Armor

Being a mom, wife, woman, daughter, human is amazing and full of wonder. But it is also hard, challenging, draining, and repetitive. I can't be the only one who finds figuring out what to make for breakfast lunch and dinner over and over again overwhelming at times. It has to be nutritious, taste good, something all 3 of want to eat not the same every day, etc. Sometimes I just open up the fridge and stare blankly for 5 minutes before closing it still having no idea what I'm going to do.
There's laundry, dishes, cleaning, endlessly childproofing since my kid is growing everyday.

To be honest sometimes its just too much. I wonder if I'm strong enough, good enough, doing the right things, do I even know what the right things are.

I pray, I listen for answers (or try, the listening part is not my strong suit). I reflect.


But I have my armor. I know I know we aren't supposed to be caught up in clothes or appearance, but taking time each morning to purposely think about what I'm going to wear, how the clothes make me feel, taking the time to "dress" really helps me. I try to dress "strong". I put things on that make me feel like I can conquer the world. I guess its sorta like dressing for the job you want not the job you have. I want to be strong, handle what ever comes my way, super woman and dressing that part helps me achieve that goal. Albeit more successfully on some days than on others. But hey at least it works for me on most days.

smile smile smile

Another beautiful day in our fabulous new neighborhood! I just smile being around here.
The unpacking is coming along. Some days I have more energy than others.
Today is a good day. I feel peppy and spunky and full of vim and vigor. The J man and I have already run a good amount of errands and since he doesn't seem to be in a "nap place" today I think we may go out and run some more.

Oh and in the insane kid info category: I measured J's feet 2 weeks ago to buy him a pair of sneakers. He was a 6. Tried on a few pairs. Bought a neato pair and away we went. Tried to put them on him over the weekend and they were too small. Went today and measured his feet again...............8. Tried on 8's and they fit like a charm. Is it possible that my kids feet grew 2 sizes in 2 weeks?????

Is it fall yet?

This is going to sound crazy coming from me but................I CAN'T WAIT TILL FALL. I know I know usually I start the count down to summer the moment the temp hits 65 but not this yr.

This summer has flown by. We moved mom twice, thats right twice. We moved once.
P taught summer school
For the first time we didn't take our annual summer road trip.
Maybe its a combination of those things maybe its none of them.

I also think the summer went so fast because it was so insanely hot. Usually we are outside for the summer. Hiking, playing, enjoying. But this summer we spent most of the time (when we weren't moving) sitting in front of fans hiding from the blazing sun.

It was just so contrary to our normal seasonal activity. I'm a hot weather lover. Give me a pair of shorts, a tank top and my birkenstocks and I'm a happy girl. I dream about my summer uniform all winter long.

But now I can't wait till jeans, sweaters, and wooly socks. I'm even taking a sock knitting class to get prepared!!

And let me say that a girl who lives in a super drafty and poorly insulated house from 1840 should not be looking forward to cold weather. Peter and I have spent hours talking about hanging curtains from doorways and putting plastic on windows to try and make it somewhat warmer in here in the winter.
You know it's going to be rough when all your neighbors say things like "good luck in the winter in that house".
But it just makes me want to knit yummy sweaters and blankets and cozy up with my guys.

Last night I dreamed that I could crochet. Maybe its time I learned?

Even though its going to be cold I love our house. We are still surrounded by boxes but its so nice to be in this space. I just feel much more positive here.
I'm happy.

help I'm lost in a sea of boxes!!

Hello Hello Hello.

Here we go....................

Moved in a week ago.

This is going slow.

The boxes seem to be multiplying like gremlins if you feed them way too late.

Ok enough of that.

Here's the scoop. We moved in thanks once again to our amazing fabulous and wonderful friends and family. We realize that it is completely rude to have a 200 LBS tv when you move as much as we do. Negotiations are going on about getting rid of it.

The house has no built in storage, ie no kitchen cabinets to speak of so we bought some "put together yourself" things to hold all our kitchen stuff. And in case you couldn't guess a pasty chef has A LOT of kitchen stuff!!

Jonah's play room is done. Its the only room that's done but hey its better than having no rooms done.

Next on the agenda is the kitchen.

Basically I'm overwhelmed, exhausted, and ready to be done. But I'm sure most of the world feels the same way. It's time to stand up straight, center myself, and plow through.

It will get done. A little at a time. The key is finding a balance between playing with my amazing kid, hanging out with my super duper husband, and finding some time for myself while getting the rest of it done.

my day so far

arrived home last night at 8. bleary eyed and wanting bed. jonah had other plans and wanted to stay up till 10 playing with all the toys he'd missed while being at bubbe's. in our exhaustion we left the lights in the uhaul on all night. peter just went door to door asking neighbors if anyone has jumper cables. no luck. Oh did i mention there is a serious thunderstorm going on at the moment!!!!!

The movers are coming at 10 to our other, in the process of moving into, house to unload the uhaul. peter is going to walmart to buy cables. I'm falling asleep while playing with my kid. my mother in law is arriving momentarily to play with j while we deal with movers and unpack. of course he's getting a new tooth as this all is happening because teeth only enter his mouth when 50340809 other things are going on.

making a big pot of coffee and wishing I could get a shower but thats not in the cards for today.

so i'm a dirty, tired, not in the mood lady at 8:05 am. it can only get better from here!!

I love a farm auction!!

All I can say is GO TO THE CUMPTON FURNITURE AUCTION!!!!!!

It was amazing on so many levels. The characters, the barn, the furniture. It was all worth seeing.

First off: we bought 9 lamps for $55. 2 from the 30's that have to be rewired, 2 from the '50's, and the rest from the 60's and 70's. And I love love love them. Then there were 4 not so great paintings in great frames for $10. So a totally successful shopping experience. I'll post pics soon.

Aside from that i wish I had brought a camera to capture the craziness. I would absolutely go again just not on a 95 deg day.

I'm fighting a summer head cold. I'm really anti summer colds. It always seems so wrong to have a cold when its 100 outside.

We were supposed to go to Peter's parents house today and get our stuff out of their attic, since we'll have a ton of storage space now. We put our stuff in there 3 yrs ago before we went to Hawaii. I'm not even sure whats in those boxes any more. But I'll find out soon enough.

I was way to sick and in need of a good day of rest in bed so P took J to his parents to get the stuff while I slept the day away. I've never been away from Jonah for this long and I miss him like crazy.

Re Re Re

We are moving again. and believe me when I say that I am ecstatic that we actually found a place to move to.

Its the big huge monster house. And instead of being terrified of the fact that we are moving into such a behemoth I am choosing to be excited that we will have space. Jonah will have a big ol' play room, Peter will have an office to do his school work in and a separate music/art room, I will have an art room, after all those rooms we still have guest rooms, so please come visit. you get the picture right.............its big!!

And due to the mold incident of this past winter we have no furniture, or much of anything else. Our current place was furnished so we are starting from square one, sort of. My mom thankfully has furniture that doesn't fit into her current place so we get that. and we actually bought our first piece of new furniture either together or separately. I normally love the fact that we buy used but this time around we decided to buy a comfy couch. Our last 3 used couches have been so uncomfortable that we decided to go for it!! but we still need stuff like dressers, end tables, lamps, book cases etc. We are supposed to be going to a big furniture flea market toady but it starts in 10 min and both my boys are down for naps and I'm blogging so we'll see what time we actually get there. Its only on Wednesdays and to be honest I've been wanting to go ever since i've heard about it and now I finally have a reason.
We did get stuff at yard sales last weekend, coffee tables, an end table, etc that all needs to be repainted. Yay!! break out the sander and spray paint!!!PROJECT!!!
I've already started to think about the most amazing shade of blue for one of the tables and yellow, not sure what shade pale I think, for the other.

I want to buy book cases but since all of our books are in the dump covered in mold it seems a little depressing to have empty book cases even though I know we'll fill them eventually.

When we moved into this place we were in shock after having all our stuff hauled away, and to the dump no less. We people we buy used, repurpose, recycle, etc had to actually throw out our perfectly good stuff into a landfill. It was painful on so many levels.

This house was furnished, horribly so but furnished none the less. There was a bed we could sleep on and a table we could eat at. The couch and chairs are actually wooden benches, very uncomfortable. So uncomfortable in fact that we brought the 3rd row of seats from our minivan in the house to use as a couch instead.
I knew we were only staying here for a few months so unpacking the few remaining things that we had seemed pointless. And to be fare I just didn't have it in me. We have clothes, dishes, J has his toys. But I just couldn't put the effort into making this place our home.

But this next house that we are moving into in a week and a half well i have big plans for you house so get ready. I am determined to make it OUR HOUSE. Who knows how long we will be living there. We usually move every yr sadly sometimes its more but every yr is our average. But for the yr that we are living there, (please let it be at least a yr) I want it to feel like home. I want to walk in the door and feel like we belong, its our space not some temporary lodging.

So yard sales and thrift stores watch out! I'm a woman on a mission. I will find cute beat up cheap stuff and do what has to be done to restore, refit, and repurpose, what you have so that we, Jonah Peter and Bonnie, will have a comfortable place to be at peace. loving each other, playing with each other, and spending time together.