Closed For Maintenance

Sometimes I wonder how I can be so upbeat one day and cranky/emotional the next day. 

Then I look at my calendar. 

Oh yeah. Now I remember.

Someone make that T-shirt for me. 

My Cheery Kitchen

This is not the most impressive sight for many people, I'm sure. But looking at my kitchen today, just as it is, I felt so full of cheer! I love my kitchen. It is a happy place.

I love the flowers on my table. The photo doesn't do the tulips justice; they're a lovely, vibrant red, and I think I breathe more deeply every time I pause to look at them. 

I love seeing the lovely cupcakes on the table; they're from Shauna, who ran them downstairs to us on her way out. That makes me happy. 

I love the fruit on the counters. Pineapple, bananas, peaches I canned with my mom. Fresh and yummy! 

I even love my dishsoap. It's such a bright blue. And I even love my rug at the sink; it's a little squishy, and it's soft and easy to clean.

I love my owl cookie jar. It's cute. And it houses my chocolate stash.

I love my knives, my blendtec, my bamboo cutting boards...my counters are more cluttered than I prefer, but I am so happy to have those things! 

Even the glass dishes drying on the sink edge make me smile. They're so clean they sparkle. 

And the paper pinwheels on the windowsill that Ender and I made together on Valentine's Day-- I love those, too. 

The kitchen is one of my favorite places to be, and I think that's because it's somewhere that I find it very easy to see my blessings and serve others. We are blessed with an abundance of food, tools and beautiful things. And the kitchen is where so many happy things take place.

New Year Goals Revisited

I like to do this once in a while during the year. Otherwise, I think the whole New Year New Me idea is pointless.

For the year's goals, I wrote: 

I know making art restores my emotional health incredibly well. 

I know exercising gives me really important time to myself. 

I know I feel really good about myself when I cook and bake for the family. 

I know I stress less when I'm organized with my budget and home. 

I know I am happier when I take care of myself. 

I know waking up early makes everything easier. 

I know I love my church calling more when I prepare for each Sunday.

And guess how things are going? I'm definitely not perfect. I'm not ALWAYS keeping up with EVERYTHING. But when I start to get moody or lazy or something, I am more likely to remember that I have ideas to keep myself out of the tangly web of it all. 

I have been drawing VERY regularly! I love my new Bamboo Splash pen, and I've worn it down considerably. I have so much fun drawing, even if I'm making really stupid pictures that I end up deleting. Stupid pictures like this: 

I have been exercising. I have missed a few days here and there when the kids had runny noses or I stayed up atrociously late. But going to the gym is a habit. It's a regular part of our lives. When we fell off the radar during Christmas break (which extended through january, in gym-terms), we missed the gym and really wanted to go back. We weren't avoiding it so much as waiting out the sickies and trying to get our act together.

During my period, which happens all too often in my opinion, I am a horrible housekeeper. I don't make meals, I don't do laundry, I sometimes don't keep up with dishes, and my showers are irregular (ew). BUT! Outside that miserable window of time, I have been making meals and enjoying my time in the kitchen. It does indeed give me great pleasure. 

We have been watching our budget steadily for some time now, and it feels so good. Even when there's not much left to spend (like this month, bleh). At least I know just how much there is to work with, and even though most of it will be gone after I buy diapers and toilet paper today, we will be just fine. Especially if I finally file those tax returns...

Laundry...yeah...well, for about three weeks, my house looked like a dump. Because of the laundry, mostly. But I caught up (and I'll have to do some more very soon, since that's how laundry goes), and I have been trying harder not just to take care of the home but not imagine it's some huge chore. I just do it.

I have been taking care of myself. I pamper my skin, I pamper my hair. I shave my legs a little more often. :) And I try to eat more nutritious foods. I still enjoy cookies and the occasional ice cream or dessert, but I have at least been "better" about how much I enjoy (so...still a lot, but not nearly as much as before). 

I wake up "early." Hahaha...yeah, like 7:30 or 8:00. That's not really qualified as early in my book, but I'm not sleeping in. It's hard. It's torturous some mornings. But I want to be up in the mornings, so I make it happen. It does still take a while for me to peel myself off the bed, but it does still make everything easier to be up and get the day started on time.

Last: I have been preparing more diligently for Sundays. It has taken a lot of stress away. I have learned to love my calling so much that I honestly wouldn't mind if I got the same calling again after we move. I have learned how to keep going with fresh ideas even after 3 years. 

Help yourself; this is an old twister-wheel board, and if you don't happen to have a spare, wrapping some paper around it won't damage the board. Just pop the spinner off. "Hot Potato" is a game where the kids pass an item around quickly while singing, but when the music randomly stops, the kid holding the item has to say the next word. "Word Swap" is a game where you divide the primary into two groups which take turns singing every other word. The other stuff on here is pretty self-explanatory. My primary kids LOVE "Opera," so we go all out for that one. :)

You may have noticed that there haven't been any "Monthly Creations" yet this year...well, there won't be any. Not as a regularly documented event. I realized last month that this is not a good year for that! We are moving out soon, putting our things in storage, and we'll be in Russia for part of the summer. Then I'll be focusing my efforts on moving into our new place. 
I create stuff regularly, and I might decide to backtrack and post 12 creations for the year. It just won't be a monthly thing this time. :) 
Even with everything pretty busy this summer, I feel like I can keep up with my goals for the year! So far, pretty good.