in between the fun bits there are laundry mountains

i took this shot the other day on the way out the door to an early morning fieldtrip. i am not the sort of girl who needs to leave her house in order to do the next thing on her list(i used to try ;) ok, on some level i would like to (yes i realize this is an invitation to all those helpful suggestions for being more organized ;) but the truth is i conciously back burnered having the house completely under control so i could do all the things i want to (invest time in the kids, my writing, reading, D, my friends, work, house renos and even the cat ;) when something has to give, it might as well be laundry mountain. it will still be there when i get back (if a little more rumpled than before). today that same table is covered with much more cluttery craft supplies. off to run around the overhaul the house before the next thing on the list. i can always rest tommorow (woo-hoo, sunday :)

full fledged jingle

i was kidding about notes home from the teacher the other day, but now it came and slapped me and became real. aaagghh ;) parenting is for humble folk, i tell ya. on more pleasant jingle bell notes, today became the day to do part 1 of the Christmas decorating. had ultra crafty friend Christina T over for lunch today and we landed up harvesting my holly trees (turns out i have a girl and a boy one -- who knew?) after she left, i had a window of time between school pick-up and after school basketball games to wreath up the house (tip: use the long bendy holly -- it's so easy to manipulate into a layered circle -- this wreath doesn't even have a base and is held together with hemp twine) on other home freshening up news: the neighbours will be happy to see that i painted in the missing square of paint on the back of the house ;)
dinner's late to the table (even for us) and i think i might need to read extra to recharge for writing tommorow morning.

monday night distraction chain

ok, so walden isn't turning out to be a speed read ;) but engaging all the same. (and providing lots of inspiration and affirmation for my work of non-fiction du jour -- is anyone surprised by my inability to focus on just one writing project at a time -- didn't think so ;) think green with envy meets the pursuit of holiness. can't see them meeting? wait and see...

the coolest thing happened while i was distracted from finishing the dishes, then reading, then checking my son's homework, then kicking him off the computer and reading blogs (see how lack of attention span benefits? ;) i stumbled upon this fabulous fraser valley based felt embellishment maker. i have something in my album i am pretty sure is hers. i bought it as part of an opened package from a scrapbooking garage sale (yes, there are those) and loooovved it and wished i had more. now that i know where to get them you know i will.

here is the page i did before i knew who eve johnson was.

looking for some middle ground

i can't seem to get it spot on. either we are carried away with our schedules and activities and everyone's getting to bed late or like today, i am trying to get everyone to bed and then realize it's only 6pm ;)

i'm sure it's the late dinners that do it, but i won't change them. D works late and it's better, i think, to be eating in the against personal trainer advice eating zone (who are those people who don't eat after 7pm or even worse 4pm?) than to not be eating sit down family dinners.

so it's the before bedtime time slot now and the boys are reading and writing right now. you'd think that'd be quiet, but it's not. i cannot concentrate with my own thoughts with their loud ones circulating (and you know how that irks us edgy writers)

i've used up all the free time alloted to me today by my 5 year old's new to him felt nature boards (adorable vintage set found just this weekend with typed instructions on the back transferred onto felt -- fought the urge to frame them instead of giving them to him to play with) and he's moving on to extreme creative play (think mess and destruction)

after a weekend of school fundraiser, multiple birthday parties, and then hitting the uberfun jeans and gems canadian cancer society with my friend rebecca. (disneyland was calling my friend cindy so i got to use her previously acquired tickets -- i know, fab friend); my house is a wee disaster and i am craving some slow down. i'm trying for the (yes i realize the irony) speedreading walden. (that's what little books are for, right? :)

10 hours til i have to start worrying about monday's article deadlines.

presents make the day go better

yesterday my middle boy came home from school and said, "i have something in my bag for you" immediately my mind went to the place of note from the teacher, but it turned out to be something much more pleasant. fellow school mom, blog peruser, and scrapbooker Elizabeth, had sent this little bundle of loveliness. (brads in cute tins.) from her middle boy's backpack to mine just to make my day.
early morning out of town volleyball tournament carpool drop-off cut into am writing (ok, it also had something to do with my late night with the stamp club girls and then tv with D afterwards ;) so it became a one thing after another day (all good) and before i knew it, my friend britt and i were setting up our little facebook store -- 2 thrifty chicks shopping co. -- if you're on FB, check it out.
it's promising to be a laid back night. back to the grind (can you call it that even when you're enjoying it? ;) tommorow

note on Christmas decorating: we did not make it to Dec 1. i'm still trying to restrain but boy 2 and 3 talked boy 1 into helping them set up the tree as i type ;)

BC is so weird

where else would it be furiously flurrying in the PM (my kids were screaming "snow day!" so loud and for so long it all melted) and then be sunny, trench and flats weather the next morning. oh well, that's my kind of climate -- the beauty of the snow without the scraping it off the car to get out the next day.

i'm having a writing blitz morning, a meeting this afternoon, and writing to follow. the coffee and music are on. you know i'm loving it.

a laugh for jen

the finishing touches, such as they are, are on my brain head residing on the piano. i love adding things that make me laugh and think and relax to the house. and i love looking for new things to add (web and magazine window shopping) i like the real thing too, if the price is right. (read up to impossibly low, like 95% off. true story -- i have a beautiful pewter frame that i bought for 5cents at a liquidating retailer -- missing glass and box) my frugalosity inspires some ha ha's (my own included) but the truth is there are some things i want to splurge on -- my kids' education, our home library, our experiences, sharing with others, entertaining -- so the retail cost cutting has a purpose.

my cousin ron has a fabulous shop in town and i went a while back with some girlfriends to the store's anniversary celebration. i bought my infamous favorite for two seconds mug and a beautiful feather in blown glass ornament for this year's tree and helped jen pick out her fab cake pedestal and teresa her beautiful purple purse. lots of browsing and laughs too. (jen kept accusing me of trying to think of ways to hot glue gun branches together and paint them white to recreate their sweet dinner name card holders -- funny because i was.) and then i saw it -- marble cream scientific head -- brain words labelled -- only 39.95 -- a great deal if you have the need for visual interest for the living room or study. it felt like i did, but how to explain the passing up of the cake pedestal (almost a need) for the head (definitely wantish) so i went home with my smaller bag. a week or so later, i came across a plaster homemade head (wavy hair included ;) in the free bin (reserved for the especially ugly and unsellable) in front of one of my favorite thrift stores. i brought him home, painted him the same celery as my kitchen trim, and then he sat waiting for letters until my mom was throwing away a bunch of old stuff and i found rub-ons i remember my dad using (in the 80s ;) for his similar handmade craftiness. so here is the result. yeah, it's not even close, but i still love it -- because you guessed it -- it makes me smile and was unbelievably even cheaper than my beloved pewter frame

i'm off to read a big stack of books to my kindergartener and then fit in putting a few thoughts to paper. spiritual stuff cuz it's that kind of sunday.