Realities & Blessings, More Spring Blossoms, and A GIVEAWAY...

Happy Friday, friends! We did...we made it through another week. Although for me these days, the weeks are going much too fast. I'm having a hard time digesting the fact that in a little over a month, Rayne will be finishing her Kindergarten year. It seems crazy. It all flew by in a blink.

Anyway, that's really a whole other topic and one I'm sure you get sick of hearing me talk about. But it is Friday, and around here that means Realities & Blessings where I look back at my week, turn my cons into pros, and get a fresh start for the weekend. I had a tough time this week coming up with realities...really. I'm really pretty happy. And in the face of what some others are going through, I feel insanely blessed. But you can always come up with something that's not perfect, right? And I think that the practice of turning things around is one worth continuing so that when things are rougher, tougher, and maybe not so good, that the underlying blessings will be easier to find.

Reality: I've lost my Spring fever. I know what you're thinking: last week I want to get over my Spring fever, this week I want it back...make up my mind, right?! But I miss that carefree, relaxed feeling that I had. The kids have lost theirs too...the whole newness and excitement of being outside again has worn off and now their afraid of the bees and bored with our toys.
Blessing: It is nice to get the housework done from time to time. And without the kids pestering me to go out all the time, I'm more likely to stay inside and chip away and the ever growing piles of laundry and paperwork that needs to be done. And missing those Spring fever feelings encourages me to open the windows, take pictures, hang clothes on the line...anything to get just a piece of it back.

Reality: I have found myself saying on more than one occasion this week that all I wanted was a clear head and two free hands.
Blessing: I am never {as in not ever} bored. What's more, I have become incredibly good at utilizing small chunks of time and typing left handed.

Reality: Rayne reads fluently. {that is not the reality~that is all blessing~stay with me} She is now privy to the overabundance of propaganda and written advertisements that pervade our society. Up until this point, I have been happy that all of that hasn't been a part of her world. Rayne is easily persuaded by suggestion. At Wendy's for lunch the other day, Rayne tried to convince me that she should most definitely be topping off her lunch with a chocolate frosty. "But see here," she says "it's impossible not to smile while eating a frosty!" It said so right on her cup!
Blessing: She reads! The girls reads all the time and extremely well! She read the word 'impossible' for goodness sake! And she's reading chapter books and story books, reading herself to sleep, reading to her sisters...and that is ALL blessing! I'm just going to have to explain the whole economy thing to her now!

Reality: Although I had intended to have my print shop up and running by now, I just haven't gotten the opportunity to begin the long process of setting it all up. It seems easy to just list my prints...but it's actually quite time consuming to determine which prints to sell at which sizes and prices and then writing a description for them and figuring shipping costs. It's definitely something I want to work on...but definitely not something I can do in one of those aforementioned small chunks of time.
Blessing: My time is being spent in better places: "listening" to and being present with my kids and caring for our home. Plus, my lack of focused drive in setting this shop up signifies to me that I am content; that I'm happy being where I am in photography and in life. And while I don't want to shy away from bigger goals, I also don't think it's a bad thing to feel good at any certain stage and take my time moving on from it.

Reality: I spilled a lot here this week. I got all kinds of real and messy about the ups and downs of motherhood. While I like to keep things as honest as possible in this space, I usually keep it pretty light.
Blessing: You guys were warm and compassionate. You made me feel understood and not alone. I am so  grateful for that. And I can only hope that my writing and sharing of these real and messy parts of my life will help someone else get through the real and messy parts of theirs.

Okay, now for the fun part! My 300th post is just two posts away and I feel like celebrating! I'm giving away a copy of the Spring issue of Artful Blogging magazine {in which I am featured} and also a Spring blossom 5x7 print of your choosing. You may pick any one of the spring blossom pictures from this R&B post or from last Friday's post. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. And if you post your own R&B post and link back here, you can get an extra entry. I will choose one lucky winner randomly on Monday, April 19th.

Happy Friday, everyone!!!