Just a Reminder

That I've moved :)  Moments of Peace is now on WordPress and so far I'm liking it (although there is still a bit to learn.)  Head on over and sign up to follow by email or change your reader link. 

And right now I've got a giveaway going for all my Canadian readers so tell your friends! 

Moving!

Not personally.  Just the blog.  I am not happy with all of a sudden being all out of storage space on both this blog and our family blog.  Smells a little fishy to me.  So we're heading over to WordPress (for the more free storage and the less complaints about them.)  There isn't really anything there at the moment but maybe later today I'll get some time to gussy it up a bit and import from here.  Hopefully by tomorrow it'll be ready for visitors... if I can manage to have anything to write about for the Yarn Along and time to write it.  :) 

Here's the new Moments of Peace 

Yarn Along

Amazingly I got a few rows knit this week.  Really amazing because if you remember I picked up 216 stitches last week - well, the next line of the pattern was the knit 1, yarn over to end.  So now we're talking about 400-something stitches!  It feels good to be making progress (and thankfully there are only 10 rows in this section.) 

This I just have to share.  A friend sent me the link to a free pattern and it is entirely too cute to not share.  I checked out the other patterns too - ridiculously adorable.  Really, you should check them out. 

The reading front was also pretty amazing this week.  I finished The Union Quilters.  I can't help but read about the Civil War and marvel that anyone survived.  Marching from Frederick, MD to Gettysburg, PA, it's only something like 30-some miles of lovely hilly countryside.  But in July.  Wearing wool.  Carrying all your gear.  Having not eaten properly in weeks or months.  And marching right into battle.  Maybe I'm just a big wuss but that is remarkable. 

And I started a new novel yesterday - The Little Women Letters by Gabrielle Donnelly.  It "explores the imagined lives of Jo March's descendants."  So far pretty good (50 pages in.)  It's a nice blend of historical fiction and modern through finding Grandma Jo's letters in the attic. 

I can't seem to share a photo today because I'm using all of my space for it???  Anyone know anything about this?  I don't have any photos saved in Picasa or anywhere else and I do not want to have to pay for more storage (what a racket!) 
So now to link up with Ginny.   

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

 

{pretty}

We had a nice celebration for Martinmas on Sunday.  The spice cake was yummy, the "lanterns" were lovely.  We did not go on a lantern walk though.  It would have been nice but it was rainy and the thought of giving the boys glass jars with even a tiny flame inside just did not seem like a good idea.  Maybe next year. 

My pretty success is that I managed to tidy a small space in my bedroom.  Nothing much, not even picture worthy (yet.)  But it's something I've been meaning to get to and it means that now there is a nice spot, free of clutter and mess, to rest my eyes in there. 

{happy}

It makes this mama so happy to see the boys so caring with their baby sister. 

And more happy success - according to the scale this morning I am within 1 pound of my pre-pregnancy weight!  And Baby Girl has doubled her birth weight! 

{funny}

Quite the chocolate milk mustache, isn't it? 

This is more Smallest's success but I'll count it anyway - she's trying to roll, back to belly.  No, she doesn't yet roll belly to back which is part of what's funny.  The other funny bit is that for now (unless she has something to grab and pull herself over) she just spins herself around in a clockwise circle. 

{real}

The Smallest sleeps better than her brothers but at the same time not.  Yesterday she woke up way too early from her nap and I brought her out and put her on the floor.  While I went to pour a cup of tea she fell asleep again right there on the floor.  Luckily the WeatherMan was home and took the boys out to the park to play so they wouldn't wake her up.  That's some success - she fell asleep on her own and some me time for Mama. 

But the worse part is that she wakes up anywhere between right away and almost an hour after being put down for the night... until I go to bed and take her with me.  While I love the snuggles (when she isn't too fussy) the lack of evening is getting old.  I'm hopeful there will be a success in this area by next week. 

 

 Linking up at Catholic Mom and Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Yarn Along

I am pleased to report that I picked up and knit 216 stitches this week.  Now on to the lace!

I've also made a bit more progress in my books (the main 3 I've got going at the moment anyway.)  The Union Quilters  is a nice, light read.  I really enjoy  historical fiction and seem to be into Civil War era lately.  Mother Teresa - Come Be My Light is so interesting, to read her own words and how deep her faith was is amazing.  As for You Are Your Child's First Teacher I'm really hoping I'll be able to renew it again.  But I'm loving it - who doesn't love reading something that agrees with what they think?  :)  It is giving me lots to think about. 

And so for this week that's all there is, there isn't any more.  Off to link up and check out what else is happening at small things.  :)  I love Wednesdays!

This Moment

Joining Amanda - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words a story - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Once upon a time there was a mama who had so much enjoy and be thankful for.  But she had a most unfortunate tendency toward feeling sorry for herself.  She tried to hold herself to impossible standards, forgetting that blogs and FaceBook are seriously selective accounts of other mamas' lives.  Rather than being pleased with what she can accomplish in a day and enjoying spending time with her wee children she felt guilty for not doing more.  She had dreams of doing it all, yesterday.  And she descended at times into hard core self pity that she couldn't even spend 20 minutes doing what she wanted followed by guilt for being so selfish as to take what little time she had to peruse online inspiration for projects she can't work on let alone accomplish and reading rather than washing those ever accumulating dishes.  She was tired and frustrated and something had to give. 

And the moral of the story?  Balance.  By all means, mama needs to take the time to wash her face before bed whenever possible.  And wash as many of the dinner dishes before bed as possible.  And yes, even knit and read as much as possible.  It's finding the good rather than dwelling on the not so hot.  Because, really girl, you have to stop hanging onto the things that are less than stellar and make you unhappy.  Find the joy in a clean sink and the fun in small children.  Change your perspective so that those small acts of naughtiness are problem solving.  Keep on plugging away on the 21 Days to a More Disciplined Life until you somehow get through all 21 days.  Practice gratitude.  Pray without ceasing.  Go outside.  Take the time to enjoy all those little moments of happiness - chocolate and a clean table, baby smiles and fresh bread, sunshine and dancing in the kitchen.  And take it easy, Rome wasn't built in a day and you don't have to be supermama. 

Would someone mind reminding me of that every 20 minutes or so?  ;-) 

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life ~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter!

 

I really, really wanted to take up Leila's challenge this week and create at least one tidy, pretty, and useful spot in my bedroom.  Making the most of life in the here and now and loving it are things I struggle with (and actually a couple of the reasons I have for blogging.)  But right now the here and now consists of boys getting up at 5:30, a teething baby who (when she does sleep) sleeps in my bedroom, never ending piles of dishes thanks to hourly requests for food from those early risers, that smell of spit up that you just can't seem to get out of your nose although that might be because you've got some on your shoulder and/or on your socks (don't ask, she's got skillz this little one does,) and a laundry basket containing a pile of wash taller than my younger son.  And so the here and now of my bedroom may or may not resemble a storage unit with a bed and crib which are usually clear.  Usually.  So for now that has to wait.  Because there is no way I can post pictures of my storage unit bedroom on the interwebz.  Even if my bed in (nearly) always made.  SO, on to a very typical {p,h,f,r} and back to writing my Small Successes (now at Catholic Mom) because I very much need to take note of the things that are getting done, no matter how small.  (Like that usually made bed - success!) 

 

{pretty}

Pretty sleeping baby - just look at that squishy cheek!  (Adorable baby - success!  Sleeping baby - success!) 

{happy}

Happy boys rolling in the leaves.  (Fresh air, exercise - success!  Out with Daddy while Mama takes a tiny moment to herself - success!) 

{funny}

Baby burrito watching election coverage with Daddy.  And she did doze off there for a minute or two.  Also funny is that once I got her to bed (with me, of course) she pooped loud enough to wake me up at 2am.  And this time I stayed awake long enough to go change her (success!)  There was a night recently where I heard it and thought to myself  "Must get up and change..." before drifting back to sleep.  Don't worry, that one turned out to have been more like a really big fart with a tiny poop attached.  ;-)

{real}

And although my messy room is as real as it gets, here is something interesting.  See those Smarties?  You might be confused as to which ones - as Americans in Canada (not nearly as romantic as An American in Paris but here we are) they both are.  The top candy are an M&M like chocolate but with a thicker candy shell (so they're crunchier than M&Ms and I don't think they're as chocolate-y.) 

 The bottom are Smarties to us but Rockets to everyone around us.  Funny, huh?  And we also insist on calling donut holes Munchkins (not Tim Bits) and the letter Z is not zed (except when Bigger is trying to push Daddy's buttons.) 

And for the success - I haven't eaten any of these candies!  I've eaten some of the fruity Halloween candies but nothing else, thanks to a little lady who gets a very angry tummy if Mama eats anything dairy.  So I made vegan brownies for myself (success?)