Balancing Bliss

yearning to create......

i have a yearning to create lately. there has been so much going on with the house hunting, end of school, nice weather, etc. that i just haven't made the time. maybe the feeling is so strong because of my lack of scrapbooking these days....i normally spend a few hours a week to a few hours a day in my scrap space but i haven't even stepped foot in there for a good month! i peek my head in from time to time and say a sweet hello and make myself a promise to return but life calls.

yesterday i was invited to join a group of really fun chickies to scrap.....being that i have not been scrap inspired lately, i brought my beads. i made this for the school counselor who is so dear to us;

messed up the first time so turned it into a piece for myself;

i have a sweet feeling that there is more to come in the jewelery dept.

what i am really hearting right now is sewing. fabric is like my new medium of scrapbook paper.

i have so many dreams and inspirations....yet lack the know how. i am learning quite a bit in sewing class. this week i half finished my first apron and learned to gather;

it's a sewing/craft apron. it will have a matching aqua waist and the polka dots are the ties. have a feeling i will be making a smaller version of this for a little crafter in our home. speaking of; i bought some patterns for that little sweetness of a girl. might have a finished project later this summer. august is my goal....not setting the bar too high since i am still in the beginning stages.

i am 90% finished with this;

it's first purpose was to be a scripture bag but i made it vertical rather than horizontal so it's new possible purpose is tied between park/magazine bag or pattern bag. learning to make the box bottom was the accomplishment...happy to have it fully lined...now to finish it up and just add the straps. this little spot calls my name but by the time bedtimes come around the couch calls my name louder;

i see more time crafting in my near future....school is coming to an end which means lazy summer mornings and more momma creative time. until then....just inspiration and yearning.

us......

i love you brian michael walker......

what the 1950's left out.....

as i was going through the pictures from this last weekend...i noticed a 1950's theme going on....i didn't feel that way living it but to look back on the pictures you would think it...i wonder if that is what the 1950's perfect living was about...it's all in the still frames...

our cubscout earned another merit badge for making us dinner...hot dogs and beans...mmmm (that last part was sarcasm)

what the 1950's didn't tell you; the scout burned the hot dogs and sister cried it taste so bad...

kids rode in radio flyer wagons and trikes.... what the 1950's  didn't tell you; sissy almost pushed you into traffic and mommy ran down the driveway screaming " what the hell are you two doing!!? turn...turn...turn!"

he is so adorable and innocent...LOOKING....after running over the neighbors  shrub and hitting a tree to miss the street!

as much as i don't like a picture of myself (it's true...i am the most UNphotogenic person out there) i am happy to have some pics from time to time so that my children will have them one day to look back on of me through the years....

i handed gaven the camera and he loved the sound of the clicking....i swear we weren't making out.. he just clicked away for one single kiss and this is what we got...

what the 1950's didn't tell you;  there was no need for the submissive wife in a dress to have a happy marriage...

fun relaxing weekend....memories made and recorded in photos

pj day revisited.....

so after blogging on friday, i realized that i couldn't go without some cleaning...maybe it was the making of the list i 'wasn't' going to do....i accomplished everything on my to-do list in a matter of an hour.... but we also;

had a tea party

dressed ourselves for the occasion of course....complete with summer dress, athletic socks, and winter dress shoes

and then we danced....(she asked me to get out the camera i swear!)

many blurry shots of 'look at me'

and 'get this one'

'did you get that one?'

we also tended to our petals which led to;

another change of clothes of course!

and then these two crashed girls day by pummeling each other through the door to get to electronics.

we never got to crafting but we dined, smiled, and danced.

all dressed up....

 

there is nothing so sweet as a little girl coming into your room early in the morning with her little hand over her giggly mouth saying "it's scrapbook day....shh...don't tell the boys"....

ok...her showing up with her pink robe, easter hat, gloves and cupcake jammies is a tad bit as cute...

there is so much to be done around here...my OCD has taken a backseat to buying a house 'stuff' these days...luci and i haven't taken a true pj day friday in 4wks now...so we gave the dishes, laundry, 4in lawn, toilets, kitchen floor and every day scatter of stuff the big ol' middle finger today...after all it is a long weekend so we have an extra day to work on that stuff right?

another reason;

we have limited days before the boys are home for summer...

window...

window of opportunity ......

 

we put in our offer today.....i hear the waiting is the worst part of it...funny enough, i am totally breathing easier now....i just wanted to move forward...and we did...

what a bipolar world....

that is what my week has felt like ..... the world is bipolar.......how is that for irony? the ups and downs of this house thing are killing me!

advice i have been given;

'move fast'

'don't become attached'

' listen to your heart'

'there is a reason this house came to you'

'dream'

'put in a low offer'

' trust your realtor'

'there are lots of other houses'

and oh so much more....75% of the conversations i have started....open ears and a heart to see what my friends have gone through getting their homes...everyone has a different story...this will be mine.

they found some dry rot...how much? ....we don't know...it's banked owned...i thought that would be a good thing in this economy and the bank would want to get rid of it....not always true...can't get a loan if it's too much dry rot....realtor wanted to start looking elsewhere so we don't get 3/4 of the way in and it doesn't work out.  all that brought me to tears....i guess i am not allowed to have such feelings in this process...you know since i'm not supposed to be attached.

anyone who knows me knows that i am emotional. it's who i am. i would like to think that i've grown into a woman and it's not all drama as much as it is just emotion. i am also a dreamer....nothing wrong with either....some 'get me' some don't.

we noticed that at one time there was a foundation for a garage behind the house...then we realized no it was once a carriage house since it was built in 1910...it is now a cement slab with a pergula over it...our patio furniture would one day be there (minus the bamboo)...it has a cement step to the original path that curves around to the kitchen steps...and then through the yard where i will spend next summer designing my flower bed..and follow the path through the gate to the big front porch where i will drink my morning coffee...and send my babes off 2 blocks to their school....

with that said....how can i not be emotionally involved? it's just who i am...i have to dream myself there.....honestly if this doesn't go through...then i will deal with that at that time..i am just not up to looking elsewhere for some time.. this was not my plan...maybe that is what this was...to open up to looking...the charm of the area is what i am seeking...(please don't be offended if you live in these areas because they might just work for you) i am not interested in getting a house in a housing development...it would be a house and not a home to me...it would be just like where we are currently living..'just the house till we buy our home' and so..............SIGH...........

now i must become unattached yet still try to move forward with it whether my dad is yelling at me about 'old houses', or my realtor doesn't want to move forward, or whatever.....dreams don't just happen....you have to act on them....

this is my inspiration board/ preschool info....in the evening the sun shoots through the stair window and beams light across the entire house and hits that board....sometimes it just opens a little window to my heart and mind at the same time...color swatches...bathroom sink i heart....herb window.. coffee tables and mindful simplicity. dreams. hope.

so my emotions are now being pushed down until something 'really' happens....i doubt there will be an update unless we give up or we have the keys in our hands...

(thanks lisa....i am trying to put on my big girl panties and go forward ...wouldn't you know that they are just too big and keep falling down to my knees....teehee!)

coming home.........

 for 10 yrs i have been trying to move away from this valley.....reason after reason i kept being stopped in my tracks.......for the first time in well..forever....i came to the conclusion "why have i been fighting the current that long?"........

 i fell IN LOVE with a reason to stay here;

i was so not looking to buy a house, why would i? i wasn't staying here! i have said that our entire marriage.....this house kept coming to me.......the universe through it in front of me.....wednesday i looked at it without even telling brian (remember we were NOT looking for a house! so why would i be meeting someone to look at it?), thursday i took brian and my dad to see it, friday i found a house inspector, an agent on my behalf not the banks, and got preapproved for a loan! we hope to put in an offer tomorrow............from not looking for a house, to picking out paint swatches!

(i must apologize for all the exclamation marks....i am just in a state of euphoria!!!!!!)

so i am IN LOVE with this house, it was built in 1919 and has built ins.....it has charm....it is so ME. i've seen friends go through the buying/selling process and thought 'wow i so don't want to go through all the stress' and now i know why........today they found dry rot on the back of the house....mind you you can't just reside it....it's in the historic part of town and you have to keep the house looking the same so it would be a huge ordeal. .........and the mortgage broker wouldn't give us a loan if there is significant amount of dry rot............my heart sunk....i knew not to get attached to this house 'just in case' but the universe handed this house to me...many of times.......

when i walk through the front door....i smell 'our smell' , i see the warm colors, i smell the pasta cooking in the kitchen and hear the cooing of the baby in it's bouncy seat while i cook and gaven practices piano...............this IS my home..........

if you are of the praying kind.......don't skip to your next favorite blog.....please stop and say a prayer that our family will GROW and LIVE here............i will keep you posted.

by the way.......can't you see my chair on the front porch?

exceptional things.....

 

there have been some exceptional things happening here.  the universe spoke to us when we weren't even listening......so then it yelled.
   
much to post about next week................out loving the sunshine

mothers day......

 motherhood has been an awakening to my life...it is something i take in everyday so now that we have recognized that.......let's get to my gifts! (ahem...beyond the 3 beautiful children yada yada) jk.

 first off...i woke up to a little girl reaching out to me to be held and running a fever. it was kind of a blessing because not one of my children gave me the time of day while on vacation...there were too many cousins to play with so i was afraid that is how i would spend my mothers day. instead i held a 5yrold baby girl for endless hours. a little while later they rallied together and brought me a card and gift. brian had them all sign it and there was a gift certificate to have a family portrait taken. very sentimental since we have been a family for 9yrs and not one family picture!

and there is nothing like a preschool gift....this year i got a bookmark and i LOVE it.

while at the coast i made a visit to my favorite bead store.....once i got on a roll i figured why stop and gave myself a little mothers day gift....

we packed up and went home....i got out of the car tired, car sick, and knowing that we had sooo much to do......and then....i heard my husband gasp.....

the chair i had hinted about...the one i dropped a 'i might have something to blog about'...the one i sent a phone pic of to my daddy.....IT was sitting on my porch when i got home....

spring, summer, and fall i spend hours out on my porch watching my children play....my butt on a cement step....the cute antiquie blue chair? that is wobbly and for sitting pots on...i sat down in this chair at target one day and it is literally as comfy as a lazy boy...something about the back just hugs you....and after hours of "give that back to your sister....no we aren't going to the park yet...put the hose DOWN..." i need something to give me a hug.....

looking forward to spending time on MY chair, watching the kids play, admiring my plants, sipping cold water, reading a book, taking in a warm summer evening.....lots of memories will be in this very chair......

                                                                bliss