Happy Stuff

Yesterday, my mom Martha Stewart'ed my home.
See, I've had this problem. I grew up in the same house for most of my life. I lived there for 20 years, basically, until I got married. In my old home, I knew where things went. They'd gone in the same places for years. My mom will be the first to admit she's total Type A, OCD, clean freak. It's her way of having some sense of control over life. I swear you could walk into our home at any point in time, as long as there weren't any major renovations going on, and it would be spotless.  It's still that way. Growing up, we knew there were expectations of how things needed to be. Don't get me wrong; we still got to be kids. We'd grab our sleeping bags and slide down the stairs on them, all Slip-'n-Slide-like during sleepovers. We'd have pizza and movie nights in the living room. We made messes, but we knew those messes needed to be cleaned eventually. Everything had its place, and it stayed that way. We all had chores, and we did them. Because my mom said so. That's just how it was.

Fast forward to now. I could give you the entire story of how we got to where we are. Actually, I did, but just erased it, because it was going to take over this whole post. But after almost 5 years of marriage, I was at a loss. I didn't know where things needed to go. Where they should go. Where all of this crap that we couldn't throw away, but that didn't have a home, needed to go. If certain random objects should be thrown out/donated/kept. And where in the world to put all of Noah's toys. I needed an objective opinion. I needed my mom.

So yesterday, we spent five hours organizing. Along the way, she'd give me tips, which I promptly wrote down. I made a list of supplies that will make our lives a million times simpler and more organized. She gave Brad a little come-to-Jesus talk about how we can make our little home a "palace", and it's not that hard; we just need to agree on prioritizing what we want to do (like finally paint our kitchen!) to it.

In the meantime, this girl is extremely happy. I feel like I can breathe again.

***

While we were cleaning, Noah found his old high chair. And has been obsessed with it ever since. Yesterday, he fell asleep in it. This morning, he's eating his breakfast in it. It's actually really cute. And helpful.

***

We've been doing lots of crafty, simple type fun lately. Like cardboard box playing. And sidewalk painting. I prefer that over video games and tv any day.

(1 cup corn starch + 1 cup water, pour into muffin tins, then add food coloring)

I would also like to say how happy I am that android finally got instagram. I've been jealous of my iphone friends for a while now. I saw where some of my friends have uploaded like 5000 pictures already. I have a lot of catching up to do...


***

This time next week?
I'll be sitting right here:

via

I can't begin to tell you how excited I am.

I don't normally announce vacations before we actually leave, because that's supposed to be a big internet no-no. But I can't help it. Plus, our neighbors will be watching our house like hawks... with a loaded shotgun... ready for anyone that might try something. Okay, not really. But we do have a cop as a neighbor, so I'm not too concerned.

***

Speaking of our neighbors...

Ever since my bro-in-law came to get their trampoline from our yard, we've been looking to get one for Noah. He loves to bounce and jump, and he had so much fun on theirs. I felt bad that he didn't really have much to play with back there, except for his sand box.

Last week, our neighbor came over and said they were about to put their trampoline on craigslist, but they wanted to offer it to us first. For free.

I thought I might cry. Instead I gave him a hug. And eventually some cupcakes. We just couldn't justify spending the money at the moment, even on one from craigslist. So this was totally unexpected, but such a major blessing.

We have the best neighbors ever. And they've made one little boy very very happy.