my pink life, mi vida rosada

1. Sweet hubby is having a resurgence of back pain and anxiety, which has led him to be home more days than he normally would, and has him dangerously close to exhausting his allotted sick days well before the year ends.  For me, this means a huge increase in childcare and house-care duties during times those duties would normally be shared, along with more restricted "after hours" movement.  (Like, nope, can't go out with friends or to special events, because what if "the baby" cries and needs to be picked up out of the crib?)  He's started physical therapy with a new-to-him practice that is much more holistic in approach than where he went last year, and he's scheduled an appointment with a counselor.  His mom is waiting (and waiting) to have an MRI, which will determine the timing of her brain tumor removal surgery, which is *probably* one of the leading causes of sweet hubby's anxiety right now, combined with fear that his back will do debilitati...

School has been back in session for three weeks now, and I'm trying to get myself into some good routines and habits.  It's going ok. I'm eating a tiny bit better, maybe?  More salad, less dessert?  I am keeping up with couch to 5K -- 3 weeks done, a race chosen at the end of March (not registered yet, because I do have 3 small kids and their schedules and needs to consider, too, but I've got reminders in my calendar of when the last chance to register with the discount and the t-shirt is). I cleaned out one area in my house each day the first week everyone else was back at school.  Last week and this week, I did not.  I already can't remember why I gave myself a pass last week, but this week, it was because of the field trip and the beach trip combined with the day off school on Monday.  I gave myself permission not to try to catch up on the cleaning out today, since I spent all of Wednesday and Thursday unpacking, laundering, dishwashing, and deci...

It was a productive week! I managed to finish "the baby's" quiet book.  (He's a little over age 2, but he's MY baby, so....) There are imperfections on every page, and I'm fine with that.  My main hope is that this little book will be used and loved, whether it helps him sit quietly in church or not. I wouldn't be sad if it got kept in good enough condition for him to eventually share it with his own kids, if he has kids in the far off future. So, here are a few pictures....   The cover is made from this beautiful elephant print, which was, once upon a time, a pair of (too small for me) boxers.  I think it makes an excellent looking book. The book closes with a magnetic snap -- which is, so far, the only part that has interested "the baby."  That's ok -- he will have plenty of opportunities to explore and use this book.  We have a couple of chickens in our back yard.  "The baby" loves to look for eggs, so he gets ...

New year, same me: But the goals piece really didn't start until Jan. 6, the first day the family was back in school and I was back in a quiet house. Accomplished so far this week: 1. mending: sleep sack zipper (totally essential for "the baby" so he won't climb out of his crib!) 2. mending: sweet hubby's PJs 3. Quiet book page 1: dinosaur with button on plates? scales? spiky things? 4. Baby toy removal from toy boxes in den 5. Girl's shoes sizes 7-9 removed from all the places 6. Dress-up clothes organized and purged 7. pocket-book cleaned out and switched over 8. bedroom bookcase re-organized 9. Sister/Mom shopping trip in another city 10. cooking and eating REAL FOOD on weeknights, with VEGETABLES 11. began the Couch-to-5k workout series.  Stairs are tough right now.  I expect it to improve over the next several weeks, as I learn how to move my body through space again.

Well... probably mostly the same goal -- Get it done. So here's a current picture of my "projects to do" board. The notes on the bottom are completed projects, big and small.  One sticky note holds "monogram hairbow" and another reads "reupholster 2 chairs" -- full spectrum for size and scope of projects....but a visual reminder to me of how much I have actually managed to physically create this year.  The notes on the top are projects still waiting for their turn to be completed; pink notes are from 2019 and orange were added to the board today. I'm considering taking the completed pinks off the board (it is a new year, after all)....but I might leave them up there and just tack the completed notes from this year on top and in between.  We'll see as the year progresses -- I'm not ready for that decision today.  So my big goals in the craft room this year are: 1. Reupholster the love seat. This one has been on the list for a w...