Goodbye January, hello work

Hi everyone! I've been around, promise. I know it's been forever but we made it through the holidays and then the clean up took place, and it seemed like every time I had a spare minute to post or create something I found myself buying more and more piano music (and then spending hours practicing) and borrowing more and more books from the library to read! :) 

and then I took on a job that I had heard Peter talk about for the past few months. I didn't realize what exactly the job would entail, I had a good general idea, but nothing really prepares you for when you have to organize the physical contents of another persons life.

When my grandparents passed away 3 years, I took on the job of cleaning out their home along with my mom. That was my first summer going up to the Oregon house with the kids in tow. It was beyond what words can describe as stressful, physically draining and challenging and sad. I've never worked harder in my life than I did that summer. I think I cried every night because of the amount of work that still needed to be done and because no matter how many hours I worked a day, (16+) it never actually looked like any real progress had been made. If you've had to clean out someones home, you likely know what I talking about.

There are 2 things that I crave, that I must have in order to feel grounded and balanced; 1. a clean house and 2. a quiet home. 

I can't physically function if my surroundings are out of place. It makes me nervous and when I get nervous I get grumpy.  Sometimes I want to start sewing or creating something and I'll look around and think I need to sweep or mop just one more time today before I can be creative. It may be an obsessive behavior on some levels, but I need things to be clean in order for me to think clearly. Messes make me anxious. 

So, when Peter would come home and talk about a client of his having the massive job of needing to clear out her mom's home, I immediately felt that anxious feeling I did 3 summer's before, thinking about how big of a job that really is. I volunteered myself to help. I know how overwhelming it is, and how you look around and you don't even know where to start, that there is just so much to do. 

Tara to the rescue. 

I've boxed up too many boxes to count, lifted and stacked boxes until I thought my arms would fall off, sorted through stacks of papers, gathered and grouped collections of scrapbooking supplies, giraffes and candles, I've sold some things and listed a lot of things, I've found journals that were written a decade ago and pictures that were taken 50 years ago. It's rewarding to see progress everyday and to know that I'm trying to find a good home for the things that this woman loved enough in her lifetime to keep. It's not just cleaning, but rather, it's organizing a persons whole life. 

I'll be honest though, I come home tired, dusty and worn out. I have another 3 good weeks of work ahead of me before the moving truck is scheduled to pick up what's left. So, until I'm done working this place here will continue to be pretty quiet. 

I have been taking photos though! I've been posting them on both Flickr and Facebook so if we're friends you've likely already seen them! I've sort of decided to make it a point and try to take more people photos. (I'll admit I don't really like taking photos of people.) The kids and I went out last week to practice at a shopping center close to home here, in the good warm lighting right before the sun sets out in the desert.   

I have this super cute *at least in my head it is* idea for another Valentines theme photo shoot, I just need to build the set for it..... when I have time and the energy to do so. I so want to get some more photos in this week, it's my only creative release at the moment. 

Thanks for all the encouraging messages I've received, hopefully I've answered you back if you've sent an email to me! If not, fear not, I promise I'm not ignoring you on purpose! Another few weeks and my happy little schedule will be back to normal once again. 

I can do it!

xo ~ tara 

sweet november: 2pm

At 2pm today, I was getting the family ready for photos. 

Hair, makeup, clothes.  

We are finally going to have a family photo for our Christmas cards this year! (Yep, 2013 is the year I will actually send out Christmas cards and as a bonus there will be a family photo inside!) A good friend & neighbor of mine also happens to be a wonderful family photographer in this area, so she let me bring along my camera to take a few photos of the kids. I'm excited to see the photos that she took of them! Shelby takes amazing photos of kids, and both of my little ones love her, so I have my fingers crossed that Chase was more willing to smile for her than he was for me. 

 Here's a few photos from tonight. Alaina is my little model, she is so easy and eager to take good photos. Chase on the other hand, he's my hot and cold kid. Some days are good, some days not so much and tonight he decided that he was "bored and wanted to get out of here." Even bribes weren't working for us. 

Ahh kids, got to love them and their ever changing moods! 

Thanks for stopping by again tonight! xo~ tara

trick-or-treat

Halloween this year was off to a great start! We collectively decided on the theme 'witches' this year, and so I set out creating a theme for the decor. The colors would be rich glittery black, deep purple, silver and a little orange. Spell books would be made, I needed bottles of potions, brooms would be rested against tables and chairs, black witches hats would be placed on top of vintage plastic pumpkins and black cats would hang out by the front door. But then the inevitable happened: the kids had about 12 other costume ideas, and they abandoned the witch idea in favor of Day of the Dead, leaving me and the house, well a bit witchy. That's ok though! The house is decorated, we all have completed costumes and I think we'll ready for the big night!  

Alaina really wanted to go as a Monster High doll, Skelita, a Day of the Dead monster, but the costume at the store was truly atrocious, both in how it was constructed and the price. I convinced her to let me make her costume this year, I'm glad she trusts me enough to agree to go along with my ideas. We went to Savers, a large thrift store in the area, purchased 2 skirts, 1 black tulle skirt and one crinkle skirt, a black shawl, wooden beaded necklaces and bright gold and pink bangles. Since I knew I would have to re-sew and alter both skirts I wasn't worried about them fitting, just threw them into the wash and then got to work cutting and sewing!  

I found this great veil headband and just clipped a few of Alaina's hair clip flowers to it. The only flower that had to be hot-glued was the teal scrapbook flower. I wanted to tie in the teal of her eye makeup to the headband. 

Chase's costume, (or costumes rather, as he's had about 10 since we started talking about Halloween last month) started as a black cat, but then after seeing his sister's makeup decided he also wanted to have a Day of the Dead skull, but to still be a cat. It was an easy adjustment, just some extra makeup. 

  

I wish I had known the kids wanted to do Day of the Dead, I could have easily worked that theme into home decor! (I imagined colorful Mexican blankets, guitars, sugar skulls, beaded garlands, banners, big tissue flowers all in traditional Halloween colors. I'll save those ideas for later!) 

Instead, our decor will only match my witch costume. (Not really a costume so much, just an Ann Taylor black dress, boots and a big witch hat with a bit of black tulle and a large black feather flower.) A quick search of chalkboard ideas lead to this one but since I don't have an entire wall, it had to be scaled down to fit my chalk board (which was a painting from Z gallery that I couldn't give away, so I covered it with chalkboard spray paint).

 The best part of the table, I think, is this flaming cauldron. The kids love that we have a 'fire' inside the house, it's very realistic once the lights are out and we plug it in. 

I took a few older books, painted them black and then scuffed up the edges with a fine sand paper. It lets the original book color come through, and makes them appear to be well used. A package of gold foil stickers were used to spell out 'potions' and 'spells.' I even found a purple moth to use, with the help of a glue dot, it's now resting on the edge of the book. I love how random scrapbook embellishments are can useful when decorating! 

I carried our witch theme out to the front yard as well! Come Thursday evening, our porch will glow with warm candle light and flickering lighted pumpkins! 

Thanks so much for stopping by today and Happy Monday to you!

xo ~ Tara 

mom, I want to be rain.

Tomorrow will mark the end of our first full week of 2nd grade! Like most mommies, this week has been all about getting back into the swing of things. Homework, packing lunches, new bus stop times, 08972359862395 forms to fill out.... yep, school is back in session! and every day after school Alaina sits down with her snack and tells me about the daily happenings from a 6yr. olds perspective.

Today's conversation went something like this:

Alaina: Mom, Katie wants to be corn.

me: Really? Like for a Halloween costume?

Alaina: No, she just wants to be corn.

me: Well, that's unique.

Alaina: and I want to be rain, in a storm, because lightning and thunder are cool.

me: Rain would be a good choice.

Alaina: and it smells nice too. Oh, and Chase wants to be a panda. - -

Someday, I'm going to crate a little book of all our random conversations. The chronicles of Alaina. I think it would be a fun idea to record everything and be able to look back on our daily ramblings. Do you ever save or scrapbook some of the stories your children tell?

I'll be back tomorrow to choose a winner for the photo canvas!