february happenings

I feel like I have just been barreling through life lately. When I try to drum up a mental picture of what I look like most of the time, it’s not with a calm, graceful confidence that I see myself taking on life. I see myself running Phoebe style trying to get from one point to the next. Work, Gym, Home, sleep, Store, Work, Home, sleep. Back and forth, wildly flailing from one thing to the next. The thing is I don’t feel bad about how my life is or like I am doing a bad job, like desperate that things are too busy or I’m missing out or whatever else you are supposed to feel as a working mom. I feel fulfilled and purposeful. I am good at my job. I am good at being a mom. Our home is not a health hazard. Everyone eats. Everyone is clean. I am pulling this off. Of course I have my moments of self doubt and sheer exhaustion, but for the most part I feel like I am kicking some boo-tay. As a result of all the general life dominating things have slowed down here on the blog, but seasons of life and it's just a phase and all that stuff people tell you when you realize there aren't enough hours in the day.

In case the blog world hasn’t thrown up enough hearts and pink and red your way to alert you to the impending holiday, tomorrow is Valentine’s day. While my home is not all decked out, I have tried to make some time to at least acknowledge the holiday. Maybe I’ll even pick up a card for Anderson on my way home from work. Romantic!

I made heart garlands – one for me and one for a friend. I kept the yellow one and sent away the pink one. The crochet pattern is from Heloise V, and I used this tutorial to walk me through how to make one. It was a fun, relaxing little project. 

I’ve also let Sawyer make some “Balentimes.” He is such a clever train obsessed child that he decorated his hearts with train tracks and more hearts glued onto the train tracks to make a heart train. Then I bought him some scissors at Micheal's and any civilized balentime making went down the drain. He has since shredded every piece of paper in sight to bits. 

I also pretended to be a fun mom and made Sawyer's valentines to take to school for his friends. Just search Pinterest for "heart crayons" and about 1,000 links pop up. I used cheap heart shaped ice trays from Target to make the crayons. I melted them at 185 degrees for about 10-13 minutes. You just kind of have to watch them and maybe use a toothpick now and then to push the half melted crayons down. I made a little card in PicMonkey, glue dotted the crayons to the cards, and wrapped them in little plastic bags in the hopes that these would actually make it home to the kids. We’ll see.

That’s all the crafty stuff I have been working on lately. We are in the middle of a sort of unplanned living room redecoration project. I bought a new couch and chairs and then decided that everything in the room has to change. That's how it works. 

We had the living room repainted a light grey color and since I am going to for a more modern, clean look, I also decided the chair rail has to come down. I’m not a fan of chair rails and they are especially unnecessary in the living room. I removed one section and am sort of dreading all the sanding, spackling, and repainting I will have to do to be chair rail free. I considered hiring someone but 1.) I don't even know what to search for to find someone. Chair rail remover? and 2.) I'm a control freak and I don't want anyone but me making a mess of my house. So. It's up to me to get it done.  

After we are chair rail-less I want to build a full wall shelving unit because I am nothing if not crazy/ambitious/unrealistic about my time. I’m hoping to have this done by May, so we’ll see. I’m even considering taking a couple of days off work just to get it all done while Sawyer is in school. 

I also have my big cross stitch project to share but I haven’t been able to get any good pictures. Coming soon, I promise. It looks so good hanging in our living room, especially since we have literally nothing else on the walls, missing chair rails, mismatched furniture and no curtains. It's the highlight of the room!

That’s all the crazy happening here.  I’m feeling busy and blessed and hopeful. It’s a good way to feel. 

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