Motherhood and Make-Up Work

On Saturdays, I feel this intense urge to be the magical, fun, no-schedule mom that I wish I could be all of the time. I cram in everything I can. Yesterday, we gorged on books and hot chocolate, leaves jumping, pancakes, movies, cuddle time, and crafting.

I look around the house tonight and see all of the make-up work I will have to do as result of my make-up time with my family. There is much to clean and do before the morning and tomorrow brings another merciless week. I'm like the cricket who sang all Saturday.



For over a year, I have wanted to make a mini book. I never thought I would have the time or find affordable resources locally, and for some reason, that really depressed me. It was just one more thing that I would never have time to get to and that made me feel even more behind.

Over the past few months, here and there, the pieces have sort of fallen into my lap and now, my books are ready to record the holidays. This is no big deal for most people, but for me, it's a symbol that I don't have to give up on being creative...or on having the kind of life I always imagined for myself.









Each year since college, I have studied the pages of Martha Stewart's Homemade Holiday Gift Guide. Inspired by the peppermint striped pages, I once made peppermint bark as gifts. When I ended up spending more on the ingredients and packaging than when I bought it at Target in perfectly packaged tins, I gave up on the dream of a homemade Christmas.

This holiday, we've decided to keep things simple and when the new Martha holiday issue came out this month, I started dreaming of making something again.

But I have no time.

Damnit.

Then my Aunt Jan gave us some homemade lotion that was awesome and it gave me an idea. A few weeks later, I found the perfect containers for it for .67 cents that fit perfectly into holiday packaging I already had.

We made it today and I don't mind admitting that I made such a huge mess. We were Lucy and Ethel and there's a place in the floor we're all avoiding because it is so slippery. But it was worth it to discover that I can do it if I do things over a long period of time. Ingredients one day. Packaging the next week. Making it the next month. Delivering it the next...you get the idea.











Adorable, affordable teacher gifts made by 3-year-old, DONE!

And here's the thing: my house is a disaster today. A million imperfections fall outside the borders of every photograph: laundry and stress and family crisis and everything else. But for a moment, I can feel like I'm making a sweet memory for me and for her and that gets me through all of the rest of it.

I picked up some new chimes on Saturday. They are Tibetan Prayer Chimes that promise to, "convey the prayers and blessings of the listener every time the wind blows." Each time they sang today, I said a prayer: a nice, peaceful thing for a Sunday. I pray that I can appreciate every moment of my life. I pray that I will no longer separate the kind of life I want to live from the one I am living. I pray that I can slow down a bit.

I found the most delightful stationary from Positively Green that says, "Let us pause to warm our hands before the fire of life."

I just love that.


**This is the most busy time of year for litigators, so my posts may be a bit sporadic until Christmas. Thanks for your patience.