I’m sorry for the absence.  To be honest, I’m having a hard time managing my family, responsibilities, and all the things I want to accomplish.  Life is busy, which is exactly how I like it, but it causes things to slip through the cracks, like my blog and vacuuming all the dog hair out from under the furniture.  (If you visit, PLEASE do not look under the beds.)  Since I last posted, Cecilia turned two.  We spent the weekend celebrating, holding two parties, and hosting visitors.  It was a great time, and Cecilia really soaked it all in.  She’s becoming a very bubbly, sweet, and funny girl.  It’s awesome watching her grow.  It’s hard to believe she’s two.

But then there are some days that it’s not so hard to believe that she’s two.  Rather she’s TWO. T-W-O. And everything that comes along with that age.  Not only is she starting to talk in full sentences (”Momma’s car’s hot.) and learning her colors, shapes, and letters, she’s also developed selective hearing, stubbornness, and disobedience.  The last two days, I’ve had to enforce timeouts, which is something I’ve never had to do before.  In general, when she acts up, I try to remove her from the situation, acknowledge her feelings, and tell her why that behavior is unacceptable.  But when she does something like hit Lucy after I tell her not to, I know she’s testing boundaries, and I have to make sure to enforce them.

It’s hard. Very hard. Especially when I know that I’ve chosen to take this on as my job-all day, every day.  I did have a moment today when I debated going back to a paid job, one sans child.  Then I realized that I would just be passing the buck and assuming that someone else would do as good as a job as I am.  I know that’s not the right choice.  I know I need to suck it up and parent consistently.  It’s hard being a mother.  Part of me would like to fast forward through this time, but then I realize that I would miss out on so much.  Cecilia is an absolute joy, even when she’s saying “Potty” to manipulate me.

It’s been busy around here with Chris’s business, child rearing, and home renovations.  Chris and I have squabbled over finances and household chores more than we ever did before.  However, our marriages is still as strong and as happy as it’s ever been.  I contribute this largely to our openness and honesty.  It’s my hope that Cecilia and all our loved ones find this kind of atmosphere in their relationships.

As we were coming to a stopping point in our weekend living room renovation and heading out to dinner….

“I don’t have the motivation to take a shower.”

“You should take a shower.”

“But I’ll have to fix my hair.  That takes forever.”

“You don’t have to fix your hair.  Just wash your stinky parts.”

“Okay…”

This morning I noticed that a couple of the broccoli plants in my garden were bolting.  I had completely neglected them while outside, focusing primarily on the peas and hoeing the garden.  Plus we got our first CSA box from Real Food Farms so our household veggies needs had been met.  When I went outside to cut the stalk, I felt overwhelmed.  How was I ever going to cook and serve all these vegetables? But then I remembered, the whole point to growing a garden and subscribing to a CSA was to put away organic, healthy foods for the fall and winter.  I spent the rest of my morning blanching broccoli and flash freezing it in the deep freezer.  After I got back from lunch with the girls, I tossed the frozen broccoli in freezer bags and put it in the deep freezer.  I have the feeling future Kelly will be rather grateful.  Hopefully she doesn’t mind the yellow parts that were a day or so away from blooming.

Nashville is under a mandatory water conservation after the floods.  They only have 1 functioning water treatment plant (normally 2), and it can only generate 3/4 of the city’s typical needs when running at maximum power.  I thought I’d pass along a few tips to reducing your water usage.  Some of these we implement every day; some we learned during the whole sewer line fiasco.  And a few our new ones we discovered during this time.

1. Navy showers. Turn the water on to get wet. Turn it off to suds up.  Turn it back on to rinse. You can get away with very little water and still get clean, which is essential if you’ve been helping your friend clean her ruined house.

2. Train your hair to get washed every other day.   Believe it or not, you can teach your scalp to not produce as much oil.  The first week or so, your hair is pretty icky on the non-washing days, but then it gets use to it.  The key is to not get your hair wet in between.

3. Don’t run the shower full blast while you’re waiting for the water to get warm. It might take a little while for the little trickle to warm up, but that water is just fine for brushing teeth or filling water pitchers.

4. Bathe in succession.  I take my shower. Chris takes his shower. Cecilia gets her bath (in minimal water).  That way the water has already been heated up, and we don’t have to waste more waiting for it to heat up again.

5. If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.  A commonly loved saying by many conservationists.  For me, it’s a hard one to overcome because my parents would charge me a dime every time they found an unflushed toilet when I was a child.  However, given the mandate, I think it’s okay to defy them.

6. Reuse cooking water.  If you cook noodles for lunch, reuse to water to cook your potatoes for dinner.  Starchy water is starchy water. Or save the water you used to rinse your fruit to water your plants or wash your dishes.

7. Collect rain in a rain barrel for watering plants.

8. Use hand sanitizer instead of washing your hands.  I’m a big advocate of washing hands. Don’t get me wrong.  But when you have a toddler, 3 dogs, and 4 cats around.  There’s lots of hand washing.  Sometimes substituting hand sanitizer (with alcohol) is okay.

9. Run very full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine.  I line dry my clothes so I don’t have to worry about overpacking the dryer.

10. Hand wash big pots and pan by filling your sink with little water.  It’s amazing how much space large items can take up in the dishwasher.  I usually stick them in there because I’m lazy, but when I can only run the dishwasher every few days, I’d rather stick three bowls in than one pan.  Especially if hand washing the pan takes very little time and effort.  Make sure you save up the big items and wash them all at once though.  Don’t wash them individually, and fill that basin.  It’s surprising how much water is wasted by doing it one at a time.

I’m sure most of you guys have heard about the major flooding in Nashville and Tennessee.  Our suburb was hit hard.  Thankfully we are safe, but one of our friends lost her home.  She currently staying with some other friends, but they’re home isn’t pet friendly so we volunteered to care for her two dogs.

The dogs, Cody and Shayne, are extremely sweet.  Lucy is getting along fine with them.  The only downside is the occasional accidents, but considering we’re use to a messy toddler and we’ve got hardwood floors, it’s really no big deal.  We’re just thankful to have floors for them to poop on.  The funniest part is the parade.  I’m use to being the grand marshal of a three creature parade; it’s now up to five.  I never have to pee alone!

I try to avoid house decor trends.  Don’t get me wrong.  I think chicken kitchens are cute, and it’s a hard fight to resist covering Cecilia’s bathroom with rubber duck decor.  It’s just that I’m scarred.  When I was in junior high, my mom let me go all out with the very trendy, very colorful sunflower theme.  My bedroom was painted green and marigold yellow.  Sunflower curtains. Sunflower bedspread. Sunflower, sunflower, SUNFLOWER! A few years later, after that fad had passed, it was bit embarrassing to have folks in my room, and there was no way of covering it’s BRIGHT YELLOW walls.

As an adult, I’ve tried to keep my home a bit more classic.  I like pieces that can be switched out easily without much cost or effort.  I’ve painted all the walls very neutral colors. Even Cecilia’s room is tan.  That’s how devoted I am to a neutral, trend-less house. However, recently I found something I just can’t resist - Keep Calm and Carry On poster.  I’ve seen them in several magazines and websites, and I just think there adorable.  It’s a good mantra to have in your life, especially if you’re a mother of a toddler who’s entering her terrible twos.  Plus it has a very interesting background story.

There are some great Etsy sellers that offer the poster at reasonable price, and you can customize the size and colors.  I paid $15 for my print (including shipping), $5 for my frame (Goodwill!), and $7 for the mat (Hobby Lobby). That’s just $27 for a 16×12 piece of art!

Well, I guess my monthly approach failed like most folks’ year-long resolution approach.  Life has gotten a little hectic around here, and I’ve forgotten to make myself a priority.  I still found time to veg out on tv while stalking my friends on Facebook, but I didn’t blog or work out.

However, I haven’t forgotten about my resolution to quit shopping so much.  In fact, I did a little reading on overshopping.  In my research, I figured out that I’m not an overshopper, or at least I’m not addicted to overshopping.  I definitely use it as a band aid for boredom, loneliness, and feelings of inadequacy.  All those things have the potential to become an addiction, but I don’t think I’m there yet.  I’m going to resolve to be more mindful of my attitudes and feelings while I’m shopping, but I don’t think it’s 12-step program worthy.

Over the next few months, I’m going to focus on approaching my life with an attitude of thankfulness and gratitude.  I’ve been blessed with so much, and my life would be much fuller if I find a way to be mindful of this.  I don’t need to add anything to it.  I need to spend my time giving thanks and not by spending time wanting.

In The Happyness Project, Rubin tells how she transformed time spent on mundane tasks, like waiting for the bus, into time spent on gratitude mediation.   I’m going to try this while I’m lying with Cecilia in bed trying to get her to sleep at night or naptime.  I’m also going to express more gratitude towards friends and family members.  I don’t do this enough even though I feel it.  I’m pretty sure it will only strengthen the already strong bonds.  I’m also going to try to project a positive attitude.  This is an area I struggle with.  My default is to be sarcastic and critical.  That doesn’t reflect the happiness and gratitude that I feel.  It’s going to be hard, much harder than cutting back on my shopping, but it’s something I need to do.

I’d love to hear any advice that you guys have to offer.  How do you give thanks? Do you have a grateful heart? What’s your secret?

Starting with our courtship, I’ve been after Chris to keep the hvac unit off when the weather was nice.  I just have a hard time making sense flipping the thermostat from heat to cool without an off period in between.  There’s something refreshing about opening the windows and airing out a dusty house after a long winter.  Unfortunately, with Chris’s allergies, sleeping the windows open cause him to develop sinus infections.

I guess it was a good thing he had his sinus surgery in January and had his sinuses scraped out because our heating unit went out the week before we started our hardwood floor refinishing.  We figured we could live without it for a while since it was a nice temperature outside, it would be off during the renovations, and we were staying with his folks for a week.  Besides, hvac repairs can be expensive.

That was nearly a month ago. So far, so good though.  Early spring in Tennessee can be pretty enjoyable.  Plus I was hopeful that it was just the heating part, not the air conditioning.  Until today. It reached 87 degrees - 79 in the house.  No air conditioning.  We called the repair man.  He came. He went.  And $125 later, the house is still 79 degrees.

Chris also informed me that the Jeep’s AC went out too.  Ugh.

I admit it. I made a mistake.  I was waffling back and forth.  “Should it stay?” “Should it go?” And I let myself down.  I knew better.  I think my March 1st tweet says it all:

The stray cat that I’d been feeding had kittens in my mudroom last night. Shiiiiit!

It’s totally my fault.  I should have paid to get her fixed or taken her to the pound.  It’s just that it costs so much for a procedure for a cat that isn’t mine.  But I’m the one who’s fed her all these months and opened up my mudroom as shelter from the cold nights.   Alas, she is my cat, and I should have done better.  Damn.  Now I either need to find homes for four adorable kittens and get the cat fixed or take her to the pound.

Bob Barker raised me better.

“It didn’t have to be this way.”

“I wish I could go to prom with my friends…”

I’m sitting in my driveway with a sleeping baby in my backseat and listening to a woodpecker attack one of the neighborhood trees.  My laptop is picking up the house’s wifi and playing my favorite type of music on Pandora.  It’s a sunny day, and the car is blocking us from the chilly wind.  It’ so incredibly peaceful.  I know a lot of folks would criticize me because I haven’t been able to master my child’s sleeping habits and the fear of an overly tired, hyper toddler is enough to keep me from moving her out of her carseat, but I don’t care.  For me, the chaos and stress of a forced nap (and usually resulting in an unsuccessful attempt of said nap) is not worth it.  She’s small.  She won’t sleep in the car for every nap.  Life is good.  Besides, if she napped inside, I couldn’t watch the wind pick up leaves, twirl them around, and place them back on the ground.  I couldn’t enjoy the winter sun on my skin.  I would feel obligated to do laundry, make beds, and put away toys.  When everything is said and done, a moments peace and balance is more enjoyable than an empty kitchen sink.