Hurricane

I survived Hurricane Bob

(below is 1 mile from my house and not the worst damage)

I survived the Halloween storm of 1991 - it had no name then, but it was like a monster.

Bring it on, Sandy. I'm a tough New England girl.

Back to it

Well, it's been way too long, but I'm going to try to get back at it, so without further ado...here's what I did today...

After getting Joseph of to school, I took Amélie to her 4 month ok check up (can you believe that she's 4 months old?? The only thing I believe less is that Joseph is 4 YEARS old!!!) .

My take-after-daddy's girl is growing more in length than in weight, but nonetheless very healthy and "perfect " according to the doctor ( see, I'm not the only one). She weighed in at 12 lbs. 2 oz. and 25.5 inches long. I've concluded that she needs a size 3 month long. Wish it existed! Even the size 6 month one piece input on her today was too short in the arms and way too big in the body!

So, this afternoon I decided to tackle a project. Last Saturday I went shopping at one of my favorite places: the town dump. Now before you roll your eyes at me, we have an area at our dump where people can drop off unused items or others to take for free rather ham growing hem in the trash. The swap shop. I do VERY well there. I learned from my mom, she once got a kitchen aid mixer! This particular Saturday I got over $400 of baby gear! A couple things for others, but 3 big things for us. A high chair that hooks on to the table which I'm loving! So is Amélie!! I got a baby gate and a new double jogging stroller. Now, I have a handmedown of a handmedown one already, but it is not good for an infant and it technically folds up but not really. This "new" one goes for about $230 on Amazon. I cleaned up 90% of it ( didn't get the under side done) this afternoon with Amélie watching. I did manage to walk to the gas station to fill the tires with air and get to pick up Joseph before the rain started! Here's a few pics. Notice the left side that's clean and the right that was yet to be cleaned and Joseph kept putting his arm around Amélie's head! I love that he can be sitting up and she can be reclined. Tomorrow: the big park!

Before....folded up and quite dirty

Clean........Still dirty

My helper...she was on phone duty (we were also waiting for someone to stop by)

My peanut in her new high chair at the table!

I LOVE that both of them can ride in this. Joseph's on the big side, but it will make the trip HOME from the playground much easier!

Obi Wan

Vacation

Jon and I were on vacation last week. We went to my mom's on the Cape. Jon gave me his iPhone as soon as we got in the car and while I did let him have it a little (i.e. when I left him and JJ at the beach so he would have it in case of emergencies) he was VERY good at letting go. We spent a lot of time on the beach and by the last day, Joseph was begging to go back to the beach with Daddy.

We left later than expected. I got the opportunity to work ALL day on Monday(which we desperately needed the money, so we were very grateful for it). So, we left Monday night instead of Sunday night. Not the end of the world.

Tuesday we slept as late as possible and we went out to get some groceries for the week and we all (my mom too) went for a long walk around the shore of Kalmus beach. This is one of my favorite beaches. There's a calm, harbor side, then a much more active side. Connecting the two is a long jetty that I love to walk.

Wednesday, Jon's sisters came to the Cape. This is the first time we've ever spent time with just the two girls. It's amazing to see how much they have both changed in the last 7 years. Becca got to meet Amélie and even though it was a quick trip, it was worth it! We miss her so much.

The next few days were full of lots of good fish for supper and lots of beach time. Fresh veggies from the neighbor's garden and LOTS of that wonderful salt air.

Mission Accomplished

This has been the state of our office desk for MONTHS...thus the pile up!

Pretty bad, I know. It's a combination of legitimate things that belong on the desk, other bags and boxes of compiled stuff from downstairs that were just thrown up here in attempt to get downstairs clean, and well....frankly, I DON"T KNOW!

For weeks now, Jon has said "I'm going to try to get the desk done today" and low and behold, it just kept getting put on the back burner. Either appropriate priorities took place (i.e. playing with our kids) or other house cleaning projects moved way up because they were places we needed to deal with for our daily lives.

So, yesterday, Jon and Joseph went grocery shopping. This is a several hour venture as we only do it twice a month and usually go to at least two stores almost a 30 min drive away. While they were out i decided to get this surface cleared off...finally! I knew if I could accomplish that, it would make Jon's day because i know its been bugging him for a long time (fyi..it's a mutual desk and mess).

Et...voila!!

Now in all fairness, I did not file, but i did sort and throw out a TON of papers, etc. See that small neat pile on the right, that's what's left on the desk to do-it's all filing.

AND I left nothing on the floor!

Bonus:

Here's my sweat pea who watched me sort:

She may have the longest eyelashes of us all!

Maternity Leave

I'm back. I didn't mean to go for quite as long, but I did and now I'm back....help me, friends, stay back. Let me go back...

It's July 26.  Since I last blogged, I've had a lot happen. The biggest event, is the long awaited arrival and then fast and a bit scary delivery of our daughter.

Amélie Maryse Chechile was born on June 16 at 8:38am, 6lbs 14oz, 20.5 inches long. I don't think I can tell the whole story of her birth now, but soon, I will. Let's just say it felt like an eternity at first and then like the TGV (which stands for something that means "High speed train" in French"). 

I'm staging a comeback today. I FINALLY accomplished (well, all but accomplished..still have to go to the post office) a thank you gift that I've been trying to get together for embarrassingly way too long and I think it was one big task that I've needed to get done before I could move forward and get back into "regular" creative tasks. Granted I have several other MAJOR projects I need to do, I'm going to be hopeful and try my hardest to get these things back into my everyday life: writing here, doing weekly photography assignments to learn and improve my photography skills, play music and practice calligraphy.

All of that on top of taking care of my kids and trying to keep up with housework. I'm so bad at it. Partly because I think there are other things that are more important to do with my time (i.e. taking the time to raise my kids well) and also cuse I'm just BAD at it. Always have been...my bedroom was ALWAYS a mess. My school notebooks however was OCD level organized and neat. Go figure. 

One project you can all look forward to seeing soon is a before and after picture of our office desk. IT'S BAD right now. I think the "dump pile" is over a foot and a half high. 

So keep on me friends if I haven't posted. I hope my posts/pics are interesting enough for you all to help me with this. I don't know if having a goal is wise at the moment or not, considering the ups and downs of life with a newborn, but I suppose if I don't at least have a goal, wether I meet it or strive to meet it, I will NEVER meet it. So, here it is: One weekly photography assignment and one prose blog post. 

Below is this week's photo assignment...it's kinda a cheat one, because all I had to do was find two pics to compare how much my photography has improved. Granted, my camera improved SIGNIFICANTLY!!! I'm hoping to be able to get to the point of selling prints (I think) of my photos. 

And...one last thing...Amélie is waking up so, here's a picture of her from the other day.

Look How Far I've Come

Click here to view these pictures larger

It's March and I still have laundry detergent!

Have I peeked your curiosity?

Good!

Over six months ago, I decided to try my hand at making my own laundry detergent. Being my mother's daughter, I couldn't just follow the "recipe", I had to tweak it a little. I did and i figured it should last us until March of this year. Jon said "okkk" with "I'll believe it when I see it" subtext. We are only 3 people but we produce a lot of laundry! I've also given away probably close to 250 loads worth away.

It is March 6th and I have emptied my two big containers where I made the detergent. I still have the canister that I "work from" FULL! My rough guess is that is about another 100 loads.

Now I really need to get going on marketing it locally. 

What other dye-free, perfume-free, all natural detergent can you buy for $10 for 75 loads?