A Hostess at Heart...

...I am not. But I do wish, one day, to acquire the skills and the accessories to be a marvelous hostess.

Here is one tutorial I could SO do in the meantime. Please go and check out this awesome DIY if you have ever served cupcakes or other dainty sweets and wished for a beautiful or unique tiered cake stand to present them on.

I am SO doing this!!

Wishful Wednesday

I always thought cleaning ladies were for people with money and big houses. My perception may be changing. A friend of mine had a lady come to do spring cleaning for her because she is having a baby in June and wanted the house extra clean. That started me thinking that maybe I should do that once every three or four months. Then, when I was talking to someone else about it, she said that her friend HAD to make room for it in the budget on a regular basis and now her marriage is a lot happier. That's the one thing she just really disliked doing and her husband really liked being done, so now they're both happy.

And just today, at breakfast with a lovely group of ladies, one of them mentioned that she has someone come regularly and that it really lets her focus on other things (aka. the kids) and makes her husband happy as well. She said it's the best money she spends in her month and hasn't bought clothes in a while just so she can keep the cleaning lady coming back.

Wow!

It's true, though, that just to keep the house picked up and tidy, not CLEAN is a daunting task and one I rarely accomplish. It seems I'm always juggling schedules. One is up. The other is sleeping. They're both sleeping and I don't want to wake them by doing loud things like putting away dishes or vacuuming. The one that just woke up wants a snack and then wants to play outside. It gets too crazy to stay in the house a second longer, so we go out. It never ends. I also feel like, even though I do play with them and feed them and hold them and bounce them etc. that I never quite give myself to it completely. It's not that I'm consciously thinking about the fact that there are other things to do, but I do think I could enjoy them more if I knew the floors, windows, tubs, toilets and sinks were clean and all I had to do was laundry and picking up after myself and them.

So now I'm seriously wishing for, seriously considering the possibility of... "the cleaning lady," whoever she may be, paying us a visit. Maybe even on a regular basis. It's been a rough month or two with the budget and we're considering buying a bigger car for me to cart the girls around in, so this may continue to be on the back burner and stay a wish for a while.

Any thoughts? do you have a cleaning lady? and if not, how do you make the cleaning happen with small kids?

New Clothes!

I FINALLY got a chance to sew something else! I've had piles and piles of fabric on the guest room bed calling me and then it all got put away at Easter because my parents came to see us. I got it out again a couple of days ago while looking for my craft box with all my bow making supplies in it. I failed to find the box, but the fabric started calling me again.

I decided to make something for myself this time. Since, for the most part, all I have to wear these days are clingy t-shirts of various colors and designs, I've been wishing for something a bit stiffer to hide my left-over baby belly. I can't seem to find anything in stores I like that I'm also willing to pay the $$$ for. I have been wanting to try a pillowcase top or dress for a while and decided to take the hour that was handed to me by a miraculously coordinating schedule and go for it. Here's what I came up with! I think it looks better with a belt, but not this belt. I need to get a natural fiber belt, something similar to the hat...

Favorite Friday

This whole Favorite Friday thing is actually kinda weird for me because I usually don't like the question: "What's your favorite _________?"

I certainly never thought I would have a favorite nail polish. My favorite color has been purple for as long as I can remember, but I've never cared for lavender really. And I definitely never considered it for a nail polish color.

For some strange reason, as of the past couple of months, I just feel so pretty with this particular nail polish color on my fingernails. It's called "Done Out In Deco" by OPI and I can't explain my attraction to it.... but I love it!

I have painted my nails with it no less than three times in the last few weeks, and with about 15 nail polish colors that I like to cycle through, that's saying a lot. Painting my nails has become a new way for me to express myself, feel pretty and relax after the kids have gone to bed. It's somewhat therapeutic. I find that, lately, I'm holding on to anything that I feel makes me an individual... separate from just being "Mommy." It's not that I don't want to be "Mommy," but I am still struggling to find myself within that relatively new label.

Wow, this post turned out to be deeper than I intended. Maybe I need a shrink. Or maybe I should just repaint my nails.

Wishful Wednesday

My wish, as of late, has been for some great family photos. My parents came in town for Easter and my Mom took this gem...

but I wanted more. I have been wanting some photos of us in the downtown area for some time and then a friend of mine who is a photographer posted on Facebook that she would be doing some mini-sessions in the downtown area. The price was reasonable, the date was available for us and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to capture our family as it is now, in the city where we are building it.

Didn't Misty Slay of Fresh Fotography do a marvelous job?! I'll show you more when we get more pics to show. She just gave us a sneek peek while we wait for the files on CD. I am so, so happy I got my wish.

It's About Faith

We watched Ben Stein's "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" last night. We have a subscription to Netflix now and it's allowing us to get films that we otherwise might not bother to see because we're not having to pay 4 or 5 dollars a piece to see them.

If you haven't seen this film. I highly, highly recommend it. I know I'm coming from a belief system that probably allowed me to easily receive what the film was saying, but I was really impressed with Ben Stein's methods and questions. He did not seem biased or close-minded to me and often tried to assume the point of view of the majority, only to find a different truth.

I must say that the opening sequence with footage of the Berlin wall and other interspersed footage throughout of clips ranging from a bully sitting on a young boy, to men slapping one another, to Nazi Germany were a bit overkill if the makers of the film were hoping that those not already persuaded that Intelligent Design is a valid theory would watch and not be offended. In other words, I think that those not in his camp, Ben Stein immediately offended by his satire and metaphors instead of gently bringing everyone together on a journey of discovery.

Some random things that struck me:

There is a point in the film toward the end where a certain evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, reads a section from his book "The God Delusion" describing the Judeo-Christian God as all sorts of awful things like homophobic, murderous and other evil adjectives. He also assures Ben Stein that he believes in no gods whatsoever. If taken to it's end, this belief means that life is merely happenstance and a series of accidents, there is nothing beyond it to live for and therefore, no reason to behave a certain way, deny ourselves whatever we want, or have any regard for any other of the meaningless human lives around us. The conclusion that I reach from this is that there is no point in criticizing the God you do not believe in by calling Him evil. If there is no God, there is no good and there is no evil and no moral standard. So the God you do not believe in can not be evil. Do you see what I see? The belief that there is no God almost implodes upon itself. If you want to believe there is no God for other reasons, then fine, but don't call His character into question. You have nothing by which to judge it if He does not exist.

There was also a fabulous section of the film where they show animations of a typical cell's inner workings. It was like worship just to look at it. Incredible. Phenomenal! Words can't describe the awe which I felt. It's been a long time since I learned about the parts of a cell and it was a good review in why our God is so great. Many scientists have staked their entire belief system on a one in several trillion chance of just the right order of proteins coming together to even make the first one-celled organism. What strong faith they have in their theory!

No one Ben Stein interviewed could tell him empirically the origin of life. (of course) It takes faith to believe what no one was there to see for themselves.

Parents' Beware

I've been concerned, ever since I got pregnant that there wouldn't be any quality shows on for my little one to watch once she got here. I've been so pleased to find that there are still shows other than ones that include disrespectful sponges. We like to watch Super Why, Sid the Science Kid and Dinosaur Train in the mornings, and, generally, I'm very happy with the messages these shows present.

My ears are always tuned in though, in case there should be an episode that teaches my daughter something I don't want her to learn. I want her to learn truth, not just what the world thinks is good and right, but real TRUTH.

Today, the episode of Super Why we saw confirmed that I do, in fact, need to be vigilant. I'll try to make the description short. I just wanted to share my thoughts about what I saw.

If you're not familiar with Super Why, the show format is that one of the four kids who are the main characters always has some sort of issue in the beginning. They don't know what the right thing is to do and they call together the "Super Readers," which are their alter egos, to fly into a book and find the answer to the problem. The "right" book magically floats down from the shelves of thousands and from the moral of the story and some letters they find along the way, they learn what their appropriate action should be in real life.

Today, the issue was that one of the little girls had a basket full of apples and didn't want to share. They entered a book where a man had a goose that laid many, many golden eggs. The village people wanted some of his eggs and he wanted not only to keep them all for himself, but also for the goose to lay more and more and more.

The first thing I noticed was that the "Super Readers" focused on helping the goose lay more and more eggs, instead of addressing the man and his issues with greed and selfishness. The goose got very tired because she was caused to lay all these eggs (which, the "Super Readers" didn't seem to understand was their fault). The story ended with the heros changing the last line of the story to make sure the goose only laid two more eggs and could take a vacation. That was it! What? Why even introduce the story as a problem with the man sharing his eggs and pushing the poor goose for more if all you're going to do is help the poor goose lay more?

The secret letters that pop up along the way give them the ultimate answer to the issue at hand when they get back to their clubhouse. The letters spelled "share" in this case, which was good.... but then the little girl says "well, I guess I do have a lot of apples."

So what this story taught my child is:

Firstly, that the Bible isn't our source for answers... but I don't really have a beef with that. I didn't expect it to teach that. Just something to be aware of.

Secondly, that greed is ok as long as you share some in the end.

Thirdly, that the concerns of others (aka the goose) shouldn't be considered...only the ultimate goal.

Lastly, that sharing is only for those who have much more than they could ever use themselves, which allows greed to continue to have a place while satisfying your conscience by giving a little of the excess.

Parents! Beware! Be vigilant! Be involved! Don't let "safe," cute shows make you comfortable. Sift through the cuteness to see what your child is learning and make sure they know the real truth from you.