things of no importance

Tip Top of the Mornin' to you

Blogger is being a total hussy today and keeps deleting everything. I've written this 3 times and now I'm over it. So In no semblance of order or meaning, and with zero editing...some tidbits floating through this mind.

-I've tried color blocking. I've really tried. I still feel like a 3 year old who dressed herself.

-my 3 year old who does indeed dress herself is going to be the end of me. and the beginning of gray hair.
she changes clothes 17 times a day.  completely new ensembles from head to toe, headband to socks. and the most desperately-needed-must-happen-right-this-second outfit changes always happen 3 seconds before I have to walk out the door somewhere. I hope you are a wealthy man, Charlotte's future husband, and can keep her closet filled to the brim. Wealthy and patient.

-I'm a total hypochondriac. 5 minutes watching Dr. Oz and I can feel myself wasting away from any number of terrible illnesses. {"why yes, Dr. O, I do have all 3 warning signs!!"}But in my defense, I've had some really random health issues that are pretty serious mixed in with lots of It's-absolutely-nothing-here's-your-$200-bill-thanks-for-coming. If I win the lottery tomorrow and didn't have to worry about medical expenses from my crummy insurance, the first thing I would do is line up a slew of appointments and blood-workings and smears and scans and have every inch of me checked out. It would be more exciting than planning a trip to belize.  But I did just win the lottery so obviously i would then actually go to belize. {"is there a higher sun index there?? is spf 120 good enough?? did i remember to get that mole checked out!?!"}

-I have lots of friends who home-school their kids. I'm both proud of their commitment and dedication and also deeply mystified by their desire to be with their children every. second. of. the. day.
yes, I will shed some tears when Charlotte trots off to kindergarten. but then I will send up deep prayers of thanks to God that I made it through 5 years of her life with both of us alive,  and {mostly} unmedicated, and breathe a huge sigh of relief. and go back inside to be with Juliette who would then be the same insanely, mind numbingly difficult age that Charlotte is right now. {do my glands look swollen??}

-my husband is wonderful. so patient. good lord, the man is patient. i don't think i've ever sung his praises here and it is about time i did. he's my tall glass of diet coke on a hot summer day and i'm thankful he picked me.

Cheapies :)

Finds under $50...spring clothes by briannaroberts

Time Out with Charlotte {this is bound to be a repeating series}

Time Out #234

Me: Charlotte, we do not hit our sister with toys.
2 minutes later....
Me again: Charlotte, we also do not hurt other people with our hands.
2 minutes later...
Still me: Charlotte Jane, if you touch your sister one more time you are going to time out!
30 seconds later...
Me: That is it! Time out! We do not hurt others with our feet, hands, or objects, do you understand those rules?

Charlotte:  FINE! THEN I WILL HURT.  YOUR.  FEELINGS!!!

Glad Tidings

In three days at this exact time we'll be getting off a plane and being swooped up by family from the north.
It's my husband's first flight with both girls. I had the pleasure of flying with both of them cross country this past summer. Don't expect to make friends, I say as I prepare him. Just be as quiet as possible, and keep shooting silent, pained looks to those around you and try to make your eyeballs convey a sense of both deep apology and Christmas spirit.

I'm excited about visiting family, and taking advantage of free babysitting(!) so Wes and I can take a few quiet moments to drive around our old stomping ground...the place where we spent our first years as a married couple...to try and remember what exactly we did with all our free time before we had the girls???

I always think it's funny when people without kids bemoan their lack of "free time". If you have no children, all your time is free time. I don't care if you work 80 hours a week and haven't been on vacation since 1987. If
 you're able to go to the bathroom alone, sleep through the night in a bed without goldfish crumbs, drive in your car with whatever music you feel like having on {or better yet..none!},  then you are free baby, free as a bird! If you don't believe me, {or *worse*, tell me that you have pets so it's really like the same as having kids}, your time will come. And if you don't plan on having kids, you may come borrow mine so I can take a nap. Afterwards, you will drive away wallowing, simply wallowing I tell you, in all of your glorious free time.

Well that was a sidetrack-ish sort of tangent possibly spurned from sending someone to timeout 7 times today already. Anyway.

What I'm trying to get at is that while I am super excited to celebrate Christmas, to be with family, to make memories...I'm really looking forward to a new year.

A fresh start. A new beginning. A new calendar filled with tiny boxes waiting to be filled. Changes can be made anytime you get your backside out of the chair and just do it, but somehow a new year just gives me that extra push.

I want to be more intentional. With my time, with my words, with my actions...I want to spend more time playing with my kids, not just watching them play. I want to write letters to people. Real letters. With ink and stamps. I have a big design project starting the construction phase in January and I hope it's a push to even bigger things.

And I want to change this little piece of blogland too. I started it wanting to write about "lovely things, wife-ish things, and raising girls." Or at least that's what my header says. But I got really sucked down the rabbit hole of all the down right amazing blogs written by such talented women and moms, and I doubted my voice and stopped writing anything really worth reading. Just posting pretty pictures that you could go search out from somewhere else if you wanted to. So I'm going to change that. I know I don't have the time or skill to craft the words or take the beautiful photographs that some of my favorite blogs do.

But I am the only one who can take the pictures of my girls, and write the words of their story, of our days.

And that's what I want to go back and see that I've done in a year from now. That I've written things that matter to me and want to remember. Anything else is a waste of time. And time is a-flying people!

So Merry, Merriest of Christmases! And I'll see you in the 'twenty-twelve', friends :)

Tastes Orangey...Etsey favorite

I can't claim discovery of these beautiful paintings. The constant-finder-of-all-things-lovely, Erika, is the one who introduced me to this artist's beautiful work.

And it's too good not to share.

I am SO in love with Clare's work. They're so emotive and full of life. I'd love to have a whole gallery wall of them someday.
Would make a lovely last minute gift, any gift givers out there..hint wink hint :)

Hallway Organization...

Loving this simple and lovely hallway update from {The Yellow Cape Cod}, a new favorite read of mine.

The chalkboard is just a large piece of MDF covered in chalkboard paint {less than $15 total}

 

Definitely go visit Sarah at the Yellow Cape Cod...so many great spaces and ideas

Some Truth from G.P.

Sometimes she rubs me wrong with a teeeny bit of snootiness.
Other times she says stuff like this and I love her again.