Spring-please hurry!

Spring, where art thou?

I am ready for January to be over. It has been a nonstop month of craziness. I realize that most of the craziness is self induced. A cruise in January makes for a crazy Momma. I prefer to go on a trip in February.

So---I am hoping to an early spring. I have decided to bring out a few touches of happy colors--anything to fight the winter blahs that have invaded my soul.

I bought a cute tablecloth before our trip. It is bright and cheery. I now need some beautiful Gerber daisies. I wonder if I could find any? I could buy some artificial ones or a certain niece could just send me some from her beautiful wedding!(kidding)

What are the things that help you fight the winter blahs?

Laundry-laundry and more laundry!

As I gathered the laundry from every crevice of my house I was thinking about how laundry is such a mind drain. I have known people that love laundry. I am not one of them. The actual sorting, washing, drying and folding is not the problem. That is easy. The problem that I have is that it seems to take up so much of my life.

Today I decided that I was going to load up all the laundry and take it to the laundromat. At the mention of this my sis-in-law Julie is gagging! How gross is it to choose to take my families clothes to a laundromat? Well, I decided that the sanity of this family's mother was more important that the idea of using washer's that strangers use!

So, I loaded up the 'burban --I actually had to lay the back seat down, and we headed to town. Little J was so patient. He thought it was fun for a bit. I sorted and sorted and then loaded and loaded machines. I filled eleven machines and then one HUGE machine that held about three loads. After feeding the machines with quarters we went and had lunch. After lunch we headed back to start sorting the dry with no dry clothes. We once again fed the hungry machines. The dryers seemed even hungrier than the washers.

After we folded and folded I finally reloaded the 'burban with the clean clothes.

Now to get them all put away before I have nine more loads!!

Winter is here again

It is dark, cold and snowing. I realize that it is still January but I am ready, really ready for spring. I am fully aware that this is a slow, dark time for many people. I am one of them. If you have ever had negative thoughts about anything they are more severe at this time of year.

I have a friend who's mother always told them, "Never make a life-altering decision in February." I am so with her.

Is going to the laundromat with my 35 loads of laundry life-altering? I almost hope so!

Update

I loaded pictures from our trip on my 365 blog-I will hopefully be able to dig out from the mess in a few days and actually do an update. In the meantime check out my picture my year blog. I loaded from January 14-24.

We're HOme!

We are home from our Carribbean cruise! It was wonderful---warm, sunny and relaxing. I will load some pictures later!

Sunday Nights around our house!

My first born child came in tonight while I was downloading pictures for our 365 picture album. She asked why #2,3,4 were always on the blog but she never was. I told her that she wasn't on the blog because she is never home! She said, "I am too". I replied, "No, you sleep, shower and use itunes here."

So-in honor of my first born darling daughter this post is for her!

Sunday night MissA comes into the office. "Mom, can I make cookie dough?" Notice that she didn't ask if she could make cookies. We don't really like the cookies as much as we like the dough. Made with real--RAW eggs! Eewh, I know. Yes we realize that 1 in 10,000 eggs carries salmonella and we could get really sick. Does this phase us? Not one tiny bit. We love cookie dough.

On this night MissA decided to be artistic---"Mom! Mom! come and take a picture! They are so cute!"

When one of my children uses the phrase "come and take a picture" I just beam inside because I think that they get my crazy obsession with photos.

So, in the kitchen I went. MissA had made beautiful cookies, with a darling little chip on the top. It made me realize that I have never, ever made chocolate chip cookies with a large chip on the top-like most good homemaking mother's would have done. My 15 year old daughter had to figure this out on her own with the tiny little chips that we dug out of the hiding spot.

Perhaps I should buy some big chips-Kisses or Guittard-- so that we can make some treats to give to the neighbors--they have lived across the street for a little over a year and they still seem to like us.

Pay It Forward!

My friend Mia has a little "tag" type of thing on her blog. It is a Pay It Forward type of thing. There is just so much negative out there. This is just a little way to send positive vibes out into the universe.

Here is the gist of this

"Here are the rules: The exchange focuses on doing an act of kindness without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in their turn, pass the kindness along and pay it forward in their own way. This is how it works… I am going to agree to send something fun, inspiring or uplifting to the first 3 blog owners who post a comment on this entry (please leave your email address if I don’t all ready have it.).
In turn you will then post about this on your blog, link to me, then send something to the first three people who sign up to play along through your blog. There are no cost restraints, but don’t go crazy! The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were given or found. No biggie, just a gift that will make the person smile. Maybe something unique from where you live? And remember that kindness doesn’t have to involve money; there are untold ways to help others every single day, everywhere you go - just look around.”

I hope that this will be a fun little thing that will help get people thinking of ways to brighten other peoples lives because I firmly believe that if we are serving other people we will be much happier ourselves.

So---play along! Who will be first?

Monday

Monday

I have almost always liked Mondays. It seems like a new start.

Sometimes, however, Monday is a hard day. There are dirty dishes left over from the weekend. Dirty socks, pants, undies and rugs litter the floor. Unmade beds, dirty mirrors, dusty baseboards, sour laundry, overdue library books, and unpaid bills.

Sometimes Monday's just seem to slap me in the face with all the things that I am not doing as well as I think I should be.

Why is it that women take it personally when their children leave their dirty underwear on the kitchen floor? Why do we think that it is our fault when the garage is a total wreck, full of wet stinky snow boots and gloves? Why do we think that we are failures when our children's bedroom looks like a war zone? Why do we feel inferior when our kitchen floors resemble a movie theater floor? Why do we have a mental list of all the things that need to be done, checking things off, slowly realizing that the list is getting longer not shorter because we keep adding to it.

Why can we not realize that most of the things that we take personally are not really "ours". The dirty underwear? I didn't wear them and dump them on the kitchen floor, a little four year old took them off there because he was trying to get his own pj's on. The dirty dishes that are endless? A family that was fed. The dirty mirrors and stinky toilets? The blessings of indoor plumbing-remember the outhouse of yesterday? Unmade beds and dirty bedrooms--a sign of a warm place to sleep and a home that is large enough to have extra space. Clothing strewn about? A sign that we are well covered and not trying to stay warm in the cold.
The list that never ends---a sign that we are not finished, there is always room for improvement. If we are breathing we need to be living. If we are living then there are messes.

Lots and lots of messes.

Intentions vs. Resolutions

January=New Year's Resolutions

This is what is often on our minds in January. What resolutions do I want to make? Lose weight, read, paint--whatever it is. The only problem is that by February 15 we have already fallen off the resolution bandwagon and are feeling badly about ourselves.

In the last few years I have heard a new catch phrase term that I really like.

Intention

I believe that I am going to replace resolutions with INTENTIONS. What are my intentions. What do I want to improve on in my life?

There are books out there really teaching the concept of Living with Intention. I think that perhaps that is going to be something that I will work on this year.

That and folding the laundry!

A New Day!

Today is a new day.

I am going to teach school--snowball math and keep doing laundry.

I am hoping that it is a sunny beautiful day because I need some sunshine!!!

I have made a decision. I will not be teaching preschool next year. It feels good to just have a final decision.

It is January 8 and I am ready for my Crocus flowers to emerge!

Reality Bites!

Have you ever known something is true but you keep lying to yourself, telling yourself that it isn't really that bad?

Well, today a picture was taken. It's THAT BAD! The picture was taken in honor of my 365 challenge. Something that represents a snippet of life in this household.

The picture taken was of me-folding the mounds and mounds of laundry that have been suffocating me for --well--ever. The lying to myself part is not that I am a terrible housekeeper and can't keep up on my laundry-that is a given and accepted fact. Ask any member of this family! The part that I have been lying to myself about is that I have gained some weight but I am still smaller than I was a couple of years ago because I have been exercising--the whole muscle weighs more than fat concept.

There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words---well---this one picture spoke volumes!

I am fatter than I have been in FOUR years. The only reason that I can wear a smaller pants size is because they are the only pants I have and I am pouring myself into them.

I am trying to decide if I am going to post this picture-it is embarrassing. Terribly embarrassing. Perhaps actually having a record of it will help me to correct myself. It is a new year and new years are full of new intentions and new resolutions. I haven't really made myself a detailed list of the improvements I want to make in my life, however, I know that my health is one of them.

I throw out the term My Health lightly. I like to try and act like the reason that I try to occasionally eat healthy is not because I am on a diet but because I want to live a healthy lifestyle. Well, sometimes, once again, I am lying. It is because I hate being fat. I want to look good in a pair of jeans, I want to feel good in my own skin and not feel like I have a 14 cup of flour dough ball for a belly!

Sometimes a wake up call is painful.

Grab a tissue--push play

I hope that this touches your heart like it did mine!

Picture My Year--365

I have been reading about people doing 365 photo a year projects for a few years now. Well, I decided that this is the year that I am going to attempt this.

This is not a complete album of every picture I take---that would be about 10,000 instead of 365! It is just one picture every day. A picture that helps depict something that is happening in our lives. At the end of the year it will be quite a collection--I hope.

I have decided to have a dedicated blog just for this project. It is called Picture My Year. If you are so inclined you can follow the links here or on the sidebar to get there!

A New Year!!!!

A New Year!

I have had a slow beginning---it being the 5th of January and all. I have a few big plans for myself and my life. I will slowly be sharing them here. Be patient, I am trying to be AWARE of what I am doing and doing it with purpose.

A few ideas floating in my head:

*A word to focus on for the year
*exercise plan and goals
*365 days of daily photography
*Creativity goals
*Spiritual improvements
*organizing and editing

Hopefully, 2009 will be a banner year for having positive energy!

Final December Daily-Christmas Eve and Morning

Final December Daily-Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning
On Christmas Eve we have traditionally had a little birthday party. A birthday party for Jesus. For the last couple of years somehow we forgot about our tradition. My niece Jessica asked me if we were going to do it and it was like a lightbulb-Hello? We haven't been doing our tradition! Little Man probably didn't even remember ever doing it!
So, we decided to do it again. We made cupcakes so that there would be more to decorate. It has always seemed to work a bit better if everyone has their one little canvas to work on. We took our cupcakes and frosting(which I whipped up in Ruby) and went to Mr. Sweetness' parent's house.
The kids and Mom had fun! It is amazing how well you can write with a little tiny hole cut in a ziploc baggie!











Christmas morning came early. MissE just couldn't contain herself. She said that she was first up at 1:16 am. I believe that Santa was probably barely up the chimney! She kept wandering around, Daddy first heard her again at about 4:00, again at 5:30. Finally, at 6:20 she started rousing the rest of the kiddos.

They had a ball. The two big kids didn't expect much knowing that they had already getting snowboarding passes and new boarding stuff. They were both totally surprised when they did receive a present from Santa. MissA got a new ipod and Man got a new Ripstik.

MissE was overwhelmed when she opened her own ipod box. She didn't even know what to say.

Little Man was the sweetest of all, he was overjoyed with every little thing. He opened a package of socks from his stocking and just gaahed over them. They are just was I wanted!

My sweet Mr. Sweetness shocked me when the last present of the morning was for me.

He bought me a new diamond wedding band! When we were married we had NO money. I told him not to buy me a diamond. It just wasn't worth going into debt for a ring. He had bought me an Irish Claddaugh ring before he came home from Ireland. This was a traditional Irish wedding band. I still treasure this ring. He bought me a simple band and I have loved them for 18+ years. I was not expecting such a beautiful gift.

I am such a lucky girl!

Christmas was quite a messy day. It was a delight to watch my children be so excited. This is what I look forward to. A tiny moment.