It's Blitz Time

Today begins the frenzied whipping together of the last of the hand made Christmas gifts.  A scarf needs finishing, a dress needs sleeves, mugs need sweaters, pajama pants need sewing, and mittens need cutting and assembling.

The kids are thrilled, because it means Mommy will allow them to rot in front of the TV to keep them from getting trampled underfoot.

I'm thrilled because I have the house cleaned enough that I can hammer away at this all day long.  I'm also thrilled that the mittens will be coming from old sweaters (I abhor throwing stuff away when it can be repurposed), that the mug sweaters will put a considerable dent in my yarn stash that has sat idle on my craft desk for far too long, and that my daughter's Christmas dress, which I started last year, will finally be done.

In case this is my last entry until then, Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday To You!

My second born is 8 years old today.  He is a source of intense joy and unadulterated happiness.

Like his namesake, he trusts implicitly in God's plan.

He lights up our world.  We are truly blessed.

Shenanigans...

This post will initially be about my kids, but will follow with some "pictures for posterity" of the cleaning we managed to complete.

While in Sunday School after Liturgy last week, Maria (age 6) was asked to draw a picture of how she helps out around the house.  She drew an angry little stick figure putting toys into a toy box.  Next to her was a taller, angrier stick figure.  When asked to explain, she sweetly explained that the smaller figure was her, helping to clean the house even though she hates to do that.  The taller stick figure was Mommy, who likes to get mad and say bad words when everyone is cleaning.

Her teacher LOVED it.

Louis (age 2) finally sleeps in his own bed at night.  Well, he starts out in his own bed, anyway.  A couple of nights ago, I was going to roll over when I felt him wedged up against my back.  What's more is that his feet were tucked into the back of my underwear.  How he managed to get them there without me waking up is something that truly baffles me.

Being pregnant, my body is doing all kinds of crazy, hopelessly unattractive things.  Recently, a long, blonde hair made an appearance on my upper lip.  The kids noticed it while I was bathing them, remarking with profound, giggly sympathy, "Everyone is going to laugh at you!"  It has since been removed...

While in Liturgy every Sunday lately, Louis has greatly enjoyed trying to visit the pew in front of us by sliding across the floor underneath the pew itself.  When caught by his father, who literally has to drag the boy out by his ankles, Louis breaks into a chorus of "HOWP!!! HOWP, MOMMY!!!" (That's how he says "help.")  After communion, he's nice enough to ask us, very loudly, "ALL DONE JESUS?!  ALL DONE?  GO BYE-BYE?"  It's one of those times I'm beyond grateful to our Church community for being absolutely amazing about children and their antics.  They seem to really enjoy watching the younger families scramble to maintain composure.

On to our cleaning efforts:

I must have a clean house as holidays approach.  It is the world's worst distraction to have clutter and disarray when there is so much else that needs to be done.  I crank the Mumford and Sons and, recently, the Huey Lewis (nostalgia for road trips with my parents and siblings, and Saturday mornings with my dad making pancakes in his skivvies) while tackling the "snow globe effect" that hits my house almost daily (you know, like someone picked up the house, turned it upside down, and shook it violently before placing it right-side up).

Alas, we have made headway.  

Behold, the boys' room:

The "before" panoramic shot.

The "before" shot of shame.

The glorious "after" panoramic.

Fear not, that giant basket laundry has since been resolved as well.

The "before" closet shot.  

Heaven help me.

The "after" shot, in which I gleefully mention that a good deal 

of the "before" shot ended up in donation bags.

(This one task took me nearly 3 hours to complete.)

The "after" shot of the toys/books area behind their door.

I forgot to take the "before" shot, but just imagine that

a toy store and a library got black-out drunk and threw up in this little area...

and all over the rest of the room...

And on to the girl's room:

The "before" panoramic shot, which doesn't include the Mt. Everest

of dress-up clothes and actual clothes that I had to scale to get into the room.

The "after" of the former home of the Mt. Everest-of-clothes.

The "after" panoramic.  

I feel the stress melting away!

The End.

(Courtesy of Louis)

Hopefully, in the next few days, I will have more pre- and post- cleaning pictures, as well of a few snaps of completed Christmas gifts.  My current project is a matching scarf for the Hello Kitty hat and some coffee cup "sweaters" for the white elephant gift exchange at the company Christmas party, like so:

source

When Hardship Rains, Blessings Pour.

Having to tell the kids that we can't get this and that on their wish lists has gone surprisingly well.  They know why we're making these kinds of decisions and they've amended their wishes to be more practical.  I really could not ask for better companions on this rocky financial road.  They are amazing little troopers.

The one decision we made that hit them particularly hard was the decision to forego a Christmas tree.  They have favorite ornaments, an evening set aside just for decking halls and having hot chocolate and cookies, and what about that lonely corner in the living room that practically lives to host a tree dripping in colored lights?  I told them Christmas was no less Christmas without a tree, and we'd still have so much to do to keep the season festive.

Yesterday after church, we were at the breakfast social when one of the older gentlemen approached my husband and asked if we wanted one of the fake trees in the corner.  Totally free of charge.

My jaw totally dropped.  I know, it's just a tree, but of all the things my kids were upset about, this lands in our lap out of the blue.  I'm feeling overwhelmed by the blessings that have blossomed from something that typically causes so much anxiety and stress!

The kids are absolutely in love.

Oh, and then it snowed later that morning.  I love the snow.  It was like God could not contain the blessings yesterday.  Tree?  You bet.  Snow?  Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas FOREVER, Meghann!

Kid #2 had the greatest day ever!

Kids #1 and #3 couldn't get enough!

All Quiet On The Eastern Front

I know, I haven't posted in weeks-ish.  Holidays tend to throw my world into a loop, especially in the face of a financial shake-up.

You know how I posted earlier woes about healthcare and such?  Well, that was only a partial picture.  We've amassed a staggering amount of bills from our son's recent surgery.  In the grand scheme of how horrifying hospital bills can be, it isn't too terrible.  But when one spouse is earning the money from three jobs to support his family, those bills are a majorly painful kick in the teeth.

But what a blessing in disguise as well!!!

You see, I have had to rework our finances in such a way that uncovered wasteful spending that we weren't even thinking about.  It was nothing major like luxury cars or vacation houses, but subtle things like grabbing lunch at a drive through while out with the kids, or flopping in front of Netflix for an evening of mindless entertainment.

When we cut seemingly insignificant things like that, the money began to add up nicely.  And after a week of these cuts, we don't even miss those things.

Here's the beauty of it: We can maintain those cuts with little issue.  I am sure of it.  And once the larger medical bills are out of the way (in January), we can snowball this stuff with tremendous flow into the student loans that my husband still owes.  In three glorious months, rather than the 10 months I was initially planning, we will be out from under loan #1.  THREE MONTHS!!!

In April, loan #1 will be history!

Snowballing that further, loan #2 will be out of our lives in less than 2 years.

Loan #3 will be eating our dust in about 3 years' time.

Before these medical bills, I was convinced that our dance with these student loans would last another 5-6 years at least!  This outcome is much, much better.  And I wouldn't have given the 5-6 years a second thought if we weren't hit upside the head with these medical bills.

Blessing abound if I look hard (and smart) enough!