So here it is.........
                   
                            I like instant gratification.

It's true.

I like it in crafts...give me any type of craft that gives you results in minutes and I am all over it, you have to wait for things to set and dry and well...........
Painting....the label says to wait like four torturous hours before the next coat, I mean come on...
Crocheting...I find those nice small projects that are done in an hour or two...I mean, I start making a scarf and  turn it into a doll size one after about 15 minutes.
Etc, Etc.....

 I found this really sweet baby blanket pattern on line that had the look of quilting, but wasn't and was so much faster........
Ha!  Right!   Ok, maybe it is faster, as I have never had the patience to actually do a quilt, but goodness, this thing is taking me hours.  What was I thinking....

 I finally got to see one of my best friends babies today, well finally only because that little guy decided to bake a looonnngggg time.  And I realized once again,  I like instant gratification.  She did an amazing job and waited it out, but goodness, I decided I liked my friends that had the whole induce and get em out quick thing going on..... Had no idea what I was putting everyone through by letting nature take its course.  :)   Don't get me wrong, I prefer it that way, but I think I like it when everyone else around me decides on the microwave method.  Instant Gratification Baby Having.

On a side note, I am so proud of her!!!!!  What a brave, strong woman.  And she sure did make an adorable little guy!!!!!!

So  all my friends, if you could just satisfy my flesh and go with all things IG that would be great....

10,000 Reasons

An endeavor, a quest.  To find what am I truly thankful for.   What am I seeing in my everyday?

What is it that I dwell on through the day.  

What are my reasons for getting up in the morning? 

Duty?

                                                      Obligation?

                                                                                                                          A crying child?

                                                                            A needy husband?

                                                 A cup of coffee?

What motivates me throughout my minutes?  My hours?  My days?  My weeks?  My years?

Why do I live the life I live?

Do I only see the dirty dishes?

The laundry stacked a mile high?

The footprints across my floor?

My whining children?

My unfinished house?

And then when I see and dwell on those things, what is it I project to those around me?

                                                   Defeat?

                                                               Dissatisfaction?

                                                                                         Dislike?

                                                                                                     Bitterness?

                                                                                                                        Regret?

So my endeavor, my quest is to find the 10,000 reasons for my heart to rejoice.

In the dirt, in the mess, in the everyday of my everyday life, so that I may project 

JOY

LOVE

GRATEFULNESS

PEACE
HAPPINESS
FULLNESS
REST
So that I may have a truly bountiful eye.

So my journey begins to find  10,000 reasons for my heart to rejoice.

Perspectives

Disclaimer......this post is about my house and cleaning it....nothing to do with the wonderful
work of raising kids and homeschooling them and being a wife.  That note aside.......

My usual perspective of my daily house cleaning is rather repetitive .....
Get up, make breakfast, clean up breakfast, clean up house, start laundry and
start over.... lunch, clean up lunch, clean up house again, repeat and repeat and repeat.

No matter the amount of time or energy I put into cleaning said house, it never stays that way for more then 5 seconds.
I mean it is depressing!!!!!!!!!!

Whoever said cleaning house while living in it with a family is like eating an oreo while brushing your teeth,  is so spot on.

I savor those few seconds of a mopped floor....
Of dishes all put away and clean counters....
Of an empty laundry basket......
Of a completely cooked meal on the table......
Of a spotless bathroom....
It only last seconds...maybe minutes on the more optimistic side, but gosh, they are wonderful.  


But it gets old never actually tackling the house and getting on top of it.


I mean we live in a mud hole with constant construction = dirty

A husband who does tree work  = dirty

Three dogs = dirty

Four kids = dirty

etc, etc, etc, = dirty

So it just doesn't seem like I get anywhere or achieve anything in my ambition to keep the house clean for at least the day.

But then Tuesday I came down with some nasty, awful stomach virus that left me moaning in various degrees of agony, barely mobilizing from the couch to the bathroom, to the bed in an endless cycle.  So not pleasant!!!!! ( on a side note, it was only like a 24 hour thing.  Praise God!)

I woke up Wednesday morning and sweetness of all blessedness it was gone and I was able to resume my normal clean the house routine...
And you know what....
I was THANKFUL!
I was thankful that I was able to sweep my floor four times in a day
I was thankful that I was able to mop it, regardless of the fact that I had three sets of muddy paws and five sets of muddy shoes and boots walking across it.

I was thankful that I was able to vacuum up all the wood burning chips, and ash and dust.
I was thankful that I was able to fill my dish washer.
I was thankful that I was able to wipe down my toilet.(almost)
I was thankful that I was able to get a good meal on the table.
I was THANKFUL that I was ABLE to be a part of the hum and life of my crazy, chaotic, dirty, rambunctious, wonderful house.

Rabbit Trails

I decided that my days are made up of rabbit trails...........

Get breakfast for the kids.....realize that the fridge is filthy and start cleaning it....go find a rag to clean filthy fridge and realize that I have to put the laundry in the washer...while in the laundry room remember to get hamburger out for supper and find that freezer is in need of some organizing...pull dog food eating baby out of dog food dish...remember why baby is hungry...head back to getting breakfast for now very hungry kids....start to clean up kitchen after breakfast and head to bathroom...on the way notice that I haven't made my bed yet....oh and I should get dressed...and put away clothes from yesterdays laundry...remember I have to switch out loads, gather up rest of dirty laundry and haul to laundry room...trip over toys in the hallway and have kids clean them up...and notice that their room needs cleaned also... get that going....answer a random stream of questions from inquisitive child...remember suddenly that there was a reason I was headed back to the bathroom...threaten with their life nicely send away, suddenly dying if I do not talk to you now, flinging themselves at the bathroom door child...look in mirror and am horrified...fix that....and notice that mirror is dirty, clean mirror and figure that I should clean rest of bathroom...get T.P.'d baby out of the toilet paper rolls and decide that I really need a coffee break and sit at computer to enjoy a moment....pull screaming baby out of harms way...back to lukewarm cup of coffee...notice that there is no real quite moment, so get kids busy doing something outside...put on and tie said little kids shoes, notice that we have no socks...go find them in unfolded laundry piled in living room realize that it is getting cold and should build a fire...pull soot laden baby out of stove ashes...appease impatient  child and send them outside with mismatched socks...go back to cold coffee and remember that I have to get almost late bills in the mail...head outside and notice trash bag, so grab it...notice weeds in flower bed...pull an few and remember unsupervised baby inside...get back and find busy baby in a pile of crushed cereal...clean off baby...put to bed...remind myself I only have four kids, i can do this...check on forgotten three kids outside...send up prayer for tree climbing, trampezing, four wheel riding children...clean up cereal and think that the floor could use a mop after seeing the dirt on baby's knees...mop and turn around to all children coming back inside, over just cleaned and mopped floor to let me know they are hungry for lunch...strangle all mud booted children, send them into mudroom to take off boots...look at clock on stove and notice that stove is still dirty with eggs from breakfast...clean stove and start lunch only to realize that fridge is almost empty and need to make a grocery list...jot down a few things and get attacked by still hungry children......etc...etc...etc...

Get asked by someone what I did for the day.......come up blank :)

Maybe should take some ginkgo biloba  to get brain waves back on track.

I Succumbed

I got hooked........

I fell off the wagon........

I SUCCUMBED..........

                               To Pinning!!!!!!!




You know the one......  that tantalizing little button........ PIN IT

I had heard about it....  "It is so addictive"
                                      " So many ideas"
                                      "So cool"
                                      "You should  really check it out"

I just didn't get it.  What was the point?   Didn't make any since to me.

So I decided to look into this thing.............
                                                                    .
                                                                      .
                                                                         .
                                                                            .
                                                                               .
                                                                               

It's Ground In

As I was picking sugar snaps from the garden a few days ago, I was reminiscing over past garden years with my Hubby.  One word comes to mind for those years and that is HUGE.....

He thinks BIG, he plants BIG.
Growing up we always had a nice size garden, but not over the top.  As a kid I thought it was huge.

We were taught that ever plant counts, and is valuable till it is dead and withered up.  Basically ground in to our being was that you NEVER pulled out a plant that was still producing till it just couldn't squeeze out any more produce.  You tilled and weeded and raked before planting, and then got out the tape measure and string and stakes and painstakingly measured and planted ever row.  Very thorough  and neat and tidy.




Then I married HIM.   Totally different set of rules in the garden.  All about production and speed.
Till, throw the seeds in, in the best and quickest way possible.

WOOOOAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What about picking out all the weed clumps????
What about picking out all the rocks???????
What about raking it out smooth and flat???????
What about the TAPE MEASURE?????????
This man had NO IDEA how to PROPERLY plant a real garden.  At least that is what I thought.
Because it was GROUND IN to my garden planting being.
Ok, so there are obviously  different ways to plant a garden.  He fudged a bit for me, I fudged a lot :)
But moving on.....the garden is now planted.  Oh, and with a lot more seeds then I have ever seen.
So as it grows we are steadily watching the progress.  Then he up and leaves for Basic Training for two weeks.  And the beans come in...........
So for the two weeks that he is gone, I loose my mind, be the hard working, diligent wife and pick every single bean out of that massively, huge bean patch.   Just to give you a picture - first picking - 10 walmart bags FULL - 90 quarts of canned beans.  That was like a summers worth of canning for us growing up  smashed into one picking.  But because it was ground into my garden picking  being  you picked every last bean till it stopped producing.
So that Hubby of mine gets back from training.............. and says..........
"What were you thinking????  We just plant a lot of beans, then pull up the plant after the first or second picking and strip it and then we are done for the summer."
Hold on a second!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did you just say that I have been picking and blicking and canning for two weeks for no reason?!?!
Did you just say that you PULL the plant out of the ground before it withers and dies from over production?!?!?!?
Did you just say that?!?!?!?!??!
Needless to say my ground in gardening has had to change a bit and that Hubby of mine has changed his ideas a bit also.

So this year I finally talked him into going a bit smaller  =
100 pounds of potatoes
2 pounds of corn
40 some tomato plants
and various other veggies
Yes, that is the smaller version.

Fishnets..........For Women Only :)

   I have been pondering over my upcoming and nonnegotiable LABOR.   Going over previous ones and all the differences, such as just normal but fast for the first, not quite so normal, as in delivering in a massive snowstorm, on the side of the road in Jeremiah's work truck for the second, and fairly normal, but in Cali and in a hospital for the third.   Comparing the in and outs  of each.
 As Miah was the first I had in a hospital, there were a few differences.  
One thing in particular stuck out to me and brought back some rather funny and humorous moments.
After having her, and taking a bit to get it all back together, I attempt my first wobbling trip to the bathroom.
And there I find nicely laid out for me a pair of panties.
 Wow, how sweet of them,  and then I hold them up..............what?
These are not your normal run of the day panties, no these are FISHNETS.  You read it, that's right, 'FISHNET'.
 I mean................. REALLY?  
I am already feeling slightly grotesque and jelloish and etc., etc.  and you give me fishnets????????   Come on!!!!!!  Lets rub it in a bit.  My poor hubby is not getting any benefit out of these doosies.
 And then,  lets top it off............right beside these wonderful little things  are what you are supposed to put inside them.    Yep,   the equivalent of at least three large toilet paper rolls.
 I look at my non-sexy first time pair of fishnets, that when held up look like they might fit the newborn I just had and then over at my "toilet paper rolls"  and think... "maybe I did loose a little to much blood and am slightly light headed and not thinking correctly.  Should I page the nurse and see if she is really expecting this to happen? "
Finally getting myself 'put' together,  I proceed to waddle, even worse then BEFORE I had the baby,  considering that I cannot even get my legs two feet to within each other, back to the bed.  
No wonder hospitals insist on wheeling you out in a wheel chair.   They totally know there is no way that you could ever walk out normally. :}