making the most

5.9.14 Ali Moore 0 Comments

I tried to sneak in a nap this afternoon, but Henry was still ransacking his room instead of sleeping and having the best (i.e. LOUDEST) time in there when I finally gave up. Literally, ransacking. When I peeked in to shhhh him, he had emptied at least two dresser drawers, moved each and every last book from his bookshelves to his bed, torn apart his closet, and was sitting on a box of unopened diapers. We didn't get in his normal routine before nap time due to some misbehavior (aka purposely dumping his grilled cheese on the ground and mine for the dog to eat after requesting said grilled cheese and a picnic), and clearly it's thrown him off for his afternoon snooze.

(This was after we got back from the laundromat to wash a rug the dog had barfed on, and for the record,

Ham was super helpful and for the most part a good listener. You win some, you lose some.)

Ugh.

I'll have to settle for an iced tea, a quick grab of some dark chocolate chips, and cozy into some work/blog time instead

with a blanket and my computer, the aforementioned dog in the doghouse at my feet.

These few simple things are my latest afternoon pick-me-up, when I don't have anyone stealing as swig of my caffeinated drink

and leaving sticky fingerprints behind or trying to grabbing my last bit of chocolate from me.

(Oh no you didn't.)

I can sit in the quiet or play my music loud. No one is reaching for me. No one is crawling on me.

It's my simple way of making the most of what time I'm given each day.

Earlier this year when the grass was just thinking of turning green, and we were coming out of new baby hibernation, Andrew and I decided to start keeping our eye out for our next house. Not actively house hunting, ready to jump on the first thing that met our criteria, but wanting to take our time and find the absolute right next house for our family. We've gone to look at several houses hopeful they might be the right one

only to close the front door behind us on the way back to our car, shaking our heads no.

It's been a great way to house hunt as there isn't any pressure to move right now, but it's also been discouraging because each of the houses

have had so much potential and if circumstances were different, we could make them work if we had to.

When we started, I officially declared I wasn't doing a. thing. to our current house since surely we'd be done with it in a few, maybe six, months later.

Well, six months later...we're still here.

And loving our neighborhood as much as always. Loved having the pool a couple of blocks away all summer. Loving that Henry can practice

riding his bike with us on our quiet street. Loving our neighbors. Loving the community. Loving our tree-lined streets, and shady back yard

where the kids can and do play for hours, and the promise of cooler nights where we can sit outside at dusk around the firepit and listen

to the hum of the baby monitor and the kids sleeping.

And my decree of being done held true until about two weeks ago, when I swallowed my pride/grumpiness of being over my paint colors and five-years-ago-newly-married decor choices, and not-the-most functional layout, and yes, sticky tables/floors/handles,

and decided to make the most out of our home.

My starting place? I've been purging and gosh that feels good.

Henry and I began with the biggest dumping ground of all - the basement storage room - and while I organized and tossed and rearranged, he pranced around with discovered treasure (and trash), swung in the baby swing and played trucks on the cool concrete floor. We made a some-day-moving-sale storage area, and dumped bags and bags of things who knows why we were holding on to them (land line phone cords? hello - we haven't had a land line for...ever), and tucked too small baby clothes into the proper bins along with swaddle blankets and maternity clothes for their chance

at a next go-round some day.