Serendipity and random thoughts

There are moments in life which are clearly serendipitous, unexpected, out-of-the blue. I had one of these moments today. I opened my front door, looked across the street and immediately spotted this:


It is fabulous, large and oh-so-retro -- simply fabric stretched on a very large frame. I realized in an instant that it was perfectly color matched to our bedroom - a must have for sure.


Much like my recent acquisition of "the" tray, it is amazing to me how perfectly these colors go with our comforter -- as if it was meant to be.

Now I just have to decide whether the large piece can fit in our tiny bedroom (as is or with added ribbons as a photo presentation board) or whether I should cut it into smaller pieces and turn it into maybe three pieces to be placed together on our walls.

Oh yes... and the kids like it too!

This sudden serendipity has gotten me to thinking... about needles in haystacks and finding perfect things in a seemingly unfathomnable way, about ying and yang and finding lost friends halfway round the world via the internet, about love and loss and the death of a parent, about new beginnings (whether they be preschool or first grade) and new life directions later in life, about where the world has come and where we are going. It is amazing to me how a seemingly mundane moment in our life can bring up so much more. Here's hoping you find a wee bit of serendipity today (and every day).

The sun will come out tomorrow

O.k. so the sun wasn't really out, but it did turn out to be a better day. A bit of a rough start as I tried to get up before the kids to do "my stuff," but was thwarted first by my daughter and quickly thereafter by Mr. Man. Oh well...

I've been thinking a lot lately about all the things I'd rather be doing or doing in a better more quality way. It is so not going to happen but I lately daydream a bit about being a stay-at-home mama just so that I could truly concentrate on organizing the house, our lives, making healthy delicious meals, teaching myself canning, acquiring more gardening skills, get the laundry not only done but also put away where it belongs (what a concept).

With the cooler weather and a bit of rain that has descended upon us, I feel as though New Years is already here. I've been kicking around resolutions and goals in my head lately like a football. One thing I definitely want to master is consistently making healthier homemade meals. With school lunch boxes beckoning, I'd better jump on that goal sooner than soon. To that end, we finally had something for breakfast that wasn't either yogurt, toaster waffles or peanut butter toast. It was kinda healthy. I know we have a ways to go but see for yourself. Here is my daughter's idea of breakfast:


That Blue's Clues plate contains scrambled eggs with cheese, ham and fresh spinach if you can't quite make it out. She added a pile of uncooked spinach and needed sauce (salad dressing) for dipping.

On the other hand, my son's idea of a healthy breakfast option today included:


Said same scramble minus the spinach (I tried highlighting Popeye and his strength but it didn't impress anyone). Alongside the eggs, is cheese and crackers (Wallace & Gromit anyone?).

And for dessert...


Yes we finally iced our cupcakes and threw our own cupcake party complete with candles and our own rousing rendition of "Happy Cupcake Day to Us."


It was neither organic nor even particulary healthy but we did have fun. Sometimes you gotta give up perfection and just have a little fun together.

So that being said, a few of my goals this week include:

1) Taking a shopping trip to Mirador (they've apparently got laptop lunchboxes),

2) Selling a bunch of the kids clothes that don't fit them anymore to the local consignment store,

3) Making one healthy meal from scratch this week (haven't a clue what, when or where),

4) Working out a rough draft of a family schedule for when school starts,

AND

5) Getting the kids to bed by 7:30 pm every night between now and the start of school (one week from today).

When you wish upon a star...

When life gives you lemons

I believe the saying goes something like this: When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. But at our house, when the morning went awry we said "lemons be damned" (or at least I thought it). Instead we took our own journey -- forged our own path. When my little princess already REQUIRED bathing (can you say ink toner?) by about 7:00 a.m. followed by le petit prince losing his cool, mama losing hers and timeouts all around, we decided it was time to make...


C * U * P * C * A * K * E * S !
and have our own party complete with icing and candles too - woo hoo.

Sounded good right up until I turned around and saw my daughter's new hat:


And realized her need for the second bath of the day (all by about Noon).


God bless my children for wanting to throw me a party (not that there wasn't a wee bit of alterior motive involved) after I'd behaved badly and was feeling as low as a june bug under a heavy musty rug. God bless them for being themselves (no matter how messy that may be) and for being so very in the moment. Tomorrow I'm committed to trying to be as in the moment and as present as I can muster for them -- all morning long, at their dental appointments, at the meet-the-teacher potluck for my son, the ice cream social which follows for my daughter and at bedtime too.

Good night and God (or whatever you believe in) bless us all ... and by that I mean every ... single ... one ... of us ... around the world.

Another contender

Quite by accident my friend in Seattle sent a motherly note of frustration after a long day away and coming home to find this (among other things)... ah children and hubbies! See my Mama friend's own captions below:


For Jonathan food is nutrition, a toy and now it's art. You've heard of finger painting, well he's discovered peanut butter and jelly painting.


Notice the fine lines and beautiful details. Watch out Picasso.

I deeply appreciate her willingness to participate in our first ever messy house competition, however sadly she can't win. Why not you might ask. Because I'm fairly certain this didn't stay this way for more than a few minutes after she got home. Some of the rest of us give up in frustration and go to bed to deal with the pbj encrusted art another day (or so we hope).

I had a lovely but busy weekend past and my brain has been quietly full of too much which has somehow turned it to mush. The mohito's while camping didn't hurt that effort either :-) Thank you other preschool parent campers for sharing the goodies! And so... since I have not just 2 but 5 little people all running about my abode this afternoon, I must bid you adieu and attempt to blog better another day.

The knowing of not knowing

So yes I've done tons of organizing and purging of things around my home and it feels so much better despite much more cleaning and organizing to be done. When will it get done? I don't know... and that's o.k. Just moving forward has helped me be o.k. with the here and now.

That is what I want to talk about tonight -- the knowing of not knowing. The certainty of uncertainty.


I realize that back before I turned 30 (so very long ago), I stressed and worried about the impending change of age for months. Finally even before the date arrived on paper I found myself unusually calm and even excited about the prospects of my life as a 30-something rather than a 20-something. At least one friend did not believe my assurances but I knew in my heart of hearts that I was onto something. I wasn't sure what was to come but whatever it was - I was ready and waiting but most importantly - not worried.


Around the same time on a cross-country flight I remember thinking to myself "If I die today, I'm happy. I have no regrets." For once in my life I was at peace, not stressed or worried. It felt wonderful.

Do I still have that sense of peace from so long ago. Nope. Am I seeing glimpses again now that I'm meditating regularly and trying to be present in the here and now. Yup.

Flash forward to this past week and my having a conversation with my kids about where did Grandpa go when he died. I did my best to explain to them that some folks believe when you die, that's it. You go nowhere. Others believe you come back as something - say a dog or another person or even a fly. Some believe you go to heaven. I explained that I hope there's a heaven or at least a place of peace and happiness where one goes because I would like that for my father and for others as well. I explained that I would like to get to speak to or be contacted by my father again. They seemed to understand and pondered. I think we then moved on to play dough.


Whenever I think about my father lately, I am both sad and happy. I want so much to be able to feel his presence, know his opinions and share his sense of humor again -- feel that hug. I at once feel tears welling up in my eyes and joy building up in my heart. It is as if the knowing of unknowing, the certainty of uncertainty has found me and my heart again. I don't know where my Dad or his soul may be but wherever they are - part of Dad is with me and that's o.k.

Love Ya Pop. Goodnight and good luck - wherever you are.

Just a few things I love...

about my son's school.

1) The flowers

We found this in the "kinder" garden path. The photo is exactly true and completely unretouched. What a welcoming good morning each day.


2) The vegetables

I couldn't believe the color on this rhubarb? I think that's right. Now I just need to learn enough by proxy to be able to nurture and grow such a lovely thing in my own back yard.


3) The love and attention paid to every tiny corner

I noticed this blue butterfly above my head whilst visiting the kindergarten - 2nd grade wing (no pun intended).


What I don't love is the dust and mess in the tiny corners of my house. So why am I blogging when I could be cleaning - ironic huh? I'm going to go crazy cleaning right now! More coffee - ahoy!

Feeling a little better

So my office mate was kind enough to share the messy corners of her house. This looks a lot like our kitchen before my hubbie cleaned it aggressively - again.


This one is my favorite however. Several tables in our home get close to this but not quite... and amazingly enough these folks don't even have kids - yet. Just wait 'til these piles are accompanied by sticky little finger prints and tons of tiny toys! Can't wait :-)


Thanks for sharing Karen... your bravery has put you out WAY ahead of the pack in terms of that great prize (can you say Starbucks?). I'm gonna go attempt once again to clean and organize a bit -- oh yes -- and feed, cloth and entertain my kids. Ciao for now.

I double dog dare ya

Anyone who's got a great photo of a messy corner of their house, I dare you to send it to me (with your permission I'll even post it to my blog -- or not)! Send your photos to s2indy@yahoo.com. I'll send a gift (don't know what yet) to the one that actually makes me feel better about the current state of my abode. By the way, I have a plan of attack but I'll discuss that in a later post. Send pics please - share!

And the winner is...

Today the laundry stacks, the messy kitchen, the horrific cramps, the incessantly barking dog who is mine, the child who refuses to sleep alone, the kitchen which was momentarily clean -- all these things have won. I am exhausted and defeated. Here's hoping tomorrow is a better day.

A Couple More Goodies

I just couldn't pass up this totally retro tea cup (it now inhabits a shelf of my favorite things above my desk).


And this sunny serving bowl and plate (they tell me they are collectible but who really knows -- I just loved the warm feel).


Mind you today's goals were to clean and organize the house (oops not much got done on that front although we did drop off a HUGE box of toys to the Good Will). When I had to get out of the house and take a Mama time out away from my lovely little ones, my goal was to find organizing stuff (baskets and bins) and/or a dresser or new bed for my daughter but alas the yard sale faeries weren't looking over me today -- they were probably trying to tell me to go home and clean up! Ciao for now. Soon starts another week.

The List Goes On

So hopefully and finally here is the platter in question.


I also fell in love with this pitcher. The wooden fork somehow found its way home with us in our bag of old fashioned metal cookie cutters (can you say more homemade doggie biscuits?)... the dog days of Summer are looking up for one white lab.


Why I fell for this pitcher I'm not quite sure -- something about these little flowers that did it. I love their simplicity, their sweetness - alone down there on the bottom of the pitcher. Zen really.


And then there's my pitcher for serving milk with tea or coffee on those myriad days I entertain in such a way. Hmmmmm. Probably never gonna use it but it sure is pretty and handmade in Canada apparently.


I also found a hand mixer which fascinates my kids and a donut baking pan -- where was that 3 years ago when I wanted to make donuts for my son's birthday brunch?

It truly is the little things that make us the most happy. Getting back to basics makes me feel more content and happy. How about you?

For those Mamas out there looking for a sweet and simple book for their little people to talk about the goodness of less (which I know seems ironic given all the goodies I brought into my home environment today), check out "Just Enough and Not Too Much" by Kaethe Zemach. It's the story of Simon the fiddler who has a cozy little house and everything he needs until one day he thinks he needs more. Trust me on this one. The moral of the story is a good one.

And in terms of my plethora of purchases today, know that I WILL be doing a major clear out of children's unplayed with toys and other items around here that come to no good use and more often than not inhabit our floors. Happy bargain hunting and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

A Few of My Favorite Finds

After having a week where not much seemed to go right and after seeing fabulous finds on other mamablogs, I charged out with my little ones (they each had $3.00 to spend and no more) to see what finds we could find and oh boy did we find!

While this would seem far from exciting to most, I was thrilled to find this little red stapler. It's Swingline, it's probably a bazillion years old and it still works great! We've gone through at least 3 staplers in the last few months -- all plastic and all broken or jammed and useless within days of purchase. Gotta love the real (non-plastic) materials. This little red baby of mine is solid and made in America no less! Aaahh back in the days when this country actually made something.

The kids got an awesome cash register (no brand name fast food chains attached) which will even help teach my son math which he is already starting on his own and very excited about. Speaking of math, for about .25 cents I found this awesome platter which just might look fabulous in our bedroom when I finally paint it the terra cotta color I've been dreaming about. By the way, just to prove the kind of week it's been... Every time I try to post the picture of my platter, along with all the others... it disappears?! What's up with that?

But I digress... back to the bargains.

My kids also found a miniature putt-putt golf set they can both play with inside or out. Better yet we ran into a friend of a friend who sold us a fabulous bike for my daughter (with an old-time metal bell I must say) and even sold us the bell off another bike for my son (he's SOOOOO excited).

Back to me and my finds (because we know how important it is to keep Mama happy). Even though we've all seen them, I fell in love with this green tint canning jar.

Which looks even better filled with the 24 rainbow pens I found (somehow ours always walk away - more sneaky than socks). By the way, the pens were also made in this country! Woo hoo - I just love things made in the old days, including an extremely solid metal and wood push mower we got today for just $10.00 to replace our broken one.


Believe it or not there's more. Back in a minute...if you choose to indulge me.

One Question

Today I have just one question for the universe.

Can sarcasm coexist with enlightenment?

 

Inspiration

I must confess that this has been an interesting week chock full of burnt cinnamon toast and smoke detectors and alarm clocks going off at all the wrong times, children perpetuating habits I wish they'd drop and general household frustrations... however it has also seen its share of inspiration, hope and promise (can anyone say "Why are you taking on teaching your son's 1/2 grade Sunday school class?")

While I feel hopeful, I'm also still dealing with trying to be more organized, more back to basics, less consumeristic and more grounded in the now - zen really. To that end, I confess to doing as much knitting as I can muster (usually during my various volunteer meetings or while stuck in traffic). Here's my latest yarn love:


I've been inspired by several Mama Blogs and their regular reports on weekend thrift store/garage sale scores as well as the multitudes of crafty women who are out there in the blogosphere. I must confess however that it doesn't make me want to make hand sewn animal toys or start to sew. It does make me think about scouring the sales for a deal or two on some old furniture pieces and refinishing them for fun or profit?


In the midst of me thinking about new projects to fill my lack of available time, I am trying to stay centered, calm and in control - not caught up in the craziness which is our sensory overloaded society. To that end, I was remembering the calmness which the beach so often brings. Maybe these pics from our recent Oregon Coast vacation will bring some calmness and serenity to you too (I visit often)!


And who could feel anything but good about this sunset over the dune?


For now - good night and Namaste.