my home.

my home is not tidy, not that I don't try.

I always have dishes in my sink, laundry to be folded, a toilet that needs cleaning, beds to be made and floors to be swept. How does a person get to the point of being organized?

I try to run my errands while Brinley is at school. I try to do housework while the baby is sleeping, but I never catch up, there is always something. I have stacks of papers everywhere from the business. There are toys in just about every room because Brinley wants to play by me. When you live in a small space and the girl can't go outside because it's too cold, it makes it a bit tough to do anything but play with her, bake with her or be an artist with her.

She is a lot of fun, but we all get cabin fever, then she turns into a broken record..."Mom, I'm bored." "Mom, what can I do?" "Mom, Mom, Mom..." It drives me a little nuts.

When you live in a house as small as ours, there is no room for extra "stuff", but how do you get to being organized? Can't it just happen. I don't want to go through all the papers. What do you save, what do you throw away? What do you do with all the art that your kindergartener brings home and cries when they find it in the garbage...you can't keep everything. What about the toys that the girl plays with maybe every six months, but as soon as you put it in the garage sale pile, she asks where it is. And now that we have a new little person in our home, it just makes for more stuff in every room.

So, if you come over to my house anytime soon, don't expect a tidy home, but one that is well lived in.

no school...again.

School is closed again today...I am going nuts.

All but one school district is closed (Julie, I am jealous and I bet Cody is happy to be going back)

Brinley has had LOTS of Cabin Fever and I am not able to play with her outside while Sarah is awake.

My house is a DISASTER and I really could care less right now. I clean a room, then Brinley decides it needs a little something extra. Gotta love it.

Our poor little house is trying to fall apart and the awning above the front porch is a little to heavy with ice.

(can you believe the amount of snow? and this had melted some)

Thank you Dad, Mom and Merv for coming over to shovel our roof and get some of the weight off the awning. I guess a new roof is on order for Spring.

Last night we celebrated the New Year quietly, in the literal sense, my dad went to bed early because he worked today. Our cheers were on the whispered side.

We woke up to huge snowflakes falling. By afternoon, the snow was starting to melt, not that it made too much of a dent in the 2 1/2 feet of snow still on the ground. I am sure there is more in the forecast.

2008 was a really good year to us. We bought our first house in February, bought the CricKet store in August, Brinley started Kindergarten in August, and the best part...our sweet baby Sarah came in November.

Last year I had no goals, I think that after losing Olivia, I just wanted to make it through the year. This year I hope to accomplish the goals I set for myself.

*lose all of the baby weight (although I am thrilled with the outcome, I don't recommend having babies a year apart)

*spend more time with my little family

*more dates with Matt

*cook dinner more often

*eat healthier

*sewing projects, such as quilts and clothing for the girls

*read more books

*read and study the B of M

*organize, organize, organize

*insulate the house

*new roof for the house

*start finishing the basement

* more craft projects with Brinley

*put in a garden

* remember family members birthdays and send cards

* keep up on my blog better

*exercise

* work on scrapbooks

*run bloomsday (its been a few years)

*cut out soda completely

*get Brinley into gymnastics

*get Brinley swim lessons

*spend more time outside

*travel to see some family and friends

I think this is just the start of what things I want to accomplish this year. We'll see how this goes and go from there.

I hope that everyone has an awesome 2009.

little things

First off, I had to post this pic of Sarah.******

And on to other things. It has been COLD here. So cold, that it hurts to breath the air in. We had to put blankets up over our windows (nice, huh.). With the wind chill factor, the temperatures have been below 0 and often times -15 to -20. Today's high is 16 and we finally got the snow we were supposed to get last week. I think this latest storm was bigger than the weather people predicted...that is Spokane weather for you. This is what my front room now looks like. Aren't the makeshift curtains lovely? the blanket on the left was the very first one I ever made. I think I was 15.

Don't mind Brinley (she's playing jump rope with a scarf) or the nest of blankets/couch cushions on the floor. What else should you do when you get to watch movies on a day like this?...

clean the house, actually FOLD the laundry (Barbara, you would be proud) and be on the computer looking through ETSY and the millions of craft blogs that I love to read.