Found objects...Visible Mail Box

I was given this "Visible Mail Box" by K's parents when his dad was cleaning out the family home (an 1830 Greek Revival style home in the Finger Lakes area of NY, which by the way will be for sale sometime soon.  It is complete with hand blown rose glass windows).  The house was filled to the brim with treasures.  I got to choose quite a few to bring home and this interesting mail box was one of them.  I think it would have been mounted on a post or the side of a building and the postman put the mail in the opening on top.  The mail was then removed from the bottom by the receiver.   I have a feeling it might see new life as a terrarium in the near future.  Isn't it interesting?  Has anyone ever seen one of these before? 

Peonies and such...

Today I picked these beautiful magenta peonies from my garden.  After the nice warm weather we have been having, so many things are starting to bloom.  These were the first three and I couldn't help but pick them.  

We are working in the gardens every spare moment we get these days and plan to plant our veggies this weekend.  We are also removing one of our large flower beds and relocating all of the perennials which has been a tremendous amount of work.  K separated and planted over 40 hostas last weekend.  Here is a peek at what else has been blooming:

Copper iris (the first one opening today).   I got these from my mom and dad's house.  My dad was ripping them out, much to my mom's dismay.  I plan to sneak some back into her garden sometime when he's not looking.

Fuschia creeping phlox.  These have been blooming for a while now.

Primrose from my wonderful neighbor.

Lily of the Valley blooming for the first time this year.  These were rescued from a gardener friend's cast offs.

Lovely little golden colored Pansies.

Chalkboard...

Our bathroom has a chalk board near the "john".  I guess the previous owners thought it was a good place to sit and come up with ideas.  Our daughter thinks it is a good place for her artwork and we all think it is a good place to leave surprise messages to each other.  What do you think?  Would you want a chalkboard in your bathroom?

Making it work...

As many of you know, I have not held a full-time job since 2007 when I was pregnant with my first daughter.  This was by choice of course.  The job I had at the time was very lucrative and interesting, but I just didn't want to work full time once I had children.  Fast forward to 2012 and another daughter later, and I think it would be fair to say I am going slightly crazy as a "stay at home" mom.  The kicker is I am also a work at home mom.  Circle and Sprout takes up a tremendous amount of time, and that is all well and good, it means we are profitable.  What is not always good is trying to split working time with time that I am supposed to be attending to and being a mom to my girls.  I read a good article today from the Biz Ladies on Design Sponge.  In it Meg writes about the importance of "making it work" instead of finding "balance".  She explains that it is sometimes okay to put the business first and that it is also okay at times to put yourself before your kids too.  Making it work financially is hard as well.  Today I was offered a full time job that by the time I pay for gas and daycare, I would actually lose money by working.  Crazy, I know.  It just made me think of how truly lucky I am to be able to stay at home with my girls even if it makes me a little nuts too.

Missing...

Yes, I have been absent from Facebook and Pinterest and this blog for a while now.  There is a reason.  I am just plain tired.  Tired of housework, tired of babies/kids crying, tired of laundry, tired of not being able to work on art or jewelry orders even though we have lots of them.  I am also tired of the massive quantities of visual stimulation and images/ideas/info on the internet.  I just needed a break from all of it.  I needed to unplug myself from it all in hopes to feel a little more human.  I am not sure it has worked.  I think I will "go dark" for awhile longer and see if it helps me feel a little more sane.  After all, when I didn't check my 3 email accounts for 2 days I had over 158 real emails that needed attending to.  That is just plain crazy!!!

Accountability....

So, not many people know this, but this time around (my second pregnancy) I gained over 55 pounds.  At +55 I stopped getting on the scale, besides I couldn't see the numbers at that point anyway.  That would have been fine, but my precious little "Pip" as we call her, is now 8 months old and I still have 20 extra pounds to lose...the 20 extra that I never should have gained.   This picture was taken at 35 weeks.  I am starting the weight loss journey again.  I am really hoping this time around it won't take me 2 years to get all the baby weight gone.  Wish me luck!

SO embarrassing... but I figured if I put it out there I will be more motivated ?!

28 weeks

"Pip" on her birthday.

8 months old.

Found objects...hankies

I love going to yard sales and estate sales and searching for treasures.  Now that the yard sale season has begun I am very excited.  I went to an estate sale with my mom last week and we picked up these wonderful, colorful hankies, $2. for all of them.  We would rather use these instead of wasteful paper tissues...wouldn't you?