Enough Time

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I don’t have it. 
Do you?? 
I bet not.  Few if any of us do. 
Time to do all our daily tasks and then what feeds our souls and minds as well?  Forget about it.  It is a constant battle for me, both externally and internally.  With three kids I’m split multiple times a day between this child and that child, this task and that child, this task and that task.  I think I must look like a crazed mother hen running all over the house yet getting very little done.  But, the crying child must be comforted.  Those dishes, they aren’t going to wash themselves.  That Mount Doom of laundry??  It will not get miraculously clean and back in dressers without me. 
I’m sure it’s even more difficult for those who work outside the home too. 
Then there is the internal struggle.  When, at the end of the day, I have a few minutes of peace to myself…what should I do??  Oh yes, I really should read that book I started a while back for my book club.  But I’m feeling a bit frazzled and I just need something light and oh look, one of my favorite bloggers has just put up a new post!!  Down the rabbit hole of blogs I go.  (It is a fun rabbit hole!) 
Or, maybe I’ve been thinking all day that I’d love to work on a project but by the time those free moments come I’ve lost my inspiration and creativity for the day.  There is a pile of (clean) laundry on my coffee table and I could fold it while watching some Netflix or perhaps even a movie with the husband if I’m lucky.  I can’t face tomorrow with those clothes on the table.  The toddler will certainly only pull them off and scatter them about the floor if I leave them.  (Don’t tell me mine is the only toddler with this obsession!)  I’ve been wondering what is going to happen to Miss Stewart in this episode of Foyle’s War anyway. 
Anddd…I really should spend some time in prayer or start reading that mother’s devotional book again.  But once again I’m hopping into bed and only  have a few moments to say a few quick prayers and a quick “sorry God for anything I haven’t done my best today” before falling asleep the second my head hits the pillow.  Because in a few short hours a toddler will awake waaaay too early and not want to go back to bed. 

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My internal struggles with time often crop up during the day too when I have just a few minutes here and there to do something that fuels that creative outlet.  (For me it is generally house beautifying creativity, but I’m sure you could fill the blank with your own version of creativity or relaxation—writing, reading, knitting, cleaning (I’ve heard there are some people out there who see cleaning as relaxing!!  Who knew!!), etc.  I get wrapped up in my ideas for this and that (or perhaps even a small project or part of a project) but am snapped back to reality by cries of hunger for a snack.  It gets discouraging time and time again to start something and have to put it away again and again especially if you need lots of tools or supplies for it. 
Why am I writing this?  Oh, I don’t know.  Perhaps you’ve had a day like this and you need to know that someone else has days like this all the time.  Not bad days…just days that there isn’t enough time to “do it all”.  My mind is bursting with ideas for this and that and wow, that pinterest recipe looks really really good…but that’s not happening today.  I’m a work in progress on being contented with the amount of time I have to get things done every day.  I love making our house a home and reading how others do so and seeing their projects and I like to share my little victories too.  Keeping up with other bloggers isn’t my job…being a wife and mother and making a home is. 
And sometimes I need to shout, shout, let it all out and realize I have enough time for what I need to do and not necessarily what I want  to do.  :)

 

(All the octopus clock pictures are dedicated to my husband, who wants a playful octopus clock more of like this except with waving tentacles in our bedroom:)

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My (un)Organized Life

I did not inherit the organized gene.  I’m not terrible at it and my home is not usually totally filthy (um, you may disagree if you’ve been over recently), but on the other hand it is not something that comes at all easy to me.  I have to really think about it and work at it and even then it is really difficult for me to stick to routines, keep closets in order, make sure there are snacks for the kids, organize paperwork, etc.  I have always been rather absent-minded (like the time I left the back hatch of our car open while I was in the store for a good hour because I forgot to close it) and having kids kind of gives you short term memory loss.  :)  I blame the constant sound filtering my mind needs to do. 

With school coming upon us very quickly, I realized if I’m going to stay afloat AT ALL I need to get myself in gear.  I was going to buy and download a printable yearly planner, but after googling around I found a number of pretty, functional, fun, and best of all free printable organizing/planner pages. 

My favorite quickly became one from DIY Home Sweet Home, because if it’s pretty and colorful I’m much more likely to use it and keep with it, right?!?  Just look at the free goodness she has to offer!

I didn’t use all of these, and I tweaked some of them a little for our own personal use…but aren’t they just so happy??  Love them.  :)

  

I also printed out some blog organizing pages from I Heart Organizing.   They match the color scheme of the rest of the papers and I’m hoping they will help me to stay a little more on schedule.  I’d really like to work up to consistently two posts per week so maybe this will be the ticket! 

I’m starting with this next week…wish me luck!

My Best-laid Weekend Plans…

got derailed.  I was planning to work on the desk this weekend, but instead this is what I was doing:

 

 

We’re getting a bumper crop of beans and cucumbers from our garden, so lots of pickling and freezing went on around here.   And now I’m working on this:

 

I’m thinking peach preserves?  I already made peach cobbler tonight…yum!!  I heart summer!

And now, back to work on the desk…maybe.  Or, back upstairs to eat another delicious peach :)

A Peek into our Packing Mess…

Our house looks like a tornado went through it…leaving boxes upon boxes in its wake.  I’m going to be taking a little break from blogging as we move today and settle into our new home. 

Our (prospective) new house

We’ve been holding our breaths on this one, hoping and praying that all would work out…and it appears to be!  We are getting close to the closing (moving all our stuff this weekend!).  It is going to be busier than normal around here for a while as we move and settle in. 

We’re very excited!  I have to say that once we found this place, a lot of my sadness at leaving our current much-loved home was mediated.  I think a lot of that was just that leaving felt so much like an ending, and now it feels like a beginning too which makes it much easier to embrace.  I don’t know if that makes sense, but it does in my head.  :)

The lot is 4.5 acres, mostly wooded, but with one huge grassy area close to the house (for kids to play/garden!)  Lots of mature trees, lots of flower gardens to potter about in, a couple of small outbuildings, and a chicken coop!!  Yay!

The house itself was built in the 1990s, so considerably newer than our existing house.  The outside of the house is a colonial style which I’m really happy about (we looked at sooo many homes that were simply hideous on the outside!).  It looks very similar to this (though the colors are different):

The house hits all of our “must haves”…4+ bedrooms, finished basement, not requiring a lot of work, 2+ acres, and a floorplan with good flow.  It will need some updating (still stuck in the 90s/early 2000s) but as far as we know that will all be cosmetic.  After doing lots of extensive remodeling on our current home, it is really nice to know we won’t be remodeling constantly for the next 10 years to get the house the way we want it! 

Now, that’s not to say I/we don’t have plans to turn this builder grade home into something a little more special.  :)

See?  Very orange…ugly vinyl floor…and those lights on the vanity have.to.go!!  But, everything is in great shape, and has the space we are looking for.  It will be rather strange to go from 1500 square feet to 2700 square feet!  But nice to not have to juggle the 9 mos old from room to room for naps/bedtime.  This will be the nursery:

Again, not my style (yet)…and the floor looks really dark and just bad here—it is actually brand new carpeting and not that dark IRL.  It is a small room but is next to the master bedroom so is a perfect nursery. 

This is the kitchen.  I love how open it is to the dining area (this picture was taken from the dining area).  And, dining area below:

I was trying to take these pictures really fast as we were walking through showing my in-laws the house last Sunday.  Hence the crooked, dark photos.  :)

Right off the kitchen/dining area is something that I just love.   It is a sunroom/4 season porch.  I’m really excited about it!  It has a gas fireplace out there and lots of screened windows and doors.  I can just imagine sitting out there on summer evenings when the mosquitoes are bad outside with the breeze blowing in through the windows and doors.  Eventually I would like to extend the deck area outside to make it even more usable. 

Another favorite thing about this house (upstairs):

The master bedroom closet.  Seriously, it is bigger than our largest bathroom at our current house.  I feel actually a little embarrassed about this as we certainly weren’t setting out to find a “luxury” master bedroom by any means.  I would have been happy to find something the size of our modest current bedroom and closet.  However, now we have both a big closet (with a window…how interesting!) and a big bathroom attached.  It’s not what sold us the house (um, that would be the backyard!) but it is a nice perk!

I’m planning to take more pictures as we move, but I think this is enough for today.  It may be kind of like vacation pictures…the vacation-goer loves to show their pictures, but to the viewees, it can get kind of old!

Emotions--Me and Moving

Here’s where I’m going to talk about my feelings. 
Mostly my feelings about moving, don’t be too worried!
I’m going to put it right out there:
Moving sucks. 
We’re at a standstill with our lives here at this house.   We know the end is near, our work here is done.  Normally at this time of year I’m busy planting in the yard, scouring the neighborhood plant sales for new varieties and planting vegetable seeds in the garden.  This year I’ve only planted a couple pots because…you can’t dig up the whole garden and take it with you. 

But it’s not just that.
My heart is in this home. 
Maybe it shouldn’t be.  Maybe it means I’m too attached to things I shouldn’t be attached to.  But I get all emotional thinking of the day we’ll drive away and the house will not be ours anymore.  I brought my past two babies home to this house.  I know my way around it in the dark.  We’ve sweated, cried (well, that’s probably just me), and even bled (mostly my husband) in making this house our own.  I’m pretty invested.
I realize I’m not being forced to leave this house.  We’ve been hoping for the past few years that we could do just what we are doing…selling our home and finding something with a few acres where we can really put down roots and live for the foreseeable future.  I’m excited for that future.  I’m excited to find our next house, to make it our own, to see all the memories we will make there.
But, it’s still tough!  Change is tough!
I know once we actually find another house I’ll feel better about it.  (We haven’t found a new house yet…eeek!)  I think then I’ll be able to start planning our future there more concretely.  Right now it feels like we’re at a dead end instead of  at a new beginning.
I am  glad that I have a house that I can feel that way about.  I wish everyone could have a home they feel this strongly about.  I’m hopeful that soon our “new” house will come on the market and we can buy it and I can start investing in that home and that one day it will feel homey like this home too.
It’s a bittersweet time.  One that will pass and things will look much brighter!!
(I hope I’m not coming off as some sort of first-world complainer—I realize there are those who are homeless, or live in homes they don’t like or are not ideal.  I know there are many many worse housing situations than the one we are currently experiencing!)
Update:  we accepted an offer on our current home a couple weeks ago and we are in the inspection process.  Everything looks promising that we will close the end of next month.  So far we have not put offers on any houses so hopefully soon one will come up that is what we are looking for!

Moving on

Look what’s in our front yard!

Yep, we’ve decided to put our home on the market and find our “forever” home.  We love our little 20s two-story but we’re just outgrowing it both space-wise and idea-wise.  For the past few years we have had a five-year plan in mind—this five year plan entailed us selling our home and finding a larger home on a few acres where we could live out our rural roots (both my husband and I grew up out in the boonies) and have space for the kids to build forts and run around and make lots of noise.  Cause that’s what they do!! 
Anyway, with the housing market boom and low interest rates we decided to put it on the market now rather than later and see how things go!  Ugh, I tell you packing and getting a house ready to show with three little kids is tough!!  Seems like as I’m getting one area cleaned I can hear the two-year old making a mess in another room that I just cleaned.  It’s done though…well, I’m sure there is room for improvement, but it is done and ready for showing (actually, we’ve had three showings already!!).
I know, I still have a bathroom to show you (yes, it is done!!), but I’m only now having a little time to take pictures and blog again.  I promise that before we sell the house I’ll make sure to take pictures so you can see the finished product. 
I’ll probably end up writing a post about getting ready to move with 3 little kids underfoot…so if you have any questions you’d like me to answer let me know!  Not that I’m an expert…yet!!

Five Favorites Volume 2

Joining Moxie Wife for her Five Favorites link-up…

1.

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Alstroemeria.  Especially Trader Joe’s cheap alstroemeria.  Just what is needed for these dreary March days with dingy melting snow, puddles of ice, and temperatures fluctuating between hopeful and downright disappointing.  Bonus:  they last forever so I can enjoy this late winter pick-me-up for quite a while!

2.

A four year old who vacuums. 

The entire carpeted area!!  And she does it really well!  Can I get a yeah and a woooh?!!  Anyone who has little kids knows how HUGE this is.  Couch and bon-bons, here I come!  (j/k of course, as anyone who has little kids knows!!)  She does it every week! 

Please don’t be jealous.  Or try to kidnap her for your own carpeted areas.

3.

Working with What You Have

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I’m loving this series that Emily is doing over on her blog about how to work with areas in the home that are challenging and cannot be changed right now for various reasons.  She has great practical and budget-friendly ideas..I’m especially liking her post on long, narrow living rooms (raises hand here).  I’m sure we’d all love to wave a magic wand and change a few things around in our home, but budget and time, etc. don’t allow. 

And her cute twins are adorable!

4.

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This tablescape is just too pretty.  Wouldn’t this be a lovely Easter dinner table?  Of course, at our house I’m not sure it would last long with a 2 year old around, but a girl can dream, right? 

5.

Sleep.  I know, very lame, but it is a perennial favorite for me so I’m adding it.  A certain cute 6 month old is going through a phase of waking multiple times a night and it is starting to get old.  Hopefully he’ll get that tooth/decide nighttime is not for partying/realize he likes sleep as much as I do soon.  I really can’t complain though as he has been a wonderful sleeper since birth. 

Five Favorites

I have never done a link party before, but I was inspired to join one by one of my favorite blog reads, Moxie Wife.  Listing some of my current favorite things can’t be that hard can it?  No, not difficult at all. 
Here you go!

1.  Essie “Sugar Daddy”

I have worn nail polish on my fingernails probably twice in my life, and immediately removed it because I thought it looked awful.  I decided to try it again with something very subtle, and love this one!  It gives a shine and just a hint of color and looks great so far.  I’m sure it won’t last long (especially grouting tile in the next few days!) but it was a nice little pick-me-up for a Sunday in March.

2.  Herringbone backsplash

Since I’ve had tile on the brain a lot lately, I was blown away by this gorgeous backsplash that the talented Marian installed in her kitchen.  Beautiful!!!

3.

 Kids say the craziest things.  My two year old thought he was giving me a compliment yesterday when he told me:  “You’re the biggest mommy in the whole world!!”

Smile.

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4.  A good cup of tea.

I have not always been a fan of tea.  I grew up drinking herbal tea when I was feeling under the weather, but didn’t have much use for it otherwise.  Then I spent a couple years in Ireland in my early 20s and grew to like the black tea they drink like water there.  Now I make myself a cup of tea at least a couple times a week year-round.  If I’m happy—tea.  If I’m sad—tea.  If I just need a little down time—tea.  I usually drink Irish Breakfast tea but really almost any kind of tea will do.  I like mine with 3 cubes of sugar and a little cream.  (In case I ever meet any of you in real life and you offer me tea.)

5.  My 6-month-old baby.  He is my chubbiest and happiest at this age.  He first giggled on my birthday at almost 2 months old.  He has a mop of hair that his older sister loves to style with bows and barrettes.  Wow how time flies!

My most recent project

Not completed but definitely ready for a reveal…

He took 9+ months but I have to say he is one of my top three projects ever!
My sporadic-at-best posting will probably be nonexistent for a while as we get used to being a family of 5 and I get used to running around after 3 kiddos. 
I have heard that going from two children to three is easier than going from one to two…I hope that is right!  So far so good!

Meal prep nesting

I must be nesting big-time because in the last few days I have had a burst of energy and got a lot done.  And none too soon!!  I have been a little freaked out because I have absolutely NOTHING done in preparation for the new baby to come in August.  No tiny onsies washed, no car seat ready, nada. 
That needed to change!  And being that this is baby #3, there will be two other little people for me to take care of when I’m adjusting to a new little one in the household, so I was hoping to get some meals in the freezer ahead of time for those postpartum weeks of chaos.  Our local Rainbow Foods was having a good sale on chicken last week so I picked some up along with a book called Don’t Panic, Dinner’s in the Freezer from the library.  

Today, I spent about one and a half hours making 4 different recipes out of the book and I am so super excited to have 6 meals all ready to pull out of the freezer when I need them.  I have never made anything out of the books before so I hope the recipes are good (they seemed like they would be), but they were super easy so my time was well spent. 
It just makes me a little giddy to see all these meals ready for the day I will need them!

I plan to copy down the recipes that I have used so that if they are great I will have them for future cooking.  I did write very brief cooking instructions on the bags although that is probably mostly unnecessary.  One never knows though, I may be in such a sleep-deprived haze I may need them!!

I have some pork in the fridge I plan to do the same thing with.  Yay!
This nesting urge is definitely taking over my life!

Our little getaway to Le Chateau

A couple weeks ago my husband and I took a little weekend vacation sans children (well, except for the latest little bean which we just couldn’t leave behind!).  It was lovely.  We try to get away for a couple nights by ourselves every year which can be tricky, but this year in spite of our almost 2 year old getting sick the day before we left, it worked out. 
We went to a larger town a few hours away which was the perfect distance.  It didn’t require hours and hours of driving and it was in many ways very different from where we live. 
The first night we dined at a most interesting restaurant.  It is called Le Chateau and this is what you see when you pull up:

Isn’t it gorgeous?
This French restaurant is housed in a historic mansion and is run by two chefs, who are actually husband and wife.  The wife has a most exquisite French accent and is a most gracious hostess.  Her pronunciation of my husband’s name on the voicemail confirming our reservations is something worthy of imitation.  He agrees.  : ) 
The food is wonderful.  The menu is rather small, but what they do, they do well.  We started off our meal with an amuse-bouche of chilled asparagus veloute.  It was delicious;  I liked it better than my husband who is a bit skeptical of cold soup however.  Although I had heard of the term before, I thought our server told us that this was “Amish brew” when she brought it out to us and I had her repeat it.  I was wondering what on earth Amish brew was!!!
Then we got a platter of bread, whipped butter, and olive oil for dipping.  The bread was amazing!  There was the traditional French baguette and then a more flavorful foccaccia-type bread that was delicious dipped in olive oil. 

I ordered a salad as I was very very hungry.  It again was wonderful.  The flavors were not too intense yet were definitely not your average variety.  I love balsamic vinaigrette and it was perfect on this asparagus, tomato confit, snow pea, and spring green mix. 

(My husband is trying to decide what he should order!)

I ordered a pasta dish with scallops and was not disappointed.  Yum!!!!  The scallops were so succulent, and they went well with the fettucine and roasted red peppers.

 

So, so delicious and full of flavor.

My husband got the little neck clams with a wine sauce and angel hair pasta.  It was also delicious but being a scallop lover I, of course, preferred mine. 

His main dish came with a bowl of lemon water for finger cleansing:

I almost forgot!!!  Our surroundings!!  We had requested the Peacock Room and it did not disappoint.  What was especially lovely was that we had this room all to ourselves for most of our meal!!

(Look at that floor!)

Behold the peacock:

 

Every touch was perfection.  This house was restored with great care.
I wish I had taken a picture of the ladies’ restroom!  It also was beautiful.
For our final course I chose a Pear Champagne sorbet.  I devoured it before I even took a picture.  It was so refreshing and delicate, just what I wanted after the meal.  My husband ordered a pear tart and it was also good, but just didn’t hit the spot like the sorbet did. 
We had excellent French pressed coffee with our dessert and my husband got all fancy and tried the brown sugar lumps. 

I enjoyed the meal!

We had a wonderful weekend, and this meal was one of the main highlights for me.  What fun!  I hope to go again. 

Delightful.

A shower

Over the weekend another girl and I threw a shower for my close friend Ashley. 
It went well I think, although in my current 7-month pregnant state it was a bit overwhelming and not every candle got lit before the guests arrived. 
And I may have had the guests get ready for a game when it was actually time to eat.  (still embarrassed, though they were all good sports)
Whew!  I’m glad that is done, although I was happy to do it for my dear friend. 
Here are some pictures of the desserts I made:

Raspberry Mousse Torte

I found chalkboard contact paper on Amazon and made the food signs up the day before.  The great thing is that I can re-use them again and again for various functions!

Flourless Chocolate cake

The other hostess made the paninis, they were delish!

I wish I had taken the time to take more pictures of the decorations and the other food.  We were so busy though getting it all together I barely had time to pull out my camera.