"The Litany of Everyday Life"

While flowers I love dearly, I do not love reading or cleaning. I'll do both simply because I love having done it- both the sense of accomplishment and the end result. Last week I was sweeping aagggaaaiiin and noticed that the piles I sweep up on a regular basis really are just enormous. I stopped to take a pic:

No. Our dog is not a lab or a golden. That is pure muck. And we had the ducts cleaned two months ago. And this was from one room. After two days of not being swept. Two.

This got me thinking. I hate the repetition and tediousness of housework. I wonder if there are any good books out there that will teach me how to do it efficiently and effectively (yes, those are the kinds of words that come to my mind on a regular basis. odd, I know)?

Well I found this book called "Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House." One of the reviews says "Home Comforts is to the house what Joy of Cooking is to food." I was instantly interested and yet intimidated at the same time. In the "customers who viewed this item bought..." section, I saw this book called "Keeping House: The Litany of Everyday Life." While the efficient and effectiveness will come from the former, I've begun reading the later and it is very good for my heart.

A few quotes to leave you with:

"Of course housework is about making a home, but a Christian home, properly understood, is never just for one's own family. A Christian home overflows its boundaries; it is an outpost of the kingdom of God, where the hungry are fed and the naked are clothes and there is room enough for everyone."

"Housework is repetitive, as well. You cannot pick up a room once and be done with it forever. Every time you cook a meal, it disappears shortly thereafter; a few hours later everyone is hungry again. Clothes laundered today will be in the hamper tomorrow... But repetition, in itself, is not equivalent to oppresive futility. The sun comes up every morning... Housework is akin to these natural and human rhythms of the day, the week, the year... As we engage with the litany of everyday life, we engage with life itself."

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spring... slowly but surely... is approaching

The best part about the spring? I love so much of it, the 50 degree weather, the thunderstorms that scare the daylights out of the hubster, the rainboots I wish I had yellow polka dot ones, but I am a realist therefore I wear black, but the best best best part is the FLOWERS! I love flowers. I don't know when my love for flowers started, but let me just tell you it's been a long time.

I remember when I was sick one early spring as a child and my mom brought my sister and I each a small hyacinth plant to put beside our beds. If you know much about hyacinths you know they smell strongly. She did not appreciate the smell, so I got both of the plants all to myself and I adored the overwhelming scent. They smell more beautiful than they look, but they look like this.

To this day I love love love flowers. 

My favorite? Oh it depends on the day, but

daisies

poppies

peonies, oh my sweet peonies

 and tulips

 

are way up there.

 Last year I tried to grow a garden in our wonderful new house. I planted two shasta daisies, a rose bush, and 3 other smaller things I can't remember. Well the "three smaller things" quickly turned to dried up tumbleweeds and rolled down the hill and into the distance. The daisies withered (my mother says this is normal their first year) and the rose bush... well I haven't killed it yet. The point of this story is that I do NOT have the green thumb that I desperately wish I had! This is a very sad thing. In the late fall, my roomie and I planted 35- count 'em- 35 tulip bulbs and are waiting patiently for them to sprout through the frozen ground as my faithful daffodils have done. No I did not plant them, they came with the house so I haven't had a chance to accidently kill them yet. But the day they do, I will rejoice, and then I will spend more money on more flowers, Because there are few things that make my heart sing like flowers. That and chocolate*.

So tell me friends. What is your favorite flower? Do you garden? What are your tricks to not destroying your little lovelies? I'd love to know!

*Side note: Speaking of chocolate, I MADE IT! 5 whole days with no sweets of any kind. Not so much as a dipper of nutella on a pretzel. I'm proud of myself. But here comes the sad part. As I was leaving work today- it's officially the weekened now- I dug into a small piece of chocolate. It was wonderful. For about 5 minutes.  Then my stomach threw a fit. Not sure if it was angry that the chocolate was back or punishing me for depriving myself of it so long. Regardless, I'll have more dessert tomorrow. Because it's Saturday. And because I love sweets. :-)

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design challenged

A thought came to a head for me tonight. Isn't that phrase gross? It makes you think of a pimple doesn't it? Yes, it does. That was intentional cause I think this thought is gross. Tonight I was at a KU alumni networking thing hanging out with random people since I don't currently have a roommate. Don't ask how it came up, but the question was asked of me and the other girl at the table.

"How much do you spend on a formal dress?" 

Girl- A grand. 

Me- WHAT?!

While I maintain that is seriously outrageous, it gives you context for this conversation about style.

I'm the one that wears clothes with the tags still on them on accident, wears heels with the metal poking out the bottom, has blue dishes and curtains even though I don't like the color blue- it is just the "classic" option. Well as of late, I'm like Whatever "classic" style! I live for color!.. And function. I also live for function. For instance, I don't love the style of our couch (a little modern for my taste), but I required a couch with a firm back cause I really can't stand couches where you don't sit, you hunch, and and your spinal cord starts to melt together and the kink in your neck is pretty much permanent because it is trying to offset the pain that you're causing to the rest of your back and you spend the rest of the time on the couch trying to position your legs in such a way as to support the pain... enough on my hatred for "comfy" couches. This is about design!

I laughed with a wonderful, design-talented friend of mine tonight about the fact that we moved in, painted two rooms, hung curtains and a towel rack, and called the place "home." But lately I've been interested in home design. I want to buy all new curtains and pillows, get rugs for every room, and paint everything. I won't, don't worry, but I want to. But the thing is that even if I did it would just be another hodge-podge-mish-mash of style. I like things about each of these pictures, but would have no ideas where to start on our own house.

This guy needs a vase of cosmos on the counter

The wallpaper is terrible, and that vase looks dumb on that small table, but still.

So cozy and inviting. I love pine wood. Wait, is that what this is?

Carpet is terrible, but the rest I love.

This one really screams "I want to play boardgames with that girl!"

In the midst of this research I've decided that there are two things that can make any and every room automatically beautiful: light and flowers! For now, I'll stick with these two God given beauties to spiff up our house.

So the questions to you, my dear and wise friends, are: 
What is your favorite room in your house and why? 

And what is my design style?
Please. I'm dying to know.

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the beginning of the end.

My last few posts have seemed kinda sad, but this one isn't sad. Well, mostly not sad anyway. This is good news! It's the beginning of the end of my sugar addictionl.

Effective today, I have given up desserts Monday through Friday for the next four weeks. If you're reading this you know me therefore you know that this is like saying I'm going to try to not sleep for five days straight, four weeks in a row. It seems that impossible. But it's not!

And four white mice will never be four white horses, such foll-de-rall
and fidddle-dee-dee of course is
Impossible!
But the world is full of zanies and fools who don't believe in
sensible rules, and won't believe what sensible
people say,and because these daft and dewey-eyed dopes keep
building up impossible hopes, impossible things are happening
everyday! 

Point of this story? I'm the daft and dewey-eyed one. The impossible will come true!
In the meantime, I will keep lemonade mix at my desk at work to quell my cravings and gum in my purse. (See the previous post on diet and exercise.)


And I will survive... I will survive... hey hey!

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dooms day

Jeans shopping day= dooms day.

  

I mean really! I expect the perfect pair of jeans to make my legs look longer, waist smaller, bum bigger, thighs fitter (yes, I did  just make up that word), and whole body just better and fit within my price range. That is a seriously tall task for a piece of blue denim. Which is why after trying on jeans I always leave this fantastically enormous pile in my wake. 

I wish I knew exactly which jeans would satisfy these criteria... criterion? I dont remember which is plural. I think it's criteria... so that I could just spare my time and the time of the poor saleswomen trying to help me.

Days 1 and 2 of jeans shopping= fail. Maybe the third try is the charm :-)

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Diet and Execise basics

Recently I've decided I'm on a mission to approach (actually attain is unrealistic) the weight and size I was at our wedding about a year and a half ago. My approach is as follows (I think in outlines so bear with me):

• Diet
• Do not bake. I repeat do not bake. I may have to purge my pantry of all sugar and flour to ensure this doesn't happen.
• Remove all spare candy bars from your purse, laptop bag, desk drawer, nightstand, etc. Replace with gum. Sugar addiction is very similar to a nicotine addiction you know.
• Be realistic. Desserts are totally allowed on the weekends :-)
• Exercise
• Do not be afraid of the treadmill. You have nothing to fear but fear itself. Except for that one time my mom fell on treadmill and herniated a disc in her neck and couldn't move her arm for approximately 4 months before she finally got a massive and i mean massive shot in her neck to take down the swelling. Other than that, there's really nothing to fear.
• Do not forget your iPod. Nothing kills a good workout momentum more than having to hear the guy across the gym grunting from lifting weights that are just stupid. And nothing gets you moving better than a good showtunes playlist. I need a little more than a lot of diva when I'm working out.
• Do more squats. Your jeans will fit better. Yours that is. Not mine. Mine is a lost cause.

Wish me luck.

PS- Today's lipstick is "a different grape" and it doesn't look very good. Still rockin it in an empty house though. The pupster likes it though. And he's seriously cute so I'll take his advice.

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Bad day

I'ts never good when you find yourself sobbing over a call to your credit card company.
Mean things people have said to me today:


"Do you know how much saturated fat is in that?"
"No and I don't really care."
"Clearly" *acts like he's shoving massive amounts of food in his mouth*- Manager

After I called and he didn't answer... the IT guy sends me an email.
"WTF do you want?"

"Are you just telling me that you have a problem or are you asking for my help? Cause if you're just telling me about your problems, I can't help you." - Gap call center



This is what you call a bad day.

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Too much time on my hands

I love that song. I've loved it since I began singing along to Styx in the car with my parents when I was young. *You'll learn quickly that several of the loves in my life have to do with music.* However, I sing it mindlessly so I have no idea whether or not I should be ashamed of singing those lyrics time and time again.

So what do you do when you have too much time on your hands? During the last few winters I've experienced this and am beginning to notice patterns:

I DO:

• Sing loud enough for the neighbors to hear.
• Dance. Even in front of open windows. 
• Bake. A lot. You'll learn that quickly.
• Sometimes if I'm feeling really special I'll put on lipstick. Tonight I'm wearing "sugared maple".
• Watch crap TV like What Not to Wear, Glee, and Friends. Crap is a strong word, but I'd never watch TV if I had other things to do.
• Cuddle with my pupster
• Miss my hubby.

I do NOT:

• Clean. Unless absolutely necessary.
• Do crafts (I've done some scrapbooking in my life and I want to learn to sew, but generally speaking, I'm not crafty. I wish I were...)
• Make myself dinner. I eat whatever I have. Even if that means its pretzels, Nutella, hummus, carrots, and a cupcake for dinner. Make that two cupcakes...
• Call people to catch up. Why? Because it never occurs to me. And that is selfish and grosses me out. 
• Read books. Unless absolutely necessary. Or unless its HP :-)

 New development on how to spend this time:

• Reading blogs. Please read about the Pioneer Woman and the Thrifty Decor Chick. They are wonderful and make me want to be their best friend. Who am I kidding, I want to be everyone's best friend. Which reminds me of a Friends episode I watched last night. ha. Season 8. Episode 20. Monica. ha.

Love you all. I'm off to do laundry. Add that to my list of things I do do.
Haha. One time I said that around my 22 year old cousin and she burst out laughing. Real mature. But still funny that she laughed so hard. :-)

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Warning

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.- Luke 6:45

Consider this a backdrop for the words and thoughts here- they are flowing- for better or worse- from my heart.

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