Change and neatness

I am a person who enjoys change. The layout of furniture in every room of our house is rearranged at least every three weeks. One room in our house has been repurposed at least 5 times in the last 2 years. Each time requiring complete moves of furniture out of the room and into another. This little condition of mine is only exacerbated by the size of our domain. In small spaces every square inch has to be utilized. Sometimes when a category of items, or a person, becomes to large for the existing arrangement the space must be shifted to accommodate the growth. I have worked hard at purging and not allowing my things to grow in number as attachment to possessions can be very damaging to the soul.:) As of recently Landis was sleeping in his crib in our office/craftroom/storage room. I finally gave in and decided he needed to own the space. (At least for the next 3 months!) This has meant consolidating all craft and office items into the living room. We happen to have a lack of storage in this house (as Delta can attest to) and the storage items are creating the biggest issue. However, for those of you that know me you understand that I am taking much delight in the organizational problem solving. Another issue that arises from my blessed curse is the design of each room. I am learning to successfully paint each area to allow for change of occupancy. Although this weekend I am hoping to achieve a new hue in my room. (White is becoming increasingly difficult to tolerate.) This new color will mean a permanent residence of adults (or maybe an office) but will not be a scheme that a child could enjoy. The commitment of this is a new chapter in my life and in my home.

There are lots of transitions occurring right now. This probably stems from the availability of a little more time: post holiday, pre semester, Landis a bit more self entertaining and self sufficient, and Teilee back in preschool a few hours a week. Things that have been postponed for about 2 years (like organizing the file cabinet) are being completed hourly. Of course I know that it will be short lived as once I am back in school I will be swamped again, but just catching up a little on our house and home is awesome! Also it means that I won't have to apologize to the masses that will be visiting here in a few weeks, about the condition of the our home. Smallness I can't help, but neatness I can!!!

old post

I found a couple of old post and have no idea why I didn't post them. Check out Oct. 11th's and 19th's post and Dec. 21st's they are new/old.

Congratulations to Katie and Joe new members of the deuce club!

Nick is working some crazy hours! Last night I hadn't even gone to sleep when he had to get up to go to work. He also went to bed way too late last night, but hopefully next week he will be able to sleep a bit more!

Landis apparently wanted to follow in his fathers footsteps and barely sleep more than an hour at a time. Of course this means that I must nurse him constantly just to get my own sleep.

I used to always be a chronic night owl, now I am a fall asleep standing up kinda gal. Today I found myself wiping furiously at the apparent mascara rings under my eyes. Being frustratingly unsuccessful I realized that I had not worn mascara and those were indeed the dark non-sleeping circles that I have earned as a mother. These bruise colored crescents, that no amount of makeup can 'freshen up', scream "Tired Mom Here!". Although, they are not out of place on this tousled uncut hair, unbrushed teeth, unwashed clothes of a person that I am. They only add to the ensemble that declares my latest station in life. Once discovered though I only admire them with a perverse since of accomplishment. Like my stretchmarks, and my stretching breasts, I have earned these. My progress as a woman can be traced across my body like counting the rings of a tree. My still protruding belly indicating the rude way in which my son was taken from my being. My uneven breasts a symbol of my dedication to the nutrition of my offspring. These are my battle scars, my road map, my mark of motherhood of which I am proud to declare. In all its beauty this is me now.

I wrote this awhile ago. It is probably unfinished yet, but the inspiration has vanished and so I am posting it as is.

The past month or so I have been exhausted and run down. First I suspected that it was just post semester sleepiness. Then I thought it was weather inducing Fibro. Then I thought I better go see a doctor, I am barely functioning. Turns out I have a 'raging' sinus infection. Oh, that's what that pain was. I have learned to tune out my aches and pains so well. It is survival instinct and truly necessary or I would be bed ridden for sure. It does have its down sides as I have several times ignored a migraine until I was hunched over the toilet throwing up. I try to catch that one sooner now. Honestly when you have constant aches and pain it is hard to determine what is foreign and fixable, and what is normal. I should be recovered from this latest sinus infection and ready to bust a move soon.

My friend just told me about this home remedy to prevent and help recover from illness. Once a week you put a drop or two of warm garlic oil in your ears. If you are already sick you put a whole dropperful every hour for at least three hours in the ear. (Make sure to insulate properly with a cotton ball.) Last week Landis seemed to be on the road to another ear infection and so we did the full dropper treatment and it seemed to help. Needless to say I am smelling a lot like garlic this week!

Here are a few shots of some of the fun stuff I made for Christmas this year.

The hat in the picture with Landis. And yes...that is Landis' new red purse.

This is a pillow case I made for Teilee out of her old shirts (super fast and cheap!).

These are scarfs that I made for all the great kids we know and love!!->

These are some of the gift tags I made for Delta's tag swap.

Had to include a random pic of Teilee with Santa. This year we took her because she asked us to. (I have always found it wierd that we take our kids screaming and kicking to go sit on some strange mans lap. What happened to stranger danger?)

Happy New Year!

Loving the Christmas Music!

Gearing up for Christmas.....way behind in my gifts.....way behind in my school preparations......way behind in my 'home work'.........totally lost all of my to-dos.



I found out that I only need 2 more classes in order to obtain my second Associates degree from Front Range. Truly that is not my goal here at this school, but it will help to get all the classes I can at this cheaper rate before heading to CSU. Now I really have to get to work on getting to CSU. Lots of things to figure out like: How in the f*** can I do this? Holy cow, last semester was rough, and I have a lot more to go. I wish the kids were older, but if they were than I would wish that I had my degree already. I know why I choose to go back now, but man I just wish it would get easier.



I decided (Nick agrees) that next year we will celebrate the Winter Solstice instead of Christmas. Also this will mean that we can celebrate the Summer Solstice too!! All of my religious research has led to the same conclusion for me. Do what feels right!

The kids are sick again. Tonight Landis was having a hard time keeping his balance and I am concerned about the possibility of a serious ear infection again! Last week Landis had a quick trip to the ER concerning a subluxation of the radial head (or something like that). It is called 'nursemaids elbow' and basically consist of the joint in the elbow becoming dislodged from the ligament that holds it in place. That is my basic understanding, all I know is that when pulling big sisters hair, from the front of the shopping cart while she is in the back, make sure that she can't grab your arm and pull really hard!! I guess it is really common and also likely to occur again if we aren't super super careful. Baby acrobatics have been put on hold unless the child can be firmly gripped only by the torso! Scared the sh** out of me to see him in so much pain with a sorta limp arm. At least the ER visit lasted only an hour (gotta be a record). As soon as the doctor was able to finagle the joint ligament back into place (took two painful tries) Landis was better in about 30 secs (no meds). He went from crying and laying on my chest to wriggling to get out of my grip, running down the hall in his little hospital gown, and waving bye to everyone (with the injured arm).

All I want for Christmas/Solstice is two healthy kids! I can't wait to post pictures of all the cool gifts I have been able to make so far. I always have such big plans! Maybe this year I will be able to finish them, but if that is to happen I probably had better go get to work!!!

Thanksgiving...and some

Whew what a week! Happy turkey day everyone (or what I call a good excuse to pig out on lots of food). I find myself constantly struggling to define each holiday to Teilee. "What? Oh, well today we celebrate the coming together of the pilgrims and the native Americans at a gigantic feast. Well....actually the pilgrims invaded the native Americans homeland, stole their land, abolished their way of living, and brought them lots of disease and death. I don't know why? Because we get to remember why we are thankful. Well.....I guess that we are thankful that we have each other, and good friends, and good food. No, I suppose you are right, the native Americans probably weren't very thankful. What? Well if you are Bugantheist(Buddhist/Pagan/Atheist) like us we will celebrate the winter solstice which is the longest day of the year. If you are Christian than you celebrate Jesus' birth. Well...actually he wasn't born in December. I don't know, somebody wanted this time of year to be Christmas. The tree?....To us it is a celebration of nature. Well....a fat man dressed in red sneaks into your house while you are sleeping. He eats all of the baked goods that we made. No....don't cry. He leaves you presents. What? I don't know why. Because he wants to reward you for being good all year. Well......you don't always get gifts just because you are good. I don't know. What? We get to tell everyone we love that we care about them by buying them chocolate and making cards. Well....there was a man named St. Valentine........well....he invented the holiday. Yes...that's cupid. If he shoots you with one of his arrows you will fall in love. No...it doesn't hurt (at least not the arrow). I don't know....magic! What? Easter? Please don't ask why!"

So it is hard to be absolutely logical with a child and do I ever wish I could resort to "because God made it that way." My child is never satisfied until I can properly explain every aspect. Honestly, aren't alot of our holiday traditions completely skewed by commercialism. We give to many gifts, we eat too much food, we buy to many decorations. This year simplicity is my goal to be grateful, to be loving, to be giving from the heart (not the wallet).



So I meant to post this a long time age but time caught up with me quickly. We had a very scary night the weekend before Thanksgiving where Teilee woke up and was unable to breath. A bad case of Bronchitis coupled with her asthma and swollen tonsils made for a scary situation. Fortunately I remembered that cold air can help and was able to dash her out into the freezing night so she could get some shallow breaths. Our neighborhood nurse saint, aka Delta, arrived shortly after she resumed breathing to confirm that she was okay. It was a sleepless night as I slept in her bed with her and helped her to slow her breathing every time she woke. I have started looking into some breathing techniques that reteach you how to breath and are said to be able to help with asthma and other lung issues. You know......in my spare time:)

Thanksgiving week Landis, Teilee, and I were all ill and we continue to have symptoms! Maybe by Winter Solstice we will be all better!:)

I am wrapping up finals week. Already got an A on one and subsequently and A in the class and I have my Micro final tomorrow. I have yet to study, but am confident that I will do fine. Good luck to all you others in the deep trenches of homework, cramming, and test taking!!!! See you on the other side for relaxing, non-stressful Christmas!

Our Night

So Landis got his flu shot and he was the most well behaved of tots,

the woman stabbed him with the needle and he didn't even cough,

no sputter or snivel only a slightly angry glare,

came from his little face a small inclining of despair,

then on to laughing and playing a most happy child,

and we thought, "man, this whole ordeal was pretty mild".

Than came the evening when our little babe laid down to rest,

and it was evident that the shot had an effect to say the least.

The sleep we had that night was intermittent and greatly disturbed,

as he cried all night long, except for two hours, that little turd!

Yes we are pretty darn tired and I have much to do, today has begun fairly slowly but is sure to pick up pace quickly. Much homework to do, many projects, lots of unfun stuff. In the meantime enjoy these pictures from topless soccer day, fun in the tree, and Halloween!

Nick said, 'be stoic Teilee'.

If you look closely the wick on the TNT has been lit! Look out!

Hay + Pumpkins + Wind + Sunflowers= One Great Day!

One windy day at the Pumpkin Patch: My Photo Journal