ONE!

Little L is the Big 1… I can hardly believe it! I am reminded how it felt like we waited for-EVER for him to be born, and now that he’s here, time is flying by faster than I ever imagined. I am afraid to blink for fear of missing some of the new things he is learning.  It seems like just yesterday that I was making this phone call announcing his arrival...

Lately, he is becoming quite the daredevil. He’s been climbing on things and standing up as if to say, “Look, Ma, no hands!” He just learned how to back down the stairs, climb onto furniture and stand up in his high-chair or in the shopping cart (even though he is strapped in!)

With the recently warm weather, he loves playing outside, so this summer is sure to be an adventure!

He loves music, so he’ll start singing or dancing along after hearing only the first couple of beats to a song. At my cousin’s wedding dance, he perfected fist-pumping and disco-danced with his index finger.

L.T. [as his daddy calls him, which is short for “Little Tiny”] is not so tiny anymore! He is in a big-boy car-seat facing forward and making faces at us in the car. No more bottles for this boy; only sippy cups.

His vocabulary is ever-expanding. He says "Mama," "Dada," “ha” for hi, “Ba” for Barney the dog, "up," and more words every day.  He points at things and says “hot” and even blows on his food. After saying “I love you” he sweetly repeats “la-Lah-la!”

He loves to read, so he says “boooook” in a really low voice and comes over to sit in your lap. We’ve been working on animal noises, so he barks like a dog and moooo’s like a cow in that same deep tone.

He gives the cutest hugs and kisses. He grunts when he gets really excited, like when he sees animals or when we arrive at daycare to see his friends.

He learns by mimicking. He’ll copy a person who coughs, applies lip balm, waves, dances, wipes something off, laughs, puts socks & shoes on, and I’m sure he copies more that I don’t even notice!

Even though he is a wild child, he can be so cute when he cuddles with us before bedtime and snuggles in with his blanket.  That's my boy.

It's all in a name

Lately, I've been making these...

Please let me know if you would like me to make you one.  They also make excellent wedding gifts!

What does an Interior Designer do on a farm?!

You may have noticed that in interest of privacy, I am fairly vague when it comes to describing people and places on this blog. I’m not saying that I do everything right in regards to security, I’m just saying that I do what I can. With that in mind, I hope that my story has the same impact as it would if this were a “full-disclosure” type of forum.


Ever since we got married, I had been commuting two hours to the Big City to work a couple days at a retail flooring & cabinetry showroom. I would then drive home and spend the remainder of the week working from home and meeting with clients “up north.” Since the beginning of this arrangement 3+ years ago, I have grown my clientele through advertising and referrals and was still able to be considered a full-time employee with the perks of a part-timer.

There were some benefits: I had an accommodating employer and knowledgeable coworkers; I got to see my parents every week and they got to see the baby; I was available to help with small tasks on the farm; I was able to have the occasional lunch date with friends; and we had wonderful day care.

But there were some drawbacks. Some major ones. The biggest drawback was not being home every night. I felt awful being away from my husband and L’s daddy for a good chunk of the week. And during the winter months, Murphy’s Law set in causing it to storm on the days when I had to drive. (Okay, I’m exaggerating, but it sure felt that way to me!)

So, when the timing was right and everything fell into place, I started a new job closer to home. My commute is half the previous distance, which means the baby and I can be home every night. Woohoo!

I now work at a beautiful interior design and decorating showroom in a town that is convenient for my current and future local clientele. We offer all types of flooring, cabinetry, countertops, window treatments, paint, glass, furniture, hot tubs, exterior siding, windows & gutters as well as installation and design services. I still spend a few days in the showroom and am available to make house calls.

This move was the next step towards the “big picture.” My long-term goal is to first and foremost be a mom and wife, but also have a home-based design business. When the timing is right for our family, those plans will come to fruition.

In the meantime, if you have an upcoming project in mind, I would love to offer my assistance and expertise. And, as always, thanks for reading.

New Year’s Resolutions

[I’m not really sure why I am publishing this for all to see. I suppose it is to insure that I will be accountable for my goals, because, like my grandpa once said, “It sure is easy to cheat while playing solitaire.”]

I have learned that goals are supposed to be challenging and realistic and specific and have definite time frames in which you want to accomplish them. I also know that I am not perfect and I will mess up, but the best I can do is try.

-Lose weight. Really original, right? ;) I have a plan of action, so check back with me in a month if you care to know how I did. At that time, we’ll be in sunny-swimsuit-season California celebrating J’s sister’s wedding.

-Drink more water. It sounds so easy, but it’s one of those things that I know I should have been doing all along and have failed miserably. So far this year, I am off to a good start on this one.

-Think before I speak. So much is said about a person by their actions and words. I want my words to help portray the type of person that I want to be and strive to be.

-Keep my house clean. It’s so much easier to stay on top of things when I don’t let them go completely awry.  It’s all about upkeep…..and a baby that puts anything he finds on the floor in his mouth :)

-Forget about controlling people or situations, and instead, influence people and situations with my example.

-Grow my business closer to home so I have more time to spend with my family.  Stay tuned for more information on this one...  Yay!

Like I said in my disclaimer above, I can only try to do my best and be accountable for myself.  And you have my permission to laugh at with me if I do not succeed.

Make 2011 a good one!

Happy New Year!

With the start of this fresh new year, a fresh blanket of snow covers the entire region.  And when I say "blanket," I mean more like a mattress, or a 3-foot high stack of king-sized down comforters.   The blizzard left our family of three snowed-in for days.  It was wonderful.  Just us spending time together, with nothing that we had to do because it was a holiday and nothing that we could do because we were trapped in the house. 

To make our New Year's Eve a little more special, I wanted to make this creation found on the back of a Wheat Thins box:

Here is what mine looked like:



Not quite as pretty as the original, is it?  So, after getting discouraged and over-analyzing the recipe's picture (Either those are really big almonds or they did not use the entire cheese-spinach-ball mixture in their photo, and if the latter is true, then they should have spelled that out in the recipe!) I ended up covering the entire ball with what was left of my almonds and decided it was just as nice and delicious. 

Happy New Year!  I hope your celebration was just as fun as ours.  2010 was a great year for our household, so I'm sure 2011 will be even better!

By the way, is it "New Year's Eve" with an apostrophe or "New Years Eve?"  I would consider myself fairly good at spelling and punctuation, but when I googled this (or "IHOP-ed it" like my uncle says, which I imagine is a combination of the names of technological advances such as IPod, laptop and YouTube) I found both ways listed.  So, I apologize if I am wrong with my use -or lack of- apostrophes.

Christmas Around the World

This Christmas Eve, we decided to celebrate a little differently by each of us drawing the name of a country and bringing a dish to share from that selected nation.  Some made an adventure out of purchasing ingredients for their dish, and it was fun to make recipes that we’ve never prepared before.  We all wondered what each other would bring, and when everyone arrived we ended up with an entire spread of colorful, delicious courses and an array of crockpots.

Our meal consisted of:

A German sauerkraut-like dish dubbed “Rice Rolls”

Lutefisk with mashed potatoes, white gravy and melted butter from Norway

Corn salad with cilantro, guacamole with festive chips, and daiquiris from Mexico

Different types of sushi with wasabi and ginger and shrimp-flavored crackers that looked like a combination of French fries and Cheetos from Japan

French onion soup and wine from France

P. F. Chang’s lettuce wraps to represent China

Italian Bruschetta, ravioli, and Olive Garden salad

Venison cleverly disguised in Swedish meatballs to represent both Native America and Sweden

And Thai chicken and vegetables in peanut sauce from Thailand.

We were all impressed with and overstuffed from our delicious smorgasbord. There is even talk of making it an annual tradition… but you never know what we might come up with next year!

Housekeeping is like stringing beads on a string with no knot.

Amen to that.