Making Do and Mending
When we purchased our house in June of 2010 we had no idea what we were in for. Have you ever seen The Money Pit? Well let me tell you we are very close to that it seems. Problems- you name it! Well and water bacteria, heating issues and of course the lack of funds. There is only so much you can get new and fix before you are deep in debt. I'm not writing all this for sympathy- I don't even know who/how many people would even read this- it is more to just get it out.I haven't been journaling lately.. so I guess this is how I make sense of it.

What exactly does my title have to do with this post? Well similar to the Make Do and Mend campaign of the 1940's we too have to try and use what we have and fix it if it breaks. That means sometimes dressing my little baby boy in something that might obviously have been his sisters(think pink and flower long Johns!)- if his "boy clothes" are all dirty. Not running to the store to buy the latest cute stuff and just trying to use my sewing abilities to bring joy to our family.We are lucky that I have many items stored away for Guthrie and for Hazel, that we get things sent from her wonderful aunts and cousins. It means making the coffee at home,the chai, the hot cocoa, the green tea all of these delicious yum yums- to save money need to be made at home. Which most of the time I am fine with. I get to use my own organic ingredients and know that things like natural flavor is not, thankyouverymuch in my drink! But it is really hard to not fall into old habits..REALLY HARD! Especially when your 4 year old also has a habit with you- " mama can we go to the coffee shop to get me a chocolate milk?" to say no to that breaks my heart because my habit has become hers and who wants to say no to their child?! But this becomes a learning moment where we can break the habit together and just go home and make it better! Rough! It means trying to be resourceful and using all the food in the frig and freezer before running to the store. Things we try to do- but now are really important because every little penny needs to go to bills and fixing this house. Sometimes it can be daunting, sometimes I'm just happy we have a safe,dry, happy environment to raise our kids- regardless of the problems we are having. xo



 I've been trying to ride my exercise bike every night- but sometimes it isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Running around with two little ones, can exhaust you. So last night I forced myself to ride for a mere 16 minutes. It was enough, I was riding next to a blazing fire and sweating to death. Tonight I will make myself do it again.

You Can Always Go Home

At least that is how I feel about my childhood home, luckily. This past week, Z was at ToyFair- so that means this year was 9 years give or take of being a ToyFair widow as many call it. But in the previous years I didn't have 2 children and a dog. I worked in the city or a bookstore, we were dating or it was when we weren't married yet.

When a partner goes away for more than an overnight trip it can really screw up your schedule. It especially sucks if one of you r e a l l y does not like to be alone at night. It complicates things-thankfully my parents have an open door policy. The 2 kids, the dog, a bouncy chair, a laptop bring it a l l. Plus it helps that there is fresh brewed coffee 2-3 times daily and prime cable channels. It's kinda like being on vacation!  Along with my mother's patience and parenting wisdom. I'm so appreciative that both my parent's and my in-laws are always welcoming us. We are very lucky.