Surprises

The new house has brought many surprises. One of the most splendid surprises has been the two japanese magnolia trees framing our front door. I thought they were crepe myrtles when we looked at the house in the dead of winter.

As it started blooming a couple weeks ago, I literally did a happy dance in the front yard after I realized this was no crepe myrtle at all!

Japanese Magnolia Trees are also known as Japanese tulip or Saucer Magnolia Trees

It has been my favorite blooming tree since I was a little girl. I remember a house on Trenton St. in my childhood town that had one, and I marveled at it every spring.

This year I sat on my front steps and marveled at my own japanese magnolia as I opened the mail on a petal strewn walkway. It has been quite the little unexpected blessing thrown in my lap.

I did nothing to work for this tree and didn't even know I was acquiring it with the purchase of this house, but yet I get to enjoy its beauty. I guess you would call that grace - getting that which you do not deserve.

Another Time and Place

This is the state of our home right now. Stuff everywhere. Boxes everywhere. It is all for a good cause. I have wanted to move for almost 2 years and the day has arrived. It is so much work to get there though. And the kids don't make things any easier. So until these boxes have made their way to our new abode, and are in their places, I will meet you at another time - and in another place.

Cold White Stuff

I didn't know what I was going to blog about and then poof, we got a heavy dusting of cold white stuff. It wasn't snow but more like sleet with a small layer of snow on top. It was still pretty and worthy of playing (and taking pictures.)

We did a lot of chasing in the snow because you couldn't make snowballs or snowmen.

Our pristine patio before we trampled all over it.

I promise I did not tell him to stare in amazement at the falling snow. (Not that he would have listened anyway.)

They both did a lot of looking down as they walked on the wintry mix. It was crunchy and slippery and cold.

We also all took advantage of our big hill driveway and did a little sledding.

Here is video of Miles sledding. He enjoyed it. Here is video of Grant and Mason sledding. Grant was finished with the cold. Immediately following that video he threw a screaming shivering fit and we went inside.

I caught Grant waving as we were heading inside (but you wouldn't know about the fit by this picture.)

Grant was amazed with the "tweet tweets"

Grant's favorite thing to do in the backyard snow or no snow, is to go up...

and down...

and back up these stairs. I'm sure it is great fun for him but scares me to death. Those brick corners are sharp.

And it might be cold out but this picture would melt any heart.

Lessons learned from showing my house

It has temporarily thawed and we have been able to play outside some. A simple act that is taken for granted.

I know. I've been missing. I promise I am not dead, but most of you know that. Most of my time that is available for blogging is spent over at What's for Dinner? so Hazelwood House gets forgotten, but I have made a new resolution that I will visit Hazelwood House at least bi-monthly. Hopefully more. With my resolution will come briefer posts, but you may be happy about that.

Miles' new thing is to "help" me after he gets up from his afternoon nap. Sometimes he cooks, and sometimes he washes dishes. I use those terms very lightly but we are still working toward our goal of raising self-sufficient men.

Right now the hot topic is a new house which means we had to sell the old one which brings us to our topic of the day:

Lessons learned from showing my house

1. The FlyLady isn't crazy. So many lessons that she tries to create as habits are essential to being prepared to show your home. (If you aren't familiar with her techniques, give her a look. You will think she is crazy but until you need her advice, you won't see the truth in her methods.)

2. Get dressed. I have a tendency to hang around in my sleep-clothes (you can't really call them pjs) a good chunk of the day. This is not conducive to grabbing the children and leaving the house quickly. You never know what the day will hold so be ready for it.

3. Keep the house in a condition where it can be picked up in 15 minutes. With two small children this is quite a challenge but I will say I have gotten used to picking up as I go. Just keeping things in the room they belong is a huge step and makes straightening in a hurry much easier. This is nice for so many reasons. I can always have house guests and not have to apologize for the socks, coats and shoes strewn down the hall. When I have a moment or two, I can use them for myself - to read, or nap, or sip a cup of coffee. It is really a breath of fresh air.

Our neighbors renovated their landscaping. The boys loved simply watching what they were doing out the window - and all the big trucks helped keep their attention as well.

4. Clean as you go. I am a notorious procrastinator but you can't clean two bathrooms, vacuum, mop the kitchen and dust in 30 minutes. Once the house was clean (which took a few dedicated days) I did my best to keep it that way. If I noticed the mirror getting splotchy, I cleaned it right then. If the floor was gross after cooking dinner, I did some maintenance sweeping/vacuuming/mopping. It was much easier that way.

5. This one should probably be closer to the top but declutter, declutter, declutter. No one wants to see all your junk as they are considering your home, so we hid and put away a lot of stuff. But I can honestly say, other than the family pictures, I don't miss most of it. That probably means I don't need it anyway. My head seems clearer and I get more done with a decluttered home.

Prince charming at Allison's 4th birthday doing what he is gaining professional status on - EATING. It has been non-stop eating for about a month now. I know he is growing, and that is good but I would like a break from preparing snacks.

Those are but a few nuggets of truth that I have gathered. I will say I am happy that the pressure of keeping a pristine home is lifted (since we have an offer and are not showing it anymore) but I am keeping to these principles and creating some new habits. They are just a little bit of extra work for some really freeing results.