Sorry I Missed Your Call (PART TWO)

R u kidding me? (No...I didn't flush my cell phone down the toilet AGAIN!) Two nights ago, my husband misplaced his phone after working out. At first we assumed that it was just misplaced by one of our dear children or sitting someplace we hadn't yet looked. These things happen in a busy house, right? It is called life.

However, I just got received an email from my dear hubby telling me someone has been texting Africa on his phone. (Nice.) That definitely concludes that we won't be finding his phone anytime soon and that it certainly wasn't "misplaced".

At first I was angry, then frustrated, then just down right felt violated. So crazy! I hate it when bad stuff happens like this. Unfortunately, my personality makes it hard for me to forget about this misfortune act of another. Of course the good news is he has been planning on upgrading his phone for quite sometime, but I have been dragging my feet. So all in all...he'll finally get the new phone he has been requesting.

The not so good news is that he has lost all of his phone numbers. That is a BIG pain...I should know. Remember when I flushed my cell phone down the toilet around Thanksgiving? (OK...stop...I know it was funny...just stop laughing.) It took me awhile to replace all those numbers and I never did "recover" my phone...not sure if I wanted to, would you?

So if you've tried to get a hold of Drew or text him in the past couple of days...sorry he missed your call.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Wordless Wednesday

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Twigs

I nearly busted out laughing (OK...I did.) when I looked at the name of the cereal Drew brought home for us...TWIGS, Flakes & Clusters. (Twigs? Nice.)

Growing up, my family often referred to health food as eating 'twigs and bark'...So no wonder I was taken aback. The cereal definitely wasn't "sugar-coating" anything...nope, just calling the cereal for actually what it was, "twigs".

As I crunched away this morning, I couldn't help but smile the entire time knowing I willingly resorted to "eating twigs".

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Field Trip: Monroe Fire Station

One of the perks of maintaining a title as "stay-at-home mom" is experiencing activities with your kids. Today was no exception.

Early this morning, I enjoyed a walking field trip with Fiona's preschool class to the Monroe fire station. We checked out the cool fire trucks, fire men's gear, and even an ambulance.

Opportunities like this also help me understand why my daughter screamed at me from the window this afternoon that she was going to "Call 9-1-1!" (Good golly! She had stubbed her toe.) We had a LONG talk about when it is appropriate to dial 9-1-1 and I was glad to reiterate this important lesson learned during a preschool field trip.

Thank goodness she didn't dial 9-1-1. I'm not sure how I would have handled that. Parenting is such an interesting road even when it is just a field trip to the local fire station.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Broken Bloom

Last Fall with the aid of my "helpers", we planted tulips in front of the Little Blue Bungalow. I love having a wide variety of flowers that bloom throughout the year in a array of color; bringing character to the outside of our little home.

This Spring, I have awaited the arrival of my tulips with much anticipation. As I came home from work on Wednesday I noticed the tulip bulbs were just ready to pop open and display their vivid color. I was more than thrilled as I knew that it would add a burst of color to the beds and shout "Spring is Here!"

Stepping outside from the craziness of our home, I made a quick phone call to a friend on our front porch. I didn't notice I hadn't pulled the front door shut or the fact that one of my "helpers", Exhibit A, Mr. Keegan had bolted out the front door. So I was utterly shocked when out of my corner of my eye I watched Mr. Keegan run up to one of those lovely unbloomed tulips and SNAP it off.

In a blink of an eye my excitement, anticipation...gone. Snapped off early by an eager two-year old. I was devastated. How could he do that? The tulip didn't even get a chance to bloom to display it's true colors and potential.

Catching myself from not getting too angry, I realized that Keegan didn't know my anticipation...and certainly didn't realize at that age that the flower hadn't bloomed to its full glory. (And...how in the world do you get mad at a kid that smiles like that?)

Do you live in your full potential? Have you been snapped off early by society pressures, demands?
Is your life filled with disappointments? In times of difficulties, it is hard to remember that God is never done with us.

God is rebuilding you from the ground up. Next year, next season he will mend your wounds and have you bloom again. With God you won't be shaken by this economy, disappointments, marriage struggles, addictions...your victory is coming, it is just in God's time.

You may just have to wait for your life to bloom next season, but God is there...even when you are broken by a two-year old.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean


He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. Psalms 147:3

Thursday Thrifty Tip: Planting a Garden

If you have been a faithful reader or know me in person, it will come to no surprise that I have a passion for gardening. Gardening to me is an escape from the "normal" duties, a chance to connect with the outdoors, as well as provide delicious, inexpensive food for my family.

My passion began at a early age passed on by my great-grandparents, Hubert and Esther. Living through the Great Depression, my great-grandparents were truly "master"gardeners of sorts in Iowa. Amazing flowers, tasty produce, and perfect "row" order was always overflowing out of their garden. As a child, I loved running through their garden looking at the many varieties of vegetables, picking cherries from their trees, and bending down to smell all the flowers. I was infatuated.

Today, I maintain my own garden with a wide variety of family-favorite vegetables, fruits and flowers. Not only does it give me great joy and pride, but my family benefits monetarily from my efforts. For merely the cost of seeds varying in price from $1.29-$1.89 and labor my family enjoys food throughout the year. When compared to the cost of purchasing all of the same harvest in the store it would I'm sure blow you away. Unfortunately, I've never calculated the actually harvest each year. (I know...this is something I should really do!) I do know my family eats food from our garden througthout the year which equals monumental savings.

Planting a garden can be a simple as having a tomato plant in a large container on your back porch to having a entire side yard designated to producing food for your family. If you've never gardened before I encourage you to plant something this year even it is just carrots. Pick something you know your family will enjoy eating. Save money by reaping harvests from your own backyard...not some grocery store that shipped it over from another country.

Our garden is already in the ground...the sweet peas, green beans, onions and cilantro are already peeking out of the ground. Is yours?

The harvest is plentiful by the workers are few. Ask the lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.
Matthew 9: 37-38.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Reader's Note: If you are looking for more inspiration in eating local, I HIGHLY recommend reading Barbara Kingsolver's book: "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle". A Little Blue Bungalow MUST READ!

Wordless Wednesday

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Spirit of the Family: Learning to Work Together

I often receive comments from friends and visitors that the Little Blue Bungalow is always so "clean and organized". (Thank you...that is so kind.) Yes, for the most part we aim to keep the house in an orderly fashion, but I admit we too have our days of household craziness. So how do we maintain a somewhat clean and orderly house 365 days of the year?

There are several keys to maintaining a home and the main one, I feel, is having it be every one's responsibility...NOT just Mom. (OK...I hear several Mom's in the audience applauding here.) Not only does that mean enlisting the help of my amazing husband, but our children too.

Kids can be taught a variety of skills and aid in household chores if they are taught and given direction. Too often parents (in regards to household chores) believe that children will "mess it up" or take longer to complete the task, but this is how a child learns. I believe it is our responsibility as parents to train our children for the duties of life...taking the garbage out, weeding the gardens, washing the dishes, cleaning the bathrooms, dusting, etc in order to function as an adult later in society.

Having everyone in the family share "the load" of the household duties including the kids is just "a way of life" here at the Little Blue Bungalow. For instance, Fiona at a ripe age of four has mastered a number of household duties including: washing the dishes, cleaning toilets (and folks she is particular!), sorting laundry, dusting, and vacuuming. Mr. Keegan, age 2, helps out by matching socks, loading/unloading the dishwasher, loading/unloading the washing machine, throwing recycling away, and dusting.

I know many families utilize charts to reward their children for the chores they complete, but we have none. We believe being a part of this family means everyone has a job to do. This includes working together on family projects whether it be weeding the garden or cleaning the bathroom. No sticker or quarter earned...just the satisfaction of belonging to a family, our family.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Writer's Note: Another important key in maintaining an orderly home is to eliminate the clutter and excess of life which I hope to address in a later post. If you'd like me address a particular topic or have questions about our family, gardens, faith, etc. feel free to ask and I'll try and answer. KJ

"Clean up on Aisle 4..."

Yes, we were THAT family today. Shortly into our shopping adventure at our local Albertson's, I looked over to realize that Mr. Keegan had dumped the entire container of fresh blue berries onto the floor. His response, "Oh...no...I need to pick up berries." (Really...are you kidding me...did you just dump that out of the cart!?!)

A minute later after locating an employee, I couldn't help but shake my head as I heard, "Clean up on Aisle 4!" announced over their paging system. There was no mistaking the mess...it seemed like a million little blue berries littered the floor. Just another day at the Little Blue Bungalow...full of adventures.

I guess I should just enjoy the moment...fifteen years from now Keegan will be the same young man cleaning the same mess at his first job. I can't wait to have him come home and tell me about picking up "a terrible mess from THAT crazy mom and kids". I wonder if it will be blue berries. If it is I will just laugh and remember our day.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Thursday Thrifty Tip: Use Credit Cards Wisely

Frankly, I was annoyed...maybe even taken aback after I read a "penny pincher" tip in our local newspaper about credit cards. Almost so fired up that I wrote a letter to the editor, but of course, I refrained and instead will complain to my loyal readers. (Love you guys.)

Last week "Donna's" column read:
Credit cards: I like to pay my bills when they arrive so that I am two weeks ahead of their due date. I also like to pay a little extra each time. It's suppose to look good on your credit and it saves me money. Credit card interest is high, so anything I can do to reduce the principle helps.

Seriously...living frugally or thrifty is living WITHIN your means. I'll say it again, WITHIN your means. When did it get "ok" to just charge it; pay for it later?

I understand that everyone is in a different financial situation (especially these days). Some of you have made poor decisions in the area of wants and needs in the past and now find yourselves in credit card debt. Others have had emergency situations arise (medical, job loss, etc.) that required some assistance of using a credit card for a few months to get back on their feet. (We've been there.)

But using credit cards daily WITHOUT the intention of paying off the monthly balance CAN and WILL BE financially costly. The amount of credit card interest rate varies and can cost you more than the item you purchased within a few months.

I can not stress to you all enough: USE CREDIT CARDS WISELY. Can you pay off your balance this month? Is the item you're purchasing a want or a need? Can you wait and save the money to buy the item outright? Ask yourself this question every time you use your charge cards and make sure you pay your balance in FULL each month. If you can't, make a plan and stick to it to get yourself financially free from the credit card companies.

I'm I preaching to the choir? Can I get an AMEN!

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Kids in the Garden...Miss Fiona

Our Miss Fiona is quite the gardener at the Little Blue Bungalow tending, weeding, watering our family's gardens with the greatest care. Last year, she proved her skills by growing the largest pumpkin in the Children's Museum pumpkin growing contest. (It was a mighty impressive pumpkin if I do say so myself...check it out here.)

As parents, we were delighted to learn that our Miss Fiona's picture would be used in promotions for the Everett Children's Museum Kids in the Garden growing contests this year. How cool is that!

We've already picked up our seeds from the Children's Museum for this year's contest. Fiona is branching out and will be growing sunflowers. Little brother, Keegan, will be joining the gardening ranks by growing pumpkins. It should be a very busy summer out in the gardens at the Little Blue Bungalow indeed.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Wordless Wednesday...from the Portland Zoo

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Happy Easter

At this very minute we (ahem...Drew is) are putting the final load into the car for our Easter adventure. We will be traveling to Portland this Easter to enjoy family time with Drew's mom and sisters. No...no one lives in Portland...we just haven't been there, so why not?

This will be my very first time to Oregon so I'm looking forward to the new territory. Yes...I promise to capture some great photos of our travels and I'm sure there will be some stories too.

I hope you all have wonderful travels as well and make lasting memories with family and friends this Easter. I know we will.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Thursday Thrifty Tip: Value in Memberships

Finding good, quality family entertainment inexpensively can sometimes be a challenge.Though the library, local community events and parks can be a great source of free fun for your family, it is good to have a "back-up".

Even during the "lean" years we've always invested in at least one family membership which we could enjoy during "rainy" days. (We seem to have a few more of those out here in Seattle, but could easily be called "cabin fever" days to my readers in the Midwest.)

Two memberships that our family have personally enjoyed over the years include: the Everett Children's Museum and the Woodland Park Zoo. The value of purchasing a yearly pass to these places has been extraordinary; easily paying for themselves in 2-3 visits during the course of a year. However, finding the funds to purchase a membership (varies between $65-$110) in an already tight budget can be daunting, but I ask you to be creative.

One way that we have paid for our family's memberships to the zoo and children's museum has been to save money that we receive from Christmas, birthdays and other special holidays. Friends and family often have a hard time picking out gifts for our family and mailing long distance is a extra hassle. So we often request money instead to be used towards a particular membership.

Memberships to family places are a great "experience" gift and can be used throughout the year instead of the first week when a toy is "new". Utilizing our resources in purchasing a membership is valuable for family entertainment, date nights, educational purposes, and so much more not to mention the impact it has on the environment. No extra packaging, broken toys or items is required when you have purchased an "experience".

Other creative ways to save up money to purchase memberships to a variety of places could be saving your pop cans (5 cents a can back in Iowa), selling unwanted items on CraigsList, starting a savings jar for your kids with your extra change, giving up or cutting back on a "vice" (mine would definitely have to be drinking Diet Coke!), growing your own vegetables. Being thrifty is all about being creative!

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

A Lesson at Story Time

Today I had a surprise break in my weekly schedule and didn't have to work this morning. Knowing Fiona would be in preschool, I was delighted to spend some quality time with my son Keegan. Taking advantage of our amazing local public library, we settled in at the toddler story time.

As Keegan and sat in the circle with a variety of moms and kids, I couldn't help but remember when it was just Fiona...the play dates, story time, mid-week adventures and field trips. Before Keegan and a busy pre-schooler's schedule, we always went to story time. It was as I was almost in overload as a new mom...afraid that if one minute wasn't scheduled her learning development would be delayed. Or maybe I just was afraid of just being alone with my daughter?

You must understand, a life as a stay-at-home mom can be hard and lonely at times. Sure there are moments you'd never want to miss or sleeping in until 8 AM with your kid snuggled in your arms. But finding strong adult companionship during the day always proved to be more challenging. This was especially true for me.

I began my journey as a full-time stay-at-time mom in Washington when we moved over 2,500 miles away from family and friends. I was heart-broken. I was lost...alone in a new state and I needed to make friends.

The public library gave me a meeting ground...an instant connection with moms that had kids the same age as my Fiona. Those first crucial weeks as well as today, I was so thankful for the library. However, I quickly learned the stay-at-home gig can be difficult to find your place or "niche" with the "other moms". (Seriously folks...not lying here.)

Were you a "cloth-diaper" mom, a "breast-feeding" mom, a strictly "organic foods" mom, a "time-out or spanking" mom? Honestly! At times it was fun sorting it out and other times you realized you just didn't mesh with the mom's "parenting" style. Thankfully, I did make wonderful friends. And for almost two years I spent every Thursday exploring Seattle and attending play groups with six ladies with a variety of back grounds.

I'm still strong friends with many of them today...now all in a different season. But this morning, sitting in the circle listening to the other moms talk, it brought me back to a time when it mattered...when I felt alone... a time when I was "trying to fit in" as a new stay-at-home mom. Unfortunately, women can be some of the most emotionally brutal people I know. So, when I overheard another mom mentioning for the second time that she was introducing 15 Spanish words a day to her barely speaking toddler I had to step back. I remembered how it felt to be like "a fish out of water" and introduced myself to someone on the edges...to a mom no one was talking to.

Taking time to notice someone was the lesson I took away from story time...not how the owl found the rabbit, but how everyone needs a friend in every season...even the sometimes lonely seasons of a stay-at-home mommy.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Wordless Wednesday

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Monkey See...Monkey Do

This morning please enjoy some delicious monkey bread made by the kids with your...(insert here...cup of coffee, tea, and/or juice). Have a great Monday!

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean

Labor of Love

Gardening with my kids is one of my greatest joys. I love their interest, attention and most of their tiny hands in the soil.

Honestly, most of the things I do with the kids is a "hands-on" approach. I love sharing my passions with my kids...gardening, cooking, hiking. Being the parent that let's their kids "go at it", isn't always easy...trust me.

My kids often get too excited, side-tracked, and/or finish a task "their way", but the moral of the story is I'm sharing my interests with our kids. Kids want to please. Even if it doesn't make sense to the adult, (like randomly planting carrot seeds all over the garden), our children long for our attention whether it be negative or positive. As parents, it is our responsibility to give our children firm direction, support, love and attention.

So what! Yes...we may have a few more carrots this year in our garden, but no worries. The point is we shared time together planting the garden...making a memory, working together on two of my labor of loves...my kids and my gardens.

From inside the little blue bungalow,
Katie Jean