homemaking | Revolution of Love

When I was younger I loved cork boards and bulletin boards. I would fill them with various photos, pictures, quotes, comics…whatever took my fancy. Even after Brian and I were married I had boards up in many of our rooms. (Heck, even my blog has too many photos on it!) However, after we did the remodel, I took all the boards down but one. Sure, the walls looked neater and more “grown up” but I missed them. But not anymore since I now have my online boards at Pinterest!
I had seen the word “Pinterest” at various blogs I follow but I had no idea what they were talking about. A couple weeks ago I finally checked it out and I am hooked! Instead of bookmarking things I want to remember, I pin it to my online boards. I not only have a quick reference but a pretty visual. And with their iphone app, I have it at my fingertips for those moments when I have to kill a few minutes while I’m waiting for something.
I must also admit that Pinterest has helped awaken my creative side. Instead of immediately dismissing a project or recipe as too hard or requiring too much time, I suddenly have the desire to give it a try! And even if the project is a dismal fail, at least I’ll have something funny to post about later. 😉 So here are a few samples of pins on some of my boards – Styles I Like, Things that Make Me Smile, Recipes to Try, Organizing the Home, Decorating Ideas, Favorite Icons and Beautiful Places near My Backyard.

Disclaimer – Pinterest is fun but highly addictive. You must use self-control. (Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)

The other day I was talking about how I can’t seem to live up to the standards of the seemingly “perfect” mom bloggers out there. Now I know that we are just getting a tiny glimpse into their lives and that they have their own struggles too but you’ve got to admit that some moms just have it more together than others. I’m one of the “others.” I’m resigned to the fact that I’m never going to be a Catholic “Martha Stewart type” but I’ve got my good points and they’d be able to come out more often if I was a tad more organized.
Case in point, when you enter into our home you immediately see the entry way, the front room (where my desk and “office area” is) and the dining room. The area is surrounded with windows that look out to a beautiful view. However, we never use the dining room and the table has become the catch all for piles of junk and things that need to get sorted and put away. Since the table is such a mess I tend to keep the curtains shut and just add to the piles. The other day I finally cleared everything off the table and opened wide all the curtains. There was so much light and beauty outside that it literally lifted my spirits and I was a more lovable mom to my kids! (Stop laughing.)
Although I’m a mess cat, I do hate all the clutter and feel so much better when things are tidy and organized. But to get me to do it and keep it up, well, that’s another story. My youngest sister has been visiting and she kept the kids occupied so I got a good head start in cleaning and organizing the house. However, she flew back to So Cal on Tuesday (huge sniff) and I’m back on my own. So I decided that each day I’ll pick one small thing that I can work on that day. Something I can realistically accomplish in between the dishes and diapers and dirty laundry.
My first general task is to make sure that when I wake up in the early morn to feed the baby (or pump), I’ll use that time to say my morning prayers and read the gospel for the day. Since I always have my iphone with me and it has my prayer book and missal on it (I love the imissal app!) there is no excuse. That quiet time praying and just talking to God always helps me to get through the day better.
My “just for today” task is to keep an eye on that dining room table and when I see things starting to pile up on it I’ll have the kids take what belongs to them. (“Bella, put away your drawings. Andrew, take Buzz and Lighting back to your room. JP, throw away this half eaten apple…) While they are doing that, I’ll put the junk mail in the recycling bin, put the empty gifts bags back in the wrapping box, put the Costco items away in the garage pantry and open those windows and let the light shine in!
Who knows, maybe in a year from now some other struggling mother will look at me and say, “How does Bobbi do it all and still seem so sane??” Hahahaha! Okay, I couldn’t even say that with a straight face but one step at a time, baby. One step at a time.

It’s just past midnight right now and I should be asleep but I’ve been cleaning all day (thanks to my sis watching the kids for me) and I wanted a few minutes to unwind and catch up on some Catholic mom blogs.

I recently added a number of new blogs into my google reader and I’m sifting through them to see which ones I’ll read regularly and which ones are good but not where I am in life.

The first ones to go are the blogs that depress me. You know the ones I’m talking about. The ones that have countless posts by talented moms showing their beautiful gardens, their homemade baked goods and home cooked meals, their hand sewn clothes, and their Catholic craft of the day. I can take these in small doses but not all the time. Like I said, it depresses me.

And it’s not their fault. It’s mine. I just can’t seem to follow their lead. I’ve tried to garden. Truly, I have. In fact, just a few months ago I decided to start again but to keep it simple. No veggies or elaborate flower beds. Instead I have two simple window boxes of flowers and three herbs – basil, Italian parsley and cilantro. I was doing really well but as usual I forgot to water and not just once or twice but for days. Yesterday I went outside to check on my herbs and lo and behold, I’m the only person on my block to have a garden of dried herbs. (Dried… dead… is there really much difference?) Yeah, so gardens and I don’t do so well.

Then we come to the sewing. I swear my sister EL took all the sewing genes in my family because I have zero interest and even less skill. Okay, maybe I could sew on a button if I was forced, but just barely. To prove my point, when I was younger I’d hem my pants with duct tape and I’ve “sewn” things together with a stapler. Yeah, not one of my prouder moments. I get a lot more happiness when I don’t sew and instead find a cute outfit on sale at Target or Macy’s.

As for baking, home cooked meals and crafts, on occasion I’ll put together something good or at least fairly decent but I don’t do it all the time. My bigger concerns on a daily basis is that the dishes are cleared before Brian gets home, that everyone has clean undies, that the boys haven’t demolished the house and that I’ve cleaned the pee, poop or spit up from where it happened to land that day. I can barely accomplish that let alone create a replica of the Vatican made entirely out of cupcakes. Sigh. Well, if it means I have our local pizza place on speed dial, so be it.

So instead of being envious of those other moms I’m simply going to avoid temptation and not read their blogs regularly. Instead I’ll enjoy kindred posts like Calah’s In the Dumps or Nikki’s To Call or Not to Call and I’ll realize that I’m not alone in my struggle. There are other moms who are trying to get through these adventurous years just as I am.

Oh, I admit that I will try to improve a little each day. But for today, I’ll love my family and serve God in the way I know best – with my dried herbs, duct tape and delivery pizza.

UPDATE: It’s been a month since I wrote this post and it has been on my mind a lot because God has been using those thoughts to teach me some mom lessons. I talk more about it in my post here.

UPDATE #2: Fast forward two months ahead. I decided that heck, if you can’t beat them, join them. I’m attempting to get myself organized so my life will run a little smoother and I won’t be so frazzled with the daily grind of motherhood. You can follow the journey here.

PS – You can follow RoL on Bloglovin, Feedly or another news feed. If you are a social media fan like me, we can stay in touch through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, GoodReads, Letterboxd, or Spotify, 😉

– 1 –

I’m listening to Adele. I am in love with her voice.

– 2 –

Matthew is drifting off to sleep in my arms. After the 4th baby, I’m getting pretty proficient at typing with one hand.

– 3 –

I’ve been hearing a lot of people talking about Amazon prime and I have been interested but didn’t want to spend the money. However, we order from Amazon so often I thought I’d give it a try. I love it. The roughly $6 a month it costs for 2-day delivery and easy/full refund returns is worth it. And I just realized we have free streaming of movies on our TV as well. Nice.
UPDATE: After reading this my sister recommended that I try Amazon Mom which gives me the benefits of Amazon Prime and discounts on items I buy anyway. I signed up today. 🙂

– 4 –

Speaking of movies, Brian and I recently watched St. Giuseppe Moscati: Doctor to the Poor. Although it was in Italian with English subtitles (meaning I had to make sure the kids were asleep so I could pay attention) I really enjoyed it and was touched by his life story. I’d love to read a book about his life but I haven’t seen one. If you get a chance, check it out.

– 5 –

Life with Bella and the three little guys has definitely kept my hands full but I have managed to find a few me-moments to take a look at other mom blogs. Lately I have loved my sister’s blog Barefoot and Sometime Pregnant. Partly because I love keeping up with my little sis but I also love to read about other things than non-moms would find incredibly boring. 🙂 She recently updated the look of her site and has been posting quite frequently. Part of me loves the frequent posts and the other part of me wants to freakin’ know where she finds the time! LOL!

– 6 –

Last weekend was Matthew’s baptism. Unfortunately, the priest we had scheduled became ill the day before the baptism and was unable to perform the ceremony. We scrambled to find another priest but everyone we knew had a prior engagement. Finally we were able to get the new priest who just came to our parish, although we had never met him before. We were pleasantly surprised to find him very devout and holy. He performed a lovely baptism and we rejoiced that our little one now shares in the life of Christ.

– 7-

Here is a pic of our holy little man. (Don’t laugh at the cheezy bow tie! LOL! It was originally Andrew’s and the only outfit we could find that would fit him. Since then each boy has worn the same outfit and has become a funny tradition.)

I saw this post on my sister EL’s blog and thought it looked like fun. Normally I would have passed it up because my fridge is usually crammed with food. However, I recently organized my fridge with new containers and bins and it has stayed relatively neat so I am not too embarrassed to show it to you.

Things you may notice:
1. I love my clear Rubbermaid containers. I got rid of my mismatched containers and bought these on sale. I like being able to see what’s in them and how neatly they stack up.
2. I also invested in some Fridge Binz (see below) for jarred items and lunch items like yogurt, jello, juice boxes, etc. Love them. Makes finding things in the fridge much easier.
3. We stopped buying bottled water and started using the Brita water system. Works great for us and saves money. I refilled the empty water container with the Brita water but I wonder if that is safe. Should I have “real” water jugs?
4. I still have to buy two types of milk. JP and Andrew drink organic whole and we drink non-fat. Although Andrew is over the age for whole milk (usually you switch at 2) we kept him on it since he’s so skinny.
5. There’s a lot of fruit and veggies available at all times. (And chocolate hidden in the back.)
6. And there’s a steak marinating for a treat tonight. Yum!
And if you’re interested in the bins, here they are. The also have shorter ones available.