Happy Thursday y’all!

After our very eventful week last week we have had a relatively “normal” week this week.

The big news of the week is…

…the Halloween candy jar is down to the tootsie rolls and almond joys. So, so sad. But it’s for the better. It’s buckeye season for the Seckinger’s so there really isn’t room for Halloween candy temptations any more.

…we are getting excited (when I say “we” I mean me and the boys, and more likely just “I”) to pick out a tree this weekend and get the house nice and festive. I have started messing with the mantel but the chimney is getting doctored again today to replace the smoke chamber or something like that, so all of that will be taken down. This house is cozy and doesn’t have tons of decorating space so it will pretty much be the tree and the mantel that get the sprucing.

…baths with 2 casts are tricky. And frustrating. And not so enjoyable. You get the idea! Counting down to 1 cast! Can’t even fathom life with none so we will anticipate just 1!

…my brother and sister-in-law met the Young House Love bloggers….that is big news! Very cool!

…my parents now have plane tickets so they are for sure coming for Christmas. Makes putting the tree up that much more fun knowing they will be here to celebrate with us!

…I am gearing up for a bake sale next weekend. Most of the work won’t be done until the day before but I am gathering pretty packaging and trying to narrow down the list of what I want to make.

…we kept gifts simple this year as I mentioned previously and I am struggling a bit with it. Gift giving is my love language and when I have to be so careful about it it kind of takes the joy out of it for me. I know that sounds lame and I am working through it but just being honest.  I know that there is so much more to life than giving gifts, and I know that truly no one needs my gifts, but I love giving them. I love surprising a friend with a coffee or a card, dropping  off meals to families going through tough times, surprising Seth with a date night. Maybe some day I will have some great wisdom to share on the topic of frugal giving but today I am still wrestling with it.

…Tomorrow I am taking a day trip to Wilmington, DE to see a dear friend from Bogota! Can’t wait to catch up with her in person.

…basketball practice starts for our 2 cast wonder tomorrow. Will be very interesting.

Hope you have all had a lovely week!

What are you doing to prepare for the holidays?  And what’s at the bottom of your halloween stash?!

Happy Friday y’all. Things are a bit tense around these parts. We learned this week that our chimney likely needs to be rebuilt at a hefty little price tag of between$ 8-10,000. Yep. Fun times I tell ya. Add into that Seth being home for a few days to work on pending projects and this is some real time DIY sta-RESSSSS.  But we press on. And we savor this space despite the sheer terror that it might all crumble around us. Ha, ha!  But ya know, it’s Fun Friday in Kindergarten and that makes this a fun Friday! And the Swiss chard is looking gorgeous!

Whew, okay. Back with the program.

On any given day if you were to show up at our house you would see the end of the dining room table draped with an oil cloth, wide open bag of markers and a slew of masterpieces. This is where so much of the boys afternoon time is spent. Jackson “writing” and illustrating books, begging for scotch tape for this or that, asking for me to spell and respell and Owen imitating all the way. Owen is begging for scissors and paints and conversation! I am savoring these afternoon “table times” as we call them.  The boys are like sponges. I am often coming back and forth from the kitchen cooking a little, spelling a little, breaking up fights…

In our last home we had an eat-in kitchen and a formal dining room. We now  have an all-in-one. Which has it’s perks and downfalls.  The perk is that I have only one space to keep up with, the downfall is that if I ever do want it to be a bit more “dressed up” I have to be mindful of keeping the kitchen under control as well. Really for our phase of life with little ones it makes perfect sense. We aren’t exactly wining and dining these days. When we have people over they either have kids themselves or they love our kids so they pretty much know what they are up against when they come. We love having friends and family over so the leaf pretty much lives in the table!  Our house wouldn’t be home for us without a space to share meals. Not only do we want our kids to learn good manners and learn to make conversation and host but we want them to know real community and that takes serving others!  That is really the purpose of this space!

Although I want the space to be comfortable for life and accommodating to our day to day activities I wanted it to be pretty as well.  When we were working on the kitchen design and moving around cabinets we had to save money on buying more we ended up with some space in some cabinets in the kitchen that wouldn’t be accessible. So, we asked if our contractor would be willing to just build a couple of shelves. These shelves are the perfect spot for cookbooks, table linens and the baskets disguise the markers, artwork and oilcloth when it’s time to close down shop.

I used treasures from our time in Switzerland and other travels to fill the dining room wall. Remember the thrift store find that my friend Leigh talked me into?…here it is.

It is The Lord’s prayer in German. It’s super old and goes perfectly with this menu from France (another thrift store find) and these plates. The bottom plate was a gift from my mom. She found it in an outdoor market in Paris. On the opposite wall I have a big clock that was given to me for my bridal shower before we got married. The skeleton keys and keyholes I found with my sister-in-law Tina at the Old Home Supply House. If you are in the Ft. Worth area you MUST go sometime!!!

So there she is. We are still lacking curtains which will add color and texture but like with the rest of the rooms they will be waiting a while!  Buckle up, tomorrow is all about savoring home with a power washer!

I promise I will get back to before and after pics of the house but I was already bored just after the kitchen! So for today, we will take a little detour and head back for the dining room and living room tomorrow!

Home is far from being about the stuff that’s in it…although stuff sure does dress it up. I can distinctly remember the smells of our homes in Bogota and Switzerland when we arrived. I know, so strange. This house smelled like paint for the first weeks.  It wasn’t until we started cooking meals, lighting a candle now and again and baking that it really started to feel like home.   All it takes for me to transport back to my parents house is the smell of jasmine rice, Thai curry or seasonal things baking.  For those of you that don’t know, my mom grew up in Thailand so our comfort foods are hers! And curry it is. She always can detect the slightest homesickness from any of us kids when we call home for pointers on making curry. Her’s is the best.  The smell of lavender also takes me back to my mom’s house. My mom loves France more than the French and for some reason my brain now connects her with lavender and herbs de Provence!

In recent years when we were overseas I couldn’t pop out and buy a seasonal candle. I had never been one to even light candles much in the past but when we were away from the falls of smell or Christmas I was wishing for a big ol’ yankee candle on the countertop. To solve the problem I started to put a few goodies in a little pot on the stove and that did the trick. In the Fall I would slice an apple (usually one that had been in the fruit bowl too long for anyone to want to eat it) a cinnamon stick and some cloves. Towards Christmas I used apple slices, cinnamon stick, cloves and orange slices. And during the summer and spring I used a lemon or orange. Basically I just used what was seasonal and wasn’t something our fruit bowl would miss!  I would set the pot on the stove, add in water to cover the goodies, bring it to a boil and then lower it to low heat and simmer it for a little while. The house instantly filled with the fresh aromas and it smelled like home! If you do this you can cover the pot overnight and use the same stuff the next day. The apples will turn brown and the fruit will obviously be more broken down but the smell will be the same!  Another trick was to buy a box of the mulling spice tea bags. They are normally used for wassail or gluwein (have I mentioned Gluwein lately….hmmmm, must mean it’s that time of year.) but you can pop those in with a few apple or orange slices for the same effect.

If you are delivering a meal to a friend who is moving or just had a baby add a little baggie with the ingredients to pop on the stove. Write little instructions so they know they can just add a little water and simmer away!   During a time when cleaning or decorating might not be on the top of their list at least the house will smell like something happy!

What makes your home smell like home to you? Or what smells remind you of home growing up?

Back to our little series that is probably boring some of you to death and hopefully encouraging some of you that might be facing a move soon!  Maybe I will put up some pictures later to suffice for those who are bored.

If you are in the Foreign Service you know what a UAB shipment is, for those of you that don’t it is our air freight shipment that includes all of our must have’s for the last weeks after our household goods are gone. The UAB shipment requires strategy in order to have what you really want and need.

Things that are great for that essentials shipment…

College kitchen kit. Before our move to Bogota I was shopping in Target and found their “college kitchen kit”. It was made up of a super light weight pot and pan set, a colander, plastic measuring cups and spoons, and a set of cooking spoons. It was perfect for all of those few week time periods when we need something to use but we don’t need anything heavy or fancy.  I looked on their website to link you to what we got and can’t find what it would be called…so as you browse target and walmart type stores (*again not being paid by them*) check out the college sections and score yourself a cheap set. The embassy here, as well as in Bogota provide us with a Welcome Kit that has basics like 4 dishes, forks, basic cooking stuff and linens. This is super helpful on this end but won’t help with when we arrive in DC so we still need those basics in our shipment.

grill pan! (*again, not being paid to advertise* although after typing it 3 times so far in this post it makes me wonder if someone shouldn’t be paying me something to brag on them*) We have one of the Nathan’s Grills. Another Target find. But here it is on Amazon. Look in the “As seen on TV” section….admit it you have always wanted to buy an “as seen on tv” product. Now is your chance. It is a grill on one side and a griddle on the other. During the weeks of transition you have a zillion easy meals you can make when you don’t have a grill and you are missing 90% of your pans. There are obviously fancy grill pans out there but this one is light and fits the bill for being practical but not taking up precious weight.

clothes. Yes there are clothes around the world but if you have favorites stock up. Often they are different enough or expensive enough that you won’t shop much unless you are stateside.  For both Switzerland and Bogota we heard that kids clothes were  expensive so I bought basics for the entire 2 years…knowing that at times I would be off a bit on seasons or sizes but so far for both tours it has worked out.  And it has saved us so much money. For UAB I normally bring enough that if our shipment gets delayed or something else happens that we have enough to get us started in the next season if it is approaching. Also remember to check if you will need coats, snow gear, etc when you arrive.

Toys, if you have kids, of course. With toys we normally save out the things the kids will be crushed without like their teddy for bed. And this time around we saved a box of legos, a pirate ship, coloring books, crayons, a ball, playdough that we can just get rid of when we go and a friend lent us a few toys to borrow.  I focus on bringing a variety because when boredom hits it is more helpful to have different things than lots of the same. The boys love their train set but obviously a wood train set isn’t a practical choice when weight is limited. That goes in the long term shipment along with the rest of the toys. On the plus side it feels like Christmas when the toys arrive at post.

Bedding I normally put our duvet cover and the boys bedding in our UAB. I might be strange but for some reason this makes it look more like home and especially for Jackson it makes him feel like his bed is normal.  I want things, especially with bedtimes to be the least disruptive as possible.

Pictures I add a picture frame or 2 with family pictures or fun memories. When you are transitioning through temporary housing it is sometimes nice to have a few familiar things and to have things that remind you of your former home. You could even just bring a few things to put up on the fridge if you don’t have the weight or space for frames.

Favorite cookbook...although you can find so many recipes online bring along a cookbook for those annoying weeks when the internet isn’t set up and you are tired of borrowing your neighbors computer.

“Must have bag”…we normally have a ziplock with scissors, tape, pens, clothes pins, mini sewing kit….

Holiday specific stuff– we tend to plan out moves around someones birthday, not really but it normally happens that way.  If you have a special banner or some small tradition keep that in your UAB so that the birthday boy or girl will still feel the love and not just feel how different a birthday is during the move! Likewise if you know you are arriving at post during a holiday time and your household goods won’t be there toss in some festive paper plates, etc. When culture shock is setting in and you are missing the holiday with friends and family back home you will have a bright reminder of home.

Car seats- if you aren’t traveling with your car seats remember you will need them when you land!  Same thing goes for travel beds, etc for kids.

Medicine make sure you have the medicines and things you use on a regular basis. Seems each time we travel one of the kids gets sick or we are in need of bandaids, pepto, etc. Make sure you are stocked. If you are going stateside you know you can find a 24 hour pharmacy but overseas it can be tricky to find things quickly when you first arrive.

obviously you will need basic linens like sheets and towels, an extra blanket or two if you are going somewhere cold, pillows, and all of that must have baby stuff but the above are just others in addition to the basics.

If all of this talk about packing makes your blood pressure rise, just do what Owen does when he needs a break.  Seems to work like a charm…