verde
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
MY CUTIE, SWEETIE-PIE NIECE MARGOT!
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| Just bein' cute! |
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| Here kitty, kitty...... |
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| Gorgeous cousins (except the face MG is making!) |
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| Grrrrrr..... |
Sunday, September 12, 2010
More things I love
Things I love
New Turkish pillows from....yes, Turkey....
My office studio....feels like I'm in a treehouse!
Mags!
My new mantle-scape...love the Chinoiserie blue and white...
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Lucky
"If I preach against the modern artificial life of sensual enjoyment, and ask men and women to go back to the simple life... I do so because i know that without an intelligent return to simplicity, there is no escape from our descent to a state lower than brutality."
- Gandhi
I follow a wonderful blog called "Simplymartini.blogspot.com". This awesome lady/mom (who actually made an appearance on Oprah because of her "simple" choices), wrote this recently:
Her daughter said to her: '"you know mom, you're really lucky. I know I am, but why? Because you get to stay home. So many grownups would like to stay home, not have a regular job." Hmm... You're right, I love this life but you know... Over the years Ive had many friends, met many people, men and women who say they couldn't do it. Say they tried and then went crazy. Couldn't wait to get back to work. Staying home was too hard. Being with the kids all the time, too much. Too boring. Too little recognition. Not enough money. And you know what? It is or can be all of the above. Like everything else its not perfect. And its perfect. Its challenging for me sometimes, but i know having a full time, outside job would be too. We live a society that no longer values what can go into life at home. Emphasis being on what we do, how much money we make, what we can buy, instead of who we are and how we live.. But that is slowly changing. People are waking up, unsatisfied. Realizing the more more more lifestyle we've been sold and taught will never be enough and at the same time its too much for our planet. And still, at this time, women or men, who do opt to stay, live, work, play at home have to swallow our pride and at the same time have pride, in what we do as valuable and viable. And doing it our way. Whatever that entails. But doing it differently and beautifully. Having a life, being more than a chauffeur and consumer. Reaching out, continuing to learn. Growing own food. One less person on the road each day. One more child with a parent after school.' - Kristin Martini
I love that. It's not always easy being a "non-working" mom. We don't get much appreciation or recognition. People ALWAYS ask me "what do you do" when they meet me. I never know how to answer that. I always think "Do you REALLY want me to tell you WHAT I DO????? Have you got all day???" Instead, we as stay-at-home parents tend to not give ourselves enough credit. We downplay our jobs as parent/caretaker. Not feeling productive enough, or that our job is "legitimate"...at least I feel that way sometimes. It's difficult in this country when you're EXPECTED to have a "job" and people judge you by what you do. People usually say to me, "Oh" or "How lucky" when I tell them I stay home. Then I start worrying about whether I made the right decision, whether I should have given up my career or thinking about how far ahead in my career I could be if had hadn't stayed home. Then I get mad and think "lucky?", luck had nothing to do with it! We've worked HARD and made difficult decisions in order to make it work for us. Then I start thinking about how I could find a job and juggle everything. Then I look at my kids...my BIG kids who are almost adults now and know I definitely did the right thing. Their young lives went by SO quickly and now I'm almost ready to send them off into the world (well, I'm not ready, but I'll have to be). I'm so grateful for those days I was able to be with them, watching them be kids, helping them, playing together, guiding them. Days we could just "be" instead of racing from daycare to jobs to grabbing dinner to passing out from exhaustion at night (even though many times we did many of those things, too). I've been working on giving time back to myself now that they're older, but I don't know if I want to just jump into a job yet. As teens, they still need guidance and supervision... maybe more than ever! I may need to get a job to help with college expenses and that's fine, but I'm for now I'm finally starting to give myself permission to enjoy and feel proud of my life and work at home. Working on ways to save money by budgeting and gardening and cooking from scratch (healthier too), fixing things and doing my own decorating/painting to save money (and because it's my passion), helping my kids learn balance in their lives. Many of these things make it possible for me to stay home. I realize now you can't be everything to everyone and be happy and successful. Just be true to yourself and you'll find your balance. I will never judge a woman's decision to work or stay home, though. Each person does what is right for them and their families and I know this was right for me. I look forward to the chance to re-enter the work force someday when my kids have moved out and on, but until then, I'm proud to say I'm a stay-at-home mom...
- Gandhi
I follow a wonderful blog called "Simplymartini.blogspot.com". This awesome lady/mom (who actually made an appearance on Oprah because of her "simple" choices), wrote this recently:
Her daughter said to her: '"you know mom, you're really lucky. I know I am, but why? Because you get to stay home. So many grownups would like to stay home, not have a regular job." Hmm... You're right, I love this life but you know... Over the years Ive had many friends, met many people, men and women who say they couldn't do it. Say they tried and then went crazy. Couldn't wait to get back to work. Staying home was too hard. Being with the kids all the time, too much. Too boring. Too little recognition. Not enough money. And you know what? It is or can be all of the above. Like everything else its not perfect. And its perfect. Its challenging for me sometimes, but i know having a full time, outside job would be too. We live a society that no longer values what can go into life at home. Emphasis being on what we do, how much money we make, what we can buy, instead of who we are and how we live.. But that is slowly changing. People are waking up, unsatisfied. Realizing the more more more lifestyle we've been sold and taught will never be enough and at the same time its too much for our planet. And still, at this time, women or men, who do opt to stay, live, work, play at home have to swallow our pride and at the same time have pride, in what we do as valuable and viable. And doing it our way. Whatever that entails. But doing it differently and beautifully. Having a life, being more than a chauffeur and consumer. Reaching out, continuing to learn. Growing own food. One less person on the road each day. One more child with a parent after school.' - Kristin Martini
I love that. It's not always easy being a "non-working" mom. We don't get much appreciation or recognition. People ALWAYS ask me "what do you do" when they meet me. I never know how to answer that. I always think "Do you REALLY want me to tell you WHAT I DO????? Have you got all day???" Instead, we as stay-at-home parents tend to not give ourselves enough credit. We downplay our jobs as parent/caretaker. Not feeling productive enough, or that our job is "legitimate"...at least I feel that way sometimes. It's difficult in this country when you're EXPECTED to have a "job" and people judge you by what you do. People usually say to me, "Oh" or "How lucky" when I tell them I stay home. Then I start worrying about whether I made the right decision, whether I should have given up my career or thinking about how far ahead in my career I could be if had hadn't stayed home. Then I get mad and think "lucky?", luck had nothing to do with it! We've worked HARD and made difficult decisions in order to make it work for us. Then I start thinking about how I could find a job and juggle everything. Then I look at my kids...my BIG kids who are almost adults now and know I definitely did the right thing. Their young lives went by SO quickly and now I'm almost ready to send them off into the world (well, I'm not ready, but I'll have to be). I'm so grateful for those days I was able to be with them, watching them be kids, helping them, playing together, guiding them. Days we could just "be" instead of racing from daycare to jobs to grabbing dinner to passing out from exhaustion at night (even though many times we did many of those things, too). I've been working on giving time back to myself now that they're older, but I don't know if I want to just jump into a job yet. As teens, they still need guidance and supervision... maybe more than ever! I may need to get a job to help with college expenses and that's fine, but I'm for now I'm finally starting to give myself permission to enjoy and feel proud of my life and work at home. Working on ways to save money by budgeting and gardening and cooking from scratch (healthier too), fixing things and doing my own decorating/painting to save money (and because it's my passion), helping my kids learn balance in their lives. Many of these things make it possible for me to stay home. I realize now you can't be everything to everyone and be happy and successful. Just be true to yourself and you'll find your balance. I will never judge a woman's decision to work or stay home, though. Each person does what is right for them and their families and I know this was right for me. I look forward to the chance to re-enter the work force someday when my kids have moved out and on, but until then, I'm proud to say I'm a stay-at-home mom...
Friday, September 10, 2010
Simplicity...if only....
If ones life is simple, contentment has to come. Simplicity is extremely important for happiness. Having few desires, feeling satisfied with what you have, is very vital: Satisfaction with just enough food, clothing and shelter.
- Dalai Lama
- Dalai Lama
Rainy Day
Today is the perfect rainy day. The steady drum of rain, the cool, crisp chill of fresh autumn air, the hum of crickets chirping, the hiss of cars as they drive past through puddling water, the dusky sky that is grey-blue, the birds lavishing in their puddle baths, fluffing and fluttering their wings, enjoying nature's gift of rain. This is one of my favorite kinds of morning. It feels as if I'm in a rain forest, everything so green and damp. A slight breeze causing a shower of rain to fall from the water-laden leaves of the trees. Rain is a glorious thing. Nature's way of freshening the earth, giving it a nice long replenishing drink so that it can send forth a burst of new life. Ahhh....life is good!
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