2013 Color of the Year

I can't wait to incorporate this 2013 Pantone Color of the Year into my Project Life album!

Here are the CMYK color values that I am using in my Project Life album this year:

Emerald 80-10-55-0

Dusk Blue 50-15-8-0

Tender Shoots 30-1-88-0

Grayed Jade 42-2-34-0

Lemon Zest 2-9-75-0

Linen 2-11-20-0

Monaco Blue 99-79-27-12

Poppy Red 0-94-88-0

Nectarine 0-55-75-0

I'm envisioning some nice color combinations in my designs... 

likely using Monaco Blue, Emerald and Tender Shoots.

HOME... NOW, THEN and WHEN?

The sky is clear and the snow sparkles, resembling glitter, with the bright sunlight. It looks like a beautiful day, but LOOKS can be deceiving. The Local on the 8's reports a sub-zero windchill and the morning temperature fell into single digits. Our home, built in 1896, has plastic on many of the windows during the winter season and we KNOW that plastic is doing SOME good for us because we can hear it move as the winds blow outside. 

A Polartec fleece jacket is part of my "mom uniform" most days, as well as my red Polartec slippers (that Mike likes to steal, pretending not to know WHERE his are at... or pretending "to warm them for me"). I must admit that there ARE days that I don't get out of my pajamas at all; it's NOT all that uncommon, really. (The boys don't seem to mind one bit either; in fact, 3-year old Sydney protests getting dressed on non-schooldays quite often, insisting on wearing his snuggly, warm jammies instead. I think he WOULD enjoy wearing jammies to school, in fact.)

The thermostat is set warmer because we are home nearly all the time and we don't want the kids to get cold. We joke that 70° often still feels COLD, but sometimes 72° feels too warm; wondering if - like the story of the Three Bears - if 71° would feel "just right"?

I'm not sure HOW or WHY it happens, but it seemed that there was always "a SMELL" to Grandma's upstairs and attic space. The closet in our office, that houses all of my hanging clothes, has that similar "old house smell".

Business in the bathroom is kept brief as the toilet seat gets quite cold if the door is kept closed in the tiny room that shares TWO outside walls. The upstairs bathroom, also sharing two outside walls, but a little bit warmer than downstairs, pours rusty brown water into the whirlpool tub EVERY TIME it is turned on and it isn't uncommon to have a few tiny rust chunks laying in the bottom of the tub when you take a bath.

Having lived in two "newer homes" in my adult life, I miss the warmth, new windows and energy efficiency of those homes. Although, the character of older homes IS missing from new(er) homes; character and charm that can't be beat. Our house boasts 5-panel wooden doors, a beautiful wooden banister and solid wood upstairs railing in the hallway, as well as hardwood floors throughout much of the main floor. (Features you pay dearly for in new homes.)

I find myself wondering WHERE we'll move to next. What will the housing market look like in our new destination? Affordable? Expensive? Will our next house be OLD or NEW? Will we be able to paint our front door RED? Will there be a deck or a patio for eating outside? Will we have a fenced yard for the kids to play? Will there be a small hill to sled down OR the perfect tree to build a tree house? Will the house have french doors? (A feature that I have ALWAYS admired, but never had in a house.) Will it have an eat-in kitchen or just a dining room, like what we have now? Will we have a finished basement where the kids can play so that our living room isn't filled with toys and books? Will the boys continue to share a bedroom? Will we have a PLAY ROOM? Will I have an "office" for my neglected crafting supplies? Will Mike have "a man cave" so that he can proudly hang his mounted deer head, as well as his fishing pictures on the wall? Will we be close(r) to any of our family or friends?

Mike recently saw pictures of the latest HGTV Dream Green Home and declared "I would LOVE to live in that house! It is a gorgeous home!!!" (Wondering IF he'll ever log in for his chance to win it? Entries start TOMORROW, I think.) After viewing the home online, I admit that I would LOVE to live in that house as well; except for the fact that we'd have NO JOBS in that area, nor would be near our families.

I remain hopeful that WHEN it is time to sell our house, that it sells quickly so that we can join Mike in his new(est) career move. Whenever and wherever it is, we're sure to have an adventure together as a family...

Wiser with reading, happier too

Between reading "The Happiness Project" and "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus", I have become happier and wiser.

Last night, as I was going to bed, I called Mike (at work) and asked him to "put your lunchbox dishes in the dishwasher and turn it on when you get home; it looks like there is almost enough for a full load."

"I can probably do that."

I asked him "Do you want me to put the soap in it now so that it is ready... or do YOU want to do it?"

"No. Just leave the soap sit out so that it reminds me to do it."

I agreed, left the kitchen (CLEAN) and went off to bed.

This morning, when I woke, I discovered there were dirty dishes ALL OVER THE COUNTER and in the sink, but the soap had, in fact, been put away. I checked the dishwasher to see if it had been run. (YES, it had!)

Shaking my head, I recalled the conversation... put your LUNCHBOX DISHES into the dishwasher. Ah, yes.... I never specified "your lunch box dishes and whatever dishes you dirty after you get home from work so that our kitchen STAYS CLEAN!" ... Silly me.

I wondered WHY in the world would he have not loaded the rest of the dishes, too - so that EVERYTHING was clean in the morning... especially since there was plenty of room in the dishwasher BUT, because I have become a better person in my reading, I knew NOT TO NAG or be critical about it. Instead, after he woke up, I announced "Thanks for running the dishwasher for me!"

"Yeah, it was real hard." he announced.
(In the penile language, I think that translated to: You're welcome.)

 A short while later, I could hear the clanking of dishes being unloaded from the dishwasher. (It is HIS agreed upon job to unload, but I do it the majority of the time because I am home and because it is much easier to do it myself than to wait for him to do it. I really DO, however, appreciate it each time that HE unloads it.

Surprisingly, all of the dishes from last night (and my chai tea mug from this morning) had been re-loaded into the newly-emptied dishwasher.

Redemption.

Thanks, honey! I'll try to keep the kitchen clean during the day so that we can (hopefully) enjoy a clean kitchen tonight after you get home from work. And maybe... JUST MAYBE.... the playpen full of clean laundry will be folded and put away, too. But now, I have to move on to picking up toys and cleaning toilets...

I have an AWESOME HUSBAND

I have an AWESOME HUSBAND!

He was FANTASTIC throughout our household's recent stomach bug. (I didn't think that puking kids would be his cup of tea.)

Tonight, when he couldn't hook up our new dishwasher, he offered to help me handwash all of our dirty dishes. Of course, I took him up on that offer because I don't normally get help cleaning up the kitchen. I know he really didn't WANT TO, but he did it. He washed, I dried. We made a great team! I have an AWESOME HUSBAND!

:)

Frustration

I am growing frustrated.

With clutter.

With never-ending housework.

With messes that only I seem to be able to notice.

With half-finished jobs.

After reading "The Happiness Project" I adjusted my outlook. I stopped WAITING for things to get done and also tried to stop nagging. I am finding that it is easier to do things myself; I only wish I had more free time. (I'm starting to feel like I need to re-read Happiness Project, since my feelings of frustration, anger and resentment are coming back.)

I was frustrated when coffee grounds were spilled all over the counter (and floor) and were not wiped up; I was told "I thought you would clean that when you clean up the rest of the kitchen counters".

Last night, I cleaned up almost all of the mess in the kitchen. I left a pile of cast iron skillets, a pasta strainer and a sippy cup by the sink to be washed. I informed hubby that I left a few things there for HIM to wash.

I have an entire playpen FULL of laundry to fold right now. On Monday alone, I washed SEVEN LOADS (after taking Sunday off from laundry.) I would like to get at the clean laundry, but ONCE AGAIN I am unloading the dishwasher (which was long ago agreed that it is NOT my job), hand washing the dishes that did NOT get done, sweeping the mess off the floor, taking out the trash, refilling the toilet paper and handsoap, etc, etc, etc. (along with picking up toys, books, etc) and caring for our children.

I am frustrated that I was the butt of a joke when I called to ask "Do you remember if we needed more baby forks or baby spoons?" and was told "You know, if you would WASH THE DISHES, we wouldn't need to buy more." while hearing snickering from the audience at work. (I ALMOST hung up. I was MAD! And I am NOT one who "gets mad".)

The truth is: I do A LOT of frickin' work and am getting angry that it goes unappreciated and un-noticed.... all. the. time!

WE haven't done this, WE don't use that

Last week, I discovered that the inside of the fridge smelled. (Really, really awful!) Upon further review, I found a ziploc bag of ham slices had leaked all over the bottom shelf of the fridge - leaving a sticky mess. Then, I saw (through the plastic veggie drawer) that there was a puddle UNDER the drawer. NICE.

So, I cleaned it all up... grudgingly, wiping everything in the bottom 2/3 of the fridge off.

I later informed Mike of my discovery and hinted - by NOT placing blame - that "we need to do a better job of making sure the ziploc bags are sealed".

"It was probably time to wipe it all out anyways!" he announced. "We've never done that before and we've lived here long enough that it probably should have been done already."

I gave him the dirtiest look, I'm sure.

"We haven't done it before, have we?" he quizzed with apprehension in his voice.

"WE," I announced while pointing to my own chest, towards him and back to my own chest again "have NOT cleaned out the fridge before. You are right, in that, WE have NOT done it! I, however, have done it many a times already!"

"I'm pretty sure I know what leaked into the bottom of the fridge" he proudly announced later that day while holding up a pyrex dish of canned asparagus "because THIS used to have liquid in it and it was tipped over on the top shelf."

In retrospect, I am wondering if WE took the time to wipe off that top shelf after the newest discovery.

• • • • •

Yesterday, at the grocery store, while searching for a Comet or Ajax-type scrubber for the kitchen sink, I realized that I needed to pick up a new bottle of JetDry - recalling that I had just thrown the empty bottle into the recycle bin last week.

"What are you doing?" Mike asked, puzzled. "WE don't use that!"

Huffing, and likely rolling my eyes in despair, I snapped "Yes, we DO use that!" and threw it into the shopping cart - despite his protest.

"No, we don't. Since when? I've never seen you use that before." he stammered.

"We've been using it for months, maybe a year! There's probably still an empty bottle in our recycle bin right now." I pointed out. Clearly HE doesn't take the recyclables out to the bin OR use the cleaning agents stored under the kitchen sink.

• • • • •

As I recall, from long, long ago... Mike does NOT like to use the word WE, yet somehow, somewhere along the line, he has converted to use the word WE.

He used to hate when I would ask "Where do WE want to go eat? What do WE want for supper?" He would clarify, arguing like a lawyer through excessive loopholes, that HE only knew what "he" would like to eat and that he did not know what "WE" would care to eat. He'd go on to say that he didn't know what "WE" would like and that it is "hard to ask WE what WE think WE should do".

Somehow, I have now become annoyed with WE, especially when WE aren't giving credit when credit is due. Perhaps, I need to pat myself on the back for taking good care of the house and kids. Yeah, that'd be nice.