A Trip "up" to Staunton

Here in the Shenandoah Valley, people sometimes say that towns that are located south of us are "up" and towns north of us are "down." I believe this is because the river runs up going to Staunton or Waynesboro and down going to Winchester, etc. I could be wrong on this. As you can tell, it still confuses me.

Anyway, we drove to Staunton on Saturday, a charming, artsy, walkable town about 30 minutes south of us. We went to see a glass-blowing festival held at a glass studio.

This was one of the guys working the glass. It was pretty amazing--they'd take this little blob of freakishly hot glass and then blow with a little tube into it to make it expand, then they'd put the long rod into the oven, spin it, and then take it out and hammer at it, then add another piece on, etc.

 Don't you love it when you think you're taking a nice picture only to discover that someone else in the shot had another idea in mind?

 As we walked along the streets (perfect weather, too), we heard music playing and stopped into an instrument store to hear a bluegrass band. I really like bluegrass.

 They played a song for Clara and she just danced and jumped and loved it. I find it very interesting how Clara has no embarrassment about certain things--like dancing in public or yelling completely out of the blue at a young man at church, "Hey!! You're CRAZY!"--but she is embarrassed about "conducting" Family Home Evening at our own house or standing up in front of the Primary room to say the opening prayer. But for the record, I was very proud of her for saying the closing prayer last week--I received the inspiration to have her stand in front of her chair instead, and she did awesome. It's one of the things we love about her--you are never quite sure what's gonna happen.

Then we went to The Split Banana for some fabulous gelato. Robbie got a banana minus the split and a teeny taste of Michael's lemon bar gelato. Clara reminds me a bit of Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes in these shots--what a ham.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

So the owner of the duplex that we've been renting for the past two-plus years has put it on the market. The realtor came over to discuss showing arrangements (yeehaw) and take pictures. Then he put a sign in the yard.

Clara came home off the bus on Monday crying. Her bus driver said she saw the for sale sign in our front yard. She said, "I hate that sign!" and came over and kicked it and tried to hit it with her bookbag. Now every day she comes off the bus with a grumpy face and informs me again that she hates the sign. Poor kid--change is no fun.

I'm not going to lie--I am going to miss it here. Not so much the 1,307 square feet part, but even that will be missed when I will be spending more time cleaning a larger home. But we do love our sweet elderly neighbors and the nice sidewalks. But now with three adults and two kids, we feel a little squished.

Our lease ends the end of June, so now let's just hope and pray that the house doesn't sell until we can move into our house (which probably won't be until July). For the owner's sake, we hope new owners can move in just as we're moving out. But whatever happens, it will be okay. (Please note that the last sentence is only true if it happens how I want it to happen. Otherwise it's not okay. . . . How's that for faith?)

How could I forget Easter?

With Easter being one of my favorite holidays, I still wanted to blog about it--better late than never.

We had a lovely visit to the temple on Saturday with Hyrum tagging along so we could go in together instead of taking turns watching the kids. That was very nice and was worth having to sit on the bump between the two car seats in the back of the Subaru to get there.

When we got home we had a brief and fairly lame visit from the Easter bunny. But somehow she the Easter bunny knew that I wanted a Cadbury egg.

 Photo attempt before egg hunting--Robbie wasn't interested in sitting and holding a basket and smiling at the camera. But Clara tried!

Ooh, look, the Easter bunny left Michael his favorite--a Reese's peanut butter egg.

Hyrum was on a (brief) dessert-free stint, so I got him gum. Lame.

I'm so grateful for our Savior and the glorious message of Easter and springtime--we will live again.

Unfinished and halfway and okay

Perhaps like some of my readers, I struggle with postponing my happiness and sense of peace until "everything" is done--laundry up-to-date, church callings planned for, dinner prepared, new house decisions of the day decided, rooms tidy, finances in order, scriptures studied, desk clear.

And yet I never seem to get to the "done" part. Funny how that is.

I was struck by something I read that Elder Russell M. Nelson said back in October 1987 as he spoke to the women of the Church:

Sisters, be patient. I know something of the pressures you feel. Your kitchens are too small. Your budgets are too tight. Demands upon you exceed your capacity to help all who cry out to you. Through it all, “Improve the shining moments; Don’t let them pass you by” (Hymns, 1985, no. 226).

 Take time for spiritual regeneration.

I’ll share a few lines that have sustained Sister Nelson through the years. They also reflect her sense of priority:

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait ’til tomorrow.

For babies grow up,

We’ve learned to our sorrow.

So quiet down, cobwebs.

Dust, go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby,

And babies don’t keep.

 

I’m glad Sister Nelson has not tried to be a “supermom.” But she has been a “soothing” mom. This she has done simply by being herself.

When priorities are in place, one can more patiently tolerate unfinished business.

I love that last line so much. Being okay with incompleteness is part of accepting the Savior's grace, recognizing that it will never all be done, but He can make up for the rest. "It" could be translated to be our mundane to-do lists as well as our own characters. As long as our priorities are where they should be, we are doing fine.

The quote above is one that I have on a plaque from my mom. I am not good at following it but am working on it. I am trying to remember that people are more important than tasks completed or a clean house. I realized this morning that I don't qualify for the Lord's blessings based on how much I've accomplished or completed. I qualify based on my obedience to His commandments, my service and charity, and my reliance on His Son. And of course, I qualify simply because He allows us to through His perfect love and compassion.

So I am trying to be okay with unfinished business just as soon as I finish the laundry and prepare dinner and and just enjoy this beautiful, happy day.

House update #5 . . . and house thoughts

During the entire process of designing and building this house, I have continually reminded myself that these are such telestial (worldly) decisions. It has been tricky because on the one hand, this house (1) is not going with us to heaven after we die, and (2) it could easily be destroyed in a natural disaster in the blink of an eye. On the other hand, we want to be wise stewards of our resources and want our home to be a blessing to us, our families, and those who come into our home. We want our home to be welcoming and a place where people can feel the Spirit of God. So in the midst of spending an inordinate amount of time on these choices, I am trying to keep both an eternal perspective while also trying to make decisions that will be smart in the long run. I know it seems ungrateful because it is a privilege to design and build a home, but it is also very challenging.

My brother recommended the book The Paradox of Choice, which I listened to on mp3 and found very interesting. One of the premises of the book is that after a certain point, increased choices and options do not bring increased happiness or personal satisfaction. Anyone who has felt paralyzed by a decision--whether it be choosing a jar of pasta sauce or a paint color or a pair of boots or a health plan or even a career--can attest to this. In order to find personal satisfaction in this world of overabundant choice, one has to learn to be a satisficer instead of a maximizer. The author describes a maximizer as someone who looks and looks for the perfect item, possibly finds it, but then keeps looking or doubting whether that choice was the best. A maximizer is not content with his/her selection if he/she even find it in the first place--they are looking for an elusive "best." A satisficer, on the other hand, looks for an item that meets his/her parameters, and once that item is found, the choice is made and then he/she moves on, content with the decision made. We are all satisficers or maximizers in different areas, but most of us tend to be more one or the other. In some respects, I am a maximizer: for example, I am convinced there is a perfect whole wheat bread recipe and keep trying different ones in my quest.

When we have been working on the house, I have been very conscious of my desire to be a satisficer, and overall I think we've done a pretty good job of it. We make a choice and move forward without looking back. When there are so many decisions to make, you have to do your best to make the right choice in a short amount of time and then move forward in confidence . . . while also remembering that it's just a house, just a temporal thing with its only eternal significance being the relationships and experiences that occur there.

 The front entry sans banister.

Checking things out. This is the great room (living room? family room? can't decide its name) and the kitchen/dining area on the right of Michael.

So  bizarre--they installed the drywall around the dryer duct but chose not to fix it first. Now they get to fix it after. Laziness never pays.

We had a big problem this weekend--the kitchen island was just not in the right place and I would have been staring at a column while doing dishes instead of looking out on the great room (among other issues). We are going to have to have the lighting and the plumbing moved. Not cheap and very frustrating, but better to fix it now. Our builder wasn't thrilled when I called him, but oh well. We went over early Saturday morning and chalked out how we'd like the island to go--we decided to switch the placement of the sink and dishwasher and shaved a foot (sob!) off the island length. We also measured the distance we want the island to be from the other walls. Hopefully it will turn out well. Love your choice, right?

 The back.

 The front.

A sneak peek

Here are the colors and inspiration for the house.

This the fireplace stone and the painting that will be above it. The red bowl is an accent color which I love--the painting has a little bit of the red in it. I cannot tell you how much stress picking the fireplace stone created. Do we want warm or cool undertones? (I wanted both so I could switch up the paint colors without big issues later.) Hard edges or rounded? Big or small rocks? Drystack or grout? Uneven surface or smooth? It was pretty ridiculous, but we learned a lot.

My friend and interior designer, Susan, helped me figure out these colors. I have learned so much about colors and how they each have little bits of yellow or green or pink or blue. I learned to always compare colors with a piece of white paper, which is whiter than any paint can ever be. Just picking the white for the trim and kitchen cabinetry was so tough--did you know that there are over 150 colors of white? Decorator's white, cloud white, white dove, linen white, you name it. But I am very happy with what we picked. 

 I got a sample board stained the dark walnut we will be using--it will be darker than this with the polyurethane on it. This is the granite we are using for countertops.

Now all we have to pick is the upstairs colors, the tile, the vinyl, the carpet, the doorknobs, the cabinetry hardware, finalize the cabinetry for the island . . . it goes on, but at least the options are narrowing.