Just had to share...

I got my boys these great leather jackets (for $49.99) for their birthdays in February... (they wanted Harley Coats) Can't beat that deal considering they retail for $165.00

Check them out here!
http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Knuckleheads-Sample-Sale-Leather-jacket-lined-/130464244429?pt=US_Baby_Toddler_Boys_Clothes&var=&hash=item641eb055d0

Where's the easy button? And why I am not organized...

I keep coming back to the same stresses, no matter that I was supposed to be more disciplined this year. My life is disorganized, my house is cluttered and messy and that makes me feel messy and my brain feels cluttered. I used to be so good at organizing things, a place for everything and everything in it's place. The kind of life where you don't lose your glasses or keys or those important papers. The kind of life where things are where they are supposed to be so you don't waste minutes, hours, or days looking for them. The kind of life where you don't forget important appointments or forget to file your taxes on time. I used to be disciplined, I used to be organized, I used to be sane! I am now overworked, underpaid, overwhelmed, and at the brink of insanity.
 
Now I find tools on the bathroom sink, or the top shelf of the coat closet, dinky cars and batteries, and cell phone chargers, and magazines, and just plain junk amidst the piles of mail that has gathered on the kitchen counter for months. Bills that might have been paid on time if my memory served me well. I find toothpaste in the buffet, plates and cups hide out under couches (the cups are always filled with chocolate milk that has soured by the time we find them). Getting ready to go anywhere is a chore, there are about 5 places that shoes and coats congregate in our house (one of those being the dog's bed of course) so I run around like a mad woman searching for coats and matching shoes and the ball cap someone has lost. There are toys everywhere, laundry piled up on the washer and drier waiting to be put away, dishes in the sink, disorganized, cluttered, mess everywhere. Every morning the newspaper is left on the dining table. Inevitably over the course of the day, there are coats hung on backs of chairs, toys and play dough collected on the table, a magazine, a computer, a box of crayons, maybe a box of nails or a screwdriver or hammer too, so that where it is time for dinner we gather the entire pile and shove it someplace else. Not very disciplined huh?


My day is consumed with diverting disasters and cleaning the chaos of the moment, there is no time for the piles and misplaced items that need attention. I'm lucky if I get to unloading the dishwasher before the nights supper dishes need to be loaded again. I could clean all day and accomplish nothing, because behind me are two little boys that leave a mess in their wake, tornadoes in jeans. A puppy that steals clothing from the hamper, chews shoes, and anything else she can get her paws on. A husband who is a little (OK maybe a lot) like his sons. And a Mom who can't juggle it all.

 "Cleaning your house while your children are still growing is like shoveling the walk before it stops snowing." -Phylis Diller

Like the time Bruce took the boys for the day and I spent the entire day cleaning and organizing the family room/play room, only to have my glorious 2 1/2 year old son dump the entire ash bucket all over the room the very next day. The ashes from the wood stove that were supposed to be dumped the week before by a certain someone {who is not me} I might add.

5 minutes. 5 minutes he was out of my sight, 5 minutes he was left to his own devices, whilst I cleaned another of the messes he had made upstairs in the bathroom. This is one of those messes that will take a LONG time to clean up. Ashes make A LOT of dust. Dust everywhere. And not just in the family room, nope it traveled all over the house. See why I have no time to get organized?

Coat Rack Inspiration

The mudroom progress is coming along, but the closet that is there probably isn't usable as a coat closet (there is no back wall, and the plumbing is in the way to put one in). So, we need a place to hang coats...

I love the vintage look, and think that's the way to go. I will probably wind up building it myself but there provide some great inspiration! Hubs would love the deer antlers and the kids think the horse shoes are pretty cool! Me, I'm loving the tin shelves from Black Canyon but they don't give prices just a range Prices range from $50 - $795. Um $795 for a coat rack? I don't think so!!

Come On Baby Light My Fire

Fall is by far my favorite season. The leaves in full color. The cool crisp air. The harvest. Thanksgiving. Halloween (not my favorite, but surely a favorite of the boys). I only wish it wasn’t winters precedent! Autumn makes me want to nest. Pull out the warm quilts, add a few extra pillows and cozy up by the fire.

Fire.

There’s nothing better than the smell, the crackling, and the warmth of a real wood burning fire. 

We have a wood burning fireplace insert in our basement family room. It does a great job at heating the basement, but because of the layout of our house not much of the heat makes it to the main floor, therefore keeping us dependent upon electric heat. When we first moved into the house I had hubs change the baseboard heater in the living room (remove the big one that was under the window and install a smaller one further away) JUST so that I could put my couch under the window (because there was no other LOGICAL place for it might I add). So for years we’ve been um… freezing in the winter. True, our basement is now a “finished” space but for some reason I prefer the main floor, plus it’s where the bedrooms are. Sure, cooler air might be good for sleeping but we don’t want to have to crank the thermostats just to want to be in the room.

When it comes to green living there are differing opinions surrounding the carbon footprint created by wood stoves. Firewood is a renewable resource, yet it leaves a carbon footprint when burned for heat. However, a carbon footprint also has to take into considerable how the fuel source was prepared, and in that, firewood has a tiny footprint compared to natural gas, electric, or heating oil. The carbon produced by log cutting machines and chainsaws is miniscule compared to that of processing crude oil into fuel stocks. And of course, in many parts of the world, most if not all of the wood cutting is done manually, so there’s no footprint at all.

So, we’ve decided to invest in wood heat for the main floor too. Sure it’s a big expense on the front end, but it should save us significant amount of money during heating seasons to come. (And Canadian winters can be… well cold!) Now the question is whether to go with a wood stove or a zero-clearance wood fireplace…

I have a thing for fireplaces- I’m drawn to them, I think they add ambiance to a room, even when they’re not in use. I would get a mantel (OK, I know that a mantel is essentially just a shelf as my husband so eloquently reminds me every time I bring it up).

So what’s the problem? Well… the fireplace route costs much more than the wood stove route. Much more $$$$$$ and technically the heat output isn’t as good with the fireplace as it would be with a wood stove, because the woodstove radiates heat from all 4 sides and the zero clear is specifically designed only for heat from the front so that it can be installed close to combustible materials. It requires the use of blowers and hot air vents can be installed.

OK… so the wood stove is a better choice right? Technically yes, aesthetically not so much. My living room might not be overly traditional but it isn’t exactly country or rustic either. It isn’t lodge like or cabin like. In the basement family room a wood stove would look appropriate, ironically we have a fireplace down there. A huge fireplace. Clad in black/grey slate though, with a rustic mantle. So I have been trying, with very little luck, to find a wood stove that doesn’t look as though it belongs in a lodge, or a cabin, or a big old country home. All the while trying to convince Bruce to build me a fireplace instead!

I do like the enamelled ones… again $$$$$

This is about the only instance where I have seen a wood stove in a traditional room.

I would rather the fireplace, I’ve said that it will help with resale some day because women like fireplaces, more than wood stoves. But when it comes right down to it economics will probably be the deciding factor.

My Bench

A few weeks ago I mentioned to hubby I wanted a bench for our newly finished mudroom, I had all these great locker style benches in mind, with wainscoting or bead board. Storage was a must/ Kind of like this:

Or even like this:

Especially like this:

Unfortunately due to the layout of the room and the electrical panel that was in my way I couldn’t quite have what I wanted. So I began my search for an appropriate bench. Unfortunately finding something big enough and well constructed… forget it. Imagine my surprise when this little bench found it’s way into the back of hubby’s truck:

He found it just sitting, collecting dust in his father’s basement. It was a little sad, someone had painted it with about 4 layers of house paint over the years. Hard, probably lead based house paint. The story is that the bench is at least 100 years old, it’s former home a church that was on family land. Painstakingly I stripped it, it took 3 bottles of stripper, a lot of scraping and A LOT of sanding! I got MOST of the paint off. I had originally intended to paint it black but after all that work it seemed like a shame to cover it with black paint!

I say painstakingly because I splashed stripper in my eye, at least three times got it on my skin and my poor Birkenstocks became the innocent victims to the gunky, sticky paint residue. 

The mudroom projects are not completely finished, the door still needs to be painted black and hooks need hung and the closet on the other side of the room needs work but it’s a start!

Jacquelyn

Dreaming

 

All images courtesy of  Linwood Homes. They do the hospital home lottery houses, the ones valued at very large prices... unaffordable to me, but good for dreaming!

Things I love…

Dawson’s airplane mobile:

 

I’m not sure what it is about airplanes, they make me happy. When we were kids my brother and I could recite Top Gun word for word {even the bad ones :) } I always thought a boys room should have airplanes in it. I’m trying not to make his room too themed, because I know kids have a tendency to collect and display disparate objects in their rooms, but the airplanes make me happy.

 

My New Kitchen Counters and Sink

OK… I really, really need to paint that moulding…

…and the ugly honey oak cabinets are still there. And this looks NOTHING like the tile I thought we might put down on the counters… I changed my mind. I’m a woman, it’s my perogative. Since this is not the forever house we compromised and decided that new cabinets were not in the budget. I contemplated painting them, talked to a few people who informed me that because the sides are just a piece of oak laminate that painting them would be a mistake. I surrendered to the oak in this house, but the new counters make them look better {if that’s at all possible} And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my new sink!

This Fabric:

These Boys:

Even all covered in mud!

“Boys are found everywhere – on top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from, running around, or jumping to… A boy is truth with dirt on its face, Beauty with a cut on its finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in it’s hair, and the Hope of the future with a frog in it’s pocket”

- Alan Marshall Beck

Dog Days of Summer

Sadly, we had to put Zoey down. The house seems so empty without her in it. Her food bowls are still in the kitchen and her pillow still in the living room. I can't seem to bear to move them. The boys want a new puppy, and I have to admit I do too. It's not that I am trying to replace her, she's irreplaceable. It's just that we're dog people.

We've settled on a completely different breed, Georgian Bay Sporting Dogs, GBSD for short. They are a cross between Weimeraner and Lab. Our little gal is black, or slate gray as I suppose they call her. She will be arriving in about a month from Ontario. I don't have any pictures of her yet, but she looks just like this...

Image Courtesy of  Black Bear Farm

The boys are so excited, as am I. We can't wait until the middle of August! It almost reminds me of being pregnant and having to wait for the arrival of the boys... oh the agony of waiting!

She's been a good dog...

Dogs leave pawprints on our hearts Forever

Zoey is sick. The vet believes she has cancer. We have her on antibiotics and anti-inflamatories, in case it is a serious infection instead of lymphoma, as we didn't get the biopsy done. She's severely anemic, which led him to believe that it was in fact cancer and not an infection, but we're going this route first just in case. She's a fighter. She still wants to eat carrots and all the droppings from the kids. She still follows me everywhere. I hate to get my hopes up, but they are up a little.

Cancer wreaks havoc on their poor little bodies and shows no mercy. We will have to put her down, I cannot bear to see her suffer. Everytime I look at her, my eyes well up with tears. She's been a good dog. she's been my loyal friend from the very beginning.

Dawson is too young to really understand, he just knows that Zoey is sick. Dylan understands to a point, and is quite sad. I know it probably won't hit any of us completely until she is gone.

She always loved those orange balls, and would have chased them until her legs fell off. She was a sweet, gentle dog. We will never forget you Zoey.

"No matter how little money, and how few possessions you own, having a dog makes you rich."

 - Louis Sabin

If...

Ramblings…

“Motherhood brings as much joy as ever, but it still brings boredom, exhaustion, and sorrow too. Nothing else ever will make you as happy or as sad, as proud or as tired, for nothing is quite as hard as helping a person develop his own individuality especially while you struggle to keep your own.”--Marguerite Kelly and Elia Parsons

1. My kids will fight, no matter how hard I try to convince them to play nicely. They are polar opposites. Oil and water. Gasoline and a match! They get along best when they are conspiring against me!

2. Since becoming a Mom I found out just how scary this world really is. I make my both boys sit in a cart when we are at stores because I am afraid if I take my eyes of either one of them, even for a moment, they might not be there when I turn back around.

3. I always find it interesting how two people can be saying the same thing, and one sounds self-righteous and judgemental, while the other sounds inspirational. Reminds me that often how I say things is more important than what I am saying.

4. I love to read. I hope the boys will always love books. When Dylan was born my parents gifted all the books we has as children to him. Now reading with the boys brings back memories of my Dad reading to me. I especially love to see my Dad reading to the boys!

Happy Friday!

Jacquelyn

What I've learned about being a Mom...

I remember the day I found out I was pregnant with Dylan, I was 25. We had just moved into this fixer-upper that needed a whole lot of fixing up. More than we could possibly do in 8 months... there was no way my house was going to be ready for a baby.

I was scared, and thrilled at the same time. For a girl who had been told that she didn't ovulate and would never conceive children this was a miracle. I knew a little about babies, the kind of stuff you learn from babysitting. I was terrified of labor and delivery. I wanted absolutely no part of breastfeeding. I was obsessed with buying my baby a crib, no matter that I had no nursery to put it in or that my mom gave me a perfectly good basinette that she assured me the baby could sleep in for 3 or 4 months, I HAD TO HAVE A CRIB.

When Dylan was first born I felt so inadequate. I had no idea what I was doing, I was exhausted and felt like I might never understand this little creature that was bestowed upon me. I spent two nights in the hospital after he was born, I couldn't wait to get out of there, away from these nurses who made me feel like the worst mother ever, even though I know they were trying to help as best as they knew how. My Mom stayed with me for a week after he was born, she helped me in ways I'm not sure she knows. She helped me with the cooking and cleaning, but more importantly she stood by and allowed me to come into my own as a mother. She assured me that I had a clue. That I was doing a good job.

I cried when she left to go back home, I might have been a grown woman, amother myself, but I have never felt closer to my Mom. I never felt as though I needed her more. I felt a bond with my Mom I have never experienced before. She gave me a big hug, and told me I could handle it. She was only a phone call away.

In the 4 years that have passed I realized that she was right, I could handle it. I did call, I did consult, I did ask for advice. I did watch her interact with my boys, and learn from her ways. I find myself becoming a little more like my mother each day. :)

My boys too have taught me many, many things.

Before you have kids everyone tells you that you won't understand the kind of love a mother has for her child until you have one of your own. So true. These boys amaze me, and my heart grows more everyday to hold the love I have for them.

Kisses and band-aids fix just about everything.

Boys destroy things. They enjoy it. Huh? ( I didn't say I understood everything they've taught me)

I could clean all day, and within 5 minutes it can look as though no one has vacuumed or mopped or tidied in weeks. As Phylis Diller said "Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shovelling the walk before it stops snowing"

On the flip side, the kids won't remember that Mommy had the cleanest house on the block, or the best decor, they'll remember the puzzles put together in the middle of the living room, the art they made that Mommy put on the wall. They'll remember the painting I let them do on my dining room table, and the picnics in the yard. A house that is too clean just might mean no one is having any fun.

Boys need wide open spaces. As their mother I have no choice but to learn to like the outdoors.

It really is the little things that make the biggest impact. To kids love is spelled T-I-M-E.

As Dylan informed me today, "Mothers are important you know..."

Thank you Mom. Thank you boys. Thank you for letting me learn from you.

Happy Mothers Day!

I think I finally convinced him...

I think maybe I finally convinced the hubby to paint the cabinets... the very dated oak cabinets that I have been trying to change since we moved in 5 years ago. This was my inspiration, the counters that very closely resemble the quartz tile we have...

I am terrified to paint them, while I know the oak is dated and I know that kitchens and bathrooms sell houses, I am actually afraid of making them look worse...

If we had soid oak cabinets I don't think  I would worry, but mine are not. They're cheap, builder grade, 70's oak cabinets. You know the ones... do I really have to put a picture on here?? OK...

Wouldn't those look so much better painted white?!