dia de los muertos

My oldest son is an awesome musician and his high school puts on a Halloween show every year called Spooktacular. It has a different theme each year and this one was one of the best I’ve ever seen–Dia de los Meuertos, or Day of the Dead.

The show ran for two days, so he had different make-up each day. I can’t take any credit for the make-up job, but it was awesome. I confess to not really knowing anything about the history of Dia de los Meuertos, but it’s kind of interesting, and I think I prefer it to Halloween, which is not my favorite holiday.

This boy of mine played guitar with the Jazz Band, double-bass with the orchestra and a trash can with the Trash Can Band (which may have been my favorite). He sure didn’t get his musical talent from me, but I am thrilled that he got it from somewhere, so that I can enjoy it.

 

family service hour

sewing corner before

sewing area after

nicely sorted fabrics

I’ve got that fall decluttering bug. It seems to hit me in the fall rather than the spring. I think it’s that fall seems like a new beginning to me–in a way that spring just doesn’t. We have mild winters here in southern California, so the transition to spring is subtle. But the fall! Back to school, sports, theatre–a complete routine change. (I wish there was a complete weather change too, sigh.)

I just don’t have the time and energy to tear apart the house top to bottom for a KonMari style decluttering.Not that it doesn’t need it. Weekends are full of soccer, fencing, band performances, and chores, not to mention a cute little dog that needs some attention However, I have trouble with small steps. I’m a recovering an all-or-nothing kind of girl. Intellectually I know that small steps  can add up to big change, but I’m a bit impatient with it in real life. But small steps are all I’ve got for now. So, I started with some things that were bothering me: the refrigerator, a couple of shelves by my desk, the filing drawer of my desk that I could not squeeze another paper into, and my sewing area (aka dining room).

I tackled these one at a time, over a couple of weekends, and those areas make me smile every time I walk by them. It’s given me the momentum to keep it up, a little every weekend. And it’s adding up to spaces that make me smile instead shake my head in frustration.

This inspiration to create freshly-cleaned, curated environment has led to my next Big Idea. Actually, I have to give credit to the Husband for this one. Each Sunday we are going to start Family Service Hour. A few months ago we got the entire family to pitch in to wash all the windows in the house–something that usually takes a huge amount of time for me to do. As a family, we knocked that project out in about an hour. Clean windows inside and out. It was like a little miracle. Why not apply this to other areas of the house and yard? An hour is not a lot of time to give up, but with five of us, adds up to some serious manpower. It teaches the kids some good deep cleaning skills and an attitude of service (hopefully).

So, first up, the kitchen. Clean out every shelf and cabinet, getting rid of anything we wouldn’t take with us if we were moving. We’re not moving, but it’s a little game I like to play when I declutter. Would I pack this if I had to pay to move it across the country?

I’m going to try to get Family Service Hour going next weekend. I’ll take some pictures and let you know how it goes.

 

 

 

 

the weekend

While I was away in Idaho for my dad’s surprise party, life went on full-speed ahead at home. The Girl (the one with the curly hair above) went to her senior Homecoming dance. She and her friend had a wonderful time getting ready together, and I’m glad that the Husband got some photos of them. I was able to FaceTime her before she went and all manner of cousins, aunts, and great-aunts got the opportunity to weigh in on how to do her hair and supply generous compliments. She was wonderfully good natured about it and we all had a ton of fun.

Boy 1 had a parade and marching band exhibition. He is the one playing the bass drum in the photo above. And Boy 2 had an out of town soccer game. Hubby took care of it all like a champ. I can’t even explain what a relief it was to know that it would all be taken care of while I was away. I hear it was quite the exhausting day!

Meanwhile, I was having a great time reconnecting with extended family and hoping not to give my dad a heart attack when we all yelled “surprise!”.The party came off without a hitch, though I spent a two days diving into a bedroom every time the doorbell rang at my brother’s house, trying not to be spotted by my dad, It was a shame to be in the same town as my dad for two days and not get a chance to visit, but how often do you get the opportunity to give your dad a surprise like that? People came from all over to help celebrate and though I don’t have a picture, I think he appreciated the quilt I made him.

I made it home, but my suitcase didn’t. I’m hoping it will show up soon, because until then I can’t do my hair or makeup. Not to mention there is a necklace in there that I’d really like to see again.

I’m so glad to be home, but full of wonderful memories from the weekend.

 

 

route 66 quilt

My dad’s Route 66 quilt is finally in the books, after its humble beginnings in a trash bag in the back of the closet. I’m happy with the red and white front and actually really pleased with the pieced back. I was able to work in the fish fabric in a more subtle way on the back. I ran a little bit short on fabric, so I to even added in one strip of the camper fabric, but it seems more fun than horrendous now. The awesome part is I used up just about every scrap of fabric I had bought for this quilt.

I think the back was almost as much work as the front, as I just pieced it as I went and kept rearranging fabrics until I was happy. I spent quite the happy morning putting it together. It almost feels like it’s a reversible quilt and I can picture it living in my dad’s trailer, keeping him warm for the many days that he is on the road.

The quilting of it was another story. I just did an all over meander but it was a struggle the entire time. First of all, I don’t have a great set up for quilting a larger quilt. My machine is on the dining room table and has an extension table on it, but it just kept getting hung up on it. And even though I did warm up quilting before starting, checking my tension on the front and back–there are tension issues on the back of the quilt. This disappoints me so much, but I keep telling myself that no one but me would ever notice. It’s all washed and crinkly now, which hides these imperfections even more. But still, I know they are there. An exercise in letting go, I guess. Still, I know that he will love it.

I’m headed out to Idaho tomorrow for his surprise birthday party and I cannot wait to spend time with some extended family members that I haven’t seen in almost 20 years. It is a crazy busy weekend back home and I am so sad that I am going to miss the Girl’s senior Homecoming dance. Of course, we didn’t know that when we scheduled this party. The silver lining to that situation is that she is going to Facetime me when she is ready and lots of aunts and cousins will be able to see her all dressed up in her Homecoming finery. I’ll have photos of that next week.

 

mondays with the girl

I’ve written before about how when my son started playing club soccer out of town, I thought that it was going to be a huge inconvenience, but it has actually turned out to be a blessing of Time. Two whole hours to write, read, sew–whatever I want to do. That blessing has multiplied now that the Girl has started coming with me on these practice days.

It started out in the summer, when she her schedule was a bit more clear and she tagged along to practice with the promise of a Frappacino. That coffeehouse visit proved to be very productive and she started coming along to each practice and working on her college essays and some creative writing. It is wondrous how productive it can be to get out of the house and into a new environment. Now that school has started she is tackling homework along with all the overwhelming college admission work.

We are both painfully aware that a year from now she will be off on her college adventure–so this time is precious. We don’t actually talk much during our afternoons together, rather just enjoy each other’s presence across our laptops. But we are together and that’s enough.

 

 

all of a sudden he’s thirteen

Well, it’s official. My baby is a teenager. We celebrated at home with an early (and I mean early) soccer game, a stop for donuts on the way home, and gifts a little later in the morning. His one request was a unicycle. It frankly was the obvious progression from Rubik’s cubes to juggling to–unicycles of course! And eventually juggling while riding the unicycle and possibility solving a Rubik’s cube simultaneously. It turns out that riding a unicycle is a hard skill to master (who knew?). Let’s just say that there was a bruised tailbone the first day, and I was very relieved that it wasn’t fractured.

This boy of mine is all about soccer, video games (obviously–he’s 13!),and being a great student. He’s got a solid group of friends, for which I am very thankful. Personality-wise, he’s a lot like me–an ESFJ for you Myers-Briggs nerds (like me), so we get along great.

Though I’m sad that this growing up thing is going so fast (please note the name of this blog), I couldn’t be more pleased about how this guy is turning out.

landmark year

This is kind of a landmark year for us. The Girl is a senior. Yep. How did this happen so fast? I know it’s such a cliche, but seriously, I cannot deal with how quickly this has all gone. But instead of lamenting and denying the fact (I’ve tried both to no avail), I’m just trying to soak it all in. This whole year. And I think she is too.

We have developed a new routine on Mondays and Wednesdays–I load up the computer and some books, drop the youngest off at soccer practice and head to a coffee house. She as been coming with me and we share a table, laptops back-to-back, and we Get Stuff Done. She was amazed the first time she came with me at how productive this atmosphere is. She is cranking out her college application essays (sigh), some creative writing, and now, homework. We don’t even have to say much, just hanging out together is enough. In addition to a extremely heavy academic load, she is loving being a part of not just one, but two musical theater classes. I am absolutely looking forward to watching those productions this year.

Boy #1 is in tenth grade, knee-deep in the music program at school: jazz band, orchestra, and marching band. It’s absolutely awesome to watch him dig into music like this. He’s got quite an academic load too, so this transition from summer to school has been especially cruel.

Boy #2 is still digging club soccer in addition to Jazz band and seventh grade. He has an awesome group of friends that we carpool with and I had the honor of driving them the first day of school and forcing them to pose for pictures. Actually, they had to do it twice because the I took the entire first round of First Day of School pictures with no memory card in the camera. So we had a bit of a massive redo.

I am nothing if not a creature of routine, so though the schedule is a bit intense, I thrive it in. Everyone is still finding their feet with this new school year, but I suspect it is going to be a memorable one.

end of summer blues

Summer is barreling to a close and I’m desperately trying to hang on to all the moments. All the big ones and small ones alike. From leisurely mornings, to afternoon outings, to our ten days in Washington. We even snuck in a deep cleaning of the kid’s bedrooms in there—which always feels good.

Every other year we met up with two of my brothers and their families, and my dad and spend a week at a gorgeous lake house in northern Washington. This year we added on a couple of days at the beginning of the trip to play tourist in Seattle. We spent one morning touring the University of Washington, because amazingly, the Girl will be headed to college next fall (gasp). It’s an amazing campus and my little city-girl-at-heart fell in love with both the school and Seattle in general.

That afternoon we spent a wonderful afternoon at the EMP museum. It was crazy fun. Conveniently, the Space Needle is right next store, so we checked that one off as well.

The next day we took off for the lake. Let me tell you, this is my happy place. The location is stunning, and mix that in with a whole lot of extended family that we don’t see enough, and lots of cousin love—well, you get the point.

   

School started last week and at least I can rest in the fact that we squeezed out every last drop of summer that we could.

{this moment}

{this moment} ~ A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Linking up with Soulemama.

playing catch up

Working part-time and writing a book has taken a toll on my homemaking routine. I work a marketing job three days a week and loved having my Tuesdays and Thursdays available to really do the business of running my home. Cleaning, shopping, errands, making and keeping appointments, all that stuff that often falls to us moms. Well, my hat is off to those of you that work full-time. Now that my Tuesdays and Thursdays are full of sewing and writing, things were starting to fall apart a bit.

What I needed were some new routines in place. First up, I switched my grocery shopping day back to the weekend. I sort of hate to do that, since it is so much busier, but I love having it out of the way during the busy week. I’m trying be a bit better about spending some time in the kitchen prepping food for the week. Just this morning, I made chicken stock, chicken noodle soup, hard boiled eggs, almond milk, chai concentrate, and a container of cut-up veggies. I know it will make eating healthy meals and snacks a lot easier.

Two days a week I’ve got a blissful two hours to myself while my youngest son has soccer practice. This team is too far away to drop him off and go home, so I’ve got two hours to fill. I thought it was inconvenient at first, but now I realize that it’s a gift. I’ve fallen into a routine of going for a 30 minute walk on some nice trails at the park, then I sit in the minivan with the laptop and have time to write! It is time that I know that I wouldn’t be taking if I were at home, so it feels special. I’m starting to blog more regularly, I’ve written a few magazine submissions, and edited some work for the book. It is a peaceful time that I look forward to. And to top it all off, the drive gives me an hour twice a week to be able to chat and connect with my son. So, what looked like another to-do item to add to an already busy schedule has actually created a little space. Win-win.