by Sarah | Jul 11, 2009 | All About Family, All About Home
**This is not my actual house, just one similar to it I found online. Ours is like this, small, one floor, no landscaping, tree in the front yard…but our is more rectangle than square ;)**
When we moved into this house 7 years ago it was as a ‘starter’ house. It was perfect for our ‘small’ family of three. 3 bedrooms, the largest of which was 13X12, the smallest 9X9. The kitchen and living room were a good size and there were two bathrooms (unique for this neighborhood).
Since them our ‘starter’ house has become our permanent home. We’ve made mistakes financially, which we are now trying to correct, but the end result is we are here and likely not going anywhere for a long time.
In a way, that’s okay with us. The neighborhood is amazing. Our neighbors are wonderful. The street has no outlet-which means no through traffic, only 95% residential traffic-so the kids (and there are a LOT of them) can run and play up and down the street with only minimal chance of danger. Brandon can go out and play and I know that if he’s up to no good where I can’t see him a neighbor will call and let me know. We all watch out for each other-and I couldn’t ask for a better place to live.
But the house is SMALL. When we first moved in we took the biggest room, put Brandon in the next biggest and turned the tiny box into an office. For the two of us packrats, the office became the catchall and by the time I became pregnant with Riley it was packed full of junk. We cleaned it out and somehow turned it into a nursery, putting much of the junk in the garage. When Angel came along we made another switch, putting the two girls in the big room and squeezing poor Brandon into the 9X9 room.
Guess what, the packrats that are us still needed a catchall. It became our bedroom. Every other room would be ‘clean’ (but filled with clutter), and our room would be the pit. It was the last room I would touch, and was so packed that I was overwhelmed. We needed Clean House in the worst way. But in the absence of ‘reality’ television…I finally had to bite the bullet and DO something.
This week I’ve started. Our house is way too small for 5 people and the amount of clutter we had. I don’t have the money for clever storage plans (oh, but I wish I do) so I have to cleanout completely.
I started in our bedroom. From top to bottom I cleaned I rearranged and the room is now the cleanest in the house for a change. It needs a coat of paint and some nice curtains, a new bedspread (Indy Girls, I’ll take offers 😉 )… but it’s CLEAN.
Since then I’ve moved onto the living room – clutter central in a way I never realized…I’ve been finding clutter everywhere.
But clutter is slowly taking it’s exit of my house. I’ve thrown away probably 20 trash bags in the past week, and that’s just in two rooms. I’m sure some of the items we could have done in a garage sale, but I’m just getting rid of everything. If I hold it for a garage sale, I’ll never have the sale. I’m being realistic and aware of my own lethargy/procrastination on some matters.
Over the weekend I’ll finish the living room and move onto the kitchen next week (be afraid. Be VERY afraid). I would love for the boys (my husband and neighbor) to just cut out the wall separating the living room from the kitchen while I’m working on this (we have talked about doing this, just not actually done it)…but for now I’ll just be happy to clean. I hope to get paint and paint the rooms that need it (living room needs fresh coat; hallway, bedroom, and kitchen desperately need paint)…once everything is clean. The last two rooms I’ll do is the boys room (I got started, didn’t finish) and the bathroom (hubs asked me to wait until he and Moe finish up the remodel…hopefully that will happen SOON). The girls room is the closest to already clean that there is…as I regularly clean it out when they outgrow clothes.
So now that this is being done I’m trying to shed my packrat ways…and the spending habits that came with her. It won’t be easy – but I’m going to try!!
by Sarah | Jun 30, 2009 | All About Family, Photography
Shades of the past linger here
Through time and distance and space
Our ‘pool’ was bigger,
A lake, a pool, a far distant place
The joy is the same,
The splashing, the laughter, the fun
Soaking up the days
Enjoying every moment in the sun
Tomorrow comes too fast
Yesterday becomes just a dream
Until you see it in your own
And a new yesterday begins to gleam
by Sarah | May 27, 2009 | All About Family
With a bright load of bullets…bullet points, that is. It’s been so long since I’ve posted I can only go random with notes of where I’ve been.
* I have been working behind the scene, doing coding and graphics in preparation for the big launch! My BFF and I have launched a new webmag The Modern Pagan!! We have some great writers with MrsB, Angela, and RetroKali. We are currently looking for more writer’s and article submissions so spread the word! Here’s a bit more from our ‘about’ page:
The Modern Pagan is an online magazine set up to help inform, teach and grow with the pagan and non-pagan communities. We will be posting articles on Wednesdays to begin with in the hopes that we can grow and move to a few more days during the week and finally daily. Please come and check out Weekly Tarot Card to see what’s been pulled from our deck. We will be posting stories, recipes, rituals, crafts and much more.
* I’ve been recovering from surgery. After 3 weeks I’m feeling human again. I still get an occasional twinge from the bruising under the surface and the incision sites still have not fully healed – but I feel ‘normal’. I’ve discovered what I can and can’t eat and what I must eat in moderation. It’s been real fun figuring that out.
* Archie and I had a date. A REAL date. We didn’t go to the movies, we didn’t stay local like we always do (for the past 5 years we haven’t left this side of town). We went to the south side to the Cheesecake Factory. We walked around the mall and then grabbed some more cheesecake and drove home!
* One week before school let out Brandon brought home a big fat F. It was a project that not only wasn’t finished, but not turned in on time. And so, the boy begins summer break on lockdown (major grounding).
* I’ve set into (lime)stone my trip to NY this year. I hadn’t planned on going, but a fellow blogger is also from there and recently took a spontaneous trip which made me very homesick. Since Archie does horribly in the car I’ve asked my mom to go. Because of the timing I get to finally meet the incredibly talented and beautiful Mishelle!! We’re going to the original Duff’s to eat wings and drink Labbatt’s beer! You bet we’ll both have our cameras so expect pictures!
* I actualy managed to get through ALL of our laundry yesterday. This is a rarity in our house so much that Archie thanked me for it and said that it wasn’t so easy (he knows after caring for the house for a week 😀 ). I didn’t just WASH the laundry – I got 95% of it away, the last 5% I plan on putting away today. In a household of 5 this is HUGE.
* We’ve shared dinner with our neighbor Moe a couple of times in the past couple of weeks. He’s a great friend and a big help to Archie when it comes to his girlfriend. I love being that close to our neighbors.
* Speaking of neighbors, now that the weather is nice we’ve spent a few evenings outside gathering with the neighbors. We have a wonderful small neighborhood where everyone knows everyone else. It’s a neighborhood like I’ve always wanted to live in (did once when I was in 3-9 grade).Â
* Our puppy is getting HUGE. Sookie is gorgeous and I hope to have pictures of her up soon!
* Speaking of Sookie I am counting down the days to True Blood’s second season! June 14th!! I read book 9 in one night and have already marked the date of book 10 on my calendar. I’ve watched every preview that’s come out and purchased season 1 on DVD. I even started following the characters on Facebook! They give me such a giggle.
* Yeah, I finally caved. I said I would never Facebook…but my husband got on, and I don’t remember the reason I caved, but I did. I’m glad I did…I found my old middle school bestest friend in the world who stuck by me through some big crap. I found out my cousin was on FB and her husband, and a good high school friend of mine. I’ve made some great connections. Because it’s my real name and connected to my hubbies real name I’m choosey about who I let in…but if you want in email me 😀
* Speaking of Facebook…it’s because of that, and this post…that I’ve officially come out of the broom closet with my family. Oops…but I had to spread the word about the Modern Pagan!Â
* I need to have surgery more often. Being stuck on the couch for a week led to frequent blog posting and reading…real life is way to wacky!!
* And so I close this bulleted list having said a whole lot of nothing! Hopefully more frequent posting is upon us again…and you’ll get a new better picture of me if the ones I took on date day came out okay 😀
by Sarah | Feb 10, 2009 | All About Family, Crap
Since my last post five days ago (*gasp* FIVE days?!)…here is a snippet of where we’ve been…
*Archie’s been A-OK with homeschooling…
*Archie’s been not-so A-OK with homeschooling (for Brandon)
*I posted a review over at TwoBroomsUp – get your romance on 😉
*I started making chocolate-covered cherries 3 days ago – and I’m still working on it (almost done – must finish today or they won’t be ready for Friday)
*I’ve given away our old crib (Just need to deliver it now) – and the girls are crib free…
*Which has led to a permanent time-out of sorts where they are both under strict observation
*Which has also led to near-potty-trained-ness for Angel – with Riley having no choice but to follow behind now.
*I’ve been attempting to make plans to finally get my BFF Jess out here for a visit…which should happen in the next couple of months (I hope)
*I’ve hinted at Archie that we need to go to where Jess is for a family vacay this year – after all then we could go to Williamsburg! The really long car ride is giving him pause, though (and me)
*I’ve researched membership fees to museums around here
*I gave the blog a facelift finally (you like? It’s been done for weeks – just haven’t bothered to switch it 😉 )
*I barely touched my computer over the weekend
*And yet have managed to (maybe-possibly, hopefully) convinced hubs to let me use a wee-bit of the tax refund to get a MacBook. (Hey, if we’re homeschooling we’ll need more than one comp, right?)
*We’ve had a slew of discussions w/ Brandon about homsechooling. Archie is still on the fence.
*We went out to eat as a fam, then picked up a new keyboard and mouse (wireless) for the computer. You can once again see all the letters on the keyboard!
*I spent hours researching doggies on Saturday. Archie was curious. No dog in this house yet, though.
*What the HECK is THIS? Seriously? Yes, teaching my child to grab their crotch in public is GREAT FUN!
*Because I got called out by Holly about my bias AGAINST the Twilight books – and I HATE being called out like that…I started reading Twilight last night. I’ll let you (and her) know what I think when I’m done. No opinions yet, I just started (Opinions about the PMS book, though…predictable much?)
*I’ve (re)written another chapter in my novel. Things are progessing differently, and hopefully better. I still feel like I’m lagging a bit, but the first three days are important. Hopefully it will all move much faster from here. We’ll see what happens.
*I’ve reopened my writing blog, though I haven’t posted yet. I’m working on it slowly. Real life has been so hectic.
And that’s the big slew of randomness for today. I know I’ve forgotten the past week has been so crazy-hectic. Everything is going well…just hectic!!
Time for me to go visit the blogs on my neglected list. I seriously haven’t even visited…much less commented! So off I go!!
by Sarah | Jan 27, 2009 | All About Family, All About Me
For the past three and a half years since Riley’s first sign of illness I’ve been so many things. I’ve been an advocate, a medical researcher, a therapist, a teacher, a student, a fierce tiger fighting for answers, an emotional wreck wondering what was wrong and not feeling strong enough to handle it…
But those moments…those fleeting moments…of just being…MOM. They’ve been there, but so few and far between everything else that has been happening. Today something switched. I don’t know if it was my decision (more on that forthcoming in later posts)…or just an emotional release for me…or just one of those days…but tonight. For about 3 hours…that’s all I was.Â
I was washing dishes and for the first time in years the baby gates are down (have been for 3 days!!) – and the girls are excited to have access to the kitchen. I turned around from washing dishes to see they’ve done this:
[nggallery id=4]
They dragged in books and plopped themselves down at the table. Carrying on a little conversation with each other they read their books and told each other about them. They seemed so grown up…and I just grabbed my camera and started snapping. It was such a great, peaceful moment. I only wish Daddy had been home to see it (he’s got work stuff tonight and tomorrow 🙁 ).Â
For a few hours I was just a mom, and a little bit of a teacher because after the dishes were done the girls and I sat down to go over flash cards to start rebuilding Riley’s knowledge again – and work on Angel’s. Then I went over Brandon’s homework with him and asked him to do some side work for me…and I manged to finish the dishes, half the laundry and getting our new storage pieces put up and partially filled.
I think I’ll like just being a Mom and what goes with standard teaching. Maybe I need the break from ‘school’ and therapy as much as I think the girls do.
by Sarah | Dec 18, 2008 | All About Family, Crap
Well, you don’t want to know what I’m drowning in. Let’s just say that since I last left you (a WEEK ago! Holy cow!) I’ve done abut five loads of laundry a day…all bed clothes and towels.Â
Riley was sick first, waking up at 6AM friday in a puddle of puke. Since then it’s been a rollercoaster of up and down healthiness. Angel caught it next, and now Archie has been in bed since yesterday.Â
So far Brandon and I have escaped the wrath of the actual illness *knocks on wood*…but I’ve been so wrapped up in caring for everyone that a blog post just hasn’t been forthcoming. I have no tree. And last night was the first time I washed dishes in days. I’m behind and miserable about it.Â
Presents are not done being sewed. I haven’t been able to get to the store to pick up the last of the supplies for one of them. Brandon’s is done. Archie’s is bought, but the company I ordered from decided that my 3 day ship time was just a guideline…AND that one of the items ordered that was in stock when I ordered was NOW backordered. Who knows if they’ll be here in time.Â
I have a really awesome review and giveaway to post about…and I haven’t been able to do it…and I have plenty of other items to post about (like my evening of freedom to see the remarkable Lion King)…but again…just not able to.
Hopefully some day soon I’ll be able to sit down without a clinging monkey on my lap (Angel) that cries every time I put her down…and that a coherent thought will form.
