Got bit…

…and I’m so glad.  No, it wasn’t by a bat that flew into the house or a vampire in the woods nearby.  It was by the creative bug!  I’m so glad it bit me.  I’ve been missing it.  It’s ah-mazing what having a couple of weeks in slow mode, a clean, organized house and cold, cold days will do for the creative juices.

I had seen some ‘yarn wreaths’ floating around blogs and etsy shops and I just loved them.  I thought they were a great modern, sleek take on the traditional dusty, floral wreaths.  Here it is about 15 minutes in:

Yes, 15 minutes in.  This process requires a little patience but it was methodical and somewhat soothing to do.  This was the point where it was covered in yarn and it was yummy just by itself so it kind of froze me for 24 hours because I had NO IDEA what I wanted to add to it.  I just knew that I wanted to hang it on the mirror in my dining room.

I was afraid to put too much on it, I definitely wanted to keep it simple.  I’m so happy with how it turned out; I just wish I could have gotten a better picture.  It’s hanging on a mirror so it’s kind of tricky.

I know, I know the detail is a little blurry so here is another picture (I just love the little bit of blue.  It matches my dining room table perfectly).

Whilst I stewed on what to do with the wreath I decided to paint a chalkboard in my kitchen.  After a quick trip to see Gretchen and discuss my options I (we) settled on the pantry door.  Bad idea.  It looked really bad.  I erased the picture off my camera as it was a memory I didn’t want to hold onto.  It did however force me to paint back over the pantry door therefore leading to a complete house door and trim paintover which I knew I needed to do 6 months ago and never did.  So I guess something good came out of it (thank goodness it’s freezing…think 13 degrees…outside and no one in their right mind would go anywhere therefore making it easier to stay in and get this project done).  Anyway, I ended up painting the side of a kitchen cupboard that is right across from the pantry and next to the fridge.  Perfect because I want to use it to make shopping lists through the week.  Even more perfect because the kids got home from school and 1/2 an hour later I walked by it and there was a little scribbling on it.

Knowing that is the first thing on his mind to write down on a brand new chalkboard is definitely better than a shopping list.

As a family…

…we sat down last night during/after dinner to decide what our family goals for 2010 would be.  If I’m honest, 2009 kind of stunk.  There were hard decisions made, surgeries, friends lost and mourned, too much work and to say the economy didn’t affect our family would be a huge lie.  When I think about it, this is the most excited for a new year I can ever remember being.  I’m looking forward to the fresh start, positive moments and cleaning out the clutter (metaphorically speaking). 

I’ve never been one for resolutions (nor has Tim) so we’ve never passed that onto our children.  But this year we decided to set some concrete goals as a family.  It’s partial bucket list for 2010 and partial goals/lessons.  Everyone got a chance to talk and contribute and here is the final list:

• go bowling (again)
• go rock climbing (again)
• reinstate family movie nights
• no name calling (kids can be so mean!)
• a baby (uhhhh…..this was followed up by a discussioin about the probabilities of this happening being zero to none)
• more game nights
• monthly family outing (a picnic, an adventure, scoping out a new ice cream parlor, etc.)
• weekly walks, as a family, with the dogs
• a new allowance structure (the kids will be getting a tad more allowance and covering their own hot lunch/game rental/movie rental expenses with it…we figured it’s time they learn to budget for what they want)
• comment jar (to be gone through once a week at the dinner table)
• all 3 boys will work on respecting that mom and K are girls
• less interrupting
• summer vacation

I think most things we all agreed one, definitely the summer vacation one was all agreed upon.  I also got comments like don’t stop making the new macaroni and cheese recipe, please make more cookies this year and please don’t stop driving us to school (the bus comes EARLY as we are the second stop on it’s route).  It was interesting to see what the kids thought was important.  I was surprised at how much my teenager still wanted family events to occur.  Surprised and happy, happy, happy. 

(source)

What happens…

…when you talk all day long about how you’re going to stay up until 3:00 AM on New Years Eve and then you fall asleep at 12:02 AM and your older brother and his friend actually make it until 3:00 AM and you’re sleeping 2 feet away from them the entire time?

Ever so carefully…

…and slowly working my way through the piles that accumulated in my house during/over the holidays.  I hate piles.  To date I am 2 children’s rooms, 1 laundry room, 1 kitchen, 1 sunroom, 1 family room, 1 pantry and 1 closet down.  I have a craft room, a playroom, a kitchen drawer, 1 more kids room and a linen closet and the entire house is done.  Goodwill loves me.  They love me year-round actually because I tend to make drop-offs every month, if not twice a month.  So with that, how in the world do I have so much to get rid of still?  I don’t even want to think about the garage.  Tim says it is because I’m ultra clutter-phobic.  Maybe that is true.  I just can’t stand chaos in my house, it makes me feel like my life is chaotic.  I have to admit, right now I would love to live in my laundry room cupboards.  They’re beautiful.  Absolutely gorgeous and functional and there isn’t one thing in there that doesn’t belong or get used.  Love it.  So the point of this little post?  Just to somehow document that all this work has been/is being done because goodness knows the kids could care less.

Well, I never…

…saw a church nativity program.  Never.  Not one time in my life have I seen a Christmas program of the actual nativity done at church.  I’ve been going to church regularly for 24 years now and I had never seen one until this year.  I have to admit, when we settled in I was worried I would sit there feeling critical and cheesey.  I have to admit, I was completely wrong.

My family is attending what is a new church for us.  We’ve only been there about 3 times so we only know a few people (unfortunately we all left our old church at the same time) and definitely not any of the people in the program.  Here’s the deal: I live in the south.  Accents y’all.  Hence, I was worried I would be critical and it would be cheesey.  Instead I was presented with something that clearly much time had been spent on, a wonderful song sung by 2 of the wise men, a great narrator who doned an accent that she must have worked very hard on and tears as the baby Jesus was presented.  It felt a little like a scene from a movie.  The only time I was pulled back to reality was when one of the wise men said, “Hey, ya’ll” and when the angel said, “You shall call him Jay-zus!”

Just in case…

…you’re wondering what happens when you decide to put Christmas M & M’s on the table (because you don’t typically have candy lying around the house, out and available for your people to eat) and then you decide to leave said M&M’s on the table at dinnertime because you’re doing buffet burritos on the kitchen counter and then you come to the table last because, well, because you’re the mom and typically you come to the table last, this is what happens:

(Was that not the longest run-on sentence in the world?)

It’s a little late…

…for the ‘grateful’ posts that were plentiful last week but I’m doing it anyway because I am struck with a grateful heart for this man:

I’m grateful that he has been flexible and understanding and ever-so-patient with my crazy schedule as of late.  He has picked up duties while I ran back and forth from the hospital for 3 weeks.  He has smiled while visiting my mom in the hospital even when I knew he was dog tired and not feeling well himself.  He willingly accompanied me in 30 degree weather last night to decorate her apartment for Christmas and this morning, when we brought her home, he patiently sat in a chair while I unpacked her, made sure she was completely comfortable being alone and made a grocery list with her.  He has been a gem.  He hasn’t, not one time, made me feel like the extra duties were a burden and has kept me calm and happy and laughing when I easily could have been stressed and crying.  So a late Thanksgiving post or just a happy heart for having chosen well when I chose my partner in life?  I’ll let you decide.

They’re baaaack…

…Kati’s ponies.  They’re back.  I enjoyed the evolution of her hair this past year but I must say, I missed the ponies and now they’re back and they’re oh-so-sweet.  Remember this:

She used to love it when I would take the time to curl all her hair so I was very surprised when she actually went through with cutting it all to donate to Locks of Love.  It was adorable short though and we’ve really enjoyed the change of pace this past year.

But I’ve got to admit, as cute as it has been and as much as I love it on her, the ponies are way too cute and stopped Tim in his tracks when he came home from work that night.

Making the most…

…of Thanksgiving this year.  Kaitlynn and I spent an afternoon late in August cutting out triangles, punching leaves and stringing things.  It was to make this lovely garland that is hanging in our family room.

There is a triangle for every day in the month of November leading up to Thanksgiving.  It looks pretty plain, right?  Not anymore, right now, it’s half-way filled:

Yep, the third triangle from the right just got added to last night.  Every night at dinner we discuss what we are grateful for.  It can be about the day, life, anything you feel grateful for.  Then we vote on what to write on a slightly smaller triangle that will be added to the garland.  Sometimes someone feels very strongly about something and we don’t vote, they just get to put their thing up, like the time Alden didn’t wait for dinner and he went and wrote “My Mom” on a triangle.  I wasn’t going to argue with that.   I also didn’t argue when yesterday’s was written by my husband, “Every minute of every day of the last 15 years.”  It was our anniversary.  Some have been less meaningful though.  Like the day Tim caulked our master bathroom after several requests to do so.

It’s been a good thing for our family and I highly recommend it to anyone who is wanting to slow down, look at the half full glass and enjoy what they’ve been given.

The best…

…tree in the world. It isn’t big.  It isn’t old.  But it’s the best tree in the world.  It is in my front yard.  We have the same type in the backyard too and while it’s beautiful as well, this is the best tree in the world.  It is seen from my scrapbook room and when you’re in Powell’s room all  you see is the puff of white, green or red depending on the time of year.  It’s a dogwood tree.  It’s the type of tree they say Jesus was hung on.  What makes it so amazing is that it changes so vibrantly.  Here it is in the Spring when it is first coming to life after a long, cold winter:

From buds to blooms…

I’m not so sure this picture does it justice as to how white it becomes.  It is a literal puff of white.  Here is the row of trees right when you round our corner heading to my dad’s house:

It’s just beautiful.  When you look closely at the white leaves they have a small red cross on them.  They spend most of the summer as green as the grass.  It’s hard to believe something so white can turn into something so green.  But then, in the fall, you can’t believe it can turn so RED.  I should have taken the picture about a week ago but I kept walking by it and not following through (something about so much to do lately that I can’t keep a thought in my head longer than 30 seconds).

What else do you know of that changes with such ease and such grace on a yearly basis?  It makes me think that as people we should strive for the same; not that we want to change everything about ourselves on a yearly basis but that we can embrace the change with grace and ease.  That we don’t fight what is inevitable and we don’t press against whatever it is God is wanting to do in our lives.  That is why I think it’s the best tree in the world.