House Rules

So we're getting there. We've got several days of school under our belts and we're chugging along.

Now, on to another matter. The HOUSE. Oh, it's bad! In the midst of our busy summer, we've let the house get a bit, uh... out of control. I don't think anyone has done an official chore in months. I mean, people will do stuff when I ask... uh tell them to but there's no order to our "madness." Now it's time to deal with all of that. We've got our scholastic wits about us and are back into the routine.

I was googling some chore charts and ideas and stumbled on a blog that had some house rules and when I started to think about it, dealing with the attitude behind the chores first may be the way to go. I edited those rules and are using them as a starting point. Here they are as they stand now:

Stevens House Rules

1.    Pick up after yourself

2.    No name-calling or mean words

3.    Be respectful of others need for space

4.    Chores and homework must be done before screens

5.    Be positive and supportive of your brothers’ efforts

6.    Manners! “Please” & “Thank You” will take you a long way.

7.    If you say you are BORED – I will find a job for you to do.

 

It's a start. I'm trying to add a little more - maybe make it a nice, even 10.

Thoughts, oh wise friends? What should I add?

Thursday Thirteen #9

As promised...

Thirteen things I've done during my blogging absence

1. Went to an incredible women's encounter weekend -- Wow. If there was a way to describe the encounter weekend at Word of Christ Church in Bradenton, FL, I would do it. I've been a Christian for like 30 years and this is the most genuine experience I've ever had with God. There were some other really amazing things that happened regarding a situation in our past. I may explain it later. I also got to hang out at my friend, Sudi's, spa and got to swim in the Gulf of Mexico.



2. Went to Ohio for a quartet practice weekend -- This was like three days after I got back from Florida - a little insane. It was a good weekend, though. We've picked our contest pieces...we think.

3. Watched my business take off -- I had 16 students last fall. All summer I've been really praying for things to increase and doing some advertising in a couple of places. As of right now, I have 32 students in my home studio. I also have picked up a gig in Harford county at a church that is starting a music academy. I have three students through them and that is looking to increase as well. I'm working about 23 hours a week and really LOVE it!

4. Had a game night with Jess, Ami and Kate -- Yeah, you should be kicking yourself for missing this one. It was really the social event of the fall. We had WAY too much fun and were very obnoxious. There's another one in the works for January (right, ladies?). You might want to put in on your calendar. I'm just saying....

5. Went to Six Flags -- We've lived in Baltimore for eight years now and this was the first time we've gone. Our friends and season ticket holders, the Pitts, had passes and graciously brought us with them. We went on the last day of the season and had a blast. I rode the Superman. I kind of rock.

6. Reached my first weight loss goal -- OK. I haven't talked much about dieting because, well, just because. But I've been on Weight Watchers since February - on and off really. When we travel, I pretty much eat what I want, just not too crazy. Then when I'm home, it's counting the points, baby! I hit the 30 lb. mark earlier this month and right now, I stand at about a 34 lb. loss. I feel great love the way my clothes are fitting -- or are too big for that matter!

7. Did the dreaded, annual summer/winter clothing switch -- Oh, I hate doing this every year, but it's very necessary. It's really only Micah, Jacob and myself that I have to switch out. The hard part is that they grow so dang much. They have to try on just about every piece of clothing for us to decide what fits and what doesn't. It's quite a circus, but it's done... until spring anyway.

8. Celebrated Joshua's 14th birthday -- can you believe he's 14? I sure can't. Of course he is kind of man-sized so it's probably not a stretch for most. Anyway, I'm so thankful for my sweet young man. He's such a good kid. And speaking of Josh...

9. Watched Josh's football team, the Hamilton Tigers, go undefeated and win their division -- YEA! They're actually still going. If they win the next two playoff games, the get to play at M&T Bank Stadium (where the Raven's play) on December 15th. Let us know if you'd like to go.

10. FINALLY got our kitchen ceiling fixed -- I never wrote about this either, but long story short, half of our kitchen ceiling collapsed at the
end of July. It had to do with getting a new boiler in the spring and the way it affected the radiant heat in the plaster ceiling, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, the ceiling collapsed rather loudly and it was scary and messy and just sucked in general. After much dealing with our home-owner's insurance company and contractors and plumbers and electricians it's done. And it looks good. We had always planned to put recessed lights in the ceiling so this was our golden opportunity!

11. Scrapbooked not once, but TWICE with my friends -- We're making it a monthly thing. If it weren't for that, I would never get any pages done! I call us the scrappy chicks and we take turns meeting at each other's houses one evening each month. There's food and all kinds of silliness. I know you want to come...

12. Went to my BFF's 25th birthday party -- We had dinner with a ton of people at a restaurant and hung out afterward. It was fun. Happy birthday, Jess! :-)

13. Went to Ohio...again -- this time for Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful time and got to hang out with both sides of the family. It was a rather whirlwind trip, as being in two parts of Ohio in five days usually is, but we had a really great time. The boys got to see their cousins and we got to see our parents and siblings. My husband made an AMAZING turkey along with incredible cranberries and sweet potatoes. Seriously, you should hire him to prepare your Turkey Day celebration next year! Just a tip, though. Avoid the PA turnpike on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Yech!


Well, that's it. If you got through the whole thing, you get a cookie (one that is low in Weight Watcher points, of course). Have a fantabulous weekend and thanks for reading :-)

Thursday Thirteen #5

Thirteen Places in which I've lived...

1. Section-Line Rd. - Caledonia, Ohio - This is the house I lived in until I was five. My grandpa had a stroke, my grandma moved into an apartment and we into her house.

2. An ambiguous trailer park - Colstrip, Montana - I like to throw this one in just to be obscure. I was very small and we only lived there for like two months. I vaguely remember the plane ride, but little else.

3. Barkswood Rd. - Marion, Ohio - This is the house of which I spoke in #1. Ah, good old Barkswood Rd. I lived in this house until I left for college at 18. Lots of good memories there. My parents sold it and moved about 10 years ago.

4. Fir Hill - Akron, Ohio - the apartment my sister and I shared in college. We lived there for two years. My favorite memory was the bible study my now-husband and some of our friends and I started. We crammed about 50 or so people into that little one-bedroom apartment!

5. Ellsworth Dr. - Stow, Ohio - Matt lived here and took care of his elderly grandmother before we got married. She passed a few months before our wedding. This was our first home and we lived her for about a year before moving to...

6. Wyandotte Dr. - Huntsville, Alabama - What a cute little house this was; a tiny three bedroom ranch that we rented from a couple in the church where Matt worked. This is the house we lived in when Joshua was born.

7. Wells Rd. - Meridianville, Alabama - again, a brief stint. We actually lived in our pastor's basement for a short period of time. It was actually a good experience because both families had enjoyed each other. Their son, Jonathan, was only five weeks younger than Josh.

8. Thurman Rd. - Huntsville, Alabama - our first apartment. We refer to this one fondly. It was 1100 square feet for only $340 a month! We brought Caleb home from the hospital to this home.

9. Valerie Ln. - Hudson, Ohio - another transition. We had moved back to Ohio and, in the process of looking for a place to live, stayed with Matt's parents for a few months.

10. Harper Rd. - Streetsboro, Ohio - we were actually just talking about his house this other day. It was so tiny and crappy! The yard was incredible but the house left a bit to be desired.

11. Mordred Ln. - Streetsboro, Ohio - we lived in our trailer for about 4 years. It was actually really nice and fit our little family well. I started my piano lesson business out of this home and Josh started school when we lived here. Micah was born, but only three months before we moved to...

12. Deanwood Rd. - Parkville, Maryland - this townhome was the first house we actually owned. We lived there for almost seven years. Thinking of this house is very bittersweet. I home-schooled there for three years, brought Jacob home from the hospital and added Tucker to our family, too. Sadly, it was also where I received the news that my Caleb was gone. Leaving it was hard, but healing at the same time.

13. Here - Parkville, MD - TA DA! Here we are. We moved into this house a little over a year ago. Though it hasn't been without its challenges, I love it here. We've been blessed with a huge yard and room for everything we need to do.


Isn't it cool that I've lived in exactly 13 houses?

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Dirt

Ask me what I did today...





Well, thanks for asking.

We had dirt delivered today. Our front yard is a little patchy and uneven, so my husband went this week and ordered some dirt to fill in the front and grow some grass.

My husband is in Texas doing a Chain Reaction weekend at our friend Pastor Kevin's church. So I was given instructions to tell the dirt dude to back his truck up into the yard and dump the dirt there.

Well, the dirt dude shows up this morning (wearing khaki pants and a white shirt, which I thought was a strange outfit in which to deliver dirt) and says he can't get his truck in our yard that way and he's going to have to dump it somewhere else. I can tell this is NOT going to be good, but agree to let him dump it in the driveway, and I know my husband is not going to be happy because dirt indeed goes in a yard, not a driveway.

So, yeah. He's not happy. And I'm looking at the dirt thinking, "How hard can it be to move some dirt?"

Well, three hours later I have my answer.

Dirt is heavy, by the way.

Two shovels, a hoe, a wheel barrow, my 13-year-old son and my friend, Rachel, and I got all of that dirt into the yard and, though I know my arms and back will probably be aching tomorrow, I'm pretty proud of us. It was a lot of dirt and a lot of work but it's done and my husband was pleasantly surprised when I told him.

So that's what I did today. I moved a big pile of dirt. I could probably create some wonderful analogy of how that pile of dirt is like our lives and how we can overcome just one shovelful at a time....

... but I'm too tired!

Happiness is...

All of the beautiful, colorful things growing in my yard right now!!

Space... the final frontier

I am coming to certain realizations in my life. Matt and I together are also coming to realizations as a couple and a family. One of those realizations is that we want to spend time on things that are life-giving. Now, we understand stewardship and responsibility are huge factors in that -- that is to say, we can't just spend all of our time doing things we enjoy if we don't first have our family physically, financially, emotionally and spiritually cared for. With that being understood, the rest of the time we have needs to be spent doing things that bring life to us as a family.

I'll take it a step more toward the personal.

I am a creator (not THE creator. That's God. Duh). I find creating things to be very life giving; mainly music and crafts. Music is obvious. That's what I do and love. The craft thing is a bit of an addiction -- I've had to limit myself to three; crochet, sewing and my new one, scrapboooking. I've tried to figure out what's up with this particular obsession. I stockpile fabric, yarn, paper, buttons, baby food jars... you name it. I suppose it all comes back to the creating thing. It's life-giving to me.

So here's the problem...

As you probably know, we've been in this house for less than a year. Fortunately, my husband is very good to me (don't be jealous, ladies :-) and has allowed me ONE WHOLE ROOM to be my very own and devoted to crafts (and other stuff having to do with stuff I need to do, too, but mainly to crafts!). Again, that problem I mentioned? The room is not "done" yet. It actually became an overflow room for "crap" (pardon my language. I mean it figuratively, not literally) as we've gotten settled into the house.

The grand realization -- there is a bit of frustration in my day to day mind because I don't have the SPACE to be creative like I want to be (not for lack of house, but excess of unorganization). And I suppose the main reason I'm blogging all of this is so that I will be kind of accountable to get this room done. The ball lies in my court really. And I'm not that far from having it done. I just have to sort through a little more of the aforementioned crap (I've done a lot of it already), buy curtain fabric, match and buy a paint color, prime and paint the room and arrange everything in a conducive way to do what needs to be done. Simple, huh.

So should I set a date? Jeesh, that's scary. I guess I will and you can all hunt me down and tickle me if I don't get it done.

OK. (ahem) The date by which I want to have my craft room/office done is... Sunday, April 22.

I just wrote it on my calendar... in pen.

Oooo. That's scary. Roughly a month away with a Spring Break mixed in. It's right before I fly to Ohio for Women of Faith, though, so maybe I could consider that my reward :-) I like rewards.

Thanks for reading. Just trying to figure myself out here. I'll keep you updated on my progress!

Happiness is...

Old mailbox...

New mailbox...

The electrician is here!

Do you know what that means?

Well, I will tell you.

It means that, after six months, the lovely, new dishwasher that has been sitting in my kitchen will finally WORK!

That, my friends, is the best Christmas gift.