Cleaning and The Broken Fellowship

This week I don't really have much in progress that is worth showing off.

I'm collecting pieces to re-vamp my Tank Girl costume from a few years ago to wear to the local Comic Con this weekend, plotting a costume for Joe and Acorn that I hope to be able to pull off in time (my husband will tell you, I am the Queen of Last Minute Costumes.), and have started coloring in a coloring book I bought a few weeks ago.

I've been suffering from a pretty bad case of the "I don't wannas", the blahs, lack of motivation... whatever you prefer to call it. I'm in a little bit of a low spot emotionally, and for once I'm just floating along on the current and letting it be instead of fighting it. It actually made the whole thing a lot easier to deal with and I feel a lot less drained.

Go figure.

Today though, I had a pretty big burst of energy this afternoon, so I started deep cleaning the kitchen. It doesn't look like much from the photo, but I scrubbed out the dishwasher and have it running an empty cycle with vinegar and baking soda to further clear it out, did the sink full of dishes by hand, swept and mopped the floor, cleaned out the fridge and wiped the counters. All during nap time!

Later on, I want to finish up the dishes, wash the windows, clean out the freezers and *maybe* the junk drawer. But right now, it's a beautiful day and I'm off to play with my son. Housework can wait, like it's been doing. :)

I'm still plugging along on my all-in-one copy of The Lord of the Rings. I finished the Fellowship of the Ring last night and think I'll hold off on beginning The Two Towers so I can watch the first movie in between. When I first watched the movies, it had been years since I read the books, so it'll be interesting to me to see how I feel about them when the book is still very fresh in my mind.

Maybe it'll be like Harry Potter and I'll love them both. We'll see.

Gratitude*Sunday

Each Sunday I stop and count my blessings.

Taking time to honor the things I've been grateful for throughout the week. A quiet, weekly practice of appreciation and positivity. A time to breath and reflect. A small step towards a more simplistic and appreciative outlook. Feel free to join in. <3

This Week I am Grateful For:

* Not having guilt for all the take out and money spent, which helped save my sanity and patience while I was severely sleep deprived this week.
* Finding a deeper well of patience than I knew that I had.
* A very amazing and kind friend offering to come over and help me with Acorn for a few hours one evening so that I could get a few solid hours of uninterrupted sleep. Illness + Developmental Leap + Dad being gone = one sleepless toddler.
* Warm weather and a kiddo who was content to hang in the hammock with me for a bit.
* Re-reading Lord of the Rings and remembering SO MANY things that I had completely forgotten!
* All the new sounds that Acorn is making and words and signs that he's trying out.
* His first animal sound! He pointed at a crow in the sky the other day and said "caw! caw!" When I asked him, "what does a crow say?" He got this HUGE grin on his face and delightedly said "caw! caw!" again. A corvid lover after my own heart! I'm such a proud mommy! :)
* Reuniting with our favorite guy after a week apart!
* Kiddo's first real Easter festivities. We didn't do anything last year because he was too little to really participate in much. We did an egg hunt yesterday morning. I was a little nervous that he'd get knocked down, be overwhelmed, or not really get it, but he ran all over and delighted in throwing the eggs he found in to his basket. Later on, we went to see the Easter Bunny. And while he wasn't totally sure what to make of him, he willingly sat on dad's lap next to the bunny and petted his hand - so we took a family photo with him. :)
* The look of wonder, delight, and surprise when he spotted his "basket" on the kitchen table this morning! In lieu of a basket full of sugary candies, the bunny brought him a little plastic wagon with some garden tools, bubble stuff, sidewalk chalk, play doh and some sand molds to use with the play doh or his water table. He spent a lot of the day pulling the wagon around, and even put eggs in it when we did an indoor (due to rain) egg hunt after his nap. :)

One Ring and A Very Pink Gift

It's been a hell of a week around here, so I'm sharing my work in progess Wednesday a day late. Rules are more like guidelines anyways, right? :)

This week I've begun a re-reading of The Lord of the Rings by hobbit friend and lore-master J.R.R. Tolkien. It's been over a decade since I last lost myself in the pages of this incredible work and I've forgotten SO MUCH! I always enjoy rediscovering a beloved story.

As for my work in progress, I bought the materials for my niece Khloe's 5th birthday gift. 5 years! How did that happen already?!? She's very in to super heroes and her favorite color is pink, so this amazing shiny fabric and extra glittery elastic will become a cape, mask, and gauntlets befitting of such a big birthday occasion.

What are you all up to this week?

Art Journal & Happiness

Work In Progress Wednesday - I'm resurrecting it!

There's nothing quite like knowing you'll be checking in with yourself (and others) at a set time to keep you motivated and get some projects done. :)

So here's the deal. On Wednesday, let's all share what we're working on *and* what we're reading currently. That way we can gather inspiration, stay motivated, and add more books to our reading lists on Goodreads or in our journals. (or both. I'm not judging!) Feel free to snag the button in the post and on my sidebar and link your posts in the comments if you're joining in so we can see each other's stuff!

This week, I've been working in the massive art journal I created from old artwork last week. I've got a spread started that I'm just starting to really dig. I love all the texture of modeling paste and old book pages as well as these deeper colors. As per usual, I don't have an agenda with this, just seeing where it takes me!

I *just* finished Hector and the Search for Happiness. I really enjoyed the whimsical, quirky way in which the story was told - it felt a bit like a children's book written for adults which made me happy. There were a few things in it that had me sighing and saying "Oh, Hector", but overall I was moved by the stories of his travels and the things he discovered about what causes happiness.

It was a very quick read and just over 150 pages and if it weren't a library copy, it would have most certainly had a bunch of highlights, notes in the margins, and maybe even some glitter thrown in to it. Definitely something I'd read again.

Gratitude*Sunday

Each Sunday I stop and count my blessings.

Taking time to honor the things I've been grateful for throughout the week. A quiet, weekly practice of appreciation and positivity. A time to breath and reflect. A small step towards a more simplistic and appreciative outlook. Feel free to join in. <3

This Week I am Grateful For:

* Catching up with our friends who we haven't seen in a little bit, and a trip to the zoo with the three amigos. Who all let us know when it was time to go. ;)
* Friends who come over and spend their entire Saturday helping us out in return for food and conversation. This time it was fixing Joe's truck.
* My good friend Jenn taking me to my favorite local brewery to do a glass etching class as a late birthday gift.
* Spending time with creative friends at Cynthia of Spirit Uncaged's house. I so need and refill at these creative women's circles she started. It's a beautiful energy and time to experiment and work on projects. It's been the best medicine for me.

Image by Tina Huba HalseyMae.com Facebook

* Time with my best friend, Michael. We suck at best friending lately, but we're working on it.
* Repurposing old artwork from high school and my time in BIG with Dirty Footprints Studio in to a gigantic art journal by tearing it up and sewing it together. Hat tip to Hali Karla for the inspiration to take the plunge and breath new life in to old work.
* Spending most of our waking time outside this week. It's been too beautiful to be indoors!
* Meeting another Stay at Home mom and Harry Potter fan at the park and skipping small talk and talking about our sons, husbands, hobbies, and lives. I hope to see her again! Awkward penguin here didn't ask for her number or anything. Whoops.

Cleaning Out the Chicken Run

It was beautiful this past weekend, so we decided to start to tackle a few of the things that we were...err... a little overdue on around the yard.

At the top of the list were prune the fruit trees and clear out the brush and fallen leaves/pine needles between the tree line and the fence that divides our yard from the farm next door. The pine straw/leaves are so thick we sink up past our ankles in spots and we've found all sorts of, uh, fun stuff from the previous owners buried in it the few times we've started the project in the past.

Used cat litter. A rusted old bicycle. A shovel whose handle had been devoured by bugs. Sharp rusted pieces of metal. Several deflated balls and other toys. Plastic bags full of leaves. Buried in the leaves. (what?)

Well, we didn't get to the meat of that task this weekend because we decided to try to do most of that while Acorn is sleeping due to the assorted weird and at times unsafe things we've found. Instead, Joe decided to start clearing out what we assume was the chicken run that goes along with the coop we've been using as a garden shed for the past 5 years.

It was a lot of work getting it cleared out. Joe had to cut down a few small trees that had grown over the past few years. We pulled up a lot of kudzu roots and raked out and bagged up the leaf litter. In paper bags. That we'll most likely toss in to our massive fire pit one night. Luckily, we had a third set of hands up to the task of helping us out.

Acorn didn't let his small hands get the better of him, he was raking (sort of), throwing the big sticks on the outside of the fence, and bagging leaves right along with us.

Foreman Luna keeping a close eye on the situation.

There's still a bit of work to be done back there - the fence needs fixing in places and 2 new doors need to be built. Then we have to turn the shed back in to a coop with nesting boxes and such. Then, I suppose, we'll finally get those chickens we've been talking about forever. :)

P.S. If I didn't say anything, you'd have no idea that I live in a subdivision with access to all of the major highways and shopping areas 15 or so minutes away, would you? Our yard feels like a magical little secret to me, and I love coming home to it after traveling through the insane traffic and hustle that's just past the end of the road.

Gratitude*Sunday

I'm counting my blessings.

Taking time to honor the things I've been grateful for throughout the week. A quiet, weekly practice of appreciation and positivity. A time to breath and reflect. A small step towards a more simplistic and appreciative outlook. Feel free to join in. <3

This Week I Am Grateful For:

* Joe taking such good care of me when I was the sickest I've been in over a decade last weekend. The 72 hour flu was awful, but he made it less miserable.
* Redoing my kitchen chalkboard.
* Scheming some renovations for the house and a new garden.
* A much needed date night with my hubby. A good friend came over and knit and hung out after Acorn had gone to sleep so Joe and I could abscond to the local brewery for drinks, chatting each other up, and live music. We went out for burgers afterwards, where we made faces at the little boy in the booth next to us. He thought it was hilarious!

* Getting over the stomach bug that mopped the floor with Acorn and I last week. Somehow, despite being thrown up on by our son, Joe missed out on the bug train. Lucky man.
* Making time to art journal.
* Getting out of the house. Acorn and I went to toddler gymnastics class, a boat load of stores, and played outside as much as possible after being cooped up in the house sick.
* Some "aha" moments while finishing up SouLodge with Wolf. The beginnings of a serious contemplation about holding a women's circle, feeling out intentions and guiding values.
* All the cardinals, robins, and crows flittering about the backyard.
* My dudes eating a dinner that did NOT turn out as expected. That's the last time I trust a recipe that I have questions about.
* Getting some much needed yard work done.
* My sister sending me "a few" (a medium flat rate box full) of my great aunt's jewelry. She's one of my very favorite family members, but the saucy old pistol moved out of her home in to an assisted living facility, and when she did so she told my family to take what they wanted because she wasn't going to move it again. Looking through it made me smile, cry, and ask out loud "what the fuck was she thinking?" :)

* A little red wagon.
* Acorn's desire to help with all the things. If I open the laundry room doors, he runs over and says "dryer?" because putting the wet clothes in there is his favorite chore after feeding the dog. He has a mini set of garden tools, a mini broom, and his very own spray bottle of water to clean with. That last one is his favorite.
* Love, love, love.
* Sunshine in a hammock.
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