Evading Insanity

11:05 PM racheal 0 Comments

There comes a time in every person's life where they go a little crazy. Some experience this time in an institution, others experience it whilst combating the everyday battles of life. I, for instance, have been dealing with my mild insanity for months--all the while changing diapers, cleaning up the same messes from the same drawers, listening to the simultaneously most charming and annoying voice on a constant loop from sun-up to well past sun-down. My fantastic husband has been going though some ups and downs at work and we've planned some major upheaval in our lives. Frankly, I'm pooped. And done. And if I stayed in this situation much longer, it would not have been pretty.

Serendipitously, my uncle and aunt-in-laws were unable to use up all of their time at a time-share in Whistler, BC. They graciously offered it to us, and I took it! It took some time, but I finally convinced my two sisters who live locally to accompany me on a girl's getaway--not the bad kind of getaway though, like from the police, but the totally legal kind like from your husband and kids and responsibilities. At least that's what I told the border officer.




We are closing our first full day here, And it has been perfect. We went on a Whistler Tasting Tour for a few hours where we tried a variety of restaurants, got some great exercise, shopping, relaxing, and hot-tubbing in.




Not to mention completion of our second puzzle since being here. Ooooh Yeeeaaaah. We are just that cool. And actually, we're pretty bummed that we only brought two 1000 piece puzzles. Ah well. Time to enjoy other pursuits. Like cross-stitching. I'm pretty sure that's how Canadians pass their time.


That's right. That's an ISpy puzzle.  Do you have any idea how hard those puzzles are? Piece of cake for these geniuses. I'll post again on our further outings and adventures. But if I was being honest, I'd tell you I'm just hoping for a lot of nothing. And silence. Punctuated by some giggling. But mostly silence.

I'm feeling peaceful. Sane. And excited for tomorrow.

Blogging Season

1:15 PM racheal 2 Comments

Please excuse me whilst I reminisce through photos of drier summer times.

I gave myself the summer off from blogging: too many fun things to be doing outside. But now that Washington has given in to the inevitable 9-month-drizzle we've all been anticipating, I have no more excuses. So I'm back.

Also back to my rainy-day battle: mommy's creativity vs. the TV. Which will win in the epic of the winter? Today? Probably the TV.

I don't know if it's the weather or just me, but I've been feeling rather slumpy lately. At first it was just regular lazy, and then on October 1st it became Gilmore Girls lazy. So now the lazy is addicting.


Occasionally I can break the Gilmore Girls bonds long enough to read a good book. Lately I've read My Story by Elizabeth Smart, Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson, and The Rent Collector by Camron Wright. Mormon autobiographies and a fascinating read about a family that lives in a dump in Cambodia. I found all of them interesting, but Stephanie Nielson, of nieniedialogues.com is the one that really helped me change my perspective on things.


It wasn't anything she said about healing, though I cannot imagine the insurmountable hill that she had to climb in her recovery after her plane crash. Rather, it was her love for her role as mother that affected me. In her book, Stephanie shares briefly about her pre-crash life. She describes her love for caring for her children, her pride in maintaining a clean house, and her consistency with having dinner on the table when her husband came home. That is most definitely not the norm around here.


But it could be. I will not be in this mothering role forever, let alone with small impressionables around. Why wouldn't I make my role my passion? So often I am embarrassed to tell people that I am a stay-at-home mom. What a world of good that Bachelor's in Biology did me, eh? I often feel that because I don't have some successful side business, day care or Etsy shop that I'm not creative enough or industrious enough.


I am being more confident. I am embracing this role of "mother" with pride. I have kept my house spotless for almost 2 weeks! (Or at least cleaned everything up by bed time). Dinner for 2 weeks! Now I just need to get back to running. The TV might occasionally win this winter, and my passion for motherhood may waver at times, but I will not lose myself. And that still counts as winning.

Celebrating Easter Like a Feminist

2:46 PM racheal 7 Comments

I am a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I read scriptures daily, participate in church on Sundays, and serve others when I can. I am a stay-at-home mother of two and a return missionary. I do not feel of lesser value than the men at church. I have an awesome husband and marriage in which I am an equal partner. 

13 And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto them saying:

14 Arise and come forth unto me, that ye may thrust your hands into my side, and also that ye may feel the prints of the nails in my hands and in my feet, that ye may know that I am the God of Israel, and the God of the whole earth, and have been slain for the sins of the world.  

15 And it came to pass that the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going forth one by one until they had all gone forth, and did see with their eyes and did feel with their hands, and did know of a surety and did bear record, that it was he, of whom it was written by the prophets, that should come.

Potty Humor

2:41 PM racheal 2 Comments

This may be the best thing I've ever created. The rest of the bathroom is ok too, I guess, but I smile every time I see this bad boy.


I made it (old frame, chalkboard spray paint, chalk) initially with the intention to write something more inspiring, like "grateful", or "simplicity". The more I thought about it being in the bathroom, the more I started coming up with stuff like, "push harder" and other equally crass and silly things. This was the winner. I think the flower garlands really make it special.

My bathroom used to be beige with blank walls. I spend enough time in there (thank you IBS!) that I thought it worthwhile to spruce the place up.


I painted the mirror pink. Pink? Who does that? I second guess that choice every time I'm in there. At least it's thought provoking. This mirror is a hand-me-down from my mom and is a replacement for the builder-grade mirror that I very gracefully removed by myself late late one night. Word to the wise: when there's a 2 man project, that does not mean 1 woman. It means that if you do it alone, you will shatter the mirror and most definitely break your pedestal sink. Classy, I know.


I bought that awesome howling dog at a DI like a year ago. I painted it this awesome color with some of Oli's leftover wall paint. Now would be a good time to insert some sort of moon joke. If you're into that sort of thing.
Small bathrooms are really hard to photograph. Boo. but you don't need to see the plunger and the toilet brush and the baby-potty seat all stacked next to the toilet anyway.

Tubeless

4:06 PM racheal 3 Comments

Oli got her G-tube taken out! Yahoo!

Her last photo taken with it at the doctor's office:


I did an post-g-tube impromptu photo shoot. I know, too cute. Honestly, I just put her in the corner, in the box that holds our gardening shoes, threw a blanket at her and asked her to dazzle me. I tried to find some newborn puppies or a fruit outfit or something, but all I came up with was her slightly wet diaper. So we made it work.






She looks drastically different, I know. Right now she has a square of gauze and a clear sticker thingy to keep the gauze place. I'll have to post a photo of her little scar after it heals up.

Hooray for Oli!

Whatever You Are, Be Awesome.

4:25 PM racheal 1 Comments

"Whatever you are, be a good one." And if you don't like what you are, change your label. 

One label I've been nostalgic over lately is the label of "missionary". I'm sure you've seen the missionaries around, usually in pairs, men in white shirts and ties, women in skirts, all wearing black name tags. If you're lucky they may have even knocked on your door during dinner or any other equally inconvenient time, possibly making you frantic as you came up with any excuse about why you are too busy. We all know how that goes. I've done my fair share of avoiding such well-intending door knockers.

I'm the one with the blue shirt and the gap in her teeth. The other one is Hanifah Namubiru.

World Down Syndrome Day. Apparently.

10:41 AM racheal 6 Comments

I just can't get over the cleverness of this day. 3-21. As in three copies of chromosome 21. Oh the cleverness of you. So in honor of this day mean to raise awareness and acceptance, I will set aside my sardonic nature and share some things about Olive that have nothing to do with her diagnosis. Because in the end, it is who we are, and not what we are that defines us.

1. She loves to dance. And be thrown around (yes, we shake our babies). And to bounce. This girl feels the rhythm.

2. She is super determined. Once she realizes she can do something, she does it. Today I showed her that she could hold her bottle herself. Now she wont have it any other way!

3. She's got sass. Nuf said.

4. She adores Charlie. And she really likes Garrett and me. This is a rather new realization for us, and it's awesome to see her face light up when we enter the room. I LOVE IT.

5. She loves to eat. Thank you for giving me a child that enjoys food. I feel validated.

6. She has incredible focus. She will take a book and examine every corner, page, picture, texture, taste, you name it. She really experiences things. I love that about her.

7. She loves to be loved. Don't we all.

8. She loves water. She LOVES water.

Making Awesome out of Almost Free

9:37 AM racheal 3 Comments

Mr. Camera Man

10:25 PM racheal 4 Comments

This is Charlie. Charlie is a good little boy, and always very curious.

During breakfast this morning mister Charlie decided he wanted to hone his photography skills. After minimal direction, these are his best (read: clearest) shots. I call it, Ode to breakfast. Enjoy.

Green Smoothie. Oli trying to feed herself?

Spoon.

And my personal favorite: Giving up.

And from my view.

My Wicked-Awesome Wicker Chairs

8:00 AM racheal 1 Comments

I know. You've been just dying to get the low-down on my rad chairs.

Well friend, your persistence has paid off!

Making Awesome out of Free

1:55 PM racheal 1 Comments

So we bought a house last year. And had a child. Who then stayed in the hospital for two months. And had two procedures after that. And had an ER visit for our other child.

What I'm trying to express to you is that we are poor. Like, the only money we spend all month on non-essentials is at the grocery store. For more essentials. Yeah, it's pretty awesome. Conveniently, we are natural cheapskates, so it's not too painful.

However, new houses come with large spaces and empty walls that are just crying to be filled. So, for all of my fellow cheapskates, I thought I'd share some of my cheapo crafty-crafts over the next few weeks.

I'll start today with my favorite project. Mostly because it is FREE, super easy, and makes a statement.


Pow! I love the punch of color it adds to our oppressively beige walls.

Supplies needed: a large flat piece of cardboard (we had some leftover from the move), a lot of paint swatches (I recommend Glidden for all of their bright and fun colors, though scrapbook paper would work also), and tape. Awesome, right?

Pretty straightforward procedure. Start on one side, work a row at a time. I'm sure you could just start at a corner and fan outward too. Either way. Make sure you extend the swatches over the edges of the cardboard at least a 1/8 inch, just to make sure the cardboard is concealed. One day I might frame it, but today is not that day. The cardboard in the photo below is visible when you're looking from the side, like this. If I cared more, I'd fix it, tack it all down or something. But I don't, so I won't.


After some trial and error, I thought it looked better to randomly assign colors, rather than following a specific pattern. I also made sure I had some neutral colors in there as well, to ground it (Martha Stewart and Behr have great neutrals and softer colors). I cut cut the paint swatches to different lengths (instead of having major overlap) and taped them on, making sure to cover the other pieces of tape.


I hung the final piece by nailing half-inch nails into the wall wherever the cardboard was bowing out. In the photo above you can see a tiny nail above the brown paint swatch.

I cannot stress how easy this project is.


Or how cute my kid is.


In the 6 months since I completed this project, I realized that I don't feel totally square about taking so many paint samples from Home Depot. I have done penance buying multiple gallons of paint using my awesome home paint chip display. There is a great post on the ethics of paint chip crafts here that offers responsible ways of acquiring samples. Next time I decide to paint-chip craft, I will do so in a more legitimate manner. Today though, I would like to thank Glidden, Martha Stewart and Behr, along with my good friends at The Home Depot, and would recommend their products.


Whew! Is my conscience clean yet?

On a different note, I love it. I hope it gives someone else some awesome ideas, and I hope the feds don't show up at my door next week.