Oh Happy Days

Exciting news. We are finally putting this house in the woods on the market! Over the past few months I've been searching online for an old farmhouse to make our own, and recently actually been viewing some in person! Two weeks ago I looked at one on Somerset County, NJ. It has such a romantic sound to it, Somerset County, it almost wouldn't have mattered what the house was like. But it does. Of course. And to me it was perfect. A big blue 1800s farmhouse on almost 5 acres, with pines for privacy and open fields filled with horses and alpacas around. It wasn't the greatest layout inside, and the kitchen, although open to an eating area, certainly wasn't my dream kitchen, but I could see it working perfectly all the same. It had a greenhouse, flat grass, a huge porch, and bright sun filled rooms with wide pumpkin pine floors, and that was enough for me. Unfortunately when my husband viewed it, he decided it was a bit too rural for him, and he pointed out all the flaws, I hadn't really noticed.. love blinds you that way! The road to the main road was long and winding. Beautiful for long walks on a Sunday, not so beautiful for commuting to the office I guess!

On to the next. Last week he found a short sale in the Chester, NJ area, which is a lovely town filled with antiques stores and surrounded by farmland, but much closer to highways etc. I went to see it at the weekend. Needs so much doing to it, including septic, oil tank removed and such a lot of cosmetic stuff. But it's a good looking 1800s colonial with a big porch, and 2 fenced paddocks. Nice big rooms, and a finished attic, that could make a perfect craft room for me.

It has a huge kitchen open to the dining area with skylights and big windows. Really my dream kitchen. Even had a cast iron gas cooker, one of those very expensive retro ones. Perfect! My husband is there today, so I'm yet to hear what he thinks. Regardless of what happens with that house, things are definitely moving in the right direction, so I'm feeling happy and excited. Packing up this house and fixing all the annoying things is not so exciting, but at least it being cleared out it's starting to resemble how I wish we could live - less clutter, easier to clean. Certainly something to aim for in the next house anyway!

a Toy Story

A Toy Story Birthday to be precise! My youngest son celebrated his 4th Birthday this week, and I threw him a surprise Toy Story party. Here's a little montage:

Every night this little boy asks me "Can you sleep with me?" and every night I crawl into his tiny toddler bed under his big brother's loft bed, and snuggle a while, and my heart aches every time. It seems like yesterday he was a little baby, then a toddling terror, and now he's in the preschool set - where did that time go! So there's a dragon, an extra large bear, a smaller bear, a pillow pet dragon, a pillow light puppy, a lovie puppy, a creeper, his old crib quilt, a twin comforter, his full size pillow and him all in his teeny toddler bed.. but I still can't say no when he asks me to lay in there with him, because I know soon he will stop asking me and that hurts my heart to think of! So my back may be breaking and my legs cramping, but there I am every night without fail - they grow up way too fast!

living vicariously through others until my time comes...

I've become slightly addicted to HGTVs new show "Fixer Upper" http://magnoliahomes.net/fixer-upper/ It's always been my dream to find a diamond in the rough and make it my own. The two houses we've bought previously have been at the top end of our budget, so we've never been able to make the changes we wanted a reality or let's face it, even fix things when they break! For years I've loved to watch the moving shows, but they all become much the same - people looking for the granite kitchen, the finished garden, the perfect house. I'd hate to move in somewhere that was finished to a high standard - but not my standard, not my tastes. I feel like I'd just live with cherry cabinets and beige granite because I'd feel bad about ripping that stuff out. Which is why I have NO intention of looking for any of that when it comes time for us to move.  I love browsing the http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/ site for ideas. The forums are so valuable for real life experiences of what to do and of course what to run a mile from. Now there are hundreds of shows on home improvement there's always something to watch to get excited about. Here are some great examples of a fixer-upper turned dream home - and surprisingly all of these were done with a budget of under $50k!

The house I fell in love with months ago is still on the market, so there's always a chance it will become my dream forever home! (I have the agent letting me know if any offers come in). It's priced very low, and with the profit from the sale of this house we would be able to make it beautiful with cash to spare. There's so much potential. It's on 15 acres, we could sell 10 of those for over $100k in that area and still have a huge piece of land. There's a walkable attic ready to be finished. A double garage could be added with a master suite above. There's a big red barn with 6 horse stalls, fenced paddock, pasture, a stream.. need I go on! Here's a picture of it.. 

...imagine it freshly painted, with shutters, rambling roses, a horse in the background, a few chickens dotted around and children playing and you there you have it. So until I have it, in the bag, I keep that image in my head on days like today when I'm faced with the end of school rush, piles of laundry, noisy landscapers and a messy corner office that I can get no work done in! Happy Wednesday people - the weekend is just down the hill.

Planting season

So yesterday I spent the morning planting up two of my four raised beds in my garden by the pond. I'd love to think by summer they'll look like this - but that's pretty adventurous! I've started with green beans, broccoli, carrots, kale and lettuce. When the threat of frost has gone I'll move to the third bed for the tomatoes, peppers, melons and cucumbers. The fourth bed is my biggest and I'm keeping that for flowers. I've been at a loss as to what to surround the beds with, as right now it's a brown dirt mess, mulch for that large of a spot is expensive, wood chips attract termites, and gravel - again too pricey. I think I'll plant grass there instead, it's the most economical option and will definitely make that area look more complete. Right now it's pretty barren, bar a few hyacinths. It's very frustrating gardening here in Rockland, for the obvious reason - rocks. We also have a lot of what they call "Squaw Root" which is very hard to work around, and with the endless tree roots from the semi woodland setting - it's not exactly prosperous. But I have Bramble Farm in my heart and know it will happen sooner than later - so I will plod on with what I have right now and make the best of it as much as I can. One thing I need to do everywhere I plant - is to deer fence. They eat everything around here, even the plants labeled "deer resistant". So long as I can get the front and back garden areas tidy and pretty - it'll do, especially when it comes time to sell. I have so much organizing of clutter and collected garbage to do on the inside of the house it feels sometimes like selling is many MANY years away. I have to keep believing that what I really want, and how I want to raise my children is within reach, even on grey days like today, when nothing seems possible except crawling under a blanket and sleeping! Onwards and upwards.

off to the farm we go

Two farms in one week to be precise! I can't believe Spring Break is almost over. We lost so many school days with the severe winter snow we had here in New York, sadly cutting off 3 days of this vacation time. So this past week we did a couple of day trips to get some country air, and inspiration for Bramble Farm of course! Firstly we went to the Stone Barns Center for Agriculture near Sleepy Hollow. It's such a breathtakingly beautiful place. Even without the green of Summer and the flowers to match, the buildings alone were awe inspiring.

Next we went to Muscoot Farm in Katonah. I completely fell in love with this property. Everything from the old white farmhouse to all the gorgeous red barns and outbuildings. Their selection of animals was just right, and the children had a wonderful time.

https://www.stonebarnscenter.org/
http://muscootfarm.org/

birthday cakes for princesses

I'm in the midst of thinking of a design for my just turning 6 year old's Birthday on Friday. For my eldest daughter I chose a Frozen theme - they love that movie so much - who doesn't!? It worked perfectly because I had the Frozen Disney Infinity Elsa and Anna figures to put on top. This time I have Rapunzel - so I've been googling Tangled cakes and so far here's what I have - all amazing!

I was going for a garden cake with the tower and then the figure standing next to it but now I'm thinking the lake cake looks perfect as I can print the other bits to put on top - and have lanterns hanging from the ceiling.. will update with pictures later this week!

the "weighting" game

So oh I don't know lets say about 5 babies ago I felt something like the above. Sexy, beautiful, confident. Somewhere after the 3rd baby I started to feel more like that Hilda pin-up making the rounds just now. Nothing fit like it used to. The image I saw in the mirror didn't add up to the image of me I had in my head. The one I saw made me feel terrible. That was another 2 babies and about 20 lbs ago. You can imagine how I feel now. I started mid January with this weight loss game and here we are now going into March and I'm only 8 lbs down. Still have about 25 lbs to go before I'll feel like that girl again, and I can't wait! I mean literally. What on earth happened. It used to be that I just had to look at the scale every day and say a little wish and the weight would fall off me. Now I barely eat, don't stop moving all day, and I'm lucky if a couple of pounds a week come off. Somewhere along this road of baby rearing I lost sight of who I was and what was important to me to make me feel like me. Now I know a lot of people jump on the "you've been pregnant or nursing most years for the past god knows how many how could you expect to me "the old you" ". But the issue is that without looking in the mirror and seeing the old me, I don't feel like me. I feel like an imposter in this body. I have no confidence. I always have that niggling doubt in myself that tends to ruin a part of every day, every special event, everything that should be fun. I feel like a failure. I failed my own body. It's not that I want to be the "hottest bitch in this place" (is it just me or even though Blurred Lines is long gone is it still in your head too argh).. I just want to look in the mirror and see me again, really see me, and not feel failure, or sadness. I feel so sorry for my husband, not because he has extra to love right now, because I do believe he still loves every inch of me, I feel sorry for him because he hasn't got the best of me these past 6 years that I've had to bare this load, both physically and mentally. I have been a miserable bitch, even in times when I should have been so happy. So I'll plod on with this slow weight loss ride, and try to focus on the day in the not so distant future when I look in the mirror and I look back at myself. Me again.

Fabric addiction

Just a quick post as I'm busy moving things out of the spare room, to move the boys in - their room is to become a playroom.. long story no time! I'm having a fair bit of success selling fabric in my etsy store. Feeling excited at this actually becoming an earner rather than just an excuse to have more fabric in my stash! https://www.etsy.com/shop/brambleboutique

dress making... for dummies

I feel like I'm staring at a map of the London underground. And so begins my journey into sewing! I made skirts for the girls last year and that was easy enough. Thought I'd try some simple pants for baby because I got some really cute polka dot farm animal fabric the other day. 

Yeah. So far, haven't got past staring at the pattern for 5 mins! I also got a dress pattern thankfully haven't opened it yet so that cat can remain in the bag for now - think it would send me over the edge!

snow day fun

So as of right now here in the lower Hudson Valley - it's pretty much a white out. We've had over a foot of snow and it's only noon!

Not exactly great play outside weather yet - but if it has stopped where you are - this is such a fun thing for the bored kids to get busy with. Just pop some food coloring and water into some squeezy bottles et voila - outdoor painting fun. Love this idea!

Paying it forward - spreading a little kindness

I always try to be kind to others and help when I can. Usually just people I know though - I don't get much contact with the outside world being a mother of 5 smalls! It's such a good feeling to help your friends or family - even if it's just helping with a problem they're running through their head and not a physical act of help. I took it a step further yesterday. I rather randomly helped a complete stranger, by letting them borrow an old pack n play. I saw a post on a local Mother's group saying there had been a death in the family and did anyone have a portable crib she could borrow to accommodate her brother's baby. Now usually when I see posts like this I think wow who would lend a total stranger something - then I thought - me. I would do that. So I offered, and she picked it up yesterday. Now that is a whole new kind of happy feeling. It really fits in to my "takes a village" mindset. I know you aren't supposed to do good things to get good things come back, but karma, and paying it forward being what it is - the better you treat others in this world, the kinder people become, the more likely it is it will come back to you someday. But for now I feel good knowing something I don't use is being used in times of trouble to give a little relief to a heartbroken family.

bathtime for babies

I feel oh so very accomplished in the hours following bath night success.  Successfully getting 5 children under 9 in the tub, hair washed, nails clipped, dried and pajamad (not a word but sooo should be), is nothing short of a miracle. I try to do every other night in the winter months, due to dry skin issues. But in the summer when they're playing outside a daily bath is pretty much a necessity. Not one I love! The one part I do enjoy, apart from their squeaky clean after appearance - is the drying of the hair. Not the brushing, lets get that straight right away! There's something about that almost silent time with them sitting with the blow dryer hum and nothing else, and that warm comfort of the miracle being almost complete. It's a time I cherish for sure.

On that joyous note I have to tell you about my trip to Target yesterday - not one bottle of bubble bath in the whole store! And when I asked the cashier - can you believe he didn't have a clue what I was talking about! What's the world coming to!?

100th Day of School fast approaching!

The children are all a buzz about their 100th day celebrations. I'm not sure the 3rd grader celebrates much - other than the fact that half a school year is almost done and dusted! The Kindergartner has the usual project of producing a collection of 100 items - and this gets me excited. With my first we made 100 origami cranes.. yes really.. and made them into a mobile (which the teacher took home for her baby's room). Impressive right? Last year it was 100 googly eyeballs stuck to a superman. Yeah, you can tell the enthusiasm had waned a bit! This year I've seen this genius (ok really crafty) idea of making a gumball machine out of a flower pot.

I think I'm more excited than she is but it will be a winner I'm sure! Not that it's a competition..ahem.. We're going to fill it with 100 of those fuzzball pompoms instead of actual gumballs, which I always think are a choking hazard for anyone under 21, don't you?!

Homemade play dough

We go through so much play dough in this house I thought it was finally time to try making my own.  When I looked online for recipes, most of them used cream of tartar which I didn't have. So instead I went the natural site recipe road and found one just using flour, vinegar, water and food coloring (optional).  It turned out great and my son had a wonderful experience helping making it and playing with it..  Also held off his endless pleas for me to play Lego with him for a while. An added bonus!