pre-easter

The day before Easter, we got together at my mom and dad's house for a picnic lunch and Easter Egg Hunt.

Win was recovering from a bad cold and ear infection, but he didn't let that ruin his first hunt. It's amazing to me that he got the concept of looking for an egg and placing it in his basket. Of course a rock or two ended up in there and the plastic eggs were opened and hard boiled ones slightly cracked, but he got it.

Daddy was his main helper, but all of the other kids were willing to point out egg hiding places.

Post-nap he enjoyed the eggs once more while we enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was a perfect spring day. More like a cool summer day.

While I enjoyed the orange blossoms...

Win played basketball with his best buddy.

He LOVES his daddy. In fact, that was the first word out of his mouth this morning.

It was a wonderful day.

(Easter Sunday photos will be in another post because I've maxed out my photo limit.)

peter gabriel revival

I heard this song the other day and I thought it was a long lost Peter Gabriel song, but no, it's a new guy. Well, new to me. Like I've said before, I'm not up on music. I want to be, it just seems that other things (baby, work, home, life, etc.) take up my spare moments. Anyway, besides the point. I really love this song. It's called "Somebody That I Used to Know" by Gotye. Here it is for your listening pleasure.

Funky video. I know they're in the nude-it's artistic, doesn't show anything and it just works.

He's performing in LA next Thursday. Rewind my life to two years ago and Kent and I would have been there. It can't happen this time, but I do want to go to a concert soon. I miss them.

That's it. Cool song, interesting video, fun find.

Kind of ironic that Martha Stewart's name is Martha...

All right, the list is compiled and I'm on way to being one tidy lady. I started last week, but Win had a bad cold so he of course came first. These are general guidelines; I realize life is unpredictable and people come before housework. Anyway, here she is:


It might need some tweaking, but so far so good. Seemingly doable and that's what I need.

By the way, if I name our daughter Martha, will she be destined to be a creative, clean, domestic goddess? Hmm...food for thought.

Mary vs. Martha

When it comes to tidying the house, I’m a total Mary. I can live in clutter for quite some time. A gift? Hardly. It’s a horrible habit, and one that I’ve lived with since I was a teenager. I remember leaving my stuff around the family room for days and my mom would ask me to pick it up, but I wouldn’t. It’s not that I was trying to be a bratty 16 year old or flagrantly disobedient, I just didn’t make time for it, I had other things to do besides clean. When my mom couldn’t stand it anymore, she would shove everything in a black plastic bag and hide it. That was always scary and helped ignite action, but I still tend to have what my mom lovingly refers to as “dropsie.”

I’ve really tried to get better and over my case of the “dropsies,” but it is honestly hard for me. If I have a few spare moments, I never think to myself, “This would be an excellent time to clean out the shoe basket, vacuum and do a few dishes.” No, I feel the need to work on a project on the computer, take a shower or anything else (blog).

I want to turn a new leaf though. This spring. Right now. We live in a small enough space so that I can change my habits on a small scale. I’ve enlisted the help of Pinterest and found some great cleaning/chore sheets. I need to personalize them, but at least I know what I need to do daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. I want to be an organized, clean housekeeper. I'll never be a "neat freak," that's not in me and not healthy, but now is the time. One husband, one child, one small apartment, 100% doable.

(Just so you know, I’m not a total slob. I clean and declutter, I just need to do it on a more regular basis. Life just feels better that way.)

Anyway, here’s to hoping I can pick up a little bit more of Martha’s personality.

Happy Cleaning!

pretty baby

He's growing up so fast.
I'm glad we have cameras so we can freeze each stage in time.

visiting the westside

About every other week, Win and I make the trek to my parents' house in Redlands to do laundry and to work on a personal history project. I love being home and Win does, too. He is getting to know Grandma and Grandpa West quite well which is wonderful. I didn't grow up near my grandparents so I don't know what it's like to be close (proximity and relationship) to a grandparent. Win on the other hand, thinks my mom is his other mom. When I leave a room, he might fuss. When my mom leaves a room, he will fuss.

One of my favorite things to do while we we're there is to let him roam around outside. I feel like he can "grow" that way. My sister's kids used to have turtles and I remember her saying that they grow to their environment: If turtles are in a terrarium, they stay small, but if they're allowed outside in the big, wide world they grow. I feel the same is true for Win. Apartment-living is fine, but I always feel like he needs to be outside to really "see" and "learn". Grandma and grandpa's house is the perfect outlet.

Here are a few photos from our trips to Redlands.

Little Helper

Reading with Grandpa

I'm grateful we live close enough to visit my parents AND Kent's parents so often and I'm grateful Win gets to create memories with them all. My dad is 83 today so now is the time!

cuppy cakes

Just doing some photo/editing practice for my photography class. I made these cupcakes for Win's birthday party and they made great subjects for my assignment. Mmm. I wish they were still sitting around the house. Well, sort of. You know how it goes, want them, but don't need them.

Frame within a frame

Rhythm

I am really enjoying my photography class. I love my teacher and I love that I am starting to understand my camera and Photoshop better. It makes a world of difference!