I don’t know why I don’t do this more often. This afternoon I received some lovely curtains I have been drooling over for sometime: this rusty orange with flecks of warm golden yellow in it. I paired them with some elegant rich cream linen sheers and Oh, my…it looks lovely. I hung them this afternoon admiring the afternoon sun catching different hues and warming the room. I created a new layout to my first floor (again). Essentially I have created a toy haven (aka dump all the toys on this side of the room) and the other side is a parlor of sorts that is to remain toy free at all costs. We have this unusually long and narrow living room where the front door that comes off the enclosed front porch opens smack dab with the fireplace on the other side. So essentially, you can create two different spaces in this long room. I have never done much with this western window because it faces an ugly house and just didn’t seem very bright and cheery. But I would beg to differ after some of my Dana-touches that I have instilled into this space. When all is complete I will have to snap a shot for your enjoyment.

I recently discovered a new musician that I enjoy and groove with in a kindred spirit sort of way: Chris Pureka. Her voice streams through the house this evening like little rivulets and streams that form after a quick, hard rain in the height of summer in the Midwest.

Some news that prefaces this next part: Ivan recently acquired a new job which has allowed me to leave my week day job at the cancer clinic I have worked at for seven years. There will be a post about this goodbye for it was super bittersweet in my little heart. Now that I am not working during the week (and just doing a weekend job which has a lot of flexibility) I can enjoy “keeping house” like the old days. I know I sound corny and quite old fashioned, but I really do love caring for my home, creating niches, sorting laundry, watering the flowers, having an afternoon to make a delicious meal at a slow and leisurely pace. It has returned to me like old and worn leather reigns in my hands and I love the feel of them. I am finding that I am very good at filling empty time in my schedule but am doing my best to guard time and space to just be, to enjoy my children, and to keep house.

So this evening was one of those lovely nights where I seemed to have a plethora of time on my hands to hang curtains, play with my children, water my vegetable garden and all those dry baskets I have neglected, put together a delicious salad and use stuff in the fridge to put together a nutritious and tasty dinner, and then linger with Aunt Wanda and LoAnn at the kitchen nook. After a bit, I took Audrey Anne upstairs and did all our bedtime “processes” and read her a story, with a-kiss-and-a -hug included.

I came downstairs and started sprucing. My family is coming into town for a few days for the musical festival in Chicago: Lollapalooza. Made up the beds with fresh cotton sheets spritzed with rose linen spray, picked up all the toys strewn like a mini tornado debris, straightened up the back mud porch that is essentially our entry way to the house (we are a backdoor sort of people) and then I started lighting candles.

Why do I not light candles more often? They lend such a whimsical and fairy like air to the ol’ house. LoAnn had some old lantern encasing’s for tealights that I put on the upstairs balcony that has cascading impatiens and chartruse vines with a little water fountain. I lit the candles on the radiator in front of the bay window with all the orchids in their glory. I lit a candle on the back stoop to light the way. I lit some fat dusty green taper candles in staggered heights on the piano.

I am in heaven.
And I am writing to you.