Emmett's New Reading Corner

We have been continuing to put together Emmett's new room, and this weekend we finally got to put up the picture ledges for his books in his reading corner. The design concept behind this idea was both aesthetic and practical.  On the practical side, he has trouble putting his books away on a tight bookshelf, squeezing the books between each other and making space can be very frustrating.  So this way I thought it would be a snap for him to be able to pick up his books and put them away. (wishful thinking? quite possibly) Also, I think they look cool, visually striking, and it gets the point across about what the space is for.  It is also a great way to fill up a big wall, and if you are light on big pieces of art, and heavy on books like we are, it is a great way to fill the space.

And I think the fact that Emmett was really excited to help us put his books up on his new shelves is a good sign for their appeal and functionality.

I'm starting to feel really glad that we went with very minimalist and soft colors, like grey, white and a little yellow for our basic design scheme for his room.  As soon as he started adding his own things, like his books, games, puzzles and toys the room is suddenly filled with a fiesta of primary colors.  If we had done the room with wild patterns and paint colors I wouldn't be able to stay in there for more than 30 seconds.  This way it will keep the room feeling a little more calm and restful.  Oh, and in case you are curious, the triangles on the walls are decals from urbanwalls on Etsy. They couldn't have been easier to apply, Emmett even helped, and I love the effect.  And since I used a random pattern I didn't have to worry about lining anything up.

So it's not done yet, we still have to get the right rugs and bedding, lighting and bedside tables.  But he is very psyched about his new room, and I think we'll move him in there next weekend.  Next project: the redesign of Emmett's old room for the new baby!  And I think we'll continue the soft color theme in there as well.  Sometimes there is just something so nice about white. . .

No Rush Weekends: A Mini-Manifesto

I'm trying to institute a new household policy around here, and it's called "No Rush Weekends." And even when the whole household can't follow it, I try to follow it on my own as much as I can.  Now that Emmett goes to school five days a week we are trying to be more like normal 9-5 families, and just work on the week days and do family and personal things on the weekends.  For years TH and I have been fitting in work in whatever tiny slivers of time we can manage to scrape together, be it nap time, school time, weekends, whenever we can slip away and cross one more thing off the never ending list of work tasks.  It is kind of the trap of being self employed, and the down-side of setting your own hours.  It is very hard not to take work home with you, especially when your studio is attached to your house.

But now I am trying to set some boundaries for myself, which is, of course, a hard thing to do.  But I finally realized that no one was in charge of my schedule except me.  And I am trying to be more disciplined during my work week so that I can relax with less guilt on the weekends.  Seems so obvious now, when I write it down.  But I hardly ever sit down and read a book, or a magazine, take a walk with a friend, lie in the autumn sun, enjoy the outdoors, or do any of those wonderful things about living in the country.

And a lot of this process is also letting myself, and all of us, off the hook for many of the things we all feel pressured to spend our time doing, like active involved parenting, and house cleaning, and all of those sorts of productive activities. If Emmett wants to wake up on Saturday and watch a movie? Fine.  If he wants to go outside and sit in the dirty driveway in his underpants, that's fine by me too.  If he immediately wants me to play trucks, or read him a really long factual book about construction equipment?  Mmmm, maybe in an hour or so.  We all need a little time for independent play.  Am I sitting and leafing through a magazine, or catching up on my blog reading in the middle of a shitstorm of a mess?  Very probably.  Sounds kind of selfish I guess, but it is pretty wonderful to just sit and breathe, without always working my way down a list of tasks, or running out the door to a playdate or the children's museum.  And yes, eventually the laundry and the vacuuming need to be done.  But not clogging up the weekend with work stress makes those tasks a little less onerous as well.  And sometimes this means that an order goes out a day later than I had hoped.  And for now, I guess I'm ok with that.

And of course one of the most amazing things about this is that we actually get to do things together as a family, all three of us, instead of one parent working while the other takes care of Emmett.  Now we can do outings, or not outings, all together, and get some nice calm quiet time together, and have time to enjoy each other.  If we never take the time do that, what on earth are we working so hard for the rest of the time?

And of course this won't always work.  Craft shows are always on weekends, for one thing.  And this system will only cause less stress if it is a flexible system.  But I am trying to take that extra step to ask myself "Is this something that can wait until Monday?" before I break up my weekend zen.  And of course I mostly really enjoy my work, so it is a slippery slope. But it is still work, and this is the proverbial "stop and smell the roses."  I'm just getting to it now at age 35, but I'm glad I'm finally here.  Here's hoping I stay here!

Patio Spinach

This is the worlds easiest and most satisfying thing to grow, and you can grow it anywhere you can fit a window box.  All you need is a little sun, and some spinach seeds, and you can have fresh greens in the early spring and through the late fall.  They like a coolish ground temperature for germination, like around 60-65 degrees, so depending on where you live you may only be able to grow them in the transitional seasons.  Or if you are in the mid-atlantic you can probably grow greens right through the winter. 

The trick is that you thickly plant a pot or window box with seeds, don't bother with rows or anything, and then as the leaves get big enough to eat you snip them with scissors leaving the root system intact.  Then the smaller leaves below grow to take their place.  And if you keep snipping and watering they keep on growing.  And the greens really do taste a whole lot better when they are home grown than the ones in the box from the store.  It works with other types of baby green too.  So if you have room for a window box you can have a tiny garden with really very little effort.  And they grow so close together you don't even ever have to weed them.  It is truly no fuss.  

Adorable and Free Printable Gift Tags From Edison Rex

Anyone else still have an obscene amount of wrapping to do?  Want some cute gift tags for your packages?  Meag from Edison Rex sent me the link to these adorable printable gift tags she designed.   Click here for the link.  If you have a printer at home you can follow the link and just hit print and then cut them out.  Easy as pie!  I especially love the narwhals, although the lions in mittens are pretty awesome too.  Thanks so much Maeg!  And happy wrapping everyone!

Bright Idea

How cute is this idea for a new use for an old bundt pan?  Available here from BootsNGus.