World's lies

"still there." I want to instead plunge right in with an epiphany of late. You see, I had fallen for the lies of magazine publishing. Silly as it is, I really sort of subconsciously believed for a while that if I could only get my house clean, pictures hung, and things somewhat decorated I would be like those women in the house magazines who stand in their kitchens next to bowls of fruit and fresh cut flowers from their cutting garden and smile adoringly at little children who are eating fresh baked cookies. Of course I would be wearing capris, clogs and perfect hair.

At the very least, I thought that once my house was cleaned (all at the same time), I could at least do other things and have it stay that way. O, futility! Sometimes when I'm done with a cleaning spree, I sit down or sprawl on the couch/bed and just enjoy the wonder of it all. But then I look and see something out of place and I think: "that little mess is okay, it keeps my house from being too clean, too staged." So, I leave it and next thing you know the whole house has gone to pot; much like the wisteria behind our house. And a cutting garden--ha!

Perhaps one day when my children are older (and there are less interruptions), I'll conquer my own lazy personality and have a house that stays neater. I'm sure it can be done now--but it's so stinking hard! Honestly, although I can't stand nastiness, I often would rather do other things than tackle housework and messes. Or, providence will throw a curve ball and everything gets crazy. Or, just as soon as I get started on things, someone needs to eat, be changed, be loved on, read to, disciplined--and that's okay. These days are short and littles ones are more important than pristine housekeeping. And when Tuan comes home and wants to hang out, who could say no to that?!

So, heres my plan: Quiet time, husband, children, people first. Laundry and camp, next, Housework later--although it must be done. Someday down the road, I'll have household help (in the form of paid legals and children) and of course make some forward progress in discipline. Then, I will stand in the kitchen of my clean, sparkling house with flowers from my cutting garden, fresh baked goods out, an in-progress watercolor of Tuscany nearby (because isn't that what all watercolors should be of?) and small children wearing smocked garments will be next to me. Then, I will smile and wake up.

I have to go. Johnny is using the tub-cleaning sponge to clean his hair and licking the shower curtai

writer's strike

I am on a bit of a hiatus from blogging. I have lots to write about, but my beloved Granny passed away last week. Between grieving, visiting with family and in general catching up from a week of no housework, I am lacking in time. I shall return sometime soon.

Stuff White People Like

Stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com is a funny blog I discovered. (I can't figure out how to link it). Here are two of my favorite quotes:

White people like bicycles: "But there is a special category of bicycles that appeal far more to white women, the European city bike (pictured). White women have a lot of fantasies about idealized lives, and one of them is living in Europe and riding around an old city on one of these bikes. They dream about waking up and riding to a little cafe, then visiting bakeries and cheese shops and finally riding home to prepare a fancy meal for their friends who will all eat under a canopy with white Christmas lights. This information can be used to help gain the trust/admiration of a white woman, especially if you can pull off a lie about how your mother told you about how she used to do all of these things when she was younger."

"White people are under a lot of pressure to like cooking. Everything in their culture tells them that they need to have a nice kitchen and that they need to cook with organic, fresh ingredients to make delicious, complicated food. . . ut, in order for them to truly enter into whitedom, they need to own the holy grail of white kitchens - the kitchen aid stand mixer (right). They will match this mixer to their kitchen’s color scheme and it will make up the focal point. And much like many religious artifacts, it will remain untouched for months and even years, sitting on the counter to be admired as a testament to their lifestyle . . .If you find yourself in a conversation about these things, a good way to say a little but mean a lot is to mention that you “find the consumer models to be poorly built, my friend, a chef, brings me with him to a restaurant supply shop that’s not open to the public. The stuff there is real quality, it’s where I get all of my pans.”
If this is too big of a risk, you should just throw out a combination of these words: “le Creuset, Calphalon, All Clad, Williams Sonoma, and Sur Le Table.” White people go so nuts when they hear these words, you won’t even have to finish your sentence."

Let me know what y'all think! We've been cracking up over this.

Lake House Therapy

Lately, I've been really inspired to re-arrange--mostly because I have space to move furniture around (although I wasn't wholly stopped by that in the old house, it's much easier now). Johnny likes to follow suit--he's always moving his and Aubrey's beds. Lately, House Beautiful, Apartment Therapy and Caroline have been inspiring me. I tackled the "nursery" on Friday and our bedroom on Saturday. It was satisfying and oh, so fun. Re-arranging our bedroom gave me a chance to do some deep cleaning in there of renovation gunk. I posted the photos of the "afters" on Facebook; here's the public link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=19876&l=42384&id=508132545

I had a lot of fun writing the captions. If you think it's tacky to share what things cost, be prepared to be offended. I love bargains and think it's so fun to share them with others. On our budget, paying full-price is not an option, although I don't think I'd pay full price for anything if it was. Bargains are fun! Tomorrow, we are going to hang "drapes" in the LR in preparation for a properties committee tour.

A day in the life/Revised Expectations

1:30 am Wake up, feed Aubrey
2:00 am Back to bed
5:30 am Wake up, feed Aubrey, try to pray whilst doing so.
6:00 am Back to bed
9:00 am Wake up to vocal children; confused; realize that I overslept. Need to do four things at once, must prioritize. Fix milk for Johnny, bottle for Aubrey, eat a cracker smeared with peanut butter, drink a glass of water. Go into Johnny's room first (Aubrey's quiet). Johnny is standing naked in bed, diaper nowhere to be found, soaked mattress and a turd are to be found. Ugh.
9:10 am Adjust expectations, rearrange priorities. Johnny goes into the tub. Aubrey gets a bottle while I sit on the toilet and watch Johnny.
9:57 am Everyone is fed, diapered, I finish my breakfast and begin housework.
10:30 am Find Johnny putting dishes in toilet. Put Johnny in his room to play, realize filthy linens are still on bed. Stop housework to start laundry.
11:00 am Go into Johnny's room. Oops, I missed some turd. it is all over the floor. Johnny plays in his bed while I scrub the floor, following a trail of turds. Turd covered toys are deposited in bathroom. Johnny and I pick up toys and he goes down for a nap.
11:30 am Kitchen and living room are clean. Aubrey is ready to eat. Feed her, get laundry.
12:00 pm Tuan comes home for lunch. He fends for himself, while I read Valley of Vision, fold laundry and watch the rest of our Netflix.
1:45 pm Finish the bathroom, hallway, our bedroom, run the vacum, check Facebook.
2:00 pm My Grandmother, sister, nieces and nephew arrive! We play, go to the playground, watch a camp movie.
4:30 pm Guests depart, Johnny goes down for some quiet time; Aubrey sleeps. I lounge happily on bed and check e-mail, blogs, etc . . .
5:30 pm We all get up, get bottles/cups ready and head to supper
7:00 pm Home! Johnny and I read books together.
7:30 pm Johnny off to bed, Tuan and I watch online with Aubrey
10:21 pm I look at the time and wonder why I'm blogging when there is bed to be sought--oh, yes, Aubrey is due to eat NOW!
10: 25 pm Off to fix bottle.

God really gave a lot of grace today--I was somehow able to laugh through this mornings trail of turd.