Category Archives: Piper

Coffee, Domestic Engineer, Family, Friends, Photos, Piper

Every Day Is Yours To Win

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2015-08-18 09.11.40

The photo above is the view from my back porch. Do you see how the sun casts sort of a glow over the deck? Or is that just me? I took the photo this morning. Our house faces east, so the back porch is still cool from the night air as the sun is rising on the other side, and under the gazebo there is a nice breeze. So this is where I have come to love sitting in the morning (granted, it’s only Day Two), with my coffee and Bible, while Piper runs around the yard or rolls in the grass. When she’s done with that nonsense, she comes and lies down at my feet. It’s lovely. Just lovely. We are so blessed with this new home.

And if that wasn’t enough, we have some really awesome neighbors. All of them. Really. They even have a private Facebook page they use to keep in touch with each other. So while we’ve done some chatting with them leading up to the day we moved in, today we actually got to meet several of them. In fact, when people started getting home from their respective jobs, they seemed  anxious to meet us and say hello. The woman from across the street walked over to say hi, and we discovered we both have sons named Luke. A lady from the end of the street stopped at our driveway as she was leaving the neighborhood, and I was able to meet her and her son (whom I found had already met Luke yesterday). Then after Mike came home we met the man who lives next door to us, as well as his wife and two kids. It’s amazing how friendly these people are. We had heard this was a great neighborhood, but now we’re experiencing it and finding it to be absolutely true.

Oh, and get this – there are at least three other couples on the block whose first names start with the same letter, just as mine and Mike’s do (Mike and Mindy). There are the S’s next door, the D’s across the street, and another set of M’s further down. I love alliteration, I really do. What can I say? I’m a geek, all the way.

The unpacking is moving along. Throughout each day there is a constant feeling that I’m about to hit a wall, but I haven’t actually done it yet. I figure if I just go slow, then even if I do hit that wall, I won’t break anything. Just in theory, of course. I am developing some killer calf muscles, going up and down the stairs. But overall, life is good here and we feel pretty well settled. We have internet now, toilet paper, milk. You know, the necessities.

And here is where my brain is shutting down for the night, whether I like it or not. Good night!

Coffee, Housekeeping, Kids, Piper

The Calm

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I forget, is it the calm before the storm, or after? Or is it both? I think I’m in the middle. It’s Friday, and I do have shtuff to do, but I’m utterly spent. Natalie is in her pajamas, watching SpongeBob, Luke is at a friend’s house for the day, Piper is napping on the rug, and I am showered and shipping coffee. And blogging of course. Floors need sweeping, but they will just have to wait. Momma is resting her weary bones. Happy Friday to you all 🙂

Coffee, Domestic Engineer, Family, Food, Friends, Housekeeping, Piper, Writing

My Comfy Writing Spot

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Not sure what to write about, but I’m in my little comfy spot in the kitchen. In the corner next to the window, surrounded by shelves and with Piper puppy sleeping peacefully in her crate at my feet. And hot coffee at the ready, of course.

The exciting point of my day may be when the mail is delivered, but probably not. I already received what I was waiting for, which is the Spec-Tran approval I blogged about last night.

When I’m bored like this it’s nice to goof around on Facebook. A friend announced she found the best granola, so of course that sparked a lengthy comment thread. The food posts always do.

This has been a wonderfully uneventful week so far, which I much appreciate after last week. Last week was brutal. All the sickness and the cold. Kids home for the better part of the week, which I should love, but.. I was (am) feeling pretty fatigued. And throw a four-month old puppy into the mix? Just a little more than I can handle. And now hubby sounds like he is developing what we all had. That was inevitable, I suppose.

So when life has slowed down what do I do? I nap, first and foremost, but then when I feel mostly rested I clean. Dishes, laundry, floors, etc. It’s all never-ending. Meaning you are never “done” with laundry or dishes or cleaning floors. These are things that are constantly in progress.  Once I realized that fully, I stopped putting them on my to-do-list. It seemed silly to keep crossing them off only to put them back on again. So now my to-do list consists of more irregular things like paying bills and clipping my toenails.

I would really like to get back to writing that book. The process (which honestly hadn’t really begun) got halted when we all fell ill. And now I need to get back at it. To be honest, I feel extremely inadequate at this whole book-writing-thing. Am I even doing it right? I’m just writing, hoping it turns into something I can have published so that people can read it. But publishing, well that’s a road I have not traveled and have no clue how to find. Yet. Let’s write the book first. And this corner spot in my kitchen is the perfect place for it.  As long as Piper complies, I could make this a daily ritual. Sitting here, sipping my coffee, tapping away at the keys. That sounds like a Happy Place if you ask me.

Now, enough rambling for me. I will let you go. I have words to write!

Family, Holidailies 2014, Housekeeping, Piper

Forced relaxation

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I know, that’s sort of an oxymoron. Let me explain.

Within the past year of changes and adjustments, you could say I had grown a bit obsessive, perhaps even compulsive, about keeping our house clean and clutter-free. Which is nice, but is not without some underlying stress. Because when that order is disrupted in any way, Momma has been known to blow a gasket. So I had been working hard at not blowing gaskets, and it wasn’t really working all that well. Because the pressure is always still there, building and growing under the surface. Holding it all in proves to be very exhausting.

But now we have this puppy. This puppy that I wanted, and am determined to love the way she deserves to be loved. But this puppy is, as puppies typically are, a handful. Piper is actually rather laid back, probably more so than your typical puppy, but she still loves to chew and she is not yet potty trained. So she requires nearly constant attention. And that interferes with my previously established housekeeping routines. Which is hard for me to accept, but I have not once forgotten that having a puppy was something I chose. I signed up for this, and I am determined to make it work.

I’ve been walking around full of anxiety since we brought her home on Sunday, afraid of what would happen if she pooped in the house. Do you know she pooped in the hallway this morning and the house did not come crashing down? In fact, my vision of feces smeared all over the walls and floors – and who knows what else – did not become a reality. Everything was okay. If she poops, she poops. Clean it up and move on.

See, each new day gets a smidge better, for two reasons. One, she is learning what is acceptable here in her new home. Two, I am becoming more comfortable with imperfection. That’s a big one for me, because I thought I WAS comfortable with imperfection, but what I’ve seen of myself these past few days is that it was all a lie. It was only true on the surface. Deep down I still craved perfection, and was deeply unnerved when I didn’t have it.

That deep unnerving, that inner irritation, the precursor to every blown gasket, is slow torture, and it does no one any good. It makes for a miserable me, and then I end up taking it out on my family. They don’t deserve the miserable me. The tense, wound up, nagging woman has to go. I want my house  to be a peaceful place  to come home to. This new adjustment, this life with a new puppy, is forcing me to be okay with a little imperfection. Thanks to Piper, I think we’re headed in the right direction.

Family, Holidailies 2014, Piper

Puppy Life

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I posted previously an announcement – by way of haiku – that we bought a puppy. This is life altering for all of us. We had cats when the kids were younger, but it was the cats who were here first, so the kids never experienced the arrival of a new pet. And for that matter, I am kind of new at this too. Bringing home a kitten is much different than bringing home a puppy. We had dogs growing up, but I’ve never been much of a “dog person”. And I’ve never had a puppy. Puppies are messy, right? They certainly aren’t potty-trained, and that gives me great anxiety. I follow her around just waiting for her to tinkle or worse all over my clean floors. Great anxiety, I tell you. But then I keep telling myself it’s okay, and these are just messes that can be cleaned up. I really need to learn to relax, and this puppy is certainly giving me opportunity to practice that.

You see, I’m learning that sometimes change is good. And so far, this change has been good. Granted, it’s only been 20 hours, but already I sense positive change. When my family is home, they are far more interested in playing with the puppy, petting the puppy, staring at the puppy, than playing video games or otherwise vegging out in front of a tv or computer screen. Everyone loves the puppy. And who wouldn’t? She’s adorable. She has these dark, soulful eyes that melt your heart. And she is bonding so quickly with us. Of course she loves Luke the best, clearly, and we are all kind of okay with that. It’s an unspoken knowing, that she belongs to him. A boy and his dog. It’s a precious thing to see. He and Natalie have chosen the name Piper, which I believe Mike and I have agreed to keep (Ruger was our first choice) simply because the kids chose it and it gives them a sense of pride and ownership.

We took Piper with us to the bus stop this morning, and the bus driver was very excited to meet our new family member. I think it broke Natalie’s heart to say goodbye, but I’m sure it will get easier as the days go on. I loved walking back to the house with her, as it removed that empty, lonely feeling I’m usually left with. And then bringing her into the house brought back the anxiety as I tried to keep an eye on her as I fixed my breakfast and coffee. I was worried she would crawl off in another room and either relieve herself – yet again – or chew up the rug. I quickly discovered I didn’t have much to worry about because she wanted to stay right by me. Until she didn’t, and walked away while I finished putting the jam on my English muffin. That’s when I found her in the living room, napping peacefully.

And there she has been, the entire time I’ve been writing this. Oh my sweet heavens, this is even better than I thought it would be.