karina, ink.

The End.

2011-12-06T09:20:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the verse in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under the heaven.". There is a time for everything, and my time for blogging has come to an end. I am closing up karina, ink. forever. I haven't come to this decision lightly, and it has taken me over a year to actually do it. However, after over three years and 500 posts, I am moving on. There are other things that need to be of more importance to me than my blog and shop.

Thank you so so much to all of you who have ever read, visited, subscribed, followed, or just popped in for a few minutes. You have no idea how much you have meant to me. To all of you that I can now call friends, thank you so much for making me a part of your lives. I look forward to continuing to read what you're doing and being truly inspired by you.

This little space of mine has been a happy refuge for me, but there are other things to do now. I am turning my blog into a book and as soon as it arrives this blog will be deleted. I am also deleting Little Men and I am so thankful for the support I got for that new idea too. I realize it was very short lived, but I want you to know how much I love anyone and everyone who encouraged me to do something that was difficult for me.

I'll see you around on twitter, facebook, and pinterest and my e-mail karinaink@msn.com will remain the same if you need to get in touch with me.

I took all these pictures after I got done decorating for Christmas this year, and I thought I'd post them as an early way to say Merry Christmas! I hope you have a wonderful holiday and a very very Happy New Year!

Best Wishes,

karen~xox

p.s. I LOVE YOU!

scrabble game pieces for ornaments.

2011-12-02T05:00:00.000-07:00

I'm thinking that you should probably run out to your local antiques store RIGHT NOW & pick up some vintage scrabble letters.

You'll probably want to turn them into decorations for your tree with some

glue

thread.

You will probably be able to cut the thread with your teeth, although I would recommend scissors.

Easiest homemade ornaments ever.

Eh. Ver.

for the sake of the children.

2011-12-01T10:28:00.001-07:00

*as a heads up of sorts...

i might give away the ending of breaking dawn, so if you haven't read it you should walk away right now.

this week i've been a terrible mother.

i have problems with reading. i love it too much. i get way too involved in whatever book it is, & i lose all ability to pay attention to what's going on around me; so much so, that i try really hard not to read.

this week, starting monday morning, i finally got around to reading the twilight series.

i know, i know.

i'm very late.

perhaps the last person to read the vampire phenomenon?

i have a great excuse though.

i really really didn't want to.

however, when out to dinner with a group of friends, i was the center of attention (i.e. butt of the joke) when it was discovered that i was the last person ON THE EARTH to not have read any of the popular series.

hell might have frozen over if i hadn't jumped on the bandwagon.

and you all know how we wouldn't want hell freezing over.

i gave into ~~massive amounts of peer pressure~~ temptation.

(trust me. the shame is already running deep.)

i finished the fourth book this morning around 1:30 a.m.

four books. three days.

(reading fast. it's my only gift. i have a massive headache.)

i have to admit, i liked it....but....

after the last page i felt kind of let down.

i kept waiting for the massive fight! for bella to be able to use her newborn skill to rip out the throats of her enemies!

but.

NOTHING! NO FIGHT! NO RAVENOUS END TO THE VOLTURI!!!

nothing.

but, i'm done.

now my kids can stop watching non-stop tv & eating caramel corn in my bed.

i might even make them take a shower & brush their teeth.

i probably won't start another book for a few ~~weeks~~ ~~months~~ years.

i've been lucky with this series, & my last, that my house didn't burn down.

and that my children are still alive & speaking to me.

i'd ask you what you've been reading lately, but that would just start me on a downward spiral again.

and heaven knows, for the sake of the children, we wouldn't want me going there again.

our thankful bowl.

2011-11-23T15:14:00.001-07:00

We decided to go easy on our Thanksgiving decorations this year. Just a few yummy smelling pinecones, some tags, and some help from the boys later, we had ourselves a thankful bowl.

This one is my favorite...

Can you see the Ryan Gosling "smolder" in the bunch? My sister is here visiting & she was excited to add a little bit of herself to the holiday. I love Jared's "faith" tag & Adam's "being smart" tag. Ooohhhh, I love those boys!

Happy Thankful Bowl (sounds like a football game??) to all of you!

how to make $5 drugstore flowers last longer.

2011-11-18T15:00:00.001-07:00

ruffled sunshine.

2011-11-17T09:16:00.001-07:00

i've been doing a little guest posting over at

Ruffled Sunshine!

have you seen her pretty blog?

her photographs blow me away.

right now she is in the middle of another thank you week.

(month!)

jump over there & check out my post as well as her whole blog.

oh...& p.s...there's a little giveaway from me involved.

there's barely any competition right now so scoot on over & get yourself entered!

trust me.

the bag of goodies i'm sending the winner's way will be well worth the few seconds it takes to enter!

bridesmaids.

2011-11-15T09:59:00.001-07:00

imagine opening your mailbox and finding this inside...

a friend of mine asked me to make these for her as a way to surprise her bridesmaids.

isn't that the sweetest way to ask someone to be in your wedding?

wouldn't you love to have one of these little ladies show up in your mailbox?

cubby holes...

2011-11-08T15:04:00.001-07:00

when i was little, these bunk beds belonged to my sisters and i.

the cubby holes were filled with pictures of jason priestly and ralph machio....and maybe a new kids poster or two.

now that they belong to my two oldest, they were in sore need of a makeover....not involving teen heartthrobs.

the boys helped choose a manly color scheme.

(those orange stripes are my favorite!!)

3 cubbies at the foot of each bed.

and three cubbies at the head of each bed.

the rock em' sock em' robots got the lucky spots, right next to that stripey orange paper!

lucky robots.

they still look pretty grouchy though.

maybe they're waiting for a picture of jason priestly.

(i know that always used to make me happy!)

good things...

2011-11-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

mounds of snow in the backyard.

little red cheeks.

hot tomato soup with melted cheese.

lots of crackers.

baby's breath for a dollar a bunch.

full tummies.

happy boys.

commitment.

2011-11-03T14:41:00.000-06:00

this little man is the epitome of commitment.

when he decides that he's going to go for something, he doesn't quit until he has done that thing to 150% of his ability.

he's been planning this costume since last October.....the day we Bic'd his head (& painted blue arrows on his head & arms) to be Aing, he already knew that he wanted to grow out his hair so that he could look just like Birdman for Halloween this year.

the tattoos. the jersey. the mohawk.

all his ideas.

and executed to complete perfection.

i could definitely learn a thing or two about commitment from him.

p.s. i am well aware that tattoo artist is not my calling....i will be keeping my day job.

hard things.

2011-10-26T11:38:00.000-06:00

this is one of my absolute, most favorite things to say to my boys.

when they tell me they can't do something, when they whine that something is way too hard for them, this is the first thing that pops out of my mouth every time.

so, i wrote it on one of our chalkboards.

now they can see it all the time and remember that there will be no excuses because we do hard things at our house.

last week, for example, my boys had to memorize some parts for the primary program.

they told me the parts were too long.

they told me they were too nervous.

they told me they would never remember them.

they told me there would be too many people watching.

but they practiced, & practiced, & practiced.

& practiced.

and the three of them that were in the program sailed through their parts with flying colors.

so although i sat on our bench gripping seth's hand so tightly you could barely see any color in his fingertips,

(poor poor husband)

those boys helped prove to me what i preach every day.

we can do hard things.

hmmmmmmm.......

what will they prove that they can do this week?

diy wall art.

2011-10-21T16:02:00.000-06:00

sometimes, when i get bored, i change things.

i've changed my living room over 47 times since moving into our home three years ago.

(that might be a bit of an exaggeration....but not by much.)

a few weeks ago i changed my living room all around again,

& this particular change left a massive blank space on the wall above the sofa.

so, i put up the "you are my sunshine" canvas that i made,

my distressed star,

& a teeny tiny little book page star banner.

but, i still had room left.

so with a few extra blank canvases, a star punch, an old book, some twine, some vintage milk bottle tops, a little white burlap, & a stencil brush full of ink,

i swirled, & stapled, & wrapped, & glued

until all of those canvases were covered.

& i had a 30 minute wall of diy art.

hopefully i won't get bored again too soon,

cuz i kind of like it.

perfect heart.

2011-10-20T13:12:00.000-06:00

there is a little eight year old boy i've been so worried about lately.

his specialists and therapists are concerned that he is showing significant signs of regression.

so many things are suffering.

comprehension, reading, writing, math, common sense, social, speech.

teachers asking,

"what can i do to make him focus?"

the only answer to that question is

un-ring the autism bell.

i've been scared and stressed and sad and the rock in the pit of my stomach just keeps getting heavier and heavier,

but,

when i see that little eight year old boy write me a note,

my soul is still and my mind is quiet.

there will be no un-ringing of any bells.

it's just not possible.

this little boy will be just fine, and so many things will be possible because he has

the perfect heart.

crib slats.

2011-10-18T13:56:00.000-06:00

the crib we've used for all four of our children has sadly (or happily, depending on the day) reached the end of it's baby holding days.

crib parts are being used all over the house as different things.

a blanket holder, a message station, & a bulletin board.

i've still got a few pieces in storage that i intend to put to magnificent use.

today, it's one of the crib sides.

the accent color in Jared & Adam's room is orange, so i gave it a coat of shiny spray paint,

hung it up,

& turned it into book storage.....which also doubles as wall art!

pretty cute!
their room is a work in progress.....
more to come later!

disclaimer.

2011-10-17T15:08:00.000-06:00

I just wanted you all to know something.

I love blogs. I love reading them & being inspired by the stories & pictures & ideas that so many people in so many different walks of life have to share.

However.

Blogs sometimes depress me.

I start to feel like other women, other mothers, are far more perfect than I could ever hope to become.

I realize that blogging is a lot about sharing that perfect portion of your life; that upbeat portion that helps you remain positive about all that's going on.

But.

Sometimes, all that perfection is depressing.

And so.

Please know that I am definitely among the ranks of the many women striving (& gritting her teeth & pushing against huge insurmountable obstacles while slaving away) to become a better person. I wouldn't want you to think in a million years that all my love of white & clean & organized & orderly is even slightly easy to maintain in a house full of little boys & a husband who travels over half of the month. My OCD, when it comes to trying to live in a home that constantly looks staged & where everyone is on time with perfect manners, is not something that I would wish on anyone else. Trust me. It would make the sanest individual crazy.

The last thing that I would ever want is to make anyone else discouraged.

My goal, just like so many others, is to create a happy home where my boys feel absolutely loved & safe. A place where respect is cultivated & hard work is one of the most important things I ever teach.

My goal for this blog is to keep it positive....because no one wants to hear complaining day in & day out.

But.

I want to start keeping it real a little more often. To let you know that behind the scenes of the pretty little pictures I like to post about pretty little projects I've completed, that there were probably a few words spoken in frustration about the paint that was spilled on the floor as the scooter came flying by the open paint can, which was spilled & then dragged through the house on the tires of said scooter as the perpetrator tried to get away as fast as possible from the scene of the paint crime.

(seriously. happened today. & the "few words" were more yelled than spoken.)

I want to let you know that:
I worry about practically everything.
I get mad at dumb things.
Sometimes I don't make my boys brush their teeth before bed because I am too tired to care about sugar bugs.
Too often we have cold cereal for dinner.
Lots of times I will skip full pages of stories because I just can't handle reading the same Spiderman book again.

I can't make you like me. I can't make you like my blog. But, I can be as honest as possible when it comes to sharing a little bit more of our lives. I want my boys to have this record of me someday & to know that they were the greatest joys I could ever have had....& to also know that the four of them together made it feel as though I had been run over by a Mac Truck by the end of most days.

Just keeping it real.

p.s. the boy in question has been fully forgiven & is no longer hiding behind a pillow.

hello there!

2011-10-16T14:29:00.000-06:00

oh my goodness.

look who finally, after 5 months, went out and bought themselves a laptop.

we've been a whole lot of busy these past 5 months,
but i'm still here!

how about you?

are you still here?

who kifed my shift keys?

2011-05-09T16:17:00.000-06:00

Source: sisustajantaivas.fi via A Cottage on Pinterest

so far, this post, a post that should have taken 10 minutes tops, has taken nearly three hours. it took almost that long it took to turn my computer on & actually get to this page to write a new post. maybe that helps to explain why i haven't been around much lately. technology & i aren't getting along very well lately. i wanted to do a shop update, but each picture takes approximately 6 hours to download & then my computer just shuts off, so there are a couple of new things in the shop but not nearly the number i had hoped for.

both of my shift keys have fallen off, which should explain by now why i never capitalize anything.

seth says we can either do things to fix up our house....or buy a new computer. i'd so much rather have a driveway, a new kitchen sink, or a completely finished basement; so a new computer can wait.

which means, that blogging can wait too.

i'll pop in every now & then to show you the new bedroom color we've chosen,

or the invitations that i'm starting to think up for my son jared's summer baptism,

or when i finally have my kitchen floor in place,

or the bathroom hooks that i'm making out of hemp dog toys that i found in the target dollar bins.

but until then i'll say....

see you around!!

p.s. i'm having lots of luck selling these little babies every time i go to whole foods.

if you see me out & about i'm sure i'll have an extra that you can snag from me, but if you don't expect to share your grocery shopping experience with me,

pick yours up here for all those farmer's market trips coming up!

wiww #3

2011-04-20T15:26:00.000-06:00

happy wednesday!

(i linked up here!)

Thursday was doctor day.

friday was an early birthday sushi celebration & date night.

sunday - dinner with family

monday was another year older!

today is shop update day! stay tuned!

check back in tomorrow for shop info!

done!

2011-04-19T20:55:00.000-06:00

i am DONE with

pneumonia!

sick boys!

computers that need to be replaced!

immune systems that fight themselves!

one lung!

a husband who travels five days a week!

TALKING ABOUT IT ALL!!!

today, i have been working very hard on updating my little shop.

how about tomorrow,

we start talking about that instead!

see you then!

late night birthday ramblings

2011-04-18T23:39:00.001-06:00

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the other night i had a dream.

the kind of dream that wakes you up while the early morning hours are still dark & leaves you shaking.

the kind of dream that causes fear; the kind that feels so real that you know for sure that it has actually happened.

this is the sort of dream where even after you realize that you've been completely jolted awake, you still throw back the covers & walk down the halls to the childrens' rooms - you don't just listen at each door to hear if each child is breathing, but you go to each bed & place your hand on shoulders making sure that everyone is there. even after a kiss is placed on each forehead & you are back in bed, sleep doesn't come because the ceiling has all of the sudden becomes the most interesting thing to stare at.

i'll spare you the tiny details of the dream, other than to tell you that it
was one of those terrifying dreams in which i could only find one of my four children. the devastation & grief in the dream somehow stayed with me as i stared at the ceiling until after the sun had risen.

i don't normally pay attention to dreams, nor am i one to stew over their meanings, but this particular one, right before my 34th birthday, seemed to be telling me something very real.

i had big plans for today. big plans that involved doing what i had seen on a blog and what had seemed to me at the time to be such a great idea. i would do 34 different things for 34 different people & then tell all about how doing fancy things in extra special ways would not only make me feel really great about all the things i was doing for others....but that would impress others. i don't think it initially started as a way to impress others, but the more i thought about it the more i wondered about the point of it all.

that's when i remembered my dream.

i think that somewhere in the hazy state of a quiet mind things become truly clear & something deeper speaks to us. there's no reason for any of it - it being whatever i'm focused on at that moment - unless it involves keeping my family together. there are no plausible reasons for parties, or painting, or pretty things. there are no excuses for worldly causes that will make me smarter or make me better.
the only thing that matters is making sure that i wake up in the morning with one goal in mind, and that's keeping my family together.
i will never be healthier, or more balanced, or prettier, or more fashionable, or more successful, or more versed in the literary greats of our time, or a harder worker if i'm not putting the right people first.
and i am not that person.

it didn't take a wonderful birthday to decide that my children are far more important than myself. i figured that out a long time ago.

it just took a very vivid dream; the kind that stays with you, to remind me of exactly what kinds of goals i will be setting for my 34th year.
they won't be goals where i kill myself in one day trying to do or be something that i can share with people so that they can think i'm an inspiration doing inspirational things.
they will be goals where my children come first. where my family is the most important thing. goals that keep us together.

those are the kinds of dreams worth dreaming about.

faded plains pretty.

2011-04-14T14:49:00.000-06:00

i have been looking for a white vintage scale around here forever, but haven't ever had any luck.

so i bought it from andrea's shop,

as well as those price tags that i already put on this wall.

shall we talk about andrea for a moment?

sweet as anything...remember how paypal got hacked & my account was one of the ones that had almost $1000 taken?

well, it's still pretty hard to buy anything using paypal because they are sososososo-very-over-the-top careful with my account now.

anyway, it took forever for andrea to get her money & she was so patient!

(love patient people!)

also her blog is amazing,

the rest of her shop makes me want a new thing every week,

and she's just one of those people that i would really love to know in real life. i think she could teach me a thing or 1700 about antiques, & living that simple country life style that i crave so much.

plus, she used fabric paper instead of tissue paper,

has pencils with her .com address on them,

has the prettiest tags ever,

and did i mention all the extras she sent?

starfish, vintage bingo cards, coupons with expiration dates in 1973, tiny french flash cards?

yes please to all, especially when they are placed in a tiny paper bag topped with a doily.

love it.

when i finally got to open it, the whole thing was perfect.

it certainly makes me want to step it up when it comes to packaging!

thank you andrea!

once again you've outdone yourself, and i am so happy!

wiww!

2011-04-13T11:48:00.000-06:00

so, i wasn't going to do a wiww ever ever again, but something really strange happened.

people, more than ten, less than 450, e-mailed to tell me that they thought i should do it again, & make it a regular addition to this little space.

plus, they didn't tell me how orange i looked in last week's pictures, which is a shocker considering my oompa-loompa look.

people are so so nice not to point out the obvious.

after last week's picture of the utah hoodie, i didn't take it off until monday, when i decided that it was probably a good idea to start getting dressed again.

pneumonia sucks, especially when you have no immune system to kick the crap out of it.

so instead of a really tall oompa-loompa today, you get a ghostly version of a sick me,

and to be honest with you, i ended up back in bed with yoga pants & hoodies on the first two of these days.

i did this outfit for my first everybody everywhere that i first heard about from here.

it came in handy to be so comfy because this was the day all four kids had to go back to the doctor for a second round of antibiotics.

thanks so much for your input last week. i really really appreciate it so much more than you can even know.
please wish us healthy thoughts this week!
i think it's about time that my little house of boys caught a break.

how to get your kids to drink green smoothies, or something else.

2011-04-10T09:17:00.000-06:00

good morning sweets!

so today, this lovely sunshiny day, brings a very sick us to you.

everyone of us has some sort of illness....& it isn't just a cold.

it's pneumonia or bronchitis because when we do something, we like to do it up big & bad.

that's right baby; big & bad.

today, because of my awesome frame of mind from having all of these germs swirling here for almost a month, i've realized that there are a few little things that have made me a bit grouchy this week.

#1. house painters who accidentally paint your brick when they weren't supposed to paint your brick.

house painters who get black paint on your white window frames.

house painters who leave energy drinks all over the lawn.

#2. big fat "fancy bloggers" who follow over 1000 people in a day & then do a mass unfollowing the next day, just so it looks like they have these astronomical numbers. i've had one of these truly lovely ladies do this to me three different times. i really hope she realizes soon that people on twitter are not the stupid little twits that she takes us to be.

#3. little boys who complain that their mama makes them drink green smoothies.

this one though...i have solved!

put the green smoothie into teeny tiny little jam jars.

cut a couple of mcdonald's straws into teeny tiny little halves.

serve them to your teeny tiny little half-pints, because who can ever resist anything that is

a. teeny

b. tiny

c. little

happy sunday friends!

next week i promise to return a little less sick & a little less grouchy!

WIWW,,,& haircut!!

2011-04-06T22:30:00.002-06:00

hello happies!

so, this is my first wiww. kind of ironic since i hate taking pictures of myself. however, i decided the only way i'll grow & learn & become a better person is to do things that are out of my comfort zone.

next on the list; mud wrestling.

i most likely won't take pictures of that.

alllllllsoooooo, i got my hair cut! it's not exactly the pixie i had imagined, but to tell you the truth, i freaked out.

really & truly though, does chopping your hair all off truly prove courage?

(fine. i will find something else that makes me courageous. possibly mud wrestling?!)

so funny story about the hair:

my two oldest walked in from school; they both looked at me - completely shocked.

adam said - "what. the heck. did you do?

jared said - "your husband, is NOT going to like that.

ha. ha. ha.

i'm linking up here!

bad habits.

2011-04-03T21:04:00.000-06:00

this past week was the eighth week in a row that seth has been travelling.

his usual schedule is to leave on monday morning & he returns either thursday or friday,

& even though he comes home for the weekends, it's been a little bit lonely.

actually, it's been a lot lonely. no matter how many friends that you see throughout the day, or how many children you have crawling all over you every single minute, nothing substitutes for the absence of your man.

i've also developed some pretty bad habits over the past two months.

i won't go into all of them....i wouldn't want to lose all your respect in one fell swoop (!), but the first two that i can think of are definitely illustrated in this post.

#1.i keep buying new things. online mostly. if seth isn't coming home that day then hopefully i'll at least get the ups man to come visit!

#2. staying up late. i'm not a night owl at all, but i've been finding more & more things to keep me busy.

the other night had me putting up these prints that i had ordered from mandy's etsy shop...at 12 a.m.

(do you know mandy? she is amazing. truly amazing. & oh so kind. her photography skills are absolutely beyond anything that i've ever seen. you might have also seen here prints at target....cuz she's just that awesome!)

one of my most favorite things to do, because i'm not boring at all, is to arrange small wall galleries.

i could do this kind of thing every single day & never ever get bored.

when i first put up the prints it looked a little empty, so i just kept putting up more things that i found around the house.

twine wrapped around a couple of nails.

vintage price tags from here.

teeny tiny paper bag of dried baby's breath, wrapped with bakers twine.

white knotted burlap.

maybe sometimes, it's nice to have bad habits every once in awhile.

especially when a couple of them make your kitchen walls look this pretty!

fun with labels...or a different title that's less lame.

2011-03-30T22:07:00.000-06:00

before i start can we all please take a moment to celebrate my computer's return?!!!

cup cakes for everyone!!! except me....i'll just take green smoothies please.

(BOH-RING!)

anyway,

the other day i made a carrot cake....from scratch, for zachary's birthday.

(i just have to throw that i made it from scratch in there so that you think i sound like one of those awesome domestic women. did it work?)

as i reached for the flour, in one of the pretty glass containers that i had put it in last week, i realized it looked exactly the same as the pancake mix.

i had to smell & taste both of them to make sure that i wasn't making a pancake carrot cake.

that would have been a catastrophe.

(i use the word catastrophe very loosely.)

so i finally added a few labels from here!

next time i make a cake, or cookies, or something else fabulous, i'll know exactly which white powder is which white powder!

i also added a couple of labels to a couple of our cereal jars. i don't mix them up, but it just looks so darn cute!

p.s. i got these jars at savers for $3!
cupcakes for everyone!!!!

two.

2011-03-28T22:30:00.000-06:00

Dear Zachary,

Oh sweet baby boy, where do I even begin? You are without a doubt one of the most challenging blessings I have ever had. I know that you'll read this someday, so I'll keep it loving, but oh my good gracious child....all the tantrums, the screaming, the freaking out about someone sitting too close to you. Zachie, you are so, how can I say this nicely, very very spirited. You have to wear shoes to bed, you flip out if you don't get to help me with the laundry, you will not NOT let anyone take a shower by themselves, & heaven forbid that I don't do your hair. However, that spirit holds so much love. You are cuddly, fun, & oh so lovable. I know that you've truly missed your daddy lately, but you & I have had so much more bonding time....bonding time that leaves both of us laughing until neither of us can breathe. Then, when daddy finally comes home at the end of the week, your eyes light up & you run as fast as those little legs can propel you. Your brothers are your very best friends, as long as they are doing exactly what you want. It's so different to me how consistently able I was to be so careful with disciplining your brothers, but you seem to get away with anything....with all of us. None of us want to anger "the beast", & that is something that will be changing in the near future. There will be a lot more time-outs & growls from your mama, but right now, when you get into trouble & you look up at me with those gorgeous hazel eyes framed by those incredibly long lashes & then smile....you get me every single time. You are a smart little devil; & you know it.

I cannot believe that my baby is technically not a baby anymore. You have so much more growing to do, & I can't wait to see what you have in store for us. I have a few favors to ask of you in the meantime: Please please please stop crying & whining all the time? I would also really appreciate it if you would go just a tiny bit easier on me. I suppose I can't ask that of you though, can I? That's who you are. Determined, self-assured, smart. I believe you already know exactly what you were sent here to do, & everyone else can get out of your way as quickly as possible so that you can do it. I have to admit that I am so very grateful for the positive developments in our relationship. Someday, I will explain to you, in detail, how crazy you made me on a daily basis when you were little. Hopefully, I will be able to give you incredibly persuasive guilt trips that will earn me back rubs on a daily basis.

Happy Birthday baby. I'm so so very happy that you are with us. No matter how, spirited, you get, those few good days you give me are enough to get me through anything & make my life so much better.

Loves loves loves,

mama

recipe books; fabric book cover tutorial.

2011-03-15T23:09:00.000-06:00

morning, afternoon, & evening routines.

2011-03-13T15:37:00.001-06:00

i was going to take three different days to go over the three different routines,

but when i turned on the computer today, i decided that i am really pretty sick of seeing pictures of the same old wall!

you too, eh?

so today is going to be it. the end. the very last time that you will ever have to see this wall.

most likely.

so i'll just post these routines real quick & then if you ever need to get to this page again, just because of my crazy ability to pass on this feeling of inspiration to the world, i will put a link to it on my sidebar.

ready?! deep breaths!! don't hyperventilate please.

morning routine:

+everyone has to make their bed right out of the gate. (this is a new thing for three year old noah, so i help him pull up the blankets, straighten wrinkles, etc.)

+in our house you have to get dressed to socks before breakfast. everyone is more awake & ready to go. (i got this one from fly lady when i used to do her system around six years ago. i love a couple of things that i picked up & still use them.)

+5 minute room rescue (fly lady! & the boys pretend they are super heroes & are rescuing their rooms from certain destruction.)

+pajamas have to go in cubby holes at the ends of beds. (noah doesn't have cubby holes so his pj's get "folded" - the best he knows how at 3 - & put under his pillow. pajamas get worn three times, otherwise i end up with mountains of just jammies to wash.)

+morning jobs have to be done before breakfast. those were the jobs i talked about that have the suns drawn next to them on the job board. jobs for the older two are unloading the dishwasher, minus the silverware, & bringing the laundry from their own laundry baskets to the laundry in the laundry room. noah's job is to empty the silverware from the dishwasher. he's been doing this since he turned three last october, & he let's just say he could no longer empty silverware in the olympics.)

+everybody eats & takes vitamins. i'm still in charge of making breakfast & getting the vitamins out, but the boys set their own places.

+all three boys have to clean off their places, push in their chairs, rinse off their dishes, & put them in the dishwasher. noah uses a stool to reach the water....& the water does run a bit longer than it should when it's his turn...but he's three. i think he's awesome.)

+i'm up again with the hair. (right now the boys all have pretty long faux-hawks so they put the water in, put the gel in, spike it up, & then i make sure everybody's hair is centered. it's good karma that way.)

+all the boys brush their teeth, wash their faces, & even though it's not on the morning list, there is an ABSOLUTELY NO TOOTHPASTE IN THE SINK POLICY! (i cannot stand toothpaste globs in the sink, so i am vigilant about making sure they clean up after themselves. this one seems to have taken yeeeeaaars to grasp, but i think they finally get how disgusting left over spit is. ew.)

+the boys grab the lunch bags & add things to it from the lunch box station. the bags are then put in their backpacks.

+library books should already be in the backpacks. (with school library books the rule is that they have to put it right into their backpack after reading it. i have had may-jor problems with fees from our community library in the past so we have to have hard rules on books.)

+jackets/coats are set out in the living room along with their shoes & backpacks.

+next is personals. personals are things that each boy has individually gotten out & played with. each boy goes into EVERY SINGLE ROOM IN THE HOUSE where they pick up their toys, books, etc. & put them away.

+last is prayers. can't send those little ones out the door without that added amount of protection.

(holy crap. that is long. are you still with me? keep breathing!)

afternoon routine:

when the boys come home, it seems that on days that i don't have a routine set in place, all....um.....heck-fire, breaks loose, so routine = good for me & them. this routine is mostly for the two big boys, but sometimes noah & zachary follow them around trying to act older. it's cute.

+shoes go right into the shoe basket in the closet.

+backpacks are emptied with all papers going on the coffee table so that i can see, sign, & do whatever the parent is supposed to do.

+lunch bags are emptied & hung up in the pantry.

+i forgot to put this on the list but next is washing hands. i don't remember ever getting so dirty at school, but their hands are nasty when they get home so it's soap & water for two rounds of the abc's.

+next, the boys either choose a snack from the pantry or have something amazing that i've slaved all day to make for them.

+places are cleaned up & chairs pushed in again. if the snack involved dishes, each dish goes into the dishwasher.

+3 chores are day, which actually means the remaining 2 that weren't done in the morning. noah's jobs usually get done during the day when the boys are at school.

(i have found that as long as i have taken the time to teach him what needs to be done, i can trust him to thoroughly do anything i ask. his other two jobs this week are picking up the toys in the yard, & cleaning the upstairs bathroom. (i make my own toilet cleaner, so his favorite job of cleaning the toilet can be done safely.))

+after jobs are completed the two older boys practice the piano for 15-20 minutes.

+last is homework. adam does his on his own, but because jared is out of his class during the day for OT, ST, & other social programs for autism, he always has a ton of work. i help him with as much of it as he can do before i lose his attention.

evening routine:

+personals again.

+time to jammie up.

+all dirty clothes go into each of their own laundry baskets. we have the same rule for jeans as we do for pj's. three days of wear before the laundry.

+brush, floss, & rinse. have you seen this stuff? i love it cuz they can see what they've missed. (everyone does this BUT zachary.)

+clean up toothpaste again.

+another 5 minute room rescue is pretty easy because they've already "rescued" their room for the day.

+now they read to us or each other for their read at home points for school.

+scriptures & prayers with the family. (i won't go into our whole scripture routine here, but we've been doing it for over five years straight so it definitely works for us. let me know if you want details & i'll be more than happy to e-mail them to you!)

+BED! halle-freakin'-lieujah. especially when seth is out of town.

this is a whole lot longer than i had originally anticipated, so i'll follow up with our strike & points system & how they work another time.

i know that this seems like a lot, but so far it has worked beautifully for us. it keeps me in line because a lot of their responsibilities depend on me (laundry for example) so i have to be on my toes.

but the whole thing is so great because it requires the boys, especially the two older ones, to be proactive. i don't remind them about what they have to do. it's all written out so i never have to say a word. they just run down the hall to the job chart & get their stuff done.

let me know if you have any questions, comments, referrals for mental hospitals if you think i'm crazy, or keys to the city because i am a super hero.

a job chart & the power of three.

2011-03-11T11:40:00.001-07:00

el finito!

my chalkboard/stenciled bags/picture wall is done!

(the back of the chalkboard paint can says to wait to three days, but what do the inventors of chalkboard paint really know? other than how to invent something completely SUHHH-WEET!!!)

here's how it all went down.

ever since my stroke (MINI, TINY, MINUTE)

i've been a little off. things just aren't coming as naturally to me as they were before, including being as organized as i was.

the boys have also gotten into a habit of just doing whatever.

mom's tired! let's wreak havoc!!

just kidding. my four are the world's most respectful boys & they've just been taking a break from ummmm,

rules.

so, enter the new job chart.

i read about the power of 3 here, & i don't know that it will mean divine for us but i completely respect the idea. i really liked the overall concept, so i figured that we would give it a go.

the power of 3 to me is

{giving the three oldest boys three main chores per day.}

{giving each boy $3 per week for an allowance.}

{using the three strikes, you're out rule.}

every week, i will write out the boys jobs on this blackboard.
they will take care of all three jobs for a full seven days before the jobs are rotated the next week. (we had problems with one boy being so great at gathering the trash but not so great at finishing their bathroom, so i figured practice makes nearly perfect!)
in each column is a job with a small sunshine drawn next to it. this job is the one that MUST be done before they go to school. things like unloading the dishwasher & taking their own laundry to the laundry room are things that i need done before i can get started for the day.
the other jobs are ones that they can get done after school.

then i designed a morning, afternoon, & evening routine.

i also designed a strike system as well as a point system.

i printed them all out & then mounted & hung them up so that the boys can see them.

(noah is only 3 so he can't read yet. but, the older boys told him what needed to be done today & he did it! how long do you think he'll let them boss him around?)

i'll blog about all of these routines separately in the next few days so that you don't have to hang out here all day.

it's friday. i know there are more way more fun things to do. i can't think of any off the top of my head.......but i'm sure there are a few!

the strike system is just based on completing the jobs, attitudes while helping out, & taking forever on something like bringing two pairs of pants & a sock to the laundry room in the morning.

i know it may sound strict, but my boys know that if they don't do what is asked of them, they will receive an instant consequence.

we've never taken away anything for three days, so this will be new to us (and i think hard to enforce cuz i'm kind of a softie) but i know that it's for the best.

we've only been at it for 1 1/2 days, & so far so good....let's just see what happens when soccer & karate start!

it was so fun listening to them get so excited about their jobs & then dropping them off at school this morning knowing that i had nothing to do before i could take care of the things like laundry& dishes.

everything was done.

& that makes my stroke (MINI, TINY, MINUTE) ridden brain so very happy.

have a really really fantabulous day today!

the break down & shameless self promotion.

2011-03-10T21:59:00.000-07:00

i've heard rumors that i wasn't completely clear about what i actually did yesterday.

was it the pictures? was the big black square there before? the bags...i just don't get what they are doing there.

i apologize....& please let me clarify.

first - i measured a large square area of a blank wall in my hall.

i sectioned it off with painters tape & then painted three coats of black chalkboard paint.

second - i painted & distressed a coat rack that i picked up at hobby lobby.

i thought i had positioned it high enough to accommodate words that will be written on the board once it's all done, but i had to raise it even higher today.

third - i gathered pictures of all four of my boys from when they were a little....little-er.

the frames were sent to me a while ago from my friend in utah & i've been dying to use them ever since they arrived.

*THANK YOU MS. SANDRA!!*

i actually only had black & whites, & sepia toned pictures of jared & adam, so i printed a bunch more of noah & zachary.

(we don't have any paper right now, so i had to use the back of old school papers. it's called being cheap people....or super awesomely creative!)

i know that i should have positioned them all on a large piece of craft paper, traced each of them individually & then been extremely methodical about where i placed them all....but that's not me.

not methodical...or mathematical...or patient.

i eye-balled it...which also takes less time!

fourth - i stenciled the boys' names on bags.

*shameless self promotion - custom name bags are now available in my shop! just let me know what name(s) you would like on the bags & i will take care of it for you!

fifth - i hung the bags on the coat rack.

see! i did do something yesterday!!

today though, i finished it up! i know i was supposed to wait three days to use the chalkboard, but i get way to gung-ho about certain things.

so, check in tomorrow for the (actual) finished product.

p.s. by the way, thank you so much for the shop support. i really

REALLY

appreciate it!

cuz i got bored..

2011-03-09T17:10:00.000-07:00

today we stayed at home due to sick little boys.

i got bored watching bubble guppies sooooo,

here's what i did.

there is a purpose for this wall,

i promise.

i have to wait three days for the chalk board paint to dry.....

& then i'll tell you what it is!

"there are pins & needles that i am sitting on!"

(best. children's. movie.)

until it dries though, my boys are sitting in the hall laughing at pictures of themselves when they were

um....

little.

see ya!

living room - a work in progress.

2011-03-08T16:36:00.002-07:00

hello love bugs!

i've missed you, but i've been busy doing....well, busy things i suppose.

you know how sometimes life just gets so crazy that you forget what it was that you were doing only five minutes ago?

whew! so happy i'm not the only one!

welllllll, today, i decided that i would finally share pictures of the paint job i did on my living room.

i have a long way to go. crown molding, new baseboards, possibly a darker finish on the floor,

so, of course this is only pictures of a work in progress.

(if you feel so inclined, you can find the before here.)

raise your hand if you are completely shocked that i didn't paint it white?

(my husband is definitely with you on that one!)

nope. i decided to go with the whole "gray is the new neutral" thing so i chose Stone Taupe from Lowe's.

now i need a need a new ceiling fan & a far less matchy-matchy sofa set & life will be perfect.

(except for that whole world peace thing, but i'm working on it!)

p.s.

happiness tip

i linked to the before pictures above but here it is again.

read comment number 6 from a young man named bryan.

let's just say if you can't crack a smile through that comment, you need a nap.

work it out!

2011-03-03T20:24:00.001-07:00

i spend an awful lot of time at the gym.
a lot.

two hours, six days a week, doing cardio, weights, & major ab work.
(anything to keep that cute scooter chair with the flourescent orange flag on the back, out of the picture for as long as possible.)
two hours is a long time to spend somewhere, especially at the gym, but i have a whole lot of music to get me through. so, i figured rather than be selfish, that i would share one of those mixes with you....
because i really really love you!

this mix is the one i've been listening to, & la la loving this week.

today is the day - apollo sunshine

say anything - do better

adele - rolling in the deep
(my newest album - love it....& this song is one of my favorites.)

young the giant - my body
(formerly the jakes...who can't relate to this song?)

fiona apple - fast as you can
(fiona is my absolute all time favorite female artist....we're soul mates....one-sided soul mates!)
the ting tings - shut up & let me go

the avett brothers - kick drum heart

mxpx - the darkest places
(i heard this almost five years ago for the first time when they were doing the 2005 warped tour. best warped tour i've ever been to.)

neon trees - 1983

darling thieves - free without you
(love local bands!!!)

architecture in helsinki - that beep

ryan adams - magick

the black keys - tighten up

kate nash - merry happy

my chemical romance - sing

rise against - help is on the way
(who else has tickets on april 15th?!!!)

hey monday - i don't wanna dance

meese - the start of it
(another local beginning!)
adele - rumour has it
(i didn't want to include an artist twice, but adele rocks....double time.)

i hope you find at least one that makes those miles on the elliptical go just a little bit faster!

crab-cake

2011-03-01T13:46:00.002-07:00

(click on the picture to take you to the bigger one.)

this is how our day is going.

i hope you all are a little less crabby than we are!

pretty pictures & inspiring words.

2011-02-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

wouldn't it be completely awesome if.....

i were one of those people that could.....

inspire you on a daily basis with my beautiful pictures & well thought out essays about how my current afflictions are making me a better person?

keep a clean house 24/7 despite illnesses & minor strokes?

keep my projects down to one at a time instead of spreading all of them throughout the house?

be one of those moms whose darling children always put away their shoes all the time?

don't you worry though.

right after these pictures were taken i cleaned up just in time for seth to come home after a week of being away.

i scraped all the paint off the floor, made my children some lovely linen pants out of a pattern i designed myself, fed my children a meal of tofu pancakes with a side of broccoli & kale juice, put them to bed at 6:30, then had a candlelight dinner, that i made from scratch, with my husband.

p.s. i also melted down wax from leftover old candles to make the new ones - always doing my part to re-use & recycle!

(the clean up part is true, except for scraping paint. that paint will be exactly where it is when i do my new floor. and, i actually took my boys to panda express for dinner & then brought home takeout for seth with a side of mtn. dew, but without the candlelight. we didn't put the boys to bed until 8:30 so they could stay up & wrestle with daddy.)

that, to me, is a more inspiring night than i could ever get from any pretty picture that i took or well thought out words that i could write.

blurry but so dang cute but blurry.

2011-02-19T21:14:00.000-07:00

today.....

we went to jump street.
we took some super blurry pictures.
we decided some day we should have one of those cameras that captures action shots.
we only got one shot of all four boys together.
it took 20 minutes to even stand close enough together.
they were way too happy to be cooperative.

we watched our awesome almost two year old catch some major air.

we watched them get so sweaty & hot, the only way that little boys can, that every single one of their carefully constructed mohawks fell down.

we watched them climb, jump, hop, bounce, laugh,

jump on other children's heads who aren't as...ummmm...competetively active.

we tried to wrangle them in & make them "jump nice".

but, when the four of them are together, they are like a tiny little gang.

(the nice kind that do service projects & sing at nursing homes)

but a loyal, "do not touch my brothers unless you want to mess with the rest of us", sort of gang.

we watched them get eaten by sharks.

we watched them be as happy as clams.

***

p.s. soooo, i didn't post yesterday....& i felt really good about it.

sooooo, i am going to post when i feel like it, & when i have something truly awe inspiring to say.

you may not see me around so much anymore!

just kidding...we all know i'm a regular oprah in the making.

i think posting 365 days a year was a goal, much to high.

when i start sitting around in my sweats all day, watching days of our lives & eating bon-bons, then i will see you all day long every day.

something to hope for, yes??!!!!!

anyway, thank you so much for participating in my poll, for e-mailing, dm'ing, & messaging me on facebook to tell me what you thought.

you are all much appreciated!

i will still be doing happiness posts...but they will be in a different way that i'll explain next week.

i'm almost ready to fill you in on all my changes,

(like this new fab blog design!)

& i should be ready by monday.

see you then!!!

"things are amazing, & no one is happy".

2011-02-16T22:34:00.000-07:00

happiness tip #45 ~

the trick to happiness is to be thankful.

watch this.

it's so funny...& so true.

warning:

i could have done without the last 12 seconds...

but the first 4:00 are perfect.

words for the day - heck fire!

2011-02-15T20:18:00.000-07:00

i've been busy stenciling the heck-fire out of my stencil brushes.

stay-tuned....& i'll show you what i've trashed my brushes on!

p.s. i dare you to say heck-fire in a conversation today & see if anyone notices.

happiness tip #44 ~

always expect happiness.

before you even get out of bed in the morning, instead of reminding yourself about all the difficulties you'll be facing that day,

tell yourself,

"of course i'll be happy! was there ever a doubt?"

me & luhhhhhhh-vvvvv!

2011-02-14T21:51:00.001-07:00

{so pretty}

♥ happy love day!

kisses & loves & smooches & all that really yummy stuff!

here's a few little odds & ends about me

luhhhhhh-vvvv.

♥

♥ my first crush was on ralph macchio.

man alive, that boy was pretty.

♥

♥ i had a huge, massive crush on a kid named thurston rosenlund in high school.

he was a junior when i was a sophomore.

i wore a CTR ring which stood for "Choose the Right"

but i pretended it stood for "Choose Thurston Rosenlund".

he never knew i existed, yet somehow, i survived!

♥

♥ my first kiss wasn't until i was one month away from 18.

st. patricks day to be exact.

it was in the parking lot of a target.

class-aaaay!

♥

♥ once, i told a friend that dating anyone younger than me was

"gross".

one week later, i met seth who is a whole entire year & a half younger than i am.

somehow, it wasn't so gross anymore.

♥

♥ i love "girl" movies like sense & sensibility, emma, pride & prejudice (the real one, although, the kiera knightley one doesn't hurt every now & then either.)

however, i also love "girl" movies like terminator two - the tv version! (linda hamilton's arms & pull up ability? yes please!) & lara croft - tomb raider.

girls that can throw down are awesome.

when i first met seth, he had major scruff & a super frayed & damaged lacrosse hat.

i fell in love with the scruff & the hat before i fell in love with him.

don't worry...he followed close after.

♥

♥ i always used to judge people who got married in less than one year....as in dating, engagement, & married in that time period.

i now have to apologize to everyone that was married within that time frame....cuz it only took seth & i....

five months.

yup.

met, dated, engaged, & married within five months.

& i would never go back & change it now.

♥

♥ i am also lucky because i have

♥♥ four ♥♥

extra little valentines this year.

they chose mcdonald's for our valentine's dinner.

aaaahhhhhhhh,

romantics at heart.
♥♥♥♥

i hope you had a mushy day filled with sugar & hearts

people that you love.

happiness tip #43 ~

be grateful for the people who are around you.

they may not be the ones you thought would be surrounding you

today,

tonight,

at this particular time in your life.

nevertheless,

be grateful for them,

because if you let them, they will be the ones who will bring you the most

happiness.

seeing stars.

2011-02-13T21:59:00.000-07:00

finally!

the boys' valentines are finished!

with a little picnik, red embroidery floss, card stock,

a whole lot of star sunglasses,

jared & adam are ready to get their party on tomorrow!

are you?!

(so sorry about the weird lighting! we forgot to take pictures until looong after the sun had gone down & the boys were already jammied-up. but even in poor lighting, these boys have some serious star potential. sorry....again.)

happiness tip #43 ~

chin up, chin up,

everybody loves a happy face.

wear it, share it,

it'll brighten up the darkest place.

twinkle!

sparkle!

let a little sunshine in.

you'll be on the right side, looking at the bright side.

up with your chinny chin,

chin up!

(lyrics from children's classic "charlotte's web")

yummy...

2011-02-12T22:38:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

happiness tip #43 ~

get out of the house!

i am not a night person in any sense of the term. i'm also not a big sleeper, so figure that one out.

we always do things during the day so that i can be home at night.

lately though, i've been doing so well health-wise (it might have something to do with not eating a 10 lb. bag of m&m's everyday.....maybe).

so, tonight i took some extra strength excedrin & some prescription pain killers, & we hit the road.

(well, actually we went to a valentine's day party where some of the best local singers were featured...including my husband. i don't think a lot of people know that he can sing.

can i just mention how yummy he is?)

i would have missed a great opportunity if i had stayed at home.

there's nothing wrong with cuddling up in your bed & staying in;

but sometimes, it's good to

get out of the house.

a delivery from the heart.

2011-02-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

look at this sweet little package i received in the mail tonight!

it's from my friend marcy who lives in washington.

an amazing mother, a charming crafter, & inspirational to her very soul.

i love her.

ok, first of all can we talk about how she stitched around the package?

so absolutely adorable. i have a psychological block against sewing; i can do it....i just really really don't want to.

so anything that is stitched all cute like this deserves a medal. or four.

inside was this lovely little banner for valentine's day!

i haven't quite decided where to put it yet, but i can't wait to hang it up tomorrow morning.

i can also imagine using it all year for special occasions. i can't wait to see the sweet little ribbon the red doily hearts are stitched to, up for everyone to see.

thank you so much marcy!

i. love. it.

happiness tip #41 ~

this weekend, make a list of your favorite things.

buy the things on that list.

then, deliver it to a dear friend.

now, your favorite things are in the hands of one of your favorite people.

(i did it today, & trust me...it feels really great!)

basket of the day.

2011-02-10T20:47:00.000-07:00

happiness tip #40 ~

find yourself a routine for doing the laundry.

{laundry basket from here}

i love to clean. love it. it just makes me feel better about everything else that's going on.

it makes me happy to be in a room that is clutter free & organized.

however, i do have a least favorite job;

laundry.

i don't mind the sorting part, or the actual washing part...

but i could so sooooo do without the folding & the putting away part.

so, i decided that since laundry is absolutely necessary for our family, that i should find a way to make it more enjoyable.

(i.e. take less time.)

now, i can make it easier because:

each "room" of laundry is on a continuous cycle.

everyone's room, including all three bathrooms, have a laundry basket. before breakfast every morning i pick up the "basket of the day".

jared & adam first

zachary & noah second

seth & i third

towels fourth

i toss in a white load before breakfast around 7 a.m.

then after breakfast i put the whites in the dryer & toss in a load of darks, around 7:45 a.m.

when i do my daily morning check of the basement, around 8:30 a.m., i get the whites out of the dryer, switch the darks, & start folding whites directly into the laundry basket they came from.

about a half-an-hour later i head back downstairs to fold the darks, take the basket to whichever room it came from, put the clothes away, &

voila!

the laundry is done for the day!

the next day i get up & do it again, but this time with another "basket of the day".

see? easy peasy ricey cheesy.

(sorry. my boys have been home sick for the past couple of days & "meet the robinsons" was on the list of

"we have four children who have had fevers for two days so let's watch as many movies as we can."

it's been completely rockin' around here.

i hope this helps with any laundry quandaries you might have, even if you only have one person to do laundry for!

laundry catch-up how to.

2011-02-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

today's happiness tip is all about laundry, with a little bit of some magical how to tips mixed all together.

happiness tip #39 ~

finish your laundry....all of it!

if you finish it, then you can get started with a laundry routine.

{chez larsson's amazing laundry room}

here's the tip part. most of this is for those of you that have two weeks worth of laundry spread throughout your house.

ready? super thrilled? i thought you might be!
it's best to start this massive laundry day in the morning so that you can be all done before the sun sets.

step 1. gather all the laundry out of every single room in the house. even places like the kitchen, random closets, anywhere that anyone might have accidentally stuck something that needs to be washed. toss them all into the laundry room.

now, head outside to your car(s) & gather every item of clothing that may have been forgotten. bring those in & toss them into the laundry room as well.

step 2. sort! my categories include
whites (bleach)
darks
towels
& cold/delicates/handwash only.
doesn't matter how big your piles are, or how many other categories you may have, just get them completely separated from one another so that you don't get any black shirts mixed in with your whites that are going to be bleached.

step 3. wash your cold/delicates first. don't forget to use that special detergent on these. (i'm a big fan of regular old woolite.)
this way you'll have the rest of the day for them to dry.

step 4. take a little break to grab snacks...a lot of them.
also choose movies, or shows that you want to watch during the day, while you're sitting on the couch folding thousands of t-shirts.
put the computer away, make a commitment to yourself that you won't text, twitter, facebook, or anything else that will be distracting until ALL the laundry is completed.
then, bring in all the laundry baskets that you own.

step 5. take your delicates out of the washer. hang jeans, pants, & anything that can't be dried.
stretch sweaters & lay them out to dry.

step 6. now choose a pile to start with & dig in. make sure to change the washing machine away from the delicate cycle & back to the water level that you'll need.

step 7. as soon as the washer is finished, get in there & transfer those clothes. toss the things that you don't want dried, (jeans, yoga pants, etc.) on top of the dryer & put the rest into the dryer.
as soon as you start the dryer, start the washer & put the soap in so that it can start mixing with the water asap.
while the washer is filling, hang the clothes you don't want dried, then toss in another load.

step 8. when the dryer signals you, grab the clothes, hang the dress shirts & pants so that you won't have to iron later, & throw the rest in a laundry basket.
drag that basket in front of the tv, turn on whatever show you picked, & start folding.
this is where all the different laundry baskets come in.
(i'll use my family as an example for what comes next.)
my two oldest boys have one laundry basket because they share a room; the same with the two little boys & seth & i have one laundry basket as well.
i also use an extra laundry basket for all the towels.
each item of clothing gets folded & placed in the correct basket, cutting down on trips to each room.

step 9. repeat steps 6-8, perhaps changing movies & eating all the...mmmmm rice cakes, until all the laundry is folded, basketed, & ready for the last step.

step 10. this step takes place anywhere between 2-6 hours after the first load of laundry goes in, depending on how many days or weeks it's been since you've done your laundry.
take each individual basket to its room, & put away the clothes.
(very important step...your laundry isn't done until all the clothes are put away.)

if you have no children, this will be a really fun day off. friends re-runs & kettle corn (or sugar babies...but you did not hear that from me.)
however, if you have little angels who have helped to contribute to the laundry pile, your movies might be a little different than something you would watch on your own.
also, pay attention to lunch time for them, & play time for them.
every time you get a break from folding, make sure you give them a lot of attention.
but, unless they are bleeding or a bone is broken,
finish your laundry!

would you like to know my laundry routine?
i will fill you in tomorrow!
(i know! can you stand the excitement?! i almost can't breathe it will be so awesome!)

a v-day decoration tutorial.

2011-02-08T15:57:00.001-07:00

today, i had a whole bunch of sparkly cleaning plans, but they all went down the drain when adam's school called with the news that my first grader was sick.

on my way to pick him up, i got stuck on my street for over 30 minutes, just because the snow was so hard to get through.

now, the two little ones are sleeping, & adam & i are watching "the three ninjas". all you need to know is that hulk hogan is in it & that i'm not giving any recommendations.

so instead of thinking about how three little boys can beat up hundreds of ninjas & how awesome hulk hogan looked years & years ago & about the next time that adam will throw up....

i thought i'd do a little more valentine's day decorating.

i originally found this darling idea here, but since i did it a little differently, i added my own version of the tutorial.

for this project you will need:

an old book (preferably the happy, romantic type. i chose "sense & sensibility".) that you can rip pages out of.

a heart punch

a piece of scrapbook paper with red or pink in it

a frame

a stamp that hasn't been adhered to wood yet

sharp scissors

muslin & spray adhesive (not pictured)

scrap book picture adhesive

first:

choose which pages you want to rip out & punch into hearts.

look for valentine's-y words, such as

happy, love, husband, wife, felicity, romantic....

punch out the hearts making sure to include at least one of these kinds of words in each heart.

punch one heart out of the scrapbook paper.

second:

plan out how many hearts will fit inside your frame & adjust them accordingly.

third:

underline the specific word in each heart that reminds you of your special valentine.

fourth:

cover the cardboard backing inside the frame with the muslin fabric.

use spray adhesive to wrap the back like a package.

fifth:

cut off the edges of the stamp making sure to leave the backing on the stamp's adhesive.

(i had 20 hearts so i needed 20 pieces of the stamp)

sixth:

peel the paper from the back of each stamp & then press it onto the back of each heart.

seventh:

place scrapbook adhesive tabs on the back of each stamp.

turn the hearts over & press them to the muslin covered frame back, using the same plan that you designed in step two.

eighth:

make sure that the hearts are lined up. you can use a graph to make this perfect, but i pretty much just eye-balled it.

because of the stamp pieces on the back of the hearts, they will be like little pop-ups on your frame.

ninth:

admire your handi-work & have everyone in the house do the same.

(i haven't gotten to this part yet because boys are either sleeping or watching Hulk Hogan get his butt kicked.)

but i'm sure they'll have a parade in my honor due to my little valentine's frame.

i can almost hear the drums & the trumpets right now....i really have to strain my ears...but i can almost hear them!

happiness tip #38 ~

if you have snow, let your children throw snowballs at you.

their laughter at being able to do something they aren't normally allowed to do, will make you especially happy.

if you don't have snow or children, please fly to colorado.

i have plenty of both that you can borrow!

a little canvas, a little ink, & a little sunshine.

2011-02-07T15:25:00.002-07:00

hello you!

it's so nice to see you; thank you so much for coming to visit me today.

remember when i told you i had big plans?

well, they are still in the works & getting closer every single day.

something to get excited about!

another thing to get excited about?

sad, pathetic looking white tulips that i'm hoping will perk up & bloom inside my sunny kitchen!

in the meantime though, i have been hard at work finding new things to make, & one of those things turned out to be this sign.

today i used:

over sized stamps

gray ink

brown ink

art canvas

i stamped a little bit of sunshine.

i tried to distress it as much as possible with a mixture of colors & making sure that i kept the stamps light. i even wiped off the stamps a little before using them so that the actual stamp would be uneven. i think it looks like it's been a little sun worn which was exactly what i was going for.

i think it turned out pretty cute, don't you?

happiness tip #37 ~

go outside!

it may be freezing cold & you may think that hypothermia is setting in, but before frostbite officially takes your fingers, get a little sun.

even if you just decide to sit inside by your window, back door, or whatever is letting some kind of light in, breathe in that sunshine.

maybe, just maybe, spring doesn't seem so far away after all!

p.s. my sunshiny inspiration came from this lovely post.

(take a look through lissa's blog; you might be like me & not be able to get enough!)

gray to silver.

2011-02-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

today was....

cold.

my husband leaves for church several hours before i do, so i was outside wading through 4 feet of snow, (ok, that might possibly be an exaggeration of over 3 feet.) in a skirt & high heeled boots.

i carried 2 of my boys to the car & then the older 2 waded through 4 feet of snow in their church clothes getting as wet as they possibly could before climbing into our mini-van through the front doors because the automatic doors were frozen shut.

and, did i mention that someone stole our shovel.

HOWEVER!

{photograph}

all that snow was so incredibly beautiful. so quiet & peaceful.

my high heeled boots were from target so any water damage done is really not that big of a deal.

the automatic doors had warmed & unfrozen by the time we got to church.

AND

whoever stole our shovel probably needed it more than we did.

{photograph}

today was....

tired.

noah absolutely hates his first year of sunbeams. he cries & sighs & begs me to let him not go to the "big boy" primary. it's been heartbreaking each time i've sent a child to sunbeams. i wouldn't want to leave all the toys in the nursery either.

zachary came down with a cold; a pretty bad one. he has snot all over his little face & is grumpier than all get out. (how grumpy is get out, by the way?)

the boys have been fighting a loooot lately. yelling at one another. jared keeps making adam die on mario which apparently should warrant a death sentence for jared. noah has learned how to spit. this ticks me off & completely grosses me out. we've never had a spitter before, but zachary is taking his cues from noah & learning how to spit too. maybe tomorrow it will be funny, but today it's just over the top ahhhhh-NOY-ing.

HOWEVER!

{photograph}

seth got home from his meetings almost 2 hours early.

i took a 3 hour nap while seth watched, & kept the boys the quiet so i could sleep.

zachary has some amazing medicine that he's on & loves...meaning he never spits it out.

seth made dinner & we were able to eat together, just our little family, instead of going somewhere else for dinner.

right now, we are watching a dvr'd edition of the superbowl, & the boys are singing along to the black eyed peas. adam has even tried to do the jump split like usher...it's pretty awesome.

{photograph}

happiness tip #36 ~

there is a silver lining to every gray cloud.

find it so that the negativity can fade away.

white wants.

2011-02-05T20:37:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

the first time i saw a photograph of atlanta bartlett's home, i knew that was the way that i wanted to decorate my home.

everything was white, & clean, & comforting,

& oh so very pretty.

{photograph}

part of the story about atlanta, was about her three children...

all boys.

but she still decorated her home in whites & explained how it was entirely possible to live with boys, & white.

from then on, i've been hooked on blogs that are "white".

white rooms

white accents

white that was clean & livable.

{photograph}

as you know, i've started trying to add a whole lot of white to this house of boys, & along the way i've had a lot of...ummm, let's call it "flack", shall we?

most people are concerned that everything i do will end up getting dirty,

that i will end up stressed out with all the extra cleaning,

& that it will look too sterile; sort of like a hospital.

but the trouble with that is

i really like bleach,

we have certain rules, like the fact that we can't rub our faces full of just eaten frosty's on furniture...no matter the color,

& i've spent a fair amount of time in hospitals. i know for a fact that my home is not turning into a surgical room.

{photograph}

so that brings me to....

{photograph}

happiness tip #36 ~

once you know what you want,

stick with it no matter what the nay-sayers say.

if you want your children to choose their own outfits, embrace the fact that they won't match everyday.

if you want to dye your hair purple with yellow stripes, go for it!

if you want to decorate your house in white, even if you live with four very little rowdy, dirty, somewhat crazy boys,

do it!

if you come to my house...once it's all done...i promise you won't even have to take off your shoes!

{photograph}

p.s. just so you know, there are only a couple pictures here that show atlanta bartlett's decorating style;

the rest are just so darn pretty that i couldn't help but throw them into the mix.

the skeleton vans.

2011-02-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

these are my six year old son adam's vans.

they are almost exactly one year old, but they look like they've been through the ringer.

adam is a boy who takes life & swings it around by the horns.

he plays hard.

fights hard.

works hard.

loves even harder.

i love that every pair of shoes he has owned looks like they are tired & worn out.

it's a tradition in our house of boys to get all the boys a pair of vans every valentine's day.

(that's when tax money is finally here!)

so, adam will get another pair in a couple of weeks, & i'm sure they will be trashed in another record amount of time.

but, it's all for a good cause.

because when i look at his shoes, it reminds me of his heart & how he wears it out every day of his life.

happiness tip #35 ~

play hard. work hard. fight hard.

but

love even harder.

wear out your heart in the love that you give to others.

XOX. OXO.

2011-02-03T11:05:00.002-07:00

finally! the weather is above 0 degrees & my boys are back in school!

we had a great little two day break where we did a whooooole lot of homework.

cute jared, because of his work with his specialists everyday, has so much homework, & so we were able to use the past couple of days to catch up on it.

i think he couldn't wait to get back to school today so that we wouldn't have to be with his task-master mama.

yesterday, we also did a little stencil time.

adam created a great broncos poster, jared lined the stencils up over & over, noah's picture says "I LOVE BROTHERS", & zachary; well let's just say that it's a good thing that my kitchen floor has paint all over it, because you won't even notice the mess that z made.

& me?

lately, i've been super inspired by this lovely lady & all her pretty valentine's day banners,

so i decided to follow her lead & make one of my own.

i used black craft paint, a small stencil brush, & stencils that i picked up at wal-mart (how adorable is that O?).

i stenciled the letters onto white burlap, & then using spray adhesive, put them onto a linen back that i had also cut out.

then, using spray adhesive again (can i please get a hallelujah for spray adhesive?) i folded the top of the linen over a long piece of twine & then attached it to the back.

after that, some time was spent trying to "distress" the pieces; separating tiny pieces of thread from the linen & burlap to make them all look a little rough around the edges.

finally, i tied long pieces of white burlap & red tulle onto the twine to separate the LOVE from the X's & O's.

ta-da!!! easy breezy love day banner!

next up on my list of things to do? figure out valentine's for the boys' classes. so far, i have no ideas.

not a single, solitary, idea.

may i borrow one of yours please?!

happiness tip #34 ~

think up something special that you can do for a loved one on valentine's day.

see if you can get it to cost under $10.

less money spent but with a lot more thought.

who wouldn't be happy to receive something like that on the big day?

you really really do!

2011-02-02T21:20:00.002-07:00

{if i had girls, i would put this print in each of their rooms}

happiness tip #33 ~

instead of focusing on every possible negative thing about yourself,

wake up in the morning, look in the mirror & say

"You look lovely today!".

see if just that one little statement makes a difference in your level of happiness.

dining chair back decorating & tutorial.

2011-01-31T17:26:00.001-07:00

hello snow bunnies!

it has been almost 70 degrees here for so long, but today we woke up to the treachery that are icy icy roads.

plus, it finally looks like january here,

gray & dark & a little bit sad.

so, i thought that i would add a little bit of spring-time to our home with some dining chair decorations & share it as a tutorial so that you can do the same!

step 1:

gather the supplies.

stencils, small linen bags, hemp or ribbon, stamping ink, a small stencil brush, fabric scissors & flowers.

i sometimes make my own linen bags, but for this project i used the left overs from a long ago advent calender project. you can get the same ones (for cheap!) here.

for the flowers i used baby's breath that a friend gave me, but you can also use lavender, sticks, or anything floral-y that you have around during this gray month.

step 2:

using painters tape, tape the stencils to the linen bags so that they don't slide around.

step 3:

with the stamp ink, cover the end of your stencil brush.

then dab the ink inside the stencil, starting out with light strokes & getting darker depending on how heavy you would like the ink to be.

step 4:

carefully peel off the stencils .

step 5:

measure the length of hemp that you'll need from the top of the chair that you'll be tying it to, to the end of the string on the bag.

step 6:

cut the remainder of hemp or ribbon needed for the rest of the bags.

(you will need two separate strings per bag. with six chairs that i was making bags for, i used 12 pieces of hemp.)

tie one end of each string to each side of the draw string on the bag.

step 7:

on each side, tie the loose end of the hemp or ribbon to the top of the chair.

the bag should be centered in the middle of the back of the chair.

make sure to take into account that when the drawstrings on the bag are pulled, the bag will be lower than it will be at this point in the project. give yourself about an extra inch of string.

(i also made sure not to knot it to the chair yet so that i would have a little leeway.)

step 8:

cut the flowers to the length that you would like them to be.

make sure that the flowers have enough of a stem inside of the bag to anchor them securely, but with enough foliage at the top to be able to see it.

step 9:

place the flowers in each bag & pull the drawstrings securely around the flowers to hold them into place.

at this point, do a final assessment of exactly where you want the bags. now you can firmly secure the knots of the hemp to the chair with double knots.

(i made sure that each bag was in the middle of each chair back & that the flowers didn't go up over the backs of the chairs. i wanted to be careful so that at dinner time, little heads didn't smash the flowers.)

step 10:

cut all extra string that you don't want showing.

i clipped ends from the strings tied to the bags as well as the strings tied to the tops of the chairs.

so pretty, right?

& they bring a little bit of spring inside our home during this dreary time of year.

by the way, this project took me only an hour & i didn't have to spend a dime since i just used left overs in my craft stash.

p.s. happiness tip #31 ~

find something to get excited about.

january & february can be rough months with the cold & the gray & the cold & did i mention the gray?

i'm excited about a whole bunch of projects that i have coming up that i can't wait to share with you.

i'm excited about finally having chosen a kitchen floor, & knowing that i'm going to be the one to put it in.

i'm excited, already knowing that tomorrow has already been deemed a snow day because of all the ice & snow we're expecting tonight. i love hot chocolate & hanging out with my boys when it wasn't part of the plan.

what are you excited about?

if you can't think of anything, call me & i'll help you out.

there is oh so very much to be excited about;

spring is soon...i promise!

your children will stop fighting one of these days...i promise!

it's almost time for bachelor....YAY!!!

see? soooo very exciting!

firecracker, BOOM!

2011-01-29T18:56:00.000-07:00

{picture}

happiness tip #28 ~

i have a problem with losing things. keys, bags, scissors....

losing these things always causes a problem in the time crunch department.

so, i found a little trick.

the next time you put your keys down (or whatever item you have a tendency to misplace)

picture the keys in the location that you put them, then say,

"FIRECRACKER, BOOM!!"

sounds crazy, but i promise it works.

(you don't necessarily have to yell the words, but soon you'll never misplace anything again!)

the dance of joy!

2011-01-28T14:28:00.001-07:00

{the only thing wrong with this picture is that the names of the four children are a little off.}

i know that things have been a little messy around my little blog space lately.

but, i have plans! big big plans that involve this little blog space & i can't wait to show you.

it might take a couple of weeks to get everything just the way it's supposed to be, but then, the day of the big reveal will come & we can all do the dance of joy!

i truly hope that all of you mah-velous dah-lings will have a fah-bulous weekend!

i will see you back here tomorrow with another delicious bit-o'-happy.

ta ta for now!

happiness tip #28 ~

watch the "dance of joy" link!

in case you skipped it, due to lack of time,

(i do this all the time so don't feel guilty)

go back & watch this 18 second video!

(nance! do you remember doing this when we were little?)

your happy face will thank you!

p.s. extra happiness credit.

learn the dance of joy!

as someone who has done it once, twice, (9564 times) I can personally attest that it will never let you down in the crazy, side-splitting laughter department.

the wonder that is my closet.

2011-01-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

this is my closet.

this is actually our closet...mine & seth's...

(who is happily HOME from chicago!)

i know some closets are fancier...someone who has had california closets organize them, perhaps?

but, this is mine.

we got really lucky when we moved into our home.

it was built in 1953, so the five rooms that we have are very (very) small.

(that's not the lucky part.)

the lucky part is that the man that lived here first, took part of the "master" bedroom & put in a small bathroom as well as a small

(drum roll please......)

WALK IN CLOSET!!

& i wanted to show you how i organize mine...without the help of california closets.

(seth's stuff is all on the right & on the highest shelf - hats, sweaters, hoodies, shoe polish & then his dress shirts are all hung by color. i forgot to take a picture of the far right of the closet where all his ties are hung. it is all color coordinated...i seriously don't have a lot of time on my hands...i promise.)

now for my stuff.
the top shelves (hidden) on the left hold all of my bags. lots & lots of bags.

sweaters - organized by type (cardigans, turtlenecks, v-necks & boat necks) then organized by color, darks to lights.

short sleeve t's - organized by color

long sleeve t's - organized by color (shock-ah!)

shorts - organized by color (it's getting old now isn't it?)

work out clothes - organized by....wait for it---type! (yoga, shorts, sweats....not by color!!)

hanging on the bottom are skirts, capris, linen pants, black pants, & the magical wonder that is jeans!

i hang my scarves in between the slats in the shelving.

(belts are on the opposite wall)

hanging (& hidden behind those super fancy scarves (i can't be the only one that thinks scarves at walmart & target are fancy...right?!)) are all my dresses.

hanging are hoodies, (for every sport we attend...trust me, i had none of these before i married a sports nut.)

jackets, blazers, & tops.

this shelf has short sleeve t's (the painting, weeding, working types.)

long sleeve t's (the painting, weeding, working types.)

in front of those are tanks.

the basket holds tights & lots of fuzzy socks.

&, i hang my boots to the shelves with clothes pins because there isn't enough room for them on the floor. this way, they don't collapse & get all bent up. (i don't think that's the technical term, so don't use it if you want to try & make people think you know what you are talking about.)
underneath all these shelves are my shoes, but you've already seen those so i'll let you move on with your life!

someday, this fall when ikea is finally done, i will stop by & pick up some of those pretty wood hangers so that everything can look even more stream lined...but until then i will be grateful to have a walk-in in such a tiny room, clothes that are all organized by color, & a place to hide when things get crazy in this house full of boys.

happiness tip #27 ~

organize your closet!

you do not need a ton of fancy gadgets, or shelving, or millions of baskets, or even a walk-in closet.

just pick everything up off the floor, fold it all pretty like, & then organize everything by color, or type, or frequency of wear.

the end result will put a smile on your face every time you open the door.

totally crushing on my blender right now!

2011-01-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

hello there lovelies!

today is sunny, & warm.

my car is clean (albeit, a bit wet from leaving a window cracked during a car wash.)

my husband will be back tomorrow night, which means there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

there haven't been many projects completed, let alone started, around here lately.

but, i have some ideas floating around!

i ordered these from here yesterday & i cannot wait until this one comes in the mail so that i can get started on these fabulous ideas.

i'm still working hard to stay on my new "Crazy, Sexy, Diet" & on a gluten free diet.

i've cheated twice already; the other night we made sushi with some friends & although the white rice is off limits, who in the world would ever pass up sushi?

(if you are out there saying "ME!!" i really hope you've at least tried it! raw fish could quite possibly be the best thing that ever happened to me.

behind, my husband & boys & home &.....)

the other time that i cheated was, well, um.....today.

red robin with beautiful friends & a spinach wrap can hardly be called cheating, right?

that's why this post is a little ironic, but hey; at least i'm trying!

on facebook & on twitter i've had a few people ask me about the recipes i've been using for my green smoothies. i haven't really been using a recipe because i wanted to throw it all together & try some new things. so here are the ones that i've tried so far.

kale, lettuce, celery, banana, & 1 apple. (so good!)
kale, spinach, celery, banana, & 1 pear. (mmmm, yummy!)
kale, spinach, celery, banana, & 1 cup of frozen raspberries. (delicious!)
*lettuce, spinach, banana, 20 blueberries, & 1/2 tsp. of stevia. (could use some work.)

add 1/2 cup of water (i've been using ice water to make it a little colder) then blend the crap out of it. the first couple of days, i didn't blend well enough & i had kale & celery in between my teeth...the diet does say "sexy" right?! *just so you know, #4 was the sickest thing i had ever tasted. i drank the whole thing, but could not stop thinking about how it tasted like i'd had my mouth washed out with soap the whole time.

pretty simple, right?

i've been drinking these smoothies for breakfast, yesterday i had one for dinner, & since i cheated at lunch i think that's probably what dinner will be tonight too.

i haven't had sugar since friday, & i haven't heard the donuts calling to me today so hopefully this is working!

happiness tip #26 ~

make yourself a green smoothie!

add three veggies to every two fruits that you use, then slurp that sucker up!

it may not be a drastic change in the first day, but just the fact that you are doing something

that's a little better than eating lucky charms for breakfast (marshmallows last, of course)

will give you something to be happy about all day!

CHEERS!

the smaller, the better.

2011-01-25T01:26:00.000-07:00

i love little boxes.

it's like, everytime i go somewhere, like xpedx maybe, they seriously call to me.

kaaaaarrrrrennnnnnn!!! pick me pick me!!!

does anyone else hear boxes call to them or is it just me?

(i also think i hear donuts calling me...this must be a sure sign that i am going quietly insane.)

i don't even have the cutest accessories out there to wrap up my cute tiny boxes,

but i still think that with a little twine, some ribbon, & a little bit of scrap book paper, that these little boxes turned out as sweet as could be.

happiness tip #25 ~

wrap up a sweet little gift, in a sweet little box, & give it to a sweet little friend.

(these boxes were for a few of my young women on sunday).

who will you give yours to?

doors & a diy!

2011-01-24T06:17:00.002-07:00

{awesome idea!}

happiness tip #24 ~

choose a great diy project that you've always wanted to do....

and

DO IT!

i'm off today to find an old door.

i have no idea where i'll put the finished product, but i can't wait to find out!

are you?

2011-01-23T06:07:00.003-07:00

happiness tip #23 ~

ask yourself.....

{found}

a soul that sings.

2011-01-22T06:46:00.003-07:00

{a whole room of distressed furniture...aaahhhhh. definitely a passion.}

happiness tip #22 ~

discover your passion.

decide what makes your soul sing.

(besides the laundry & the cooking & the constant driving & paying bills. we all know those are the loves of your life.)

what makes you lose track of the time?

what could you do even when you are bone tired?

what helps you forget, for a little while, about the awesomeness of the everyday routine?

what makes you feel like you are on the right track?

reading?

writing?

crafting?

music?

season two of Friends

yoga?

organizing that crazy hall closet?

what do you love to do?

if you haven't found your passion yet, no worries. just keep your eye out for what makes you feel like there is a massive silver lining shining around those piles of laundry in the basement.

love them, but sometimes i could do without the crazy war calls.

2011-01-21T20:41:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

happiness tip #21 ~

go to your happy place.

i write this as every single one of my boys is running around the house at top speed yelling at the top of their lungs. seth is right on their heels egging them on with crazy loud whoops of his own.

my poor baby (although, almost not quite a baby anymore) is laughing hysterically as he tries as hard as his little chubby legs will carry him to keep up. (he can't keep up yet, but he doesn't care. just so long as he's involved.)

every child is happy.

every child is having a wonderful time.

every child can barely see through the tears of laughter crowding up their eyes, leaving me to think that a black eye, (or eight?) will result from this evenings activities.

and,

every child is exceptionally loud.

very very very very very loud.

i'm thinking right now about my happy place.

i think the closest thing i can come up with is the porch pictured above.

white. clean. it probably rains while the sun shines.

i think fairies probably come to this little cottage & make beds & quite possibly cook amazing meals; just for me.

and it's quiet.

where is your happy place?

a cottage by the ocean?

a library with time worn study tables?

a tree house with a huge sign that reads

NO BOYS ALLOWED!

(that's probably mine as well...)

if it's somewhere loud, then please, feel free to come hang out in the middle of this havoc.

it is, after all, very happy havoc.

sugar babies & fish filets.

2011-01-20T22:01:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

hello!

thank you so much for your well-wishes. my head definitely thanks you for them...& i didn't have to do any freaky needle-less injections today!

(unless you do daily needle-less injections for anything, you have no idea how downright, freakin' sweet that is!)

so, the past couple of days i've been noticing a lot about a book called....

"crazy, sexy, diet".

it's by the same author who wrote

"crazy, sexy, cancer".

i've haven't read it...but i've heard oh, so many wonderful things about it.

my friend jenny was tweeting about it the other day, & because i admire her oh, so very much

i've decided to check it out.

which leads me to...

happiness tip #20 ~

make a hard decision!

ever since i was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis on the eleventh of january, 2008, i have

heard

seen

wondered

been advised

about so many different "cures" for my particular...um...ailment.

if you eat fresh fish 3 times a day, all your lesions will disappear!

if you give someone a flower every day for a year, your symptoms will be gone!

and my personal favorite?

if you stand in front of your microwave, while popping popcorn, & chanting your favorite song,

you'll be cured in five minutes!

(i've tried it. doesn't work.)

however, i've always believed that there is a whole lot of great behind the idea of a whole foods diet.

i've even tried it, a few times, for a few days.

unfortunately, i've never had enough willpower to stick it out.

no sugar? no pop? no steak? no taco bell mexican pizzas?

no way. can't do it. won't do it. no way.

(how pathetic does that sound, coming from someone who could do so well with an alternative diet?)

but, today, i made a really hard decision.

i decided that i am going to read this book

& actually, finally, i'm going to follow the diet it recommends.

that's my hard decision.

to decide to take care of myself by doing something that is really

really

hard for me to do.

(yes, sugar is just that important to me.)

but, i can do this! i can make a decision to do something hard!

and, i can stick with it!

what kind of a decision would be hard for you to make?

make it now! and then do it!

(i'll be keeping notes...not every day for 365 days - thank goodness! if you are taking notes, let me know! i want to check in with you too!)

dear darling beautiful sugar babies & mcdonald's fish filets,

i will truly truly miss you.

it's nothing personal though.

just business.

love,

eat more pie.

2011-01-19T11:54:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

in case you haven't been able to tell lately, i've been a little off. ummm...maybe a lot off.

i've had a migraine for five days now, & for those of you who struggle with migraines, you know exactly what i'm dealing with. i've had several shots & a couple other rounds of medications which has taken that nasty "i'm being stabbed in the left side of my frontal cortex with a dull steak knife" edge away, but life has not been the easiest as of late. someday soon i hope to be back to regularly scheduled programming, but until then i will be hanging out longer in my yoga pants, letting my children draw on the drywall in the basement a lot, & letting everyone eat lots & lots of cereal for breakfast-lunch-&dinner.

so, enough about me!

how are you?

i've read two blogs in the past week & i couldn't even make it through all the posts i'd missed out on.

that means i have no idea what's happening with you!

how's life? are you happy?

maybe i can help you out with that a little today.

happiness tip #19 ~

share your beliefs with others.

last week, i had the opportunity to meet with a homeschool group of moms (i teach piano to some of their children) & get to know them a little better. these moms meet together for bible studies, prayer groups, & just to talk about their religious beliefs.

i'm not one to necessarily hang out with other moms at a marie callenders & say things like "praise God" at the end of a sentence,

HOWEVER,

the thing that most impressed me about these ladies wasn't their conviction.

i have plenty of that in abundance.

i was impressed with the fact that these women share their beliefs, no matter their location, despite what others around them might think, & every aspect of what they believe is infused into every single portion of their days.

and, doing so makes them extraordinarily happy.

i think sometimes for me, that i forget to share.

i never never talk about my beliefs with my sisters who don't have the same religious beliefs that i do.

i barely ever talk about my beliefs on my blog, like this amazing woman.

i don't talk about my beliefs very much with friends that are the same religion that i am, because, well, i don't know why.

it looks like i have a little self-reflection coming up.

just so you know, i won't ever be a "sharer" of things that are completely sacred to me.

i won't ever tell you how many times a day i read my scriptures or how many times a month i go to the temple.

i also will never be a "religious blog", unless you count the amount of white paint that i use as a "religion".

i also, much to the chagrin of my new friends, will never ever ever ever have the desire to home school or drink huge pots of coffee.

but i really hope that i will be able to share (especially with my sisters) how important my own beliefs are to me.

(got that girls? now if you don't answer the phone when i call....i'll know why!)

now, i know that there are people out there who don't believe in "organized religion" (like one of the above mentioned sisters) & so to clarify, i'm not necessarily talking about declaring your undying devotion to a "religious belief".

what do you really believe in that other people around you might benefit from.

music, books, the smell of green grass in the spring & how happy it makes you?

making bread from scratch, dancing to "i'm walking on sunshine" on a regular basis, or washing, then repeating?

share it. doesn't matter that it isn't what someone else believes in. but, if it makes you happy, share it!

so start sharing with others what you believe, no matter what it is that you believe.

i think more wonderful things could come of it than we could possibly understand.

maybe we could even start sharing more often over pieces of pie!

in the shower.

2011-01-18T08:29:00.000-07:00

happiness tip #18 ~

laugh.

watch something funny, have someone funny over to your house, open your shower curtain & realize that your almost two year old has climbed into the shower with his older brother....fully clothed.

just laugh!

don't keep it to yourself.

2011-01-17T06:44:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

happiness tip #17 ~

pay someone a genuine compliment.

you know how great it feels when someone gives you a compliment?

think about how someone else will feel when you notice something about them, & let them know.

so often, we see things about other people that we love, but we never mention it.

why?

the trick is....well, there is no trick.

speak up!

let a friend know that you love her hair!

let a stranger know that you love her shoes!

let your acquaintance know that you think she is brilliant!

making someone else happy, always leads to your own happiness.

p.s. if you can't find something to compliment, then you aren't looking hard enough!

swirling hands in a farmhouse sink full of soapy water.

2011-01-16T16:23:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

happiness tip #16 ~

read a book that you really want to read; not just a book that everyone else is reading.

i am reading a book right now called "The Gift of an Ordinary Day: a Mother's Memoir".

i saw it quoted in a magazine once, several years ago.

something about swirling hands in a farmhouse sink full of soapy water.

it's probably not a quote that most people would decide that they wanted to read an entire book over, however, it is definitely something that resided with me...for a long long time.

finally, i added it to my kindle, & i can't get enough of it. the language that katrina kenison uses & her thoughts about home just click with me.

it is a book that definitely makes me happy.

no one has ever recommended it to me, it isn't a book that is talked about in Harry Potter, The Uglies or Twilight circles. the author also has two teenage sons & writes about mid-life decisions. but, for some reason, even though i have no teenagers, & i hope i'm not in mid-life, i completely love it.

please be advised that this is not a book recommendation, or a review. i've never felt comfortable giving either.

however, this book is something that is completely in tune with my personality.

it's a book that feels like coming home to me.

when was the last time you read a novel that made you feel truly at peace. fully contented with who you are.

completely happy.

(i know this sounds a lot like #1, but if you're reading your first book right now, & are not in love with it, throw it against the wall, & move on!)

p.s. i'm so sorry that i've been dropping the ball on the whole 7 a.m. thing! i keep scheduling them for 7 p.m. & then realizing later that they aren't up...cuz...well, i'm just that technologically advanced!

(i'll work on it!)

the lovely lovely shoes.

2011-01-15T16:56:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

happiness tip #15 ~

learn to accept a compliment & learn to do it graciously.

last week, i discovered the sartorialist.

apparently, i am the last one on earth to know about it.

noah, my three year old, & i sat & scrolled through page after page of beautiful photographs of truly beautiful, real life people.

(oh, & the fashion aspect isn't half bad either.(this means i was open mouthed staring at the shoes. oh, the lovely lovely shoes.))

as we were looking, noah suddenly said, "look mama! it's you! so pretty!"

i quickly told him that no, that wasn't me. i told him that there was no way that a woman that beautiful could ever be me.

he was completely adamant & made it extremely clear to me that he KNEW that it was me.

my hair was the same. my shoes were very high. the dress in the photograph was in fact hanging in my closet right now.

AND

that me, his mama, was so so pretty.

finally, i gave in, & told noah that it was me in the picture. then i thanked him for his compliment which had made me feel like 1 million dollars.

(of course, you & i know, that the lady in the above photograph isn't me. but to a huge hearted three year old, he saw beauty & therefore, saw his mama.)

when was the last time that you were able to thank someone immediately for a compliment. & if you were already completely aware of the compliment, were you gracious about recieving it?

wouldn't it be wonderful if we could all see ourselves through the eyes of those around us.

the three year olds who always see beauty & are so so very excited about sharing, with us, just exactly what they see.

next time. i'll believe noah much faster.

(besides, look at her shoes. don't they just look like me?!)

the people.

2011-01-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

happiness tip #14 ~

look carefully today at pictures of people that you love, rather than pictures of things that you want.

there are so many wonderful things on the internet now.

lots & lots of things.

things that are pretty. things that we should hope to have. things that will make us better if we hurry & snatch them up.

so today, focus more on the people in your life that you love, rather than on things that you might love, if you had them.

which makes you happier?

the things?

the people.

*thank you to my lovely sister alice, for taking this gorgeous picture of our niece, kierra.

this picture definitely makes me happy!

tasmanian devil made me do it.

2011-01-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

good morning girls!

(& of course the three men i know that read this.)

this morning, as i was making my bed & trying to decide what the tip should be for today, i glanced over at my nightstand & i knew exactly what it should be.

(one of these days it will be,

do not make your bed before your children are completely out of it.)

happiness tip #13 ~

clean your night table!

(nightstand, bed table, basket, stool, chair, etc.)

whatever the thing is that you keep your necessities by your bed in, clean it up. give it a good washing inside & out, & then go through what exactly is in & on top of it.

do you really need to have 13 books on top? (really? we all know you can read, so what are you trying to prove?)

do you really need the 24 bottles of nail polish right next to your bed?

(i used to keep my polish in my top drawer until a certain little man, who shall remain nameless, opened several of those bottles. we now have a stained white blanket & a small portion of the floor where the "tasmanian devil made me do it" won't come out of the wood floor.

(appropriate name, don't you think?))

medications? if you have young children...probably not the greatest idea.

i heard once on oprah that "no one cares about the millions of bottles of perfume on your dresser." take them off...(don't forget to trash the ones that smell like a 97 year old with the blue hair.)

get rid of all the crap that you don't use on a daily basis. decide what can be donated, but be completely ruthless when it comes to trashing a lot of it.

next, decide exactly what you'd like to keep.

i keep a couple of books, a card game, scriptures (which are not dirty...just really really old.),

emergency inhalers (i know we have young children, but all four of them know how to use an inhaler, & it's important to us to have one within reach at all times.)

i also keep jewelry in here, for now.

most of the time i also keep kleenex & lotion, but alas, i am out of both at this time.

the bottom drawer is just as bare with only my favorite pens & our russell & hazel family binder. (la-la-love russell & hazel, but we'll save the praise for another post.)

everything is clean, organized, & makes it so easy for me to know exactly what my drawer will look like when i open it.

i love me some organized drawers! they always make me smile.

how about you? try it! see if it makes you smile too!

p.s. i have some people doing these things with me on a daily basis!

shocking.... but, thanks for joining me!

i have had several e-mails asking me to please post these in the morning at the same time each day so that they have the whole day to work on it...if needs be.

i am here to please, so from now on my happiness tips will be posted at 7 a.m. MST.

thanks so much for asking & i'm really happy to hear about all the happy people getting even happier.

(is it annoying when someone uses the word happy so many times in a row?

hint: the answer is YES!)

do it again, & again, & again, & .......

2011-01-12T10:34:00.000-07:00

happiness tip #12 ~

(i have to admit that i got this from someone else. she's a genius though, right?)

do the same thing every day.

anything that you want to be better at, find time to do it every day.

for example, i want to be happier so i'm posting a way to do that

every. single. day.

i want to be in better shape, so i'm working out

every. single. day. (six days a week is almost every day.)

i want to know more about how to help jared, so i read & study something about autism

every. single. day.

what about you? what do you want to be better at? how can you be better at it if you only do it once a week?

start doing it

every. single. day.

soon, you'll be a happy expert at whatever you do

every. single. day.

take notes.

2011-01-11T06:00:00.001-07:00

{photograph}

who here feels like i've been posting

a whole whole lot.

that's more of a rhetorical question.

it's been a LOT lately! i know my goal is to post a little tip each day, for

three hundred.

and.

sixty.

five.

days.

whoa.

i just wanted to say thank you to everyone who rolls their eyes, but then checks in anyway.

have i told you lately that i really really think you all rock?

you do.

a whole whole lot.

ready for NUMBER ELEVEN??!!

happiness tip #11 ~

today,

keep a running tab of things that make you happy.

start with a blank sheet of paper & write down every little thing that makes you smile.

every. little. thing.

the little one that crawls into your bed in the morning.

the green lights you get all the way to work.

a pencil with a sharp point.

how sparkly the snow is.

the big plate of french fries at lunch.

the three miles on the treadmill to make up for the big plate of french fries at lunch.

the....

you get the point.

at the end of the day tally up how many happy things are on your list.

more than you expected? simpler things than you thought? a few extra smiles throughout your day?

are you surprised with how many times you felt joy?

hooray for happy!

good mornings.

2011-01-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

happiness tip #10 ~

get up early!

i know, i know, most people won't like the exclamation point behind that one, but it really works.

here's why.

getting up at least 20 minutes before everyone else in the home means that...

you will be dressed.

have time to thoughtfully put your mascara on, instead of poking yourself in the eye in your rush.

you can make a hot breakfast for yourself, your special someone, your children, your dog.

you can unload the dishes so that everyone can put their own dishes in the dishwasher, leaving you more time later.

you can make your bed.

you can read blogs, books, newspapers, etc.

you can have time with your children before they leave for school.

watch the sun rise.

see? so many reasons to get up early. and, so many ways to feel like you've got a head start on the day.

now, who doesn't feel happy about that?

my first word.

2011-01-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

yesterday, during a teacher appreciation meeting that i went to for our young women's organization, the lovely teacher shared a small portion of this talk. because i had been thinking about the new year, some of the words just seemed so fitting for questions that i want to be responsible for answering in 2011.

"Am I the woman I think I am, the woman I want to be? More importantly, am I the woman the Savior wants me to be?"

about three years ago, i heard for the first time about having a word for the year.

i've never chosen to actually have a word for the year, until now.

my word for 2011:

strength

in the next few weeks the husband will be starting a new job. this new job, although a huge blessing for us, will come with it's own new challenges for our family. the job will require quite a bit of travel, something that seth & i have never had to deal with before. the longest that the two of us have been apart from each other, in the full ten years that we've been married, was once... for two days. you might think that's a whole lot of togetherness & that we probably get sick of each other, but that just isn't the case with us. we really like each other. a lot.

we're just two crazy love birds, still.

traveling will take the husband/daddy-of-the-year away from us for at least 50% of the month. we've already discussed the kinds of challenges this will present our four boys with & the things that we will need to do to make sure that our family stays strong. the weekends will be spent with a different feeling; with a greater intention to remain a close-knit family. remaining strong as a family is only one goal of mine though.

my word:

strength

is going to encompass so much that i will need to focus on this year & hopefully be able to help me answer the questions that were posed in the talk.

strength in health

working as hard as i can to put my health first.  working out on a regular basis to retain mobility & range of motion.  memory exercises so that my cognitive functions remain strong.  regular yoga sessions to focus on & strengthen balance.  positive outlook on health plays a huge part in being able to get past negative medical news.  schedule surgeries with regards to being able to get help.  don't be too prideful to ask for help on weeks when i can't walk or when i don't have full use of my hands.  write.  craft.  create.

stop drinking pop.  eat more sushi.  eat more raw foods.  wear cozy socks.

oh, & i really want jennifer aniston's arms.

strength in spirit

consistent temple attendance by myself & with seth.  regular scripture study with an emphasis on the New Testament.  scripture memorization weekly.  maintain family scripture study even when seth is out of town.  work with jared & adam on independent scripture study.  teach the boys one new hymn per week.  search for peace.  prayer in home extremely important for protection; pray often.  read a new book each week; add to kindle.  regular quiet times/meditations.  don't be cynical or negative; view challenges as new opportunities to answer my questions.

read everything that sheri dew has ever written. ever.

strength in home

make our home a haven; a sacred place.  more uplifting music in our home.  continue to work on lightening everything....with light comes peace.  continue to prepare the boys for future MS days; continue with their daily chores.  teach empathy with a strong focus on compassion for others.  teach respect for our home, our things, & our family members.  bring in the bright, the happy, the joy every single day.

jump on more beds.  grin.  let in the sun shine.

be content.

{i reserve the right to add to this list as i see fit throughout the year of 2011. cuz, well, i'm not stuck in stone!}

and as long as i remind myself of who it is that will be helping me answer the question of

"am i the woman i want to be?" ,

i don't think i will have any trouble remembering my word for the year.

a resolution re-do.

2011-01-09T14:51:00.000-07:00

{photograph}

happiness tip #9 ~

revamp your new years resolutions.

you've had nine days now to either start on your 2011 resolutions or nine days to think about what you'd like to work on in the coming year. this could also be nine days of resolutions that you've botched, forgotten, or decided were completely ridiculous.

you've also had nine days to feel guilty about the things you've botched, forgotten, or decided were completely ridiculous.

today is the day that you can change all that! you know what is working & what is not working. if you haven't completed your new years list, then today is a great day to edit & complete that list.

don't feel guilty about the seven symphonies that you had in the first three days of the month.

(that was me.)

don't feel guilty about the car still being a mess.

(that was me too.)

don't feel guilty about the curtains that still haven't been made for the kitchen window.

(me. again.)

the point is, there is always a new day to start again.

i'm going to do a little erasing & replacing on my resolutions page, & then for the first time ever, i do believe i'll share them.

here.

for all to see.

to become more accountable.

yes-sir-ee.

(rhyming was not one of my resolutions. just a happy accident.)

i'll get back to you when my list is a little more presentable & i am a lot happier with it.

ciao bellas!

p.s. maybe some of these pretty pictures will inspire you to start re-writing!

{photograph}

the uniform.

2011-01-08T22:52:00.000-07:00

there is a reason i am not a "clothing blog".

i cannot stand...as in literally hate...having a picture taken of myself.

i don't know how the great ones do it.

all i know is they must have guts....& be incredibly photogenic.
so, because i am neither of those, please excuse the blurry, the grainy, & the cheesy.

happiness tip #8 ~

find yourself a uniform!

a uniform. something that you wear almost everyday. something that you can reach for, no matter the occasion, that is a dependable standby.

my uniform is made up of jeans & a white long sleeve t-shirt. (super complex, right?) i have three different long sleeve t-shirts. one from old-navy, one from j-crew, & one from the gap. basic, but not boring. just style it a little different & you have a different outfit for almost each day of the week, without the laundry.

#1. this is the today i'll stay at home, do some laundry, & sort m&m's into colors with my boys look.

jeans + white t

casual & easy.

#2. the volunteering in my child's classroom look.

distressed jeans & white t

cardigan

necklace, bracelet, watch

high heeled boots

put together & more than just a house-wife without trying too hard, but still able to speak "kiddo".

#3. the date night with my husband look.

dark rinse skinny jean & white t

bulky necklace & (hidden) silver belt

gray boots

classy with a slight hint of sassy fun.

(the men like it sassy, right?)

#4. the my husband thinks i look like an equestrian look.

skinny jean + white t

tiny silver hoop earrings & bold statement bracelet {thank you anna!}

scarf

brown "riding boots"

a morning at the doctor, followed by a trip to target, followed by an hour at the park.

(& quite possibly a quick ride on the horse we keep in the backyard.)

#5. the i can give a speech on pta night, at any multiple sclerosis benefit, or an autism panel look.

(or this is the top of my head/cheerleading pose.)

long & lean dark jeans + white t

black sparkly belt

black jacket

red patent leather heels

(hidden) silver necklace & bangles

i really do know what i'm talking about so you'd probably better listen up.

(or, READY? OK! GIVE ME A G-O! WHAT'S THAT SPELL?!

karen is incredibly cheeeeeeesy!)

i promise, if you have a uniform you've already put together ahead of time, it will be so much easier to grab what you need & look however you need to look.

of course, i'm not saying give up the other things in your closet, all the pretty ruffles & skirts, & tops that are any color but white.

but on those days when your brain is a little more muddled than others,

it always helps to have a little something easy to just throw on.

happy naps.

2011-01-07T08:21:00.001-07:00

{photograph}

happiness tip #7 ~

take a nap!

instead of catching up on housework during your children's naps or eating lunch at your desk at the office, find a place where you can close your eyes for at least 20 minutes.

it can be in your own bed, your living room couch, or cuddling next to a child.
maybe, you could even try the bathtub if hiding is what you need to do.

{before i had all these little boys, & was working in corporate America,

i used to take off my heels & take a nap in my car. i even closed my office door a few times & took a nap under my desk.

it was heavenly.}

p.s. if your children don't nap, just remember that an average cartoon lasts approximately 23-27 minutes. little einsteins is wonderful to fall asleep to!

happy friday friends!

& happy napping!

simple happy.

2011-01-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

happiness tip #6 -

make a 30 second centerpiece out of something that you have in your home.

grab a big bowl, put the objects of your choice inside, & voila! instant centerpiece!

take this chance to step outside of your comfort zone & use something that you wouldn't normally showcase. you can use anything from skittles to rocks. sea shells to pine cones. spools of thread to old thimbles.

{i used green apples because, although i think green is a pretty color, i don't have very much of it in our house. now the coffee table pops just a little bit more, & on the

plus side, the centerpiece is edible!}

{i also have a jar full of white vanilla tea candles that i use as a centerpiece from time to time. it's really pretty & it smells amazing. i didn't want to use that one this time though, because, well, white is in my comfort zone.}

using your on-the-spot creativity to add a little extra pretty to your home, without any additional money spent, would make anyone happy.

wouldn't you agree?!