'round here

:: a first snow, and snow ball fight while waiting for the bus

:: organizing the hats and gloves and boots for the winter

:: loving our woods as they transform from summer, through fall, and coming into winter

:: pinching myself that we have woods

:: some making for gladsome with Jennifer and Annie

:: checking off the much-to-do list preparing for gladsome

:: planning and making some sweet extras for gladsome, do you see the theme here? Oh the weekend is going to be outrageously good!

:: painting the first room in our house.  On a whim.  Doesn't everyone take on a big project like that three days before a super big weekend art retreat?  Yep, thought so.

The days have been busy, oh so busy.   But good.  And I am grateful to be surrounded by amazing women, great wild creative kids, a supportive family, and a prince of a husband. 

good things

:: Finding a great spot to rest and talk.

:: A path being made between our front door and the front door across the street -- where four boys live.  Four.  Boys.  Yippee!

:: Colorful lanterns from IKEA.  A burst of color during the day while they solar charge, then a soft colorful glow at night when they automatically light up.  Really cool.

:: The sweet joy of a snowcone machine.  What could be better than ice with some yummy concord grape syrup?

:: The first fall leaf.  With just a bit of cool breeze to remind me that fall isn't far off.

:: An afternoon at the pool.  Those almost-fall breezes keeping us in the water where it felt warmer.

:: A good kind of messy floor.  The kind that shows there has been some great playing going on.

:: gladsome details set and registration open.  Check it out, and join in a great experience!

:: A little hole in the bottom of Robeez.  See it there?  Pal has earned it.  Those shoes were brand new when he started toddling.  He has climbed, walked, danced all the way to needing a new pair.

:: Ginger ale with a pink bendy straw.

:: A dozen roses from my parents.  Lovely thinks they were for her.  They actually were for me, but I'm not telling her.

:: A girl who spent her entire birthday jumping up and down exclaiming "this is the best birthday!"

:: Sploches of paint color on walls throughout the house.  Blues, yellows, green, browns.  Picking colors this time around has been tricky.  I think I will be living with sploches for awhile.

:: New backpacks ready and a bag of school supplies waiting.  Unbelievable that we are on the cusp of the first day of school.

dispatch from my day {iPhone}

I'm settling in.  Sloooowly.  We've found a bit of rhythm, and have unfound it, and look for it again. 


I am getting used to the amazing view out of my kitchen window.  I have to remind myself daily that this in now where we live.

I've been listening to Kat Edmonson.  Really, what isn't beautiful about her voice?

I've begun baking bread again.  That is a rhythm I can get my head around, for sure.

I've been reminded that it is tricky to take three (not even four!) kids to the doctor's office at the same time. Thankfully I simply have the best (and cutest, ahem) doctor on the planet.

Visiting old chums has brought comfort and a respite from making new friends.

I am now on Twitter.  I kept reading Honey's Twitter stream.  So he signed me up for my own.  I enjoy its bits and pieces of life and laughter throughout the day.  Please let me know if you tweet too, I would love to follow you.  (I'm @bcomingclaudine)

Squirmy is everywhere.  E.V.E.R.Y.W.H.E.R.E.  Which means I am everywhere too.

So, I'm off.  Squirmy is on the kitchen counter.  See ya.

shoring

Who knew that an extreme close up could make the bottom of your cast iron tub look somewhat antiquey and interesting.

After all it is an antique, almost a century old.  Seems that if a cast iron tub has been in place for nearly one hundred years, eventually it will need some reinforcing.

So last week was spent shoring up of that ol' tub.  And the no-longer-sturdy front steps.  And the light fixtures in the stairwell that haven't worked for over a decade.  A decade!  It took less than an hour and $65 to the electrician.  Again, who knew?

We've been shoring up quite a bit.  Projects certainly, but also our emotions.  The emotions that rollick and roll as you take a huge humongous leap of faith.

A leap to a new house, in a new neighborhood, in a new community.  All the while keeping our current house to rent out to others.  Talk about a leap.

For easily 18 months we've been daydreaming about a move to a slightly bigger house with a much bigger yard.  Driving streets, becoming familiar with neighborhoods, weighing the pros and cons of each and every city within reason.  Spending hours upon hours scouring realty websites.  (Oh if I had a dime for every minute spent looking at houses on-line, we could afford a mansion!)

All of this dreaming is coming true.  In just the past couple weeks what we have been praying for has been falling into place, little by little.  And the emotions rise and fall and tremble at the edge of what is possible.  What might be.  What will be.

I've been shoring up my strength.  Preparing to say goodbye to good friends, and gracefully relinquishing commitments to PTA.  Realizing how much I love our teeny tiny house, even as I know we have quite outgrown it.  After 12 years it is exactly the way I like it.  Looking around town at special places that will be missed in our everyday.

Not to mention the roller coaster of house offers and waiting and rejections and waiting and counter offers and waiting.  And the clock is ticking, the very nice renters we found are moving in soon.

So most importantly, I've been shoring up my breath.  Knowing that this transition is going to take moment after moment of calm, I've been breathing slowly and deeply.  For myself,  for my children.  Though we aren't moving very far away, the change is quite real for these littles who have only known this teeny tiny house as home. 

So let this leap be not so scary, but exhilarating and inspiring and interesting too.

goodness

Our easing has allowed me to see the goodness happening around us.  Such goodness.

:: some January thaw that allowed shorts, shorts!, to be worn for a day
:: making snowmen -- of the chalkboard variety -- as we await more snow
:: allowing the kids to run in the rain, splashing in puddles, and enjoying that January thaw (that is until this Mama discovered all the squeals of joy were from dumping cones-full of puddle water over their heads...oh my!  Then the parenting wheels came off.  Not a stellar mothering moment.)
:: being a winner over at Soulemama!
:: kitchen experiments.  Where water, flour, and dried out play-doh is all that is needed.
:: receiving a meaningful mama merit badge from Amy
:: handmade pine cone bird-feeders
:: an organized basement
:: uncovering, in that basement clean-out, a sweet little rocking chair that Lovey and I picked up at the thrift store for a couple dollars some time ago.  It simply needed a good wipe-down.
:: deciding to mix my own non-toxic laundry detergent, inspired by watching this movie
:: a family portrait by Lovey.  It was immediately put into a frame and placed in a prominent spot.
:: the first issue of Kindred, a beautiful literary magazine created by Amanda
:: a boy discovering the magic of headphones and an iPod
:: opening the very last jar of our homemade grape jelly goodness.  Oh, we must make much, much more next fall.

What goodness do you see these days?

thrifty thursday {trash day}

Let me set the scene.

It is Tuesday morning.  Trash day.  The rumblings of the garbage truck making its way through the neighborhood can be heard through the open windows.

In need of a momentary diversion for the kids I encourage them to look out the window, "the garbage truck is right across the street" I say.

I look too.  And I see something.

Something I want.  Right there on the tree lawn of the house across the street.

The garbage truck is one house away.

The garbage truck is one house, one trash can, away from getting that thing I want, and throwing it into its large front bin.

Without a second thought, with babe in arms, and I think still wearing slippers, I run out the front door, down the sidewalk and just as the trash collector is poising this item up to throw into the bin I holler above the sound of the truck, "Can I have that?!"

He gives a grin, a shrug and says "Sure."

He even carries it across the street and places it on my front lawn for me.

The kind, and very amused, trash collector brought me this amazing door.

A door, you ask?

You may see a door, but I see a cool desk, made from real wood, with panes for pictures or artwork.  Or maybe I see a chartreuse room divider, hung from the ceiling, with black and white portraits in the window panes.  Maybe I see a large-scale artwork, with spaces for even more artwork that rotates.  

I am not exactly sure what I saw in that split second that I decided to run out of the house and claim my neighbor's trash.  But I do know I saw real wood, intact glass, something that could be made into something else that can't be bought at Target, or Pier One, or Arhaus.  Even the door knob is cool, maybe that will become something different altogether.

And I will have time to decide what it will become, because realistically I don't have room for more furniture in this house.  So it will be stored here (by a very patient husband) and moved (by a very patient husband) to whichever house we move to next in which I have space for a desk, or a room divider, or large-scale art.

But for now, I am going to dream about what this door will become, and sincerely thank Honey for not putting this door out on our tree lawn for collection next week.


Linking up with Lady Cordelia for thrifty thursday.

making-merry

We are well into our lists here.  Luckily there is not gift shopping on those lists.  Instead it is the fun merry-making part of the season:  baking, wrapping, bits of sewing and crafting, creating some last-minute goodies, sending cards.  And a bit of house-cleaning, but that feels good too, no?

Those three huge baskets of laundry I just folded?  I get to check that off of the list.

I made the lists earlier this week, knowing that all of the to-dos in my head would feel so much better on paper.  Because on paper you can always erase them, and let a task go if you decide instead to sit down with a bowl of popcorn and watch a movie with your Honey instead.  Which I did.

And among all the merry, some good belly-laughs are a bonus.

Like this text from my sister, also a Mama:
"Ok. You know you're having a Mommy moment when you pull the whole "He sees you when you're sleeping" card, and at this rate mister, you're getting nuthin'!"

Or hearing this song from Straight, No Chaser.  If you enjoy men's acappela groups, it is worth watching.

Oh, and seeing the Big Guy in line at the post office.  When not tending to the presents, Santa wears a leather coat and cap, and always makes sure he has a photo to share with you.

Wishing you much merry, oh and belly laughs too!

happenings

It is around this busy time of year that I regret not making my birthday-candle-blowing-out wish one that gives me an extra hour each day.

I would use that extra hour to blog.

Seriously, I would choose to blog over sleeping.  I already do most evenings.

But even I, queen of the night owls, have found that my posts are being eclipsed by the happenings of the warming weather and longer sun.  (And, I must be honest, watching some episodes of Arrested Development on Netflix.)

Though I quite enjoy those happenings.  So let me share.

Sinking: into this spring of mud and dirt 

Organizing: the garage, a sure commitment to spring's arrival 

Appreciating: the diligence of a boy who didn't want to get wet, but who took seriously the job of shelf-washing 

Greeting: passers-by 

Napping: but not every day, though I always remember to let sleeping dogs lie 

Marveling: at the practical wisdom of nature, open on warm sunny days, closed on cold cloudy ones 

Marveling More: at the intricate beauty unfolding just outside my doorstep 

Chasing: each other and the dog and the sun as it sets 

Celebrating: the chance to begin wearing my favorite short-sleeved t-shirt again and
Enjoying:  this great post by another breastfeeding Mama 

Daydreaming: what this scrubby patch of back yard might look like in several weeks after much much work 

Loving: every bit of dirt under the fingernails, a sure sign of a good summer to come.

Hoping:  all that is happening with you is wonderful!

Please, do tell!