an update and what I want my bedroom to look like

A little update, shall we?

He's sick. Again. Not sure how he got sick exactly, but the runny nose is ever present and always increased in stuffiness at night. As if we needed another hurdle to overcome when it comes to sleep. {In other news, I am so tired.}

The sugar-free thing is going pretty well. I did have some chocolate last week after a particularly rough day and Jamie and I were having a night in. I've discovered a small business here that makes the most amazing Greek yogurt. So I've been making Greek yogurt popsicles, blending up pineapple and banana with a tiny bit of honey and yogurt. Mmmm, so good.

Things are coming together with some arrangements for when we get back to Canada. We've got some temporary housing set up with our dear friends and we've been pre-approved for a mortgage! Hoorah! So now we hunt online and my friend Jen is going to check out some places for us.

I've been pinning ALL THE THINGS and have decided I want a white bedroom. Full of texture and various shades of white/cream/grey...oh it's going to be so fresh and lovely.

Source: lovelyclusters.tumblr.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

Source: hometowngirl.typepad.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

Source: thenowbook.tumblr.com via Vanessa on Pinterest

Aren't they lovely?

I think so. The best thing about white is you can bleach it and it comes out looking oh-so-lovely and new again. 

So I'm on Pinterest. And looking at real estate listings. And making lists. I love lists.

And it's almost midnight. Gah. This is a contributing factor to me not getting enough sleep. A small factor, but one nonetheless.

{There's so much more going on in my brain to do with sleep in older children and judging Moms and hospitality and tons of things that are going on here in Uganda. But I can't quite make them coherent enough to post here.}

our christmas favourites: toys and decorations

we've been keeping ourselves busy around here. we had some fantastic visitors for the past 4 days and had a blast eating out and enjoying some good conversation together. 

but it is december first {already!} and i think most of our decorations are up so i thought i'd share with you what we're doing this year in terms of christmas decoration.

we bought all the christmas decorations/tree/ornaments last year while here in africa, so there hasn't been a need to buy any more this year. i've kept things pretty simple and used what i already had to christmasify things here.

we're doing our advent envelopes again {stay tuned for my post on our favourite traditions} so i hung them up this year with red yarn and clothes pins. i also used red yarn to hang some christmas cards that we've received. our stockings are hung and our tree is up. i let the boys decorate however they wanted this year although after repeatedly dropping some of the glass ornaments, i had to direct jude's ornament-hanging to the plastic/non-breakable ones. 

we purchased some ornament sets that we'll likely sell before we leave here {that are lovely, but generic}, but there are some beautiful and unique handmade ornaments that i'll hang onto for our future christmas trees.

i've set up our wood-carved nativity set on top of the bookshelf in the living room and my new soap stone nativity on the buffet in the dining room. 

tomorrow's advent activity is to pick out a nativity set from the christmas market we'll be going to - i have my eye on a sweet banana fiber one but we'll see what's there. 

the boys loved when i pulled out their little people nativity set a couple weeks ago and have played with it pretty much every day since. i've also let them play with the santa hat we have here as well. noah insisted on wearing it for the first few days. 

and they were so excited when i pulled out all the christmas books they have forgotten about. 

so we've kept things simple and even though the house is in a perpetual state of mess, at least it's a christmasey mess. right?

Tree

we put up our tree today and ate popcorn and watched christmas movies and i bought some lovely christmas ornaments whose proceeds go toward a great cause.

it's the saturday after american thanksgiving; what did you do today?

{also, nick caught the mouse that was terrorizing me last night at 2am. sweet relief!}

spring has sprung

now that's better.

as i pulled out my easter baskets from last year i smiled in pleasure at how much i still like them. that was worth the $4 i spent at zehrs last year.

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I can't remember if it was last year or the year before (can you blame me? the last 3 years have been a bit of a blur - heck I can't even keep the Harry Potter books/movies straight.) but I bought these amazing shoes for Noah on a whim at Old Navy. They were on sale and they were ridiculously cute. Or maybe they weren't on sale but they were still ridiculously cute.
They looked like chucks but they were made out of corduroy, had elastic laces and a zipper on the side thus eliminating me sitting there like a fool tying up a 2.5 yr old's shoes when he wanted to be outside running around. All we have to do is slip his foot in and zzzip! his shoe is on. Brilliant. Except Old Navy isn't making them like that anymore. Sure they have the zipper on the side but instead of elastic laces, they have real laces! What's the point in that?
Anyway, luckily I bought them slightly big for Noah at the time so they'll still fit him for at least part of this summer.

Every now and then I get into Etsy all over again. I mean, I love Etsy but I try not to go on too much or else all I start to do is covet and want, want, want things. And right now when I'm trying to get rid of things the last thing I need to do is accumulate more!
But the other day I came across this amazing little Etsy shop and I love everything in this shop. A woman named Liz Hutnick runs it and the description is Boho Chic Romantic Gothic Flower & Bird Theme Jewelry. Um, does it get any better than that? 
Anyway, so Jamie agreed to let me purchase 2 things from her shop and I'm so excited to get them!

aqua mini mum earrings. love.

this bicycle  necklace had me at hello. it's on a long chain and I'm in love.

A month or so ago the input broke in our car that allows us to hook up our iPods to the car stereo so I've taken to making mix CDs of my favourite music at the time - or even just albums that I've recently downloaded but haven't got a chance to listen to yet.

Some favourites have included:

The Black Keys - Howlin' For You (Noah loves this song - especially singing along to the "dah dah dah" part)

Kings of Leon - their entire new album (Radioactive, Birthday, Pyro, etc.)

I bought this bluegrass sampler album by Shane Barnard and Shane Everett and I am totally loving it! If you like bluegrass and hymns this is the album for you. (And if anyone knows where I can find similar music to this...share the love!)

Also, this is not a new song, but I can't get enough of it these days:

And I'm sure a lot of you know about this blog, but I love The Nester. Lately she's been blogging about spending your money wisely and not just buying something at a thrift store because it's cheap and cute. There's so much more to it, but I'm truly loving her blog as well as her design ideas (plus did you know she rents her house?!).  Her motto is "It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." and really? SO TRUE.

So that's all I've got for today.

I'm hoping to get the boys' passport pictures done today and go for a decent run (5 miles) at some point today so wish me luck!

I said good day!

v-day

i'm not usually one to decorate for valentine's day - much less "celebrate" it or make a big deal out of it {or spend piles of money on it}.
but i think i've always wanted to {well, maybe not spending the piles of money, but definitely decorate for it}.
this year i've been getting my fill of sweetie-pie, cutesy, romantic crafts in preparation for valentine's day.
because of this, noah doesn't get that it's a 'day' because we've been making valentine's for the past month.
oh well.
that's a good thing, right?

in my head, my mantel is not quite finished so i won't post a picture of it yet, but i'm pretty pleased with it as is. {so pleased, in fact that i have had it set up as it is for weeks now without adding the finishing touches}.

sonnet 116

let me not to the marriage of true minds

admit impediments. love is not love

which alters when it alterations finds,

or bends with the remover to remove:

o no! it is an ever-fixed mark

that looks on tempests and is never shaken;

it is the star to every wandering bark,

whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.

love's not time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

within his bending sickle's compass come:

love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

but bears it out even to the edge of doom.

if this be error and upon me proved,

i never writ, nor no man ever loved.*

*William Shakespeare

Crafty

We were feeling especially crafty and non-tv/non-computer (except for right now) today:

the beginnings of Valentine's Day decorations:

DIY paper candies {with an old Quality Street tin, wrapping paper and tin foil}

and Frosty! {Noah was a bit disappointed that he didn't come to life after we put his hat on and sang "Frosty the Snowman". It kinda made me sad, too.}

I also started training for my 1/2 marathon in May. 

And worked a little bit at Starbucks.

I love *productive* days. 

Peace.

I've always wanted to live in a house with a fireplace and large mantel and then go all out and decorate it to the nines for the Christmas season.

We moved into this house last summer and by the time Christmas came around I felt like I was just getting my feet back under me five months into Jude's life. So needless to say, I didn't go all out.

This year, however, I have found a gusto for decorating with style {and thrift} and scoured the internet looking for ideas and inspiration.
I finally found some inspiration when I stumbled upon a mantel decorated with a large sign that said, "Peace" and had a picture of a dove.
I was all set out to copy it and put it on my mantel, except life just doesn't work that way. {I couldn't find the materials I needed and then was inspired to use the word "peace" in another, simpler way that fits my lifestyle of having two very busy, active boys - who currently cannot stop pushing each others buttons - but I digress. That is a post for another day.}
So I took that idea and turned it into my own.
Before:

 This was last weekend when my in-laws came and helped us put up our tree. Note the mantel with our family pictures.

Bare mantel. All nekkid.

And....AFTER:

I love it. I have to admit, this is one honkin' huge mantel and I found the space somewhat difficult to fill up, but I think it works. {I may alter the final product, we'll see.} 

Don't you LOVE the golden tree/cones? I love. They were .... FREE! My sister is kindly lending them to me as they were part of her February wedding decor. {Thanks, Bean!} Gorg.

So here it is, broken down:

I love this piece. "Peace" With the nativity in the "A". Love, love, love it. This was what inspired me to drop my other idea, or at least to let it evolve into this one. I found this {and the "JOY" piece} at Michaels and they were both 40% off. Score!

Ah. I love this. This is a hand-carved nativity scene that I picked up during one of my trips in Tanzania. I love it. I love the dark wood and I love that it is centered in the middle of my mantel, causing me to remember what it is that I have to be thankful for, to anticipate and to take joy in.

And speaking of joy...again with the nativity scene in the "O". Love. and joy. 

The rest of the things {tinsel, small ornaments, pinecones} I either already had or bought cheaply from the dollar store or borrowed {from my lovely sister}. 

But in case you think {as it seems to happen in the blogosphere where you can show only the pretty parts of your house/life} that the rest of my house is gorgeous and clean and fully decorated, check out what I still have to clean up:

Booyah. I'm normal. {and so are you.}