Staying Focused: The Notecard

I have had a pretty substantial list to complete before this baby comes in 2 1/2 weeks. House projects and home organization galore. Sewing projects. Maintaining the home. Cooking, baking, freezing meals. Taking the kids places...swimming and bowling and trips. And I have actually managed to accomplish most of my pre-baby goals...and not frantically but steadily and easily. I give thanks for the humble note card.

Every morning I pick about three to five goals I have for that day. I grab a simple 3x5 lined note card and jot them down. I carry that note card around with me and it keeps me focused on "doing the next thing". It might say:

1. Clean a potty and a sink.
2. Bake some muffins.
3. Get laundry put away.
4. Organize a drawer or cupboard.
5. Make two phone calls for needed appointments.

When I steadily keep small, specific, and manageable goals in front of me, it's amazing all that gets done. I am focused and not distracted. If I do get distracted by the computer or something that I see that needs doing, I just come back to the note card and start on the next thing.

I love my note cards! It's not a complicated day timer or bulky notebook. I just keep a stack of them on my desk so I can grab them easily. I also use them to jot down a few chores for each child. And for grocery lists or sewing lists. They are cheap and simple, and they work!

Baking Soda Love

I bought some of these nifty shakers from World Market a while ago. The price was right and I knew I could find some wonderfully practical uses for them.

After reading Clean House, Clean Planet , I was motivated to put some baking soda into this shaker along with about 10 drops of lemon essential oil. Now I have some "Earth Shaker" that I sprinkle in my kitchen sink or on my counter tops for a fresh pick-me-up. Do you know all the amazing uses of baking soda? And it's so cheap! Seriously good stuff.

And did you notice that I used my Brother Craft Label Maker? That thing is addictive!

Simple Summer Embroidery Project

I found this idea a few months ago in Country Living Magazine and fell in love. I am now getting around to doing it and have them almost completed...just need sweet husband to spray paint the hoops red tonight!

So if you have wanted to try YOUR hand at embroidery, this is a simple first project. And if you already love to embroider, then this is a quick and satisfying project with just back-stitching, a scrap of muslin, an 8-inch wooden hoop and some DMC floss #321!

Here is a link to the blog where the magazine got the idea in the first place!

Nesting

That's what I am doing these days. Nesting. You know you are nesting when you even dust out the metal air register in your bathroom!

Deep cleaning my laundry room and my bathrooms. Boy, my house is dirty. Painted Will's room today and primed a vintage changing table. Making lists. Finishing a baby quilt. Decluttering clothes and magazines. Getting ready for the slow, sweet newborn days! 6 weeks!

As I was priming the changing table today, I was doing it on the front porch. I was joined by a new friend. Mama Finch. She has laid her eggs in one of the ferns at the end of our porch and is busy getting ready for their arrival. She was worried at first when I came out there. Flitting and floating about and unsettled. But as time wore on we just watched each other and sat in each other's presence. Two mamas getting ready for their babies. It was sweet.

In the midst of the "nesting", I also want to be present in the moment. Able to notice small things like a mama finch or the new freckles on my 6 year old John's nose or the small bloom on my lavender plant. Nesting can often become manic and driven, but I want to "do the next thing" in calmness and gentleness and trust. Trusting that it's all okay...the list doesn't have to ALL get done...that my relationships with others are more important than the checkmarks on my to-do list.

This takes Jesus. Mama "flesh" can get worried and harried and demanding. All or nothing. Fearful and scattered. I recognize that without the power and love of my Gentle Leading Shepherd that the next six weeks could be filled with such a frantic nature that my husband and children suffer. I will be "tearing down my house with my own hands". And I don't want that.

So pray for me if you think about it. For peace and love. The verse that I have been meditating on lately is a simple one. I Corinthians 16:14 says "do everything in love".

Now THAT is gonna be my nesting goal!

Learning Everywhere

Being on "vacation" for us doesn't mean a "vacation" from learning. Learning is life! Whatever new place we visit gives us an opportunity to explore, to make connections, to discuss ideas, to discover God in a new and beautiful way. To marvel at the glory of Him as revealed in creation! To marvel at the ingenuity and minds of other men and women. Simply, to marvel!

We can model for our children a delight in discovery and a lifestyle of learning that isn't confined to a table at home or workbooks at school. We as mamas need to keep our own curiosity and sense of wonder ALIVE so that our children find joy and a sense of daily anticipation in seeing the Lord and His world in new ways!

While at the beach I spent time collecting many different kinds of shells. I was amazed at the variety and diversity...because at first glance, they all can look the same. I went to Lowell's Bookworm...a small Holden Beach used/new bookstore...and found the most perfect field guide to shells and coastal wildlife in the Carolinas. User-friendly, clear photographs, fascinating, and a wonderfully practical addition for our family's beach book collection. I was able to teach the children the names of the different shells and birds...who knew that the "jingle shells" that I have seen for years were called "mermaid's toenails" by sailors long ago?!


One morning I spread out lots of different kinds of shells in long white platters on the dining room table. We put together homemade shell field guides! As simple as a few pieces of blank paper placed in a cover of cardstock. Sam picked out a favorite shell, sketched it, labeled it, and wrote a few facts about the it on the back side of the paper. He learned the difference in bivalves, gastropods, and what the little animals feed on. Real life hands-on learning!


One evening I was standing out on the front porch overlooking the ocean and I kept noticing a flashing light out over the ocean. I realized that it was blinking in timed intervals and the aha! moment hit me...it was the Oak Island Lighthouse! Time for an impromptu field trip! So we decided to take a morning trip out there to see the lighthouse and learn more. On the day after that, Sam drew a wonderful sketch in his notebook of the lighthouse and we explored the Internet for more information on its structure, history, and even the amount of stairsteps (131!).


On another day I was fortunate enough to read this intriguing post on harvesting sea salt! So one morning my niece and I gathered stockpots of sea water...I filtered it through coffee filters and a flour sack towel and began the boiling. Now I didn't have the beautiful success that Laurel had...after five hours of boiling I had just about a tablespoon of salt and it wasn't pretty at all :) But I believe the value of the process is just as satisfying or even more so as the end product...we must savor and enjoy the learning journey not just the destination! It was a good reminder to me to not put undue focus on my children's (or my own!) educational outcomes, but set my sights on the character-building and learning processes that are developed as we are going.

So wherever we are and whoever we are with, let us be learners. Inquisitive. Question-askers. Answer-seekers. Curious ones. Awe-struck by the magnitude of the Lord and life and people and our planet. It's an exciting and humbling and worshipful way to live!

Beach Living

We just arrived home this afternoon from two weeks of blissful vacation in Holden Beach, North Carolina. We originally were just staying one week, but the beach bug always bites hard, and so we decided to stay another week. I feel rested and refreshed...all that fresh salty air, beach-combing, and hours watching my children romp in the surf.

Beach living is the perfect family vacation...simple, relaxing, beautiful.

I enjoyed getting myself into a simple routine as soon as we arrived. Many people view a vacation as "time off" from house-keeping or a schedule. For me, finding a simple rhythm even while on vacation brings me more rest...I like to keep my living atmosphere serene and uncluttered no matter where I am. My love for domesticity transcends to any living space that I am in... whether my own home or a rented one!

In the mornings I would pull up the lovely coastal cottage-y quilts on all of the beds and open the bedrooms' blinds. And then a quick check to make sure beach towels and swimsuits were ready for the day. A load of laundry would be started...and then a cup of hot coffee enjoyed out on the porch overlooking the ocean. We had nice breakfasts in the mornings...Mike would fix us our standard scrambled eggs and sausage or I would make some baked french toast or a sausage/egg/cheese casserole. I love a hearty breakfast especially when I know we will be spending most of our day outdoors.

The dishwasher would then be unloaded and re-loaded...and fresh kitchen towels and dishcloths would be set out. Everything in the "common living areas" put away nice and neat before the morning ritual of sunscreen application and the gathering together of beach gear (a good book, water bottles, and snacks...and boogie boards and buckets for the kids). And then off to the beach for 3 hours until lunch time! The children played in the waves or took walks or had imaginative sand play. I spent my time shell-seeking and sitting in a beach chair either watching the surf and wildlife, thinking, reflecting or reading (or holding Will...the beach made him extra cuddly and wanting to hug constantly!)

An orderly and fresh beach home would welcome our sandy, hungry bodies. It was so nice to have taken the time (which really wasn't much) to keep the basics running smoothly.

And after dinner at night, I had a small, steady routine. Turn down the children's beds, lay out their pj's for them, close their blinds, turn on bedside lamps, and place new reading material out. Make sure the kitchen is tidy...and all the day's laundry put away. Fluff the couch pillows. Sweep up sand. Turn on living room lamps and pick out the evening entertainment...a book? quilt for the baby? a game with family? a movie?

Finally it would be time for sweet sleep. I sought to keep my sleeping rhythm the same that I enjoy at home...lights out around 10:30 or so...with our bedroom window opened slightly so that the sound of the ocean would lull me to sleep. To keep the same sleep schedule helps the transition from home to vacation to home again feel so much better and I think our bodies and minds appreciate the continuity.

Living at the beach soothes and satisfies. The children play hard and well and long. The adults can actually sit and savor: life and nature and exercise and conversation and books and ideas and a true form of simple living. The daily rhythm lends itself to healing and rest and recovery.

I am now invigorated. I entered our home this afternoon with a clearer perspective and emotional energy. I enjoyed seeing all the growth that has happened while I have been gone with my herbs, my flowers, and my little garden. And then I spent an hour sprucing up my kitchen with some darling vintage finds from a few antique shops I enjoyed in Shallotte, NC. A fresh floral vintage tablecloth was laid across our table for dinner with the center decorated with fresh cuttings from our blooming gardenia bush (placed in five simple, clear, recycled jars!)...the smell is fabulously intoxicating!

And so my domesticity returns from the beach with me.

Just Livin'

I have been wanting to post, but Spring is just so full. It certainly is my most favorite time of the year. When I am not busy do-ing, I am very busy just be-ing.

We have planted herbs and flowers in pots and put some peppers, tomatoes, arugula, and herbs in our square foot garden.



We have celebrated Will's 3rd birthday!


My sister and I took Sam, Will, and her daughter Hannah up to Historic Brattonsville for their Homeschool History series...this day being "Summer is A' Comin'". We had a lot of fun leisurely strolling the grounds...Sam and Hannah planted lima beans, watched draft horses plow, and took a turn at churning butter.



Mike and I drove up to Charlotte for our annual "Prom" with good friends that now live in NC. We meet at a great restaurant every May to dress up, eat well, talk long, and laugh loud. We always happen to be at places where teenagers are celebrating their Prom night so we laughingly call it our "Prom" and our husbands come up with a theme each year based on a country song. So fun!!

the guy pretending to touch my tummy along with the girl at the right end
were total strangers who jumped in our photo!!! Hilarious!

We then celebrated my 36th birthday, our 12th anniversary, and Mother's Day all in one weekend! Shew! I had a wonderful maternity massage and a day alone...I enjoyed a few hours at Barnes and Noble, lunch outside at Tropical Smoothie, and an hour wandering around an antique mall. Mike grilled Mexican Steaks for dinner along with corn on the cob with Cilantro-Lime butter, and of course, key lime pie for dessert :) And now we are getting ready to head out for our family vacation at Holden Beach, NC. to rest, renew, and relax. My most favorite vacation in the world.

On the crafting front, I have enjoyed making a baby blanket for our little boy who is coming the end of July...flannel on one side and cute green bunny cotton on the other side with a touch of embroidery on it, of course :) I also sewed some personalized hankies for my mom and mother-in-law for Mother's Day. For the beach, I bought some Melissa and Doug Doodle Pads for $1 for each child and covered the fronts with colorful cardstock, a beach-y die-cut, and stenciled their name on it. And have also gathered together the materials needed to do some fun beach crafts with them next week in case of rainy afternoons.


Plus we have been wrapping up the end of our school year for each child (Sam and I are really enjoying doing an easy Beyond Five in a Row unit on The Boxcar Children). Field trips, parks, bike rides...anything to get outside in this glorious weather!


Hope you are enjoying your Spring and that it is a good-kind-of-full too :)