Book List for Spring Cleaning

For those of you who actually do "spring cleaning," I bow to you AND I have a list of really good reads for you to listen to while you clean. Do you use Audible?? It's brought my reading game back to life after years of just not having time to read a real book, sitting down. I listen to books while I do the dishes, while I fold laundry, tidy up, etc. etc. I even took a bath this morning instead of a shower, just so I could squeeze out another chapter before I got to business.

So here's the list. These are mostly fiction and recent reads in my queue on Audible. I will do a separate post on my favorite non-fiction, which is mostly parenting books...

1. Kate Morton.

I read them all in a matter of weeks. Her diction is inspiring and would give me a running list of words to look up and try to start using during the day...those few times I converse with adults. Her characters are real and intriguing and stay with you. Her plots keep you hanging on until the very end. I would start with the Secret Keeper, then read the Lake House. Your house will sparkle once you get your hands on these books.

2. Sue Monk Kidd

Sue Monk Kidd's writing fills me up. There are times I have to pause and just let the words sink in, they are so so good. The Invention of Wings is a historical fiction about two sisters and their pioneering roles in the abolition and women's rights movements. AND the narrator on Audible is phenomenal. The main character, Sarah, has a stutter, and it is read so perfectly. It moved me.

 And just in case you haven't read it, Secret Life of Bees is her masterpiece, in my opinion. She's just an author you can trust. She will take you on a journey every time.

3. A Thousand Miles to Freedom

See, sometimes I read non-fiction. I love Eunsun's voice, her strength, her optimism and honesty. Her story should be read by all.

4.

I didn't love it in the beginning, but then I got drawn right in. You will soon see that I am always drawn in to World Ward II historical fiction. Gets me every time.

5. All the Light We Cannot See

You've probably heard of this one because it's a must read. I will admit, I had to start it twice because it took a while to get into, but once you're in the water, this one will change you. His writing is incredible--a whole different level. Absolutely magnificent.

6. Girl on the Train

Wow. This was my first "thriller"-- like, ever. There's the F word a bit and other stuff that's not for the faint-hearted, but it kept me guessing the entire time. I have yet to find another like it, because most thrillers like this tend to have sex or other inappropriate schtuff in it too. 

But I still recommend this one.

7. The Kitchen House

Also not for the light-hearted but WOW. I loved it. I haven't read her second book yet, which is a sequel to this one. Great character development.

8. America's First Daughter

LOVED this book. I loved learning more about Thomas Jefferson and his family. The two female authors draw almost all of their material from letters that Jefferson wrote, practically every day of his life. It's beautiful.

9. From Sand and Ash

This book was romantic, historically accurate and informative, and the narration is like a drug (makes me wish I was Italian). It's about a jewish woman who falls in love with a Catholic Priest. 

Love, family, loyalty, humanity. It's all here.

However, I was SO embarrassed when I went to see what other books Amy Harmon has written--because really her writing was so good--and saw that she's pretty much a romance novelist. My husband could not stop laughing at me when I read one of her first novels out loud: 

Prom Night in Purgatory. 

WHAT?

10. Elizabeth Smart: My Story

This sure isn't an easy one to read, but there was an underlying strength and power throughout the entire story that left me feeling so inspired. She is such an example of optimism and courage.

Ok, now YOUR turn. Send me some good reads!!

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Best of the #likeaninja posts

Hellooooo ladies. How was your summer? I tend to take a few months off at a time, but I'm ready to dive back into the blogging world this fall. I love having the chance to connect with all of you. Are you following me on Instagram? Not to sound pushy, but you SHOULD. Because it's in the day to day stuff that we can relate to each other and I try to post the REAL LIFE stuff on my feed, just in case you also have dried spit up on your shirt and can't remember the last time you took a "shave your legs" kind of shower. We're in this together. In fact, a few weeks ago, I started a #likeaninja tag and asked some of my followers to share the "little things" that they did that day that probably went unnoticed, but merited an applause. Here was my post:

I've just had one of those weeks that humbled me to the dirt. I know there is no woman out there who has a clean house, happy kids, and balanced hormones all at the same time, but it's easy to think there is. We all make daily efforts in our homes that often get little or no credit. So, to bring light to those efforts, I want to see if you'll share something you did today, #likeaninja. For example, today I scheduled 15 minutes of clean-up WITH my kids before we dove into the fun stuff. Cleaning with my kids is hard for me, but I did it anyway #likeaninja.

Okay, so my ninja moment that day was kinda lame, but you get the idea. Here were some of my favorite responses:

Eserenity7: "Today I cut both of my older kids hair for the new school year, #likeaninja. I've never done that before but I feel accomplished that I did a great job and saved us some money at the same time!"

dmjones5: "It may not seem like much but I got two loads of laundry done and was able to get the two year old to take a nap without being in the car, #likeaninja."

jennavela: "Oh sister. Husband is out of town and I rallied the troops and took them to a state park. At one point, I had one kid in the stroller, another in the underneath of the stroller, and another on my shoulders. I was sweating and pushing uphill. It was #likeaninja status. Then I successfully bathed all three, fed them a hearty delicious dinner, and only had one freak out moment. We can do this."

lisadegraff: "I took both kids to three different quilt stores looking for some fabric AND I didn't yell once. I usually avoid running errands with them because I am a wimp, but today I did it #likeaninja.

aballard: "I had Cheetos and a Coke for breakfast. #nailedit"

juliannlaw: "Today started with an email saying I didn't get a job I wanted. After moping for a while, I got up and cleaned under my desk (can you guess where I had my pity party?). There are still piles on and around my desk, but beneath it is clean. Then I went outside and directed my anger at a wasp nest #likeaninja because one of them got my four year old yesterday. #vengeancefeelsgood #mamagrizzly

kelseytay: "I had a babysitter coming in two hours and my house was a disaster (I'm weird; I like my house semi dent before I have a babysitter over). Instead of cleaning I played with my kids in the backyard for an hour and a half and then turbo cleaned #likeaninja for the half hour before my babysitter got there. Swinging with my kids and jumping of the tramp was my favorite part of the day and I'm glad I chose to let go of the cleaning and enjoy my kids!

And the WINNER is....

karaspringsmith: "Today I braved taking all three children to the pool for the first time on my own. Jumped in the water with my clothes on to save my three year old that couldn't touch, and I managed to put away the laundry that has been sitting in the basket for four days, #likeaninja."

I had to share these. We are ninjas! And most of the time our amazingness goes unrecognized. So give yourself a pat on the back today for the big (and little) victories you achieved by doing your best as "mom." If you have any more ninja moments, please do share. I will personally applaud each one of you.

Happy Tuesday.

Confession

I feel guilty. A few days ago I wrote about how I want to connect with other women out there who graciously read my blog. With that said, I posted a big whammy of a post about family economy and dumped my most awesome photos of our kids smiling next to their chore charts and our little family "banck." I'm not saying that good ideas should not be shared, but there wasn't a lot of connecting going on in that post.

And if any of you had a day yesterday like I had today--you know, where I tried to play with my kids in the back yard until they were fighting over the favorite bike and who got to throw the ball and yelling my name over and over so I finally ran inside, locked the back door and watched them through the window while I watched Parenthood on Netflix and drank the closest thing I can have right now to sugar (a smoothie with lots of cocoa powder, probably NOT Whole30 approved, but I'm not looking it up)--THAT kind of day--well, then I don't blame you if you threw up on your computer screen after reading about our cute little micro economy.

Motherhood involves the best of times and the worst of times. But I often post the pretty stuff because it's there often and it feels good to share it. We need to be able to share with others the awesome stuff we do every day as moms. We deserve to have an outlet for that and feed each other uplifting comments. At the same time, I feel the need to be REAL and share the not so pretty stuff with you too.
Like how sometimes I want more. I get bored. I feel stuck, trapped, lonely, and under-stimulated. I got so excited this morning about an activity for the letter "U" that I left the kids with my husband, who was working, and went to the Idaho Map Supply store. I bought everything I could find for the state of Utah. I came home with a huge BOX full of new paint, bee stickers, a state flag, a U.S. flag, a road map of Utah, a state coloring book, and even a Utah state puzzle. I chatted excitedly with my husband about my plan to frame this gigantic map of Utah in our front room and have a picture of our van that moves to all the places we'll go see in Utah this summer. He smiled, eyed the puzzle, and said, "Sounds great. I hope this stuff was cheap."

It was like I was on drugs. I had provided Idaho Map Supply with their biggest sale of the day and I hadn't even put a bra on yet.  I cut out some brown construction paper in the shape of Utah and we decorated them with bees and seagulls and sego lilies. I set out some honey for them to taste and found a plastic bee on our stairs (kismet) that I named Buzz and he asked them questions about what we'd learned about Utah history from our library book. I took pictures. I felt smart. (Did you know that our state animal is the Rocky Mountain Elk? Did you know the pioneers ate Sego Lily bulbs when food was scarce? I know these things now).

As I pinned our states to the wall, I felt good. I taught my children something new. I was present. We had giggled a little bit. It wasn't anything big by the world's standard--or really anyone's standard--but I felt in that moment that I was magnifying my role as a mom because I was putting forth effort.

It was only a few hours later that I was hiding inside instead of joining my kids in the yard and jumping into a hot bath during the fifteen minutes my husband was home. I burst into tears after he left and I was faced with a poopy two year old with a dirt-stained apple in his hands, a fussy baby, an inquisitive and repetitive three year old, and two other kids in the mix there. I might have cried while I changed Ed's diaper. I might have cried again when I tried to nurse my baby and my milk didn't come in again, as it does with all my babies at about this time, although I'm denying it.

I share all this because I know at some level you can relate with me. And we shouldn't feel alone on days like these because we've all been there. If all we show are the rainbows in our lives, they don't mean as much as they would if we'd sat through the rain together.

And I did get a little rainbow at the end of my evening. I pulled that inquisitive and repetitive three year old out of her bed to join us in the big girls' room and we read a book together. As I was reading with Ellie in my lap and my two older girls on either side of me, Charlotte started scratching my back, just like I often do to her. Then they got to tickle me for raising my voice at bedtime and I got to squeeze Ellie's legs and arms and say "squish."

I don't have a side business that is popular and I don't get invited to speak at cool conventions or share my talents with people abroad. I don't have a lot of followers on my blog and I don't make any money for posting my ideas.  The age of my daily audience does not exceed the age of seven, but I believe that I am the perfect match for my kids, as you are for yours. I can be a little crazy and feel the need to break OUT of my house sometimes, but I am so glad I chose to be a stay-at-home mom. No matter my talents, my popularity, or my income--my kids want ME. And I want to give my best version of me to them.

That's why I write on this blog. Keeps me centered and sane. I'm human and imperfect and I'll never try to convince you otherwise. Social media has it's masks, but I also think it's a wonderful way to share those not-so-pretty drenched in the rain moments that lead to our most memorable rainbows.

(That metaphor is cheesy, but I kind of love it.)

 (Eloise flipped her state over:)

Deliberate mothering

I recently taught a workshop on family systems for Power of Moms at my house. There were eight of us moms with 25 kids between us all, the majority of which are under the age of seven. We started out by talking about discipline and systems that work with younger kids. By the end of the night, the discussion started to turn away from our children and their needs to--well, us. Depression was brought up, then some other words entered the conversation such as isolation, anger, guilt, and loneliness. We shared thoughts and insights, ended on a high and parted ways. One mom stayed and chatted with me for a while in my living room and when I opened the door to let her out, I noticed that all but one of the women who had attended the workshop were still standing in front of my house, talking. Connecting.

I, like all of you reading this, am a busy woman. I almost decided at the beginning of this year that I'm too busy with all the demands of motherhood and life to keep up with this blog. But after that workshop, I realized that I am a better mother when I connect with other mothers. There is nothing more powerful to me than hearing a friend say, "Me too." And so, with that said, I will be sharing more of my life on this blog than I have been. Not because I want to show off my awesome activities with my kids (because they ARE awesome), but because I want to connect with YOU.

A few weeks ago, I re-connected with a dear friend, Jackie Larson, who is one of the most talented photographers I know. I met her ten years ago while serving a mission in Antioch, California and recently had the chance to visit her and her family. While I was there, she pulled out her camera and took some shots of me and my Jane.

I love that Jackie caught this little moment because Jane seems to stare at me more than any of my babies, as if she's studying me. (I hope I pass.)

Good to know I have a bald spot. Ha.

Jackie recently posted this quote on her Facebook page: 

"There is no way to be a PERFECT mother, but a million ways to be a GOOD one." -Unknown

Jackie posts on her blog a series called "My A.B.C. life" every Friday where she recaps the week with beautiful photos. If you are ever in the Bay area, hire her. If you like to take pictures of your kids, go to her blog for inspiration. It is beautiful. I like that she captures the moment as it is and doesn't try to make it look perfect.

Here's to a perfectly imperfect week.

 

Nesting Ninja Powers

By the end of spring, I was ready to set fire to my house. I really love old homes, but I was so tired of our endless list of pending projects. And the musty smell. And my textured walls, etc.

I decided it was probably time to get to work since I was starting to burst into tears every time I walked into the kitchen. And luckily for me, I was entering the NINJA phase of my pregnancy when nesting instincts come alive! Here's what we managed to accomplish in the past few months:

After years of having a huge patch of drywall mud on our living room wall that I had hidden with frames (it had covered water damage, we didn't have the matching paint, excuse, excuse, excuse), we hired a cheap crew to come in and smooth out our walls and repaint the front room. It isn't perfect because that texture was tough to smooth out, but it is SO much better.

 Long story behind this picture, but I'll cut to the chase: I can be a pill. The date for our crew to come in and smooth out our walls had been delayed twice. TWICE. I was going insane. I finally let the kids paint wherever they wanted in that room to give my husband a subtle kick in the behind to get this project moving. He responded with a kind but brutally honest email that I should be patient and chill out. He sent this email right before leaving for an evening church meeting, leaving me alone at bedtime with all the kids. That's when I broke out the non-washable paint, and added some quotes from his email to our walls. Just to let him know that his words had really sunk in.

I know, I know.

 There's the drywall patch. Outlined with sarcasm. When David came home that night, I thought he'd be mad. Instead, he thought it was funny. He thought it was even funnier that I had almost cut off my thumb as I angrily pried open the black acrylic paint with a butter knife. But he did say that if I had done this earlier, he would have invited all of our friends over for dinner.

Luckily the crew did show up just a few days later and in between their work, we decided to chip away at the fireplace. We are so happy we took the risk! The brick underneath is beautiful.

 Before...

 With walls smoothed and painted in BM's Linen White.
 

And after!

It's not quite finished yet, but to me it feels like a new room. I'm so grateful for those smooth walls.

We also traded in our fabric sofa and loveseat for a leather couch. 

We'll see how well it wears with our little ones. I'm thrilled that it's wipe-able!

Next I attacked my office space, which is just off the kitchen. It had become a catch-all for our mail and papers and junk, and I knew if I fixed it up, I would WANT to be more organized and pay our bills on time (right?).

 I forgot to take a before picture of this space. The chair was all white with silver legs and the fabric in the desk was a rusty red fabric with flowers. And there was nothing on the walls.

 I hung pictures of my kids' art and family pics and spray painted a magnet board and clip board I've had forever. I spray painted black and white stripes on my office chair and gutted my desk. Yes, yes, and yes.

 I love my DIY Les Touches peg board. Inspiration from Little Green Notebook HERE.

 

I love how much this chair stands out now! Taping it was a BEAST of a project, but after that it was easy. Inspiration from LGN of course.  Check out here tutorial HERE.

 

I fell in love with this fabric from L&S Fabrics. It almost has a marbled look with those bright colors.

And it doesn't end there folks. I talked my mother into coming to help, and she is equal to at least three of me. She gets things done. During the 2 1/2 days she was here, we painted my side entry hallway and three walls in my dining room. And then we wall-papered the fourth wall.
This was a first for both of us.

This time I did get a before shot! Belly and all.

 Halfway done, sometime around midnight, with my beautiful mother.
I bought the removable wall paper from Anthropologie that is literally like one giant sticker. It went on beautifully, but you have to be careful because it stretches easily and then the pattern is off. We had to peel it off and restart quite a few times. It took a lot of pep talks and chocolate to get us through the entire experience.

 I painted an old console that we've been using as our art cabinet in the dining room a bright cherry red. The color is actually called Safety Red from Home Depot, a favorite of Jenny's over at LGN.

 Before I painted it, I added some trim pieces on the front and sides to dress it up a bit.

(My first time using a miter box.)

 I added some brass pulls and voila!

 

 I had this lovely mirror that came with the girls' antique bedroom furniture, but we weren't using it. I spray painted it gold and hung it above the art cabinet.

 

 I still need to hunt down some curtains and decor (I'm thinking peacock blue Chinese vases?).  

I really want to recover my dining room chairs with a turquoise leather, but it's PRICEY.

And then the guest bathroom! I just decided last week to go ahead and use all of my leftover wall paper in this room and paint the linoleum floors.  Did I mention my pregnant ninja powers? They get stronger as I get further along...

 Here's the before. The wainescoting needed a good scrubbing and new paint. The walls were an olive green as was the antique mirror I hung in here long ago...Bleh.

 The mirror got a coat of Benjamin Moore's Galapagos Turquoise, which is a deep greenish blue (peacock blue) that I really love.

I literally used every last inch of my wall paper, so there are lots of imperfections and one tiny corner above that door that needs some improvisation (off-white paint and a gold paint pen is my plan), but it looks so much brighter in this little bathroom! There's something about those gold peonies that feels so fancy when you walk in.

 I was curious to see how painting over linoleum worked out, and so far it's holding up well. I found some tutorials on Pinterest if you're wanting more details, but the most important part was the sanding and de-glossing, both of which my stud of a husband did for me. Then I rolled on two coats of primer and two coats of Glidden's porch and floor paint in another Benjamin Moore color that is a beautiful dark moody gray.

    I should seal the floors, but I believe this is officially my last project and I'm DONE. We're planning on painting the linoleum in the kitchen as well, so I figure I can seal both floors when that time comes.

I've been wanting to sew a sink skirt for this old sink for so so long, but I tend to avoid anything that involves my sewing machine. I finally grit my teeth and went for it, using this burlap which is a breeze to work with. I think it turned out okay and I'm way too proud of that ruffle at the bottom. I simply hot-glued this baby right onto the sink! We'll see how well it holds.

We still need some more decor in here, but all in good time.

I'm grateful for our home, even if it still gets a musty old-house smell and the oven timer goes off randomly in the middle of the night. It's feeling a little too small for our growing family, but I love that my kids share their rooms and I can hear everything on both floors. Our old stairs creak loudly, but those creaks would easily wake me up if we ever had an intruder in the middle of the night and there's certain spots I can step on that are silent when babies are sleeping. I love how my kitchen window looks out on our back yard so I can watch the kids play in the yard. You have to body slam our front door to lock it, which means that our kids can't open it and go near the street on their own. Every now and then, a breeze comes in through our fireplace, bringing in the scent of firewood and wintery goodness. I have painted nearly every room in the house myself (pregnant every time), which means it's more mine than any other house I've lived in.

I know now that whenever I want to set fire to something, it is simply time to roll up my sleeves and pull out the paint. (No butter knives next time). I am sad to know that this is the last time I will be able to tap into my nesting ninja powers, but I'd say it was a great last hurrah.

Come any time now baby #5!