Rejoice!

For the time has almost come…

 

I’ve almost conquered the kitchen painting! Granted, I still have to clean, but I will just deal. I’m looking around for plain glass containers. I added some neat tiny spiral noodles to a clear jar I bought awhile back. I think it will add some awesome interest to the counters, and my children won’t be attacking this fragile jar wanting a cookie. Yes. My brilliant mind added cookies to it awhile back. Never. Again.

 

So at this point it’s just me waiting for the counters to dry (I cleaned them prior to start painting). Today, Jamie posted a picture of her little scooter figuring out the crawling bit and ‘inspecting’ her curtains. It is so cute! But it also brought to mind that my children are from that stage, and frankly, I’m still playing taps for curtain rods they pull a Tarzan stunt on. I know, it makes me sound like a bad mommy, but you know… They get into things faster than I can think of them.

 

For instance – this morning, I’m sitting in my chair flipping through a ‘wish book’ (for those of you who don’t know – a catalog that I don’t have the money to buy out of, but I can still drool!) and I look up for a bit watching Tori and Ian playing. Tori just about flipped over the swing set, with Ian in it! Oy! So we had to have a discussion about swing sets and pushing. And next summer we were going to upgrade their swing set anyway. I think I’ll set it in concrete. Of course, mind you – the entire time the swing set takes off the ground, Ian thinks he’s getting this great ride and even manages to swing his arm around like a cowboy riding a bucking bronco. I guess it’s a good thing the kid has no fear.

It's a good kind of tired....

Or so this story goes…

 

So today I have been fervently working on painting the kitchen area of my home. This is to allow for more time to be spent cooking at my house while I’m finishing the living area portion of the house with my friends.

 

I feel accomplished and relieved to look at the 75% of my kitchen that is complete and know I did a terrific job painting despite the exhaustion it has caused me. *le sigh*  I’d call it a night but I really want to finish this last bit or at least prep it for the morning.

 

I have three posters coming in at Wal*Mart photography. These will be framed and hung up to help display some thoughts about how family should be in my opinion and how I will raise my children. Each is a photo, with a quote on it:

 

Quote one:

            Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. - Lao-Tzu

 

Quote two:

            When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses.  ~Joyce Brothers

 

Quote Three:

            There is no cure for laziness but a large family helps.  ~Herbert Prochnov

 

I also have this fourth quote that I must have both in-laws and my family all croweded into a picture with my children smack dab in the middle:

            The family - that dear octopus from whose tentacles we never quite escape, nor, in our inmost hearts, ever quite wish to.  ~Dodie Smith

 

My mother fervently declares that this isn’t a suitable quote to hang on my wall. But me, and my extra quirky sense of humor disagree. I think it is both fitting and realistic for my family. Because I believe that no matter how good the intentions are, or how careful you’ll be… any teeneager (which dear god – they are ONLY 9 years short of!) would feel that a family that is as close knit as mine would resemble an octopus…. I know I felt that way from time to time.

 

In this small town there are the little news reels that the news of what your child has done will always beat them home. There will be no shortage of this when my children are growing up. They may hate me for it, but I’d rather be real and face the truth of my children’s behavior and work with it now, than wait until it’s too late to do anything about it.

 

I also hope that that quote will make them chuckle and remember some fondness of me – at least when they turn on my like spitting cobras with their hoods spread. I know that’s what it is going to be like… I just feel it in my bones.

I am so nesting now...

So do you ever wonder why we women and mothers have this irresistible urge to … nest?

 

I’m not talking your pregnancy nesting, either. I’m talking the taking a house and making it a home nesting. Today and yesterday, despite my fever, nausea, and just weakness… I was determined to do something yesterday that I felt was productive towards my own goal of a home I could feel proud of.

 

So I started the painting process for my kitchen. I’ve taken Tuesday and Wednesday off for the purpose of painting, but it dawned on me yesterday that if I waited until then, I wouldn’t be able to bake when the kiddos were in KC with daddy. Yep… that won’t do. So we’re going to do this TODAY.

 

I only got a little 5 foot wall done. But after it was dried I put everything back up with the command strips so no more holes! Except for my wire star, but that’s a different story. I am just enjoying the new color… it’s a soft minty green. Just right for a kitchen in my opinion. I’ll post pictures when I am finished. I’m just trying to do it in the little amount of time the weekend gives me. And then I get to have fun on Wednesday and enjoy my girlfriends. *squee* I’ve so never  felt so free for a bit.

 

I will note to my readers – YES I will miss my husband and my kids terribly. But I’ve spent almost 5 years now without any kind of break to myself, and I have to trust that they will take care of the kids (Tori, Ian, and Pops are going to KC to spend time with my IN-Laws). I have faith in them, but also in someone higher, God. I just have to have the faith that everything will be ok, and my kids and husband will return home with all limbs, digits and sanity intact.

 

 

 

As a Mom – do you ever wonder if you will discover that lost city of Atlantis beneath your couch? I’ve just cleaned under my couch (albeit – it’s been two weeks) and the things that were under there have taken over my entire living room floor! I’m sitting here wondering how two small children and one large child would fit all of this beneath a sectional? I mean really?!

 

I’ve also taken a break from the vinegar, just to see what other things accomplish. You know what I’ve learned? My ‘Bleach’ cleaner, doesn’t do nearly as through a job as the vinegar, and if I’m not super careful, will ruin my shirts and pants…. OMG. I’ve also noticed since we’ve taken a break, my ant population has INCREASED. I used to spray down the floor with Vinegar and clean that way, everything was vinegared. Apparently, it has some affect on insects, so double plus!

 

I’m just exhausted and we’re going to continue on this bombardment of my house. It may have won a battle or two – But I WILL win the war!

 

Megan