I'm Still Alive I Think

See, they can practically teach themselves while I run away to Mexico!



Things have been all shades of nuts lately but here are some quick updates.



Clementine is almost eight months old and I'm still acting like she's a newborn! I don't know if I'm just trying to soak up every minute of her babyhood because it's been so long since I've had a baby or what. All I know is I'm carrying her around every minute of the day, haven't ever left her for more than an hour or two, and do everything in my power to prevent her from crying. It may sound loving but it looks a lot like crazy. I'm very attached to her and she to me, even though I think we are driving each other insane. I really do think I need to start taking more time for myself though, so I'll work on that.



Homeschooling is probably best left to people who have no other option but to stay in their houses at all times while they are waiting to be transferred into witness protection. People will tell you how much fun they are having with their children all day and how the joy is just reigning down upon them - #blessed. Well, as Maury would say, the results are in and it has been determined that that is a lie! At least for our family. Homeschooling IS fun, about 10% of the time. The rest of the time it is a lot of work, my friends. I'm not even talking about the school portion. The actual schoolwork is hardly a problem at all and truly one of the best parts of it. The actual hard part is the having your kids around all day so that, in order to be alone (EVER) you need to hide in the bathroom with the doors locked, stuffing chocolate in your face. It's having your kids, who previously got along so well, start to be at each others' throats because of how much time they are now spending together. It's having to take them all grocery shopping. Every. Damn. Time. It's my house that is in such a state it could give the people on hoarders a run for their money. As an added bonus, I also get to listen to them have philosophical arguments all day, with titles such as Stop Looking at Me, Don't Look out my Car Window, I've Never Seen that Toy in my Life but All of a Sudden it's my Spirit Animal, and my personal favorite I'm Not Singing That Song About You I am Singing it To Myself. Needless to say, it's killing me. I will say that there has been some good in all this. I have been able to see Theo start to read and spell and the excitement that lights up his face when he realizes that. I have been able to spend deliberate time with them every single day. We have gotten to spend a lot of time with our fellow homeschooling friends and had many new experiences. We've read some great books, I was reminded that I should never ever go into anything involving math because its the worst, and we don't have many early mornings. I have also been able to get to know myself even better and confirm that I am indeed an introvert, who loves silence and cleanliness and organization. The jury is still out on whether all of that and my burning desire to torture myself are going to be enough to make me do this to myself again next year. I thought it was only fair to come clean so that all of you who thought I was losing it for attempting this experiment can feel really good about yourselves for being right and all those who are saying, "I don't know how Tara does it!" or pondering trying it for themselves can do so with eyes wide, wide open.



Someday soon I am going to get up the nerve to post a fitness update. My hesitation in making myself get up to take progress pictures should give you a good idea how it's going. It's going lazy. I have good spurts and then a day or two will go by where my workout just doesn't happen. Soon those days are weeks and here I am! Re-watching The OC like I'm twelve instead of squatting this butt into a shape that actually resembles a butt. At any rate, progress has been made, many pounds have been lost, and a new and exciting workout program has been found. More on that soon.



We're renovating our basement into an actual useable space. This means re-arranging my house a bit which is both thrilling and stressful. Pictures to come. I am more than overjoyed to have a place to shoo the lego, googly-eyed craft supplies and my children.



It's almost Christmas and for once in my entire life I can say that I have successfully finished all my shopping well in advance. This was mainly due to me realizing that online shopping is the greatest thing in the world. I just couldn't even with the actual mall this year. I basically step one foot in there, immediately feel overwhelmed, and start crying and blowing my nose on a stranger's sleeves. I thought I would do everyone a favor and stay home this year and I will never do it any other way! We have successfully forgotten to use our new Advent wreath every single night, my kids have those scandalous Advent calendars with actual chocolate in them, and we haven't made a single manger craft that wasn't arranged by someone else at a kid's program. So if you feel like an Advent failure, you're not alone. My cure is to stop pretending like it's going to happen and just accept that this is who I am. A big fat Advent failure who can read Christmas books, maybe make ornaments or bake cookies to give, send up some extra "HELP ME, GOD!" prayers and participate in the events the church is offering. Finally, I am ok with that and am a calmer mom for it. Feel free to stay off Pinterest and be an Advent failure along with me!



Well, I better go clean something so that someone can come and make a mess of it twenty-one seconds later!

A Baby Nook

I've been trying to listen to everyone who keeps telling me to relax about baby prep (actually, that's a lie. I've just gotten really good at smiling and saying mmhmmm while still going over my to-do list in my head). I knew though how fast this due date was going to sneak up on me and here we are, just over five weeks out. It's not that I'm one of those wishful delusional people that thinks I'm going to have the baby early or whatever. It's just that I don't want to be spending my last few uncomfortable weeks organizing blankets or waddling and sweating around the mall looking for the ever allusive perfect first outfit. Even running errands has gotten ridiculously frustrating because all I want to do is accomplish something but the amount of time it takes me to do anything is laughable. Can you tell I'm getting grumpy?

Anyway, this weekend I managed to actually complete a project I have been working on for way way too long now - the baby nook. After many a roadblock with the making of the mobile (damn it, overly-expensive Michaels! How can you not have double-sided gold paper?), among other things, I put the finishing touches on with the aid of my best friend that I always sucker into helping me.

As usual, when I started this project, I got too excited to remember to take any before pictures. Basically it was a closet with mirrored doors in a boring vanilla work-in-progress master bedroom. That's all.

We are reusing our old change table and to make that more interesting, I did a small knob upgrade which made a huge difference. We took the bulky top off eventually as well.

This before photo is of half the dresser because I had already replaced the knobs on the other drawer before I took the photo. I wasn't about to put those cheesy little animals back on, so this is what you get!

We are lucky to have a large master bedroom which was easily divided by one of my favorite and most versatile pieces of furniture - the Ikea expedit. We didn't know where we were going to put this when we turned the playroom into a bedroom but I was really excited about using it as a room divider and baby storage. I never know what to do with all the tiny socks and washcloths and such so the bin system works really well for me.











There you have it! Simple, calm, and pretty. I was really happy with how it came together. Matt was looking at it the other night and saying, "You know, we've never had a room to decorate for a baby." He was right! Every time we have had a newborn, there was some sort of weird circumstance that meant our baby got the ugly sad end of the stick (ie. a bassinet at the end of our bed. Oh the tragedy!) The baby won't have their own room for a while, on account of their siblings needing to be kept apart in their own rooms so that we can at least pretend to get sleep over here. It was a great feeling this time to prepare a space while we wait for this little one to arrive and undoubtedly have a poop explosion all over that nice white crib sheet.

Quick Entryway Update On the Cheap

I have had the itch to DIY something for a while because it's been way too long since my husband has had a call from me, saying I'm at Rona and asking him if he knows where the paintbrush is. He didn't. That didn't keep me down though! I grabbed a brush and asked the half-awake guy at the counter if it was smallest brush they had. He also didn't know. No matter. I found one. Next I went to Benjamin Moore, where I got eggshell and flat paint confused. The people who work there were the nicest in the world and acted like I wasn't a clueless moron, even when I told them that the big grand project I was doing was spots. Spots on the wall! They kept straight faces the entire time I tell you and sent me home with the black paint pot sample (eggshell!) that I was asking for.

So now you know just how much thought and careful planning went into the house project I'm about to reveal to you. Really precise stuff. I wanted dalmatian spots on my front entrance wall and I wanted them now, dammit! Wallpaper? Who has money for that! Stencils? What are those! I can freehand! I used to frequently accidentally watch ten seconds of those shows with artists painting, so I'm practically an expert. All I knew was that this boring situation had the be dealt with.

So, tiny hobby brush in hand, I went to work. Two minutes in, I was thinking how much longer this was going to take in reality than in my mind. In the end, it wasn't so bad! It took probably under an hour. Around the length of a Veggie Tales because that is not precisely what my kids were watching while I was doing this.

The final result? At first I wasn't sure because when you look at spots up-close for a while, your eyes kind of start to cross. However, when I stood back, I was really pleased. It looks pretty legit! And boy does it add a pop of interesting to the entrance.

Yes, you are getting the Instagram photo because I don't own a real camera and the actual photo was taken in the dark. Filters, yo.

So there you have it! Basically, a child could DIY if they really wanted to. Not that they should, which is exactly what I tried to explain to my kids when I saw their excitement at watching their mother break all the rules and paint on the wall. I'm sure I'll quickly regret not waiting until their bedtime.

I also wanted to say that the cost of this project was under $20! The impact was more than worth it. Even Matt was impressed, you guys. So go and paint spots on something! You (probably) won't regret it.