Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Clutter part 2

What do you do with a key of mysterious origin and unknowable function? Do you throw it away? Do you throw keys away?

Josh's answer: Put it in a knick-knack drawer.

Did he not read my post about clutter?

This project will be harder than I imagined.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Clutter

I hate clutter. It's one of those things that just gets under my skin. It stresses me out to look around my house and see clutter on the surfaces, stuff stacked up or stuck in corners. I am very intent right now on de-cluttering our house. Every room will be scrutinized, every shelf examined, and every surface liberated.

We have recently realized the need to de-clutter our life as well. Josh and I had the best of intentions when we moved here to make sure we did not get too busy. We wanted to protect family time with our little one and couple time for us. But busyness sneaked up on us. We've decided we won't be able to lead a Bible study for our church in our home right now. It's hard for us to say no to things when we see a need we can fill. We like to be involved and we like to see purpose in our lives here. We are learning new limits these days.

Time to give clutter the ole' heave ho!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Planet Mom

Taking up residence on Planet Mom is truly adapting to life with a new set of cultural values, social norms, expectations, and perspective on life. Some of the people are the same on this planet, but my relationships with them have changed. And of course, there is a new little life-form that is the center of this planet.

Relationships with other moms on this Planet are almost instantaneous. Almost like joining a country club where we carry pacifiers and sippy cups instead of rackets and golf clubs. Discussions about diapers, childbirth, and how many aliens you want are all fair game. Conversations are interspersed with phrases like "Please don't put that in your mouth" or "Don't take the paci from the baby" and spelling becomes a necessary skill to talk about certain things around the aliens.

I have learned that on Planet Mom I will be touched, tugged on, drooled on, spit-up on all day long. And sometimes I get a 6 month old's version of a hug. I have learned that "sleeping like a baby" means I will not actually sleep through the night, even when my baby does. Every little thing is exciting on this Planet, from first tastes to baths, from banging spoons to joyful yells. Days are long here on this Planet, there is no overtime pay, and I've heard paychecks are a long time in coming. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

It's certainly an adjustment. And I don't think you can ever really get settled here on this Planet because things are always changing. That's just the nature of the place. Once you have one place all mapped out, your little alien is ready to move. That's okay, because each place brings new things to discover and enjoy. I like it here on Planet Mom.


("Together on Planet Mom" is the theme of MOPS this year. It was the inspiration for this blog post.)

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Family Photos

To celebrate our 300th blog post, take a sneak peek at the family portrait session we did:

Seefeldt Family Portraits in Kerrville

It was so fun and the pictures turned out so well. The hard part will be narrowing down what we want.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Chaco tan

Summer is drawing to a close. Football season is here and school is back in session. I was thinking about how quickly the summer flew by when I noticed something. Faint though it is, there on my feet I noticed a chaco tan.

Chacos are a brand of sandals, somewhat similar to Tevas, that have quite a following among camp counselors and young missionaries. When Josh and I worked at Laity Lodge Youth Camp we were introduced to Chacos as many of the counselors sported Chacos due to their durability, comfort, and all-terrain-ness. The criss-cross straps leave a particular set of tan lines on the wearer's feet. I had wanted Chacos for a while and finally bought some for our trip. I wore them all the time on our trip and have continued to wear them almost constantly once the weather got warm enough.

Last summer I spent much of my time indoors, either in class or counseling. My hair did not get lighter as in summers past, I did not develop any interesting tan lines from days at the pool.

So when I saw my faint Chaco tan, I was reminded of summers spent outside playing, summers spent running around. I realized that this summer I had been outside, this year pushing a stroller. The summer did not go by so fast that it did not leave its mark. Here's to more summers as a stay at home mommy with kids, outside enjoying the sun.

Looking at that tan I decided it was a good summer.

And for a few minutes I felt like one of the cool counselors - even if it is 6 years late.