One of those days....

I've been scrambling around getting the house finished, in anticipation for family arriving this coming 4th of July weekend.

I love having family over, there's nothing like it, being able to sit and visit and enjoy good food.  But I'm weird in the sense that I want things done right, and I don't have a dirty or untidy house, but I always feel like I have to go the extra mile.

With just having moved in here a month ago, things are a bit more stressful because not everything is in it's place or completely unpacked.  I really could just leave it be, I know my family wouldn't care one bit if something is out of place of it there's a box lurking around.  Problem is....I can't do it, it kills me LOL

My kids will tell you that I'm always behind them picking things up and cleaning.  I disagree, I don't think I'm THAT bad, but what do I know?

See what moving does?  I finally got my kitchen benches put together only to find that I'm missing some hardware for the yellow one and the bottom for the blue one.  Where did they go?  I have no clue, I'm assuming somewhere in the garage and I'll eventually come across them.

They also took quite a beating and the paint has completely come off in some areas, which means, I need to retouch or sand down or whatever, decisions, decisions.

Got my chalkboard up in this kitchen.  I don't know, but I always feel much happier when I have one on the wall.  I still need to do some touch ups around the edges, and actually want to find some sort of trimming to place around, but for now, I couldn't resist getting it ready for the weekend.

I'm no artist and I'm terrible at drawing, but it's cute nonetheless.

I've had some books come in for review this past week, which I'm quite excited to read.  I reviewed a Charles Todd book not too long ago and enjoyed it so much.  I'm thrilled to be asked to review his other two.

I did have another book come in for review this afternoon, so I have plenty of reading to keep me busy over the summer.

Something else keeping me busy is the costume I'm working on for Jasmine.  This is the pattern I made for her shoulder pieces, and the design is just random free hand shapes that will be embroidered in gold thread once on the actual white satin.

My living room is now done.  I will take photos of it tomorrow as I plan on doing a house tour for tomorrow's post, so if you're interested in seeing my new home, be sure to come on back :)

Mind you, some rooms are not finished, I am still missing some furniture and some wall stuff, and my bedroom and office NEED to be painted because I can't handle the pink walls any longer.  Driving me insane.

But, I will still show you how things look and introduce you to this huge house I now call home.

Will save the outside for another day.

And speaking of outside, ever wonder what a dandelion looks like up close?  I know I did, and was so surprised to see just how stunning it is.

It never ceases to amaze me just how gorgeous nature really is.  How intricate the designs and colors on the simplest of things.  We take so much for granted, just knowing it's there.

Like this guy.  He was playing hide and seek with me. 

Here's the thing, I don't like Lizards, like....ugh, they move too fast for my liking LOL  But even I have to admit that he's beautiful, there's no denying that.

Well friends, it's almost 10pm and 5am comes around too fast.  I'm going to head to bed and try to get some much needed rest, I've been feeling very tired and unwell and I think I need to really take some time to myself.

Have a great night :)

One of thoseeeeee days!

 There's days where from the minute your feet hit the floor, everything falls into place, things run smoothly, your hair is looking amazing, your clothes fit like a glove, you feel beautiful and strong and ready to face the world.....and it all culminates in you slipping back into bed at the end of the day with a huge sense of accomplishment.

And then there's days like today.

Need I say more??!?!?!?

One of those, where from the get go things just don't run right, but you keep pushing through and thinking "oh it will get better, that was just one thing that went wrong".  The day progresses, and so do the mishaps.

Usually I find myself wishing the day to end, and it never seems to, does it?  It's like the bad days are often the longest ones.

Today was supposed to run pretty well, I knew I had to get groceries, I had everything planned and ready and worked out and was all set for a good, albeit busy kind of day......you know, trying to fit grocery shopping and housework and laundry in between schooling 4 kids, easy peasy.

I don't know folks, but nothing went as planned, I don't want to go into details, but I will say that I ended up sitting outside the grocery store with the food in the car, for close to an hour.  Then I had to drive 15 minutes home to drop everything off, asked the girls to please put the freezer and refrigerator items away for me, and walked right back out the door to drive another 15 minutes back to the base to go pick up my husband.

As I was heading home the first time with the groceries, I started developing the worst headache ever, like those headaches from hell, no doubt brought on by tension.

By the time I was back home for good, it was 3:30pm, thankfully the kids all did their work by themselves as best as they could so I didn't have to worry about that.  It helps when you have a 15 and a 17 year old at the house to keep the younger ones on track.

I got to work on the groceries and the headache not only persisted but seemed to grow every minute.  It was also around this time that I realized I had no clue what I was doing for dinner, so Oven Chili Dogs it was, quick, easy and about all I could handle for tonight.

It was also Tae Kwon Do night and as much as I wanted to skip it, we had to take Jasmine.  And the headache persisted.

So after dropping her off, we came back home, I threw on my slippers and headed straight outside.  I plopped on one of the chairs, propped my feet up and just inhaled deeply, allowing all the stresses of the day to just melt away.

There is something truly magical about being outside in the fresh air and sitting quietly, absorbing all the goodness that nature has to offer.  The gentle swaying of the leaves on the trees, the scent of the earth as the sun is setting, the beautiful light, all of it helping to diffuse the stressed soul.

My husband told me to stay home and he would go pick our daughter up, thank goodness.

After a bit, I came back in, had a super long hot shower, made myself a cup of hot coffee with some Caramel Creamer and headed to bed.

That is where you will find me at this precise moment. I have taken some Ibuprofen, I am waiting for the headache to subside and am about to watch the new episode of Haven, which premiered tonight, then I'll probably finish my documentary on the Unknown History of England's Domestic Servants.

I am hoping that after a good night's sleep, tomorrow will run so much better than today.