snapshots

Thanks to Allison, a post.

 

So I can barely find time for posting lately, thanks to Jen's great plan to make me be organized. (I should mention, items #1-4, #11 & 12 are done, as is my bedroom (repainted even!) and guest bathroom. #6 and #15 each are in-the-midst, but nearly completed). Whew! 

Then I just saw another "Friday Facts" at sweet Alliwoo's blog, and decided to be a full-fledged copy-cat. (And by the way, have you noticed people don't say copy-cat anymore? They say, "oh, I was so inspired by so-and-so", which really translates to "I am a total copy-cat!" Anyway. So I am copy-catting Allison. Down to the photo of summer, which I have been longing for a lot this week. I miss my kids with tanned little faces and sand on their noses, and camping, and Slurpees, and receiving sea shells as gifts, and going to the beach at every moment possible. (But not snakes, I do not miss the snakes. I am already worried). Did I mention my other neighbor, not my favorite Jen, suggested Immersion Therapy? No Christmas cookies for you, buddy. Anyway... Friday Facts. Copy-catted, in case you have forgotten.

Thankful for: waking up without a migraine today!

Listening to: Jenson and Keston helping each other brush their teeth, and giggling together.  

What's for dinner: I have no idea! So much for meal planning! The one area I am pretty good at being organized about usually. Must be all my organizational skills were needed elsewhere...

Looking forward to: the end of February, when the Total Home Organization Project is done, and presumably, my house is Totally Organized. We'll see... also looking forward to our refinance being closed. And our resulting debt-free-ness. I will have a party. :)

Missing: Druann and Sophia, so much! Biggest Loser watching is way less fun all by myself. If they were here, I am sure they'd help me make the 100 tissue covers that need to be made, and they would eat my cooking and declare it delicious, and they would knit and crochet with me, and they would make me laugh til I cried, and we would play Scrabble with really crazy invented words.

a few lovelies to decorate my new home

(which, I don't yet have. just dreaming. soooo many gorgeous things on Etsy!)

 

Pillows from Rubystella. I would love about a dozen of them. Such cute fabrics.

 

Oh, oh! The baking dish to match my little trees set! From RicRacandButtons.

 

Lovely hand-woven Norweigan rug. FinnishWeaver.

Moss terrarium by MadyByMavis. I'll need some kind of living thing in the kitchen. Dining room?

 

To stay a little organized. From RiffeRaff.

Love, love, love. Wouldn't these towels need to be near the tree dishes? I thought so too. FlyingRhymes, I loooove you.

And that is all for today's window shopping Etsy tour. Delicious, isn't it?
 

Simplify

 

 

 
When Ruby and I went on our little autumn hike a while ago, the trail ended at this lovely street of houses. Aren't they adorable?

We will be listing our home for sale in the spring, and I can't wait to get into something much simpler, smaller, and quaint. I am really looking forward to it!

Less time in cleaning, less time in yardwork, less time seperated by too much square footage. I am really craving a much simpler lifestyle altogether. As much as I love gardening, with three kids and many other obligations, it is usually still a job unfinished. There are the days I love it, but many it is just another chore. With a smaller flower garden, I will love it ten times more! And the house we are in now is too big to decorate the way I would like, and it has never felt cozy to me. With a smaller home and a thrift store budget, I could create exactly what we (ok, "I") want.  We'd have to be diligent about what we bring into our home, and where it would be stored. How freeing is that, to not have clutter and excess to deal with?

So which of these homes do you like? I am leaning towards the last one - it needs a little curb appeal work, but that porch and picket fence are the most charming! It has a cute little yard around back, on a corner lot, and those three little dormers. Love it! I like the first house for the simplistic cuteness of it. The blue/brown combo is perfect on that autumn day, it has lots of curb potential too.  What do you think suits me best?

But then, how should I decorate it? I have a few ideas...

 

 

 

I best like the simple whites and neutrals, with a splash of vibrant color. But with woodwork and wood floors too. And a chair rail. Oh, and definitely an Eames chair, preferably from Goodwill for $8. Uh huh. And lots of natural textures, and vintage accessories. And a quilt commissioned from my friend Kelly McCaleb. (I can't find it now, but Kelly, that one that is mainly white, with patchworked columns going down, really vibrant? I think mostly Denyse fabrics. Am I making this up? ) And I love, love, love, rooms with two twin beds. Good thing, since my girls will be sharing a room most likely. And lots of gorgeous, vibrant family photos, framed around the house, in which I look jaw-droppingly beautful, and my husband is super hot, and my children look fresh and happy. (Hey, Kelly, maybe after you finish the quilt? You are going to come in so handy!) What else?... Flow-y curtains, unique  little pillows on the couch, and, oh yes, a Kitchen-Aid. I don't even care what color. Add in a few soy candles, and that's it. Simple, perfect.  Who wants to come over for scones when I finish my little project?

Rambling thoughts....I have no photo credits, sorry, didn't think to do it while I was stealing all those photos. Your houses are beautifully decorated people! Please do not sue me for copyright. And in that 'family photos' link, doesn't the little girl look a lot like Keston? Same coat and hair. And I kind of white-lied about the Kitchen-Aid. I really want not just any color, but the grayish-aqua one, you know the one? Yes. That one. Otherwise, then, any color is ok.

PS- Go over and wish Andi a Happy Birthday today!! Love you, Andi! Welcome to your new decade!

While she was out...

 

Mady was camping in Oregon for a week with her friend. And while she was out.... we gave her a little room makeover. To be more thirteen-ish, and reflect her love for art. A thrifted chair, and a shelf-cabinet that was perfect for it, a little scuffed up, but very artsy. It holds wicker baskets of clay, embroidery, and art supplies. And finished off by Mady's own artwork on canvas. She approved. :) 

(I am pretty fond of while-you-were-out-ing my family. Check here for another project we did). Is While You Were Out even still on HGTV?

Ohmmmm

I've created a monster. I followed through on the "Zen" thing in my kitchen. See the clear counters, mostly? Sweet husband came home, pretty much declared that he was ecstatic about said Zen quality, and asked if I could make the whole house that way. I personally like a little more coziness to my house, but maybe we can work out a deal.

Project Week: Tuesday

Before:

Dream Room:

Actual Room:

Since I didn't want to spend a fortune to create the Dream Room, we ended up with  the Tidy Room. That will do just fine. I love her crisp new sheets (garage sale for $2!) - the sweetest little grey polka dots, in pristine condition. I finally got the embroidery project up on the wall, and created a little dress-up corner to help curb the dresses all over the floor.  And I must say, blogging causes incredible accountability! I should try saying "Next Week : Abs of Steel" and see what happens. I am thinking it might prove a little harder to pull off though.

The end. Tomorrow: Jenson's room and Abs of Steel.

Project Week : Monday

Yesterday was Day One of the on-going organizing saga. Regretfully, no before picutres, but trust me, this was much needed. Presenting, the laundry room:

You might remember I did this once before. A lot of mess can happen in ten months. I even added a touch of art, and contact papered a shelf. My first ever roll of contact paper is much lovelier than I ever anticipated. Who knew. And that, is Day One, of Project Week. Stay tuned for Tuesday's masterpiece, a little girl's room.

I am very very blessed. I have a hard-working husband, which has led to a having a nice home. My kids have cozy beds and a place to play legos and little ponies and x-box. Life is very good.

But then there lies this little problem. I struggle everyday, (seriously everyday) to feel at peace in this house. Weird, right, because it is a lovely house in a lovely neighborhood.  But the housework is killing me. Killing me! I never feel peaceful until it is perfectly clean. Which has been exactly zero times this year. It was close on a couple occasions, if you didn't include the entire upstairs. Or the garage. But most people include the upstairs I think.  What is wrong with me? Why can't I just keep it tidy and good?

It is driving me nuts. It seems like it is always the focus of my day, cleaning this or that, or washing something or putting stuff away or cleaning up after.  Sometimes I think it is because we chose to put wood floors in the entire house with a smattering of area rugs.  I spend  a lot of time sweeping, breaking assorted vacuums, and mopping. I have a swiffer, many dirt devils, a Shark, a broom vac, a broom-broom, a Flip-It, and my personal favorite, Jen next door with a fancy vacuum that I get to borrow. And yet the floors are rarely without crumbs and drips of chocolate milk. Besides floors, I also drive myself crazy with  a gazillion pounds of laundry because I only like to use towels once and have three kids. One of which who has at least five costume changes daily. (I know, you only see her in underwear, but she takes out and dirties lots of clothing too).

Sometimes I know the answer to the lack-of-peace thing. I grew up in a house where things had to be perfect at all times. As in, after you shower, you have to wipe out the tub, dry the shower curtain, shine the faucet handles,and Dust-buster the floor. Every time. After dinner, the kitchen was put back to perfect in every way. It was stifling. I hated it as a kid, because there was constant cleaning to be done. And now look, I've created that for my own self as an adult. I never am on top of it, and therefor it is the focus everyday. It's so wrong!

So I need help. And motivation. How do you all stay on top of everything? Please tell me. How do you feel at peace in your own homes even if they aren't perfect?  Someone do tell me.  Until then, we're outta here. Going to the Great Wolf Lodge, where surely I will not have to do laundry or sweep. I can hardly wait.

Spring Cleaning

Like mother, like daughter.

My life, documented by low quality photos

Here's a week or so, crammed into one post. Note the exquisite photography. I give up on that. Here's the run-down: three more scrapbook pages from my bed. Yes, I really do scrapbook in bed. It is actually easier for me, because I limit the supplies, and amount of time. I can do three average-quality pages in an hour from bed. Because, pretty much they all look the same. :)

After that, some shots from a couple days ago, in Lynnwood. I loved this restaurant, Blue C Sushi. The restaurant is situated so that all the tables are next to the conveyor belt carrying all kinds of sushi and other little japanese dishes. The plates are color coded, indicating the prices, and you just take off what you want as it rolls by. I had some tempura potatoes, sesame salad, and california roll. It was fun. Next is of one of my favorite clothing stores. I had a gift card from Christmas burning a hole in my pocket, so that was fun too. The last one is of cute little plates I couldn't resist from Urban Outfitters.

And then, the embroidery. Everyone is doing it. It's like the peer pressure of middle school. The idea is from Soule Mama. The one I did is a classic Keston style picture that she drew with markers. I traced it onto the muslin with vanishing ink (you can still see some of the purple ink before it has vanished), and then backed it with warm & natural, and backstitched the design. I learned backstitching from Kelly McCaleb when I made her cute project a while back. Mady got into it too, and made one for herself.

And Mr. Fox, or anyone else who is under the impression that I have a tidy little house and organized life, lest you feel inadequate, look closely. You can see the little pile of paint and art supplies from two weeks ago on the console table.  I decided I wasn't brave enough to go around and take pictures of all the messes, like I'd previously planned. But trust me, there are plenty. And as Andi and I talked about the other day in regards to different blogs, it isn't so much about trying to give the impression that it is a perfect life with clean kids and picket fence. When I read other people's blogs, I get inspired by the photos on them, and it makes me want to do some of their crafts, or even straighten up my house, or be a better mom. So that is the kind of stuff I blog about. Nobody would be too excited to see the other part! In real life, my scrapbook supplies have been on the family room floor for four days, in big piles. My garage is an embarassment, particulary yesterday when someone borrowed my ladder and came into it. My kids' bedrooms are rarely, if ever, clean on the same days. Or weeks. My bed is unmade as often as it is made lately. My three year old has seen every single Max & Ruby show ever made, at least twice, while I sit at the the computer. So, really, no need to feel inadequate.

welcome

this idea is not mine.  it's nienie's.

Budget Decorating

So Frank was on a business trip this week.  For me, that always means some kind of major project.  I skip making real meals and doing laundry in favor of putting all my energies into something bigger.  Ok, so I skip some showers too. :)  Remember the Red Wall room?  I still hated it.  It was still cold and uninviting.  Easy to clean, but not very welcoming.  As long as we have lived in this house, I haven't loved it at all.  The architecture just isn't my style, with a really tall ceiling and weird windows and ledges and stuff.  We moved here mostly because it had lots of bedrooms, and we had a surprise baby Keston on the way. 

Anyway, so the saga of the red wall....   it is just way too high for me to paint myself, and hiring someone seems like a hassle and expensive.  So I had a bright idea - finally - of painting a couple more walls red.  I think it helped a ton, so there isn't so much stark contrast of red and navajo colored walls.  And I must say I am quite proud of my strainght line from the red to the navajo.  It is nearly perfect!  You know how you have to hold your breath when you are peeling the tape off to see what happened underneath?  Anyway, it was good.

So painting was day one of the business trip.  Also, the very windy day.  My kids were quite neglected and watched tv and played legos all day.  Because decorating is that important. :) 

Day two was shopping.  Budget shopping, for a few accessories.  I got everything at Big Lots, Ross, and Value Village.  I came across the pillows, and used them as a color palette. The pillows were around $6 each, vases and things, $5 range, throw - $5, lamp $12 I think, candlestick, 49 cents, and the big purchase, a mirror for $20.  Point being, I did it so inexpensively, and used stuff I already had. Eeewww, clarification - I do not buy pillows or stuff like that at thrift stores.  Only things that I can pour a gallon of bleach over to disinfect first. Because that is how I am. 

Day three I moved furniture from the other rooms and finished painting, then put it all togeher. I am completely obsessed with balance of colors, visual weight, texture, etc.  It takes me a while to get it just right. Then for day four, I did another room.  Now, I finally am happy with the plagueing red wall room. What do you think? Better, right?

   

Q & A

What is your favorite room in your home?  That was a question from my Bible study last week.  My answer is my dining room.

In the dining room we eat and pray together.  We do crafts and color and paint.  We make snakes and spaghetti out of playdough. We work on homework together, and have after-school snacks.  We play board games and put together puzzles.  At the end of the day, after I have lovingly fed my family, and the little ones have gone to bed, this is where I scrapbook.

The season is sometimes represented with a centerpiece, or candles at least.  When it is someone's birthday, we pile up presents and cake onto the table, and hang crepe paper from the ceilings to celebrate them.  Valentine's and Mother's Day gifts are left on the table too.  Holiday cookies are frosted and decorated by the kids at the dining room table. 

When we have good friends or family to dinner, we extend the table ends, and pull up a few more chairs to enjoy their company.  Sometimes friends sit around the table with coffee.  And when we don't have friends over, it is frequently draped with sheets and blankets and hailed as the best fort ever.  By far, the dining room is my favorite place in my home.

Oh wait -- what I meant to say, was "I want a house like this".  How depressing.  It's gorgeous and clean.  How does that happen?  Seriously, my red wall has got to go. I need a lovely shade of aqua.

a simple life: phase one

I think I finally got it right.  I've realized the way to get to what I want.  I spend a lot of time cleaning, tidying, washing, and taking care of stuff.  Just dumb, meaningless stuff.  Some of the stuff was well-intentioned, meant to add beauty to our home. Other stuff just accumulates.  So I spend hours trying to take care of all the stuff, and really never get it all in order all at once.  Then I end up feeling overwhelmed because it isn't all tidy, and it is completely draining.  So I thought it through.

In the end, places that me feel at peace and happy are just simply organized and tidy. So I decided to pare down as much as possible.  This is phase one.  My living area, front entrance.

Instead of little groupings of lovely little thrifted vintage things and plates on plate stands and knick knack decorations, I went with this.

As simple as it could be, but still feels warm and welcoming, I think.  A wide open area of floor for the little one to dance and the bigger ones to play marble blocks. A good place for yoga and pilates. Totally easy to clean a wide open floor, as opposed to working around chairs and end tables and throw rugs. It's visually peaceful.  And without all the distraction by the front window, I can appreciate my garden.  In the process, I broke two legs off of a bureau thing that collected all sorts of stuff. Paperwork, old newspaper ads, bills, and random junk. It was all well-concealed in the drawerrs, but still drained me every time I opened it for something.  So that was an unplanned happy accident.  It makes the room way more open.  I also have this red wall that I'm not too fond of, but can't paint myself because it is two stories high.  So I've dressed up the walls and decided to make the best of it.  It's way easier to take care of wall hangings than little vignettes of stuff!

So that's it, exactly what I wanted.  The time I'll save by cleaning it, will be so much better spent on relationships.  Playing board games and reading stories and going for hikes.  That is the way I want to live - taking care of my family, instead of taking care for stuff.  Oh, my life is changing already! :)

ETA: So the pictures aren't so good... new camera, still working it out.  Maybe later I'll fix it.

Pretending to be my friend Jewels today, with candles "aglow", and doors open wide for fresh air.

And up at 5:00, getting my work done, in hopes that a little surprise will materialize... (updated 5/3/08 - Forgot to tell you all about the surprise! I bought Frank his "dream car" - a 1972 red MGB convertible! (With my car accident settlement funds). It was so fun to surprise him!!)

getting a little tired.

another...

still going strong

This one was a lot of work!!  It went on and on and on.  I finally found the floor, and also two brand new pairs of flip-flops I'd boughten for Jenson, a pair of heels I had bought in November, and assorted craft supplies.  Pretty much ridiculous.  I don't think I realized how bad it really was, until looking at the before pictures.  Crazy!

The drawers hold all the kids' craft supplies neatly now.

More, Renee

hey Renee!

entranced

It is no secret that I love Proverbs 31 (10-31).  That woman (nameless in the Bible) is the woman I aspire to be.  She looks after her family and home with such great care and detail. 

The other night, Andi told me about a blog she had found.  I came home, and immediately was hooked and entranced. I spent a couple hours reading archives that night.  This woman is the closest example of a modern day Proverbs 31 woman that I've seen!  She has ten children, and clearly adores them.  She has a husband that she works hard to please.  She takes care of her house, to make it clean and beautiful.  She looks after friends and neighbors with love.  She welcomes others into her home with great hospitality. She has a close relationship with God.  And, her photography skills rock! 

Her life is so very different from the life that most of us have - busy and exhausting, never enough time.  Jewels has a much simpler life, with time to make her children's clothes and fresh bread all in the same day.  She is remarkable.  I certainly couldn't adapt to her lifestyle.  BUT, she is a HUGE encouragement. Expect an Eyes of Wonder love-fest around here this week!

After this post, I bought the necessary supplies and was on my way.  Just the motivation I needed.  Happy Monday!  I'm off to do some cleaning.

while he was out

Frank was out of town on a business trip this week.  Every time he is gone, some version of While You Were Out is happening around our house.  Usually I paint some walls and re-do rooms. This time was a little different, and the kids and I While You Were Out-ed the backyard.

Now it is not because Frank will particularly enjoy the re-dos, it is more because I feel like there's a little more time to do big projects that I want done. (As in, cereal for dinner and not stopping to clean the rest of the house.)  However, I pretty much always welcome him home with "Look what I did for you!", as if it were all done for his benefit.  I think he is on to me, but we seem to have a little unspoken agreement worked out, where he pretends it was all for him, and how nice of me it was.

My first plan for this trip of his, was to paint our master bathroom, which is just short of huge.  It would have taken me two weeks.  But then, I was inspired by this little scene.

So I dropped him off at the airport Sunday morning, and the kids and I started gathering supplies.  The woman at the place we bought the tree (a purple leaf plum) was very doubtful that we'd be able to get it into my vehicle.  We proved her wrong, and away we went to ditch it and load all the car seats into Frank's car.  Off we went again, this time it took a forklift to put all the pavers into the back.  And bags of sand, pea gravel, and other such necessities.

Next, some stops at thrift stores to re-create the little table that started it all in the first place. It took some searching, but we found exactly what we needed.  It went along the lines of scraplifting, except that I was table-lifting.  Right down to the little Mexican vase and yellow glassware.  The sincerest form of flattery?  A thrifted bed sheet was the perfect table cloth, and some assorted matching cloth napkins.  And because I envision a summer that includes lots of outdoor eating, I bought both flat sheets, one for washing, one for eating.  We found a yellow vase and an aqua citronella candle.

A few more plants and we were ready to go.  We got everything home and started the project.  Unloading the bricks was the perfect job for developing a boy into a man.  I felt like I was Renee.  We had also discussed our budget ahead of time, reminding me of Renee's post about home-economics.

So the work began and we managed to dig (forever, like four hours in the hard clay) a hole to make the drainage system for our fire pit!  It turned out well, and we're pretty excited for the maiden voyage with the s'mores, sometime this weekend.  I think the kids were more excited about the idea of eating a lot of s'mores all summer than anything else.

Next, we planted the tree, and the other assorted plants, including an herb garden pot.  I scrubbed the deck with some kind of nasty chemical, and it is looking like new.  A few cushions for the chairs, and it is just what we were hoping for.  It is a place we'll want to be this summer.  Anyone want to come over?

                                          

Happy Monday

Jackpot!  I finally found some buttons!  Maybe they were there all along, and I've been looking in the wrong place.  All locked up behind glass, who knew buttons were so valuable.  This little score should last a while. 

Yesterday, Mady and I spent a good portion of time shopping, thrifting for me, new books for her.  The Super Bowl has never been on my birthday before, so it worked out great that we wanted to shop, and the boys stayed home to watch football.  Mady was such a trooper, I think we spent at least two hours in Old Town antiques.  You could really get lost in there.  No big purchases there, but I did find this tiered tray at a thrift store.  And the creamer and sugar bowl?  Gorgeous Moderntone, a birhtday gift from the wonderful Margo.  I may have to bore you with photos of gifts for days to come, because I didn't take a single picture all day and I was quite spoiled with fun gifts.  I am blessed abundantly with dear friends and family.

   

Wonderland

More snow!  We are blessed with these gorgeous trees beyond our backyard.  In past years, when we were restaurant owners, we never really got to enjoy the snow at all, and usually were worried about lost business.  Not this year!  I love how a blanket of snow makes it feel a bit isolated and peaceful and quiet, just for a day or two.   However, I do have sympathy for people who are negatively affected by the weather.  I know car accidents and loss of work time is a big deal!  As well, I also have tremendous sypathy for small locally owned retail stores and restaurants that lose business because of the snow.  It would be a fine idea to go out for lunch and spend a bit of time in a local shop when the weather clears up, if you can! :)

Speaking of shopping, here's a peek at more of my thrifting finds...

This sweet hand-embroidered liitle quilt has nursery rhyme characters stitched on it, with some crochet-tatting around the edge.

And this Skytone plate from the 50's, produced by Homer-Laughlin (Fiesta makers).  Isn't it happy and spring-ish?

And...  more Pyrex.  So hard to resist!

Tuesday

We just returned home from a delightful visit to my friend Renee's house.  The kids had a fun time, playing with ten other children.  Thanks Renee, for the wonderful company & delicious pumpkin bread!

It's back to school tomorrow for Mady and Jenson, back to some routine for Keston and I.  I have some new lists to work on. :)  I set an ambitious goal for myself of cleaning out all the cabinets, cupboards, closets, and drawers of the house.  Really ambitious -- my list has 58 projects on it, and I am hoping to finish it all by my birthday in early February.  Perhaps I am just delirious with January and the organizing frenzy.  The newspaper ads have me believing that I need all those handy containers and sorters and shelves.  Not likely, I think I just need to put my stuff into all of those handy containers, sorters, and shelves that were purchased during all the other Januarys. 

Anyone else caught up in the January newness or organizing?  Any New Year resolutions?