Patience is a virtue...or annoyance...

Patience is frustrating for a patient person to exercise.

I really do consider myself a patient person. Close friends and family TELL me and I'm a very patient...they told me that when I was a kid, teen and still: Veronique is a very patient person. No arguments.

So, what's the problem? I need to be patient now. And I'm having a VERY hard time doing such. Maybe it's that I'm not patient with myself and my decisions. I do not make big decisions lightly, I usually do LOTS of research (history dork: party of 1). I do this for anything and everything that is big. Purchases, life decisions, no fail! Here comes my problem...once I've made that decision, I want it to happen NOW! Whether it's a purchase (ok, we decided what we want...now to wait to have the money) or life decision, i.e. when I wanted to get pregnant 10 months felt like an eternity before we found out Joseph was on his way!

It's always worse with things that I'm passionate about and/or don't have the money for once the decision is made (in my defense though, how do you know what to save for something is if you don't know what you want and is the best fit, best product for the money, etc) . Granted, I don't think I actually get worked up over things I'm not passionate about..so...moving on...have you stayed with my ADD brain thus far? Good...let's continue!

I just transferred some more money into my harp fund and counted up some $1 that I had been given. The combination put me over $900. All of a sudden I felt like I could see the light at the end of the tunnel! My patience had paid off...literally. I have checked on a "local" harp store's site from time to time to see if they had what I thought I could get (aka...the cheapest one) used. The one I was looking at has two "sizes", one that has 26 strings the other has 34. I started getting worried about not being able to play what I wanted on the 26 stringed harp. I emailed my former harp teacher for some advice.

This is what she said

"You might be able to find a 34 string that is closer to the price you want to pay. I have found

some beautiful harps on craigslist. My gut feeling is that with your skill level, you might be frustrated with the lack of range on the Ravenna (26 string)."

SO NOT the answer I was hoping for, but my gut was starting to tell me the same thing, so I wasn't that surprised.

I had looked on craiglist before with NO success (granted, harps aren't quite as common as iPods..so there's not exactly a LOT on craigslist to choose from). BUT, with her success, I decided to check it out again.

OH DEAR! Here's what I originally found as my "goal"

26 strings

with full levers, case and stand (appropriate "accessories")

$1359

Here's what I found on Craigslist

(posted just over a week ago)

34 strings

with full levers, case, stand (necessary "accessories")

$1600 obo

New: $2224

I have $936.90

I emailed and inquired. Maybe it's not even available...maybe they'll take pity on me and give it to me for $1000 (we could figure out THAT difference in money). Regardless, right now...I feel like I'm trying to hold on to running water in my hands. This is the hard part with craigslist. I had a friend say "I bet you'll get there (referring to the price of the one on craigslist) in the next year", but THIS will not be around in a year.

Patience...I need you now.

Playdough Take 1

Click here to view these pictures larger

So, I did it! I made homemade play dough today!

Joseph has been LOVING playing with play dough at school and I had found a recipe. All for making things cheaper at home, and know exactly what the ingredients are! I had one ingredient that I didn't have and after a little research, found a substitute and it came out great!. It was so easy, I ended up making 2 more colors. Joseph's favorite colors are

"pupou" (purple), "ohange" (orange) and "GEEN" (green).

For his birthday, I'm going to suggest some good play dough "tools"...must find a good kid sized rolling pin!

State & Main

....in hollywood. Look it up on IMDB. It's a funny movie, with some language, but the reason why I re-watched it was because of the real life implications.

...in real life.......It's School & Union. The same intersection. Jon and I lived on Union Street, then moved around the corner onto South Street.

.....oh the irony......

State and Main: "A movie crew invades a small town..."

Manchester by the sea: A small town that is invaded by a movie crew...

When I first moved to Manchester-by-the-sea, someone told us to watch this movie, because a lot of it was filmed downtown, and we would recognize a lot in it. We did and, low and behold, the corner we lived on was the prominent corner in the movie that the film was named after. Our apartment was in lots of shots.

It was, and still is, odd to see where we lived, every day every night. Where we first had a home together, in a movie. It did explain why the "front" of our apartment building (two old homes that were joined by a central staircase then chopped up into small apartments) is a different color than the back. We lived in the front one, painted olive green for the movie, and the back one is still yellow.

So, rent it...and laugh. Because, not only was it about a film crew that invades a small town, while living there, a movie crew invaded our small town. That resulted in the movie "The Proposal". Another movie to watch, laugh.

....Oh the greater irony....in the film, the town is in VT, where Jon grew up.

Back to "normal"

Today is Wednesday. Joseph now attends Medfield Children's Center (aka, school) every Wednesday and Friday now. They were just closed for their 2 week break in the summer and now we are back to normal schedules. He was glad to go and I'm grateful for these days. The plan is that this will give me a chance to get the big shopping trip we do twice a month done, by myself (not only without a 2 year old, but also not taking away from the limited time all three of us have to spend with each other). The alternative weeks, I'm trying to use it to make headway in the house, keep up with housework better and advance my photography skills.

It's 9:51 am and I dropped off Joseph at 9 and talked with the director of the school for a while. Since then, I've gotten a much better handle on the remaining mess from being away on vacation that had landed on the office floor. Not 100%, but at least you can walk through it a bit better now.

We're having company this Friday and I was scheduled for an extra shift at the library (YEAH!) so, I'm trying to be diligent and plan ahead and NOT just let the housework go.

In other news, my goal is to also spend a minimum of time that I give myself to write, sort/edit photos, practice taking pictures and learning how to use my camera better every time I use it. I'd also like to read some, but may have to settle for a compromise of listening to a book (which I love to do) while I do something else.

In my love for double uses and "why buy something when you can get it for free" motto for life, I have started a new website. If I started a "share site" through shutterfly, I got 30 free prints. So, I started the website (also free). The "double use" is that I'd like to use it as an essential "digital portfolio". On which, I would love any feedback!

Here's the site. http://thewillofarightbrainedwife.shutterfly.com/

I THINK I got the settings so any visitor can view it, but please let me know if you can't see it...or need a login, etc.

Here's my favorite latest picture I took. Like?

Technological Break (sort of)

In this day in age, it feels so hard to do "anything" without some form of technology (as we think of it modernly, remember at one point the egg beater was "technology"). Of course, when it comes down to it, it is not a "basic" need or necessity. However, it is a wonderful tool and I am grateful for it.

Where am I coming from? My computer basically died. I couldn't do anything on it without it freezing. After trying everything to get it working, patience, and lots of consideration--not to mention the frustration of sharing a laptop--we have since resolved the problem. And I am very grateful for it.

It was a nice "break". I can't say that without the quotes, because I did use Jon's laptop when there was something I couldn't do on my phone...another thing I was VERY grateful for in this interim.

I am so excited to learn how to use this to it's full potential (I have crossed to the other side) and also learn to use my other new tool and present to IT'S fullest potential. End goal being to make some money off of them.

Stay tuned for more postings! I have a big project I'm going to be doing this weekend and I'm sure you'll be excited to see. I'm making a drafting table...

The Roller Coaster of Life

Life is a challenging thing. It can be so blissfully wonderful and it can be so devastatingly horrible. While one might say (and I might agree) that this does create a sense of balance over a lifetime, the ups and downs are not so balancing when there are many of both within just a few short weeks. Then it becomes a roller coaster at the end of which you're simply dizzy, exhausted and sick. It's different than those ones at a fair, 'cuse you don't have seat belts.

This has been our life since just before Easter. We have been so encouraged by the response to a difficult book study with church members and then devastated by a meeting had with Jonathan where there was a sense of "you don't want to know "...or what?" if you don't do what we ask". We had the extreme high of FINALLY getting a positive pregnancy test. I was sleeping 3 hours every afternoon and was so excited to be feeling pregnant again. About two weeks later, a miscarriage was confirmed. We're all doing well at this point and moving forward.

We have our bundle of energy, Joseph, who gives us so much joy and keep us moving fast! Every day he seems to all of sudden learn new things. Two nights ago, he ran into the kitchen, opened the fridge door (never done that before) and came running back to us with an apple in his hand! He is an exceptionally polite 2 year old (if I do say so myself, due to me being a p's&q's drill sargent)--to the point that last night at 9:45pm when we said "15 more minutes then time for bed" he said "No thank you". (I'm sure some of you are thinking...2 year old going to bed at 10pm?!?! Well, he went down for a nap at 1:20pm and didn't get out of bed until almost 8:30pm..make more sense now?)

The other thing that we are VERY distracted with is that out of some of the frustration with the church, we have decided to start an evening service that is going to be very simple, but allow for many more freedoms (i.e. we don't HAVE to sing 2 songs, then a reading then 1 song, then announcements then 1 song then sermon). It's a big endeavor and Jon and I are basically tackling it alone, intentionally for a few reasons. One is so not to burden already overburdened volunteers and also to avoid a "too many hands in the pot ruins the stew" situation. This may very well mean, and so far looks like it will be, me signing/leading worship with a DVD with back tracks and Jon running the powerpoint and then we switch for his sermon. We really believe that it has lots of potential, but I do believe it will start very small. We have a few strong supporters in the church that we are trying not to depend on, but are eternally grateful for. We are set to have this new service begin this coming Sunday.

Coming up in our lives will be very busy but very promising for lots of happiness. We are having long missed company this weekend and then within 48 hours of them leaving, more company comes, for a week!!!!! My roomie's coming!! (her fiance, too) and I can't wait! I hardly ever get to see them and am so happy that they will be getting married out here next year, and we are located in a good central place for them to stay at while they nail down wedding plans. We have so many of our dearest friends that live, not just far away, but on-the-other-side-of-the country-far-away. Ugh. Now in the matter of a few days, I'll get to see 3 out of 9! I'll take it!

I know it has been so long since I posted, but now you know why. Here are a couple of new pictures. Thanks to my wonderful husband and best friend of 20+ years, Sarah, I am able to enjoy an amazing new camera that I had convinced myself we couldn't get for a long time. I'm so excited to start putting in to practice what I've been teaching myself about digital photography. We have learned so well how vital the right tools are to do something. Having had my camera broken for over a year, I'm so grateful for it!

My love.

Father's Day!

My little boy is growing up so fast!

Printer anxiety

I got a "new" printer at the dump last year...Now, let me stop right there and explain something for those of you who did not grow up in New England, because apparently, we're weird like this. Our "dumps" are now called "transfer stations" is where we can bring our trash, recycling and most have some form of a "swap shop". It's a place for unwanted things, working but no longer needed, can possibly find a useful home with someone else instead of just being put in the landfill. It's great!

Last year, I got a sandbox with cover for Joseph, sand toys, a slide, a printer, a bike (for Joseph), and iHome. My mom once found a Kitchen Aid Mixer that was better than hers!

So, the printer didn't have cables or ink. Fortunately, our cables from our current printer worked with it. It turned on, etc. We had JUST purchased this multi-multi pack of cartridges for our current printer. So, we decided to let that run out and then get some ink for the "new" one and make sure it printed, and then use that as our main printer. It's a better model than our old one. BUT, our old one is better than my Mom's. Her printer is just a printer, whereas our current one is a printer/scanner/copier and very compact! It would be a perfect fit in my mom's desk and she'd have a scanner again! Win win! So (yup, I said it again), we FINALLY were getting close to using up our ink and I was able to find some cheap to make sure that the new printer actually PRINTS. I got them yesterday and got it all set up and sure enough, it prints!!! After much research, I am still fighting to get the thing to be accessed remotely through our modem/router. This will make it MUCH easier to share the printer with Jon so we don't have to torture our poor wire by switching it from one desk to another.

The "new" one

I just e-mailed my brother for help...hopefully he can!

I'm about to do a crazy thing

Ok, so here it is....

My sister in law, Louann, does several things for work part time, a lot from home but also a lot where she's interacting with people she doesn't know all the time. She's great at it. I know I can do it well, cuse I've had to before and have been told I was good at it by bosses in the past. But in all honesty, I like the quiet of my home. (even as I type this, I have 2 two y/o running around).

SO...anyway...one thing Lou does is merchandising. You ever seen an "extra" coupon on a product in a store? Well, she'd be one of the people that gets paid to go to the stores and put them on. I think this job is in that realm.

Over the next 2 weeks, I will be driving all around Cape Cod, replacing a decal on 100 ATM's. All while getting a GOOD paycheck out of the deal. That's what basically made Jon and I figure out how to make this work...it's too good NOT to do. Here's the part that makes it THAT much more crazy...It's Easter season. Which in a pastor's life is the peak of crazy for the year. We pretty much won't see each other until May 1st. It's a lot of hours, in a short time, but it's only a short time. The GOOD side of it being during these crazy weeks for Jon is that I probably wouldn't have seen him much anyway.

So that's what I'm about to do. Even Lou said "It's crazy to have to get this all done by May 1st, but...hopefully we'll get it all done!" (there's a legal deadline on getting this done)

I will be spending Friday afternoons going down to the cape, running around until the stores close and then sleeping at my mom's and getting up and putting in a full half day work on Saturday then come back home to take over parenting so Jon can have some concentrated work time. Jon will also be solo parenting Sundays after church and ALL of Monday. He will probably be taking Joseph to do the bi monthly shopping trip.

I have a feeling I will be very "out of contact" for the rest of the month...HOWEVER!!! (I will blog about this in May, only 4 months late) Jon and I were FINALLY able (thanks to my additional jobs) to get smartphones. The plan was that Jon was going to get one before he started as a pastor. Serious lack of money prevented that. After 2 1/2 years, we were finally able to get these amazing tools that have already paid for themselves! So, for those you who text, we have fully entered the world of texting and have an unlimited family texting plan! I also will let you know that while I check my "regular"email all the time on my phone, I do have a new email that goes directly to my phone. Creatively (not!) it is veronique.chechile@gmail.com.

ok...it's nap time...hopefully...See you in a couple of weeks! Pray we all make it through...especially for Joseph. A lot is going to be different for him and he's started being picky about routines.

Sick

Joseph has conjunctivitis and a double ear infection. He caught it from his buddies, Marco and Matteo. I'm really surprised that he doesn't get sick more often from sharing germs.

First time he's ever had to take a prescription medicine.

At CVS, getting the medicine...better soon...

.

Post medicine...sleeping in bed. Got his "banket", "goo-girl", "nuk" and "nigh night moon".

The key elements of going to sleep for my two year old.

My poor little guy.

There's nothing I can do, but give him his medicine and soothe him when he cries.

Not funny, but funny

During "nap"

That would be EVERY item of clothing in his dresser, except 2 pj's in the back of his top drawer. On his bed. When HE was supposed to be in it....SLEEPING!!!

So, what to do? Laugh, oh I tried so hard not too after the shock wore off. I knew I couldn't get it all back in, so I grabbed his pillow and Good Girl (his black stuffed dog) and said," lay down on the floor and go to sleep"

REMARKABLY....he obeyed! And slept like that for about 2.5 hours.

Life with a 2 year old.

Big Boy Bed

I'm still catching up. Having a rough afternoon with all three boys, no one would nap. After one of them getting 3 time outs and separate alone play time, they seem to FINALLY be playing well. So, I'm going to try to tell another story from my lapsed period over the crazy holidays.

Joseph turned 2 in October. For his birthday, my mom bought him a "big boy bed" and mattress. WHOO HOO!!! We ended up getting him a captains bed from the Mill Stores, unfinished and a mattress from IKEA (it was better than Jordans, more comfortable, more choices for the money).

This is what it looked like brand new. I stained it a darker color which was so much fun but took a while. Joseph only got out (aka, fell out) of his crib once, but it was getting harder and harder for me to pick him up out of his crib (I'm too short and it's too deep).

Well, right before Christmas we FINALLY got him in the big bed. We got lots of comments to the effect of "Don't do it" "wait". Well, we lucked out. Joseph stayed in the whole night the first night. Since then, he has only gotten out after going to bed for the night two or three (I think) times, once was he needed a new diaper in a bad way.

He has stayed in for naps too until his buddy Matteo started not staying down for naps. One time I came upstairs to find that Matteo had gotten out of the pack & play. out of the guest room, into Joseph's room and climbed into Joseph's crib. Yeah.

So, here's Joseph's first night in his bed.

This was after he fell asleep that night.

He's SO my kid, a book and a black dog in bed.

I believe this was during a power nap (2pm-8am the next morning)

This is one of him sleeping just in the last week. He's changed so much, talking so much, just in the past few weeks. It's so cool. But, I still like it when he's quiet and asleep. Of course, with "Goo(d)Girl" by his side.

...and after

I was going to do a before and after photo, but I think I accidentally deleted the before picture.

Well, trust me, it was BAD...the entire floor was covered with baby clothes.

These are all full and are 99% handmedowns. Thank GOD for handmedowns. All labeled and folded, too.

A month

It's amazing how much can happen in a month. It's amazing how much can happen in a minute. But since it's been a month in which I haven't blogged, that's the one I'm going to recap. I've taken pictures of things thinking...I need to take a before and after picture so I can blog about it. And I have, but have failed to put them up here, let alone write about the photographs.

I'm not sure if I should attempt to start where I left off and work my way to now, try to just touch on everything right here, right now (true ADD style), or just do...well...whatever happens, happens.

I think we'll go with that one...whatever....I'll try to go in "order", but in the end....whatever....

It's been more than 24hours since I wrote the above, so I am yet going with...whatever happens happens.

This is what so much of my time has been taken up with since Sept. I started watching my friends' boys, Matteo (2 y/o) and Marco (4 y/o). I have Matteo Tues and Thurs and Maro on Thurs. 3 little boys is constant activity and "Nique....Someone did something..." The best part is they are growing up together as close cousins would. Joseph called Matteo "Teo" and Marco "Garco".

Every Friday, Joseph goes to "school" at our church. He has lots of fun with Colin and Hillary (a redhead).

I go here

from 10:30-2, in the Children's room. It's fun. I love the other moms I get to meet and working with books again! I've recently been asked if I could do the ordering of new AV stuff for the children's room...which is Kids CDs, DVDs and audiobooks. So cool!

This one is growing and changing and learning new words like CRAZY!!! Here he is eating his FAVORITE snack..."So, this fig walked into a bar..." Yup, it's a "cereal bar" with fig in it.

First time eating spaghetti and yes, he did have some raw first!

Oreo's still our first baby, and he never lets us forget it! Joseph's first chore is to feed Oreo breakfast and dinner. Oreo doesn't like it when Joseph sleeps late.

Life is good in the house for Oreo, except..

He needs to loose some weight. This picture makes him look SOO huge, but it's just the angle.

I think I may have blogged about this day/week...it can't get any worse, right?

This was the cinnamon/sugar and chili powder all over the floor (and in the clean laundry basket) Oh boy....

Moving on...

The Shoemakers came to visit in October! We had a blast! Joseph was happy to have Anastasia here and was VERY captivated by baby Zoe, who at the time was only about 2 months old.

It's a rough life...

We went down to the Cape to help my mom with the leaves and Joseph helped...Hailey supervised.

We played in the pile of leaves a bit, but it was FREEZING that day

Joseph liked my new hat

Don't ask...it's where the catnip is kept.

Another unlikely place for Oreo to be...

I'll leave you with that... More soon...I promise...I hope....I will... You all love me, right?