4 Reasons Why I Like When My Husband Goes on Business Trips

Out of the last 4 months, my husband has been in China for work for about a month. He took a two week trip in early May (after he convinced his boss that he could not leave the country on my birthday, so he left the day after), and he is currently finishing up another two week trip right now (he'll be home in two days). I hate when he's gone. I mean, sure, I miss him, but with Skype we probably end up talking almost as much as we do when he's home, so it's not really that. Mostly, I hate being a single parent. Military families and single parents - you have my undying respect.
I seriously wonder if my son will survive each of these trips. He does, of course, as I would never harm my son, but I did get smart and shipped him off to Grandma's for one night each week this time, so I could take a break from the little tyrant who is acting out because he misses his dad.

This morning, while enjoying my kid-free time, I was doing some chores around the house and started thinking about the things I like while my husband is gone.

1. Because I only ever use the smaller silverware, I never have to sort it when I do the dishes. If there's a fork, it's a little fork. If there's a spoon, it's a teaspoon. No comparing sizes. Also, because I usually only drink water, I have one or two glasses that I constantly use, so there are very little glasses to put away.

2. When I go to do the laundry, there's never a forgotten load already in the machine. Of course, my son's laundry is still in the dryer from yesterday, but it won't be an unpleasant surprise that it's there.

3. Making the bed consists of pulling the covers back where they belong and putting the pillows back in their correct places. I hate his pillows (they're big and heavy and wake me up whenever they touch me at night), so I take great enjoyment of throwing them off the bed at night.

4. Containers always make it into the garbage. For some reason, my husband has a mental block about throwing containers (bottles, milk cartons, etc.) into the garbage. He sits them on the counter next to the garbage instead and it drives me crazy!

But really, that's about it. Sure, it's nice to have a break from those little pet peeves, but in the grand scheme of things, I would rather sort silverware, do extra laundry, remake the bed every morning, and throw containers away myself in order to have my husband home.

We're in the home stretch, and next time I might be serious in my threat to make my husband quit if they try to send him to China again.

Hello Spring Break!

Today is the start of my Spring Break. The weather here in the Pacific Northwest has welcomed this day with sun, rain, wind, and hail. "In like a lion" is no joke this year, especially after yesterday's wind storm!

I spent the mid-morning clearing out my work binder and prepping for next quarter. I spent the afternoon crushing academic dreams, aka, giving a final exam and calculating grades. I spent the last half hour deciding on some Spring Break goals.

Normally during Spring Break, I do a big deep clean of the house. There are a few real cleaning things I want to accomplish - deep cleaning bathrooms and cleaning the carpets are high on the list - but this year I have a different kind of big clean I want to do.

My brain feels overstuffed and overwhelmed with creative ideas. I plan on taking these next two weeks to help clear out the clutter up in my noggin.

I started last week by cleaning out my Pinterest board. I only had one board - Stuff to Make - which I keep secret. I went through and deleted the pins I knew I was never going to get around to or my interest in had faded. Then I made a new secret board - Stuff I've Done - and cleared out all the pins I've already used. Let me tell you, this has really helped me let go of a lot of creative clutter in my brain.

This week, I want to focus on finishing projects that I've already bought the supplies for but never got around to doing. These include creating a new, shorter strap for my new leather bag, sewing a bow scarf out of Dollar Store knit scarves, finishing a crochet hat I started over the weekend, and working up some crochet items with the bulky yarn that has been taking up way too much space in my yarn storage area. I also want to work through my pins that simply involve printing something out (paper gem templates, cute coloring pages, etc.) and moving those to my new board.

Next week, I'll work on those ideas that I still need to buy supplies for, and maybe some bigger projects I need to do while Elijah is in school.

I'm looking forward to cleaning out my brain much more than cleaning out my bathrooms...

What's cluttering up your brain?

A Dream (I Didn't Know I Had) Come True

As of this past weekend, some of my crochet items are currently available for sale at Once Upon a Time, a children's boutique on Queen Anne in Seattle!

The whole thing came about rather randomly, but now that it's happened, I'm realizing that a dream I never knew I had has come true. My stuff is in an actual store! How cool is that?

So, if you're local, stop by and check out some Seahawks colored hats like my Camden "Seattle Camo" hat...

Or these awesome scarves - Raleigh Racccon, Felix Fox, and Woodrow Wolf...

This opportunity has gotten me thinking a bit more about my brand. I don't know how far I want to go with this, but I have started an Instagram account (hurray for Windows Phone finally jumping on the bandwagon), and am working on starting up a Facebook page, you know, just in case. Neither one is anything to get too excited about, but it's a start.

Right now, I'm just happy to enjoy the fulfillment of this dream I never knew I had, and the money that came with it :)