Camping

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Staycation!

Christian and I decided to set up the tent tonight to see if we remembered how and to be sure we had all the parts. Luckily we did, because one bag of parts was still up in the attic and that would have been a bummer if we left those behind. That would have made for a very flat tent.

It didn’t take very long to put up, and provided hours of fun this afternoon especially when Charlie came home from camp. It’s kinda cool to watch what kids do when they find new space and make it their own.

The kids filled it with sleeping bags and chairs and toys and decorations. They were scouting for flash lights and thinking of what kind of snacks they should bring in it. I love the creativity and the sense of play that a new space creates.

They wanted to sleep in it tonight but Charlie needed to get a good night’s rest after being up late every night for the past several nights. Gotta love late summer nights.

We are planning a camping trip very soon and seeing the tent up is getting us very excited to be up in the mountains, near the lakes and waterfalls, with family and friends.

Do you like to camp? What are some of your favorite camping meals?

Hope you had a good Monday!!

14Jul2014

Photo Collections and Photo Workflow

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I have 3,619 photos and 50 videos currently on my iphone. This is a serious problem.

I spent several hours today trying to solve this problem, but didn’t get very far.

After I’ve filled my iphoto libraries and dropped my external hard drive and paid over $1500 to restore my backups, I’m still in need of a photo solution.

I researched Flickr and Google Plus tonight and played with both as online backups. But there is still a photo workflow process problem. I want to be able to have my photos organized by month and event and be able to easily share them via albums, facebook, text messages, print, and put them onto our tv for daily viewing, and I want them to be safe and in their original formats.

I take too many photos and don’t edit or delete them right away which creates the biggest problem. Too many to deal with which makes me want to put my phone down and stop taking photos, which isn’t really a solution.

I have to get better at deleting and editing right away. I can do it. I can do it. If I say it enough times, maybe I’ll convince myself. I know I’m not the only one with this issue.

I would think by now I would have chosen a favorite place to upload and view and organize my pictures, but I haven’t, which is the second part of the problem.

Tomorrow I am going to use Image Capture to view photos off of my iphone and then I’m going to use my file manager to create monthly folders again and hopefully albums within those folders.

Next, I’m going to buy a new external backup drive and copy my flat files from my hard-drive onto the dedicated external drive.

And once they all are tidy, I’m going to copy these cute little albums to Flickr to store and create my online backups.

And last but not least, I just downloaded a free trial from Backblaze to copy all my files unto a online backup service.

Do you think this will help me solve our photo organization problem and make it easier to find and share pictures? I hope so!! If you have any suggestions or ideas that might be better, or if you’ve read a great article on this topic, please do share.

This photo thing sucks up a lot of time.

I’m tired!!

12Jul2014

Let It Go

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

What are you holding on to that you need to let go to create space? Is it physical or mental?

Letting go isn’t always easy. It’s just something that we choose to do when we are ready, and usually sooner is better because we are set free to start again or start something new.

But usually letting go takes work, again either physically and/or mentally, and lots of times, negative feelings such as fear, sadness, loneliness, etc., are part of letting go, which is why we probably procrastinate and put it off.

Today we let go of our family swing set. This made me sad for a few reasons. Mainly it marks the passing of time and I’m fully aware the kids are growing up.

I woke the kids up to go play on it one more time this morning, before the guys began taking it apart.

The funny thing is that I’ve raised the kids to be comfortable with letting go of stuff and they were completely fine with it. I was the sad one.

Mark said we could come sit on it again in his yard and was so thankful that his little kids would get to enjoy it.

This is the best part of giving things to your friends – the things you love get to be enjoyed by your friends and you get a chance to see them enjoying what you once enjoyed or get invited to play.

So with the sadness comes joy: the joy of giving and seeing others happy; the joy of creating space and dreaming of new teen fun for the backyard – got any ideas? Hot tub? Pool? Trampoline?

And the joy of letting go…my theme for this year…let it go, let it go…

All is well. That wasn’t so bad.

On to new dreams and play spaces.

Life is good.

12Jul2014

Mom

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

There is a lot of discussion right now about the mom title and it makes me quite curious.

For some reason, people struggle with the title and are looking for a new term to describe stay at home moms.

My favorite title is just mom or mama.

We are all mamas – whether paid or unpaid, working inside the home or working outside the home. We are all working moms and we are all full time moms. We are all the same. We are loving moms.

We are all homemakers or domestic goddesses and we do our best and are so lucky when we get to choose how best to support our families. Some of us are maybe more efficient than others. Some of us have more free time. Some of us have more meaningful experiences. Some of us do our shopping and cleaning during the day and some in the evenings or on weekends. We are all working and we all love our kids.

Whether you stay home and work or go to an offsite workplace, we are both the same and I like you, mama! xoxo

Namaste

Working mama! 🙂

10Jul2014

Picking Up Where You Left Off

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Do you have friends that you don’t get to see or talk to as often as you’d like, but as soon as you pick up the phone or see each other, it feels like no time at all has passed?

Apryl called the other day and we had ten minutes to chat before kid pick up. We hadn’t spoken for months but both of us are aware and thankful for the few moments and just pick up where we left off, as if no time has passed. I love this about us. We’ve been friends for 15 years but don’t live near each other anymore, which is sad and typical of our transient lifestyle. But we have a shared history and comfort from being true friends, that it doesn’t really matter how often we chat, text, email, or see each other. I miss her though.

Today Jen showed up for a visit and I have been excited all week, just anticipating her arrival. We haven’t seen each other in over a year and now she’s staying with us for the next couple of days. I am so happy that she’s here and when I saw her again, we gave each other the biggest hug and never stopped chatting until she almost fell asleep from the time difference. I guess we’ll have more time again first thing in the morning! I just want to soak up all the stories and hear all about her new life back in Minneapolis. We were BFFs in Amsterdam and loved hanging out there together. I’m so glad she chose to spend a few days in Cali with me before her conference.

Next month I get to see my BFF Megan! She’s a busy working mom with four kids and we hardly ever get to chat and barely even text, but when we do, watch out world!! We are unstoppable. I cannot wait!

These are just a couple of stories and there are so many more, right girls?

I think the secret to having these kinda moments is having had and shared some deep and meaningful experiences that build these great foundations and friendships that withstand time passing and our busy chaotic lives that get in the way of connecting more regularly. None of us have expectations of each other and we know and appreciate that we are all busy, and when we do make the time for each other, even if it’s only five minute or five hours, it’s as if no time has passed at all.

Love you sisters!

9Jul2014

Willpower

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I didn’t have any today. I ate the chips and cheese and salami and two warmly baked and fresh chocolate chip cookies. Oh yeah, and I think I ate some guacamole too. Whoops. I didn’t measure and I didn’t record and I ate and ate as Holland played a boring match and lost the World Cup today. At least the food and company was good.

What kind of willpower are you practicing?

Juliana is practicing math for 6 and a half hours per day and comes home after school and spends one to two or three hours more studying and practicing. She’s taking an algebra class this summer to get ahead, so that she’s better prepared for an advanced math and science track when she gets to high school. This kid is a rock star.

She has discipline and willpower like no one else I know. She gets it. She knows the importance of working hard and she applies herself and keeps going, even when she’s tired and bored and frustrated. I learn from her everyday and admire her.

Christian and Charlie are determined to play Minecraft every day for as many hours as possible. But I keep interfering with their goals. Imagine that. This is our daily struggle. They are really good at playing and I’m really good at calling foul and limiting screen time, as my willpower is stronger and feel that kids should be outside playing and reading and doing stuff together, besides looking at screens. Poor kids. 😉

Jeff has willpower to get up every morning and to make me coffee and workout most mornings. He also has willpower to drive in traffic every day and to go to work and to deal with people and then to come home to deal with me and the kids. Poor guy. He works so hard. I wonder which is easier – going to work or coming home to the demands of a busy and loving family? Hmm…

I guess willpower is about doing the work. And when we do the work, we typically get the rewards and can feel good about ourselves.

What willpower do you wish you had? Or what things are needing your willpower? I know I need more willpower to read and finish my book, but I get so distracted by all the other things I could be doing besides reading. I guess willpower also takes dedication and commitment. Hmm… guess I have some work to do and so with that I’m going to bed to pick up my book and read and say goodnight.

Namaste. I hope you had a good day, even though Holland lost. Congratulations Argentina!!

8Jul2014

Summer Sweetness

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One year ago today we got on an airplane and moved back to California from Amsterdam. It was bittersweet. I cried before the plane landed, not quite ready to give up our expat life and the day to day living and sharing with our new friends and family.

One year already? How did that go by so quickly? I had so many things I was going to do this year but haven’t. It went by so fast.

I still miss my friends and our jetset schedule, but I’m happy to be home in our little house where the sun shines every day.

Kristin walked by our house this week as I was coming home and had a huge bag of plums to share. Her kids are house sitting for another neighbor and their prolific plum tree produced probably 20 pounds of plums. She offered me a fair share and today I made my first gluten free plum cobbler for dessert tonight from the bounty.

This just made me happy to be home. I am thankful for my neighbors and friends. I am thankful for our beautiful weather. I am happy to be a stay at home mom who has time to be with my kids and cook random desserts and that I have time to think and shop and prepare family dinners.

Today I got to play tennis outdoors and ride the bakfiets to pick up Charlie at a friend’s house, besides the 101 other tasks.

Even though I miss Holland and Barbara and Joseine and my family and everyone else, I am really happy to be living in California again.

Life is good. I am happy.

Namaste.

7Jul2014

Driving and Waiting

Posted in Uncategorized by adrianahartley

I spend a lot of time driving and waiting and driving and waiting. Some times this frustrates me. It’s not what I want to do.

This is my view right now as I wait. Car is parked. I am sitting and waiting. I don’t want to rush back and forth so tonight I chose to sit and wait. That’s weird for me and out of my comfort zone.

There are so many things I can do yet I choose to do nothing. I didn’t want to rush back and forth and try to squeeze in one more task before getting in the car again. So I chose to park and do nothing.

Well not really nothing, but something different. I am sitting still. I am enjoying the space of quiet and solitude and can feel the cool breeze blowing through my open window. I am liking the sound of the wind through the trees and watching people walk by with their dogs and basketballs and holding hands and running.

I checked Facebook and email and played a game. I looked at my book that sits next to me and then decided to write early tonight. I am content just sitting here. Who knew?

Yesterday I was frustrated with this process of driving around every few hours and having my day interrupted again and again. But at the end of the day, I changed my attitude and was thankful that I had time alone in the car with my oldest. I realized that probably within the next year, he won’t need me to drive him. And in that moment, I wasn’t frustrated anymore. In that moment I was happy that I was still needed, even though it came in a different form than I typically see myself as being needed. He was thankful for the rides and I was thankful to share time with him.

Tonight I’m thankful for this gift of a free hour, waiting to pick up my daughter with no rush and no expectations and am glad I chose to enjoy the quiet vs being frustrated by the drive and wait and drive and wait game.

Sometimes we just have to sit still and wait and be patient and good things can fill the space. Hmmm.

Namaste.

6Jul2014

Changing Times

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This is the play set in our backyard. We’re getting ready to retire it and share it with a new family.

Jeff and Steve built it several years ago and it has provided much entertainment for our kids and for friends and family who visit. Our kids are growing up and don’t really play on it anymore, so it’s time to say goodbye even though I feel attached to the memories. Once in awhile they will sit on the swings or sway across the monkey bars. We’re ready to let it go and to make space for something new.

Making space. That seems to be another theme of mine this year, along with letting go. How can we let go of the past to create space for the new? Letting go is sometimes challenging because of all the memories encapsulated in the stuff. But letting go allows us to experience something new and I’m all for that. Even though I feel a bit sad as we get ready to let go.

I’m excited to be giving the play set to one of my PEO Sisters who has two young daughters under the age of three. I love giving things away, knowing they are going to good homes and knowing that another family might be able to enjoy what was once ours. It is silly to feel a connection to stuff, but I am connected to the memories of youth and little kids and the am proud that Jeff and Steve built this for our kids. Gving it away makes me fully aware that my kids aren’t little anymore. *big sigh* I am happy that other little ones will get to enjoy it though and create their own fun memories.

Life is good. Namaste.

Times are changing… here we go! I wonder how we’ll fill the space. Got any ideas?