December 30, 2013

Oh Hey Look It's The End of the Year

Here's to looking forward.

To say I haven't really paid much attention to the calendar this year is a bit of an understatement.

I woke up this morning and my first thought was "Eww. Monday." My second thought was "Oh hey Ben's still on vacation!" My third thought was "And the garage is torn up, so I don't have to do laundry today! Score!"

And then I realized that today it's the eve of New Year's eve.

I don't know about you, but I'm a so very much ready for this stupid horrible year to be over.

2013 has been full of stress, and pain, and depression, and irritation. There have been times this year that I really wasn't sure I could keep going, times I didn't even want to, and I'm just ready for it to be done and over with and move on.



Usually by this time of year I've got everything in order. I've usually reflected on the year, gotten my new goals and resolutions listed, I've gotten the year's files and things organized and ready to put away, etc.

This year?


Pffffffffffffffftttttttt.

I got up and I got dressed this morning. That makes it a good day.

One of the hardest things about this past year was watching myself slip away. My "I can handle everything, everything is in it's place, I know what we're having for dinner, what the kids are wearing, all my chores are handled. I'm freaking June Cleaver." attitude just up and disappeared somewhere around the beginning of the year.

I can't seem to keep anything together anymore. I'm lucky if I can plan for one meal in a week.

I'm so ready for this to be over. I'm really hoping that 2014 brings the return of my mojo.

I am attempting to get my house moderately clean today and tomorrow so that the New Year doesn't start off with a messy house. We'll see how well that goes.



One good and exciting thing from the past week - My sister announced what she's having on Christmas day.

She's having TWIN baby girls!! Apparently having twins our first time around is a new family tradition. I am SUPER excited about that, so 2014 is already looking a bit brighter.

I don't have a list of goals to share with you. I haven't even thought of anything.

Sure, there are things I'd like to do, or am hoping to do, but nothing that I feel I should really write down.

I feel I might rename the blog again.

Bumblewood will be growing. I'm very busy on that front. There will be new goodies, new scents, lots of fun things going on.

Knitting has almost stopped all together, so I don't see much on that front aside from finishing some requested stockings.

I'm sure the garden will be up and down this year.



But as for me, and home, I think my goals are to just:

- Not be as stressed.
- Not be as depressed.
- Be more patient.

Ok. That sounds like a good list.

I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed, amazing 2014.

Happy New Year!!
Meg

November 27, 2013

Thankful



Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and I have a moment at the computer to write a post, I wanted to make a list of the things I am thankful for this year.

I am Thankful...

... For my husband, who works so hard to provide for us, and for my boys who are a constant source of entertainment and joy.

... For the fact that those boys might fight and scream and yell at each other, but I always find them together playing or reading. They love each other deeply, and I am so thankful for that.

... For the two distinctly different, but wonderful families that are a part of my life. To me there is no "his family" and "my family". It is all family, and I love them all dearly.

... For the new life that will be coming in May next year. My sister is pregnant! I am so excited I can hardly breathe sometimes.

... For the freedom we still have, no matter how frustrating it may seem sometimes. We still have a lot of freedoms and choices that many others do not have.

... For the wind storm we are having today. Hopefully it will turn into rain soon. :)

... For the blessing of friends past, present and future. I was greatly blessed the other day by someone who I haven't seen or talked to in years. I am so thankful for all the people who have come into my life, who are in it now, and who will come into it in the future.

... For always having food on the table, clothes on our backs, and always being provided for. God is good, and has always given us exactly what we needed.

... For the hard times we have gone through and made it out the other side alive and intact. Of course, I'm not usually thankful in the midst of them. But hindsight is 20/20 and I am thankful to see the strength and blessings that come from those trials.

... For our little home, with our little lot, and our little garden.

... For all of you who visit this little space on the internet, who encourage, who laugh and cry with me, who say "I've been there, it's ok", or who just stop in to say hi. I'm so thankful for each and every one of you. 

Happy Thanksgiving friends! May your day (and weekend... and year!) be wonderful and filled with love and laughter.

Meg

November 21, 2013

From Under Cover







Guys...

Guys...

Guess what!!

We got RAIN!!

Sweet, glorious, beautiful, wonderful, soul healing RAIN!!

It started with a cloud burst around 6pm last night, trickled a little the rest of the evening, woke me up a few times early this morning, and then steadily lasted until about 11 this morning.

My entire being is happy beyond description!

I love rain so much, and it has been much too long since we've had a good rain (being as we live in a desert). We have a chance for more tomorrow and I desperately hope that it happens.

The boys spent the day playing in their rooms with blocks and things, and drawing pictures. I spent a good portion of the afternoon knitting a Christmas stocking and reading library books. Absolutely glorious!

I am trying to get everything ready this week for the Women's Dinner I will be vending on the 2nd. Since next week is for eating turkey. :) I am mixing up deodorants, lotions and lip balms tonight. And then the eternal quest to get everything labeled.

I just can't tell you how refreshed and happy I feel after getting so much wonderful rain!

Happy Friday!!
Meg


November 11, 2013

Are You My Mojo?



You know that children's book Are You My Mother? In the book mother bird leaves to go find food for her soon-to-be-hatched baby, but while she is gone is when he hatches. What follows is a long journey of him searching for his mother, going up to cats, dogs, chickens, even a back hoe, asking each one "Are you my mother?"

That's what I've felt like this year, searching for my mojo.



Somewhere along the line early this year I think I gave up on life. I stopped meal planning (which meant barely cooking and what I did cook was trash), I just about stopped cleaning, I pretty much stopped knitting, I stopped blogging (and interacting), I stopped doing the normal things I did. You know all those things I used to talk about that had you all fooled I had it together? Yeah. I didn't have it together this time.



I spent most of the summer battling some bouts of depression and trying to figure out why I wasn't "normal" anymore. It's been a long summer, filled with changes, working through pain and problems, looking at myself,  dealing with a lot of shit (sorry, best word I have for it), and still trying to make sure our home is a home and trying to pull together what little bit of myself I could to not let everything go to hell.



On top of all that, I've been working so hard to get Bumblewood launched and going, all by myself, late at night, which I think was actually good because it gave me a ... purpose. Something to keep me going and not let myself slip so far off the edge. (I hate to make this sound like my kids and my husband aren't a good enough "purpose", they are! and I love them all deeply, but I don't think I could really describe it to you unless you've been there...)



I think, I hope, I've finally figured out my problems and settled into the new me. I feel like I'm finally coming alive again. I feel like I'm finally walking out of the fog I've been in for months, like I finally care again.

Iron Man, Batman, Hulk, Black Widow, and Spider Man

Anyways, enough of my pity party.

It's been a busy summer, busy last couple of weeks since I posted.



Bumblewood did another show at the beginning of the month, this time at the American Heroes Car Show which raised funds for the Wounded Warriors foundation, Young Marines, and Soldier's Angels. I had a great time, launched a new line of all natural Deodorants, and was nestled next to a sweet friend who sells her amazing candles. It was a wonderful day!

We very sadly had to get rid of the puppy, Annie. She was just too rough with our little guys, nipping and jumping and plowing them over. They didn't know how to handle it, and they had just about stopped going outside because she was too rough. That on top of destroying absolutely everything in the backyard (including the rope bridge of their new fort).... It was too much. So we are pet-less again, and it will probably stay that way for awhile.

The soaps have gotten so popular in just a month that I had to order two more molds. I started this all with two little 3 lb molds, and I can barely keep up with demand. So I've ordered two 6 lb molds and that should hopefully be good for awhile. I just need more shelf space to hold all the soap. :)

There have been some very frustrating aspects of the business, but it's not really worth getting into and I'm trying to let it roll off my back. It's just surprising, and interesting, in a way. 

The boys are doing excellent in school! Jack is trying to read things on his own, sounding out words and making good guesses on the ones that are really big. Ty can read the words I give him, but isn't interested enough to do it on his own, so we won't push it too much and will wait until he shows more interest. I believe the best way to make a kid hate something and cause fights is to force them to do it, so we go with the flow around here.

They are all growing like weeds! And eating like dinosaurs. They have consumed so much food lately.

We have been sick twice in the last month. This is mostly my fault, and mostly to do with my issues and not cooking like normal. I stopped cooking all our meals from scratch, and we supplemented a lot with either fast food, or boxed food. And our immune systems paid for. So I'm determined to get back on track because being sick is not fun and I really don't have time for it.

I have a few Christmas orders for knitted items that I am working on. One is a set of head band ear warmers with flowers on them. They are really simple and really cute, and I am almost done with them. After that I have a set of stockings for a friend.

I'm sort of in limbo right now as I wait for supplies (totally not happy with the slow service of my suppliers right now) and printer ink. I can't make things, or label what I do have ready right now. I told that to Ben and he said "You mean you actually have to SIT DOWN and RELAX tonight?!?" Heehee. I said "Nope, I have to knit". ;)

Today, for the first time in months, I deep cleaned my entire house. Everything is absolutely spotless. I'm hoping it stays that way for at least the night. But I think I'm going to sleep good tonight, haha.

The wonderful Molly over at Molly Makes Do has sweetly offered me some free ad space on her side bar for a bit. If you don't read her blog already, you really need to. It is filled with family and faith and she has the best, most positive outlook on life, despite some hard times. Very strong woman, and I admire her greatly.

Well, I'm sure I've bored you enough and have definitely talked your ear/eyes off. So I'm off.

Happy Veteran's Day! Thank you to all who have and continue to serve!

Meg






October 15, 2013

Downtime..? Ha! So Here's a Quicky Update

I've been trying to write this for two days, but my time at the computer is few and far between these days. And when I do have it it's usually filled with business activities. But I'm scratching out these few minutes (I should be soaping! ) because I miss you guys!

My beautiful sister behind our display!

The Bumblewood launch at the CBC Craft Show this past Saturday was a great success!! I got to share the booth with my beautiful sister, who displayed her photography and booked shoots. I sold about a quarter of my inventory, which is so much greater than I could have expected!! I met so many new and lovely people, and I had so much fun I'm still coming down off the high. :D It was excellent!

The Bumblewood Etsy shop also went live this weekend! There you will find all of our current offerings (minus a few soaps I haven't gotten listed yet). So if you can't make it to a show be sure to find what you're looking for there!

I will be doing another show at the beginning of November called the American Heroes Car Show. It benefits the Wounded Heroes Fund and Soldier's Angels, and last year they raised over $4,000! I'm really excited to do this one! And thankfully I have the details worked out now as far as packing and prepping so hopefully it won't be quite as hectic. Be sure to follow Bumblewood on Facebook to get all the updates of what's going on and where I'll be!

We've had germs all over the house in the past week. The kids came down with head colds on Tuesday, and I of course got it hard Friday night. Thankfully a good night's sleep had me going strong on Saturday, only to be bombarded with the scratchy throat and snuffles again on Sunday and I am still fighting it now. Oh well. At least it skipped Saturday, which is all I prayed for!



I have been working on Christmas ornaments slowly as my down time allows, and a pair of fingerless gloves in my ever-favorite "Foliage" colorway which is a perfectly autumnal mix of oranges and yellows and browns. I'm hoping to have a few custom orders coming up pretty soon, just need to finalize details with the recipient.

I have a very large box full of some just ever-so-scrumptious processed fiber from Tombstone Livestock. It's just beautiful. I pull it out and pet it every now and then and my fingers itch to get it on on the wheel. Just a few more batches of soap to ready for the Car Show and then I'm spending quite a few nights with those lovely fleeces.

School has been going well, the boys are picking up in both reading and math. They had been struggling with numbers, and I had to all but throw out the way we were doing math because... Well I have boys. Boys don't do "sitting" work very well. So one day, in a moment of frustration and desperation, I just picked up a little white board we have and started drawing out long and loud and raucous scenarios involving dinosaurs, aliens, asteroids, birds, police cars, helicopters, cannons and all kinds of boyish things. There were explosions. There were people getting arrested. There were asteroids taking out alien space ships. And all the while I would ask them "ok how many X do we have now" after we added or subtracted from the story line. Ben had walked in as I was doing it and he said he's never heard them yell and giggle so much, especially not during school. And you know what? They've been picking up numbers and counting like crazy. Who says school has to be done from a book? :D

The weather has been amazing. We haven't had an honest October in years and years, but this year is cool and crisp and clear. I've been making soups and baking bread and my itch for autumn is slowly being scratched as the leaves start to turn and the temperature keeps dropping ever so slightly. We even had a very tiny patch of rain last week. Supposedly going to be a wet winter, which would be fantastic! My soul and the valley are both in need of it.

Alright, I really need to go soap. Tonight I'm making up a batch of my Lemongrass Scrub, which was a best seller at the show! It's great for getting the grunge off dirty, hard worked hands. Perfect for a show about cars! ;)

Happy Wednesday!
Meg

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...