Simply Dawn

The Funny Things About Me…

Ok, so I have been trying to figure some things out and not look at myself in a negative light so often.  I do that.  I am critical of myself to the extreme and while I don’t like it, I have not been successful at stopping it.  And believe me, I have tried.

The thing about being critical about myself is that I tend to be critical of other people.  In my mind, I am letting them know of a flaw I see so that it is brought to the light and can be dealt with.

Lovely trait to have as a wife and mother and friend.

Sometimes I don’t know how people stand it.  Yet somehow, some folks who aren’t family have had utterances of love about me slip from their lips and it is such a blessing to me to hear and know that they love me.

It does help that I kick butt in the kitchen.  Food is a good stabilizer.  I don’t care what people say about it.  It is a joy to eat some good cookin’.  It is also a joy to watch someone eat something you cooked up and hear their contented sighs.

Ok, so I can be critical.

The other thing that is funny about me is how I can become so consumed by a project.  Take the quilt I was working on this late winter and early spring.  I was obsessed.  Not only was I working on the quilt, but I made 6 skirts for my daughters.  I also made three head bands.  I sewed together 29 little six petal flowers from the scraps of the quilt – by hand – to make into hair clips.  I used my new ruffle foot and ruffled a bunch of fabric to make into other hair clips.  I have 2.5 yards of fabric that I will try to sew together today or tomorrow into 3 more skirts for the girls – cause I said I would.  I have a mountain of projects on sewing table, at least enough jeans to make 8 little handbags and scraps for a quilt and material for the fabric pumpkin decorations I want to make for fall and a thread rack to hang…

and that is just the sewing obsession.  It was all my extra time, until…

Spring hit and it was the garden and you can find out more about that by reading yesterday's first or second posts.  I have so much to do out there and I did plant some seeds, which was very exciting, but it all takes time.

Then there are the scrapbooks that are calling my name and reminding me that I am still behind by about 11 years and that the children’s “baby books” are only caught up through Adelaide.

Then there is the digital photography and all those photographs that are in RAW format that need editing and saving as JPG and then tagging, or will I tag?  Maybe I will just start a new CM Vault and sort them all in there, but that would take up so much more hard drive space and I don’t want that.  Then there are the digital photography school newsletters I want to practice shooting so I can build some skills and have something fun to update Just Clickin’ blog with…

Thankfully, Tribal Warfare starts next week.  There is something that is so grounding about an actual need of someone else.  It doesn’t seem optional.  Then you actually make time and do something.  That shift in thinking is starting to happen in my personal life now too, but why did it take so long to figure it out.

Anyhow, I am just saying this so that if you think I were to have it all together and be able to juggle all the balls and spin all the plates, I don’t and can’t.  I suppose it’s why this blog jumps from topic to topic…okay leaps…I mean really one day a thoughtful musing, the next a recipe or a garden post, maybe a picture here or there or hey what about those three or is it four now?  Book reviews?  I need to get posted.  Or the family updates that are so hopelessly behind…

I just read over this post and if, somehow, you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me.  I want to say a big thanks to anyone who can weather through and still enjoy my company when I can hardly make up my mind what I am going to do.  When doing is so important that I have a hard time remembering being is just as important.  When I get my priorities all mixed up and have to remind myself that my relationships are the most important (God – Husband – Children – Family & Friends…in that order…writing it down so I remember better).

Love you guys and hope you all have a great day!

Lovies,DJ

Morning Full of Promise

This morning is so full of promise, I am so excited to be up!

There is a turkey in the oven stuffed with apples and celery and onions and garlic and sherry!  I am cookin’ it low and slow this morning, so dinner tonight will be moist and tender.  I am thinking a salad and mashed taters for the sides.  Maybe I will even set aside a few minutes to throw together a couple of pumpkin pies…or pecan…or both!  We will see…this morning is full of promise!

Then there is the fact that it is Saturday and I don’t have to school anyone…not academically anyways.  So my thoughts go to my craft room and all the UFO’s I have lying around and what I can do with what I got without spending any money to buy new things.  That’s one of my goals this year.  Clean up a bunch of the UFO’s so I can start some new projects…maybe by fall or even this summer.  Who knows…this morning is full of promise!

The little girls have been given the task of cleaning their room or losing some of their toys until they can earn them back.  I am really loathe to have this be the consequence, but it’s all they will listen too.  I mean when you look at the amount of toys and clothes the four girls have, it doesn’t amount to much.  If I were to spread them all out into their own rooms (that will be such an amazing day if the Lord wills it,) each girl would have such a small bin for the toys and maybe one small dresser…that’s it.  But when you have it all in one room and four beds and a dresser and a toy kitchen set Daddy made, well it can get downright dangerous if they don’t keep up with it.  In a big family you have to keep short accounts…physical and emotional…of all that you have so that there is room to be.  Anyhow, I hear them puttering away and the screaming and yelling is at a minimum.  Room inspection soon, hoping for the best.  It could happen...this morning is full of promise!

It’s good to find joy in all of the little things in my life.  They are probably boring to everyone else, but I have found my purpose and niche in life.  I know what I am called to do and my tenacious nature is pursuing it with abandon.  I am so thankful that the Lord changed my heart all those years ago to head in the direction of my home and family.  That I gave up all those things that seemed so important, TO ME, and started after what was important TO HIM.  I love this life and that each morning reminds me of His promise.

Well, I better scoot before I dream my morning away.  Hope you all have a great day and find your Promise this morning.  Praying peace and joy to you this morning!

Lovies!

I’m Back…Well, Hopefully

It’s been a while and I ain’t got no excuse (yes, I see the double negative, and while I respect grammar, and try to aspire to “good” grammar, I am using the double negative for effect…as I am also using the run on sentence…it’s how I think and do things…one moment, task, thought rolling into the next until it’s all miss-mashed into a big run-on day…but isn’t it like that for everyone…jeesh!  I would hate to think it was just me!)

So I am going to hopefully get a little blogging done here.  I am not very hopeful because as soon as I sat down there was an argument about batteries and our rules for batteries and how you can’t pull batteries from a perfectly functioning device to make the dead one work just so you can listen to the book on tape mom got…yes, it actually is on a tape cassette and if you are too young to know what that is, google it…well, I had to go take care of that little skirmish and get new batteries cause, really you shouldn’t pull the batteries from the perfectly functioning device.

That’s when I got to thinkin’ that I should make up some rules about Mom and her computer time…especially seeing as how I have worked so hard not to log on to my computer and sit and look at stuff while people are doing schoolwork or when people have work to do or when I am cooking dinner (like right now) so it doesn’t burn…cause you know pinterest gets you hooked and you lose track of time thinking of all the fun and purdy things you are going to make and do.

Well anyways, instead of writing a bunch of rules down, cause really, who has time for writing rules down and instead of boring all of you with my mind’s meanderings, I should probably write a REAL post, but don’t hold your breath for pictures cause right now, I don’t really got it in me to edit and organize photos and that’s sort of how I try to role because if I don’t my mind end’s up a mush…

kind of like this post…

kind of like my dinner…

gotta go, supper’s callin.

Missed you guys!

Lovies,DJ

A Good Kind of Busy

It’s been busy on the home front.  Busy, but good.

The past several days have been productive.

There is so much to write about, and in my perfect world all the bullet points I am about to list would come each with it’s own post, but for now I will just catch you up a bit…

• we got a new van, 12 passenger
• we went to Wisconsin Dells for a family reunion
• we got the new van stuck in a friend’s driveway during the 18” snowfall
• we have painted the laundry room and wired in our second washer and dryer set *happy dance*
• I pulled out an old quilt project I started when Sybbi was a new baby and made some headway
• Flylady is painfully slowly but surely helping me to get my home organized
• my 365project is out of sync but I am having fun putting words in place of missed shots

Tonight is tutoring night and I have pizza dough and sauce made and ready to go along with homemade lemonade…now I just need to figure out a dessert.

Here are some shots from our busy morning…

our busy climbing boy…A few weeks back I went away for a girls weekend and David watched all the kids…when I got back he said he didn’t know how I got anything done.  John wasn’t climbing then…

administering a spelling test while pressing strip sets for a quilt…

Yep, it’s been busy but good and I hope all is well in your world.

Lovies,DJ

Catching up…

so, I have been editing photos the past two days.  I have all my 2012 photos edited.  I even ran noise software on them and marked a boatload for deletion.  I plan to do the deleting tomorrow sometime.  It’s important.  and really you are interested…

I even updated my project 365, which by the way is hopelessly behind, over on Just Clickin'.  The days I missed, I got a little punchy…seeing as how I was hopelessly behind and all I figured I didn’t have much to lose.  I have a few days worth on my camera right now, so I will need to get those uploaded and edited and “de-noised” and posted, but THEN I should be back on track.  For a few days.

Let’s see here, what else…well I went to a class at Crafts Direct the other night and learned how to use these fancy pants Copic Markers.  I love them!  Can’t wait to own a bunch of them.  With them I can do art…and stuff…on almost any surface…even you…do you want me to give you a Copic Tattoo?  I could you know… although it probably wouldn’t be a tough guy image…more rainbows and butterflies and cuddly little creatures with bright shiny eyes…but if that floats your boat, then let me know.  I have two colors…brown and darker brown, so your design will have kind of a sepia type thing…I am thinking a winter scene with a teddy bear eating a chocolate bar.

it’s late, I’m tired.

I did do some art this week and will post about it…you guessed it…tomorrow.

For now, I hope you all tuck into bed and have a good night’s sleep and we will catch up in the morning…or maybe around noon…yeah, noon…noon sounds better.

Okay, so noon it is.

Lovies,DJ

Daddy and Me

I was talking with my dad this morning, and by the way Daddy?  Do you know how much you blessed me?  My daddy answered the phone, “Well hello, my beautiful girl!”  What a treat to be greeted that way.

My daddy spends most of his days watching a grandson and granddaughter.  He sometimes watches these precious little ones overnight.  It keeps him busy and on his toes.  Recently he has had to watch them, most of the time, by himself as his sweetie pie has to go to work extra hours.  He loves this time, even though it tires him some, and he is able to do it because he is retired.

So anyways, Daddy and I chatted about our little ones and the weather and what’s new in our worlds and then Daddy confided in me.  He said that he has been wondering lately if there isn’t something different he is supposed to be doing.  Something more than just taking care of these little ones.  Now maybe I misunderstood him, but this sure sounded familiar.

Daddy is loving on these little ones and doing a lot of the same things I do everyday.  The same stuff, day in and day out.  The things you accomplish one moment may be dashed the next.  And all with no sure sign that what you are doing is making a difference.

That’s got me wondering.

Maybe everyone who spends time taking care of little (and/or big) people wonders the same thing.  Wonders if there isn’t more that they should be doing in this life.

It’s an interesting thing to ponder especially since it’s Daddy’s wondering too.

Lovies, DJ

A Stolen Moment

I am hoping that the clicking of my keyboard won’t draw any attention, and that I will have this stolen moment and toddle off to bed afterward and no one will be the wiser.  For the first time in a few months, I am alone during this awake time before bed and the lights are out and the kids are asleep or locked away and doing homework and I get to write.

My head has been positively swimming and brimming with ideas and while I have the means and motive to share them, I lack the time…and focus.  Plus, I am at one of those cross road times in life and trying to figure out so much of who I am and what I should be doing.

So I go back to the foundation…Seek Him First.  Okay, I haven’t done the best of that lately, but I am working on it.  It’s my standard even if my execution is lacking…my goal, my prize.  We have talks, all day, the Lord and I.  While I am schooling and cleaning and mothering.

Then there is the wife and mommy part.  Honestly, the mommy part of me has taken over, but we make time for date nights or the wifey part would be completely squashed.  Between a hubby working two jobs and the demands of the family, at the end of the day we are lucky to have a moment to compare calendars and pass each other a glance.  A sleepy glance…a sleepy tiger glance.

Then there is the friend part of me.  Always worried that I am not being a good enough friend to this one or that.  Watching everyone lead such exciting lives.  Watching people get to do new things and learn new things and be new things… and I feel like the little girl on the playground who didn’t make it to the special club meeting…the one where the secret handshake and the secret code talk and inside jokes all happened and I watch everyone talking and seeming so happy and complete and I feel so left behind and left out.  And yet, when I try to keep up with all that my friends get to do and see and be, I miss things and I spread myself too thin and I wonder…is this really what I am supposed to be doing?  Is it even what I want to do?

And so I try to nurture what I can when I can.  I love the moments when I get the invite and hate those same moments when I have to say no…it’s just not my time.  Not yet.

This is the season of diapers and broken jars and sticky finger prints on the windows.  The season of endless math fact memorization and arguments over what the really important things are and band-aids on phantom booboos.  The season of sleepless nights nestled with tiny hands reaching to make sure you are there.  The season of snot on a clean pair of jeans…you know, the GOOD pair… and staying up watching tv and trying to eat right.  The season of pouring into the lives of those that are near and those that I love and putting off the things I want right now and doing what needs doing.

Because all too soon this season will be over and the little ones that reach for me will be pushing me away as they spread their wings and take those first failed flights and then one day the fly off strong and free and beautiful and my heart will ache to bring them back to my nest and nestle them again in the middle of the night and chase away the shadows and remind them they are loved…so loved.

And I love this time.  I wouldn’t trade it and I am going to live out every second of it like it is the last one I will ever get.  But that means that some things will have to wait.  And I will miss the secret handshakes.  And I will cheer on my friends accomplishments and be content with being their cheerleader…everyone needs a cheerleader…and some day I will be able to love someone through their season and help them know it’s not something to get through, but something to soak in.

Lovies…no one noticed I was up!

I Can’t

Today is a day when my mind keeps saying, “I can’t…”

That still small voice is saying, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”

Just wondering…can strength come in the form of a housekeeper today, Lord?

Oh, and while you are at it, an errand boy would be helpful too.

Just kidding…sort of.

Ok, better get back to it.

Hoping that if you are having an “I Can’t” sort of day, that you remember that you CAN…in Christ!

Lovies,DJ

Between

Okay, so it’s been a little busy around the old place, and I can’t wait to have a moment to write something deeper than what I have been up too…

Deeper things are important.  They let you know that my life really does consist of something more than being a chauffeur and wiping noses and socks…lots and lots of socks.

So, lately I have been getting back to schedule after the holidays…still…it is almost the last day of January.  But like my friend says we live our lives in four minute intervals…the intervals between the answers to, “Momma…”

Anywho, the schedule means that my evenings are consumed with the kiddos and I don’t really get free time until they go to bed unless my dear sweet lovin’ man sacrifices sanity and sleep to take over for me so I can get a little girlie time.  Last week I went rock climbing at SCSU.  It was fun and like Julie said, “No calories added!”

Oh, yeah, I am trying to cut back on some of those.  However I think I am going to give up on the whole gluten free thing.  At least, I just won’t eat it if it has gluten, unless I have been good and eaten right…then I will reward myself with a cookie, or homemade pizza or something.  Spelt is sounding good right about now.

Well, the little people figured out that my attention is on something that I enjoy and well, it’s getting loud and distracting and I really should be pulling all the year end paper work together and switching laundry and all.

I just wanted to let you all know that I love you and I miss you and I will try to chat again soon between the dishes and the homework.

Lovies,DJ

Dumbell

So this morning, I was giving my dear son a ride to school.  We were chatting about exercise…I am trying to drop a few pounds.

Anyhow, he and I had shoveled the driveway and sidewalk and I said that it should count as my exercise for the day.  To which he replied that snow shoveling is not exercise for Minnesotans, it’s just what we do.  I retorted that it indeed does count as exercise for housewives, to which he could pose no argument.

He then said that he wanted to get a gym membership.  I said, “Why spend all that money to get exercise when you are young and can get it so easily just by riding your bike or walking wherever you go.  Besides, you have a weight bench too.  You really don’t need a gym membership.”

“Yah, but I need some dumbells.  I wonder how much those cost…” he said.

“I don’t think they cost much, you could probably pick up a set on craigslist or from the second-hand fitness shop for a reasonable price.  You could use the money that you would spend on a gym membership and have yourself a nice setup,” I replied.

“I suppose, but I want to get rid of the plastic covered cement ones that don’t match my set.”

“Well, I have a set of dumbells at home,” I said.  “Eight of them.”

“You do?  I have never seen them.  What sizes are they?”

“They are all different sizes, different shapes too.”

“Really…hmmm, well, they have to be a certain kind so you can use them for push ups…you know so you can grip them…”

“Well, I don’t think I would use them for that.  It might hurt them.  They don’t take too kindly to getting gripped.  Not to mention that putting all my weight on them might damage them.”

“Really…what!…Wait!  What?!”

Then he slugged me and said, “You should put this on Facebook.”

So I did one better and put it out here for all my lovely friends to enjoy.

Lovies!