Simple Panache

Fresh and new

I stand at my kitchen counter top steadily measuring just the perfect amount of coffee for the percolater. I bring the measuring cup to my noise and inhale the deep aroma of the coffee. I glance out the window and see the birds jumping from branch to branch, happy they seem to be. Then all of a sudden, something scares them and they all fly with frenzy straight up and out of my sight. I can hear the whir of lawnmowers going in the distance. I decide to fling open all the windows. The wind is going at just the perfect rate to carry a gorgeous fragrant fresh cut breeze all throughout the house.

I walk around the corner to find him standing just outside the front door. His hair still looking like the morning and his gaze is steady in admiration of all the things he has planted. I sat yesterday and watched him gently scoop potting soil from one pot to another, gently lifting the long strings of the ground covers to  flatten out the soil, holding them in his hands oh so gentle, reminding me of how he washed my hair last year-under the moon light in the middle of the summer-gentle and with such dedication, being  mindful as he carefully rinsed the area of hair that met my forehead.

We paint together this afternoon. First primer, then the lovely splash of color. A light banana yellow for my tall barstool chairs at the kitchen counter.

I let my mind wonder and marinate all the blessings we have been given lately. Rob has just been hired on at a local hospital for a full-time position. Our lives can now be a little more "normal" or a little more in harmony.

With each brush stroke of pale yellow paint, I imagine a fresh beginning for every single thing that drove me to the edge of feeling as though I may just teeter over last year. Long days, ending with me all alone with the kids, dinners eaten without him, nights falling asleep without him. I smile at the thought of him being home in the evenings and so happy I wont be alone in my bed at night.

All the new strokes of paint continue to wash over the stools and I feel my heart lighten.

Spring Fever

Rob and I have the bug. Glorious Spring has arrived and oh man. I cant seem to sit still! We left the house this morning at 6:30 (why yes, we HATE to sleep) and ran to finish up the grocery shopping. we dropped all of our goods off which included melons up the wazoo, berries and all the ingredients for making home made hummus. I had a heck of a time trying to find tahini for the hummus!

Then!

We headed over to Kohls since they were having a huge 50% off sale and grabbed a stainless steel percolater. I am getting so tired of funky tasting coffee because of these fancy shmancy plastic coffee makers! I already tried a cup and there is a coffee god! It is WONDERFUL! The nice thing about the stainless steel is no funny odor builds up in it. LOVE IT!

Then!

We headed over to Walmart because ya know, we have to indulge in some sort of self torture. What a madhouse! But we found some pretty flower and a whole ton of stuff that added up to a bagillion dollars. We went home and unloaded again and had some brunch.

Then!

We were off again to Home Depot because we have that damned bug! Color! Must have color! I bought a luuverllly color of yellow for a painting project that will follow up with pictures soon.

Tomorrows agenda?

Painting, planting my LEMON tree! (oh the joy for having this little tree!) steam cleaning carpets and finally preparing my studio!

til next time...

xoxo

Heather

It's funny

How you can have the biggest intentions and plans for everything to go a certain way, and then literally in the blink of an eye, all things can go the complete opposite.

Sunday morning was great! We had a nice big family breakfast, we talked eagerly about our day out. I felt a little queezy after eating so I asked Rob if he would be oh so kind and finish up fhe breakfast dishes. I HAD to lay down.

I actually ended up falling asleep and woke about an hour later running to the bathroom. I had the stomach flu. Oh what fun! You can pretty much use your imagination to determine how the rest of the day went.

I am just feeling back to normal this morning, I even felt bad last night! I am just hoping the boys stay clear of it!

So, our little Easter was spent with mom sick, but I had the most lovely little gestures from Gabe.  I would feel his cool little hand touch my forehead and then I would hear him say, "Mom is hot" and a few minutes later he would return with a cool rag for my forehead with just a little bit more water than I would have liked in it. ;)

I guess I will have to make it all up to them this weekend. 

sunday

I didnt go mad crazy buying all the Easter bunny junk like most of the parents I saw in line at Target last night. I didnt buy one single easter bunny thing. I really think its quite silly and dont care to spend the money on it. Call me an Easter scrooge, I dont mind. Instead Rob and I got up early this morning to plan the day for the boys: a big family breakfast, some thrift store shopping, an afternoon movie and maybe even dinner at Macayos-our favorite Mexican food restaurant. Rob's 39th birthday is Tuesday so we are celebrating a little early.

The weather outside is GORGEOUS! The days are warm and the sky is bright blue and so bright, it hurts your eyes to look at it. In the morning we fling open the windows and let the cool, fresh breeze make its way through the house.  Trees everywhere have brand new buds of green, flowers are in full bloom, grass is bright green again, sprinklers are turned on and tick,tick, ticking. Flip flops with brightly colored toe nails, sun screen and shining sparkly cars on the road, trips to Starbucks for ice cold drinks now instead of hot, planning with anticipation this years vacations, one in July to San Diego and another in September to San Fransicso.

All of this gorgeous Spring weather is making me woozy with anticipation for so many things. New shop ideas for fresh Spring bags will soon be up! I just havent wanted to sit at my sewing machine for very long-so much to do outdoors now!

Happy Easter, happy Sunday and most of all I hope you are also enjoying Spring! :)

This post has no title and damn, is it Friday yet?

This week started off with a bang, literally. My precious AKA my laptop broke, and I do really mean broke like, crack, bang, boom, holy shit!

I went to open the screen and heard this huge crack and then poof! The entire screen starts shifting away from the rest of the body of it and I am standing there looking at it with my mouth wide open and a long and drawn out NOOOOOOO was making a long groaning sound out of my mouth. It all seemed to happen in slow motion. I am just sick about it. My extended warranty is of course! Expired! I guess its time to start shopping around to find something to spend my hard earned money on. Shit.

And! I have nothing for Easter! Nada, zip-nothing. I am a bad, bad mother.

Amtrak or Plane???

Rob and I are planning a small getaway for just the two of us. Where we are going for sure, we havent decided yet. I am leaning towards the east coast and he is preferring northern Cali, preferrably San Fransisco. I would LOVE to go to San Fransisco but we have already been there once, although it was yearssss ago-driving though the beautiful city during out road trip back from Alaska. Yes, I did say we drove back from Alaska and we also drove TO Alaska. Thats another story for another day.

If we chose to go to SF I think I would want to either a) drive our own vehicle there which would save both air fare/train fare or b) fly. However the cost of gas anymore, maybe it would be the same. He wants to take a train. I dont know if I want to spend that much $$ on train fare, since it is alot more than flying.

If we chose to travel east, taking a train would cost the equivalent of oh, a kidney? I mean, if you travel in comfort on the train, and I am not sure if it would even be considered comfort! The beds look pretty small and cramped in quarters. I know, I know its a train, but for the price? Whew! I think I would prefer to fly BUT, BUT then we would miss out on all the gorgeous scenery and little teeny tiny small towns to stare at through the window of the train.

Oh! I dont know what to do. I guess just give it some time and let it marinate. I am leaning towards deciding on doing the train to SF however the east coast, Portland Maine. (Sigh) I would love to go in the fall, maybe around September. Could you imagine the beautiful scenery from the train? Oh my.

In all of this planning, I just had to feast upon this delicious yarn from Etsy. Its called Green Tea.

Its an 100% Mercerized Wool which is the  process used to make wool yarns satiny, smooth and machine washable.Its also merino soft. I bought two skeins of it and plan on making a lovely scarf with possibly a cute hat for my trip. I wont tell you how much it cost, because then you may not like me anymore. ;) 

I just cant get enough of color lately. Hmm, what does this mean? Who knows. Color, art, textiles, different scents. My body is craving all things sensory right now, so I may as well feed the need, right? :)

I have soo many ideas floating around in my head for my Etsy shop and have been writing them in my notebook like a mad woman. I think I may have finally reached the prime urge for my inner creative side. Tapping into it feels so, so good.

Now exuse me while I go rummage through piles and piles of wonderful, colorful fabric.

Happy Sunday

xoxo

Heather

Finishing things up

My fabulous poster arrived and I am in love with it. This will go in the kitchen and I cant wait to head over to IKEA and purchase the frame for it.

I am finishing up some orders today for Etsy. I am surrounded by colors and the wonderful aroma of spring coming in from outside and my candle burning inside.  It couldnt be a more beautiful day, seriously.

I wish the same for you today :)

very early saturday morning

                   

Rob worked last night at the hospital. He called me at 5am and asked if I was hungry?

"Umm, babe, its like 5am and I know you've been up alll night, but you just woke me up and your asking if I am hungry?"

He laughs probably at himself and I chuckle with him. I love him, even though he can be the biggest of all goobers sometimes, but thats what pings at my heart. He can be so much like a little boy at times. Isnt that the sweetest though? When we see our strong & bold husbands in a different light? You can see the little boy deep down in there somewhere. I love it. :)

So! I made breakfast this morning. I hopped up out of bed, washed my face, brushed my teeth, whipped the hair up in a pony tail and off to cook I went!

I made some scrambled eggs and hashbrowns and coffee. Of course the coffee. He surprised me and brought home some bisquits and gravy from whataburger. Oh yum! Sausage gravy that is soooo good, almost better than home made.

We talked over breakfast about his night, my plans for the day with the boys, ect. His yawning indicated it was time for him to take a load off and hit the bed. I went in and fluffed the bed for him and he hit it like a ton of bricks and was out like a light. I kissed his forehead and tucked him in.

I wish everyday was Saturday.

so not Martha

How many of you love Martha Stewart but also hate her, just a little. Maybe alot? I love everything her image represents: classy, sophisticated, clean, prominent, in charge, smart, shall I continue?

However when I watch her show, or read about her life, I often wonder if she ever has days where her home eh, looks like mine does right about now. Piles of laundry needing to be attended to, lunch that came straight out of a box, dishes in the sink from last night, beds unmade, weeds in the garden, shall I continue?

Its hard to work outside of the home and also try and maintain the house, the kids, the dog, the bills, well heck, you know what I mean!

I have really been beating myself up lately about not using my time wisely and my home not looking like "martha" lives here. I try, I really, really try however somedays there I just dont care and say to heck with it all.

The dishes, the weeds, the laundry, the fancy dinner plans can all just wait until I am ready to get to them.

Half a day

I worked half a day today. Went to the doctor for my never ending sinus infection and finally got put on some decent antibiotics. My left ear has been killing me for about a week, and so low and behold I have an ear infection too. Ah, fun. Hoping this Zpac will get things cleared up SOON.

My mail man must LOVE me right about now. Packages filled with LOVELY vintage Pyrex bowls just keep trickling to my door. They are oh my gosh, so beautiful. I am in love, seriously. Is this how addiction starts, because it just feels soooo good opening those boxes! LOL..

I am thinking of taking a writing class at the local community college. I am also thinking of doing some womens studies courses. After I complete all of my pre-reqs for the Nursing program, I have at least a year before I am accepted into the Nursing program, so what the heck. I think I would really enjoy them too. Oh! And maybe I will even have time to throw in an digital photography class as well. ;)

I am off to the farmers market to grab some lovely oranges I passed on the way home. They were HUGE and I am hoping also juicy.

Spring has sprung around here. The sweet smell of orange blossoms while driving though Sun City, flowers springing up bright and beautiful, the sun. Oh that sun. It feels sooo good. Bugs alive and EVERYWHERE. My favorite are the bees, from a distance of course. I love to see them buzz around, oh so diligent to taste every single flower. So comforting to just sit and watch. Makes me sleepy.

I am off now to get some sweet fruit!

x o x o

Heather