quick trip to the farm

We took our southern most winter getaway this weekend to Welcome, Minnesota. It was a wonderful overnight filled with Sarah's homemade milky way cheesecake, Aunt Louie's caramel rolls (grandma's recipe) and Aunt Annie's rhubarb pie. (We were only there for twenty hours!)

Lots of snuggles were given. Ida and Elsie tried to take a nap together. Aunt Louie tried to climb over the back of the bench for lunch. (Which Ivar still is talking about, "Auntie Lou Lou get stuck. Laughing. So funny.") Uncle Jake handed off his latest issue of Machinery Trader to Ivar as well as a few tractor calendars. And Stella had a good rest with Elsie on the floor.

And the ice was amazing. That is gravel under the ice...but you'd never know it. It was as smooth as glass. Should have had ice skates.

January Reflection/ rhythm and routine and the tripod of happiness

My one little word for the year is Reflect. And so far it has been the most fruitful little word I could have ever chosen. My hope and goal is to spend time at the end of each month, reflecting on how we spent our time, how I reacted in certain circumstances, how I want to change in the month ahead.

Intentional Reflection is a powerful thing. It means that in the moment I take the time to think. Why am I so frustrated right now? What is making me feel like this? Why is this a part of my life? What could I change to make this improve?

After getting the root of these questions, I found some helpful insight that helped me make some changes. Here are some concrete reflections I jotted down throughout the month.

+Rhythm and routine turn mayhem into order. And I love order.
I discovered this during a huffy moment in the laundry room. I was at my wits end at the perpetual nature of laundry. Never ever done. Never ever all put away. Never ever ending. So I took some time to think through this one and realized that I could pick a day, just like Ma Ingalls, and do the whole shebang. Wash everything. Put all the clothes away, stack up those empty laundry baskets and kindly inform the rest of the family that I would be happy to do their laundry next Monday, a full seven days from now.

Oh my. What a life changer. No kidding. We're going on our third week and it still makes me giddy to think about. My favorite quote was Rory, "you know, since I know these jeans won't be washed until Monday, I'm going to wear them a few more times." And now we can see why I was in such a tizzy about the laundry. And we can see how sincerely life altering Laundry Day has become.

More on Rhythm and Routine another time. Wait until I tell you about Grocery Night. er...maybe I just did.

+I have a Tripod of Happiness.
If one of the three legs isn't being met, I might fall apart (or tip over as the imagery here would suggest.) My Tripod was discovered by my husband, who tends to simplify my frustrations and emotions for me. The 3 legs: Sleep, Connection and Productivity. If I'm not getting good sleep, like say for the last six months, I can be quite temperamental  If I feel disconnected from friends and life giving relationships I feel sorry for myself and isolated. If I "don't have anything to show for my day!" then it is time to get out the modge podge, write a blog post or sort the junk drawer. Which all seem to fulfill that leg.

+Not watching TV actually does mean you read more books. 
I cannot recommend Hannah Coulter enough. If you have anyone dealing with the loss of a loved one, this novel will help heal, I am convinced. The wisdom and truth written in these pages made me remember the power of a great book. I loved The Long Winter, as I have loved all Little House books at age 31. Keep thumbing through Writing Down the Bones, a favorite I return to again and again.

+When I eat good and healthy foods I feel good and healthy. When I eat crappy foods I feel crappy.
This is a great, elementary learning. I still crave the crappy food. But if I remember this little truth, I can usually convince myself that I can eat something better and will feel better after.

Dear Elsie/ 6 months

Oh Elsie Belle. I cannot get enough of you.

You are six months. What on earth?!! You are rolling over from back to belly, you babble and gab all day long. You popped your first tooth just last week and constantly have something in your mouth whetted by a whole lot of drool. You are happy, you are calm, you like to be held and up off the floor and tonight you took a bottle! Oh Elsie! We are so proud and hopeful! 

Your dad calls you gorgeous. All the time. So now your brother does too. "Hello Gorgeous," Ivar will say in the mornings. He loves standing on your crib looking in at you. And he loves having you join him in his crib to sing songs before his nap. You two look at each other and you touch his head and he yells, "Elsie tickle Ivar!" And he thinks you are so silly, which makes you laugh too.

You have very strong abs and can do a good crunchie if your laying in your bouncer and would rather be upright. You still tip over without pillows, but propped with a barricade of cushions you can hold your own for a bit. You have now gotten used to rice cereal and oatmeal, sweet potatoes, pears and peaches. And wow can you eat. You are messy, but you are turning out to be another great eater. We're so glad.

Elsie, I can't wait to get you outside once springtime has come. This winter has been filled with hibernation, but I am excited to get you out and on a blanket, taking in a Minnesota summer. Until then, we'll just snuggle up and delight in the joy of having a baby to cuddle. 

Love, 

Mama

Jill McDonald

The day Elsie was due, we were walking around a mall, killing time the best we could. While in Pottery Barn Kids I found a book that was so lovely, I bought it. Which is a big deal for me as I am rarely that impulsive. But it was the most adorable art, colorful and happy, a mix of fabric collage and stitching and I loved every page. The artist was a woman named Jill McDonald and the book was called Who's in the Garden, but around here we just call it, "Mama's Favorite Book."

At some point after having Elsie I looked up this artist, and actually emailed her to see if I could hire her to design a new blog header for me. I sent the email with high hopes and then decided to look around her site to get a feel for anything else she had done.

Heh. Hysterical. It was then that I realized she's a big deal. A really big deal. Like contracts with Land of Nod, Pottery Barn Kids and Target. That kind of big deal. I realized I've seen her stuff everywhere.

She was kind enough to reply to my email. Her rate wasn't terrible, but it was out of my price range.  I humbly replied, "Dear Ms. McDonald, I had no idea who you were when I emailed you first. I now realize asking you to work on my blog was about the same as asking Barbara Streisand to sing back up on my demo cd. Thanks so much for your time."

And then she wrote back, "I love Babs!" ...and I was excited she replied, because I was completely of star struck.

Anyway, here is the link to her website and a link to her etsy shop. She's great. Enjoy!

menards

With our move to the country, we've lost our quick access to the mall and the zoo. So now on winter days when we need to get out of the house we go to Menards. It's a lot like a mall...big, bright, smiling people, things to buy. But better than the mall, it has race car shopping carts.

This is just a quick note to say we're experiencing some technical difficulties lately. One of our computers is using up a lot of bandwidth or something like that. And we keep getting stuck with a bill at the end of each month and can't figure out how we're using so much bandwidth. So Rory has disconnected all computers from the internet, and one at a time he is watching each one, waiting to see if there is one computer to blame.

All this to say: I don't have internet on my computer. Haven't in days and it is giving me the shakes. And some bad moods. Might have a dependency problem here.

I still have a post in my head about Rory's cabin in the woods. And a little picture tour of the inside of our house. But until I get connected to the internet, you can imagine me pushing my sweet children through the aisles of kitchen faucets and ceiling fans.