Dilly, Dilly…

Finally… Finally the lavender is behind us. 
My family is incredibly grateful… 
We were finding little lavender buds, crunchy, everywhere. And though the house smelled completely amazing, I am glad the drying season is passed us. 
Have you ever taken on the task of such a thing? 
I had bought a bundle, once, from the Farmer’s Market for the soul purpose of drying to put in saches and body scrubs. But one little bundle was nothing compared to a basket full.  
 Nine times my dehydrator was beyond overflowing of these beautiful stems. yes, NINE. 
And when the seventh load revealed that we still had half a basket, I went to bundling them and hanging them throughout the house. By beds, on doors, strung across doorways… it was lavender central. 
Everyone’s help was eventually enlisted in destemming the dried buds. My finger tips were cut up and bruised.  
 I think poor Chw thought it would never end. 
Anyone who knows him, knows just how anal he is about the carpet. He and our dyson were having lots of bonding time for sure… 
Though Gen and I got into a good daily routine of drying, destemming and cleaning up- only to start again, the weary expressions of everyone looked much like this, near the end of the process… 
So glad it’s over. 
SO abundantly grateful for the lavender. 
Will I repeat the process next year? Absolutely! 

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A little post vacay nostalgia… Sort of…

I finally feel like recovery from California, (and the EVIL stomach virus of the vacation) is a possibility… I thought I’d take the opportunity to show you some souvenirs that I brought home. 
 gifts for the girls, of course…
 For the husband’s yummy saturday morning pancakes…
 Stocked up! yum! 
 Amanda’s favorite…

 For me. I’m selfish… 
 our little luxury of the trip… 
 the BEST cocoa, in my opinion. 
 DOUBLE YUM!!!
 hello, necessity… 
 the BEST Soy Sauce on the market…
 *swoon*
 Chw’s… 
 Eat your heart out, chips ahoy! 
 Gen…
 Nana…
 DIVINE snackability…
 I LOVE these silly fig bars… 
 hard to read, from the dumb flash, but these are Gorgonzola crackers, and let me just say: OH MY GOSH, these are FANTASTC! Amazing with cheese, amazing with hummus… just GOOD yumminess… 
 Pasta, gnocchi and more pasta… 
 i am selfish here and won’t share. this is my FAVORITE Salad dressing ever- turned on to it by a good, kind and generous friend!
 Chw’s… 
 Our hard working freezer bag which, in a cooler full of ice, did it’s job AWESOMELY Well for those 7 hours! 
 BEST Biryani I’ve ever had! 
 YUM!!! 
Even yummier… 
So bored yet? I’m sorry… i just love (and miss) Trader Joe’s so much. Everything you saw here, we bought multiple amounts of… We had a ridiculous amount of food, which filled up the back of my SUV and we only spent $178. It’s ridiculous… The things we got would last us 4-6 months… 
I am hoping to go back to TJ’s early in the fall to stock up on soups and a few more things. (LOVE their soups!) 
Are you a TJ’s shopper??? What are your favorite Trader Joe’s things? 
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Whipped…

While summer is this gloriously wonderful and sunshine filled (usually, anyway) time of laughter and happiness- every year I am reminded of how much summer kind of gets on my nerves a little.
And I mean, just a little… 
My routine is destroyed. It’s sad… 
The very idea of sticking to a meal plan feels about as feasible as swimming to Hawaii for a picnic. 
The laundry seems to pile up doubly fast, and the structured time to do it seems to have gone on vacation. 
And then, then there is the long Summer “To Do list” which seems impossible to complete.
As it is, school starts in less than a month…

Less than a month! 
For this “used to be” homeschooling mom, transitioning into a very early school morning schedule- I am already feeling that familiar chest constricting feeling of anxiety attacking me. 
So, even though I’m feeling completely exhausted and whipped by the crazy (but glorious) chaos of summer, I’m making a move to be pro-active. 
I am baby stepping my way to becoming that wife and mother who is up every day, before anyone else. {For those of you who already live this life- bless me, for those of you laughing hysterically- you’ll see!} This week I’ve started waking up at 5:30, every morning. My hope is to establish a routine for myself so that by the first day of next month, I’ll be mentally alert enough to start waking Gen, at the time she’ll need to be up to ready herself for school, and having home cooked breakfasts every morning. 
Well, it’s a lovely goal anyway… (she says, as she currently wakes around 9 and still only offers bagels or muffins with fruit for the morning meal… *sigh*)
I am optimistic that by this time next month I will be the morning person whom I have spent 35 years hoping I would be, and that, ala’ June Cleaver- my family will be happy, well adjusted, well fed and beautiful model citizens inspiring the world for generations to come. (but really over all, I’m being pretty realistic, don’t you think?) 
Any words of wisdom or advice? (PLEASE don’t say coffee… I’ve NEVER been a regular daily coffee drinker, but I am already having a mental romance with this guy, while also day dreaming of the possibilities of having this man in my life.) 
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WANTED: a home, please…

We didn’t come home to a welcome home banner or a beautiful balloon bouquet. Nope. Instead, we came home to our property management company announcing that our rental’s owner is short selling out from under us. Just dandy, isn’t it? With that bombshell of an announcement we are left unknowing if we still have a home, or for how long… 
Fan-flipping-tastic… 
I wanted to sit down and cry to them about how hard change is for my daughter. I wanted to paint pictures with great detail and imagery about how hard it’s going to be. I wanted to beg someone who mattered to please not sell, or to sell to someone who will continue to rent to us. (which is a possibility) 
Instead though, when my husband asked one simple question: how do we know what we are supposed to do if we have no idea how long we have? The property manager answered with: it isn’t just you, there are 8 other homes that are also short selling. Really? REALLY??? While we feel bad for the other families/people, the reality is it is our family we are concerned with… 
so much for a stressless rest of summer… 
Gosh, doesn’t it feel like we were just in a house mess? pfft… 
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Closetted Confessions…

Since Gen was at a Girl Scout retreat having fun over the weekend, Chw and I took the opportunity to get some much needed things taken care of. One being our master closet. Before it was just a little space used impractically. Our clothes were crapped together on one long rod and his shabby thrifted dresser (poor guy) was crammed at the back beside the shelves. The problem is, along with holding our clothes this is also the present hiding space, the “stuff taken away” holding space, the music instrument storage space, the pretend wii musical instrument storage space, the sheets and blankets space, the photography equipment storage space and probably something else I’ve failed to mention… 
In the mornings when Chw quietly gets ready for work, he had to dig through his dresser, crammed at the back of the closet. His hanging clothes were behind it, squished on the rod along with all of mine. To simply locate a pair of work jeans it was like a quest for Narnia for him- and really, who wants to start off every morning like that? 
SO, we moved his ugly dresser to the front of the closet and set up a rod for his clothes opposite mine. Now, his clothes are at the front of the closet and are super easy to get to. As we were working on it, I joked with my dear husband about blogging it and titling it “My husband is finally closer to coming out of the closet.” In all fairness, he was the first one to say “Look! I am working my way to coming out of the closet.” 
He’s so funny… 
But, as funny as he is, I’m not sure his laugh would have been entirely authentic had I actually titled the post that… 
hmm… Anyway, short of having a few divinely adorable baskets and canvas totes to hold things over the few ugly cardboard boxes I have things stored in- I’m really happy with it. There is more of a flow, which is a good thing for both of us… 
Plus! Added bonus: every time we go out he wears the same shirts because he can’t find most of his clothes… NO MORE! 
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