The wall.

When we moved into this house a little over 2 years ago, we were disappointed to find that our large side-by-side fridge did not fit into the spot that had been built into our cabinets.  So we ended up putting it in the garage, making plans to buy a smaller fridge. 

Well, I went back and forth to the garage for about a year before we finally bought our new appliance.  You can really get used to just about anything.  I was so excited when our new fridge was delivered.  It slid right into place and was just what I wanted.

  I stood admiring it wondering how long it would take me to stop heading to the garage for food.  I stepped forward to open the doors and admire the inside.  The refrigerator side swung open perfectly, revealing the last time I would ever see the inside truly clean. 

 I pulled open the freezer door and stared in horror as the handle hit the wall behind it, leaving only a 6-inch gap to access the freezer space.  NOOOOOOOOO!  I cried.  I know it's silly, but I did.  I finally had my fridge but I had to turn things sideways and maneuver them around to get them into the freezer.  I know, me and my first-world problems.  But still, I was disappointed. 

Fast forward another year and bring in my sweet father-in-law, husband and brother-in-law.  Bless them for having the ability to fix things.  And bless them for letting a hormonal women have a say in how they fixed it.

This is Rod.  My father-in-law.  He was amazing and so sweet to come and help us.

We had a support beam problem that they had to figure out.  This was the first solution.

I kinda like the fridge here guys.  Easy access

This is the huddle.  They do tons of this.  They have to put their bald heads together and figure out a problem.   There's lots of talking and sometimes, laughing.  I love to see them like this.  

This was solution 2 which hormonal wife was so relived to see.  They cut away the angled piece and put a header in to take the weight.  So much better!

Here it is with the trim.  It is much more in line with the style of the rest of the house.  I am so happy with it!  Now, on to clean up the mess!

 Thanks to my sweet family for getting this done!  It still needs finishing and painting but mama is satisfied.

Mr. Frankenbaby.

Oh how someone should have warned me.  Boys + the ability to walk = injury.  WHY DIDN'T ANYONE WARN ME?  My sweet baby boy, just 2 weeks before his 2nd birthday, decided to do some redecorating in our living room.  Apparently the giant glass jar sitting on the top of the shelf, did not suit him .  He wanted it more at ground level.  So he yanked on the shelf and down the jar came.  The lid, which had a sharp rim, ricocheted off of his head leaving a giant gash.  If you have never experienced a head-wound, they bleed.  They bleed a lot.  I was questioning how such a little body could have so much blood in it.  I was also questioning how he was not passing out from losing said blood. 

Now I am not a laid-back person.  I tend to wig out when I stress.  But somehow, when it really counts, I can keep a cool head.  As I was trying to keep pressure on the head of my screaming and bleeding son, I was able to order my other kids into action to call my sister-in-law, find my purse and get their shoes on.  Jolie was a hero!  She wanted to freak out but kept herself calm so that she could call her Aunt Amanda to come and pick up her and her brothers.  She also sat beside him and kept pressure on the gusher as I drove to the clinic.  The boys were not concerned.  They were watching a movie and eating sunflower seeds as we drove.  About this time, Jolie couldn't keep her emotions in check anymore. 

She started yelling at the boys, "How can you watch a movie at a time like this?"

Then she would look at Levi and her little mouth would turn upside down and with tears in her eyes she would say, "I'm so sorry baby.  You poor thing.  Your going to be okay.  I love you.  I'm so sorry baby." 

Precious.  I love to see the tenderness of siblings.

After a traumatic trip to the hospital, my darling boy will now sport a cool scar for the rest of his life.  I am very thankful that his injury wasn't worse.  I could have been worse.  It could have damaged his eyes, it could have cut up his face, or it could have required plastic surgery to repair it.  Our heavenly Father was good to us and protected him.  He also saw fit to give us favor at the hospital.  We got there before it got busy, got back to a room quickly and were treated very well by the staff.  He even got some apple juice, animal crackers and about 5000 stickers.  Everyone wanted to give him stickers.  It was sweet.  Our Dr. was smart and quick.  He wore ear plugs during the suturing, which I found both funny and brilliant!  It would be difficult to tie a good stitch with a kid screaming in your ear.    

By the time we were discharged, Levi was himself again.  He had put up a good fight but didn't seem to care after it was all over.  Here is his new look... 

Oh my honey-baby.  I love your sweet eyes and your awesome scar!

 In other matters, before all of this occurred I was being a typical busy mom.  I was doing some house cleaning and working a bit in the yard.  It was very hot today.  I was sweaty and gross and wearing clothes that were meant to get dirty.  They were not going to town clothes.  But head wounds won't wait for mom to freshen up.  As a matter of fact, I left the house exactly as I was.  I am lucky I was wearing pants at the time.

After it was all over, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror.  I was frightened.  But I then I gained clarity as to why the ER waiting room got uncomfortably quiet when I walked through.  See below...

 

Note the hair.  Vintage crazy lady.  Disheveled, dirty and pulled back by my daughter's headband.
Next let your eyes fall to my shirt.  It's covered in blood spatter!  I look like I just committed a crime.
The face?  No, nothing abnormal there.  I just look confused and unaware on a regular basis. 
Crazy lady covered in blood.  I'm surprised I'm not a headline on this evening's news.

 

See, he's not too traumatized.  I took him to get some french fries for the drive home from the hospital.  After that, all was right with the world.  He was such a trooper!

Hey there buddy boy.  It's good to see you smiling.

Baby boy

You know when your child calls you and you walk towards them not knowing what you are about to find? That happened to me yesterday. Instead of finding my sweet baby innocently hiding from me, I found this...

Notice the mess.

Mama!  I can't help it!

I was hungry!

How else am I supposed to get a snack?

These are our little boys with their Papa Joe.

They love Papa Joe!  (Yep, that's Zaddok's picture face.)

The best invention ever!

So this weekend, I was pretty sure that the air conditioner had to be the best invention ever. Hey, it's true, absence makes the heart grow fonder. And I grew much fonder (what?) of my little frosty friend when he was broken this weekend. However, now that I am sitting in my nice cool house again, I am reflecting on one day last week when my friend Chris called me about some apples. She invited me to join her in picking apples to my heart's content. So we picked and I ended up with a giant basket full of tiny apples.



This sounded like such a good idea before I realized I would have to peel, core and slice all of those little boogers. Luckily, Chris (and our friend Sue)came to the rescue with this lovely little machine.



And to this machine I say...you are my knight in shining and sharp metal! Just look at the way you hold onto the apple.


And the genius way you peel the skin of the apple. You strip only the skin, not the flesh. I could never do such a good job on my own.



Then, as if it were butter, you begin to slice the apple.


See the delicate curl.


A beautiful coil of pie-ready fruit!


This is all that you leave behind. A useless core. (Useless to me, gold to my chickens!)


Apple-skinner-peeler-corer (there has to be a better name) I salute you. You made my life easier. And for that I thank you.

Many apple pie pictures to come!

(And if you think I might be a little obsessive about kitchen tools, you would be right!)

I'm done

Just so you know, I'm done living a lie. I am done pretending. I am done acting like everything is fine. It's not fine. But it's okay. I'm not talking about life, marriage or motherhood. I am talking about my home. Commercials always show the neatly dressed moms Swiffering immaculate homes and picking up modest amounts of dirt from under a couch in a formal living area. I don't think they make Swiffers big enough for our dirt.
Other commercials depict the prim and proper soccer moms with hands on hips shaking their heads at the group of grass-stained kids or the dog tracking mud onto the stark, white carpet. Are they kidding? I would turn into crazy, scary mom with eyes bulging and hair askew. I would yell at the kids or kick at the dog to get him out the door. Then I would fall into a blubbering mess whispering, "Why doesn't anyone listen? Doesn't anyone care about me?"
I've decided to break down the stereo-type. We stay-at-home moms aren't perfect or even half that most of the time. We are normal people who get overwhelmed and who just want peace in our homes. I want to stop the mad dash to try to make my house look presentable when the doorbell rings. Who cares if the UPS guy sees the pile of laundry on my couch. Is he going to think I am a bad person because I still have my jammies on at noon? Maybe. But I think it's because we as women have perpetuated the mad cycle of comparisons. It's time we let our true living situations shine through. We need to give each other the grace to be messy in the midst of our child-rearing.
I will start. I am ripping off the band-aid. Here are pictures of my house. these have not been altered. There has been no pre-cleaning to make my mess more acceptable. I want you all to see the realness and beauty (hmmmm)of my life.

Ready... Please don't judge me... I really love a clean organized home... forget it... here it goes...

Not too bad, right? Just some homeschool stuff.

This is my desk. This is my junk.

This is the sunroom/mudroom. It is always like this. It is a catch-all.

The guest bathroom. It is ready for someone to be grossed out in. And yes, there are probably underwear in there somewhere.

This might be just a little shameful. Yep, it's a lot shameful. Not because it is there but because it has been there for a week.

Here is the livingroom. We do most of our living here. It's always a mess. If you came in for the close-up you would see lots of particles on the carpet. Who can vacuum with all of that laundry there?

Antique shelf with pretties and a bunch of Wii paraphernalia. Nice.

Oh the joy of a flat surface near the primary exit. Just dump your things here. They will stay there FOREVER!


But you know what? I will not look back when my babies are grown and say, "I just didn't spend enough time with them." No way. I sit on the floor with my baby and play all day! We all do. We go outside. We ride bikes. We cook. And sometimes, we clean. I do love those days when it all comes together and my house looks like a dream. But they are few and it's okay. I would much rather be caught up in this...


Just check out the fangs. I love it!

I hope you have been encouraged and I hope some of you can let go a little. I hope some of you are like me. But even if you are not I pray that you are encouraged in the areas that you struggle. If you are one of those who don't struggle, please come to my house. I have a few problems we can work on together!

Company clean

Have you ever though, "Gee, I need to host a jewelry party"? I don't know what possessed me but I am sooooooo glad that I did! We had a blast. All of the cleaning and cooking and kicking my family out of the house was totally worth it. And after the fact, I have reconnected with friends, got some really sweet bling and my house is really company clean. You know company clean don't you? It's when you clean things that no one is going to look at because we women think that people (other women) are going to judge us if we have a cobweb in the corner of the attic closet or dirt under the mudroom rug. Crazy? Maybe. What is funny is that most everyone that came to the party has been to my house on a regular day and has seen how we really live. What made me think that my house had to be perfect for a group of my friends that know the truth about me? I am a closet slob. I really love to have a clean house but just can't seem to find it more important than the rest of life! So I will reside in my fairly clean house. And if some of you would please come and visit sometime so that I can get my house company clean a few times a year, that would be great. Thanks.

Here are some pics from my party!


That is Amanda. The most fab jewelry lady. And so sweet too!

This is the part where we eat.

This is the party's college beauty, Mandi!

Ms. Jaylene

Ms. Cathy

Ms. Manda

Ms. Jill

Ms. Michelle

Ms. Lindsey

Ms. Kate

Ms. Pammy

Ms. Rachel

Ms. Marlene

And finally...

So much laundry!!!!!!!!!

So from under a pile of laundry I write. At least it smells good and keeps me warm. There are worse things than having a huge pile of unfolded laundry slowly taking over the couch. Like discovering last minute that you forgot to get milk therefore could not make the cornbread to go with the beans. Yep, that was my doing. I discovered this as my husband called to say he would be very late getting home. So no hope for a run to the store. He suggested Schlotzsky's(because he is a doll and he loves me and he hates to see me cry.) I accepted. So much for nice cold-weather beans. We will have them tomorrow because I went to Braum's tonight for milk. And would't you know it, I found other things to buy! (I really wanted ice cream but thanks to P90X I have mucho motivation for not eating sweets. It's called PAIN! And I will not waste my physical suffering on goodies.) Braum's sells fancy cheeses. I got a Spanish sheep's milk cheese and a Havarti. I think I might try the Pioneer Woman's Fancy Mac this week.

Our day was a regular one. Oh, except for writing the biggest check I have ever written. We had to pay our property taxes, out of our own account. *Gulp!* It was sad. It doesn't seem as painful when it comes out of your escrow. But as we (the kids and I) went about running small errands this evening I realized how sick I was of being in the house. So I made a quick turn to the coffee shop for a dark roast (no cream or sugar like a real man!)and proceeded to drive around town with our minivan's DVD player on for the kids. The baby was quiet and I was happily sipping my coffee. I must thank coffee for making me a better mother. Okay...maybe not better...just more tolerable.
My daughter really broke my heart today. She has such a soft spot for animals. She saw the abused animal commercial on TV. You know the one with Sarah Mclachlan singing sadly in the background? That one. And that little dolly just started weeping. She couldn't stop. She then got her kitty shirt that has the word AMERICA on it. She took a marker and wrote above: Help the animals in...So now she has a homemade shirt that says Help the animals in America. And at the bottom it says PLEASE. So stinkin' cute. So for my daughter's sake, petition to have that awful commercial removed!!!! Just kidding, be kind to animals, or at least help the American ones.

Fancy Mac: