Living on the Funny Farm

I thought life was a little on the cuh-razy side when we were attacking some reno's in this here abode while I was nine million months pregnant - until I stopped and realized what was actually coming out of my mouth today.

A little before. I have photos of the process, but I'll spare you the details.

Ripping apart this bedroom, to spray foam insulation in and finding a GIANT bird's nest in the ceiling, a table hockey game, multiple vintage board games and an old wallpaper sample book from the 40's was nothing.

Thanks to Alyssa Penner out of Drayton Valley, Alberta,  for the photos. She took time out of her visit with her sister to come and take pictures of our wild prairie children. I don't know if we were more than she bargained for when she was led to the loft of the barn.

Pulling up the carpet- sanding, sanding, filling every single crack in the original hardwood, sanding, and sanding some more 'till I was praying the sander would blow up, was not crazy.

We put new dry wall up and painted the walls a very boring tan. I thought anything could go up on the walls to spruce the place up.

What was a little on the unbalanced side was when I actually said to my two year old, "Do not rope your sister," in a calm manner. I didn't realize that this is not your normal everyday conversation.  Complete with blue ribbon out of my sewing cupboard, she looked up at me and said, "catch Momma?"

My favorite part of this room a few weeks ago was the floor. I think the sheer amount of effort that went into it, made me want to kiss it sometimes. Now my favorite part of the room is that baby in the crate. No, it is not her bed for the night.

Mercy law, send in the troops.

Just Hangin'

I love the look of little old fashioned clothes hangers but couldn't find them anywhere when I had my first daughter. The closet in her room doesn't have any doors, so everything is exposed to the world-good or bad. I painted up a bunch of pink hangers so everything looks a little more uniform and tidy.

I also made a whole pile of vintage, western hangers to take to some Ag trade shows I sold my goodies at. I have a bunch of hangers left over and are in my stash that I sell from home. If you are local and need a baby gift and a trip to the city is out of the question, come on by, there are shelves full of unique gifts.  If you are looking for old fashioned baby hangers-I'll hook you up.

Ish

I'm posting photos that have nothing to do with this post because today is the kind of day I'm letting myself surrender to a 'whatever' sort of attitude.

Frightened?! Watch me!

If you were to walk into this humble abode, you would possibly find a momma in such a relaxed  state of mind that you would want to just fall asleep in my presence. I have turned over a new leaf, ladies. I am conciously making the decision not to be too stressed over things. That wound up ball of, must get the floor vacuumed nine trillion times a day, has been chucked out the door.

I had company over last Wednesday and considered scrapping my list of to do things for the morning to prepare for these chiquitas coming over. That left me feeling a bit like a sandwhich without bread. I still made my list and when my husband saw it the night before, he laughed at my 'start cider-9:45 (ish.)'

I thought I should get a pat on the back for placing the 'ish' on the end.

The unfortunate part was the cider was prepped by 8:25 AM and I watched the clock and didn't turn the stove on until 9:46, just to be a person of calm.

I'd like to be the kind of mom who could possibly feed on demand, let their kids run willy nilly once in awhile, and for seuth not be irked when the house is run amuck. The sad side of things is for a personality like mine, you would expect things to be perfect in this home, but alas the kids are rangy tangy, things are a bit loony, and sometimes when I fold laundry there are more pairs of jammies than clothes. I'm just trying not be so worked up over it and am realizing you have to be flexible in this motherhood gig or you might be on the road to losing your marbles.

I can happily say the transition to two has been one of the smoothest and happiest times in my life. I would have enough kids to create my own sports team, if my husband and I weren't ancient of days and pregnancy wasn't just so plain nasty.

The key in it all is to be a cool cat and to just relax your bones. Somehow I am missing that key, because it wasn't labelled, organized and put away in the right spot. If you find it, let me know, otherwise you'll probably still hear my two year old following behind me scrubbing floors saying, "eew, sick," just like her momma.

Out on the Prairie

It's Kids Day in Russia around here again.

The enthusiasm from every childhood Christmas is encompassed in a  Fisher Price Kitchen that some dear friends have lent us for our little girls to play with. We chuckled over the fact that those little girls would shout out the plastic window above the sink, "whoo hoo, supper time!" Hoping this might encourage my daughter's domesitc skills and waiting for the day she might shout out the window, "come for supper," I was sadly mistaken.

Listening to this wild little prairie girl play happily at her kitchen first thing in the morning, I hear her shout out the window of that kitchen, "I SEE 'EM! I see coyotoes! Get 'em!" Biting my lip, I peaked out her window that faces directly against the wall, "I don't see anything." Seconds later she shouts out again, "It's a badger, get a gun!" Egads! Keep this kid away from fish and feathers. This little lady doesn't know a thing about a fancy zoo that has giraffes and elephants, but she'll gladly tell you about a red tailed hawk, deer, and yes ladies, a badger.

Relaying this story to my Momma, she commented how this little hungabee will be talking crazy talk on her first day of Kindergarten. I reminded her that I volunteered for a few years in our little local school's kindergarten and I had absolutely no concerns. Consistenly on the first day of school, there was some little boy who would pee out in the playpark during recess and we would have to explain that this isn't the farm and they needed to ask to go in to the bathroom.

 Oh, livin out on the prairie...