Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Nourish


The first photo prompt is up at 52 Photos Project, a new community for photographers.  Nourish.
This photo was taken when I was sick and at work earlier this year.  
Hot lemon is always my drink when I've got a cold.  Equal parts lemon juice and honey.  Mix with hot or cold water depending on the season and your mood.  I try to keep a jar of the concentrate in the fridge at all times.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Take Back the Weekend: Check!


Take Back The Weekend::
:: Hosted dinner with some of the incredible women in my family. A relaxed, joyful evening together (they even did the dishes!).
:: Made paper easter eggs with my kids. Where we all sat down together and created. No rules or big expectations, just fun.
:: Spent a whole afternoon with the sweetest little niece. Oh, baby cuddles!
:: Showed her the pussywillows and creek where we spend so much time.
:: Had a lovely dinner out with my sister and her little family and me and my little family where the 14 month old ate more than the 3 yr old and the almost 7 yr old combined.
:: Drafted a pattern for, cut out and half sewed a pair of summer pyjamas for a certain little person.
:: Made muffins (new half batch recipe!), cobbler (first time ever) and turkey stock.
:: Took photos – over 300 of them! Some of the niece, some of kids being kids, some more self-portrait work.
:: Finished it off with dinner with family and a video call with my far away sister.

It was a pretty great weekend. We followed our hearts and it was just what we needed.
(see here – we did all that.)

I was pretty sad by the end of Sunday. I was thinking of all the cleaning up I’d done, all the things I wished we’d gotten time for, the pictures I took that I hated, the stuff I still need to deal with in real life. It was a great break, but we need more of them. Working full time and raising a family take up just about all the energy I’ve got. Lately I’ve been stressed out about my daughter’s health issues and I’ve been noticing this undercurrent of worry about it. I know I haven’t talked about it much in this space, but in my world it’s always there. I wish I could solve it but I can’t and I know I need to stop blaming myself for it.

So what is this post about? The good stuff, the bad stuff, and how it all goes down. The meat of life and how all it all comes together to make today. This is what life’s like at my house these days. All the messy bits and pieces and the rays of sunshine, too.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Take Back The Weekend!

Allright, folks.  I've been trying to post something forever but none of my technology is working nicely together lately.  Really, it's a mess.  But I just have to tell you about our new initiative, it's called Take Back the Weekend! Our lives have been so structured and busy lately that we need a break.  A breather.  A Pause.  It's just me and the kids home for this long weekend so we're taking it back!  Here's the plan to take back this weekend and live with intention:

No grocery shopping.  Grocery shopping takes up so much time and I think we can eat from our freezer and pantry until hubby gets home on Wednesday.  It's an opportunity to be creative.

No driving. We're sticking close to home, walking if we need to go somewhere, not rushing.

Eat fiber, drink water.  Getting back to basics with things.  Our daughter has health issues and we need to always be aware of fiber and water intake for her (among other things).

Get outside. Exercise.  Bodies need fresh air, sunlight and movement to be healthy.  If it snows we'll do some yoga inside.  Or go out and make a snowman.

Be aware of screen time.  This is more for me than the kids.  I don't want to spend the weekend watching uTube videos.  It's so easy to get completely sucked in and loose days at a time.

Do something I've been meaning to do. Probably cleaning or reorganizing. I'll feel much better if I get just one thing done. But I'm not tackling the whole to do list.

Take some pictures.  My soul needs some art.  Hopefully I can get them out of the computer afterwards, but I have to trust that the technology issues will eventually get wored out.  Eventually.

How are you taking back your weekend?