Right now, I am...
-noticing as I sort through pictures, how tall Sonia and Zoe have gotten. And how very little difference there is in their height, despite the two-year age gap.
-slightly relieved because this week has been a little challenging in terms of getting dinner on the table, but I've managed every night so far. It hasn't been fancy (pancakes and sausage last night!), but it's gotten the job done.
Takeout for six people is stupid expensive, so getting dinner on the table is a high priority for me.
-happy about how many bucket list things I've done so far. My first update at the beginning of July is gonna be a good one!
-hoping to work on cleaning out my shed (a bucket list item) because it is not super sunny and hot today.
-glad I decided to take Sonia and Zoe to the park yesterday instead of cleaning out the shed. Because yesterday it WAS sunny!
-delighted that I've been able to get rid of a lot of stuff so far this summer. Yay!
-happy that I've been able to rehome almost all of our unneeded stuff. Very little has hit the trash.
(Here's how I declutter without creating trash.)
-smiling at this photo of our homemade Father's Day cards. Lisey (hers is at the top) made it her mission to create the cheesiest card possible, so she purposely picked Comic Sans as her font, decorated it with random wrong-season stamps, and added glitter.
It was a fun and hilarious card-making session.
-thankful for the regular rain we've had. My brother and I put in a bunch of new bushes/plants last week, and I've barely had to water them at all!
-a little discouraged at the cost of fencing, even the split-rail variety. I seriously had no idea. Oy.
-also discouraged about how much time and money a house requires. SO MUCH UPKEEP. Can we all just live in a tent??
-excited about teaching my kids to cook this summer. Lisey's up first today, and she's making thin-crust pizza.
-possibly more excited about the possibilities once they have some independent cooking skills under their belts
(I recognize that at first, I'll be spending more time in the kitchen because new cooks slow you down rather than speed you up. But I think the investment is gonna pay off.)
-appreciating all the green of summer.
It's such a nice change from the drab brown of winter.
-wishing (kind of) that summer would last forever. I do get tired of the heat and humidity by the end of August, but I love summer light and summer green and no school and more free time...I wish those aspects could go on forever.
(Though obviously I don't realllllly wish my kids would never have school because I do want them to be educated individuals. 😉 )
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How about you? If you want to do a little "right now" of your own in the comments, please do!
(It's fun!)
Right now I am
-thrilled with the results of having our attic sealed and insulated. Usually our 100 year old home is 5-10 degrees warmer upstairs than downstairs. Right now there is no differential. It is amazing!!! I am hoping there is also at least a small drop in our heating and cooling bills.
-pleased with my own progress this week on my summer bucket list despite strep throat making its way through the fam
-drinking tea from the teapot I found at goodwill yesterday to replace the one I broke.
-feeling slightly anxious about getting the house ready today for our weekend renters with two little boys underfoot. It always comes together in the end, but it is much tougher to pull off with little mess-makers running around
-glad we restarted our weekly library visits yesterday. They had been discontinued for the school year. The sheer excitement on both boys faces at the cool books we found was heart-warming.
That is awesome about the attic! Our house always has temperature issues between upstairs and downstairs, but I think for us, it is matter of having just one thermostat, and it's upstairs.
We try to compensate by shutting different vents in different seasons, but it's never quite the same upstairs and downstairs!
Right now I am...
Sitting on my couch cushions in far too many clothes for the end of June but enjoying the peace while everyone sleeps.
Thankful that Sean wasn't hurt worse than he was at work last night and hoping he's not too achy today.
Healing painfully slow still from his news. More questions seem to pop up at the worst times, but I am confident it God's healing and redemptive mercy.
Also wishing summer would go on. Can't the educated part just happen without all the time sucked from family time? Lol
So sorry he got hurt! And I must have missed something about his news?
Right now I am:
-Working on a lesson for church on Sunday while my baby happily smiles at me.
-Restructuring our family schedule so that we can go survive with one vehicle for a while since my husband's commuter car died about 50,000 miles and several years before we expected it to.
-Thankful that we haven't had to dig out our window ac yet because the summer temperatures in northern NH have been absolutely perfect.
-Anticipating the arrival of a second out of state visitor in a week and a half period when I go months without seeing anyone from home.
-Hopeful that our family will be moving for my husbands new job soon and curious about where that will be.
-Learning a wealth of information from a stack of library books I brought home and wishing I had more time to study them.
Right now I am...
--happy that our photographer (a friend who is a pro!) is done with our wedding pictures - speedwork, wow! we only got married three weekends ago...
--drinking loose-leaf tea ("Paris" by Harney & Sons) from a Christmas-gift steeping mug - no waste!
--savoring a few chocolate, pistachio, almond biscotti we brought back from our honeymoon in Italy - the ultimate justification of frugality is having money to travel, for me 🙂
--listening to the rain on the skylight in my office and knowing it will keep the temperature down for another few hours or days
--enjoying standing at my desk without pain for the first time after a really bad back sprain, and realizing it means I can finally work out again like I want to
--remembering all the wonderful flowers on the walk this morning with the dogs
--grateful that it's the last workday of the week
- Trying to focus on the positive, because there has been a lot of hard in my life recently; this list is one such attempt.
- Happy it's Friday and looking forward to maybe sleeping in; or just sleeping - insomnia has been rearing its ugly head recently.
- Happy to be hosting a favorite family member this weekend; who has offered to help build a shed.
- Unhappy that the forecast calls for rain: raining and building a shed are not compatible activities.
- Happy that my friends are returning from a year abroad, and that they're staying with me for about a week before moving into their place.
- Happy that I feel ready to test for my next martial arts rank, at the next testing opportunity; I thought it would take longer.
Heh, well ... I'm pretty frustrated about a lot of things. I haven't cleaned out the future nursery and I have a couple of projects that need to be done before the kid gets here.
I'm also annoyed at all the rain. It's really putting a damper on my plans.
Other than that, I could use a vacation. This is my last summer of freedom so I'd like to not squander it.
Battra92-:I PROMISE that you get your pre-baby life back to some extent after children come into your life. Is it the exact same as when just a couple? No. But things balance & you wouldn't want it otherwise once you welcome Baby. Is an amazing journey that you're about to go on. 🙂
Hopefully I'll be back later with a Right Now List...
Right now I'm contemplating doing a handstand and photographing it. Although I concede I may require a little help with that.
It is International Handstand day after all - they've piggy-backed #FoodWasteFriday.
The homemade cards are really cute... What do you use to create them? I'd like to make homemade cards (something better than construction paper and magic markers of course:-) ) but the supplies at craft stores are a little overwhelming.
We used mid-weight white paper folded in half, and then some printer fonts. And we inked the edges of the printed "Happy Father's Day" pieces to help them stand out.
Super simple!
(Of course, Lisey's purposely cheesy card used some other supplies...stamps, ink pads, glitter, etc. Hee.)
Nice "oy!"
Next thing you know you'll be bringing in the "vey."
🙂
Today I got two of my children's clothes sorted through (closets and dressers). I was able to hand down three totes and a big bag to friends that are always happy for hand-me-downs. Feels. So. Good. to have that done and out of the house.
BTW, you're going to love it when the kids can cook. Not only is it super nice when they live with you, but the phone calls I get from my daughter at college telling me, "thank you so much for teaching me how to bake & cook"...that makes my day.
Yes! It feels awesome to be rid of stuff you don't need AND to help someone else in the process. It's a win-win.
And yup, I know I'm gonna be glad I invested the time in teaching them how to be comfy in the kitchen. So many kids leave home with no kitchen skills, it seems, and that sets them up for a lot of takeout spending at a time in their lives when they usually don't have extra money.
We started have kitchenduty 1 evening a week last September. My 12 y.o. really likes it. He has several recipes he can make on his own now (lasagna, quiche) and they are quite good. His 14 y.o. brother is less enthousiastic, partly because he has more homework, partly because he is more into junkfood, but he too learnt a lot. Our 10 y.o. does help cooking and baking, she even suggested to make nettle-soup together. Ans yes, after a year it really gives me spare time the evenings the oldest 2 cook. They have to cook different meals, and rather healthy, although they may choose a less healthy meal every now and then. And of course they have made some favourite recipes several times over the year. Hope it will be like that for you as well.
Excellent! I hope things go as well for my kids.