

A neighbor girl brought her dog into our backyard while the kids played. The dog was friendly to Rose at first , but got really tired really quickly of Rose putting her blanket on him. And this is why we do not have a dog. Poor Yogi.

If you can't see the layers, there are striped pants with two of Claire's skirts layered on top that she pulled out of the laundry basket - all without a shirt, as usual. Typical style of Rose.

Here I was attempting to do some studying while Rose sat next to me, watching her favorite "Baby Einstein" video. She insisted on getting as close as possible to repeat the various words. "BUS!! BUS!! BUUUSS! BUSSSS!"

A silly Rose face, from a girl who is always making silly faces. Check out that cupid's tip - she will never be a flautist, thank goodness!

I wish a had a beautiful pose of her, but it's rare I get those. Oh, I love this crazy girl.

Girls' Room Is (Almost) Done!

After thinking about it for ages, I finally decided on a paint color, theme, etc. for the girls' room. I was thinking something cottagey/homey/feminine here. So this is what I came up with:

Pre-painting, getting the room ready for priming (the green wall)

Wall primed by my Mia Maids, the paint going on. In the end I chose a very subtle shade of pink; I'm sorry for those of you who hate pink, but I'm a girly girl at heart and I always wanted a pink room.

Put back together. Claire picked out a blue theme for her bedding and I chose a pink Rose theme for Rose. Both bedding are quilts (bought, not made. One day...) Depending upon the light, you can't tell if the walls are pink or white.

For Christmas Claire was given this wall shelf, bedside table and lamp by my parents. But poor Claire can't put anything on the bottom two shelves because Rose would and has destroyed it. The flower picture hung in my room when I was a girl.

I don't have a good picture of Rose's side of the room, because I'm waiting on a few finishing touches. There is still a little work to do in the room (I want to change the fabric panel covering the closet, and Claire and I are going to make some hand-embroidered cushions for her bed) but all of the big stuff is done. I love how it turned out. Light, airy, feminine and cozy.

Now I have to repaint William's room.

What have I been up to since this project was completed a few weeks ago? Baking, lots of baking. I'm in the mood to make scrumptious little niblits to eat with herb tea or hot chocolate. Today is lemon shortbread with lemon icing.

Um...trying not to lose my mind as Ryan's graduation date keeps getting pushed back again and again. And the occasional cross stitching. I won't mention the endless amount of errands, housework, and church work.