{ Around here - a look at this past weekend }

There's nothing I enjoy more, than having my husband home with me all day, so when we are graced with a long weekend, we enjoy it to the fullest.  For some people that will mean going out to eat, finding something fun to do outside the house, and so on.   We have done that but mostly, for us, it means staying in, snacking all day long, watching movies, catching up on favorite shows, doing woodwork, pottering around the house, gardening or working on house projects.

I snapped a few photos as I went about my day, or rather days, and I'll share those below, so if you're interested in seeing what we got up to, grab a cup of coffee or tea and check out the photos below.



Waking up to foggy mornings, dark, dreary and cold weather. 





On days like these, I stay in comfy clothes and slippers, all day long.  Truth be told, if I am home I am in my slippers, just love them, maybe I have a slight obsession with slippers of all kind and colors.  I think at the moment I have 4 or 5 pairs, all gifted by my family for Christmas and birthdays etc.  They know I'm a pajamas and slippers kinda gal.  Can never have enough.



Stormy days are spent snuggled in bed, under the warmest and softest of blankets.  Marley has very easily fallen into that routine and we often go looking for him, only to find him on the bed, often times, he has burrowed himself under the blanket until it covers him and then just slips his head out the other side.  Hahaha 

He makes me laugh.



Most of the days, while hubby played computer games with Nicholas, or watched his tv shows or movies, and while the kids did their own thing, I surrounded myself with books of all kinds.  I would absolutely love to have a full library in my house, I think it would make me super happy.

Above you can see my favorite books, and I've mentioned them before.  I first read These is My Words, back in 2011.  I knew from that moment that this was it, this was my favorite book and as much as I may love some others, they would not come near this one for me.

AND I just found out that Nancy E. Turner's new novel is out, and it follows the story of Sarah Prine's niece.  It is called Light Change Everything, I've already added it to my cart and will grab it on Friday.  Can.not.wait.  I swear anytime Nancy E. Turner brings out a book, it's like Christmas to me.





Spent a good deal of time reorganizing my bookshelves.  I couldn't decided whether I wanted to do it by color {like I have before and thought looked really cute}, or alphabetically or by author etc.

I decided to go by alphabetical order and as I did so, I got rid of books I no longer wanted to keep.  I had quite a big pile going on.

Much as it seems that a job like this is quick, it turned out that it was actually quite time consuming, which meant a lot of breaks for normal household chores, meal cooking and dish washing.





I'm still washing dishes by hand, and funny enough I've gotten down to a rhythm, where I don't even take notice any longer.  I get in the kitchen, wash all the dishes, and move on to the next task at hand.





There were also breaks for hot cups of tea while the wind blew outside and screamed through the fireplace.  It's such a weird sound isn't it?  It's like waves of screams coming through the fireplace while the wind howls outdoors, but weird as it sounds there is something calming about it too.



Back to washing some dishes that were used for bread making, and then I step away and let nature help me out by drying them for me.



The pile of books that I no longer want and would like to pass on.   I wasn't quite sure what to do with them all, and then I remembered Paperbackswap.  If you've never heard of it, it is a website I first started using many and I mean many, years ago, like 2006.  You can read some of my posts talking about the website, here:

Grrrrrr
A day of books
Crocheting the Day away

I'm not going to link all the posts, or we will be here all day long, but if you just search paperbackswap here on my blog, you will no doubt find a lot of posts. 

If you're just curious, it is a website where you post the books you have available to give away.  If someone requests one of your books, you mail it off and once the person receives it, you get a credit.  Each credit is worth another book, so then you use those credits to get yourself a book you want, and trust me they have a huge selection of books available.

I think it's a great way to get rid of your books by essentially trading them for new ones you have been wanting.  You can also add certain conditions to the books you order from other people, such as no smoking house, or a house with no pets, or no marks or no this or that etc. 




These are all my books posted on Paperbackswap at the moment, well these WERE the books posted, because as I was in the middle of posting these, requests started coming in, and I've already mailed off 5 books that were requested.  That means, when the people that I've sent them to, receive them, they mark them as received on the website and I get 5 credits {which means 5 books}. 

I already have a wish list and a reminder list on the website that will make it easier for me to get my new books in.

How exciting is that?



As always, there is always and I mean, always, laundry to be done.  Many weekend and weekday afternoons, are spent with a pile of clean laundry on the bed, folding and putting away while I watch something on the tv.



The weather also permitted us to have our first barbecue of the year.  Nothing major, nothing big, not even a side dish to go with it, but we had some burgers from the butcher shop that we wanted to try, so popped those on the grill.  Oh my word, does anyone else get extremely happy with the smell of a barbecue grill on a Saturday afternoon?

I can hardly wait for Summer.



And from summer vibes and barbecue burgers, to a foggy, cold and 30 degree weather the next day.  Insane. 

I would say it's a Texas thing, but who am I kidding, most of my friends, family and readers are in other states and everyone is complaining of the same thing.  Actually, my family in South Africa have been complaining of the same uncertain crazy weather.  I shudder to think what this all means globally, but it's best not to even go there.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed a look into my weekend and what we got up to.  A whole bunch of nothing in particular, but a whole lot of plain ol' living, and that is fine with me, it is what I enjoy the most.

Lazy weekend in with my loved ones, no rush, no commitments, no needing to be up at a certain time or in bed by another.  Just going with the flow.

How did you spend your long weekend?

Oh and before I leave, I wanted to ask you all if you had anything you wanted me to do a post on, anything specific you would like to see around here.  Leave your suggestions down below.  I do have my usual posts and ideas but I also like hearing from you, after all, you're the ones reading the blog and if there's something you would like to know more about from me, feel free to ask.

On that note, I am signing off, going to toss some laundry around and then try and get some more reading done on my next review book.

A little change and a big hello :)

Hi everyone :)

I know, you're probably shocked to see me here with a normal post and not a Happy Homemaker Monday or a Book Review.

Life has again gotten in the way of blogging, as it seems to do quite often lately, but I've been working on getting back on track and being able to start daily blogging again, which is something I'm very passionate about.

I have a lot of ideas and thoughts and things that I want to do, it's just a matter of getting it from my brain to the blog, and that is where I tend to fall short, more often than not.

Anyway, I'm sure the first thing you noticed is that the blog look has changed, and I did that yesterday because I wanted to go back to a more simple set up.  I quite liked my previous template but it was a bit of a pain to work through, there were a lot of behind the scenes html codes, and changes here and there on a daily basis, that got a bit frustrating to deal with.

While this one is not as modern or technologically appealing, it is simple and serves it's purpose.

Life has been going at full speed here, we've been so busy, and with Fall upon us and the temperatures finally cooling down, we've gone full speed into preparing for winter months and hopefully relying more on fire wood instead of the central heating.  *our electricity bill is ridiculous in this house*

Curt has been working hard on chopping wood around the property, and I've been helping him bring it back to the house, stack it and pile it and get it ready.

Living on 3 acres means that we have abundant trees, and as the years go by, they die out, branches fall, branches need pruning and so forth.  We are never without firewood, so much so that we give some to my brother as well.

We'll continue to work on our stock pile this coming weekend, as well as finishing harvesting our pecan trees which have started dropping a big harvest.  It's like the back yard is littered in Pecans.

I'll freeze as many as I can, but I also want to make some Pecan milk from them.  If I do, I'll share with you the process and show you how it turns out.

I've been trying to use up the last few days of warmth, to dry the clothes outside instead of using the dryer.  All in an attempt to save some money.

I haven't exactly been very successful in that area, since we had a ton of rain coming down on us for what seemed like two weeks straight.

It did help the temperatures to drop because until that moment, Texas seemed a bit confused about what Season of the year we were in.  The high 90's were unrelenting.

Of course when it rains, I turn to even more coffee, so copious amounts of that liquid gold have been consumed.  Thankfully it doesn't keep me from sleeping, or I would be in serious trouble.

Speaking of sleeping, both Curt and I spent last night tossing and turning, and woke up feeling absolutely dreadful.  Sore throats, coughs, congestion, runny noses and fevers.

I hate sending him off to work like that, knowing that I can stay home and lay down if I need to.  Even thought I suggested he maybe take the day off, since he never does, he didn't want to.  I'm blessed with an extremely hard working husband :)

I did send him off with cold meds, orange juice and vitamin C.  Honestly just hoping whatever this cold is, it goes away quick.  But I guess it's that time of year isn't it?  Everyone is coming down with colds and sniffles.

The kids are both doing well.  Nicholas has pulled out all the old Nintendo systems and he's been enjoying Super Mario and Yoshi and all the classics.  It's made for some fun bonding moments between him and Curt as they've spent weekends just playing together, laughing and joking.  It's a joy to see.

I'm slowly crocheting through my Mandala Madness, and the newest blanket, the Liliana.

Other than that, it's just been business as usual, every day normal life. 

I've tried to be more consistent in sharing my grocery hauls on my Youtube Channel, so if you haven't yet subscribed, be sure to go on over and do that so you won't miss future hauls.  Starting on Sunday, I'll also be doing a Weekly Meals video showing all our dinners for the week.  It's been requested from me quite a lot and my husband just gave me the push to do it.

I think for the time being that is about as much as you'll see from me when it comes to Vlogging, though I do enjoy the Instagram stories, which I guess is sort of vlogging?

My husband and kids have been trying to talk me into doing Vlogmas this year even though neither of them want to be filmed, but I'm sure I could do small daily videos all through the December.

Let me know what you think and if that is something you would enjoy, I would of course do them on Youtube but also post them here on the blog.

And that's it really, I'm going to get off here as I'm really not feeling well.

Hope you are all doing well, and I'm looking forward to sharing more posts in the coming days :)

No time to breathe!

Or at least that's what it feels like lately, just an overwhelming sense of business and no time to relax, breathe, take a moment to myself etc.

But it's normal, it's what happens when you have 8 people living under one roof.  I have to say though, it's been easier this time because we have a much bigger home and lots of space for everyone.  Still, I find myself constantly busy, doing this and doing that, cooking and cleaning and laundry and taking walks and spending time with the family.  It's busy, but it's a blessing that I'm very happy to receive.

I've taken numerous photos the past few days, as Spring starts coming to life around us, I can't but grab the camera and try to document it.  Be ready, a lot of pics incoming.

I've been trying to decorate as I go, the latest addition was in my bedroom and it's a very simple decorating trick but one I love.  I got the big S and the C from Hobby Lobby and painted them black, and I had two picture frames laying around that I didn't need.  Paired them together, and there ya go.

When I took this picture my Poinsettias were still doing well, unfortunately we had a huge windy day and it not only knocked everything over, but threw them clear across the yard and tore them apart.  Poinsettias, no more.  Bummer!!!

From the same windy day, I ended up with my car looking so filthy, so I gave it a good wash the other day and organized the trunk too.  I have two baskets sitting in there, which helps a lot when I buy groceries to bring them into the house.

My safe haven, the one place I know I can go to just to get away from the craziness.

I feel like I'm cooking constantly, and always in the kitchen, and granted breakfast is usually toast or oatmeal or cereal, some days you need a little extra something, so pancakes are the go to.  I can make a huge stack and fill everyone's tummies.

This cute mister, I was so worried that the dogs wouldn't get along, but from the very first day they are fine with each other.  What a huge relief off my chest.  Jax is such an adorable and lovable dog, though sniffy and extremely curious which means he is always up on the pug girls, smelling and trying to play etc.  They don't care, well, I should say Lola doesn't care, Bella gets a little irritated and growls a bit, but only to get him away and then she's fine.  She IS older though and I don't think she has the patience to be messed with.

The butterflies have started showing up, and it's such a sweet blessing.  It's one thing I noticed when we moved into the area, our yards are always filled with tons of butterflies, big and small, and all colors and patterns.

We've been taking walks down our country road and I am loving every minute of it.  Nothing but land, trees, birds, nature, farm houses and tons of horses.  There is something so calming about breathing in the fresh air and not being surrounded by neighbors and cars and pollution.

This is one of my favorite houses down the street, this wooden gazebo overlooks the river, and when you sit it next to that beautiful red barn, it is a dream scenario for me.  I keep telling hubby that we need to buy this house and build a gazebo just like that.  haha

I guess now that I've typed this up and put it in words and pictures, my blog title no longer makes sense.  Or maybe I just realized what I need to do to breathe when I feel overwhelmed........step outside and take a walk.

Yes, that is exactly it.  Yesterday I actually took 4 walks, two in the morning, one in the afternoon and one after dinner.  It felt so good!!!

Anyway, thank you to all who still come by and read and leave comments, it means a lot, and yes I do read every comment even if I don't reply or post much lately.

Well I'm feeling a little hungry and I have leftover chicken and potatoes from last night's dinner, so I think I'm going to warm up a plate, eat and watch some vlogs while I wait for General Hospital to start.

Have a beautiful, beautiful Friday friends :)

Falling off the homemaking wagon

It happened, last year.

One thing I've always been so proud of, was the fact that I love homemaking and love doing those tasks that so many others seem to find annoying, frustrating, useless.  I won't lie, there are certain aspects of homemaking that I like less than others, but overall, I love being a homemaker.

With the move last year and everything that was going on, I kind of fell off the happy homemaking wagon.  It's as if one minute I was trotting along quite happily and the next we hit a huge rock on the path and everything went willy nilly all over the place.

Since then, my homemaking has been mediocre at best, just being done because it has to be and often times tackled with the same inspiration and motivation of someone walking the green mile.  Truly!!!

I've let it slide, always with the excuse that there was so much going on, this is temporary, you'll pick it right back up soon.  But folks, it's been a half a year and now that things have finally calmed down, it's time to get my butt in gear, hop right back on that wagon and continue plodding down the path.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even I, have my days, or in this case, months.

It's ok to not always enjoy being the homemaker, to not always approach it all with a big smile on our faces, we're human and sometimes as moms and wives and homemakers we feel so much pressure to please and to have everything so perfect, that we forget about ourselves and what we need.

The trick here, for me at least, has been to sit back and allow this process to work itself through.

First it all happened because of the move, 4 months separation from my hubby, followed by the cross country move with a broken down car on the side of the road somewhere in Colorado, the influx of family activities and places we needed to be, family reunion, trips here and there, and my body trying to catch up with it all.

Then I just told myself that I needed time to relax and calm down and de-stress, so to speak.

What followed then were the past two months where the holidays kicked in and as much as I wanted to jump back on that wagon I told myself "why bother, there's too much going on, just let it slide".

Let me quickly explain something though, I hope I'm not confusing anyone by making them think when I say I let it slide or fell off the wagon, that it means I stopped cleaning my house or homemaking in general.  No, no, no.....it means, I stopped caring about the little details, about making things for my home, about trying my best to keep it all cozy and warm and cute.  I just did what was necessary for that day, dishes and cooking etc.

Didn't go the extra mile, so to speak!!!

Beginning of this year, about a week ago, I started feeling this overwhelming need to go back to my roots.  It didn't help that I've been going back on my blog and reading posts from prior years where I was like the perfect little homemaker, always on top of everything.  It made me feel good to read these posts but it also made me feel somewhat like a failure?  Like what is wrong with me that I stopped caring, stopped doing little things for the house.

The more I read, the more I realized how much I miss that structure and routine, and the more it became apparent to me that I have got to get my butt in gear and jump back on that wagon STAT.

Not because it's what is expected of me, or what others may want, but because it's what feels right and because it's what I love, and because I miss putting on my apron every morning and going about my chores, and making homemade bread, and preparing lunches for my children, and crocheting pillows for the couches and little doilies or jar cozies.

I miss plants in my house, I had so many back in Idaho and couldn't bring them with me and the house feels so empty without them.  I miss my herb garden back in Arizona, and my vegetables too.

I miss doing the dishes by hand and seeing all the pretty dishes drying.

I miss setting the table all pretty and sitting down for a meal with my family.  Oh we still have meals together but it's usually a quick hit and run, plates and forks and knives, a napkin and there ya have it.

I miss lighting candles and sitting down on the couch after a long day with my crochet.

I miss a house that is fully finished, not having to worry about moving boxes that have yet to be unpacked (I always unpacked everything within a few days of moving, not this time).

I miss being organized and staying organized.

I miss me.

The me that had time for everything, the me that would do laundry almost daily and not leave it for the weekend, the me that had a spotless kitchen and not dinner dishes in the sink in the morning, the me that made the phone calls that needed to be made and the appointments that needed to be set. 

We can be our biggest critics, that is for sure.  I know I am, but instead of going on about this, I had a nice long talk with myself. 

But now the talking is done, and I am sitting down today to work out a plan of action, a routine, a way to get me back on track without feeling overwhelmed. 

Truth is, and I'm sure you all know this already, but when you fall of the wagon with regards to anything, it's mighty hard to get back on, and mighty hard to not feel completely overwhelmed in the beginning.  Trick is to get past that, to push through.

So, I'm saying this in here because I need to be held accountable, and what better what for me to do that than to put it down on my blog where I will see it, and read it, and know what needs to be done.

There will be no more tackling household chores with a sense of dread.  
There will be no more rushed meals to get on the table.
There will be no more boxes in closets waiting to be dealt with.
There will be no more lists of things to do collecting dust.
There will be no more dragging myself through the day, counting down the hours until bedtime because I feel exhausted.
There will be no more skipping blog posts just because it's too much effort to get on and write something, it's not that I don't have things to blog about, it's that I didn't have the patience.

There WILL be the old me, back on it, back being the homemaker that I always took so much pride in.  I miss her, so very much and am thrilled to have reached this moment where I'm ready to make a change.

Past year has been absolutely miserable for me, I haven't been very happy to be honest, and not because of anything outside of myself, but because I wasn't being true to myself or my family or my house.

I know this post is long and I apologize, but I needed to vent and get my ideas in order, and if this in any way helps other homemakers out there, then even better.

I guess ultimately what I'm trying to convey here is that we all go through these moments and just as easy as it is to fall off that wagon, it's not impossible to get back on.

So if you've been feeling as I have, just know that it's normal and that you can start to enjoy your role as a homemaker, and when you do, taking care of the family and the house won't seem like such a difficult, frustrating task to do.

If you've made it to the end of this post, thank you, thank you for listening and reading, I so appreciate it :)

As I get older, I get more emotional.....

It's just the plain truth!

Having moved back to where my children were born, and where I first started my life as married woman AND in a new country, has been a blessing, and a joy......and extremely emotional.

For so many years I envisioned coming back *home*.  I even had dream after dream where we had moved back into our old house on base.  Every dream a little different.

Either the house was exactly the same but the area had changed, or the house was now haunted, or it was completely changed, or I found items that I had left behind when we moved to Arizona.  It was all very strange, but I think subconsciously, I was yearning to return.

And we did, and here we are.

The first time we drove back through the base, I felt this overwhelming feeling of joy and happiness, nothing I can really put to words.

But it was also very surreal, it almost felt like the past 7 years spent in Arizona had just ceased to be.

Things weren't all the same though, a lot, and I mean a LOT of things have changed on this base.  Our housing area is gone and in it's place, just a trees, lots and lots of overgrown bushes and trees, makes quite a sad sight.

 

That was the first time that I felt a tug at my heart and an overwhelming feeling of sadness.

But where I'm noticing the biggest struggle, seems to be at the commissary.  I know that sounds quite ridiculous and if I was reading this on someone else's blog I would be mighty confused, but let me explain.

When I go grocery shopping, I am right back in the commissary where I first shopped for my house as a married woman, and where I bought the first groceries to fix a meal for my husband, and where I later shopped while pregnant, and then a few months after with a newborn in a car seat, and then eventually with a newborn in the car seat and a toddler holding my hand.

So many memories, so many joys and just so many feelings attached to those thoughts.

And this is where I'm noticing just how emotional I am getting.  I find myself looking at these young military wives with their infants or toddlers, young mothers doing their shopping, their grocery carts filled with diapers and baby wash and formula.......and my heart aches because I miss that so very much.

My children are no longer babies, they are teenagers and don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with where we are right now, but I still can't help but feel melancholy when I see these young mothers.

It takes everything in my not to burst into tears.  Quite a sad sight if I were to give in to those feelings, I'm sure.

It just really makes me realize just how far we've come, and that no matter how much I am loving being back in this area, it never is the same, and never will be.

But that's ok, lesson here is to embrace all the changes, good or bad and to remember that just because something is not exactly how it used to be in the past, does not make it a bad thing, just makes it a different experience in our ever changing journey through life.

And now I'm going to go look through old photos and reminisce back to those days, not with tears in my eyes but with joy in my heart.