Today is stretching me...

It wasn't a bad day, per se. Just not anything stand out "Good." But that's why I'm here, right? To find the "good" in the "blah"? (quiet...can you hear the squeak of my brain?)

- whatever coconut creamer Hubby put in my coffee

- a significant breakthrough with Oldest

- an evening with no one to "answer" to. (it's funny how I'm supposed to get a night out, too, but it rarely happens. I think that's because I like to have nights in. which his night out is turning into for me. I guess that's a win / win. :) )

Yesterday's good things

1. a clean house

2. Oldest's relative happiness (there's been little of it lately).

3. cuddling in bed with the 3 littles at the end of the day.

Backslide - kinda

So...I'm a little sad today. I've got a ton of craft projects on the burners so I tried making myself a list last night. Ya know, things that were "due" already (like my niece's Christmas present), and then things that will be due, like Mother's Day presents, & then things I just want to do...It ended up being 14 items long! & then I woke up this morning thinking of the pattern I bought on Saturday didn't make it on my "crafty to-do" list. On one hand, how great that I have so many interests / creative energies. On the other...I got one serious case of the "I'll never get it done...never!" (Imagine here, if you will, the piano player from Sesame Street banging his head against the keyboard.)

Do you ever catch up? Is it even possible or am I chasing my proverbial tail? I'm about ready to take this philosophy, courtesy of Urban Threads. Here's the thing: these are not Gotta Dos. These are Want To Dos. Unfulfilled desires...unfinished dreams...

What do you do when "someday" seems too far away?

Weekend Update

only the good things, hmmmm? Yes, I did say that was the point of this place, didn't I? okay then...good things:

- a decision about our house. not an easy decision, not a fun one, but a direction to go in, instead of living in limbo about it.

- GOOD thrift store experiences. I somehow managed to go thrifting Friday, Saturday, & Sunday! Wow! & I really found some neat things each time. My favorite: a vintage Fisher Price chalkboard / magnetic letter spelling desk. Remember this thing? Magnets included - letters & numbers for the whopping price of $3.99! Woot! Note to self: don't go to Goodwill anymore. Everything's overpriced since they became Target's dumping ground. :(

- parents over for dinner. I love getting them out of their house & my dad called yesterday saying that he hadn't seen his girls in a while. It was a win / win. :)

Craftiness & Garden Goodness

The craft I set up last week? Here we are doing it:


Here's the finished product:


I combined a few tutorials out there for making planters out of 2 liter bottles. Using my fabric scraps was fun, but I'm not so sure they will hold up to the weather. Next time I'll splurge for some acrylic paints, as I'm not giving the girls access to spray paints!

My garden is growing! I started a small container garden this spring. I don't know if we will be moving or not & I can't dig up any of the landscaping in my rented digs, so I tried container gardening. I wasn't positive it would work, so I spent as little as I could manage on the venture. Recycled containers, some from the $ Tree store & only 1 bag of soil purchased, the rest scored on craigslist's free section. Still, I didn't know if my labors would pay off - container gardens don't get weeds, but they don't get the option of getting a lot of minerals from the soil either. But here is proof of my potential success:

I told you I'm bad at this.

Um...not so good at coming here everyday, am I? Well, don't you worry, when I haven't posted my "good things" here, I am writing in my journal. Which I make Hubby contribute to, too. He needs a good dose of happiness finding himself. :)

1) a cooler day & night! Past two nights were too hot to sleep, but tonight...ahhhh!

2) Not "working" tomorrow.

3) 2 parks followed by dinner out. Kids were asleep in 3 minutes. THAT's a good thing.

Time to catch up...

The weekend was full of wonderful things. However, the last part of today was so rough, that it near canceled out all the wonderfulness of the weekend. It was that bad - I am not exaggerating. BUT I shall list for you the goodness & hopefully remembering it will put me in a better place.

1) Unexpected sleepover at Grandpa & Grandma's. Not me, the girls. All of them. As in an unexpected night off of bedtime drama & date with the hubby! YeHA! That is a good, good thing.

2) A "date" with my best girl friend. We went to see Wicked & it was well worth the blisters I sustained while looking for someplace for lunch, wearing my "wicked" high heels.

3) Getting my oldest back. She was on spring break, away from home & she came home last night. She was blase about returning, as most 13 year olds will be, but *I* was happy to have her back.

There was a LOT of screaming today...

not mine, fortunately. Nevertheless, I managed to find a few "good things" about today.

1. A clean house! (the cleaners came today. This is something I've wanted since the twins were little & we've only been able to afford for the past 8 months or so. & I'll probably have to give it up to get the littlest into preschool, but until that time, I'm enjoying it!) A little note: it takes one person about 8 hours to clean my house. I start in the morning, picking everything up, so the cleaners can actually clean. Laundry, toys, dishes, etc. That takes me about 4-5 hours top to bottom. Granted, I am stopping to care for kiddos, but I have to do that too, so I count it. Then the cleaners come & recently, there's only been 1 person & it takes her 4-5 hours to do the cleaning part. So I could literally spend a FULL day cleaning my house. I can not believe it, no matter how many times I see it.

2. Seeing Twin B get her hearts desire. She got a gift card to Build-A-Bear, something she's been saving her $1 per week allowance for. It was so much fun to watch her spend it. Also, it was great to see how Twin A was excited for her sister, as well as not whining that she wanted one too. (She asked for and received a Build-A-Bear gift card for Christmas.)

3. Having enough energy at the end of the day to prep a craft project for the girls. We will be decorating & hopefully planting hanging self-watering planters made from 2 liter soda bottles. I'll take pics, for sure!

Good Things About Today

1. Giving children gifts they have been coveting. (In lieu of baskets, we just got a present for each girl, something their hearts have been hankering for & in one case one has been saving allowance for.)
2. Church for the first time in 2 weeks. (we go to a local UU church)
3. Crafting
4. Out of doors at Grandpa's house with the cousins.
5. Niece "stealing" my embroidery.

Good Things About Today

1. Oldest getting her cast off. Hurray!
2. Twins helping / sharing with Ivy of their Egg Hunt booty from school.
3. An awesome chiro visit. Ahhhhh...

Hmmmmm...

I'm not so good at this, am I? Ten months without a new post? I definitely need Web Log Writer Lessons. Do they have classes at the local community college? These past 10 (11?) months have been quite dizzying, if that's any excuse.

I have been changing my lazy, internetting ways, mostly strictly controling how much I'm on while my children are awake. But also, I'm only visiting places that please me. I was in a habit of going someplace daily where I'd hung out for 3 (!) years, but was no longer making me happy. Each time I left this place, I felt worse than when I got there. & that just had to stop. But, as any smoker knows, habits are hard to break. So I took a page out of the "replace the behavior with another behavior" book. For awhile this was doing crafty things, but energy after 9 pm for starting or picking up a sewing project seriously wanes after awhile & I soon found myself back at the computer after kiddy bedtime. Somehow, I found myself on Soulemama's blog. I think it might have been this post about a homemade skating pond. or maybe some of her drool-worthy embroidery. Anyhow, I fell in LOVE. I am in love with Soulemama. and her children. but mostly her. I was thinking last night as I was tidying up that I want to crawl into her skin & be her for awhile. & then I thought, "Ewwwww....STALKER!" But I do. I want to learn to push aside all the ugliness, the screaming, the "not going right" of the day (of every day) & focus on the good, the beauty, the peace.

So all that leads me to my new purpose here. To be a copycat. (cough cough) Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, is it not? But also, when you've been in the bad habit of concentrating on the bad, you need a lot of "new behaviors" to pull out of it. & also, a step by step plan. Winging it only gets you back in the dumps. So, Amanda Blake Soule, you are my 12 step program!