Our home

Homebodies

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Autumn is settling in, and we’ve put the feather comforters and extra quilts on the beds.  My ankle hasn’t healed enough to drive yet, so we spend our week keeping busy at home.  Any moment it isn’t raining, we’ve been in the garden.

Some images from our quiet week around the house.  Above: Hops, rosemary, and comfrey drying in a sunny window seat.

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Collecting columbine seeds for Christmas gifts, and a few to sow around the garden.

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Baking bread.  The kids can eat a loaf every single day, and I certainly don’t mind baking.  This is molasses-shredded wheat bread (my kids love shredded-wheat cereal, and we save the crushed bits in the bottom of the bag for making bread.   Tossing a half-cup into the recipe adds a nice texture, and nothing goes to waste).  Butter spread on top when the loaf is warm makes for a soft crust children enjoy.IMG_9989[1]

The Nature Table is transitioning over for autumn.  It includes whatever the kids collect: birch bark, a paper wasp nest, as well as shells and rocks discovered in children’s pockets when we go to do the laundry.

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A volunteer brought the children a nest she found in our raspberry patch.  We find several every year around the yard, but the kids always get excited about them – they have an almost mystical quality because of their ephemeral nature, and each one is unique.

The perpetual calendar in the upper right is from MamaRoots, and was a birthday gift to Bea last year.  She dutifully keeps track of it for us, and it is one of the best instructional toys we’ve purchased.

IMG_0001[1]A few days in the sun, rotated a few times a day, and the hops and such have dried, and been packed into jars until we need them.

Autumn is always bittersweet – I love the baking, sticking close to home, the warm wooly things of fall.  But the garden winds down and is put to bed for the year, and the weather turns grey and rainy and chilly.  Especially this year, where I missed an entire summer laid up on the sofa with my leg, the changing of the seasons hits a little hard.  Fall is here though, and I’ve got to take the good things the season offers and be content… seems like the right time to bake some gingerbread.

Blessings on your weekend.

 

 

Gratitude

 

Sourdough on blue cornmeal. Breakfast.
Sourdough on blue cornmeal. Breakfast.

Joining Taryn of WoolyMossRoots for her Gratitude Sunday:

-Very glad to have a little free time to return to blogging, and catch up on some of my favorite blogs.

-And grateful to return to some much-beloved routines and habits (like baking bread nearly every day, knitting, reading aloud to the kids in the afternoon, making pickles).   IMG_8471-Grateful for the intense and much-needed rain this week, followed by a bolt of growth all over the gardens.

-Feeling very blessed to have such kind and thoughtful neighbors, who lavish such unconditional love on my kids.

George, almost two. On his push bike.
George, almost two. On his push bike.

-Bittersweet to see my youngest, who is suddenly full of independence and strong opinions, outgrowing some of his baby-ness as he edges up to his second birthday.  However, it is exciting to see him take on new things and discover words and concepts every single day.

-And of course, on this Father’s Day weekend, grateful for Casey, who is a dedicated and loving father.  He reads the kids adventure stories every night, whittles bows and arrows for the girls, builds Lego monsters with Hal, and gives his kids a childhood full of rich, imaginative play.

Hope you have a peaceful and restorative Sunday and a good start to your new week.

Play Kits to go

Joining Nicole’s KCCO this week with a project I finished before the holidays, but am just now getting around to photographing.

The toy baskets were getting out of control.  One of the children would be rummaging through, looking for all the pieces of a playset, and end up dumping over the whole basket in frustration just to find a missing piece.

Christmas was coming, and I knew something had to change before the chaos in the living room got worse.

My solution:  just before Thanksgiving, I retrieved a  little coat rack from basement storage.  A dear family friend had made me when I was a very small child, and it used to hold my dress-ups.  I screwed in the rack at child-height next to the play kitchen.

Then, during George’s nap one afternoon, I made some drawstring bags of different thrifted prints and of varying sizes.  Into each bag went a playset (wooden tools, Playmobils, finger puppets, flower fairies, cars…you get the picture.)  The most frequently-used sets went up on the rack, and some others were tucked into my purse and into the car for “emergency” situations (church, doctor’s office, waiting in line at the post office…).

So far, the system is working well.  The kids can find the toys they want to play with, and when they are finished, it is easy to scoop the pieces back into the bags.

Back tomorrow for the Yarn Along.

December 1

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas…

One of my favorite parts about getting out the holiday decorations is finding the box of Christmas books, and checking out a big stack of Advent and winter-themed library books.  I keep some of them in a basket, and rotate the selection every few days.

This morning we refreshed the greens and candles on the Advent wreath before lighting the second candle tomorrow night. (Yes, this is technically a birthday ring my mom bought me when I was a small child in Germany, but it functions just fine for holding Advent candles, too.)

I couldn’t find little candles that fit the candle stand, but some little Waldorf birthday candles substituted nicely.  The kids wrapped purple modeling beeswax around three, pink around the Shepherds’ candle, and a bit of holly around the Christ candle.  A little modeling beeswax on the bottom helped affix them to the candle ring.

The only downside with using such tiny beeswax candles is that by the time we are done reading the Advent readings for the week while the candle(s) is lit, it has nearly burned down.  I picked up enough extras to replace the used candles each Sunday.

And now that it is December first, we not only get to light the Advent wreath, but day by day, open the doors on our Advent calendar.  Today, on this calendar, we found a tiny drawing of a lizard behind door 1, and each day will have a different illustration of a toy or forest animal.

(We also have another from Grandma Bishop that has a Scripture verse revealed each day.)

This calendar was one my mother bought me when we lived in Germany 30 years ago.  The artwork is so detailed and the children love looking over the scene of beautiful drawings.  I’m glad to get to share it with them.

Joining with Taryn for her Gratitude Sunday.  As we prepare to light the Bethlehem Candle tomorrow, there is much to reflect on.  I am grateful to enter in to that reflection with my family this week.

Without any rhyme
without any reason
my heart lifts to light
in this bleak season

Believer and wanderer
caught by salvation
stumbler and blunderer
into Creation

In this cold blight
where marrow is frozen
it is God’s time
my heart has chosen

In paradox and story
parable and laughter
find I the glory
here in hereafter

 – Madeleine L’Engle

L’Arche Christmas Tree

  Each year, we visit the same tree lot to pick up a little table-top Christmas tree which will sit in the window seat.  It is a tradition we really enjoy, and we’re thankful to be able to support L’Arche in our small way.

L’Arche, is a wonderful organization that serves adults with disabilities in many communities.  From the Portland chapter’s website:

At L’Arche Portland people with and without developmental disabilities work together to create home and build community. Those with developmental disabilities form the heart of our shared life and invite others into mutual relationships. We welcome each person’s unique gifts and challenges, and offer opportunities for personal transformation. We trust in God and live as a sign that love, respect and interdependence are the path to a peaceful and just world.

Look how big these girls are getting?  Very grateful that we had a dry day to go pick out our little tree, and that cousin Ruby could join us again this year.

Over the next week or two, we will slowly decorate.  First up is the star, followed sometime later by a string of lights, then a night popcorn and cranberries, and one more night for ornaments and mini candy canes.  The children like the undecorated tree for acting out all sorts of woodland play with their toys, so no one is in a hurry to get the ornaments up.

As we finish making up our Advent wreath, getting decorations out of storage, reading Christmas books aloud in the evening, we are anxious for the season of Advent.  As we enter this special time in which we anticipate the arrival of the Christ-child, a Light in the darkness.

Each year when we pick up our tree, I am reminded of L’Arche champion Henri Nouwen’s words on compassion, and how they ring so true at this time of year, when the God of the universe fully immersed Himself in the human condition in order to extend compassion to Humanity:

Compassion asks us to go where it hurts, to enter into the places of pain, to share in brokenness, fear, confusion, and anguish. Compassion challenges us to cry out with those in misery, to mourn with those who are lonely, to weep with those in tears. Compassion requires us to be weak with the weak, vulnerable with the vulnerable, and powerless with the powerless. Compassion means full immersion in the condition of being human.
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

Joining with Taryn for her Gratitude Sunday as we enter into Advent, and all the Hope therein.

While G is napping

Went to make an afternoon pot of tea, and got distracted by how incredibly dusty and precariously stacked everything was in the china cupboard.  Ended up dusting and reorganizing for a solid hour while George napped and the big kids ran around in the sunshine.  (Had I ever dusted in there?  Spider webs galore on the top shelf.  Ugh).

Also found some time to finish up some baby shower gifts before the herd of elephants came stomping in from outdoors and woke the baby.

 

Little projects seem the easier to complete these days.  Quick and mindless is best.  The last complicated lace shawl I attempted was frogged pretty quickly, because knitting off charts while chasing 4 kids inevitably ends in too many mistakes.

Baby socks in hand-dyed spindle-spun.  Pattern here.

Never did get around to that pot of tea.  Maybe tomorrow…

Coat Hooks

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When entering our home, there is no coat closet, or even much of an entryway to speak of.   Our kids tend to walk in the door and immediately dump their coats on the floor.  And, of course, the dog promptly makes a nest in them and takes a nap.  Even if they take their coats back to their room, they aren’t tall enough to hang them up in their closet, so they end up in a pile on the floor back there.  It drives me nuts.

The other day, we were at Cost Plus/World Market, because it’s close to church, and I can’t resist going in when we drive by, especially at Christmas time.  (I love everything in that store!)  They had a big bin full of Indian ceramic dresser knobs and little hooks, and for $8 ($2 for each kid, including “Baby Tummy”), we had a solution to the coat problem!

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A very small change makes a big difference sometimes, and a little less chaos is very good thing.  🙂

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Rummage Sale Score

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My husband’s cousin will be visiting all summer (from New York City!), and for part of her visit, she’s going to be staying with us.  We were worried about her not having a place to sleep here, and have been on the lookout for a used sofa.  A queen-sized futon has been serving as our sofa for a while now, and if we could find a decent sofa, the futon could go in our semi-unfinished upstairs and give cousin Erin a place to stay (and have some peace and privacy away from the kid chaos).

This past weekend, a church right around the corner from our home had a big rummage sale, and we picked up lots of treasures, including a $3 quilt (above), dress-ups for Firecracker, a new basket to collect eggs in, and many other goodies.  It was the last day of the sale, and I kept eye-ing a mauve sofa and chair set that had been priced at $100, but just went half off.

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I’m no fan of mauve, but I liked the style, they were in good shape, and I figured a quilt thrown over them would suffice for now.   If I ever get around to teaching myself some upholstery skills, I could recover them in pale turqouise velvet when the kids are older (or resell the set on craigslist long before that…).  And at $50 for the set, how could I go wrong?

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Besides, my sister says it’s perfectly in keeping with my “old lady/grandma style” of decorating.  🙂

IMG_7516So, now, we have some legit furniture in the living room, and cousin Erin will have a place to sleep!   (Now to get painting upstairs before her visit!  We still can’t decide on the colors…)

Late May Garden Update Part II

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And here’s the rest of the garden update:

There wasn’t time to get any side-yard shots before the rain started up again, but we now have 64 healthy strawberry plants growing there (many have set fruit already!) and the Christmas limas are germinating there as well.

Out in the backyard – the peas (see above) are as tall as Firecracker!  Oregon Sugar Pod IIs, Alaska, Galena, and Alderman Tall Telephone peas are all going strong.  And yesterday Firecracker noticed that they’d begun to flower!  Soon we’ll have sugar snap peas, snow peas and shell peas by the bucketful!

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The first planting bush beans are up all over the backyard, and I expect the second planting to germinate later this week (for a longer continuous harvest).  These are Royal Burgundy.  This patch looks good, but unfortunately, most of the bush, runner, and lima beans are all taking a heavy hitting from…

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SLUGS!  Despite daily picking (and feeding them to the chickens), the garden is inundated with thousands of slugs.  Most mornings the girls and I pick anywhere between fifty and one-hundred fifty.  Beer traps have only managed to capture a few as well,  so today I finally resorted to buying some organic, “pet friendly” slug bait in order to save the bush beans.  Here’s hoping it works, because there is no way   chickens freely hunt for slugs in the beds without the baby plants being eaten as well.

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This is one little patch of the Red Russian kale, which we’ve planted all over the yard.  Thankfully, the slugs haven’t bothered it.  It’s our favorite kale – not only is it beautiful and doesn’t easily bolt, it’s full of vitamin K, vitamin C and iron, and has a mild flavor – we put it in everything from fruit smoothies to lentil curry.  A definite superfood bursting with nutrition.

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This is one of the 25 asparagus crowns in full frond – only two more years and we’ll have a nice crop of asparagus of the BCS volunteers!

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Our compost still isn’t cooking well once again (too wet and soggy, too many kitchen scraps (“greens”) and too little “brown” matter (leaves, dry plant matter, shredded paper).  So, in the drizzle yesterday morning, I got down to the stinky job of turning it and splitting the compost into two separate side-by-side bins, which will get lots of shredded newspaper turned into them this week.   Let’s hope that does the trick.

The hens and chicks were THRILLED to have the compost turned and were scratching about while I was working – finding germinating pumpkin seeds and worms and all sorts of  “delicious treats”.

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This is one of the as-of-yet-unnamed Speckled Sussex chicks (or, as Firecracker calls them “teenagers”) scratching in the compost (those three are so fast, it’s tough to get a photo of them!).  You should have seen the chickens happily clucking and scratching and snacking and clucking some more!

And thankfully, all of the adults are done molting, so those happy hens have started churning out –

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– 3 eggs per day!  Woo-hoo!

And that’s it for the garden at present – thanks for being patient with a long update -  Hopefully, the warm weather will come back soon and the tomatoes, summer squash, tomatillos, cilantro and basil will really get a chance to thrive.

Okay, I promise something other than a gardening post coming up soon (although, I don’t know what that will be, since we haven’t had time for much baking or knitting or reading or cleaning house since every spare moment has been spent gardening or researching gardening and chicken keeping!)

If you’ve got a garden going, or even a few tomatoes in pots on your balcony, the girls and I would love to hear about how things are going for you!

Late May Garden Update Part I

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The garden has really taken off  after a week of hot, sunny weather, followed by lots of rain. (although, the cold nights and wind the past few days haven’t done us any favors).  Volunteers have been able to start taking in a few baskets of organic produce to BCS, mostly radishes, mustard greens, lettuce, chives, tarragon and baby beets, bok choy, and kale.  The teeny harvests thus far just begin to hint at the bounty of the coming months.

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Between slug-picking and weeding and rain showers, we got a few pictures this morning – (above) The boys in the front yard behind Alderman Tall Telephone peas, mesclun mix lettuce, with more lettuce mix and Oregon Sugar Pod II peas in the background.

– the tomatoes are really taking a beating with the cold (40s and 50s) and hail and driving wind this week.  We wrapped about half in plastic (and then ran out of plastic!) but can’t see that it is helping them out much – the hail damage is the worst.   Surprisingly, the tomatillos don’t seem to mind the dreary weather as much and are growing nicely

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Despite a little slug damage, the cardoons we planted back in February are coming along nicely – the largest are nearly two feet across already.  (They were planted closely, because about 20% of the seed stock are infertile – they are smaller and weak and I keep thinning them out.  The hassle of starting them from seed is well worth it – I only used half a pack (@ $2.45/pack), and have 8 strong seedlings, versus paying $7.49 each for large starts from the garden center.)

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The Vulcan Red Chard is doing quite well – just a few more weeks until it will be able to be harvested in any quantity.

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The mustard greens and bok choy bolted in last week’s heat, but the bolted stalks were fed to some very happy chickens  and in the gaps I have planted summer squash (a total of 6 in the front yard, and 19 in the back – a mix of crooknecks, zucchinis, and patti-pans).  I may eventually need to thin them down, but a few are compact varieties, so we’re hoping they won’t get too crowded.

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This is a Golden Hubbard seedling, coming up in the bed closest to the street.  Winter squash are such a treasure – beautiful rambling vines all season, tasty blossoms to stuff with ricotta and deep-fry, and finally, vitamin-packed, long-shelf-life squash in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes to eat throughout the winter.  (Since there is limited space, I have only put in my favorite eating squash – Buttercups, Butternuts, Hubbards, Delicata, except along one side-yard, near the house, where the gorgeous – if largely inedible – Rouge Vif D’Etampes has been planted for harvest decorations.)

For everything you could want to know about nearly every variety of winter and summer squash, I highly recommend Amy Goldman’s book, The Compleat Squash.

To keep the neighbors happy, I have planted misc. wildflowers, sunflowers, daisies, and about 50 dahlias in the front beds.  Add to that those dozen winter squash (to trail out of the beds and along the path), bronze fennel and artichokes, and for good measure, a whole jumbo packet of nasturtium!  If that doesn’t make for a pretty (but still mostly edible!) street-side bed, I don’t know what will!

(Eventually, the front bed will be mostly perennial flowers, currants, a dwarf plum, and a low fence with a grape arbor and a gate across the path, but it needed something to make it attractive this year, especially with so many folks in the neighborhood stopping by to ask what in the heck happened to our front yard!)

And with that, I’ll save the backyard and the chicken update for tomorrow!

“Flying Fish” Blue

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This afternoon’s project was painting the chicken coop a vibrant blue (although it dried darker).

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The girls had a great time, and were sure to get lots of paint in their hair.  🙂

Up next?  A second coat (after picking up a second gallon), painting the trim and posts, and adding a nice bright yellow sunshine in the upper right corner, and this fall, a trellis and table grapes up one side.

A Living Hope

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Preparing for our celebration of the Resurrection tomorrow:

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The children’s baskets may be put out awaiting little treats from a certain visitor, but our hearts and minds are fixed the redemptive joy of tomorrow.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. – I Peter 1:3

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Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. – Hebrews 12: 1-3

Happy Easter, from our family to yours.

Little Ragamuffins

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We scrapped all other plans for today,

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and simply played in in the dirt.

As Firecracker said, “There’s nothin’ more natural than gettin’ dirty.”

Somehow, in the midst of playing “dirt fairies”, “cruel dirt queen who makes her workers dig all day”, “climb dirt mountain”, “search for worms and buried treasure”, and “fill and empty buckets of dirt over and over”, we managed to spread just shy of two yards more compost over the front beds, finally completing them.

Tomorrow – chard, beets, kale, mustard greens and potatoes are sown out front.  The coming weeks – finish backyard beds, plant more veggies, mulch paths, plant a few fruit trees, and finish chicken coop/run.

Our front yard before this weekend’s garden work day:

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And this afternoon:

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Many thanks to all of the volunteers who helped on Saturday!!  We are excited to see the garden grow and develop in the coming months!

Simplifying

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The past month has been an opportunity to re-evaluate what we value as a family – to really examine what we strive to be and to accomplish.  Although unintentional, the blogging break these past several weeks has been very therapeutic for our whole family.  (Actually, it was a break from all computer-related activities).

I realized how much time was being spent every week blogging, and reading other beautiful, but consuming, blogs.  I realized how much more time I spent reading, knitting, sewing, being still and quiet when I tuned out technology.  My stress level went down, and we were all less rushed and more at peace.  Most importantly, I spent so much more time  communicating and interacting with my children in a positive way.

I am going to continue blogging, still for the reason I began – to be an encouragement, and reminder of the value of being a mother, and a keeper of the home and a member of the greater community.  There is priceless value in the small, everyday moments of raising a family.   But, for the next few months, at least, I’ll be scaling back the frequency of  posting and dramatically pruning back the amount of time spent on the computer.

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So, that’s it for this week.  I’m not going to spend the next hour reading other mama’s blogs (as inspirational as they are) while the baby naps – getting neurotic and feeling completely inferior about this humble little blog and our domestic activities compared to what I see elsewhere.

Instead,  I am going to put on some mint tea, and sit down with my girls and enjoy our tea with oranges, Nutella on graham crackers, lively conversation.

Blessings on you as you connect with your loved ones today.

I’ll be back next week.

Quiet spinning

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A quiet afternoon yesterday – now all of us are feeling under the weather and we are doing our best to cultivate an atmosphere of peace and foster wellness.  The girls were snuggling in their bed, reading Highlights and Ranger Rick,  and Tum Tum was napping.  A rare opportunity to enjoy a cup of coffee in the front room, watching the rain fall.

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Also a perfect opportunity to get out some spinning (because anyone who knows me knows I can’t just sit and sip coffee without some handwork at the ready).  I’ve been so busy knitting socks, I’ve gotten behind on my spinning, and frankly, my hands are tired of double-points and need a rest.  So, I grabbed a basket with some mystery pencil roving (from the large bag of fiber that was thrown in on my Craigslist purchase of a fixer-upper Louet S-10) and one of the drop spindles my dad made me a while back.

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I like spinning standing up, so I can spin a much longer length before I have to wind it up, so there really was no “sitting and sipping coffee” about it.  But I find spinning a very restful, meditative experience, even if I don’t put my feet up.

This spindle, made of maple, has a large whorl, but spins very evenly, and is one of my favorites.

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The fingering-weight singles.  I’ll ply it when I’m done for a heavy sport-weight that will become more gift socks.

Wishing you a peaceful  and productive afternoon as well.

Family Bed and Cloth Diapering

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Some friends recently asked how we share sleep with our youngest while he’s in cloth diapers.  Overnight leaks are a worry, even with doublers and the “good covers” saved for night time.  To safeguard the mattress, we don’t use expensive wool mattress pads (which sound fabulous, but are way out of the budget) or those awful rubberized crib pads that don’t breathe a bit.

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Our simple solution is to use some thrifted wool blankets that I ran through the wash a few times in order to felt them up nice and thick (from twin size down to about 3 x 3 1/2ft).  They are breatheable, natural, and very waterproof.  I double up just to be safe – and wash on warm, tumble dry.

It’s that easy!  I’d love to hear any tips on how you make the family bed work for you!

Sunday summer afternoon

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Little Hen and I picking wildflowers in the yard,

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and cutting out new paperdolls from Grandma,

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while the little ones take a nice long nap.

I think that makes for a pretty good Sunday afternoon.

Spring-into-Summer Nature Table

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While not technically summer, the very warm, sunny weather of late has been pointing us in that direction.  The girls and I have cleared away the spring table and begun to gather items for our summer table.  It’s just beginning to take shape – rocks from a nature hike, sweet alyssum from the yard, beeswax flowers Little Hen made, some shells from the beach…

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We are looking forward to seeing it grow and change as the summer progresses, and also seeing and drawing inspiration from other families’ nature tables.

Some blog and flickr posts that showcase nature tables -  Chickadee Nest,  LadyKnit, Syrendell, Home Baked Education, Granola Girl, Madam Fafa,  Lyneya.

Meyer lemon

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Ever since I was a girl, and our neighbors in San Antonio grew lemons in their backyard, I have wanted a lemon tree of my own.  But of course, in the Pacific Northwest, planting a citrus grove in your backyard is not realistic.

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Our new home has a large L-shaped bank of windows in the front room, letting in lots of sunlight yearround, perfect for keeping citrus.   So, for Mother’s Day this year, the children bought me a Meyer Lemon tree at Portland Nursery!!

Meyer lemons are very sweet and juicy, good for baking.   The tree is a semi-dwarf, growing only about 6 ft tall (that’s do-able indoors in a pot, isn’t it?).  They also produce lemons year-round, not only during the winter months.

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Look, it even has little baby lemons growing on it already!

Of course, during the summer months, the tree will live out in the backyard, but during the cool, grey NW winters, it will have a home in our front room.  (My mother teased that I should add a mandarin and a lime and have my own little orangerie.)

Stop by this summer and you can share some little lemon souffles and tea with us!

Thrift Store Impulse Buy

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First off, an apology on this  WordPress Theme – it’s having issues, I don’t like it, and will probably be changing it soon.  I’m in the middle of trying to work up a custom header, as well (that’s tougher than I realized!) so things maybe a bit wonky for a few days.

Okay, on to the post –

The children and I were out for coffee this morning with friends, and on the way home, we swung by our favorite thrift store. It was a pretty successful outing – especially considering these goodies only set me back $2.25 in total (the hand-thrown coffee mug is my favorite piece).

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I’d been eyeing this “so-ugly-but-I-am-in-love-with-it” chair for weeks and weeks, as they slowly lowered the price from the original $125 (yikes!) down to $30.  Still a big purchase for me, but we have hardly any furniture in our new home, so I just went for it.

It took quite a bit of maneuvering to get it to fit in the back of my minivan (amazing how little space there is in a huge minivan when it’s full of three carseats, spare clothes/diapers, snack cooler, etc.).  Quite comfy, too, despite it’s more formal shape.   Here’s hoping my husband enjoys crazy, bright (shall we say “loud”?) floral in our living room.

Breakfast nook

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The breakfast nook is finished! A few late nights after the girls were asleep, with Tum Tum on my back, and we now have a place to eat our oatmeal and take tea in the afternoon.

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The walls are Behr’s Butter Cookie in Sateen finish.

The trim, beadboard and cabinest took 4 coats of white semigloss.

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Now to find the perfect drop-leaf table on Craigslist…in the meantime, our wooden card table will have to suffice.

Settling in

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Life is crazy right now, but I am trying to enjoy the peaceful moments where I can find them.  We are in our new house, and have been fighting off a family-wide chest cold for the past week.  Everything is still a complete mess – half-unpacked boxes everywhere, still in the midst of painting the kitchen, nothing baby-proofed.

I did manage to get a tablecloth on the dining table (I know, I’m a funny gal, but it always makes me feel more settled somehow).  When we’ve felt up for it, we’ve been neglecting unpacking completely – instead we’ve been spending our time at the park, enjoying the spring weather.