Keepin' it real

You'll be starting to notice a few changes around here. Gone is the old FIMBY and in it's place is what you see. (Of course if you're stumbling upon this post sometime in the future, say spring 2011, you're probably looking at something altogether different yet again).

This was not quite what I had wanted to present when unveiling my new blog theme. That statement is not at all a reflection of disappointment with all the work Damien has put in behind the scenes. I was just hoping to have more creative energy and personal time to get the look and feel "just right" and then publish it with much fanfare (my own to be sure).

But you know, life just doesn't work that way. And when I started to consider how long it would take me to get this space exactly as I envision it I started to get discouraged (I still am discouraged), so instead I decided to leap and fix it up as I go. Always a difficult thing for me to do.

house in process but still beautiful in the light

This blog is like my home. It's tidy but it's not finished yet. It's not everything I hope and plan for it to be. It's a work in progress, just like me.

I really enjoy publishing on this blog the simple, beautiful and put-together parts of my life. When real life is messy, tiring and sometimes disappointing this space is pretty, clean and well crafted.

But really, my life is just one giant work in progress. Full of projects, big and small, that are on the go:

• renovating our dining room
• learning to make homemade toothpaste
• educating our children
• de-cluttering the girl's room
• simplifying our household possessions
• making plans for a summer of hiking, camping and backpacking
• finishing the guest/sewing room
• becoming a better photographer
• re-organizing our blogs
• growing in my faith
• loving my family and friends
• writing blogs and (someday) book(s)

Some of these are discreet projects that yield a finished product though most are on-going, slow but steady wins the race type of endeavors. That's why I love writing blog posts and making this space look pretty and clean. It's one thing in my life I can wrap up and package. Done.

taking a break from a hike in process

But right now it's not done. It's simply another work in progress which is growing my patience. Have I mentioned before I don't like the difficult life work of becoming more patient?

After writing that I was almost out of toothpaste and going to have to start making my own very soon I found just one more tube of Tom's in the cupboard.

Then my parents visited last week and stole it when they left. Actually they didn't steal it, they mistook it for their own and went home with one extra. No matter, I was happy to give them a tube of their favorite paste.

That was just the push I needed to start concocting my own. And I don't use that word concocting lightly.

Based on everything you've all shared with me and my own research I'm mixing essential oils, coconut oil, baking soda, green mash and vodka. Coming up with... you don't want to know.

It's a process and when I stumble upon a recipe that works for us I'll share it with you. But right now I'm using my family as toothpaste guinea pigs. And what a wonderful family they are to put up with me. Even though Celine said earlier this week between top and bottom brushing, "Tis my fate to live with a mother who makes herbal toothpaste."

I'm tired of writing three sentence-ish posts. I made the rule to keep my on-line time in check during these last couple hectic weeks of February but I'm almost through the worst of it and I'm ready to break the rule a little early. My blog, my rules. I can break them.

After our fabulous weekend together backpacking, hiking and camping in a log cabin together my parents came to our house for a work visit. My mom brought the hat that she finished knitting me for "Christmas". I love it! I chose the yarn and pattern. A new hat for me, made to order. I feel so loved.

During this week while mom and I manage the home and kids together (she does laundry, helps cook and has even done a little sewing for Damien - she rocks!) my father has been working at an amazing pace to paint the girl's room and attend to other home maintenance miscellanea. Give that man a tool and watch out. Dad's a builder by profession so my home is in good hands, the best.

The bedroom is almost done. The guys are out with the kids tonight picking a pale pink for one wall (we finally caved to Brienne's request) in an otherwise celery sprig green room. I hope to show complete before and after pics sometime later. Later when all this mess is cleaned up...

Last year around this time I wrote a guest post for Small Notebook titled Three Steps to Less Clutter in Kid's Rooms. Ha!! Removing all the junk from under Brienne's bed and closet and seeing it piled up in every other bedroom has shown me I am woefully remiss in following my own advice. My bad. I thought I was on top of it, I really did.

The upstairs floor of our house with our three bedrooms is a disaster zone right now and it literally pains me to think about going through all that "stuff" before putting back together the girls room. But part of me also looks forward to it; to give the girls a "new" bedroom with fresh green (and one pink) walls and cleaned-out toy and creative bins in time for spring.

So, all in all things are well. This hectic month of tenant upheaval, sickness (which I am all recovered from, thanks for asking), winter camping, home renovations and Laurent's 9th birthday is almost through. I'm so enjoying having my parents here. They are staying for Laurent's birthday and my mom has even offered to bake the cakes.

It's all very good. Very good indeed.