August 2015 – Page 2

A collection of our ordinary days, recorded every week.  At the end of the year, I’ll publish them into a keepsake to treasure.

Around here, I have been:

starting T25.  On a Tuesday.  I’m done choosing the “right” day to start something, so Tuesday it is.  The workouts are hard, but manageable and even fun.   Mark and I (and even M) have been doing them together first thing in the morning and it has been a great beginning to my day.

eating clean and finally on week two of Whole30.  I’ve done this before and knew what to expect, so it was a little like childbirth: you know it’s going to hurt, but it’s worthwhile in the end.

enjoying Brain Games on Netflix with the kids.  The show is educational and entertaining and we have learned a lot.  (Note: I would suggest skipping the episode on fear.  I previewed it and determined it was WAY too scary for my kids.)

taking care of D as we found out he has double ear infections.  He feels so much better now that he’s on antibiotics.

setting up our new birdfeeder!  It is acrylic and sticks directly to our window.  We are still waiting for the neighborhood birds to realize it’s there, but hopefully we’ll have some visitors soon. 

stitching like a mad woman!  I set a personal deadline to finish Sophie’s “girls” by the time we started school and now we’re only three days away!  Hoping I can finish up this weekend.  (Finally linking up to Erica’s Summer Stitching Stash Blast #11 too.)

watching TJ all the time.  He is climbing stairs, dancing to any and all music, loves peek-a-boo, and hits and throws everything in sight.  He also does a full cross-body waving thing that I’m crazy about.  I love this age.

buying Do a Dot markers for the little kids.  They have been a little jealous of all the cool books and supplies the big boys have been receiving for school, so it was fun to tell them that this package was theirs.

laughing at Sophia and her adorable and hilarious comments.  A few of her latest: “I a goose!’ (meaning: she’s a silly goose), “I go to bed in…um, thirty years!” And my absolute favorite, asked every single evening as I start getting ingredients out: “We cookin’ family dinner, mama?”

Our kitchen has been overflowing with peaches the past few weeks.  The kids and I have had fun scrolling through Pinterest until something catches our eye.  If we have the ingredients on hand, we make it right there on the spot.  Here are four of our favorites so far:

If you’ve been reading here for awhile, you may remember my first 100 Little Things list back in 2014.  I loved the process and while I didn’t cross everything off by year’s end, the list was so helpful when I was feeling uninspired or overwhelmed.  At the beginning of this year, I tried to change things up, but that quickly crashed and burned.  

So it comes as no surprise that as I’ve been learning more about myself, I’ve been thinking, “How do I like to get things done?  What fires me up?”  And the 100 Little Things list immediately came to mind.  I considered starting on my birthday in October or waiting until January 1st, but then I thought, “Why wait?  Why put off what I can start right now?”  So here I am, making a list of little things I’d like to accomplish, smack dab in the middle of summer.

Like last time, this list is a mix of silly things and important things. They are things that really need to get done and things that just sound like fun.  They are things I’d like to do and things I really should do.  They are things that excite me and things that scare me.  My goal is to finish them all before the end of next summer, but we’ll see.  I love the process as much as the finish line.  

1. Donate my hair to Pantene 2. Buy succulents for the house  3. Purchase art for above master bed 4. Take the kids to a baseball game 5. Make a pillowcase dress 6. Watch 20 documentaries 9. Reread To Kill a Mockingbird 10. Read The Temperament God Gave Your Kids 11. Print updated photos for around the house 12. Make 2015 Instagram book 13. Make 2015 Around Here book 14. Have our family photos professionally taken 15. Send out Christmas cards 19. Learn how to French braid 21. Install shelves in the boys’ room 22. Buy new duvet covers for the boys 25. Run another half marathon 26. Make my own vanilla extract 28. Blog everyday for a month (31 days in October?) 29. Move photos to external hard drive 30. Take 4 (out of the house) dates with Mark 31. Explore someplace new 33. Make an emergency preparedness kit 34. Make a new recipe everyday for a month 35. Armknit another scarf (or a blanket?) 37. Wear my hair in a new way 38. Host 5 new families for dinner 40. Purchase a “Thanksgiving meal” to donate to the food bank 42. Take an online course 44. Hang an American flag outside 45. Buy a new throw blanket for the living room 47. Start a separate blog for our homeschooling  48. Do a month-long running “streak” 49. Get carpets professionally cleaned 50. Participate in Screen-Free Week 52. Make milk & honey soap 53. Make bread from scratch, no bread machine! 54. Get Big White Farmhouse in a magazine ad 55. Purchase vintage items at a big fair 56. Re-do Big White Farmhouse packaging (business cards, thank you postcards, etc) 57. Make a frame for the big dining room picture 59. Make the laundry room more functional 60. Send 5 “just because” gifts 61. Organize the linen closet 62. Try making new flavors of lemonade 63. Sew Sophie pajama pants 64. Learn flower arranging 65. Buy a bench for the dining room table 67. Buy a fiddle leaf fig tree for the house 68. Paint anything on a canvas 69. Make homemade Larabars 70. Make homemade marshmallows 71. Read four books of the Bible slowly 73. Create a hand-drawn printable 74. Replace the pillows in the living room 75. Buy a wreath for the front door 76. Try 5 new local restaurants 77. Make 20 recipes from my cookbooks 78. Create a “celebration basket”: paper plates, napkins, candles, etc. 80. Buy a new winter coat 81. Rotate master bedroom mattress 82. Complete T25 or another Beachbody program 83. Launch a special project with Mark 85. Make strawberry jam with my mom 86. Go to the shooting range with Mark 87. Pay off remaining student loan debt 88. Make my handwriting a font 89. Go strawberry picking 91. Do a pullup unassisted 92. Take the kids to see something in DC 93. Make a distressed wooden sign for my office 94. Milk paint a piece of furniture 95. Embroider one of Sophia’s drawings 96. Plant flowers in the front flower beds 97. Find a new playground 98. Buy milk glass containers to hold art supplies 99. Do something special to celebrate our 10th anniversary 100. See a movie in theaters

Oh July.  I struggled a bit this month, but am slowly digging myself out.  Feelings of overwhelm, uncertainty and restlessness (I won’t go into details here, but let’s just say that Rosie is living my dream!)  A few days ago, I read this quote from Elisabeth Elliot: “Restlessness and impatience change nothing except our peace and joy.  Peace does not dwell in outward things, but in the heart prepared to wait trustfully and quietly on Him who has all things safely in His hands.”  

And then there was this one too: “Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today?  How many momentous events in Scripture depended on one person’s seemingly small act of obedience!  Rest assured: Do what God tells you to do now, and, depend upon it, you will be shown what to do next.”  Boom.  Sucker punch right to the core of my problem.  I’m entering August with a new perspective.  

A few of my favorite blog posts in July:

+ 20 Things I Love: A Gratitude Journal vol.2
+ Superhero Cross-Stitch Pillows
+ What Self Care Looks Like for Me Right Now
+ What Would a Calm, Thriving Life Look Like?

My July goals, reviewed:

1. Big White Farmhouse: put in the work!  Done.  I’m getting into the routine of putting in an hour or two of work between quiet time and after the kids are in bed.  I try to keep a running to-do list of tasks, so that when I do get time, I’m really accomplishing something instead of just messing around on Facebook.  2. Finish Sophia’s princess cross-stitch. Gosh, I tried with this one, but still have four princesses to go.  With limited free time, I tend to have to choose between stitching or reading and this month, reading won.   3. Write the first 9 weeks of lesson plans for the new homeschool year. Done!  So happy to have this finished. 4. Cross one thing off my Life List.  Done.  A little bit of a stretch, but I added five more documentaries toward my goal of 100.   5. Look out. Done and I’m just getting started.  Last month, I defined this as “Mail that letter.  Send that surprise package.  Tell that person what they mean to me.  My life at home is full, but it shouldn’t consume all of me.  Instead of always looking in, I want to look out and see all those people who love and support me too.”  I sent two little packages (with a thank you note and a small gift) and can’t wait to do more.

And a few new goals for August:

1. Go on a date. // It’s been too long since we’ve gone out just the two of us.   2. Complete a Week in the Life project with Ali Edwards. // I’m in dire need of something to inspire me creatively and I’m hoping this will help.  I’m planning to share my photos on the blog (no scrapbooking) and they’ll eventually go into a book along with my “Around Here” posts.   4. Revamp my blog’s sidebar tabs. // This has been on my to-do list forever.  After four years of blogging, I want to make things a bit more user-friendly around here. 5. Continue work on my office. // I want to focus on a functional table/work space this month.