The Hard Stuff

On Tuesday, as we were leaving for storytime at the library I exclaimed to the kids, "I think we might actually be early!"

And Steele replied: What's early mean? Is that a good thing? Are we gonna be on time or late?

So what does that say about me? Wait... maybe don't answer that.


I took a nap on the couch this afternoon. As I awoke from sleeping I didn't want to get up. I just laid there thinking about things. Today is the third day of Justin's set and usually by the third day we're all feeling pretty tired. Today was no different. Well, in some ways it was different. Today I actually thought to myself, "I don't know if I can do this. I don't think I have it in me to get off the couch and cook dinner and manage everyone for the rest of the evening. I don't have it in me."

But I did have it in me. I did eventually get off the couch. I made a decent dinner and my children were enjoyable as they have been for the last several days. But sometimes in the moments between waking and sleeping, everything seems a little jumbled. Today my mind and my heart were racing with fears and worries and concerns. Sadly... horrifyingly... while I was at the beach today enjoying time with my dearest friend and our children, a little girl in our county was killed while crossing the street with her mama and her siblings. She was killed by a 17 year old high school girl. At the same time, a young man from our local university - a freshman who has only been at college for a week - has been missing since early Sunday morning. There is no trace of him. Everyone's lives. Drastically changed.

I've been praying, beseeching the Lord on behalf of all of these families but sometimes my heart doesn't know what to say. How can a mother even begin to heal from these sorts of things? It is not difficult to put yourself in their shoes and wonder how you would feel. Devastated. Hopeless. Beyond healing. And yet, as I hugged Steele and read him stories tonight we talked about heaven, as it seems I often do with this boy. We decided together that heaven is a good place - because we will all get to see each other again. He's also happy that there will be trees. Which made me smile. And that is my hope - my only hope. Terrible, awful things happen on this earth. And wonderful, miraculous things also happen. Side by side. It is beyond my comprehension. But! Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.

Something's Missing

My tooth!!

...to be exact.

So remember that crown appointment I went in for? Yah. Turned into an extraction. I won't go into all the gory details, especially since I'm feeling much better today and the threat of dry socket (which I've been paranoid about) has pretty much passed. But man, that little dental procedure laid me out for a few days. I used to work at a dentist's office and I remember one of the dentists there telling me once that people forget that dental work is a surgical procedure. And an extraction? Well - remove any other part of your body and see how you feel. All I felt like doing was laying around on the couch for a few days while watching Netflix movies. Fortunately, Justin was home the few days following and could take care of the chillin's. I told him I was fine as long as I only had to take care of myself. Trying to take care of or manage anyone else put me over the edge. Like the bawling my eyes out edge. But like I said, I won't go into that. It's Monday, a new week and I've schooled my children and done 4 or 5 loads of laundry already today. Hooray!

A couple of things I have learned since having my tooth pulled:

1. When you cannot eat anything else and you send your husband to the store for mashed potatoes, make sure you explain to him explicitly that you want real mashed potatoes with gravy and that he should not stop looking after one store and bring home instant ones instead. It might put you over the edge.

2. One should not watch the Godfather for the first time ever right before going to bed.

3. Children turn into caring, sensitive little beings when you tell them you had to have your tooth pulled out. They'll bring you blankets, stroke your head and tell you over and over that they're sorry you don't have a tooth anymore.




Let's see...

A looooooong time ago I mentioned that I was on the look-out for some new skin care. I found some. A long time ago. I'm sorry I never mentioned it. But I do love it.

My next door neighbor is an esthetician and she recommended these products to me. DHC. They're great because you can actually pronounce all the ingredients and recognize what they are. They probably do still have some bad stuff in them but heck, what doesn't these days? Have you heard of GMO's people? Bad, bad stuff. Look it up. Anyway, back to the skin care. The most important thing I learned was how to determine what type of skin you have. It seems like it should be so simple but it's not. So here's what Lara, my neighbor, told me. You know when you take those little skin tests and it says something like, "After washing your face does your skin feel [blank].. " and then it gives a list of options? Well, I would always choose "combination." I don't know why, really. I think I thought that since I break out occasionally and sometimes feel greasy around my nose and forehead that I was combination. But actually, what you're supposed to do is wash with a plain old bar of soap - Dove, Irish Spring, whatever you have lying around (NOT your facial cleanser) - and then see how it feels. Well, if I do that, my skin is tight and kind of dry. So in reality, I have dry skin. I think knowing this bit of info. has made all the difference. I got skin care for dry skin and I think that, coupled with a HUGE change in my diet which I'll talk about later, has improved my skin quality enormously.

So here's what I use:

Deep Cleansing Oil - this stuff is crazy. It feels oily when you rub it in. When you add water it turns foamy and washes off and makes your skin feel fab! Seriously. It reminds me of using old fashioned cold cream or something - it really gets your skin clean.

Sometimes I use Soothing Lotion after that. - Lara told me that I can probably just use it in the morning instead of washing my face again before applying moisturizer. See? Isn't she smart?

Then Rich Moisture - great, light weight.

Olive Virgin Oil - At night if I'm feeling dry or even if I'm broken out and feeling like I need some healing. I think think the olive oil is great for healing skin. And you only need a couple little drops.

All of it is pretty concentrated and lasts me several months at a time. Comparably, I think it's pretty reasonably priced next to other stuff out there. If you have any questions, the web site is great and if you ask me I can ask Lara.... she's nice like that.

And since this post is a little text heavy - a couple pictures to give you a good giggle.

You've been warned.

Stinkeye

PS. Julie - if you're reading this (not church-Julie, teacher-Julie) can you please send me your blog address? I lost track of it somehow and your profile doesn't link to it and I think I saw from a Mabel's House comment that you have some news????

*Thursday* Morning Thoughts

*Haha! A friend just alerted me that it is actually Thursday morning even though I originally titled this Wednesday Morning. I guess I should have had another cup of coffee before I wrote it.

I have to get a crown prep done today. I'm trying to find something to be thankful for. Like, I'm thankful I haven dental insurance? Yes. I am indeed thankful for that. I am still dreading the appointment though. I didn't have even one filling until I was 19. It's been a little downhill from there. And, I will confess here for all of you, that I have a little bit of dental phobia. Sort of. But not completely. I'm not scared of the actual dental work or of pain. I just tend to get claustrophobic with that rubber dam on and the anesthesia always gives me chills. So I will bring a blanket and ask them to cut a little hole in the dam so I can breathe. I can't stand to listen to music or wear those sunglasses they offer you - it only magnifies the claustrophobia. My jaw tends to get really sore too. If I remember to take ibuprofen before I go it seems to help. They're also going to give me the gas... I've never had it before. Anyone out there with any experience with it?

I think I need to cut down on my blog reading. I am longing to knit a big, cozy sweater for fall and sew up a couple of dresses for the girls with corduroy I've had stashed away for years. I get so much inspiration from the ones I read but it's time to take that inspiration and DO something!

My children are playing nicely together this morning. Except, just as I was typing that I heard Adia screaming "NO! Stop that, I said!" from the bedroom. I love it when they play nicely together.

Along those lines... Steele seems to struggle with empathy and compassion. We're working on it but it's a hard one to work on, you know. You can't exactly muster it up in your child. Does it tend to be a boy thing? Any thoughts?

We sold the pink couch. I only felt a little bit sad. It just smelled too bad - you guys were right. Me, of all people, should have known that it would not be good for my health. I just didn't realize it until it was in my house and stinking up the whole living room. The good news is that Justin made $100 off of it. He bought the set (couch and chair) for $50 and sold them for $150. Saweet! So the living room went back to the way it was with a turn of a bookshelf which I really wanted. The dining room will be turned into a family room/office. I'm cautiously looking for a couch. "Cautiously" after a conversation my neighbor and I had about bed bugs and lice. Ew.

Speaking of knitting, I've been able to finish a couple of things lately. The only thing worth showing is this cute little baby sweater for my friend Amber's new baby, Bella.

Pattern: Matinee Jacket from Vintage Knits for Modern Babies by Hadley Fierlinger of ShesCrafty Handknits. I love just about every pattern in this book.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in color 849? (can't remember the color)
This is my favorite yarn lately - great colorways, nice quality, versatile, inexpensive
Needles: As written

A couple of you wondered about Xochi. I think she had chicken pox. I hope she had chicken pox. She only had 6 or 7 spots. A friend brought her kids over to expose them. I'm hoping they get it so we can know for sure.

What do you think?

I just love her brown skin.

These are my favorite types of blog posts to write. I think I'll write more of them. It's so much easier than thinking of a topic and seems more do-able to me. I'm off to prep for my crown prep.

Yes??

Or a big fat no?

I don't really know where this all started.

I honestly think it may have started with this post over at Vintage Chica where Eren revealed her vintage inspired playroom/family office.

Or it may have begun with one of Justin's recent garage sale finds....

In any case, all I know now is that my house currently looks like this:






Justin's working and I was a little bored so I decided that today would be a good day to rearrange every single piece of furniture in our house.

And now I'm stuck.

I've been realizing lately that with the housing market as it is and the prospect of moving a little distant on the horizon.... and with the way our family seems to unexpectedly grow at a steady pace... I need to better utilize the space we have. I'm not ready to move anybody down to the basement and honestly, it would take a fair amount of money to get it use-able.

I started thinking that we rarely use our dining room and that it might be fun to change it into a sitting room/office space kind of like Eren's. So when Justin found this awesome deal of a sofa it gave me motivation to begin.

Here's where I'm at.

My living room:

Now before you go poo-pooing the mauve tufted sofa, take a look at some of these photos that I had hidden away in my design inspiration folder. ( I really never thought I would be using them on my blog so I'm sorry I can't cite sources)

You know, a little Anthropologie-ish

This one makes me giddy every time I look at it.

I'm not sure I've shared with you a little addiction I have
called "Design Blogs" but we'll talk about that another time.

For a tufted extravaganza go to Flickr and search "Tufted Sofa." Love.

Here's another great one.


The other thing we won't talk about right now is how this couch smells or the fact that I think it's irritating my allergies... we'll just talk about how it looks. Unless we decide we hate it, in which case I'll tell you how it smells musty and mildewy and how simply looking at it makes my eyes itch. The other thing we won't talk about or tell Justin is how Steele and I miraculously moved this couch into our living room all by ourselves or how we scraped it up a little or how we got a few brown scuffs on the kitchen floor. Ahem. Did you hear something?

The couch is surprisingly comfortable. Originally I thought I would paint the wood either black or grey and maybe eventually have it reupholstered - similar to what Leah did here. But I'm just not quite so sure now. It's a little smaller than I guessed it would be now that it's actually in the living room. And I'm wondering if I'm going to have to re-do everything in the room in order to make it look right style-wise. Any thoughts? Shannon - I'm talking to you here.

Moving on....

The Dining Room

in case you missed it or need a reminder

My plan is to leave the couch where it is. Leave the table where it is - maybe cut it down to kid size and re-paint it. I'm thinking of putting some fun gutter shelves on the right hand wall. Seen here and here. On the left wall I'm going to look for a long skinny desk where we can put the computer so we don't have to move it back and forth to the living room when we want to watch a movie or shows. Our piano is also in this room and I'm really looking forward to making it into a cozy little area. I can't decide what type of vibe I want in here though - the couch style/color may have to determine that.

And finally, the kitchen.

What I would really love to do is tear out the wall where the stove is and the wall that is perpendicular to it and put in a big banquette similar to the one seen here (with different colors and style)


Then, I would put in an island with my stove in it and pots hanging over the top. And since we'd be doing all that I'd probably tear out my ugly brown cabinets and replace them with some from the new Martha Stewart line at Home Depot. Open shelving and bakers racks maybe? But since that won't happen until we win the lottery and I think you have to actually play the lottery in order to win.... it will probably end up looking something like the one at 1927 Bungalow Love. Along these lines:



Sooooo?????

Did I make a big mistake?? I really loved my living room the way it was but maybe once I finish this could all be pure awesome-ness?

I'll just be here waiting... and sneezing and itching.

For All My Hamsters

And Hamster wannabees.

This is my town.

Well, sort of... pretty much... we won't get into all the details.

A bunch of my friends posted this on facebook and I think it's pretty much the greatest thing ever.

Probably because I think this town is pretty much the greatest thing ever and this just rocks that point out. Pretty much.

Bellingham State of Mind

Paint, Plants and Plastic Plates

Before going on to the afore-mentioned subjects - I have to mention that I'm listening to Voddie Bauchum while perusing the internet and writing blog posts tonight. I think every Christian couple would benefit from listening to this and considering what he says.

Child Training - Voddie Baucham

I'll let him do the preaching

Moving on...

As promised, I got my craft on today.

I spray painted a thrift store frame and put one of my grandma's old tea towels in it. She used to use it to cover her dough with. I love that it still has oil stains on it.




I also put together a wall arrangement that I'm still not quite sure about. I painted the round frame and will get a mirror made for it. The Home Sweet Home plate is from the new John Derian for Target. Our local Target didn't put everything out on the release date and I called every day after until it had been put out for fear I wouldn't be able to get one.




Finally, to my delight, I tore out my summer annuals and planted some fall foliage. I finished two planter boxes and can't wait to do some more.




I love being able to have the time to do this! It was the perfect end to our successful first official week of home schooling.

The Skinny on the Skinny

On Wednesday morning I posted this on facebook:

Ok... what's the skinny on skinny jeans fb friends? Has anyone out there found any that aren't skin-tight or too low-rise? Comfortable? I'm thinkin' I need some to wear with boots.

And guess what? I got 46 comments. 46!! I think that's even more than I got when I announced that Xochi was born. I guess people have a lot of opinions when it comes to skinny jeans.

Out of those replies, along with recommendations on brands and stores, here is a smattering of what people thought (anonymously to protect the innocent... and the large-thighed):

Skinny jeans and my welsh warrior legs don't get along. No matter how hard I try...

Boots or ballet flats. I really don't like it when people mix sneakers with skinny jeans. I don't wear skinny jeans. It's for the good of humankind.

I think you're suppose to be "skinny" to wear them so, NO, I will NOT be wearing them! You're welcome!

If you get a pair, I'm getting a pair. Then we can have matching mother/daughter outfits. Just kidding.

From what my wife says and I can attest to... you have to spend some money to get jeans that look good and that actually fit. Nothing out there for less than $75 for the most part from what I hear. I know this conversation was all ladies but I figured I would join in!

I think skinny jeans are best left to the teenagers...

Cutz, you should totally do skinny jeans! Personally, I only think they're flattering when worn with a long shirt, but they're so cute with boots. I get the fake Uggs from Costco and wear them with skinny jeans all winter long. SO comfy!

I say go for it! I agree with Gertrude (name changed to protect the innocent, skinny-thighed) though...only with a long shirt or layers on top...you know what I mean right? GAP has some great ones, I agree. I was just in there and some of them are super soft. Skinny jeans are kind of all you see in NYC, and its also the same look with lots of stretchy pants that have zippers, etc on them. H&M has loads too. I say with boots or ballet flats, depending on the weather.

And so... I decided I would give them a try.

Now don't laugh at this next part. Here was my thought process. One night when I was at Walmart I thought to myself, "I think I'll try a few pairs on. Then, I can see how they look and if I think they'd work for me. If I'm not really sure, at least I didn't spend a lot of money on them."

This was WRONG thinking, my friends.

The skinny jeans at Walmart were, as my friends so readily shared, only for skinny people. They were too low, too tight, too.... weird.

At which time I posted this on facebook:

Skinny Jeans Round One. Bulging thighs: 1, Cutzi and her hopes of cute fall outfits with boots, scarves and tunic sweaters: 0

I decided my next stop would have to be the Gap or Buckle. Both got high ratings on my little facebook poll.

Until I came up with a brilliant plan based on a blog post I recently read (which I would post if I could find).

I'm seriously so excited about this I can barely type fast enough. The pictures are crappy but, like I said, I'm just too excited to wait and take better ones.

Since I wasn't sure I would actually like them and since we just spent an insane amount of money on home schooling curriculum and an unexpected car repair - I decided to take a pair of my OWN jeans and make them into skinnies. I took ones that fit me well on top, drew a few lines, sewed a few seams, ripped a few seams and finally! Success!!

So without further adieu... Cutzi's skinny jean re-fashion. (Made from a pair of Old Navy Sweetheart jeans that I got for $12)

With flats



With awesome $50 leather boots from Target
(Now in more colors. Run! Get yourself a pair!!)



With fun cowboy boots that my husband found for $5 at a garage sale
with intentions of re-selling until I promptly stole them

Now, I agree with my commenters. I think these will be worn best with a tunic shirt or a tee and a cozy, thigh-length fall sweater. I do still kind of think they look better on, how shall we say, less hour-glassed figures? But I am pleased. While searching for the Sweetheart link I found out Old Navy actually sells them in a skinny! I just might have to try those next.

And now? This sunny Pacific Northwest Saturday is turning out to be full of creative opportunity. I'm off with a can of spray paint!!