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Changes

We are making lots of changes around here. We started with a little one: new drawer pulls. One of the knobs broke (the missing drawer knob), and we decided to just change them all. It is a subtle but nice change.

At the moment, we have pulled apart our bedroom. Our closets are small and not super functional, so we're putting up the wall unit we had in our last apartment. We'll see how it goes; I will check in when we're done.

New Dish love

Admission: I am a 29 year old adult, and I have never owned new dishes. Okay, maybe if you count the one corel-ware bowl and plate I bought last year to use in my office. But I have never purchased a brand new set of dishes in my adult life. I've made due with hand-me-downs, thrift store finds, and various random pieces.

I mentioned in my last post that we had received some dishes from one of Matt's cousins. Specifically, we got five place settings of the lovely Aspen dishes from Crate & Barrel. And, folks, let me tell you this: I am in love with these dishes! Maybe it's just the honeymoon period, but I cannot let these beautiful pieces sit in the sink all dirty. I have always been a good dish washer, but I am now excellent. Something about letting a white dish sit dirty in the sink instead of letting it spotlessly drip dry in my dish rack just galls me. So, I have been washing up every night as soon as we finish dinner.

Here's to hoping the honeymoon period lasts!

Reading

Perhaps I sound like a broken record, but I am still quite inspired by decluttering posts. I especially love this post about giving up your fantasy life. It is okay to keep things you use. But if you don't use it, perhaps giving it up is for the best. I especially love the example of the author's own life. She always dreamed of being a princess and collected antiques, fancy tea sets, beaded dresses, and other fineries. But it was only once she let go of these items that she had the freedom to truly move to England and pursue her life.

I'm still contemplating my dream life. But while I work at "finding myself," I can still let go of some things. For example, I am making a future with a physics teacher. We will always have physics books around. I really don't have to save the physics notes. It was hard to let them go, but I know it is for the better.

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Another set of great reading I've been doing concerns raising kids as a community. It is the responsibility of all of us to take care of children and be responsible for their growth. Part of this is being intentional in our actions. I don't think people intentionally mean to skew children, but even out best intended actions might not come across as we mean them to.

The first article is called How to Talk to Little Girls. The author focuses on encouraging girls in reading or other pursuits rather than always focusing on appearance. It can be hard to do; it is simple to compliment young ladies on how they look. But always emphasizing the physical aspects can teach girls that looks are all that matter. Definitely worth a read.

The other great blog post comes from Mighty Girl, entitled Here We Go. In the post is a video Maggie did with other moms that covers how they talk (or don't talk) to their kids about sexual abuse. The real gem, in my opinion, is what Maggie says wasn't covered by the article. She, and many of the commenters, write thoughtfully about how to honor your kids' space and autonomy. If you click over, read through all the comments for a great discussion.

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Overall, I'm keeping quite busy here. I am hoping to get pictures from this summer up one of these days (and finish my recounting of our trip!). We had an amazing time visiting Oregon and seeing my parents and friends. We came back running and have been catching up with friends and enjoying the area. This is the first year in a decade that neither Matt nor I have to move in the summer. In the past ten years, I have lived in 14 different places! Maybe someday I'll do a roundup of all these homes.

A few good links

A note: I will never, ever, ever own a mouse with a "back" button on it (I'm on lunch at work). This marks the third time I have accidentally hit the back button and had to rewrite all or part of this post. Thankfully, I remembered to save one draft!

All is well in Leah-land, but it is busy and stressful. Work continues to be fulfilling, what with spending lots of time in nature with young kids. But it's also stressful, since I take over other people's jobs when they leave on vacation (and two people are out this week). I'm also just trying to find time to enjoy the beautiful summer weather.

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Did you know that drowning doesn't look like "drowning"? This excellent article describes how to spot someone who is drowning, and I was surprised to find out that it's not at all like we expect. One of the best tips I picked up from the article is that drowning people are typically quiet. As they say, kids in the water make noise; if they're not making noise anymore, something is up. Definitely give it a read. I'd never heard any of this before, and I have worked with kids in and around water.

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Vampire energy is the term for electricity that is used by plugged in equipment even when that equipment isn't on. This takes up a surprising amount of energy each year. When I signed up for renewable energy for a 101 things goal (near the end of the post), I also worked diligently at reducing power consumption. We did so by using power strips for all our electronics and turning off the strips when our microwave, TV, etc weren't in use. We managed to get out bill down to $15-20 per month for a two bedroom apartment, which was pretty awesome in my view. I must admit that it was a pain to constantly reach behind things to turn off power strips, but it did pay off.

Imagine my happiness in discovering that there are now remote-control operated power strips! There's an excellent review over at LA Green Girl about the Pratecol power strip. There's remote control power strips and power strips with foot pedal turn-offs. I am so buying a few of these when we redo our living room soon. Matt and I don't currently pay electric where we live, but we still like to conserve.

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A new-twist on an old subject: 7 tips for dealing with a sweetheart who is crabby all the time. These tips focus on how you can adjust behavior, since you're the only one you can change. I really love the focus here, because it acknowledges that there are two sides to every situation. I must admit that I am sometimes (maybe often?) crabby at the end of a long workday, mostly because of the frustrating hour-long commute I do. Matt has been a gem, and I think he already does several of these tips. Recently, he's been cooking dinner for me, and it makes a ton of difference in how I feel. In return, I've started washing more dishes, and I even empty the dish drainer before leaving for work in the morning so that he has a clean kitchen to cook in.

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Finally, a lovely excerpt from a "Happiness Interview" at The Happiness Project:

What’s something you know now about happiness that you didn’t know when you were younger?

What I know now is that life is long -- you don't have to do everything at the same time. When I turned 30 I entered a ridiculously productive period -- I published five books in five years and had two children. Then I gave birth to my third son, and it all went to hell in a hand-basket (or, more accurately, a diaper pail). It was a number of years -- eight, to be exact -- before I published another novel. But during that period I learned a lot about life and love and other important things, and my writing -- and my life in general -- are better for it.

My weekend

I spent lots of time with some cute furbabies. I housesat for one of my coworkers and really enjoyed the luxury of a significantly shorter commute to work (~ 25 minutes or less!). I'm also really appreciating being home now; it's amazing how a little break can really help one realize what gets taken for granted on a daily basis.

Here are the animals. It's hard to tell, but the cat only has three legs. She hops around everywhere and can't jump high. Also, a total cuddle bug. There was also a second cat that proved to be more elusive, especially when the camera was out.

Another picture of Archer, the awesome dog. I'm not sure what he is, but it's some mix of collie and a bunch of other things. I wouldn't be surprised if he has some beagle in him. Mostly, he looks like a collie-like fox.

And, finally, I came away with some decor ideas. This is the lovely, calming room where I stayed. I really adore the color scheme (deep red with a lighter blue). Of course, the generous natural lighting helped a lot too. I find it so much easier to get up in the morning when one's room is flooded with light. This is the vibe I eventually want in my room, someday, when we get a place that's not surrounded by forest. I like the forest around our apartment . . . except for the lack of direct light. Anyway, the room:

Our Apartment: part 3

The final installment! Our place is just a one bedroom, so it's not too big. Still, we really like it. I'm hoping we're able to stay here next year, but we'll see how things go.

Here's our lovely little kitchen. It's a bit tight for two people cooking, but we make it work.

And, one of my favorite things ever, my kitchenaid mixer. I don't need it, but I sure do like it. Thanks, mom! You can also see our canned good overflow, and the shopping bags have onions and potatoes in them.

And, finally, our spacious main room. The posters probably look familiar to anyone who has visited me in Kirkland or Ann Arbor. The posters graced the walls during my teen years, and I have carried them with me around the country. I particularly love the horizontal one. It's a poster of "beware the frumious bandersnatch" from Alice in Wonderland.

The side of our main room and my desk. Some of the photos on the wall are mine (the top and bottom ones), and the middle ones are from random folk. My desk area is a bit tight, but it keeps me honest. I have a tendency to clutter, and I try to keep it to that one little corner.

Our Apartment: part 2

Here's the view of the bathroom from the hallway. Matt picked out that shower curtain! I'm actually quite proud of his taste; he normally picks good stuff as long as it's not too expensive.

The hallway and the rest of the bathroom. There's this interesting built-in cabinet. The top portion has several shelves, so we store all our towels and bathroom stuff in there. Sheets, mending, and swimming stuff are in the drawers. Our bedroom is the first door to the left, and the kitchen is the second. On the right are two closets, and the main room is straight ahead. That sheet of paper taped up on the cabinet is my weight tracker; I am working on losing weight (goal: to lose 15 pounds by August), so I weigh myself every day. So far, I've lost almost 5 pounds!

Our Apartment: part 1

I've been meaning to show pictures of our apartment for ages now. It's not the most beautifully decorated place, and we definitely did things on the cheap. We merged our belongings, hit up some garage sales, and even pulled a thing or two off of a curb. I'll be showing pictures over the next few days.

Today is the bedroom. This is the view from the door. The shelves and pictures in the corner are all mine; it's my little knick-knack area. I don't really have any other knick-knacks in the whole apartment, so this is my area to do my thing completely. Matt's dad made the lovely dresser for Matt, and we keep our houseplants on top; that's the only window in our apartment that gets good light.

We don't have a closet in the bedroom, so the previous tenant put up a nifty closet system on the wall. I keep the rest of my clothes on the bookshelf and in the white plastic set of drawers. We tried to find a dresser for me, but the price was right on the bookshelf and dressers are hard to find. The bookshelf is a little leany, but it works fine for now. I use fabric cubes from Target to keep jammies, underclothes, and off-season stuff.

Another view of our closet. These really are all our clothes (except for a few dresses that I keep in the hall closet due to length). You can see the edge of our nightstand on the left side of the picture.

It's the little things

The velcro on my ski jacket keeps getting snagged on my sweaters or nice shirts. I realize I probably shouldn't wear a ski jacket to nice functions, but it is the warmest coat I own by far. I do have a nice coat, and perhaps that needs to come out of the closet from time to time. In any case, the ski jacket velcro is still an issue, and I found a great solution the other day: more velcro!

I got some opposite side velcro and cut it to size. It's now over the top of the offending, grabs-my-sweater velcro, and I'm pleased to report that my sweaters are now all safe. From velcro, at least.

On Being a Housewife

I've been underemployed for a month and a half now. I get occasional working from substitute teaching, but most days are completely free for me to spend as I wish. I've heard from a lot of people who say "how exciting! You can do whatever you want, and you have plenty of time to volunteer!"

There are definitely upsides. I do get to do whatever I want. Some days, this means lots of practicing ukulele. Other days, that means cleaning the apartment and working on job applications. Unfortunately, there are also days where I spend too much time in bed, even more time on the internet, and feel awful for not getting much done.

I would like to volunteer somewhere, and I've got a few ideas mulling around in my head. However, having regular volunteer hours doesn't work well with the substitute teaching gig. I'm also waiting to hear back on some jobs that start in March, and I would be unhappy to volunteer somewhere only to renege if I get a full-time job.

On the whole, I'm not happy being a housewife. I have been trying to get to the library or go for walks just to give myself something to do outside of the house. It's far too tempting to sit around all day procrastinating while I attempt to do what I'm "supposed to" (mostly those job applications and keeping the place clean). My days just aren't fulfilling, for the most part.

I think this would be different if I were a dedicated housewife; that is, if we had consciously made the decision for me to stay home. There is satisfaction to be had in putting a nice dinner on the table and keeping a clean house, but it is hard for me to see it as satisfying when I feel like there is so much more I should be doing. Certainly, if we had kids to take care of, I would feel like my days were much more productive.

For now, I'm doing the best I can working when possible and trying to stay hopeful. A lot of new jobs in my field are opening up soon, and I'm also reach my personal deadline for starting to apply for any job rather than trying for my ideal jobs. In the meantime, at least our apartment looks nice, and I'll try to be happy with achieving that each day.