A Time...

Hello friends,

This won't be a terribly long or involved posting, but I'm hoping it serves as an explanation as to why I've been absent for a time.

You will remember from my previous posts about our terrible experience and loss in June 2012.

After losing the baby, and recovering from surgery, I had convinced myself that I was "getting better". That things would be sad and hard for a while, but that I would get by, that I could go back to work, back to my life, and that things would continue as they had been. I was wrong.

I went back to work in September, and while I had somewhat fooled myself (and apparently had fooled everyone else) I allowed my anxiety and depression to build to an absolute fever pitch, which resulted in my having a full-blown panic attack in the front hall of our house about 20 minutes before I was supposed to go to work. I couldn't leave the house, I couldn't go to work, I couldn't do anything.

I went to my doctor and we started a daily prescription regimen, which is helping - but I am not healed. I took an official leave of absence from my job in October, and I have not been able to go back. At this point - I am officially: unemployed.

What Mama Wears - Comfy fashion

It's pretty obvious at this point that if something's not comfortable, then I'm not likely to want to wear it. I know that there's all kinds of women who ascribe to the no-pain no-gain concept of fashion - but to be perfectly honest, if it pinches, pulls, scrapes, etc etc etc it 'aint gonna happen. The main problem then becomes, how on earth to be fashionable and still comfortable. Sweat pants, as we've discussed before, are not especially fashionable. T-shirts, while cozy and easy to wear - not high on the fashion forward list.

So here's a couple of outfits that I've managed to put together that happen to be both fashionable AND comfortable. They're comfashiontable. Or something...

Posie Peplum

Ever since I picked up that polka-dot peplum at Charlotte Rousse, I've been searching for another peplum that happens to a)fit my bustline and b)not break the bank. It's harder than you think. Then I remembered that I had a random chunk of fabric that I got for free (FREE!) off kijiji and it might be a fun little top. So I traced out a well fitting t-shirt, cut it at the waistline and added a much fuller bottom for the peplum effect. Hem all the edges and voila - a peplum that looks fashionable and fits with the comfort of a t-shirt! Fab! I wore it with a statement necklace, some fun earrings, jeans that wear like yoga pants and some easy to wear flats. Fashionable AND comfortable. I wore it all day!

Top: Homemade / Jeans: Reitman's / Flats: Payless / Necklace: Kohl's / Earrings: The Icing by Claire's

Make it! Aprons!

For my birthday this year my sister decided to enroll us both in a Wilton cake decorating class. I'm super excited about it, and one of the items on the "must have" list for the class is an apron. I decided that I would make aprons for my sister and myself to wear during our 4-week class and I thought I would share the process with you!

Make it! Hallowe'en Costume edition

SO - this year the Big'un decided that he wanted to be a Knight for Hallowe'en. And so far, the littl'un has picked complimentary costume ideas... so HE decided he wanted to be a dragon. "Mama? You can make those costumes right?"


Uh........... right. Of course I can. Mama can make almost anything (see - I put the almost in there... Mama aint a dummy either)... and so.... I give you Hallowe'en 2012 costumes - make it!

What Mama Wears - date night

Do you ever long for "date night"? I'll admit that I do. I loved getting dressed up, waiting to see the bf's (now the hubs) reaction when I walk down the stairs - I want him thinking "Yeah - I get to go out with HER tonight!" But, once you're a Mama, your calendar doesn't exactly lean towards time for 'date night' and your wardrobe tends to lean a lot more towards "is it functional"  or "is it comfortable" than "is it hot"? So... how to make my mama-denim date worthy? and still be comfortable?

Well here it is!

Denim Date-Night

A cute little tank with lots of ruffles (hides the mama-belly - yeehaw!), over my super-comfy yoga style "jeans" a little bolero and some comfy heels  = one hot mama for date night!

Jeans: Reitman's / Tank top: Ricki's / Bolero: Ricki's / Heels: Payless / Ring & Necklace: PLBrowne / Bracelet: My own Mama brought it back from Cuba

Magic Cleaning Solutions!

Kitchen confession time: Our kitchen floor - it's gross. No joke. I mean, we vacuum and we mop it every now and then... but it's a high traffic area, our backdoor is in the kitchen, and there's a lot of wear/tear/slop/spill/traffic/dirt etc that goes through there.

And I hate cleaning the kitchen floor. Seriously - in fact, cleaning anything in the kitchen is hands down my least favourite thing to clean. I could make beds all day! Fold laundry? No problem! But dishes? Ugh. Clean the oven? Let's just burn it off. Wash the floor?.... couldn't we just replace the tile? Blech. Hate it.

And I'm an avid pinner (quick explanation: pinning is what you do on pinterest - like a social media style bulletin board, where you "pin" good ideas and things you find on the internet, can see other people's pins and repin their pins, etc etc etc). and every single time I see a magic-cleaning-solution-type-pin I jump on it.

 

www.pinterest.com

Milk free?

So... while dealing with a few digestive issues, my doc has suggested I go lactose/dairy free for a couple of weeks. At first I thought, okay no big deal, that's a good idea to try and see if it makes a difference... then it struck me.

No. Milk.

No milk... in my TEA.

AGH!

So, I'm kind of a tea-snob. I'm not ashamed, I like what I like the way I like it. And that's tea. Tea with milk in it. Not all teas. Herbal teas require no milk (actually, that's kind of gross - no milk in chamomile, green or peppermint tea). Black teas require no sweetening (unless it's chai, then it's okay to put honey or agave in it, but NOT sugar). And I hate, HATE, the taste of soy. Ugh. What am I going to do!?

What Mama Wears - Thanksgiving Weekend Edition

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all ate way too much turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy and pie and all manner of other totally awesome Thanksgiving things. I know I did!

I also wanted to share a quick couple of outfits with you from my Thanksgiving weekend.

The first is a really simple, totally comfy fall look.

Fun & Fab Fall

SO - honesty time: If it were up to me, and I didn't care a whit about fashion or what other people thought of me I'd probably wear pyjamas 6 out of 7 days a week. No lie. So, most of the time when I'm getting dressed, my number 1 concern becomes "is it comfortable?" Because if it's not, I'm not wearing it. When you're a Mama, you need clothes that can move with you. While wearing this outfit I packed up a car, carried toddlers, walked up and down our cottage road, pulled a wagon, took pictures, laid down on top of a random stump at the side of the road, sat in a car for several hours, lounged, ate a full turkey dinner and went on home. It was comfy 100% of the time. I'll admit - I took the sweater off after dinner. 20 ppl and a cooked turkey in my mother's house is a recipe for a Thanksgiving sauna... otherwise, not a single issue with this ensemble all. day. long. Just the way I like it.

This is a simple plaid button down paired with a sweater, skinny jeans and boots. The hubs took this pic while we were walking up and down our cottage road (hence the furbaby) and I took the "awesome" self portrait so you could see my earrings. Cute right? 

 

Mini-cable Sweater by Chaps - Value Village / Plaid Button down - Ricki's / 

Sweetheart Skinny Jeans - Old Navy / Carlos by Carlos Santana books - Famous Footwear / 

Earrings - Claire's

Thankful....

Thanksgiving.

I love thanksgiving. It's one of my favourite holidays in the whole year. Here in Canada, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. It's a great time of year - the leaves are starting to turn, pumpkins are ripe, the fall harvest season is at it's absolute peak and the farmer's markets around our town are packed with squash, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, corn and so many other great fall vegetables. Thanksgiving makes me think of life as being warm, and golden. And Thanksgiving weekend is a weekend absolutely packed full of great food and family and laughter. All things that make life feel full and ripe like the earth around us.

Things I'm Thankful for this weekend:

 - My family. I love my large extended family, and am so blessed to have a tight knit, hilarious, loving fam. My in-laws are wonderful, loving and an integral part of my life. But I'm especially thankful for my wonderful Hubs, my two wacky kiddos: big'un and littl'un, and even my silly fur-baby. Only 4 months after losing our latest angel baby I find myself feeling a little twinge of sadness at what might have been, but being surrounded by my little family makes me exceedingly grateful for the blessings I have.

 

Thanksgiving Weekend walk at the cottage

What Mama Wears...

This is the first instalment of What Mama Wears! Yay!

Okay - to be fair, I'm actually kind of excited. And nervous. And excited... Hopefully the photography will get better as time goes on (let's be honest, I'm used to be on the other side of the camera, not in front of it - yuck!) but for now at least hopefully you'll get an idea of what I'm wearing and why!

First up:

Put a bow on it.

I love a good print. Picked up this tee at Forever 21 Outlet in Niagara Falls. Since it's kind of a stand out I went fairly simple with everything else. Black and White cardi, sweet *shh, they're* yoga pants and a pair of super comfy low heels. I like to have a more defined waist in my outfits, since, as a busty woman, sometimes finding a top that fits the girls makes everything else look kind of pregnant and potato-sackish. But I can't wear a belt every single day, so I just button one or two buttons in the middle of the cardi, and voila - instant hourglass.

   

Cardigan: Ricki's / Tee-shirt: Forever 21 Plus / Pants: Joe Fresh Yoga / Shoes: Payless Fioni Night / Necklace: Designs by Patricia

Guilty Little Fashion Secrets...

I have a confession to make.

I love fashion blogs.

I read several, I'm always clicking through pins to one fashion blog to another. I get drawn in by pics of great causal outfits, coloured jeans, bright print scarves, funky tights, great shoes, boots - oh the boots get me every time.

I have a few faves too:

Where did we go wrong?

We had our first phone call from the school today. When I saw the school's name come up on the call display, I'll admit my first thought was "Oh, I wonder if my big'un is sick..."

yeah... not so much.

Nope, the call wasn't to let me know he wasn't feeling well, it was to let me know that my child is a problem. A serious problem. A physically-hurting-other-kids kind of problem.

I managed to get through the phone call with the teacher without breaking down - points for me. But after hanging up I will admit that I am at a complete and utter loss. I have no idea what to do. I have no idea how to move forward. I want to support the teacher, I want to work towards my big'un behaving appropriately in class and in the schoolyard - and while I was not even remotely shocked when she told me last week that he was having "listening problems" (Hi. Yeah. Welcome to my every day.) when she called to tell me about his behaviour today (even going so far as to having to make him sit completely alone at lunchtime) I was actually shocked.

Don't laugh.

Remember when they said, "Let kids be kids"? I do...

Ugh... so... dealing with some frustrations here blog-o-sphere... and I thought I'd share them with you.

First off: the big'un started school last Tuesday. He's 4, so that means that here in Ontario he goes to the "2 year Kindergarden Program"... that's school all day, every day. At 4 years old.

Now - I'm not actually complaining about him going to school everyday, because the big'un is one of those kids who really really really wanted to go to school. He loves it. Everyday he comes home and tells me he had a good day and he wants to go back tomorrow. Fantastic! He even decided after the first short week of school that he no longer wanted to come home for lunch (even though we live, literally, around the bend from the school) but that he wanted to stay all day and eat lunch at school with his class. No problem, done. He's stayed for lunch every day since then.

But then last night was "Meet the Teacher" night. We've met the teacher a couple of times already, spoke to her briefly on a few occasions of pick ups and drop offs, but yesterday afternoon she met the Hubs when he picked up the big'un and told him that they were having some "listening problems" and, even worse, that when she told him to listen to her and look at her when she was speaking that he "made a gun with his fingers and pretended to shoot at her.".

Fabulous.

...And I'm blessed

It's the 10th. 

That was the first thing in my mind this morning when I woke up. My internal clock seems to have an alarm set on the 10th of the month these days. 3 months ago on the 10th of June I had a fairly great day; a special worship service at the church, a bridal shower... and then - as you well know - my whole life fell apart right before my eyes. At least - that's how it felt.

And the 6 weeks of physical healing that followed were hard. There's no other word. They were hard. And the many many more weeks/months/years(?) I'm looking at for emotional healing... well, I don't expect them to be easy either.

But I'm trying. I'm trying to heal and grow at the same time. And you know what? It's hard.

Now - I've never been one to shy away from the hard stuff. In fact - some people (perhaps people who don't like me very much) would even go so far as to call me 'hard'. I think I'm okay with that. I think of it as tough, confident, strong. All good words. But they're defensive words. They're hard words.

So lately I've been trying to also remind myself that while there are things that are hard, that I don't like, that I haven't got a choice whether or not they happen... that while those things are happening - and are hard - that at the same time I'm blessed.

I woke up this morning and I was in the mood to be sad. "It's the 10th" I said to myself. I sat up on the side of the bed, shoulders slumped, feeling dejected - "it's the 10th." Then I stood up and I saw my husband asleep and I thought "it's the 10th... and I'm blessed." I'm blessed because that man has stayed here beside me, held me when I cried, given me reason to smile and laugh and laughed with me. ... And I'm blessed.

OMG... I'm 30.

I've been thinking about writing this post for some time now. I'll readily admit - I'm not one of those women who wants to stay forever at 29. I am embracing 30 wholeheartedly. Honest. And it's not turning 30 and getting older that's weighing on my mind, it's looking back over the last 30 years of my life, and wondering -like the great Talking Heads song, Once in a Lifetime - How did I get here?!

When I was a kid, and someone asked me about my  future, I probably would have said something really kind of trite (I was sort of an obnoxious, sarcastic kid) like that I was going to "Be a lawyer, but not a criminal lawyer, a business lawyer, so I won't have to represent real criminals".  Shows what I knew then, huh?

Later on, I would have said that I was going to be a teacher (nope, don't like kids that much), a musician (who really makes it in the music business anyway? not me!), a youth minister (well that lasted about 2 years), a writer (well.... maybe....), and hey - I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. ;) But I don't think, when growing up, I ever - EVER - mentioned being married, having kids, volunteering at my church in many forms, driving a school bus, being a crafts person, an artist. I didn't know what it meant to "grow up".

Back to life...

After my last post you may be wondering what's happening now? Well, you're not the only one. There are days, I'll admit, that I'd still like to lay in my bed all day and cry and drink tea and watch sad movies and wallow in my loss... but I don't. I've got two wacky busy boys, and a husband who need me, and family and friends who are infinitely supportive, and wonderful, and I couldn't get up every day without them. And so, I've been trying to get back to life, back to "normal" (because, what's normal anyways?!) and part of that is taking pictures.

I LOVE taking pictures. My family actually call me the mamarazzi because my kids are so over-exposed to photos (not IN photos...well, sometimes, but still!) that as soon as I point the camera at them they mug and smile and my 2 year old has a tendency to say 'You takea pichur me, Mom?' and want to see it (thank-you digital!). So, since my brother-in-law and his fiancee wanted some engagement pictures, when they asked me to take them, I was more than happy to! .... then I ended up in the hospital, and my life got turned on its head and everything was craptacular... but part of getting back to life is doing things like this.

So, Thursday, we went out, took LOTS of pictures (like 400 or so) and then Friday and Saturday I sat down to edit out the good ones, and I thought I'd share just a couple of them with you, blog-o-sphere!

Here are some of my favourites from the shoot with my b-i-l and his to-be!

love the almost silhouette quality of this one. :)

Grieving and Moving forward.

It may sound silly, but I feel like writing this post is necessary for my current grieving process. Sometimes, the best thing about a blog is that you get a chance to get everything out at once. It's not a conversation with someone (though those are often awesome as well), you can cry and keep on typing, you can edit how you say things (without your readers ever knowing that you aren't so clever the first go-round all. the. time.) and you can blog about difficult things, and move that little bit forward in a tough situation without having to sound calm, and collected, and any other manner of emotions that you're not.

Dear readers, some of you may know, many will not, that I have had a "tough go of it" (as my Grandmother would say) lately. And I know that there will be parts of this story that get left out, there will be parts that aren't chronological, and to be perfectly honest, no matter who ends up reading this, the reality is, it may not be for you. The reality is that this blog post is for me.

As I sit here to write this, I am almost 2 weeks post-op for an emergency surgery for a ruptured ectopic pregnancy. Layman's terms: I had surgery because I had a pregnancy that implanted in the tube instead of in the womb, and it burst, and bled. A lot. It was dangerous. It was potentially fatal. It was scary.

Whoa whoa, back up the truck, you might be saying. Or perhaps you're just staring at the screen. Don't worry, I'm not going to use a lot of medical terms, and I'll try not to give out too many "gory details", because I don't actually want to talk about the physical surgery here much. Believe it or not, that's not the hard part.

Easter - and the things kids say

I'm certain I've posted previously about the *ahem* wonderful things that my almost-4-year-old "big'un" says from time to time - like the time he condescendingly told another child at the playgroup
"You know, SOME people don't know how to share... and THAT'S sad."
Me - praying that the other child's mother didn't hear MY words just come out of my kid's mouth - eep!

And this year around Easter - my kiddos had some real gems - so I thought I'd share them with you. Laugh at my socially-awkward-child-induced horror if you will.

A couple of weeks before Easter, Big'un tells me he "needs to go to the library and get a book". Fair enough, so off we go to the library. We head over to the kid book section and he's looking around and I ask him "What kind of book are you looking for buddy?"

"An Easter Book"

Meanwhile, the kid's been sorting through the 40-odd Easter books that are right. there. on the shelf in front of him.

So I say
"Well, there's a whole bunch right there, so why don't you just pick one?"

He eyes me, as if to say - duh, Mom, OBVIOUSLY the book I'M looking for ISN'T here - and says

"I'm gonna ask the Lady" (he means the Librarian).

Kids are nuts! Well... mine are...

So, I don't blog about my kids very often... it's not that I don't have things to say about them, but often I start writing about something that I think is hilarious and halfway through I start thinking "Is this funny to anyone else? Or does it just make me look crazy? Or my kids crazy? Maybe we are crazy?!" etc etc etc. And then I delete it and write about crafts instead. Which is cool - but let's be honest, it makes it seem like I have a LOT of time for crafts... I don't.

Here's the deal. I've got two kiddos: Big'un is going to be 4 at the end of June, and Littl'un is going to be 2 on Friday. 2? TWO?! Two. Ugh.

And they're funny. Well, WE (the hubs and I) think they're funny. They say funny things - they make jokes that make no sense. And sometimes, when they're MOST funny - is when they're TOTALLY serious.

Example: The big'un got new rubber boots this year. Spiderman boots. Now - we KNEW that we had fire-man rubber boots SOMEWHERE in our house, so when little'un got to pick out his raincoat, he picked out a fireman coat because we had (foolishly) told him about the boots. Well, we couldn't find 'em. And he kept trying to wear the big'uns boots. Fights ensued, and last night, miracle of miracles - we found the fireman boots.

Stuffed Zucchinis!

About 2 months ago, a Clancy's opened up near us. We went in the first couple of days and splurged (and I mean SPLURGED) on two zucchini boats to have with our dinner. Well, at almost $4.00 each (for half a zucchini, people!) I knew we'd never be buying them again - but they were too good to not try to recreate. And I think I did a pretty decent job.

Mama's got a brand new bag!

Crafting up a storm lately, and among sewing a mini skirt for my sister before she goes on her honeymoon at the end of the month, and figuring out how to sew a shield, sword, tunic and belt for my littlest one's 2nd birthday next Friday (oh, that's a whole other post). I just wanted to share something that I've finally completed for me! That's right boys and girls - Mama's got a brand new bag!

Construction is basically the same as the Ulti-mom bag with a few design changes. Different shape, single pieces for the outside of the bag, grommets to hold up the straps (cool!) and a zipper added to the center pocket. Throw in a few coordinating little pouches and mama's ready to go!
Check it out:

 Sweet fabric I picked up from Ikea!

Grimm swapping

I've been participating in and organising a swap on my fave website Craftster for myself and other fans of  NBCs new show Grimm. There was a fair amount of interest, but due to timing etc, we've had a relatively small group for the swap. I'll admit - since it was my first time organising a swap on Craftster, I was relieved to have a small-ish group.

I did, however, go BIG when it came to crafting for this swap.

I LOVE fairy tales. I LOVE Grimm's stories, and I LOVE the new show Grimm which draws a little upon those stories, but gives it a quirky kind of twist. And I am completely, hilariously in love with one of the characters: Monroe.

Now, Monroe is the "big bad wolf"... only he's not so big, and he's not bad anymore. On the show they call them "Blutbad" (which is German for bad blood) but he says he's "reformed". Whatever the case may be, he's got some of the best lines I've heard on TV in a while.

I decided to make a few things for my partner:
1) A shell necklace similar to the one Nick buys for Juliette from the street kids in the episode Organ Grinder

Saying Goodbye to a sweet friend...

I'm sure you've heard people say it before. I know I've said it to people myself, quite a few times. But, if you don't have a dog, or have had a dog, you probably won't understand this post. But if you are a dog-lover, then you know - they're not just a pet. They're a member of your family. They can be your confidant, your comforter, a companion, entertainment, exercise and so much more. And yesterday I had to go and say goodbye to my sweet little blonde girl, Bailey. My heart is broken. But I knew it was time to say goodbye.

Unplanned hiatus

Hello blog-o-sphere,

So - I've been on a bit of an unplanned hiatus. For a few reasons. The main/first reason was that I was planning/organizing a super-amazing worship night at our church. We do them a couple of times a year, and I'm usually PART of the organizing type group, but for a few different reasons I felt like it kind of ALL came down to me this time. For that reason I was out of my head busy with song lists, order of service, powerpoint, interactive worship planning/prep, videos, dance prep, timing,  etc etc etc. Plus I had 3 practices a week being in the worship band and the liturgical dance group. So all of that, plus my regular stupidly busy life made me a little bit... ca-razy. But it's done now, it was a fantastic night, everything went fairly smoothly (one little powerpoint hiccup and the wrong music at the start of one of the dance offerings, but nothing's perfect).

Copper-Dopper Day!

Every family has them. Those wacky little things you do/celebrate each year even though they're not "normal". Some people celebrate the anniversary of the day they met (even if it wasn't a great meeting). Some celebrate house-iverarys, or car-iversarys.... we celebrate our dog-day. The day we first brought home our fur-baby: Copper!

We call it Copper-Dopper day, and today is the 4th one!

Hey there Fancycakes!

I'm big on DIY. 
My kids love pancakes.

Now, I know these seem like two completely unrelated statements... but they're not. Every single time we're in the grocery store we pass by the section with pancake mix in it and there's inevitably some gadget thing that makes your pancakes look like Mickey Mouse, Darth Vader, Hearts, Stars, Flowers, Worms, etc etc etc. And my kids WANT them. My little one has a rather funny little sing-song (in a very deep, kind of "scary" voice) that goes "IwantitIwantitIwantITIwantITIWANTITIWANTIT!"

But, let's be honest - Mama ain't gonna buy a pancake thingy for like $8-$10 that makes ONE shape for the rare amount of times that I actually give in and make pancakes. No no. Mama's gonna D.I.Y.

SO - I started out by drizzling runny mix onto the griddle with spoons, basters, etc etc... it worked... but the results were meh.

THEN I went to the closest DIY paradise: aka Dollarama - and I picked up a couple of these:

 

Just your basic refillable squeeze bottle thingies. I think they're meant for condiments? They were 3/$1. 

Then, I make up my mix, water it down so it's CLOSER to the consistency you'd use for crepes, but not quite, and then funnel it into the bottles.

For the love of the Doctor - Craft-o-rama

I've just participated in a One Tiny Thing swap on my fave crafting website Craftster. The theme for the swap was Doctor Who - which I've recently become a HUGE fan of.

In any case, my partner received today and now I can post pics here of the Doctor related crafts I made :)
*I am not affiliated in any way/shape/form with BBC, Doctor Who or anything of that ilk. I do not sell these items, and they were made in the spirit of fandom pure and simple*

The most difficult craft I managed to put together was an honest-to-goodness "Bigger on the Inside" TARDIS tote. How? A foldable tote of course! I lined the bag as well, box stitched the straps to make sure they were strong and secure, made sure that the pouch was still useable as a pocket pouch when the tote was in use, and freezer paper stencilled on the TARDIS on the pouch and "Come Along Pond" on the other side.

Happy List

I'll admit that so far this year, my year of Organization & Happiness - I've posted MOSTLY about organization - and left happiness kind of in the dust. But the other night I really started thinking about it. I mean - really.

A few months ago, I saw this little infographic on a friend's facebook page:

 

It's cute, a little trite maybe, but funny enough to get a little laugh out of people... at which point they carry on with their day mumbling "I wish" or something to that effect.

And yeah - "I wish" it were as simple as that. Just 'change something' and you'll be happy. Well.... happi-ER, I guess.

I don't know what to say.... but thanks Craftster!

I'm a Craftster Best of 2011 Winner! 

I was a little shocked! But there it is boys and girls! I won for the freezer paper stencil dress I made for baby sis' birthday this past year.
Here's the link to the actual topic:
The MADNESS 

So.... yeah! Awesome! I'm pretty psyched!

Tea.

Incentive...

Just a quick post:
I've discovered an incentive to get the kiddos to clean up their rooms/playrooms.... apparently standing at the door with a garbage bag in my hands is great incentive to get moving and start putting things away....

I wonder if it would work with the hubs?

Ha ha. But seriously. Some incentive is definitely needed to keep them from sabotaging my KTP on a regular basis.

KTP Sabotage!

SO - Saturday evening just past we had a HUGE party at our house for the hubs' 30th birthday. It was a "surprise" and by that I mean - he pretty much figured it out, but was def. surprised at the fact that we fit about 50 people in our little house. Frankly - I was surprised at that. There was some cheeky talk about whether or not the floor would hold... but it turned out to be a pretty great night.

The house was immaculate (for like the first time since we moved there I think), the food was great (done up right by me, my Mom, and the Moms-in-law), the people were awesome (all our friends are, obvs.) and the party was generally considered a success.

And then I had to clean up. Again. Ugh.

It wasn't so bad, really, I mean, it was cleaning up the plates and cups, and the absolute MOUNTAIN of dishes that comes after a party like that, but otherwise, not bad at all. And Monday started the official first day of KTP.

Week of Cleaning Fury

As part of my goal of seeking happiness for 2012 - I've decided that I'd like to live in a clean and organised house. Now - with two kids 3 and under, a husband, a dog and a crazy crazy life - that's more difficult than you might imagine. In the past we've had a tendency to do a major "clean" once every month or so , usually in preparation for having guests over. In fact, the hubs has even gone so far as to comment to me that we "need to host more parties, because then the house will stay clean." Smart alec.

But he has a point. Cleaning up the whole house in one big push over and over again is, frankly, exhausting, and not a great way to function. So here's the concept. One more big push, one big clean - a five-day-fury as we've been calling it this week - and THEN - a scheduled amount of cleaning, every day for the rest of the year, to maintain the cleanliness. Now - cleaning the house does NOT make me happy, but living in a clean house DOES make me happy - so it's a minor trade off.

This week has been... something. Going room by room in the entire house, over the span of 5 days I have tidied, organised, purged, scrubbed, and reset virtually every spot in my house. And if you want to do it - this is what you can do.

First I started with some lists. And as you all know - I love lists, so that works for me.
An example looked like this:

Organized Misery? Or Happy Chaos?

So - as part of my goals for 2012, and in my search for happiness - I've decided that I'm going to get organized... and stay that way. Now - I love organizing. Actually - mostly I love lists. Seriously - I love a good list. I like sitting down with a clean, fresh piece of paper, writing that sucker out. I love looking at it to keep on track, I love crossing things off (with or without vehemence depending on the item). I do not function well without my dayplanner - which to be honest, is really just a book where I can make lists according to day of the week. I list when I'm going to sleep (which usually results in me saying "SHUT UP BRAIN" a few times) and I list in my head when I'm going through my day.

For example - this morning, I was up, brushing my hair and while I was doing that in my head I was thinking: Get dressed, wake up the boys, make tea, get breakfast, get the boys dressed, do your morning bus run. And then while I was on the bus I was thinking Get home, check email, write blog post, finish cleaning dining room (canning boxes under the stairs, laundry to the laundry room, toys back in the playroom), start on basement and both bathrooms today. (Even my lists have lists.)  Now I'm writing this post and I'm thinking: This afternoon if I have time, put spaghetti sauce on in the crockpot while I work on the other rooms.

Make It Yerself!

Update: Erin pointed out to me that this tutorial was missing some pretty important steps. (Uh, like HALF of them!) How embarrassing!!! So I have updated this post with a much better, COMPLETE tutorial. Sorry readers! And thanks Erin!

I complain about my purse a LOT. Most of the time it's while I'm rummaging around in the bottom, trying to find that secret corner - which I'm pretty sure actually contains a passage to Narnia because... honestly, WHERE do things go? - that my lip gloss, change purse, sunglasses, keys, etc have slipped into because they're "TOTALLY not IN here! Stupid stupid purse!" and then I say that I need 3 compartments, and I need LOTS of pockets, and I HATE when they put a zipper on the top of a purse, because, seriously, they're never strong enough... blah blah blah....

Well - I got spoiled this Christmas - my in-laws and husband's grandmother gave me a BRAND SPANKIN' NEW sewing machine! Whoopee!

So, I finally decided that I wasn't going to complain about my purse anymore, I was just going to sew it myself. So I did.

Now, I've sewn a few things.... mostly straight lines to be honest. I've NEVER sewn a bag, let alone a bag with lining.... but hey - go big or go home right? Okay, technically I was already HOME, but you get the point.

I buckled down, made up a pattern, and just went for it. And so I give you - The ULTI-MOM bag. Think Ultimate + Mom = Ulti-Mom

 

Looks pretty good huh?

To-Dos!

Okay - so I've been thinking about the whole "resolutions" thing... and how I never ever really do them. And while I'm sticking with "seeking happiness" for 2012, I think I need to make a list of To-Dos.

If you know me at all in "real life" - you'll know that I'm big on lists. In fact, I actually LIKE organising things... I just hate having to do it over and over and over. And let's be honest, with an almost 2 year old and an almost 4 year old in the house, I do a lot of things over and over.

But I'm thinking that if I give myself a list of things to do, then maybe it won't feel as daunting as saying 2012 RESOLUTIONS (please imagine RESOLUTIONS being said in the deepest, slightly scary, booming, movie announcer type voice - because that's how it sounds in my head).

And because - dear blog readers - I just love you so much, I've decided that I will share my list.... and my very likely failures to actually complete said list, and my not-so-likely-but-at-least-remotely-possible successes as well!

To start!

Well 2012 - let's see what'cha got!

SO.... I took a little break from blogging - mostly because I was crafting my lil' fingers right down to the bones trying to get everything done for Christmas. It was a hard slog - but we made it. The grand total?

• MANY jars of jam, pickles, sauces, etc. Too many to really count
• 1 pair of knit socks, men's size 12 for my brother-in-law - the FIRST socks I have ever knit, especially considering I just learned to knit in the round this past year. They fit - hallelujah!
• 3 freezer paper t-shirts - 2 for my other brother in law: a Star Trek inspired red t-shirt that says "Expendable" and a blue shirt that says "I'd agree with you, but then we'd both be wrong". (If you know my b-i-l, you'd understand). And one black on black tee with the batman symbol and the words "I'm Batman" in batman font in the middle (batman/big bang theory fans) for my hubby
• A gaming pillow for my sister's boyfriend. He has a bad back and needs something a little bit more supportive to lean on when hanging out at home. He called it a torso pillow because I made it out of a sweatshirt - hey - as long as he likes/uses it - he can call it whatever he wants!
• 2 super hero capes, personalised with freezer paper, and 2 super-hero utility belts with flashlights, noise stick thingies, and pouches for my two lil'heroes 
• knit infinity cowl for my super-fash sister who works downtown (and knew what it was right away - thank goodness - since my Mother looked at it said "What IS that")
• 1 knit slouchy hat (by request) for baby sis plus a huge vinyl purple flower pin, hand sewn
• 1 pair of knit mittens for my sister-in-law
• A knitting loom - made by hubby for my mother-in-law
• A rain stick, made out of abs pipe, filled with kidney beans, and modge-podged like crazy for my Dad
• A knit cardigan for my Mom (my first ever real garment)

PLUS I made all of our Christmas cards
PLUS I did the requisite amount of Christmas baking

I. Was. Exhausted.