While the Cat's away....

This weekend has been really fun for me. So far all I have done is sew and make bows! I made a denim skirt from a pair of jeans, and light dress for the sticky summer months, 2 dresses for Maddelyn, and one dress for Julia. Plus I have worked on bows. Right now I am in the middle of sewing a new purse for myself. It is turning out so cute...you have no idea how excited I am about it! Why all the sewing? Well Evan is away for the week so it lets me loosen up a little bit on my schedule. My house isnt a total disaster...but if could be by the end of the week. I have lots of big plans to keep sewing here. I will post pictures soon.

More big news is that Julia is going to be getting glasses in the next couple weeks. She has a very strong(?) astigmatism in both eyes and is far sited in her left eye. So it makes for some big changes here. Evan and I both have glasses. So I knew that both of my kids would end up in glasses. But I did not expect her to need them this early in life. She is going to look super cute...but that is not the point.

Also I have a wedding coming up this weekend. I am pretty excited about it. They are doing a destination themed wedding so it will be 3 days of activities. Kind of a pain that Evan went out of town this week but I have made it work.

So while the cat is away the mice are playing in the Lunt household. Maddelyn said it best tonight..."the house is full of sewing, bow stuff, and craft stuff...I LIKE IT!"

A quick check in with us!

Everything is great here...super busy with the last week of school for M. She is now going to be a third grader! I can believe how big she is. I have been keeping up with my running, but not sure if I will get my 8 miler in tomorrow. I feel pretty crappy today. As for the cleaning...I have been staying up on it for the most part. I didnt get my list done but I have been productive. And I was even able to make some cute outfits for me and the girls! Plus a handy little thing that I will be using multiple times throughout the week.

So busy, busy, busy here!

Up Hill Both Ways

I was running up hill the other day and thought, "Oh good! This will be downhill on the way back." Coming back, at the same location, I thought; "Why does it feel like I am running up hill...this was suppose to be downhill!" And then I understood how it can feel like you are going up hill both ways.

The more that I ponder that statement the more it applies. As a mom I am always going up hill both ways. With laundry, cooking, cleaning, errands, it never really feels like I can coast down hill. There will always be something. It gets a little bit easier if you give your self the right tools and training...and then sometimes you will go downhill for a while. This week I wrote out a detailed schedule of things that I should accomplish. And things got done...this morning I thought that I could coast downhill for a bit. And it took a whole 5 minutes for someone to ask for underwear. The one thing that didnt get washed was my whites...and then I started climbing again.

So the next time someone, more experienced than myself, tells me that they walked up hill both ways...I will believe them. Because life is a up hill climb and if you are able to coast it wont be for long. Good luck everyone with the climb!

Will you marry me?

I was driving in my car the other morning and this is the conversation I had with Julia:

Me: Julia do you want a piece of gum?
Julia: Yes, and I am going to share it with Charley and Nicky.
Me: Oh no you cant give Nicky gum he is to little.
Julia: Mom! Nicky is the cutest boy in the whole world. I am going to marry him, kiss him, hug him, and share my gum with him!

That got me think...both of my girls have picked a boy that they want to marry at the young age of 3. And to this day Maddelyn still says that she is going to marry Zane. It will be interesting to see what happens but it made me laugh. My girls are very different but they seem to follow the same patterns. So just know that if you are interested in setting your sons up with my daughters, that they have some pretty serious competition. Even if the boys that they want to marry have no idea!

Work and Play

Today was a pretty good day. Half Marathon training went well today, I beat my fastest mile. Which isnt fast but it is getting there. And because we had Family Home Evening today I got to make these yummy cookies that I found on http://www.bakerella.com/. There are so many yummy recipes on there that I will have to try. But as for now I made these simple and yummy cookies. And they were yummy!

Of course I didnt just bake all day...that would have been nice. However, I do have my goal of cleaning and organizing my life. And I have not been on top of it lately. So I decided this week I would make a big push to get my downstairs done. Now my downstairs does not get a lot of traffic. I wish it got more, (because that is my photography studio) but it doesnt. So it is a dumping ground for my family. The blankets get dumped from the drive in. Kids laundry gets piled up down here because they dont have a desire to walk the four more steps to the laundry room. If you come in the downstairs door, just kick off your shoes anywhere downstairs. And then my craft stuff gets piled up down there too. So I decided to start working down here...and I got a good start on it...I think.

So this is what I started with. I have more pictures...but they are not uploading right now. So I cant show you how awesome it looks now. But I did get a lot of the floor done today. Hopefully I can post them soon.

Chore Charts

Maddelyn asked me today if she could start doing chores because she wants to fill up her piggy bank. I didnt grow up getting paid to do chores...I just had to do them...so it is hard for me to remember to pay them for the work that they do. I do think that money is a powerful influencing tool, and may be just what I need to get my girls to help out more. Of course then you have to find the balance of how much is too much (with chores and money). But I do think that it is an important thing to offer kids.

I think that maybe if I had been paid for my chores that I would know how to manage my money better. And that is one thing that I want my girls to know. I think every girl should know how to manage money, basic car maintenance, basic cooking skills, sewing skills, how to maintain a home, and be trained in a profession. Now I am not speaking from experience. I am still learning many of those things. But as a parent I want to better prepare my daughters. And as I learn now...it is helping me have the tools to teach them as they get to the appropriate ages.

So the chore list is made...I think. I believe that Maddelyn is old enough to take care of her dog. Feed, play, walk, clean up after, and so that is her number one job. Second she is responsible for maintaining her room; making her bed, cleaning, bringing down her laundry. Third, clearing the table. (Which will help me keep up with the dishes...I hope) And the I added some personal care items that I think she could be better at. So all in all it looks like a long list but I dont thing that it is unreasonable. She will be 8 years old this July...so she should be able to manage these tasks, and not all of them are every day.

Julia's list is more focused on the personal care aspects of things. Right now she needs to learn how to take care of her body and so that is what is mainly on her list. She also has cleaning her room, less push on the bed and laundry for her...those are things I will help with. And then she is also responsible for setting the table. She really enjoys doing that one and that makes me happy that she likes helping out. So maybe I have a head start with her...because she didnt ask for money!

So does this apply to my goal of organizing my life? I think so. I think that if I can get my kids on board that I will have less of a struggle with getting the everyday things done. And maybe I will be able to tackle my laundry room before my anniversary!

Can I sit down now?

So I have officially started training for a half marathon run. Yikes! I have picked the race, set my schedule and started following it. So far so good...but I was really excited about today being my rest day. I have learned that there will be no rest day for me!

Today was crazy! And that is probably my fault...if I had checked my calender yesterday I would have shown up at the correct time for Julia's Dr. apt. Instead it was rescheduled for today. And this was an appointment that I had to go too. A month ago...Julia got a spider bite. Well it never really went away and turned into a staff infection. So we had to go and get it popped today. (see picture...not fun) We waited and waited to see the Dr. He had a Med student today so we spent extra time explaining everything to everyone and then he finally punctured it and sent us on our way.

Straight from that I went grocery shopping. I have a great routine set up with a friend of mine that we drive to Butler Pa where the Giant Eagle there has an Eagles Nest. Dropped the kids off...shopped...rushed home (so that we were home for the kids) and then rushed to dance. Meanwhile, I have dishes in my sink, stuff on my living room floor, and a messy bed. Not to mention all of the other messes around the house and laundry piling up! Rush home from dance and start on the dishes...make cold cereal for dinner (not the plan but too tired to cook). Switch the laundry and then sit down. Awwww....now I cant get up. It would be really nice to have some house elves right about now...or a live in masseuse. I would take either!