The Train To Crazy

The ongoing saga of stuff

As I have been unpacking my kitchen stuff, I've realized I have so many things that have gradually crept onto my shelves. Some things very useful, some things useful when we have company, and some things only useful a couple times a year. It is hard to get rid of things though. Sure, it's easy to get rid of the duplicates and things you never use or have something else that could serve the same purpose, but it is hard to get rid of everything else. 

Considering my current kitchen is half the size (storage wise) as my old kitchen, I think I've done rather well. Not only have I managed to cut down on stuff and get it all in the kitchen, but I've got room for my food! I used to have a walk in pantry. No more. I had considered putting food on a nearby bookshelf but am thankful that isn't necessary. 

I am sure I could have gotten rid of much, much more. We don't use our ice cream maker or our serving dishes very often but we do sometimes. Necessary? Absolutely not. But for now I'm keeping them.

Fluff

We use cloth diapers almost exclusively these days. 

I have 6 different different brands. All but one are pocket diapers. Here they are in my order of preference:

Snap E-Z: Love the trim fit, the snaps, the top stitching to prevent the inner lining from rolling out. Also love that it is a small business, employing work at home moms.

Sposo EZ: This is an all-in-one diaper. Great fit, holds a lot.

Green Acres Design (GAD): Great trim fit. Snaps. No top stitching so that's a bummer.

SwaddleBees: Great trim design. Snaps but no top stitching. Very similar to GAD diapers.

DryBees: These have a fleece outer layer, which I find wicks quite a bit. They have top stitching, which is great.

Happy Heiny's: These are my least favorite. Bulky fit, no top stitching, velcro closure.

Do you use cloth? What is in your stash?

Linked to Fluff Talk Thursdays at Happily Domestic

Runny noses and moving boxes

Yes, this week is move week. The girls and I are camping at our "old" house. We are selling furniture, visiting friends, playing with cousins and grandparents, and eating more snacks and takeout than we should. This week is dedicated to moving activities but we're still sneaking in some visits with friends. It is hard to see everyone in one week! 

It turns out that if you fly kids across the country and then drag them all over a state for days on end they end up cranky and a bit under the weather. We'll be staying "home" today to "relax". 

What do you need for living space?

We are deep in thought over here trying to figure out where we are going to live next. We are staying in this town, just can't stay here, in this particular apartment. I hate moving but I think deciding where to move might be worse. You can't have everything. It would be nice to have everything at the price you'd like to pay, but oddly enough the world doesn't work like that.

We are really lucky to be in a place that has a pool. We are trying to decide if it is worth it to us to stay in an apartment so that we can enjoy the pool, 3 months a year. There are other benefits to being here too but that one is calling us. It is really nice to go swimming and come right back inside without getting into a car. And bonus, we don't have to clean it!!!

I've been trying to decide what features of a home are most important. Here is what I've come up with.

• All 3 bedrooms on one floor. I don't want any of the kids on a different floor at night. I can just imagine someone falling down stairs in their sleepy stupor.
• Someplace to park inside a garage. It doesn't have to be our own garage, but it would be wonderful to park the car inside during the winter.
• At least 2 toilets. This might not be a requirement for you, but there are often multiple times a day when it is imperative to have 2 toilets or else clean up a mess on the floor. I'm not sure why it works this way but it does. 2 toilets for us.
• A large enough living space to accommodate some kid stuff. It doesn't have to be huge, but we'd like to bring the kitchen and slide... (really, an indoor slide is the BEST toy ever, especially on rainy days) 
• location, location, location. It has to be close enough to public transportation that Arthur doesn't spend an extra hour every day walking to the T. It also needs to be in a decent enough neighborhood that we can get out for a walk. Near a playground is a huge bonus. Any time we don't have to drive somewhere we are happy.  

What is on your list of must haves for your living space? 

What would you do?

As most of you know, we are trying to sell our house. This is our house. We don't live in our house. Our stuff lives in our house. We live 3,051 miles away. We bought this beautiful home at the height of the market two years ago. I'm sure you know the rest of the sad story. We NEVER expected we'd have to move. 

This is my beautiful kitchen that I designed and hoped I'd get to cook in for the next decade or more.

This is the house we just got an offer on. For WAY, WAY less than we spent on it. Did I say WAAAAAY less? 

In times like these, we can react in a few different ways. We can BE ANGRY WITH ALL THOSE PEOPLE WHO BOUGHT HOUSES THEY COULDN'T AFFORD AND THE BANKS WHO GAVE THEM INSANE LOANS TO HELP TANK THE MARKET. 

Or we can accept the fact that all that we have is not really ours in the first place. God tells us not to set our hearts on our own plans but it isn't until our plans fade away that we start to take notice of that command. We think that we've earned something. We've earned all that money we saved. We had plans with that money we earned and saved. We used that money we earned to buy a house. We bought a house because we had great plans of living in that house and doing our lives there. 

Sometimes we can think a little too highly of ourselves and all we've accomplished and lose sight of the fact that they were all GIVEN to us, not earned. There are people working twice as hard and living off of far less. 

“Furah carries wood and her eighteen-month-old daughter Shukyru, on the road linking Rupango to Sake, eastern Congo, Wednesday Nov. 19, 2008. Furah walks the 16 kms every day, crossing from the CNDP rebel controlled area to the government held town of Sake to sell wood.” (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

It is time we acknowledge where all of our stuff comes from and say a prayer of thanksgiving while loosening our grip a little.

The many uses of plates

This is beautiful. I found it here, via here. I could do this. 

We move. A lot

Have you moved a lot in your life? I lived in 4 houses from the time I was born until I graduated from High School. I never had to change schools. I really appreciated that. Since I graduated from college I have moved 11 times. In 10 years. We've been married nearly 7 years and have lived in 6 places.

Naomi has already lived in more houses than I lived in my entire childhood. She is 4 years old and has lived in 5 different places and it will be 6 before she has her next birthday. We're not talking about moves across the street either. Each move was a different town. She has already lived in 3 states. THREE states and she JUST turned 4. 

Naomi doesn't handle change well (most kids don't). We've learned a few things in the moves that have helped along the way. These are the most important;

Talk up the move before hand, but not too soon. It is important to give them as much of a visual image as possible about what is about to happen. If you are selling your house and packing up toys and such, let them be involved. Tell them as much as is age appropriate. With our latest move we started discussing that we were selling our house and moving about a week before we started getting our house staged to sell. We'd known for months but telling them so far in advance might have caused anxiety so we waited until a more appropriate time. If they were older we would have let them know sooner. When it came to talking about where we were moving, we tried to let them know what types of things we'd do once we moved and let them know as much as possible. We talked about how big our apartment would be, what toys we'd have, the fact that we'd still play outside and go to the playground, etc., etc. The important things to them. Give them the little details about what is going to happen between houses. Are you flying? Living out of suitcases for a while? You get the idea.

Keep things "normal". We try to make sure to spend lots of family time together during times of transition. Make sure the "special" toys are readily available during traveling and when you get to the new place. 

Get excited! Even if you aren't that excited, or aren't happy about the move at all, get excited for the kids. You don't have to lie, but you also shouldn't doom their move by frightening them either.

Don't plan any new developmental tasks around the time of the move. Daphne needs to be potty trained. She wants to be potty trained. The poor girls hasn't moved on to the big girl panties yet because first she had a baby sister, then moved to a "big bed" then gave up her pacifiers and is now completing a move. It wouldn't have been fair to her to try to train her right before or after the move. We have to give her time to get settled. 

Extra hugs and snuggles. Depending on their age, most little ones can't really tell you what they are thinking or worrying about. Extra snuggles and attention help to soothe them through the possibly scary time.

What has helped your kids during times of transition and moving?

MY kitchen essentials

As any good story does, mine had some foreshadowing. I posted last July about what I would find absolutely necessary in a small kitchen. Well, well, well. As I mentioned, this kitchen came "furnished" with the rest of the house. Unfortunately that meant plates, bowls, cups, glasses, a tiny mixing bowl, a tiny sauce pan, a 1 quart pan, a 10 inch skillet, silverware, terrible knives, a spatula and a can opener. OH, don't forget that casserole pan and our ONE dish towel! Of course, I thought ahead and brought some of my essentials with me. So, out of my essential list I made in July, here is what I have.

1. dishes

3. silverware

4. set of glasses

7. onion chopper

14. vita mix

14. food processor (what was with two number 14's?

15. toaster

16. knives (but they are FAR from acceptable

17. kitchenaid mixer 

22. the pizza stone. None of the rest including any baking dishes!!!

24. juice pitcher

30. bulk food storage containers

Honorable mention: ice cream scoop and pizza cutter

I am painfully aware of the missing items. Can I tell you how long it took me to make fajitas in my one 10 inch skillet with terrible knives and a TINY glass cutting board? Too long, that is how long. So the question is, can I survive like this for the next 6 months or should I break down and buy some of my essentials? Here's what I'm thinking.

Knives. I need good knives.

Cutting board. I need a good wood cutting board.

Large skillet. A must.

Bread pans, 8X8 pan... musts!

Measuring cups. A definite must have.

Mixing bowls. Who can live without those?

Cookie sheets.

Storage containers. What am I supposed to do with my fajitas left over??

A spoonula.

Tongs.

Dish towels.

Now I'm off to find my positive hat. Where did I put that? I know I saw it somewhere... What couldn't you live without in your kitchen? 

Living in a museum and other tales of selling a house

I feel like I have boxed up half of our belongings and taken 40 trips to Goodwill and our house is still full of stuff. How does this happen?! Our house is now officially for sale. I am praying it sells quickly and for a great price... praying.

If getting the house ready to sell was hard, imagine keeping it spotless at every moment while having a four month old, a two year old and a three year old. Say what? We have a dining room, a kitchen table and a breakfast bar area and all are fully set for "staging." We eat on the floor. One less surface to clean that way at least! We don't use the towels that are hung up, we use the ones hanging on the inside of the closet door. We don't put diapers in the diaper pail, we take them all the way out. We don't have many toys out. Seriously, we took 95% of the toys out of the house, less to pick up in a hurry. The list goes on. I'm hoping not to go insane!

I have to say that I am rather pleased with how great I've gotten the house looking. I know it isn't ideal to wait until you are moving to decorate your house, but it just wasn't functional or a top priority before. We didn't have any furniture (other than play furniture) in our family room before. All our rooms were a bit cluttered on most days. Dishes didn't always get done right away. That is functional. This is not functional for a long period of time but I sure like living in this museum...

Have you lived in a house when it was for sale? How did you keep it looking ready to show at any moment? Any tricks?

Two Weeks!

Wow, Maggie is 2 weeks old! So, what is it like having a newborn, a two year old and a three year old? Busy, tiring, stinky! Thankfully Maggie is a sleepy baby and rarely cries if she is awake. Naomi and Daphne are great big sisters. Naomi likes seeing Maggie and rubbing her hair. She has no interest in holding her still though. Daphne is much more enthusiastic about showing her affection toward Maggie. She cries if Maggie is sleeping and she can't go visit her. She wants to be looking at her and touching her every moment that Maggie is awake. Don't call her a big sister though because for some reason she doesn't think Maggie is her sister, no matter how much we talk about it.

I realized today that since Maggie sleeps or eats most of the time she's only been laying down on a blanket a couple moments in her life. We took the opportunity to let her do a little tummy time tonight and the girls enjoyed being able to lay next to her. Much to our surprise, Maggie rolled over! I'm sure it is a fluke but we have to laugh because Daphne didn't roll over once until she was EIGHT months old! Naomi started rolling all over the place at 10 weeks but 13 days seems a bit early. We had noticed the past few days on the changing table that she rolls onto her side so I'm wondering if she'll be able to figure out how to roll over again anytime soon. We'll see. It just shows that every kid is so different! It is impossible to compare these milestones because all of our kids are totally "normal", they just accomplished different things at different times.

Here is some of the fun we've been having with Maggie.

The BEST Fall Day

Yesterday was a fantastic day in the PNW. Cool, crisp air. Cloudless, sunny skies. Awesome. Arthur took the day off and we headed to the pumpkin patch. We really like the one at the Plant Farm. It is free and there is a little train ride, hay rides, a couple bounce houses, some animals to look at, and it is small. The girls enjoyed the bounce house. Naomi spent most of her time falling down and laughing.

Then came the search for the perfect pumpkin. This one is "too heavy."

"ahhhh!!!"

Just right.

Yuck, these are dirty!

This one is just right.

Off to the train!

Aren't these pants cute?

We headed for a walk around Greenlake after that. It was a really great day for the walk. Of course we couldn't head home before getting in some swings, slides and merry go round action. The baby didn't understand that me walking 3 miles was to entice her to come now. No contractions, just wishful thinking.

We topped the day off with some hot chocolate. A great day.

Kitchen Organization?

Rocks in My Dryer has a meme called "Works for me Wednesday" and this week's theme was kitchen organization. It amazes me how many people participate in this. There were hundreds of responses. I looked at a few handfuls of them and came up with a few interesting ones I thought I'd share.

A Simple Walk shared about her master menu plan, and other things. It was the master menu plan that interested me. She has a spreadsheet with all of the food she makes, from breakfast foods, breads, lunches, dinners, sides, etc. so it makes meal planning easy. Ah, good idea. Not so much "hmm... what else do we eat?" type thoughts going on.

Shouting For Ha has a great idea to store that giant bag of Costco onions, or all those onions from your garden.

In My Blonde Life gives the homemade baby food treatment to marinara sauce in order to make that jar last.

View from the Glen has a 3 minute plan to clean the kitchen and de-stress her life. Makes me wonder why it takes me so much longer than 3 minutes. At any rate, she is SO right about how a messy or cluttery kitchen just raises your stress level.

And this one, well, you just have to read it. It is about how to feed a family of FIVE on $150 a month. Yes, you read correctly. Not only does that include their food, but their toiletries and paper supplies! Yikes! Talk about frugal. All you moms out there who answered my poll saying that if money wasn't a problem you'd prefer to stay at home with your kids should read this!

What to do with all that kids' artwork?

Every parent's dilemma. What to keep and what to toss? Clearly the prolific little painter doesn't need to keep ALL of his or her paintings. Which are important to keep, where do you put them, how do you display them? Right now I have a stack of arts and crafts I'm trying to go through. This is what I've come up with in my research to remedy this problem.

The first thing you have to do is SORT it! Just keep a few of the things that represent your child at the moment, or showcase the stage of development. I'm sure your kids can help you decide which to keep and which to toss. Then, write down the artists name, when it was created, how it was created, etc. on the back.

So where or how do you SAVE this stuff? Here are some great ideas I'm hoping to incorporate.

* scan them or take pictures and save them on the computer, less clutter!

* create a rotating display gallery

* use shadowbox frames to display special art

* create a book

* buy a pretty box to put them in after they've been displayed

* go rubermaid

Once you've done this, how do you DISPLAY it all? I've seen some pretty creative display ideas on other people's blogs lately. One was particularly impressive and I am really sad I can't find where it was. Let me lamely describe it to you. This mother probably used photoshop to put somewhere around 16 pieces of art together. there were white borders around each and there were a few that were just solid color. This was then framed. Very cute. It was similar to this, but with artwork and just one large frame, obviously. I think it was much cuter.

A display idea that I really like is this one at Land of Nod. My 30 cent version includes some string, 3 picture hooks and some clothes pins.

With a little time and creativity I'm sure you could make one just as cute as the store bought versions, probably cuter. Here are some ideas to get you started (not me though, mine are staying plain jane).

Some other great display ideas I've seen but didn't bookmark include buying some large pegboard from Home Depot and then clipping artwork to that. I've also seen magnetic boards used for rotating current artwork. Cork boards work fine as well.

Another one of my favorites was this one. I've scanned a few of Naomi's pieces of art into PDF documents so far but not nearly enough to make a book. This would be cool to make after 4 or 5 years of artwork. I don't need a book for every year.

GIVE the artwork as a gift. This is a shirt Naomi drew for my dad's birthday.

All you need are fabric crayons, blank paper and an iron! If the original artwork wasn't done with fabric crayons you could always trace it onto another piece of paper with the fabric crayons.

You can also;
* use the art as wrapping paper

* scan the art and put it to music on a CD for family viewing pleasure

* frame the art in a nice frame for a gift

* make a greeting card out of them

* use the scanned images to create a calendar for the grandparents (or yourself)

I'm planning to make photo albums for each of my girls at some point in the future to chronicle their early lives. Much like a scrapbook or a baby book, but I don't scrapbook. Scanning in some of their artwork and other memorabilia would go very well in this type of project. If you've never made a book or a photo book, I highly recommend Blurb.

What do you do with all the artwork and crafts at your house? I know some of you make A LOT of crafts with your kids. Do you save it? I'm always looking for great ideas!

Taking Care of "The List"

Time is ticking away here before baby comes. I have been having lots of contractions here and there over the past couple weeks and they were actually fairly strong last night (though we were hoping they'd go away since today is Daphne's birthday). The good news is I'm still pregnant which means I can continue to check things off my "to do list". The bad thing is... well, I'm in pain!

I was inspired by Rachel at Small Notebook to clean out my files last week. Sound Money Tips has great advice on which documents you need to keep and which you can toss. It is something Arthur and I have been talking about doing for a while but I finally did it. Mostly because it wasn't on my List. 4 large garbage bags of shredded paper later (you know you can compost plain white paper shreds, right?) I have only 1 file drawer full of necessary papers. Feels good. Now I just need to get to the rest of the stuff on the List.

We put together a bookshelf I bought months ago to house my fabric. I've finally gotten that off the floor. Next up: what to do with a huge box of apples? They are rather tart apples. The girls don't like to just eat them. What would you make? Any good recipes?

And The Job Decision IS...

Boston it is! I use an exclamation point because it seems like news like that needs an exclamation point but really I don't feel like exclaiming anything. Like Arthur says, "A good job is better than no job." That's the truth. This is a great job opportunity for his career. Much better than anything he could get here at this point in time, but really, there is no job here so that isn't even a factor. The GREAT news is that we don't have to move for 6 to 12 months! Now THAT deserves an exclamation point. Considering this baby is going to show up any day now, it will be good to get a chance to get said baby settled in a bit before putting the house on the market and making the trek across country.

We broke the sad news to our family yesterday at Daphne's birthday party and my mother correctly noted, "you sure know how to ruin a party." Yes, it will be incredibly difficult to leave my family. Especially considering my brother and his family will be moving (much further than Boston) in January. But, we aren't actually moved until we move so I'm going to try to remain positive about it. Plus, who knows how long we'll be there anyway.

SO, I know many of you have been wondering what is going on and that's it. I'll write more details when I know them!

My Garden in Review

I know I talked a lot about my garden last Spring but never posted many updates about how it went. So today I took some pictures. Unfortunately many of the things that had been growing are no longer there but you can get the idea...

For those of you who weren't reading when I started my garden, here is the short story. We had a backyard consisting of a patch of grass surrounded by lots of bark. That's it. I have been waiting years to finally have a yard. So last Spring I enlisted my dad to build me some raised beds for my garden. I had done a bunch of research and decided I really wanted to give Square Foot Gardening a try. Not only is it functional for small spaces but it is very aesthetically pleasing.

We also planted a bunch of fruit. We have a couple apple trees, a peach tree, plum tree, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and strawberries. I'm hoping we'll be around next year to actually get a chance to eat the fruit from the trees!

This was my first garden so I learned a lot about what to do differently. Here is the short list.
1. Plant more peas. I had about 40 plants but that wasn't nearly enough for my kids. They eat peas like they are going out of style.
2. Fertilize the tomatoes, peppers and corn. They were all slow growing and the peppers really aren't growing. The garden is full of compost but it just wasn't enough for these crops. I bought some great organic fertilizers later in the season but I'll use them earlier next time.
3. Don't grow broccoli. My mom warned me about this but I had to try it. The cabbage worms ate the leaves and then I don't know if it was the weather or what but the broccoli went to seed before it ws even finished growing. Anyone know why that would happen?
4. Figure out how to keep the predators from my carrots
5. Grow less lettuce. It turns out we don't really eat much of it.
6. Other things I want more of next year- corn. strawberries (38 plants have given us bowls full every week but, much like the peas, it is never enough. tomatoes. zucchini. raspberries. blueberries.
7. Figure out why my cucumbers, basil and peppers didn't grow. They aren't dead, just not growing.

Remlinger Farm

We had never been to Remlinger Farms in Carnation before. We didn't really know what to expect but it was great! It was the perfect place to take an almost 2 year old and a 3 year old. Almost everything is geared toward this age group. There were a few rides they couldn't do, or would have been too scared to do, but other than that it was loads of fun. I highly recommend it for the 10 and under crowd.

The girls started out by playing on the old school bus and fire truck.

Then we headed to the pony rides. Both girls really enjoyed this though Daphne was a bit braver. Arthur was busy taking pictures and stepped on a steamer, in his sandals. mmm....

Then we went on a train ride. The ride was actually pretty long, somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes I'd guess. We got to see donkeys, emus, llamas and alpacas, a bull and some other stuff on the ride.

Then off to one of their favorite places- the hay jump and maze. Surprisingly Arthur sent them in one end of the maze by themselves and they made it out the other end smiling and asking to go back!

They loved the ferris wheel

and the carrousel

They also enjoyed the canoes and the cars

But not so much the roller coaster...

In fact, they stopped it early to let that screamy child off (Daphne). They also had some tea cup type ride, some big bikes the girls were too small for and a spinning pumpkin ride. We will definitely have to go back.

You Can't Eat Flowers

This whole move/job situation is very interesting. It is always comforting to know that there IS a job out there, even if it isn't the location that is ideal. I was thinking yesterday about how great it must feel to be Arthur in this situation. OK, well, not great all around, but great in knowing that a company really wants him. I don't mean they offered him the job and are hoping he takes it. They REALLY want him. Not only did they offer him the job before the merger has taken place (they have not offered jobs to ANYONE else in his company) but they flew us out for a cheap little 4 day vacation to Boston. Our hotel bill for 3 nights was nearly $1000. Plus they rented us a car, took us out for a fancy dinner, breakfast, etc. etc. They set me up with a realtor to show me the area while he had meetings to meet everyone he'd be working with so they could entice him.

This is all great and makes him think the people he'd be working for and with are thoughtful. Of course, that doesn't make it a slam dunk that he would take the job. He'd definitely take it if it didn't require a move. As far as I can tell this is probably the best opportunity career wise that he'll get at this point in his life.

Yesterday I got a bit of a surprise delivery. They sent ME flowers! How odd, but also nice. Of course, any thinking person understands that no sane husband is going to drag his wife, newborn and two preschoolers across the country if she doesn't want to go... The flowers are really pretty (and obviously very expensive) but I'm not sure it is flowers that will convince me. This picture really doesn't do them justice.

Now, if they knew me they'd have sent truffles...

Boston Here I Come! (for a visit)

The tickets have been purchased... we are going to Boston next Tuesday night to check it out. We'll be there for 4 days, which will hopefully be enough time to check out a bunch of neighborhoods and see if we like the area enough to live there. The girls will be with my parents so I'm sure they'll have a blast.

The dilemma for me right now when thinking about this possible move is the trade off between living closer to Arthur's job, and thus a shorter commute for him and more time for him at home, vs. more living space... Anyone with 3 kids care to comment? You can comment if you know my kids too- you probably have a good idea about the type of energy they need to burn off daily. I'm trying to think in terms of the first 9 months of the baby's life. Which is better, have Arthur at home an extra 30 minutes a day, or have more space for the older ones to run around a play a bit (a bit because it would still be less space than we have here). Plus I'm used to having family a short distance away if I need help (which is a lot) so that would be a really tough transition.

I asked for useful advice in the last post about the move. At this point even the non-useful advice is good! Thanks for all the prayers everyone has offered! Arthur has another interview (for another company in Seattle) on Monday so keep that in mind as well!

Why would someone plan a move with a newborn?

Naomi, our first daughter, was born in Hoboken, NJ. We knew we'd be moving right after she was born for Arthur's new job in Seattle. We put our house up for sale one week before she was born and prayed it would sell quickly so we wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of having a newborn in the house while the house is for sale. It did. In 2 days, which is ideal when you are 9 months pregnant.

We waited until she was 5 weeks old before we moved. It really wasn't that bad actually. She was great on the plane. We got to Seattle and found a place to live right away. She wasn't so dreamy to move with when we moved into our new home when she was about 3 months old though. She demanded much more attention so that was harder. At any rate, it wasn't nearly as difficult as people had warned me. Maybe she was just a "good" baby at that point. It also helped that she was an only child and we didn't have tons of stuff to unpack. It was also very helpful that where we moved to was the place where all our family was.

We moved again after Daphne was born. She was almost one. We needed more space and were *forced* by the nature of our desire to not spend a fortune while getting a lot of space, to move to the suburbs. It was more difficult moving with two kids, for sure. Fortunately Daphne was at a pretty good stage in babyhood. Of course, having my mom's help is always priceless. She is an excellent unpacker!

So once again we are contemplating a move after having a baby. Why, you may ask? Arthur is looking for jobs (as his current one will cease to exist shortly) and so far our only option is Boston. It is still early in the game so we're praying that local things will come up. At any rate, I am NOT looking forward to moving in any way, shape, or form.

Oddly enough we never visited Boston while living on the East Coast so I have no idea what it is like. Have you been there? I know it is more expensive than Seattle and certainly more expensive than Lynnwood. I know our families aren't there and that is about all I know! We are planning to take a trip out there shortly to get a feel for the area and see what we think. I am glad that we still have good friends in NYC and NJ and one of my best friends is moving to Albany tomorrow! These are good things.

I hate making decisions like this. For me there seem like no up sides. Of course, having a husband that is employed is a plus, especially since my income is, um, non existent. But let's be honest, the income I COULD make if I were gainfully employed wouldn't get us too far anyway. I know the job is a great opportunity for him, yada yada... but seriously, baby number THREE is on the way and baby number ONE is just three! We're a bit anxious in that department. Not to mention the fact that we just moved into this house last year and the market has, um, declined, just a bit. Chances of us selling this place in 2 days is pretty much the same odds that I'll win the lotto.

So, for those of you wondering, that is what the deal is at this point. Thoughts, prayers and *useful* advice welcome!

Quietly Listening

I was really sick yesterday. I spent most of the day in bed. I had barely slept the night before because of my; back, hips, heart burn, asthma, cough, stuffed up nose, etc., etc. While I hate being sick, I love being able to just lay around all day. Those days don't happen very often. I like being able to hear the girls playing in the house. I like hearing them get into an argument and have someone else handle it. I like listening to the way they interact with one another and hearing the things they say.

During their nap time yesterday we were all tired so we all attempted to take naps. Naomi was not as successful as the rest of us. For the most part, however, she was playing fairly quietly in her room. As quietly as you can be when you have such a big imagination. When Daphne woke up from her nap I heard Naomi go to her room and open the door. I listened, hoping not to have to get out of bed because I was exhausted. Arthur was napping in Naomi's room, attempting to keep her quiet so she didn't wake the rest of us up.

Meanwhile, I could hear Daphne saying, "mommy, mommy! MOMMY!" Then the other little voice in the room say, "Daphne, you have to be quieter because Mommy and Daddy are sleeping." Then I hear, "let's jump!" Which I can only imagine means Naomi had crawled into Daphne's crib to keep her company. Naomi noisily jumps and talks and sings. Daphne then begins to talk and Naomi reminds her "you have to be quieter Daphne." After a few minutes Daphne becomes impatient because she doesn't want to be in her bed and I hear Naomi walk back to her room and say something to Daddy about getting Daphne. She then goes back to Daphne to keep her company. A minute later Daphne becomes upset she is still in bed and I hear Naomi go back to her room and say, "Daddy, you have to get up and get Daphne!" So Arthur gets her up and goes back to sleep.

The girls play fairly quietly for a while as I attempt to get back to sleep. Then I feel someone begin to crawl on my bed. I feel her getting closer and closer. Then I hear a whisper, "Daphne, Mommy isn't feeling good, you have to let her sleep." And then, "Mommy! What you doing? Doing Mommy?" I play asleep and then I feel someone snuggling with my back. I open my eyes and there are two girls inches from my face, staring at me. Precious.

Downsizing? UPDATED

So, I've been thinking lately about how much stuff we have (and I like it all- well, most of it) and then hypothesizing if I had to downsize for some reason what I would keep and what I would get rid of. Just a fun little game in my head. I can think of tons of toys I'd toss... Seriously, how did we accumulate so many? Please don't give us any more!

We've lived in 4 places in the last 6 years. The first was a 500 sq. ft. apartment that was so conveniently (ha!) situated on 2 floors with a narrow metal winding ladder stair case in the middle. Next we moved to a seemingly enormous 2 bedroom condo where we lived for a short while before moving out west. The place we had in Seattle was in a great location but terribly laid out for children so we moved, yet again. This time to a giant (compared to our previous dwelling places) house, in the suburbs, with a yard. Ahhh... space. There are so many benefits to this that I am not sure I can name them all. For starters, we have enough space that our living area doesn't have to be taken over with toys. We have a garden, and fruit trees. We live on a culd-a-sack where a dozen neighbor kids play every afternoon. I'll write about the drawbacks of THAT another time. The girls' bedroom is on the same floor as ours. We have a laundry room. And, we have a nice big kitchen with enough cabinet space for all my junk.

So I've been hypothesizing about what would happen if we had to move back into one of those old places (trying not to think about the complete inconvenience of it all) but focusing on what I'd keep and what I'd get rid of. Amy Karol at Angry Chicken posted her favorite kitchen gadgets list and that got me thinking about what is really cool to have, and what can be done without. Like her, I love the apple peeler/corer, the tongs, cookie scoop, grill press, whip creamer, salad spinner, and a ton of other things. What do I really need though?

If I had to put it all in a couple cupboards this is what I'd bring;
1. Correll dishes (I don't have these but would have to get rid of all my heavy, large, pottery style dishes to make room for other things and Correll are awesome for being lightweight and space saving.
2. My melamine mixing bowl set. I don't have a link for these but they are nesting and have a rubber grip on the bottom which makes them awesome. They are really the only bowls I use anymore.
3. My silverware.
4. A set of glasses. We have some from Ikea that stack nicely. I need to get some more.
5. Our Take and Toss sippy cups. They stack nicely as well and are made from a #5 plastic.
6. Little stackable plastic bowls and plates from Ikea for the kids.
7. My onion chopper/slicer. Can't live without it. Cutting onions kills me. I've had other types of choppers before but this is definitely the best. Chops any veggie. I can dice an onion in a minute or two, which is priceless.
8. My silicone flippers. love them. Have them in multiple sizes.
9. My metal flipper. A must have as well for cookies and other times.
10. Tongs
11. My spoonula.
12. A wooden spoon or two.
13. A silicone wisk.
14. My Vita-Mix
14. My food processor
15. My toaster
16. Knives, though I'd buy a new, sharp set, where they all fit in the block.
17. My Kitchenaid mixer if I had enough space. If not I'll keep my hand mixer.
18. My new Anchor Hocking glass storage containers. I got them at Walmart.
19. Some stackable measuring cups and spoons.
20. My large glass measuring cups.
21. I love my cast iron griddle and press. I also have a large double grill that basically stays on my stove at all times. If I had the space I'd want them both, along with all my pots and pans.
22. As far as bakeware all I really need is a 9x13 baking dish, an 8x8 baking dish, muffin tin, cake pan, bread pans, a couple cookie sheets, my pizza stone, and a pie plate. All the other stuff is great but I really don't make cheese cakes that often and I rarely make anything that requires all the other shaped pans.
23. I have a bunch of serving platters and bowls. I'd need a few of those, along with a pitcher. I'd leave my wine glasses and milk shake glasses behind. They are cool but we don't use them much and if we need them the drinks will work fine in my Ikea glasses ;)
24. I'll need a juice pitcher.
25. The salad spinner can stay if it fits as well.
26. I'd love to keep my tortilla warmer.
27. I'll need a cheese grater. I have an electric one but my simple one from Ikea will do.
28. A couple wooden cutting boards.
29. My new $3 citrus juicer would be nice to keep.
30. I'd need to keep all my bulk food storage containers... hopefully they'll fit!
31. I can't forget my dutch oven and a couple casseroles as well.

UPDATE: I need my Zyliss ice cream scoop, my pizza cutter and my carrot peeler.

OK, I think that might be it! Did I leave out something vital?

What do you think? Which room in your house would be hardest to "downsize"? What would you keep and what would you give to people who actually need your excess? My poor neighbor (a sixty something widow) is trying to move into his house and has a few rooms less than he had before but can't seem to get rid of anything. Now, I understand the sentimental value of everything, don't get me wrong... BUT... he can't live with boxes stacked to the ceiling forever, and neither can you in your new 500 sq. ft. apartment. What will you get rid of?

Feel free to comment here or just post on your blog and put a link in your comments.

Something to dwell on...

”If you have two coats, give one away... do the same with your food.” Luke 3:10-11

Still So Many Things To Do...

My list is still in tact.

Here is what I accomplished today- note I didn't complete anything from my list;
1. Went to the doctor. The baby is seemingly healthy and doing well. Unfortunately it has been confirmed that I am now the weight I was on the last day of my first two pregnancies. If you are familiar with a calendar you will notice I still have 10+ weeks to gain weight until the baby arrives.
2. I watered the garden (always a good thing)
3. Took pictures of the kids' toys to use as labels on their toy drawers and bins. It occurs to me that they cannot read the labels I have on everything. While this wasn't technically on my list of things to do this week it is something I've been wanting to do for a while.
4. Made my weekly meal plan and bought the food at the grocery store. I'm making a bunch of breakfast foods for dinners so I can actually have pictures of my recipes that I'm going to share for this week's Great Food Friday. Start thinking about what you are going to share! Let's see if we can get more than 3 people to participate ;)
5. Ordered fabric to make training pants for the girls- though can you mark something off a mental list if it really just creates more things to do?
6. Bathed my children. Yes, this is an accomplishment.

To do tomorrow:
1. Apologize to Naomi for telling her it was her fault she fell on her head when she was pulling her pants down. She was doing it in a way to prove to me she couldn't do it (see mom, I need help going to the potty) even though I was showing her how to do it- yes she can do it. She was exaggerating her movements and fell. I could have been more empathetic. OK, I wasn't quite as bad as this sounds.
2. Clean the kitchen
3. Cut Arthur's hair
4. Clean the office/sewing/exercise room
5. Organize the kids' cupboard
6. Be less grumpy in the morning. Or at least not take offense when Arthur tells me I am grumpy.
7. Read another chapter of my book.

And here is something for your viewing pleasure...

So Many Things To Do

It is Monday. I had a list of things to do this past weekend and not many of them got done. I did lots of things NOT ON MY LIST though. Probably trying to avoid cleaning up my office space. I bought tons of new flowers and planted most of them yesterday. I worked for probably 4 or 5 hours in the yard. I couldn't find our shovel so I had to use a little hand shovel to dig through the rocky clay we call flower beds. I got about 30 pots planted but have about 18 left. Yes, I bought a lot of plants. Thankfully Arthur cooked dinner last night so I didn't have to. My sore hands need a break for now though. Here are the things I HAVE to do this week;

1. Finish the first half of Raising An Emotionally Intelligent Child for my book club Thursday Thanks for informing me Emily that I do indeed have a whole extra week to procrastinate on this one!
2. Clean my office/sewing space
3. Finish planting
4. Organize the kids' craft cabinet
5. Make fishing poles
6. Return library books
7. Print mailing label and take box to UPS to return clothes to ON
8. Finish sewing Naomi's skirt
9. Return table to Ikea and get the one I thought I had bought!
10. Pick up new van, AIR IT OUT

Things I need to do before baby arrives

1. Finish 5 books I am in the process of reading- post reviews
2. Sew baby's blankets, bibs and diapers
3. Finish sewing smocks and skirts for the girls
4. Organize N & D's preschool lesson plans for the fall

O.K. Now, make sure I get these things done! I clearly cannot be responsible for myself... And here is a little secret some of you have been asking about. I can write a post on typepad anytime and set it to post on any date or time I want. So, when I post something 3 times in one day a couple hours apart, chances are I wrote them all the night before, or possibly even a week before, which isn't unheard of. One more reason I love typepad.

Sewing: Smock

I know I said I'd post more pictures of the things I've been sewing so here is the smock I made Naomi a couple weeks ago. I made it a bit big so it should fit for a while. I still need to make one for Daphne though... some day. I have a whole laundry list of things I need to sew before baby arrives. I guess that means I actually need to clean up my sewing area so I can accomplish this. Maybe next week...

Teaching Character?

I have written a bunch about educational toys and activities and what not. I haven't written a whole lot about the more important education- character education. So we could debate all day how much you can teach character, and how much is genetic, but let's assume for the moment that your children are blank slates (which they aren't). I haven't found a whole lot of "toys" specifically targeted at character development. However, the use of regular, every day toys and situations, is an awesome way to teach these principles. There are teachable moments and modeling moments everywhere you look.

Many people comment on how "good" my kids are. This is where I usually stop them and say something along the lines of, "they were born that way." The truth is that they were definitely born with strong personalities but I think we've probably done a little influencing along the way. I get sad when I hear comments like one I heard the other day. I was telling a woman that we were taking our kids the the street fair last Saturday and her response was, "that is a good activity to call up the grandparents and ask them to take the kids." I kind of joked it off and said it would be fun and then she said, "yah, but my kids aren't like your kids." Seriously? That is sad (not that they aren't like my kids but that she thinks like this).

So, how can we influence our kids behavior and ultimately their character or internal thought process? I'm no expert so I can't tell you. I CAN tell you what I've learned over the years working with kids and my few years with my own. The most important thing you can do is to understand that they are not their behavior. Meaning, your kid isn't "bad" because they behave badly. See the difference? Please, never tell your child they are bad or any other demeaning thing. The looking glass self is a real issue. This doesn't mean that you have to be all positive all the time but just be aware.

Back to teachable moments... These are so easy to do! When your kids are playing they will supply you with hundreds of opportunities to help them think through problems and situations or for you to point out different ways they could have handled things. Use a calm, steady voice, and do it while you are at their level playing with them. Yelling things from across the room isn't really considered a teachable moment. I can remember my dad using TV shows as teachable moments a lot while I was growing up.

Modeling behavior is an amazing tool. Don't expect your kids to be honest if you lie. If you leave the grocery store and realize there was a can in the bottom of the cart you didn't pay for, take it back in and pay for it. What do you think your kids will learn if you say something dismissive and just go along your merry way? Think about how you relate to other people, how you treat strangers and friends alike. What tones do you use at home? Of course, looking at yourself in this way you'll probably get depressed at all your failings and shortcomings so give yourself a break and then focus on small things you can work on. There is nothing wrong with teaching your children that we are all human and fall short. Show them you are not above apologizing.

Discipline is also a way to build character. There are as many methods of discipline as there are parents in the world. Discipline can definitely cross a line and become harmful to a kid. Lack of discipline is also harmful. There has to be a balance and the only way it will actually teach a child anything is if it is consistent. Not just that you are consistent, but that all parents are consistent with each other as well. Tall order? Maybe, but like any of my other advice I'd say talking about it with your spouse or whoever your children's mother/father may be is important. It is possible to get on the same page. If you are in totally different ball parks then I'd suggest seeking outside help.

I have tons of ideas to share but those will have to wait...

Home Cleaning

I've been reading about making your own cleaners for different things in your house. Randi at i have to say makes her own laundry detergent. She says it has cost her $2 for two months of cleaning. I looked into it a bit more and I'm a bit concerned about using Borax so I think I'll pass on this option. While Borax is a natural product, it may not be entirely safe for humans so... I won't be saving money in this way.

I've switched laundry detergent to a more water system friendly one. Ecos can be found in giant size at Costco so I think it is pretty cost effective. In fact, I bought the container a couple months ago and I'm pretty sure I'll have it for 6 more months at the rate we use it.

I've also switched to an "eco friendly" dish washer soap, Ecover. I've used it off and on for a year and so far no complaints. I'd recommend it.

I use just vinegar and water on our wood floors and it cleans really well.

I've had problems finding bathroom cleaners that are natural or eco friendly that really work well. Do you have any recommendations? I have a Mrs. Meyers toilet cleaner that works fine but when it comes to my grubby shower, well...

Like I mentioned before, microfiber cloths, are a great way to clean without cleaners. Beware though not to wash them with fabric softeners (or linty towels). I am a bit concerned because I just looked at my laundry soap and one of the ingredients is a fabric softener. I'm wondering if that little bit will negate the positive effects of the microfibers. Hmmm...

What cleaning products do you use that work well? Please share!

As an update to yesterday's discussion on plastic and paper in the kitchen, Baking Bites had an article on biodegradable picnic ware, called Vegware. Interesting.

Too many napkins

We use a lot of paper towels. Mostly because we never have any clean towels in the kitchen. Well, that and they are convenient. We do compost them, so they don't end up clogging our garbage can, but lately I've been thinking about our need to use more cloth napkins. I finally bought more kitchen towels so we *should* have some in the kitchen at all times.

Costco had a big pack of microfiber towels so I got those. Did you know that you don't need to use cleaners when you are using microfiber? All you need is to wet it down and the microfibers do the cleaning work. This is great. The ones from Costco are full dish towel sized so I need to cut a few in half for cleaning counters and sinks and such. Yes, I do that occasionally.

I have TONS of fabric pieces that I should be able to make tons of cloth napkins out of. They are super easy to make. I'm pretty sure you can buy them cheaply at discount stores as well.

So, what about packing lunches? We've made the switch to mostly glass storage containers for the fridge. I found a bunch at Walmart for pretty cheap. The problem is Arthur doesn't like to take the glass containers in his lunches. The other issue is all the plastic baggies we go through. I know you can buy some made out of corn starch somewhere. I saw a great idea somewhere to wrap sandwiches and fruit and stuff in cloth napkins or bandanas. OK, I know it would take some convincing to get Arthur to buy into this one. But seriously, it would save some plastic bags from the landfill or the incinerator.

What do you do in your kitchen to save garbage and waste?

Today's Harvest

The girls and I were able to gather some more food from the garden. Today we had 4 more peas ready along with our first strawberries of the season! Yummy!

Within Your Means: Budgeting

The whole idea of living simply is buzzing around lately. I'm sure we are definitely not on that bandwagon. We buy things we want, when we want them, and don't feel guilty about it (for the most part). But, of course, that is a decision we've made, for good or for bad. The trouble most people get into when they have this attitude is that they don't actually have a budget to work within. Both Arthur and I are serious budgeters. We have been since we got married. We've done it a few different ways but always come back to the Quicken method where we put every penny that we spend into the computer so we know exactly where our money is going and if we are staying within our set budget. The other method that has worked for us is the cash only method where we get out cash for the week and set a certain amount aside for each category and when the money is gone you don't buy anything else.

So, what happens if you want to live simply, or even live within your means, but you don't know what exactly that means because you don't track your spending? It means that if you are indulgent, as we are, you probably over spend. The most important thing is to be on the same page as your spouse. Sit down and do this together. The first thing you need to do to is to find out how much money you bring into the house each month, after taxes and benefits are taken out. Then you need to write down all your fixed expenses like your rent, mortgage, loan payments, insurance, non-negotiable utilities like electricity and sewer. Don't forget things that you pay for every 6 months or every year, like insurance or maybe taxes. This amount is something you can't really budge so subtract that from your monthly take home income.

Still with me? The next important thing (and some would argue this is the first step though it doesn't really matter where you do this as long as it is before the discretionary spending portion) is to figure out how much you want to give away to church or other non-profit organizations and how much you want to save for yourself and kids for a later use.

Next, figure out how much credit card debt you have. If you carry a balance you NEED to pay this off as soon as possible. Paying this off should come before any discretionary spending you have. It is totally great to use credit cards, but if you have a problem over spending it is time to give them a rest. If you are using a credit card you should be able to pay it off EVERY month.

Now figure out how much you spend on all of your "discretionary" expenses. This is the tricky part. Chances are, if you haven't been keeping track of your spending, you don't actually have a good idea how much you spend in each category. I would guess that most people will underestimate how much they spend on food, phones, dining out, entertainment, etc. Little things add up! It doesn't matter if you don't know how much you spend now because there is a really easy way to figure this out- write down what you spend! Use a a notebook or Quicken or whatever works for you. If you don't know what you spend, keep track of what you spend for a month and look at your old bills to see what you spend monthly on your cable, internet, phone, garbage (yes, garbage!) etc.

Once you have an idea about how much you spend in each category, decide how much you want to spend. See the difference? If you have $1000 to work with you might want to cut your phone bill somehow or cancel your cable and get a smaller garbage can, among other things. Make a list of all the spending categories you can think of. Some examples are groceries, gas, auto expenses, household miscellaneous, etc. Some people find it really helpful to have a set amount each person can spend each month on whatever random things they want like clothing, books, games, etc. If you don't want to spend it you can save up for bigger things. This worked well for us for a while that way nobody gets upset when the other persons splurges on things because it is coming out of their portion of the budget. Make sense? This is especially helpful if one of the two of you is really into video games or designer jeans and the other person sees it as a waste of money.

Another helpful "tool" we've implemented is an account for "special expenses" like furniture or vacations or iphones or whatever you think to be special, out of the ordinary expenses. You can save a little money in this category every month to save up for big purchases.

There are entire sections of book stores written explaining budgeting but this is just my two cents. What works for you? What hasn't worked for you? If you are just starting this process let us know how it goes.