Quick takes: Edition 3

I have a random variety of things I've been meaning to post about, and a very limited amount of time (it's already way past my bedtime!)  Linking up to Jen for Quick Takes - the perfect blogging solution for a time like this!  I'm going to try to stick to the "quick," which might be a first for a wordy gal like me :)

1) We decided to start a tradition of taking Mother's/Father's Day pictures with Mom/Dad and kids.  I'm particularly fond of this one from last weekend

2) Speaking of last weekend, Saturday was a fantastic day.  I love when days filled with ordinary things turn out to be extraordinary - for no other reason than enjoying said simple activities together.  We visited a local Greek church for their festival for lunch, headed to an Amish farm to get all the plants for our garden, stopped by to visit two sets of friends (and Anna met a 2-day old baby goat!), went to a carseat safety check, and generally enjoyed being together.

{Public service announcement based on Saturday's experience: get your kids' carseats checked - there are things we literally could not have known from our car & carseat manuals that we learned and I'm so glad that we did!}

3) I love (love love love) how excited Justin gets about our vegetable garden.  He (sort of) shares my enthusiasm for (completed) home renovations, but the garden is one of those things for which we have mutual and unbridled excitement, and that makes it fun.

I'm sure he'd want me to clarify that he's watering the USEFUL plants (read, edible).  The flowers are mine.

4) I'm kinda famous!  Not really, but the consignment store where I bought the table for my mini ironing board makeover featured it on their blog.  Also, they gave me $5 in store credit for submitting my photos - and since I paid $5 for the table, it basically means my project was free :)  Check it out:

http://mimisatticithaca.com/2013/05/17/before-and-after-10/

5) I had a big "ah ha" moment recently about my decorating style.  I think I was trying too hard to make things perfect, and not embracing the fact that my style is a bit more whimsical/cottage/vintage than I had cared to admit.  I'll have to write a longer post explaining a little better what I mean, and (I hope) that realizing and implementing this new style will help me achieve the "homey-ness" that I crave.

6) We hosted our first yard sale a few weekends ago, and plan to put our remaining items out this weekend. It turned out to be a fun chance to soak up the sunshine, talk to neighbors and passerbys, and - oh yeah - have people hand you cash for things that were taking up space in the basement.  Win - win - win!  We convinced some friends to bring their extra stuff tomorrow and hang out with us tomorrow, too, so there's another win :)

7) One non-win to the whole yard sale thing - it will be an earlier morning than I'm accustomed to, and since it's already late, I'll see you next time!  xoxo until then, my friends!

I'm back...without any pressing problems!

Guys.  It's been a long time since I posted.

This was supposed to be the opening to some Quick Takes on Friday...but you can see how far I got!  After I've neglected the blog for a few days weeks, I always feel like I need to have something spectacular to make it worth your wait, which - of course - makes me procrastinate even longer since nothin' on this old blog is really in the "spectacular" category!  (Well, except maybe Anna ;) but I'm biased!)  So today I finally decided something is better than nothing....

A little "renovation" project from a find from a local consignment shop:

Here's what I started with - a $5 (but free to me, because I had store credit from consigning some things!) seen-better-days TV tray table.

And, today, my solution to my annoyance at my large, in-the-way, screechy ironing board that I usually set up to sew.  (Credit for the idea to this project from The Crafty Cupboard on Pinterest).

It took less than an hour, and I used some extra batting & cotton fabric I had and pulled them tight and stapled them to the underside of the table.  Voila!  A much less annoying ironing solution.  It's too small (and a tiny bit wobbly) to do significant ironing, but since I typically just need to press some seams while sewing, it works perfectly.  Or - I imagine it will work perfectly.  Headed upstairs to try it out now!

Be My Guest

It's been more than a year since I watched it, but I have a vivid recollection of the opening scenes of Season 1 of Downton Abbey.  I couldn't find that particular video online, but here's the intro clip, which has some of what I'm remembering (but is noticeably lacking some of the other more memorable snippets (for example, ironing the creases out of the morning's newspaper)).  The house is abuzz with the staff lighting fires, dusting, and hundreds of other tasks - including, yes, ironing those newspapers - so that the wealthy family who lives there doesn't have to experience any inconvenience from an uncomfortable or imperfect home.

If we're getting company, they could pretty much film that sequence here.  Now, granted, we don't get the newspaper, and even if we did, I wouldn't iron it.  And it's an obvious exaggeration to pretend that my home is ever as well-ordered or cleaned or proper as an English manor with a staff of 15.  But, man, the last hour before someone arrives for dinner is my most productive hour in a month.

I mention all of this because we had company for dinner last night.

You'd better believe that once my oven was full of food, I was running around the house, putting away the drying rack, picking up Anna's toys, putting the shoes away in the shoe rack instead of the pile by the door where they usually congregate, etc, etc.

Justin, having been broken of his habit of announcing "wow, the house looks nice!" in the presence of guests, agreed with our guests' compliments with an emphatic, "Yeah, I always like when we have company because she makes it EXTRA special."  

And this morning, when I walked into the laundry room, I was literally stopped in my tracks by how nice it looked.  Keep in mind, this wasn't the result of an extensive cleaning (there's still plenty of dust on the floor, but remember I have amazing hide-it-all tiles?), just a compilation of little tasks - I put away the drying rack, carried a basket of clean laundry upstairs, moved 2 bottles of stain spray to their designated shelf, and picked up an errant hair tie that had made it to the floor.  I read once that the secret to a house that looks clean and organized is to have all of the flat surfaces free of clutter.  Clearing off the top of the dryer certainly had that effect yesterday.

Seeing just how much this little effort paid off made me crave it all the time.  I've come up with a few options for reaching such success:

1) Invite more company.  This was my approach when I was working & we were renovating.  I was so busy then (and we just kept making drywall dust anyway) that having company over was often literally the only time I actually cleaned.  Thankfully we had an active enough social schedule that it didn't become a total pig sty.

2) Pretend company is coming.  I operate each morning under a bit of fear of the threat (imagined or real) of an unanticipated guest (or delivery person) ringing the doorbell before I've changed out of my pajamas.  This was spurred even more by a recent answering-the-door-in-pajamas incident at 7:45 AM (a time which I have yet to determine if socially acceptable - or not - for me to be dressed in such a way).  When it comes to keeping the house picked up, as much as I like to tell myself that anyone could drop by at any moment, the rate of actualization on this one is low enough that it's like the boy that cried wolf.

3) Reassess the value of the residents vs. guests.  I guess you can tell that the first two options were a bit tongue-in-cheek, and this is my real "take home" message of this post.  As I was thinking about how much I appreciated the "company ready" house, I first thought of how I should value Justin in the same way that I value guests.  He's out at work each day, and certainly he deserves a comfortable home environment with as few inconveniences as possible, but yet most days I don't take that little bit of extra time to make things as nice for him as I would for guests.  As I thought more, I realized that Anna and I also deserve this environment.  We all try to put our best foot forward for guests - and I think that this is rightfully so, as we ought to share the best of what we have with others - but we can forget, it seems, that we - the residents of the home - also deserve some special treatment.

This is, of course, a balance.  You could work so hard at keeping the house perfect that you could never enjoy its perfection.  More than once, I've said that houses aren't meant to be museums, but places where living people interact.  There's bound to be some books on the chair where Justin was reading to Anna, or some dirt by the door because we've been out gardening; a basket of laundry that's been brought in from the line and needs to go upstairs, or a stack of mail that's yet to be read (and, even in my company-ready house there will be dust on the floor, burnt food at the bottom of the oven (why have I yet to learn that baking dishes have a maximum capacity?), and most likely some dishes in the sink).

The family should be able to kick back and relax in their home, and there are bound to be formalities with guests that are not kept in an intimate family setting.  However, the guests aren't the only ones who deserve nice touches.  A priest once told me that we should be our most comfortable, truest selves with our spouses - but that this of course does not allow for us to slide into such comfort that we fail to give them the kindness we afford to strangers outside our home.  I think the same could go for the way that we keep our homes.  Why is it that we wouldn't think of having guests step over a laundry basket, but we'll step over the same basket ourselves 10 times before finally taking it upstairs?  Why do we pull out the nice dishes & table cloths for guests, but sometimes just push aside a pile of papers to eat with our family?

Our guests deserve our best, but we do, too.  The little extra effort each day makes "home" that much more of our sanctuary from the world.  

NOTE: Apologies to my dear, local friends for whom I no longer roll out the red carpet.  Let's just say it's a compliment that you're like family to me ;)

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On a (mostly) unrelated note, from time to time, I'll send my mom text pictures of projects I've done or other things around the house.  She always gets excited and thinks that the text message sound on her phone must be a picture of her beloved grand-daughter.  Naturally, something boring like my table setting is a disappointment when you're expecting to see Anna's sweet face.  So I've started including "(V)Anna White" in the pictures when I can, showcasing whatever it is I'm trying to show; or she'll text back jokingly "Where's V Anna?"  In that sense, here's V Anna with the quilt that I finished!  It was a self-imposed challenge to use only materials that I already owned (rather than yet another trip to Jo-Anns!), and given the whimsy of the pattern, I'm calling it my "Happiness is Free" quilt :)

Wiser next week

Perhaps I'll have some wise words for next Wednesday...for tonight, I'm finishing up my project :)

Finally

Thanks for the kind messages in regards to yesterday's post!  I almost didn't hit "publish" on it - while the sentiment about finally living life for the first time is certainly true, it felt a little weird or braggy.  It also doesn't really fit into my whole "making a home" theme here on the blog.  I just couldn't look at that picture without feeling this profound sense of having arrived - of being in the life I'm meant to be (that's vocation for you, huh!?) - and I'm thankful for the gift not only of having arrived in this place in life, but also for the acute recognition of being here.

So anyway, speaking of having finally arrived somewhere, let's talk procrastination.  I've been hinting for weeks now that I'm finally going to show you some completed projects.  In fact, I had originally intended to show the first project on April 1st, with a list of the other projects I wanted to complete in April.  I'm only 20+ days behind schedule :)

When some good friends moved recently, it made me think about the inevitability of moving ourselves.  Given the weight I put in our home in my life, this definitely made me stop and think.  It also lit a fire under me, as I realized I didn't want to be in the position of finishing projects only so that the house would look good for potential buyers.

So, to quote Sherry from Young House Love (another favorite blog), I said to myself, "Dude, get on that already!"

I showed you a few of the other projects that I finally finished (painting the wreath on the back door, spray painting the laundry room chair)

I finally finished the curtains for the upstairs bathroom.  I had purchased a white sheer panel....oh, 18 months ago?....and needed to hem it to fit the window.  I hung the curtain rod way back then, and it's been looking sufficiently bland and awkward for 18 months.  With the panel, I also cut it in half so that there would be two panels that could open in the middle.  This sewing took me literally less than an hour (and that included figuring out how to do a new stitch type on my new serger).  Why I put this off an hour's worth (!) of work for 18 months (!) is not clear. 

It's also not clear why we have this situation going on:

About a month after Anna was born, we realized that having the light switch behind the door was a very annoying arrangement, so my talented husband moved it to the other side of the door.  The old junction box needs a plain face plate over it.  This "renovation" will take approximately 2 and a half minutes (I think we have one in the basement).  But I haven't done it for 6 months.

I was going to include a list of things I want to complete (compiled from the many handwritten lists scattered in various notebooks, backs of envelopes, and my Pinterest boards).  However, I'm going to stop here for the evening.  It's already later than the time by which I had hoped to be sewing.  And, given that this is a post about procrastination, I think I'd rather get started!  You can check back for completed projects - I'm sure that's more fun than a list, anyway!

This is real life

I may have written about this before, or at least shared it personally with some people who are reading - but it's worth saying again.

Have you ever noticed that in school, the reason you're given for most things is "to prepare for X?"  I remember hearing in elementary school that I had to do well to be prepared for junior high; needed to work hard in junior high so that high school wasn't overwhelming; required to be studious in high school to be accepted to and survive at a good college; needed solid college performance so that you could get a good job; needed a good job....so that what?  I mean, obviously, there's a lot to be said for a satisfying career, and for financial stability.  But I do think our culture has set us up a bit for a collective "is this all there is" because we start in Kindergarten to race towards a perpetual rat race.

I think I was so caught up in that culture of preparation that I was too busy to stop and enjoy my life.  Granted, I had good times and great friends in high school and college.  But, if I go back and read letters that family members sent to me, they often have the tone of "hang in there" - implying that there were a lot of frustrations I was communicating (but thankfully don't completely remember).  I was often too busy preparing to be successfully happy to actually just be happy.  Even when I was working, it felt like I was still just waiting for something else to happen.

When I saw this picture, taken today, I thought about all of this, and realized that I think all the preparation has paid off.  I finally feel like I'm living the life I prepared for all those years.  Ironically, I'm professionally utilizing very little of the academics to which I was a slave for 16 years (they didn't teach parenting in school!), but I think the lessons that I learned beyond the rote subjects are serving me well.  I feel comfortable in my own skin, probably for the first time in my life.  Instead of defining myself by what I'm getting ready for, I'm just me. 

This is probably one of the posts I'll read later and cringe, for my apparent arrogance and the portrayal of a perfect life.  It's not a perfect life - after all, it's life.  But, it's my real life, and for that I am so very grateful.  

Wisdom Wednesday: Mama knows best

Well, hello there!  I didn't quite intend for such a long silence here on the blog.  I sat down (finally) to post some pictures on some of the projects that I have (finally) done (sense a procrastination theme here?) but then I realized that it's Wednesday and time for my latest installment of "Wisdom Wednesday."

I don't have an officially quoted quote this week, just something that struck me while talking on the phone this week to my mom.  Moms always know best, and I think mine is particularly suited to offer wisdom about making a house a home.  (She's been described - both by me, and by others, independently - as a combination Energizer Bunny-Martha Stewart, or a Martha Stewart-Mother Teresa mix.)

As we were chatting the other day, we started talking about some renovations my parents are planning to do soon, and she was sharing that she really wants to chose elements of the room that are warm and welcoming.  "I just want people to walk in and feel like they're getting a hug," she said.  That really struck me as a perfect description of what home is about - both for the people who live there and for visitors.

In this crazy world, full of unexpected tragedy, don't we all need a hug?  I hope that whenever you go home tonight, that's what you feel!