Preoccupied with Life

I haven't given up on blogging, nor have I forsaken it. I will eventually get to a closet post on the how-to's. Life still feels a little like we're living on vacation. With jobless husband home all day for the current moment I do nothing but love on him all day, feed kids, and try to establish some sense of normalcy here despite beautiful weather that beckons body, mind, heart and soul to live outside beyond the walls of the house. So, for now we spend our days gathering acorns, pinecones, twigs and colored leaves and stand in awe of the changing seasons and color. Everything remains a bit surreal.....to be here now. Wind blows through trees and leaves fall like rain in slow motion. Rainbows of red, orange, yellow and brown rest in child hair shimmering in sunlight. Leaves fall outside open windows and it feels as though this must be life in a snowglobe. I know it won't always be this surreal but, for now, it's time to just pause all of life and enjoy...soak up the moment of now. There is a time for everything, a season for everything under heaven. And we both recognize that this is very much just a time to be still and know what we have been given and to revel in these weeks we have been given with each other uninterrupted. Life is still far from perfect but it is indeed a gift. Even now imperfections abound with last two days having been robbed due to migraine, long lasting sinus infection and jaw pain that refuses to be conquered no matter the meds. So I sleep off the headache, the nausea that accompanies migraines, resist the urge to puke and I know life is still good, because it's pretty beautiful. Imperfection of carpet that now boasts hot chocolate stains, ground up, stepped on Nutrigrain bar, smashed pumpkin muffin, mud, dirt, paw prints, shoe prints, spaghetti sauce, chocolate milk, and everything life has to offer where people live on carpet. Imperfection of brilliant landlord painting the entire house...entire...like every wall and cabinet....in flat. white. paint. Imperfections of children that smear without inhibition all sorts of foreign and disgusting substances onto flat white painted walls and the disbelief of the discovery that flat white paint offers no wipeable surface....only smears it into a nice new shade of color far from white...or just takes it off so that the layer of paint 30 years ago is now visible. Imperfections such as the face of the thermostat falling completely off so that the temperature of the house is unknown....until someone braves the arctic and runs from bed to thermostat to hold it on for extended periods of time until it stops vibrating and reveals frigid, toe numbing, indoor night temps of 63 degrees. Imperfections that have become laughable because none of it is forever, it all adds to the memories of this adventure, and life is still pretty beautiful. It's definitely far from perfect....but it's pretty amazing. The leaves.... they fall and all of life pauses. The valley echoes our children's laughter...really truly echoes....leaves spiraling down, dancing noisily, playing among feet, and we stand there in the morning light, buried in the hills, coffee in hand and just smile at each other. Ground blanketed in storybook hues of gold, red, orange and brown. This is us. Our life.

Other preoccupations in life include decorating the house. Nesting instinct has crept in way too many weeks early and I have grown tired of life being so entirely functional and practical that it's ugly. In all of my minimalality I tend to pass up everything that is pretty and serves no practical purpose due to it being completely unnecessary and a dust collector. But I'm ready for homey, cozy, romantic, and comfort....somewhere husband and I can escape and have it be just our's. Somewhere beautiful for us to get lost. Somewhere to birth a baby that is secluded and tucked away. So, I have decided to make our bedroom the haven and escape that a hotel stay proves to be. But better....cause it's our's. It's where we know each other intimately in ways only a married couple will ever know and where our baby will take it's very first breath. So, I busy my nights with quietly planning the transformation of unromantically practical to as pretty as it can get when one has no natural sense of interior decoration. Date night sent us searching for the birthday splurge of new bedding for our new frame and mattress due to arrive this week. I managed to score two free old doors off of the free page of craigslist. One will be painted and used as our new headboard, the other made into a table for the basement. I think I've found an old farm house window for free that will be made into a picture frame. Excitement overtakes the heart as I think about the end result....as long as it proves as good in reality as it is in my head. Therein lies the real test. It'll be interesting and a little entertaining, if nothing else. And anything beats two air mattresses with sleeping bags and white walls...FLAT painted white walls. I'll post pics as I make progress on it.

The humorous side of life seen through a veil of colored leaves and blanketed autumn ground...with every amazing experience comes the unamazing experience. Valley echoes our children's laughter...but so it also echoes the incessant barking of everyone else's dogs. That stuff children smear on flat white painted walls....yeah...it's not all hygienic. The carpet...let's not even go there. Pinecones...they're brutal when stepped on in the middle of the night. Acorns....we've already pulled one from a kid's nose. Trees=bugs. Enough said on that one. We wont even get into that phobia. Just know that when the bugs are big enough to have a conversation with you and sit at your dinner table it's probably not a good thing to smash them with a shoe. So, we corral them out one of the doors in no effort whatsoever to remain humane...but more to preserve the carpet and to keep from hearing the pop. Yuck. Yuck! Makes me want to puke just thinking about it. So, life stays lighthearted as we take the good with the inevitably not so good.

We're preparing to hit the massive 30,000 sq ft farmer's market Thursday morning before the cold weather comes. Supposedly, not only is it a farmer's market but a large flea market along with tons of resources for children to learn agriculture. We'll stock up on stuff for hot soups, stews and chili as the rain settles in and the high hits only 50 on Friday. I really love this.