1500 Thankful Miles

November 28, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett1 Comment

By the time we rolled into our driveway at way past kids’ bedtime on a school night yesterday, I was a little over being in the car. And a lot stunned by the almost 1500 miles we logged on a circuitous trip for a short vacation, a little family, a big Thanksgiving, and a glimpse of Christmas. It was such an eventful (and yet not so much) trip, that I’ll have to blog about it in little bits.

And for the record, I didn’t miss having cell phone coverage as much as I missed being able to blog. I know I could have written in my journal but that makes my hand cramp and sometimes I’m a whiny baby like that. So if Santa wants to drop a laptop off at my front door this Christmas so I can stay caught up in blogsphere at all times, that would be great.

First leg of our journey was an incredibly long ride all the way up to Shenandoah Valley….

for some horseback riding…

and some ice skating…

some really good gelato in Charlottesville…

and a fun playground. Sure we drove almost 700 miles for a playground.

If you had this face grinning at you all the time, wouldn’t you give in?

Tomorrow I’ll bring you route two of our journey and some tips on how to have a fabulous gluton-free Thanksgiving. Here’s a little preview.

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · madelynne · project 52

Things I’ve Really Wanted….

November 17, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments

…to blog about but haven’t had/made time.

We’ve been making too much homemade pizza lately. Our beloved (free) pizza cutter broke in half the other night. The fact that is was a Habersham Bank pizza cutter might have been symbolic if you want to be that deep a thinker.

These awsomely handmade/hand-me-down Halloween costumes. We spent no money and used items we found around the house. That’s electrical tape making Madelynne’s Tigger stripes.

Joshua and the girls made these cute turkeys as a Saturday project a couple of weeks ago. He’s way better at projects than I am. I look at that and see frustration. Guess that’s why we’re a good team.

I think this turkey got eaten soon after. Oh, well. The short life of a turkey at Thanksgiving.

My cousin Heather is having a girl soon, so we spent Saturday afternoon making sweet onesies at her baby shower.

Belle went with me and since she is all about scissors right now, this was the perfect activity for her.

She even showed off her ironing skills when we got back home.

Here’s my onesie. We’re into owls lately. It needs buttons for eyes and then it’s done. Maybe no Kim Reed, but endearing nonetheless.

These two have been big buddies lately. I suspect that means I’m in for it .

Oh, and guess what? We’re having a boy. What do you do with boys? Do they like pizza and Pooh Bear and candy turkeys and baby showers? Maybe all but the last.

motherhood

Who is perfect, really?

November 8, 2011 Lindsey P. Brackett3 Comments

I’ve been blog skimming and deep reading killing a bit of time this morning before Amelia and I head out on errands a day full of errands and activities that pull me away from the piles of laundry waiting patiently on my bed and the casserole dish in the sink and the floor sticky from this morning’s cereal rejection.

Everyone seems to be writing about perfectionism today. And these are people, who, from my vantage point of the other side of the net, seem to be pretty perfect.

Tara makes those wonderful family rules signs but admits she struggles with contentment in a house that doesn’t feel like home. Been there, my friends.

Rachel is super-mom to six kids but writes boldly about how she’s let perfectionist tendencies rob her of those precious moments in which she finds joy. Don’t I know all about that.

And then there’s Ann Voskamp documenting her trip to Ecuador by telling about the beautiful scarf her six-year-old daughter knit for their sponsored child and I know, beyond a doubt, that perfect things don’t matter as long as what’s given is wrapped in love.

But isn’t it hard? We look at pinterest and facebook and bloggers who seem to have it all together. Moms who are handmaking gifts and coordinating elaborately themed parties and using burlap for way more than it was ever intended. But are they perfect? Surely not. Surely no one is.

Perhaps the measure of our perfection is in the eyes of our children. When we stop cleaning to play with them. When I stay on the couch half-asleep instead of in my bed because Annabelle wants to sit in my lap to finish the Friday night movie. When I leave the dishes and the laundry and the sticky floors for one more day so we can go for a walk or to soccer practice or to play with our friends.

I’ve felt so imperfect lately. Did you know my house was actually cleaner before I started staying home? And we certainly had more money so I didn’t have to ration the cheese for pizza night so we’d have enough left for lasagna. But the other day our children’s minister told me that she’s noticed a change in my girls since I started staying home. They just seem….happier.

So maybe I’m not perfect. But my kids are happy.

http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post · monday

Monday Delight

November 7, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett2 Comments

Today I am cracking back open my gratitude journal and writing again. That list that never ends that circles in my head and through my heart but I buried my journal under school papers and doctor appointment cards and recipes in a tiny space on my counter and finally, today, I found it again.

It has taken me so many weeks to feel grateful again. To feel happy. To feel like I don’t have to justify why things happen that we can’t understand, but I am allowed to find happiness. In all the little things. And mostly in all the big.

Certain thoughts are prayers. There are moments when, whatever be the attitude of the body, the soul is on its knees. ~Victor Hugo

Photography courtesy of the talented mbshaw.

You can read about her here and check out our album below.

https://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf

motherhood · perfectly imperfect

Always Justifiying

November 2, 2011September 30, 2015 Lindsey P. Brackett4 Comments

Since I became a stay at home mom, I have developed a habit of feeling I have to justify all these things I do all day long so it makes sense to folks (like my husband) why I need to be home right now.

By the way, Joshua never asks me to justify. He’s so grateful I’m keeping mental breakdowns to a minimum these days that he doesn’t care I’m about to radically rock his world by making a lot more meatless meals. Well, he cares a little bit because he hates beans. That’s why I’m going to ease him into it with this yummy sounding deliciousness with no meat added from one of my favorite blogs.

Potato Lasagna. Shhh…don’t tell him it’s on next week’s menu.

Anyway, I’ve got many things I could be doing right now. None of them earn me any money to contribute to the family finances, but some of them save us money.

Like I’ve been researching our upcoming Fall Family Getaway to the Shenandoah Valley. We figure we won’t be vacationing any this summer, we’ve got vacation points to use or lose, and we can swing by and see Joshua’s brother and his wife for the first time in two years, so we’re going to be away over Thanksgiving. Which is kind of fun. It helps us recharge as a family and gears us up for lots of quality time with the rest of the fam over Christmas. We’re staying at a resort near Charlottesville, so any tips would be great. I really want to know if Williamsburg will be worth the 2+ hour drive with three kids or if we should wait until another trip. When it’s warmer and we have 4 kids. And how about Montpelier and Monticello? I love history and it sounds great to me, but will the kids have fun or will they drive me crazy? Tough call. The loved Biltmore, but it was a really big house with a really fun farmyard.

Oh, that was supposed to be about how research saves us money. It’s because now I know the locations of restaurants I have coupons for and where to find the Walmart so we can cook in the cabin. See, now we’re not being impulsive.

And my potato lasagna blog also has this post about homemade laundry detergent. I bought the ingredients, now I just need to make it. But, I cleaned the kitchen this morning and after cooking all day yesterday and the day before that and the day before that…..I don’t feel like grating soap on my cheese grater today.

Homemade Laundry Soap

Maybe tomorrow I’ll save us money doing that. For today, I think I’ll just fold the already clean laundry and plot how I can make leftovers enticing and work on another article to submit somewhere for publication.

Did I mention I’ve already had lunch at school with the girls, reorganized the pantry, filled an open childcare slot at jazzercise, looked at Christmas card possibilities, and put Amelia down for a (hopefully) long nap since she was up at 5:20?

See the justification? How did I ever manage to do all that and work full-time?