Life, Love and laundry

I really like my blog.  I like the designs that are offered and the easy way to put pictures in your post and everything.  There are however a few things I do not like, the fact that you have to be a vox blogger to be able to leave a comment for one, and the fact that you can not link freely to other peoples blogs.  So... what do you think, should I move this blog to someplace else, or try and work with this one, hoping that they will change it?

One of my favourite bloggers, Emma, asked about the way we store our childrens toys.  So yesterday I went through the downstairs floor with the camera.  Amd here are the results.

In the first picture you see Joseph's playpen in the living room.  It holds a number of toys and used to be a place where he played quite frequently for ten or twenty minutes, giving me some hands free time.  Unfortunately for now he goes in the playpen when he does one of the two things he is forbidden to do so I feel bad about putting him in there when he has not done something wrong. 

Also in the living room, we have two reed baskets.  One of them holds books, the other toys.  It fits in the living room decor and is an easy solution for the toys that ride around the living room.

The sunroom is a place of priviledge. That means there are a few toys there that are not used all the time, but maybe once a day for half an hour or so.  Depending on the weather, we reverse this role with the living room and try to keep one room more or less tidy during the day.

Of course in these pictures I have just put the toys back into their proper places.  During the day, they unfortunately migrate everywhere in the living room and kitchen, and don't even get me started on the bathroom.  Just to avoid anyone from feeling bad about the way the toys are spreading out in their house, a few pictures of Joseph's favorite ways of entertaining himself:
- Getting out all the tupperware and the cooking pots and pans. And then of course leaving them all over the kitchen floor, and in the hallway, loosing interest in them, until mommy tries to put them in the cabinets again when it becomes so much fun to get them out as she is putting them in.

- And of course for minutes of concetrated fun: grabbing a tissue or a piece of paper that mommy has not put up high enough and shredding it into tiny little pieces that you leave all over the floor. 

Ahhh life is good when you are a baby!

My best memories are tied to scents: coming home on a cold and wet day in autumn to the scent of fresh baked waffles, the powder on my grandmothers cheeks on a cold winter day.  I smelled it again last christmas when I saw my grandmother for the first time again in more than five years.  It made me smile, despite the difficulties of this meeting. 

Filling the house with a scent is one of the ways to add that little extra touch to your home: the scent of chilli in the crockpot is a wonderful, robust scent to come home to.  The air spiced with cinamon from cookies in the oven breaths welcome, and that little wiff of perfume that you put on just before your husband came home, adds a little something, even if you have not had the time to change after the baby wiped his fingers on your skirt.  Brushing  your teeth and using mouth wash before you go to bed adds that wonderful tingly freshness to a goodnight kiss....  who does not love that?

Quite often, scent is one of the things we can add to our days without spending much time.  Open the windows and letting the outside air in, maybe catch a whiff of camelias or confederate Jasmine if you are lucky enough to have a garden, use an airfreshener in rooms that you do not use that often, and don't forget to air now and again. 

Every time I wash my hands in the bathroom it is a tiny pinprick of luxury to smell the scent of grapefruit from the inexpensive handsoap.  I love the scent of figs and pears that is added to our dishwasher soap, or the raspberry scent of my shampoo.  Take a moment while you read this to think of the scents in your every day life...  do they make you smile?

I have several scents for myself as well: a few body spritzers for day to day use, a few cheaper day to day perfumes for day to day use, and one or two that are just a bit of a luxury.  I favour lily of the valley and softer, clearer perfumes to more sweet ones, tough sometimes when I pass a woman by on the street and I just catch that hint of vanilla, it makes me smile.  And it reminds me again of those waffles on a wet autumn day...

I can not believe it.  On the 21st of september Joseph became one year old. 

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A very kind lady just send me a vintage mantilla.  She didn't feel it suited her, and thought I might like it.  I LOVE it.  While I grew up, I did not know anyone who covered their head during mass.  Even my Polish grandmother didn't.  It came as a surprise to me when a few years ago I just felt this... whisper inside my heart that kept talking to me about covering.  I resisted for a while, but the Holy Spirit seemed to keep throwing me back to the thought by leading me to stories and sites about covering during mass. 

For me, wearing the headcover in the presence of the sacrament is a private devotion. I don't think it's something that is obligated anymore. I don't come from a tradition of headcovering, I've never seen my mother wear one, and she is actually rather uncomfortable with me wearing one, which is why I 'eased into' covering, with broad hairbands and caps, and buncovers etc.
I don't know how it happened but about four years ago, I just... started to feel called to cover. I hate using that expression because it sounds like a 'voice from the burning bush' experience that belongs in a dramatic movie. I just kept stumbling over the idea and it somehow took root in my heart.
I often compare it to a devotion to the chaplet of Divine Mercy. I think it is a beautiful devotion, and some people feel atracted to it, called to it. Others feel more atracted to the rosary, the stations of the cross.
For me it has many meanings. At the forefront, I think is the fact that what is most special and most Holy is often hidden from prying eyes. A veil is a symbolic way for me to put myself apart from the hussle and bussle of daily life and devote myself to God during the time I put it on. It's a sign for my mind and body that now I am taking on a different role. With little Joseph with us during mass, that's become even more important, because it is hard to focuss on mass while you are trying to prevent little Houdini from escaping.

Commitment

Emma is hosting another commitment to loveliness!   As woman we have a special gift of adding small touches to our life that ... embellish it, that add to it.  We find some small things to tend to that would make our life and that of those around us a bit more lovely. 

This is my challenge for next week:

- Drink more water
- Declutter desktop
- Clear floor every evening and before my beloved husband arrives
- Work in the garden and bring some flowers into the house.
-Try some different updo's for my hair
- Find some nice spiritual music or recorded prayer during knitting

Mpm2-1

Today was a busy day.  Joseph was a happy go lucky baby, but did want lots of mommy time.  Aside from that, I vacumed the floor (several times, chasing cracker crumbs), I managed to mop, I finished up our Christmas card list, and finished a newsletter for our womens group.  With all that lining up, I could easily forget about dinner were it not for... my trusted menuplan.  I make it either saturday or sunday and on monday, everything is ready for a brandnew week.  That way, I can look at the plan the day before to see if I need to defrost something and there is not the  'It's five o clock, what's for dinner, emergency".  By five o clock, my brain usually is giving up on functioning.  THis is this weeks menu plan:

Monday:Chili con carne (home made last week, frozen and just heating up), with a green salad with pine nuts and parmesan/ ranch/ pepper dressing.

Tuesday: Turkey mignonette with vegetable stir fry

Wednesday: cherries with meatballs (a Flemmish favorite)

Thursday: Stuffed pasta and a salad

Friday:  I eat alone, since my husband needs to go out to dinner for work, so it probably will just be left overs or some soup.

Saturday: we eat out

Sunday: pizza

Alternative: pasta carbonara

I always like to have one alternative meal on the list in case I just don't feel like eating what is on the menu.  Usually it's something that's easy to make and that we both like quite a bit.

Commitment

Emma is hosting another commitment to loveliness.  In it we challenge ourselves to make our lives and that of those around us a bit more lovely by paying particular attention to a few simple things.

Changing a few simple habits can change your entire mood, outlook, or the way people perceive you.  Today I put on some small, sparkly earrings for mass and they made me feel wonderful and festive.  I am going to try to work on some little things to add a bit more beauty in my every day life.  I hope I am succesful.  If you like this challenge, go over to Emma's blog and read a bit more about it.  Maybe you could join up too and all together we can make life a bit more lovely, challenge by challenge.

My list for this challenge:

- drink more water, which is good for the skin and my mood

- make sure to greet my husband with a kiss as soon as he comes home

- pray a rosary at least once next week

- put on some lipstick

- Spend more time knitting and less time on the computer.

Four place I go over and over:

• Church
• Library 
• Aldi's 
• the little walk around our block with the stroller

• my husband
• Flylady 
• my mother 
• cute overload

• Bed
• Rome
• Belgium 
• Hilton Head

• SVU Law and order
• Hidden Potential (HGTV) 
• Platinum Weddings 
• You are what you eat

• cereal 
• juice 
• yoghurt 
• granola

• cats
• squirrels
  birds 
• very young puppies

• Oostende (Belgium)
  
• Knokke (Belgium)
  
• Vancouver (Canada)
  
• Hilton Head (USA, SC)