Mother’s Day was good for me this year.
I know this is a bit late to be posting about that particular day, but mother’s aren’t just mothers on Mother’s Day, are they now?
When I became a mom I really thought I was ready. Ready for the responsibility, ready for the sacrifice. I thought I knew what it would take. After all, I had been a nanny for years. Changing diapers, caretaking, chastising, playing, inventing.
I had no clue.
Thankfully, the one thing I didn’t know well, the one thing I hadn’t much experience with was the blessed reality of that miraculous child grace. That grace they give us as we grow and learn and fail and weep and laugh and feel pride and realize how heavy this is, this Motherhood.
That grace that they possess, the grace God gives them, falls on me every single day, making me wonder at how very blessed I am to have these three little gifts.
An eldest gift that insists on draining the batteries in the camera so he can make the perfect mini-documentary on the raccoons residing in our neighbors yard. (Someday he’ll be a great director and I’ll not mind this so much…I’m holding out.)
Another gift who loves pink. In any shade, any texture, any application. Is it pink? Yup. Then it’s automatically transcendent.
A littlest gift who somehow loves putting all his clothes on inside out and backwards. And he wears them that way all_day_long. “No, Mommy. I wike ‘em ‘dis way!”
So, these days I wake up and feel the weight, that blessed burden of care for these lovely mini-people who run around and are learning, from me (oy, oy, oy), how to view this world we live in.
And, somehow…well, I am learning the very same thing from them.
Just so we don’t have people showing up two weeks from now going, ‘Huh? Where’s StopLights?’
I will be moving.
I will be at www.mystoplights.com
And, yes. I know. It looks funny right now and it’s loading slow and all that. I’m working with the site guy to get it all fixed. And, hopefully, it shall be up and running and all that fabulousness in just another week, or so.
Thanks.
Have a beautiful day wherever you are.
I have been promising some pretties, now, haven’t I?
And here they are.
Two very talented ladies have decided to carve an inventive and very engaging little spot for themselves in their corner of the world. And I now count myself blessed to share that corner with ‘em.
It’s quite fortuitous, in my way of thinking, that their brick and mortar shop is pretty close to my own digs. Every town needs something sweet to keep it from getting cynical, and this little place is just the ticket. Of course, they have an online presence, too. Their Etsy shop is located here. And their main site front page with all their info is here.
Please go visit whichever is closest and most convenient and drool and hover and do all the things you might do in the presence of chocolate, or cheesecake, or whatever you find scrumptious.
See what I mean?
If you are liking what you are seeing…and I’m guessing you are, just hop on over to their shop here and browse. And if you are in the Midwest, their brick and mortar shop is located in Lebanon, Indiana, on the east side of the square downtown.
*I’ll be posting an interview with the creators of all you see here, soon. Just to see and hear how it all began.
Just a little reminder that my blog will be moving to a new address. As of June 1st I'll be at www.mystoplights.com. It's still under construction right now, so it looks kinda funny, but I hope all that will be fixed by the first of the month.
Hope to see you there!
Also, tomorrow will be some of that eye candy I have been talking about. If you love pretty, soft, sweet little things, you'll love what these two moms have created.
We went up to visit family this last weekend. It never, ever fails to be a complete hoot. There were 8 children under the age of 8 running around, flinging, falling, laughing, crying, hitting, making up, and basically loving on each other in the manner that little children do.
Of course, it wouldn’t be any fun at all unless we got to take part in some of the mayhem.
And, boy, did we love it.
We also tried to get a “passel” picture. You know, a picture of the whole lot of them.
“Tried” is the key word. Their little bodies just wiggled and giggled and wouldn’t quit.
So, we just kept trying until we realized it was as good as it was going to get. And then we quit and allowed them to go on to whatever they needed to do. Which happened to be giving each other piggy back rides and chasing at top speed around the tree.
Take 1.
Ooops. A nose-picker and an itch.
Take 2.
Everyone trying to get Red Shirt Boy to stop crying. Also, this is about when a mommy saw that the littlest was still in her long underwear. Can’t have that.
Take 3.
I’m trying here, people. Give me a break! And Red Shirt Boy is still unhappy. hmmm.
Take 4.
Almost there, I can feel it.
Take 5.
Okay. Well. Maybe next time, huh?
In the meantime, I think it’s absolutely hilarious that in the middle of it all this one…
Never budged an inch.
If only all of them could have taken a tiny dose of Littlest Girl, we would have had it easy.
Just thought I’d show ya a bit of what I’ve been up to. It’s kinda exciting and I’m nervous and thrilled and all that. There is still so much to do to get everything up and going and find my stride, but I’m happy to say I know for sure I am at least in first gear and swiftly revving up.
Several quick pieces of news:
My blog will be, the near future, changing addresses. This is for several reasons, and there will be some changes, all for the better, I think. I will keep you posted as to the change in location on the world wide web. If you have been one of the readers who has honored me in your favorites, I will be trying to contact you individually you let you know of the move. It is anticipated the new blog site will be up June 1st. Yay!
I am planning the opening of my online shop the same day, so it will be quite the ribbon cutting. The photos above are sneak peaks of the little things I plan on having there. They involve linen and hand-printed textiles and such. And there will be little ‘look at my new shop!’ giveaway soon, so stay tuned!
Oh, my. I am having so much fun.
I’ll stop twaddling now and get back to work.
Ok, so back to the nail-biting for me, and hopefully a great week for you!
Weather is getting warmer and warmer.
Lots of rain. A little bit of sunshine.
The result? Little surprises everywhere. Coming up from warm, moist compost. Creeping out from between rocks and popping up in a child’s dreamy garden.
Soft, pretty little things just in time for Mother’s Day.
Lovely. ahhhh.
Not to mention the three sweet, soft, wonderful, little people tucked in their beds, breathing softly, waiting for tomorrow so “we can give you the very special gift just for you!”
Good night and have a very happy Mother’s Day.
Motherhood is priced
Of God, at price no man may dare
To lessen or misunderstand.
~Helen Hunt Jackson
I'm sitting here blogging and wondering why I'm sitting here blogging.
*photo courtesy of my sweet man. Not bad, eh?*
My mind is spinning and the proverbial list is so, so very long. Let's see. I must finish moving furniture (a lot of furniture) from our old room to our new room. Must paint headboard and foot board for little Anna. Then there is more cleaning, sorting, trashing, wiping and more of everything. The garden must go in soon (I know, I'm running late, told ya) and my hubby is moving his prodigious office back home. Good-bye Sweet Livingroom. Which means our new livingroom will be in the current dining room and the dining room will also be saying goodbye. And all of that requires lots of moving of stuff. And, and, and. *sigh*
Oh! And last but certainly not least projects needing finishing and perfecting for the….drumroll…shop.
Mm Hmmm. You remember that shop? The one I said was on the horizon in the near future. Now, it feels like not-so-very-near, and I'm pooped and I'm discouraged because everything feels like it's taking forever. Our internet has been down and while under normal circumstances that might not bother me a whole lot, right now it's tough to lose one day of work, not to mention several.
The Lost Internet Bandit? It was our back neighbor, dear, lovely person, who must have thought our buried cable was a tree root or something. We found it this morning, cleanly snipped, laying there right, semi-buried next to their back patio.
I still like them. They were just being thorough. And I like thorough people.
So, I'm sitting here letting ya'll know that the suspense isn't a put-on. It's real. So very real.
In the meantime, I'll be making good on that promise of pretty posts in the near future. I really think you'll enjoy meeting these very lovely, creative, and smart ladies.
That is, if my neighbors stay away from gardening and yard work just for a bit. *grin*
P.S. Thanks to all of you who have, in comments or private emails, sent me that little ray of encouragement. It's nice.
And I don’t mean what happens to fingers and toes when they are in the bubble bath too long.
I’m talking about the process of cutting away the dead, useless stuff. The stuff that just sits there and doesn’t improve production, but just ends up being ugly and sometimes counterproductive.
*we found an old trumpet in the boxes…they must have driven the neighbors completely nuts all day, walking around blowing on that thing*
You see I was reading the other day about how most of us are habitual collectors. How we are always seeming to want the next new, super-shiny thing. And yet we never prune. We just keep adding and adding and then we choke.
Supposedly, we only use 20% of what we see sitting around us in our living and storage spaces. That means roughly 80% of what we see and have tucked away is primarily dead growth. Not being used, seen, or appreciated.
Just a’sittin’ there.
When I saw that statistic I went on a rampage. Now, these types of rampages aren’t new to me. When I got into my teens and my parents began home educating me, I realized I wanted the space I lived in to be neat, tidy, and somewhat sparse. I realized I produced better that way. During this time I realized just how very much I could get rid of and never really feel it.
So, I started giving and throwing anything away that wasn’t being actively used on a daily basis.
*my old hat, found by the little girl, worn for three days straight*
Fast forward a few years to the night before my wedding. All of my earthly goods fit into 4 egg boxes. My Tim couldn’t believe it. But there it was.
Fast forward another 9 years and those four egg boxes and whatever stuff my hubby had, have expanded to fill a 2,000 sq ft home and small attic. The other day I realized I was choking.
So it began. I started at one end of the house and found much satisfaction in randomly pulling out boxes, emptying them out, sorting, but mostly just trashing or giving away the whole, darn thing.
*Six-year-old plates I made myself in a pottery class while in the throes of postpartum depression. I like ‘em, but don’t know if I’ll keep ‘em…hmmm*
Two trips to Goodwill, a garage sale, and two huge piles of garbage later, there is still much of the household that hasn’t felt the scourge of my unrelenting hand. But it will. Oh, it so will.
*out in the garage…I made these in the first few, very poor years of marriage. Just some printer paper and real, pressed foliage in old, decrepit frames I repainted. Kinda cool, now, huh?*
*our wedding quilt. lost and now found and remarkably with no damage. made by Tim’s Grammy who was Amish as a young woman. She make quilts like some people make sandwiches. Always something on her frame. I feel privileged and relieved to have found it. Beautiful, no?*
And you know what? I can feel the air is almost more breathable now. I no longer feel that building panic whenever I enter a room.
It just feels right.
Now, I know not all people like sparse. Heavens, some friends I know are actually more productive when surrounded by all their creative paraphernalia. I totally get that. That is why I highly recommend this book. Yes, she is popular, and yes, you might think perhaps she’s too corporate. Or whatever. But she has the most balanced and fair view of organization i have found to date. My fave quote from her book?
*You can’t tell if a person is organized or not just by looking at their space*
Now if that isn’t encouraging, I don’t know what is.
So, let me know. What are you feeling as this economic downturn is helping you re-prioritize? What have you decided you can do without? What kinds of things have you been willing to let go?
Would love to hear.
The more the merrier, I say. *wink*
