Newton's First Law

Objects, or in our case, a family in motion stays in motion. 

 

And, man, we are motioning all over the place these days.  For instance...

 

How can tomorrow be April?

 

March blew through our house like a tempest. I turned around and, hey...wait...what...was that...?  Yes.  That was March. 

 

April will undoubtedly move faster still, with school and work and church and swim lessons and soccer and ballet and band all wrestling with our precious time.  And then there's Easter.

 

Sigh. 

 

Why all this motion? 

 

These precious days of our young kids growing and learning and experiencing and enjoying and absorbing...they are becoming blurry (and not just because my memory sucks). Time just moves too darn fast.  Add activities to the mix and, well, it just accelerates.  Because we're moving more.  And faster.  And I don't like it. 

 

We want to cultivate in our kids a love and appreciation for socializing and hobbies and sports and art and music.  And we are blessed to be able to offer them those opportunities.  But Rich and I always said we didn't want to fill every moment of our kids' days with an activity.  Because they need time, and selfishly so do we, to just...be.

 

Be.  Still.

 

 

To play, catch bugs, hop scotch, ride bikes, sing songs, fish, be goofy, read, watch movies, talk, listen, learn how to tell a good joke, truly be part of a family, foster strong friendships that will stand the test of time, acquire the skill of finding contentedness in the quiet alone times that can only be found when you're not running from one place to the next. 

 

It seems that my attempt at striking that balance resulted in an epic fail for the month of April. 

 

Oh well.  Live and learn. 

 

The kids will enjoy everything we signed them up for.  Rich and I will enjoy watching them make memories with friends and games and recitals.  The logistics may bite the big one, but hopefully we'll be able to get everybody where they're supposed to be at the right time and have fun while we're doing it. 

 

I have been told that this will only get worse as our kids get older, as they become more interested in different things.  And that's fine.  I want and will do what's best for them. 

 

And part of what's best for them is finding balance in their lives. 

 

They don't always need to be going and doing.  We get enough of that as adults when responsibilities fill up our days instead of long talks and good books and lazy warm afternoons spent with loved ones on blankets looking for animals in the clouds.

 

I Have the Fever

“It's spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you've got it, you want—oh, you don't quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!”

- Mark Twain 

 

I have the fever, all right.  The spring fever.  My heart aches, I want it so...but today's low is 6 degrees, so there's that. 

 

Yesterday's 65 degree false spring stayed the insanity this winter has been backing me toward, for awhile at least, shouting SPRING IS ALMOST HERE!  HANG ON FOR A FEW MORE WEEKS!

 

So I'm hanging...barely hanging...hanging with an achy heart in want of spring, but hanging still. 

 

These two help me hang a little tighter, because the joy they exude on a warm false spring day shines nearly as bright and high as the sun.  And I bask in it. 

     

Third Time's a Charm...and Dining Room Update!

Yep.

We painted the hutch. 

Again. 

I know, I know.  Don't be so judgy.  :)

The distressed green looked good with our old boring tan and cream walls.  But my awesome husband has nearly finished his upgrades to our dining room and, with the updated gray walls and amazing white wainscoting, well, the green hutch just wasn't cutting it. 

But this time is the last, I swear.  Because now I LOVE this hutch!

And guess whose idea it was to paint it gray? 

That's right.  My sister. 

She's so smart.  Seriously.  She needs to have her own decorating show.  She's so much better than me at knowing what will work, judging color and patterns, at making a room make sense and look perfect and fresh.  I just kind of go with what I'm drawn to and, while sometimes that works, sometimes (like with the hutch the first two and a half times) it doesn't.

Oh well.  Lesson learned. 

Me being me, I still wanted to keep color in there somewhere.  What can I say.  I'm just a colorful gal.  After trying a few (...or maybe five...feel free to judge at this point...) other colors we had laying around the house, I ended up just flip flopping what was already on there - green to the inside and gray to the outside. 

What a difference that flip flop made! 

So, to recap the long journey (and several inches of layered paint) that my poor hutch has endured over the past month, a photo dump:

Beginning:

 Terrible mistake:

Not quite right:

Sanded/distressed:

Gray Love:

And can we talk about the awesomeness of my husband for a minute?  Just look at this room!

I mean, dear lord in heaven.  Rich did an amazing job with this with his good taste, sense of knowing what will work, mad carpentry skills, motivation to do it right instead of just quick and/or cheap, crazy work ethic...and he looked good doing it. :)

...I can't help lovin that man of mine...

Before (tan and cream walls, brown chair rail):

 

During (trimming out entry ways, figuring out paint):

 Building wainscoting:

After (light gray walls, white wainscoting and entryway trim work):

 

And gray hutch:

The room looks so much brighter and bigger and taller now, not to mention updated, fresh and finished.  Love!

Rich, thank you so much for your diabolical levels of awesomeness!

Lent

Do I give up cursing (again) for Lent this year?

Or do I attempt the 40 bags in 40 days Lenten challenge (which Lori has done for a few years now), where you de-clutter one small place in your house every day of Lent?

Maybe both?

I don't want to set myself up for failure, which I'm afraid would happen if I tried to focus on two areas of discipline for Lent when, so often, I epically fail at only one.  But Lent is a most sacred time for me.  Easter replaces our pain and shame with hope and joy, reflected in nature as the warmth of spring wakes the plants and trees and animals from winter's sleep.

It's my favorite religious season. 

It's my favorite season season.

And it makes me want to honor God and fix my mind on him during this time in a sacrificial way. 

Refraining from cursing and de-cluttering my house a little everyday would definitely be sacrificial for me. Which seems silly to say in light of the life of sacrifice Jesus lived and his ultimate sacrifice for us...but I am an immensely, intensely imperfect woman and my sacrifices, while difficult for me, could never begin to compare with those of others - especially Jesus.  So I don't do that.

I'm realistic.  But hopeful. 

So I'll try to do both. 

Just pray for me - a potty-mouthed, working, tired wife and mother of two young ones whose cursing and clutter are somewhat ingrained in who I am. 

I'll need it!