Gettin' Trunky

We've been in Taiwan for almost 3 1/2 years now. Now that we're down to the final 6 months, I am ready to pack our "trunks" and hit the road. When the time comes to actually move I will be very sad. I will miss Taiwan a lot, especially the wonderful friends here, but for now I find myself daydreaming about our future in Canada quite often.

First of all, I dream about our home. Len will go back in April to house hunt and will hopefully be able to make an offer on our first house. We've been getting e-mails from our realtor and I've been salivating to get the ball rolling. I have to remember to be patient (my most lacking quality). We gave away ALL of our furniture before we moved here, because it was all old hand-me-downs anyway, plus we didn't want to store it for 4 years. I'm nervous and excited about redecorating. I figure the easiest place to start is the bedrooms, and I can do a little of that planning from here, so I've begun. JCPenney is having an amazing bedding sale right now, so I went ahead and ordered a couple of things.

This will be for Leonard's and my new King-size bed! I can't wait for us to finally have a new bedroom set of our own too. I originally wanted something in pale seaside blues & greens with bronze accents, but this champagne & taupe number was marked down to such a great deal I just couldn't pass it up! I think we'll paint our walls in the seaside shade though, instead of the periwinkle they have in the picture.

This will be Noe's new bedding, and she LOVES it! I want to paint her walls black on the bottom third, pink on the top 2/3's, and then have a white chair rail to divide. She'll inherit my old childhood furniture, but I'm going to paint it white with black trim and the little yellow flowers will become pink. I've already been sketching out the paintings I want to do for her too. I can't wait to live near Michael's again!

I haven't bought the boys' bedding yet, because we don't know if all 3 will be in the same room or if Kaleb will have his own room, while the 2 little boys share. Anyway, I love this set (as does Kaleb) and I hope it's still available once we know our future sleeping arrangements. I want to paint the bottom part of the walls tan, the top denim blue, with a crimson chair rail in the middle. He'll inherit my & Leonard's old furniture that I want to paint crimson too. I've also sketched some paintings for him, and I love those rustic stars shown in the picture.

If all 3 boys share a room, then Kaleb & Gavin will get bunk beds with matching twin quilts. Baby #4 will get this little plaid number to coordinate with them.

If Gavin and baby boy share a room I want to do something in these colors- turquoise, olive, and brown. I haven't sketched yet, but I'm thinking of doing frogs, turtles, and dragonflies OR dinosaurs. The little guys will get new furniture too, thank goodness there's an IKEA in Ottawa!

*Of course, with all of my daydreaming I've also been thinking about having more girls. Who knows if it will happen, but if it does I'm already itching to do their room in lavender, aqua, and cream. With lots of flowers, butterflies, and ladybugs of course. I'm sure I'll post more later as I create visions for our living room, dining room, office, and playroom etc.

**I've also been daydreaming about my "Dream Jen" self. You know the woman I want to be, but have so far to go to be her. I see our move as a new beginning where I can set new goals and work to become her. Some different areas I've been thinking about are:

FAMILY- I want to schedule a monthly date night for Len & I; a monthly parent & child date night; a monthly family outing; and re-institute Friday family night pizza and a movie.

CHILDREN- I want each child to have one extracurricular activity again, and I hope Kaleb & Noe can start taking piano lessons too. I also want to have a weekly playgroup for the little boys, and a bi-weekly craft & bake group for the big kids and their friends to make a seasonal craft and festive treat for each month.

SOCIAL- We have great friends in Ottawa, and I am SO excited to get to spend time with them again. I'm looking forward to being a real (and not just an honorary) member of our monthly book club again. I also want to have a monthly scrap/craft night. I like the analogy of craft nights being the modern "quilting bees", let's face it- it's just more enjoyable to create with friends than by yourself. I also want to have a monthly picnic/dinner with friends too. We will still miss our families and our other friends too, so I hope I can continue to keep in touch with all of our loved ones.

CRAFTY- Besides the monthly craft night I want to have, I will still have a ton of projects to work on on my own. Ten years ago, I took some tole-painting classes and bought a lot of unfinished wood for cute holiday/seasonal decor. They're in storage in Canada, and I can't wait to get them all back. I'm giving myself an ultimatum though, if I don't finish them within a year, I will donate the wood to someone else who will finish them. Also, with all of the interior decorating I want to do, I want to just focus on one room a month. Even though I dream of a picture-perfect home, I love the process of decorating and want to savor the journey. With our first home and yard, I also want to try my hand at planting a small (very small) garden.

PERSONAL- I just want to set daily and weekly routines for exercise, spiritual nourishment, cleaning, grocery shopping, and cooking. Len and I have been talking about a new way of eating we want to start having and I am excited to jump in. I also want to be more consistent in our holiday traditions, but also enjoy the everyday more.

***I know there is no magic wand that will transform me into my dream self, but I do think it's important to dream and set goals, and then work to make the transformation without the need of a magic wand. You know, the self-fulfilling prophecy thing. Yeah, I believe in it!