Up here in the land of perpetual rain, the grass grows really fast. So fast in fact, that if I had a free minute, I could probably stand out in the yard and actually see it get longer.
When we lived in Southern California, we had a gardener who took care of our yard. Growing up my Dad had such bad allergies that caused trouble after doing yard work so it was just not an option for him to mow the lawn. When we got married, we rented apartments and small homes and had a gardener then too. It was an affordable option in that area and was very nice to have.
Fast forward to a move up to the Pacific Northwest where the prices for a gardener are double or triple, take my salary out of our budget and add a few kids . . . a gardener was no longer possible.
So now what? We’ll just take care of it ourselves. My husband can go out and mow the lawn in all his free time!
Tom was happy to do it, but with very long hours and a wife and small kids at home, it wasn’t always easy to fit it into the schedule and grass grows really fast up here! (Did I already mention that?) (more…)
My quest to figure out how to clean a chef coat began many years ago. I call it a quest, because I have searched high and low, used every search engine possible, to figure this out. On this journey (which you can read more about here), I found the most amazing line of products that I’m totally obsessed with.
This discovery started with an invitation to a home party. I usually decline these invitations, but hey, I clean something every day. I figured I would check it out. While I wouldn’t say I LOVE cleaning or laundry, I would definitely say I LOVE a clean house and clean clothes. (more…)
This might not be a surprise, but there are many meals or snacks we eat at restaurants. And when I say restaurants, I mean a pretend restaurant created by one or more children in our home. I guess that really should not be a surprise to me since they see Daddy go off to a restaurant everyday.
I am really not sure what sparks the idea in their little minds to all of a sudden feel the need to do this, but this morning was one of those times. (more…)
“Everything I do at work, I do for the future of our family. You know that, right?” This was my favorite part of the conversation with my husband this morning.
Finding quality time together is never easy with a chef’s long hours and having 3 kids. Late at night when he comes home, really is not the best time for a deep conversation or for us to vent all our frustrations from the day at each other. I’m burned out and fried from a long day as a Mom and he’s exhausted from working since o’dark hundred in the morning.
So conversations happen at random moments, whenever there is time and a bit of quiet (early in the morning, laying in bed, in the car on the way to work, in the bathroom while brushing our teeth, etc.)
My chef/husband’s long commute into work was our time to talk this morning.
I started blogging back when scrapbooking became difficult because of small children. I wanted to have a way to remember things that were going on in our lives without having to worry about my 2 year old injuring herself with one of my many scrapbooking supplies. While our family blog has been an off and on ordeal, we all enjoy looking back at previous posts to see things we’ve done. Sometimes, I write posts to myself so I’ll look back and remember something. This is one of those posts.
This morning I decided to deactivate my personal Facebook account. This is not easy for me as I am a very social person and love to know what’s going on in people’s lives. However, everyone’s life looks perfect on Facebook. I know it’s not, but when I’m sitting at home browsing through my newsfeed, it’s hard not to think how amazing everyone else’s life is and I am jealous at times. My life is not horrible. It could just be that I’m depressed and it’s December (and I’m married to a chef, remember? We haven’t seen my husband in a while. The girls and I are out doing fun things, but miss him terribly!!) God has blessed me more than I could ever deserve, but I already struggle with contentment and Facebook makes it even harder. (more…)
