Simple Home and Happiness

Nothing about this holiday season went as planned. We started the stomach flu in our family of six a couple days before Christmas and it finally took down the last person a week later. It was exhausting but also forced a major slow down, in a good way. Traditions got pushed aside to make room for illness, plans were cancelled, all expectations of holiday celebrations went out the window. There was a time when this would have destroyed me. Several years ago, my plans for New Years Eve were cancelled due to a snow storm. I pouted and cried, I believe I may have even wailed "Why Me?" and I know for certain that I made the evening miserable for my husband. All because my expectations had been set too high and I couldn't see what was still possible. I don't know if it's age, experience, maturity, or a glorious combination, but this holiday had all the makings of an epic temper tantrum, yet it never happened. I wasn't Mother Teresa, let's be real, b...

One week till Christmas. Seven days. How are you doing? Hanging in there? Excelling? Crying? It's ok. I've done all three in the past week. This morning I woke up with nothing to do. Of course there are things to do , but the calendar is clear today. Today I get to bake and clean and listen to Christmas music and rest. We have been running winter colds through the six people in our house and I woke up with a sore throat, but today I can rest, so I will be thankful for that. I know this next week can be really hard. I know that losses, finances, and hardships are heightened this time of year. It's ok to be sad. It's ok to feel the weight of unmet expectations. I am walking into this week with hands open. I will not let the dreams of what could be ruin the truth of what is right in front of me. I still have gifts to wrap, goodies to bake, I didn't get a Christmas card sent out this year, snow is threatening to ruin my travel plans, kids are sic...

Holidays are hard. Whether you love them or hate them, they are coming. I love the holidays, I truly do, but even with my love for them, I find them exhausting. Winning the lottery is technically a good thing, but it can be destructive if you do not manage the stress of it. The holidays can be like that. All the food, all the family, all the traveling, all the invitations, all the baking, all the wrapping; all inherently good things, yet it can be stressful. I am a home body, but I also love people. These two things conflict for me during the holidays. I love being with my family and friends, but I also suffer when my schedule is out of sync. Naps and bedtime routines get up ended and the kids become overwhelmed and exhausted. I love my family, but even my favorite members start to rub raw when their proximity has been all up in my business without a break for several days on end. I think this year I am maybe even a little more aware of this. With a one year old and a two yea...

I listened to a Mom speak mean words to her child the other day. We were in a public setting and I heard her words clearly. Her frustration, her exhaustion, were on display. What she said doesn't really matter, it's the fact that she said it unguarded, without pretense, just ugly and real. Oh so real. I was raised to keep your ugly to yourself. Pretend everything is fine until it is fine. I am not condoning what that mother said, but I am not judging her either. I have no idea how hard her day had been up till then. I don't know what she was or is struggling with. I don't know her, therefore I will not judge her. I hope she realized later how harsh her words were. I hope she took the opportunity to show her child how important it is for adults to apologize as well as children. I hope that it was not her finest moment as a mom, but I refuse to judge her. It's not my place. My largest short coming as a mom is that I yell. I hate it. I am ashamed of it. It is s...

Hey there tired mama. I see you. But more importantly, I am you. Sometimes you cry because you are so tired you can't sleep. Sometimes you hurt in ways that you can't explain. Sometimes you cry because you feel guilty about being so blessed and yet so frustrated. Sometimes you cry because someone needs you all the time. Sometimes you cry because your friend struggles with infertility and you have so many kids. Sometimes you cry because friends have lost babies and you feel guilty about being mad at yours. Sometimes you want to get in the car and drive away. Away from the mess, the noise, the chaos. You want to drive to a quiet place and just sit and breathe... and just be quiet. But you can't say it out loud. You're not suppose to. You are suppose to be happy, you are blessed. You are suppose to smile, because you will miss these years when they are grown. You are suppose to enjoy them while they are little. But today, today you just want...

I have felt like I could cry at the slightest provocation for the past few weeks. I'm not even entirely unsure that it's sad tears, just emotional, life is moving and I can't stop it tears. October stirs up all kinds of feeling for me. I love the holidays, perhaps more than other people. It is engrained in me from my childhood. My mom created magic around the holidays. They were special and full of family and it was always my favorite time of year. The holiday season started with Halloween. As a girl, I went to country school and rather than go trick or treating at houses like other kids, our country school had a big Halloween party, complete with a haunted house. There was a cake walk, bean bag toss games, costume contests, fishing over a bedsheet, and more. At the end of the party, all the parents and neighbors would gather in a big circle and us kids got to walk through and collect candy from each of them. It was a child's dream, all that candy and very little ef...

I have been wanting to simplify some areas of my life for awhile now, but I just haven't taken the time do it. I already feel like I live a pretty simple life and there are aspects of it that I really love. But there is more that I want to do to improve the way I am living and the way that I am raising my kids. Over the next few weeks, I am going to be sharing some of the things I am already doing and some other things I want to implement into my lifestyle. Let's quiet the noise of the world. Let's tame down the chaos. Let's find a starting point and just jump. It starts at home. Whether you are single or married or have a house full of kids. Peace begins at home. How you treat yourself and how you treat others. We have to start somewhere on quieting all of the noise and giving ourselves and our loved ones a place of rest. A place to feel safe. A place to call home. So lets start small. First up: Let's enjoy a meal with the people we love. You can m...