Entries from July 2009 ↓

   I seldom take the time to do anything just for myself. It’s sad but true. Sunday I decided that ‘Carrie Time’ was long over-due and now was the time. I love to craft. I’m by no means good at it, but that doesn’t stop me.

   I’ve been wanting to create sillouhettes of our family for a long time now. I even had the supplies to do it. So that was the project I decided to tackle.

   I spent the afternoon ignoring the mess in the house and creating an even bigger one but I am so, so pleased with the results!

You found a blank envelope in your bathroom window sill (open window — screen closed but actual window open) and opened it up to find a folded $100 bill.

You didn’t put it there (because you have mac memory, you know this), your close friends and family swear on a stack of Bibles that they didn’t put it there.

It’s not damp from the rain that has been blowing through the screen the past few days, so it was put there recently.

Do you smile because free money is great?

Or do you totally freak that someone was in your house while you weren’t? (And why would they put money in a bathroom window?!)

   I’m a little bit anxiety stricken at times (as if you couldn’t tell, being a reader of my blog and all…). One of my quirks (by the way, isn’t quirk just a cute way of saying bizarre and inexplicable behaviour) is that I hate to drive places alone. I mean traveling around town is fine and dandy but I even get a teensey bit nervous when we’re going the hour away to go shopping to the place I’ve been a thousand times before. I know my way around and it’s not like I’m going to get lost or anything. I just don’t enjoy it. I do enjoy the shopping experience and I don’t even mind the kids alone — it’s the whole driving and maneuvering around thing. I just don’t like it much and it’s strange because before I became a mom, I was never this way before. I’m not sure what changed but I don’t like it much.

   In my ongoing garbage saga (It costs an arm and a leg per bag here to do curb-side pickup so we started taking it to the dump. Well, most of it. I get rid of the ‘yucky’ garbage once a week but I save all the rest for the dump. I rinse off any packaging that I can to make it non-yucky), I decided that it was pointless for my husband to waste a perfectly good Saturday morning going to the dump once a month when there were a million other things things that he could do that I couldn’t. So I decided I would start going to the dump myself. I have no idea why but it gave me a little bit of anxiety. It’s a 30 minute drive, I have to drive up on a scale, then back into this fence thing up to the big truck that holds garbage. People do it all of the time with no casualties. But it made me nervous. I conquered that fear, however, and it worked out fine. Tomorrow I will make another dump run. (I pre-loaded my van tonight with a mountain of garbage. It looks like a homeless person is living in there with all the bags. I will barely be able to see the kids’ heads tomorrow on the way. Too bad we have to go to swimming lessons first. ha)

  So, as I was saying, the anxiety. My parents live an hour from here. It’s easier for them to come here with the whole traveling with kids is a pain in the neck thing.  My husband gets home so late at night that we can’t make evening trips and weekends always seem so full. So anyway, I’d been saying during nicer weather I was going to take a trip there once a month during the day. It’s the middle of July (I refuse to say the end of July) and I haven’t done it yet. So today after swimming lessons we went. The trip over was uneventful. The kids had a great time, as did my mom. The way home was crazy though. Forest begged to listen to his Science CD’s. It’s a 4 pack with one CD about each of the topics: Space, Insects, The Ocean and Dinosaurs. It’s basically facts and ideas set to music but seriously, seriously! the corniest music I’ve ever heard. It’s ear plug quality. But Forest adores it. So I put it in. Then it starts raining. The kind when the heavens open up and just start dumping bucket loads of water on you. Right before I put the CD in, the radio gave the big BEEEEEEP alarm and warned that it was a flash flood warning. That kind of rain. So Fancy starts screaming because of the noise, fragile soul that she is, and Warrior is just screaming for food, like he always does, and Forest just freaks. “Are you SURE you know where we’re going? Are you REALLY SURE? Because this doesn’t look like it used to!”. As the rain is just pouring down on us. I of course had decided to take a short-cut that included a dirt road and we’re falling into these mammoth potholes filled with water. All the while the CD is signing “SPACE COLONIES! WE’LL BUILD A HOME UP IN THE SKY! SPACE COLONIES - WHERE THERE’S ROOM FOR YOU AND I! SPACE COLONIES - A SOLUTION THAT MIGHT WORK!”. It was at that very moment that I seriously just stopped and looked at myself and thought “Am I living in a freaking circus?!?”. And then I started to laugh. And laugh. And laugh some more. It’s the moments like this that I’m goign to miss someday, I just know it. When I have to drive to the dump all alone and I’m not packing garbage around kids and my car is all void of “SPACE COLONIES - THERE’S TOO MANY OF US HERE! SPACE COLONIES - WHERE THERE’S ROOM FOR YOU AND I! Oh well, I seriously don’t care if I AM contributing to over population (or if I believe in such a thing). I feel good and my heart feels full. Each moment is a blessing.

  Oh, and we got home safe and sound. No white knuckles. No panic attacks. There might be a 3 year old still awake in his bed though, because he took a nap on the way home.

Not many people get the opportunity to start out with a ‘blank slate’ house — meaning new construction or a completely remodeled- to- your- taste home.  Most of us start with a slate that’s already had someone working on it prior to us moving into the picture. Things like wall color are pretty easy to change, but cabinets, flooring, sink fixtures, etc. can lead to more expense than most people want to incur, so  we have to work around, or rather, with, those things. They shape the way we decorate. This happens especially when you’re renting, not, buying.  It also happens when, like in our case, we have hand-me-down furniture.

Currently my living room is in, what I would consider, more of a classic style. ( Although instead of end-tables and coffee tables, we have toys for accessory furniture. ) I work with the style because it’s what has already been started for us. I don’t really mind it either. BUT, if I could choose my own picture, wipe my slate clean and money were no issue, I know it would all be a lot different.

First, I think I’d swing a bit more towards modern. The truth is, I love retro. But isn’t retro considered a modern idea, anymore? (I have no idea, since I’m not a real decorator. I just make up stuff that sounds right in my head.) I would like a nice mix of modern and vintage. I’ve always wanted a piece of red furniture. Not all red furniture but just one piece to ‘pop’. Like this wombat chair, for example:

I love the clean look of it. It’s appealing to the eye. I just like it.

I’m not sure what other things I’d get to go with it, but sometimes I just like to sit back and dream. In my dreams, my rooms always change and evolve.  Who knows, someday if I find the right sale or have a house that I can redecorate, maybe I’ll really do, so I want to get it just right.

If you could re-decorate your house, would you leave it the same, or totally change styles?

I’m a nerdy frugalite; come July, I’m starting to think that Christmas is only 6 months away. To get the best deals, I need to keep my eyes peeled.  This year and next, my Christmas budget is signifigantly decreased on account of my husband being a full-time student. So it’s more important than ever to watch for deals so I can get the kids a few things that they specifically want. Like the Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf game for the Wii, which my husband and son really want. (This game actually sounds interesting to even me! It sounds very in depth and realistic — real-time weather reports actually effect game play on the game! If the golf course you’re playing on Wii is having high winds in real life, your game is then also windy!) Right now the game is on sale at buy.com.

I do have a few toys for Fancy saved away that I’ve found for inexpensive. I’m not sure what to get Warrior — he’s my toughest kid. He doesn’t pine away for things he wants like Forest does, and the things he does like aren’t usually very main-stream. So it definitely makes sense to keep my opens open all year long.