Operation Spring Cleaning

It's been a long winter. I've waited to pull down the plastic that adds an extra barrior between the cold outside and the walls within our home.  And even though it snowed on the first day of Spring, I'm ready to welcome it anyway.

My grandfather used to say that those few inches of snow in the spring were the "oinion snow" and that was good for blessing gardens. I hope he's right.

With spring also comes a long awaited goal for our family.

We've outgrown our home.

Over the years, our children have grown, my business has grown, and now Chad works from home. We've used up all the nooks and cranes of this house for desks, craft tables, and a growing family.
We knew we wouldn't stay in this house forever. It had been the best of the worst houses we'd seen those many years ago. We called it our "seven year" house.

It's been seven years.

While this home has served us well, holds memories for our family, it's time for us to move on to another stage in our life - including the upcoming teenage years of our children.

Thus begins Operation Spring Clean.

As I'm cleaning and decluttering a real estate agent is getting the sign ready and the paperwork prepared to list our home, while another agent searches for a home that will suit our families new needs.

I'm hoping for a new studio area, even one that opens my business up to more walk in communication with my customers. I've even graciously offered to share with Chad if need be so we can work together during the day.  I know, I'm such a giving wife.

I don't know where our next home will be, but I pray it is closer to our family - shortening the mileage and travel time we endure each year to stay connected with them - and I pray that a new family falls in love with our current home and is blessed by it as much as it has for us.

Today's mission to kick off Operation Spring Cleaning is three things:

1. Call a contractor to fix basement windows (the winter was not kind to them and we'd fix them anyway.)
2. Tackle Chad's office by decluttering the crates of text books and papers that have gotten strown all around over the winter.
3. Find the kid's easter baskets and prepare for the upcoming holiday.

I think three goals for today are enough.

Are you looking forward to this new season of spring?

If you would be so kind as to keep our family in your prayers through this transition, it is much appreciated,and if there is anyway I can be praying for you - please don't hesitate to let me know in the comment section below or email me.

Sunday Share

This Jones Design Company print is one of my favorite pins this week on Pintrest. I have got two old black frames and now I know what to do with them and where to put them. This bible verse that is printed across the chair is one that our family lives by. "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord".

My dream desk. For these sluggish cold days when you don't want to leave the house. Goes back to Mr Chad and I trying to get the health kick going in the house. Too bad sports and exercise companies don't give out free samples of treadmills. I'd totally try this one out and give it a review. Perhaps someday, It's on the got to save up for it list.

I have got to find the tutorial to make these. I miss my Chick and Hen plants from our old home near Morgantown, WV. My Home Sweet Home shared this idea, and I had to pin it!



Something caught your eye this week or have hold of your heart? I'd love to see it or read about it, please share the link or your thoughts below in the comments section.

Getting Crabby Around Here

Meet Bill and George.

They are our new resident hermit crabs. I suppose that officially makes them part of the family now.

Boy is so thrilled to have his very own pets. He has read, re-read, and re-read again the care instructions that the college aged girl gave him at Pet Smart.

George is actually kind of shy. Bill, on the other hand, has no problem coming out of his shell. He has already tried out his pinchers on Bug's little finger. He was very lucky she dropped him on a soft surface and didn't toss him after he hurt her.

Boy claims that they're not just ordinary hermit crabs. Nope, they're secret agent hermit crabs. Why else would they only come out at night and stay hidden during the day? When they're not planning they're next mission inside the coco hut, they're hanging from a branch on a tree in their crab habitat that Boy created for them.

He made them their very own special food box using his legos. You can kinda see the corner of it in the photo. I'll have more photos to share shortly. Boy's been planning on video taping them at night since he never sees them out of their shell during the day.

And no, hermit crabs are not really hermits. They actually don't like to be alone, and they do much better when they have a friend or two to room with.

Perhaps that is why Boy choose these crabby critters for room mates. Being the only male sibling, you'd think he'd love it having a room to himself, but he was lonely and now he has crabby friends to keep him company.

His and Her Lunch Boxes

Last weekend, while I was out doing my grocery shopping, I ran across these cute little lunch boxes by Sistma. Being the thrifty and frugal wife that I am, I do most of my shopping at our local Aldi's. They only had these two lunch boxes left.

What luck! One pink and one green. Definitely his and her lunch boxes.

Mr. Chad and I have been trying to be a little more healthy with our food choices, especially now that we are both "packers" in the opinion of the kiddos. There are three compartments. One large compartment for a sandwich  or in our case a salad, and two smaller compartments for some cut up fruit, chips, or sandwich wraps.

And look, the pink on my lunch box matches the pink lunch bag that Bug loaned me when I went to work full-time. I admit, we got it at a church rummage sale and she thought it was a purse for her toys, then we got it home and it was a lunch bag. So she said, "Here Momma, you can take your lunch to work in style."

Wasn't that so thoughtful?

Now, to find a bunch of lunch recipes and snacks for packing inside our his and her lunch boxes.

Mr. Chad loved the idea, now he always knows which lunch is his to take from the refrigerator. :)

Destressing Your Holidays

This comes from one of my recent ezinearticles that I thought I would share with you. After all, tis the season...

As the countdown to the holidays grows shorter and shorter, the burdens of your to-do list grow larger and larger. There are cookies to bake, gifts to buy, cards to mail, home décor and house cleaning to complete.


Sound familiar?

Sound like too much?

Like every good coach will tell you, you’ve got to have a game plan. The holiday season is no different. Just look upon Christmas day as “game day”-- no television required.

The key to de-stressing your holidays is not allowing your holidays to become more of a burden then a joy.

If you’re planning a large family gathering, ask everyone to help out. Each member of the family can bring a covered dish for dinner, leaving you only to prepare the main dish.

Ask family members living nearby to come over a few days early to help clean and decorate the house, and exchange the same for them.

When you know family members are going out shopping, ask them to pick up items for you.

Send your husband and kids out for supper and a movie, while you and your friends have a gift wrapping party. Also, many small shops now offer gift wrapping services, as do local church organizations and children’s clubs like Girl Scouts.

Feel overwhelmed when it comes to baking? Join a cookie exchange where you only have to make one kind of cookie. This way, on Christmas day you’ll have a variety without all the work of changing recipes. Don’t bake? It’s okay to skip the oven sweat and pick up a variety cookie tray at your local bakery.

Do gift exchanges freak you out? You just never know what to buy the family member whose name you got stuck with? Why not suggest a Yankee Swap this year? Old gifts that you got and never used, or new ones you picked up on the fly… your family will have plenty of fun discovering what’s inside while they swap and laugh till the end.

Skip the handwritten addresses this year for your Christmas card list and create one through your word processing software. Print them out on standard mailing labels and save half the time of processing your Christmas cards. Each year, you can pull up the file and update the addresses in just a few minutes.

Is it your wallet pressing the most weight on you this holiday season? Sometimes the most cherished gifts are those that cost very little to nothing to give. Written sentiments, a handmade item, a promise of service (like shoveling the snow from the driveway, or walking the dog), or traveling to see someone can rank as the best gifts of all.

Before you let the holidays stress you, create a plan to lighten the burdens and bask in the joy of the season.

What Do The Holidays Mean To You?

One of the fondness memories I have about the holidays, especially on Thanksgiving, is the smell of fresh baked pies and family gathered in one place.

On the morning of Thanksgiving, my siblings and I would gather around, one pie. Yep, one yummy pumpkin pie that my mother would slice and service with a cup of tea. While we indulged upon this holiday treat, my mother was given the peace she needed to finish preparations for the feast we'd have later that day.

This may not be the norm for many other families. Some family have to travel from a afar to a meeting place, thankful to share just a few hours or a few days in each other company. While other families must remain a part during this family themed day, but not forgotten and thought of often.

For some, a few in the vast majority of the world, the holidays are just another day, a lonely day, a day not worth celebrating. They can't find what the big deal is about everyone crowded into one house, one room, or around one table.

Those are the ones we must embrace and yank into the circle of Thanksgiving.

There are many meanings of the word Thanksgiving, many different traditions followed during the holiday season, and many memories created.

What is that one special memory to you? What do the holidays mean and how does your family celebrate them?

Memories in a Box - Family

Family is one of the most important bonds we'll ever have with one another, that's why I created this "Family" themed Memory Box for my sister a few months ago as a gift.

When you first open the box, there are four cards in pockets. Each card provides a great place to write a note of encouragement, place a photo, or when I gave it to my sister, I placed gift cards to her favorite places to go out to eat for lunch.

The black, burgandy, and white of this box is very formal and elegant. 

For my sister, it was ment to sit on her desk where she works and be a constant reminder that she is loved, and on days that seem to be rough and not going the way she'd hoped - she can open this box filled with family and lift up her spirits.

I have to say, this is probably one of my favorite Memories in a Box. :)

Memory Box Lane - Formal Tradition Memory Box Album

Tradition has many meanings for people.

According to Webster, Tradition is story or a body of beliefs relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable.

As individuals and familes we adapt, create, and maintain traditions throughout our lives. While these traditions exist, they also leave lasting impressions on us, called memories.

We box up alot of things to move, store, and cherish.  Memories are no different. Along with traditions, we can box up mementos, photos, and write down memories of participating, creating, and valueing traditions.

This 4x4 memory box is perfect for storing and capturing that family tradition and sharing it in the years to come with family and freinds.

With the formal appearance of a black tie affair, this family tradition memory box album is perfect for holding those photos and mementos you hold dear.  This memory box contains twelve pages, 4- 4"x4", 4- 3.5"x3.5", and 4-3.25"x3.25"

Can you think of those family gatherings and family traditions that you could put inside one of these little boxes?

I admit, while creating this box, I thought about the weddings, receiptions, birthday parties, and more formal events that don't happen as often, but remembered more.

Formal Tradition Memory Boxes make great gifts and can be a wonderful conversation piece in any room of your house. Not to mention bridesmaid, groomsmen, and party gifts.  Sit one in the middle of a table at a prom or dinner party and marvel at your guests reaction.

You never know, you may find yourself taking the lid off and opening a lane of memories and making a new tradition of your own!

Journaling Idea #1 - Write a Letter Every Year to Your Child

There are so many things you can do with a journal in order to fill in the blank pages and make it personal.

A long time ago, after the birth of my first child, I was given an idea by a fellow mom. Every year on the child's birthday, that mom would sit down and write her child a letter. I asked this mom if she minded that I used her idea for my own child, and she didn't mind at all.  She actually encouraged me to start this habit and to pass it on to others.

She went on to say, "What better keepsake and memories could you pass on to your child than the recount of what happened each year of their life in their mother's handwriting."

I admit, I love writing, so jotting down a letter was easy for me, however keeping track of those letters was much harder. So, instead of individual letters, I began a journal for each child as they came along in our lives.

Each year, I write a letter to my child, and addressing with "Dear ________,".  I tell them the hardships, the difficulties, and struggles we went through together during this phase of their life.  Then I tell them the praises, the joys, and the amazements that they brought to my life. Since someday, these letters will be sort of historical, I might mention a presidental election, what they're and my favorite song was, and other favorite things about that time in their life.

At the end of the letter, in closing, I remind them how special they are, how much I love them (even on the days where faustration may have set in, that love is still there), and I try to include one picture of the two of us, or our family together on the child's birthday.

One day, when your child has reached an age or stage in their life that you feel they are ready to move away, you can pass on this journal of letters. And if they so choose, the unfinished pages of your child's journal can one day be fill with letters to your grandchildren.

What a wonderful family heirloom it would become, don't you think?

Trip Around the Kitchen

One of the best things I love about family gatherings is the ability to take anything from the kitchen and prepare a feast for any number of people who have come in one house to be together and socialize .

The day after Thanksgiving is filled with long hours of traffic, crowds, shopping malls, and discount outlet stores. Yet, when the day is all over, everyone gets back together for a trip around the kitchen.

The evening is spent with women talking about bargains from stores, the men playing Euchre, and the children playing. The hours fly by, and before everyone knows it - it's time to leave and go back home.

I'm told this tradition, of my husband's family, began one evening when people were spread out into different groups, playing cards, socializing, and teenagers where hanging out in the kitchen wanting some snacks.

So my husband pulled left overs from the refrigerator, cheeses, meats, snacks from the cupboard like Frito's, pretzels, and crackers, and fruits from the counter. This was put together on plates, bowls, and platters on the kitchen counter. It has ever since become known as "Trip Around the Kitchen".

What do you have in your kitchen who is coming over?

What traditions will your family uphold this holiday season?

Sock Goblin

Around Halloween it comes as no surprise to see ghost, ghouls, and goblins out and about.

Yesterday, I participated in a fun filled morning with my children at preschool. One of the games we played was "Guess the Goblin". A child would hide under a black sheet and another child would go out of the room, then come back to guess which child was the goblin hiding under the sheet. This went on for a good hour, filled with laughs and guesses, until all the children had taken a turn.

Coming home, my little goblins and I went about doing our afternoon chore - the laundry. Sometime in the midst of when my children's socks were on their feet to the time they went through the laundry, a few were missing.

So, we blamed it on the Sock Goblin.

Who knows, maybe you have a Sock Goblin in your house too. How else can we explain why at the end of doing the household laundry that socks are left without matches? My preschooler has decided that the Sock Goblin eats socks, while my other children feel the Goblin simply wears the socks and we get missing socks when the Goblin needs a new outfit.

Whatever the explanation, all I know is I've got a growing accumulations of mismatched socks. So, why doesn't the Sock Goblin take them instead of those which already have a mate?

Good question. One I'm sure my children would be happy to elaborate on during dinner when we often have discussion such as this. I'm sure, they will have a good explaination for it when I ask them tonight.

What kind of Goblins do you have in your house this Halloween?

Organizing Itch

The two things I love most - besides my family - is sewing and writing. Lately, however, I've had the organzing itch.

Whether your a mom with three kids, like me, or just have a hetic schedule in general, it pays to be organized.

Today, I organzied my kitchen. I got rid of the piles of completed school work from my oldest that had started to tilt off the water cooler and threaten to spill across the floor. I sorted them into piles of keep and toss. The toss pile went straight into the garbage. The keep pile, I sorted again. I put things in order ofwhere they needed to go and filed them.

Then I moved on to my cupboards. I'm quite proud, I arranged my pantry and set up my lazy susan in an order where things were easy to find, even for my youngest, who will most likely mess up my organized lazy susan before supper time tomorrow.

What didn't need to be on my countertop I put away. If it didn't have a place I made one for it repectfull of how often I use it. Most things just went into the laundry room cupboard.

When I was finished I wiped my kitchen down. I didn't scrub, but wiped it down. It took less than an hour.

Tomorrow, I'm up for organizing my office. I have piles of writings that need files and put in some order that I can find them as I proceed from project to project. It would be nice to have everything pertaining to one manuscript, planner, or journal in a binder of file rather than the piles on the floor and over my desk.

I'll let you know howit turns out. Baby steps, but I may just find I have more time for the things I love- like family, writing, and sewing if I could find what I'm looking for rather than swiming in the footnotes with my kids searching for a quote.