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There is No Dishwasher

Filed Under: 101 Days of Blogging, Inspire, Love, Our Home, Wellness Tagged With: 101 days of blogging, change, minnesota, our home

Brace yourselves for what I am about to tell you. There is no dishwasher in the rental house we are living in. (My mom isn’t sure I’m going to survive this next year.)

My Junior year of college I lived in a house with all guys. It was a fun year, but man that house was gross and never clean. We had no dishwasher, and I remember always doing everyone else’s dishes – mostly mac ‘n cheese crusted, ketchup-stained plates.

I didn’t like it back then, and I’m not about to rave about doing it now.

If it was just Ryan and me, dishes would pile up quickly, but with three littles, one meal and the entire sink and its surroundings are flooded.

Everyone made comments before we moved in, “Well you know there is no dishwasher, right?” But waiting for the perfect rental house wasn’t really an option because the way this all played out went like this:

We knew, late spring, that we would be moving back to Minnesota, but likely not until February or March of 2018 (maybe sometime in mid-January).
We took our time with almost everything except choosing a realtor to sell our house in California.
We made plans to move to a nearby town (first Mankato, Minnesota and then Owatonna, Minnesota).
After looking at houses in Owatonna, we just didn’t find what we were looking for.
An opportunity for a forever home that had crossed our paths long before now, re-crossed the path. But, the thing was – the house is in Waseca.
After many discussions and thinking about it, both Ryan and I knew the forever home answer deep down.
We decided “Yes” on the forever home and on Waseca where we were both born and raised.
Very soon after I got the news about my dad, and after going home for Thanksgiving I told Ryan, “I don’t care what it takes, I’m going at Christmas time.”
Do the math. One month to find a place to rent while we are in transition waiting for our forever home.

With just one month and limited rental opportunities, being picky wasn’t an option, and being picky about not having a dishwasher was definitely not an option.

There is No Dishwasher

So there’s no dishwasher, and we’re doing a lot of dishes, but you know what I absolutely love about the sink space? The space above it. This is it.

There is a little open-space nook that, when I saw it, immediately reminded me of the farmhouse we stayed at this past summer on our mini-vacation. The one that looked like this.

My open-space nook is much smaller, but I was excited all the same.

Right now, I find myself dwelling on a lot of things, but I also find myself turning most situations into something positive, exciting, and inspiring.

Like this…..where there is no dishwasher, but an overwhelming feeling of “happy” just because of a little farmhouse nook I get to stare at every single time I’m doing the dishes.

It’s not my old kitchen in California, and it’s certainly not my new kitchen in our forever home, but (truth be told) it’s cozy like the traditional kitchen space I adore and having the opportunity to adore it will be short-lived.

Wonder what I placed in the space? I’ll show you soon.

Xox,
SKH

If you don’t have time to read these posts daily, but don’t want to miss them, be sure to follow via Bloglovin’ and/or join my personal e-newsletter HERE. I am doing my best to send a once per week email recap of prior week’s posts.

These posts will all live under “Wellness+Lifestyle” and also tagged with “101 Days of Blogging.” The 101-day series runs from Monday, January 8, 2018, through Wednesday, April 18, 2018.

If there is a topic surrounding change that you would love for me to include in this series, please just CONTACT ME.

Previous 101-Day Change Series Posts

Sarah Kay Hoffman

You will heal. I will help.

childlike-sports.flywheelsites.com

House and Home

Filed Under: Love, Our Home, Wellness

Yesterday I felt a deep sting in my gut, and with the sting, I kept playing over-and-over in my head the differences between house and home.

It wasn’t that long ago when the sign went up for the first time. Ryan and I both said that day, “Well, now it’s getting real.”

Coming Soon

At night, Ryan and I would box things up and put things into various piles, “Sell, Throw, Donate.” We used Ceci’s room (my favorite room in the house) as the dump area for all the things, which to be honest, I hated, because that last month I was in California, I didn’t get to enjoy the room – at all.

But little-by-little, we began cleaning things out of the house. “Stuff” was reduced, pictures taken down, and then for me, clothes organized so that the movers could just come in and box it up. (And please let me be clear here – Ryan did almost everything else. Everything. I’m not taking my job back here with all three littles lightly, but what he’s been doing is typical of Ryan – above and beyond.)

The morning I left California for good, I went out to our porch to put my shoes on. I sat there for about 5 minutes, one last time. I was trigged to crying like a child. I felt so sad.

I will never forget how we landed upon that house. We knew we had to move because our family was going to grow (just prior to getting Isaiah). But the house we really wanted, fell through. And then, by pure chance and luck, this house popped up.

It was in a community we had only heard of once or twice, but that day, immediately upon driving into it, we were sold. We saw the house, with our porch, and huge open spaces inside and I think it was only a day or two later (maybe even day of), when we put in a bid for it.

For the next 2+ years, we made so many incredible memories there.

And on my last day in California, all of those memories danced through my mind.

I cried as I walked through every room one last time, and cried horribly ugly tears as we drove away.

For Sale

This past Monday the movers came.

Once the house was cleared out, we had it cleaned and then our realtor came, and took pictures.

Yesterday morning, Ryan sent me the link to the house listing.

I have only been able to look at it one time so far because it still doesn’t seem real…..that it’s empty (and clean – ha!), and that for Ryan and I, it has now become a house – no longer a home.

House and Home

I have told people many times since leaving that if we could have taken that house and moved it to Minnesota, we probably would have.

We loved that house, and we made it our home.

But today, today it is no longer a home for Ryan, Samarah, Isaiah, Amiya, Reagan, and I.

Today it is on the market as 1287 Remington Court (for sale). She is ready to be a home for a new family.

We are still getting ready to embrace our next home, and what I will tell you is that we currently have two houses lined up – one of which will be temporary and one permanent – like forever, forever. (When the time is right, I’ll share about both of them. I promise, especially because our forever home has a history so rich I still pinch myself almost daily over it.)

The temporary house will feel more like a house than home, but what Ryan reminds me of all the time is that we will make it our home because home is truly where the heart is and where all the people you love most in the world reside.

It’s why we came back “home” to Minnesota, to Waseca.

And it’s why, despite the sting of letting go of our California home, I do know deep down that that home is now just a house.

It’s just a house.

p.s. The faster our house in California sells, the better because I want Ryan back ASAP. The open house is today and tomorrow from 1-4pm PST. You can find the listing HERE, and if you’re in California and are looking for a home or know someone who is, please pass along the link and/or this post.

Xox,
SKH

If there is a topic surrounding change that you would love for me to include in this series, please just CONTACT ME.

Previous 101-Day Change Series Posts

Sarah Kay Hoffman

You will heal. I will help.

childlike-sports.flywheelsites.com

The Family We Choose

Filed Under: Love, Our Home Tagged With: cecilia from italy, foreign exchange student, life, love

I know just as well as anyone else what a normal family is, and that the family we choose (either given to us biologically or not) is the perfect family.

You’d think I have been living under a rock, but Ceci has Ryan and I using WhatsApp so we can text freely with her, now that’s back in Italy. I had never used it before, and until her, I had not even heard of it. Am I 95-years-old or what?!

I published my last Ceci letter on Wednesday, right after she left. I titled it, “My Hardest Goodbye.” I didn’t wait for Ceci to give me her final thoughts because I didn’t want to inundate her with another “to do” immediately upon returning home to Italy, jet-lagged and all.

But in true Ceci fashion, on the 6th (yesterday), super late at night for her (1:30 am in Italy), she sent me a WhatsApp message, “Emailed you right now! (Still dealing with jet lag.)”

I opened the email, unsure about what I’d read. With her permission, the below is what she wrote (verbatim).

p.s. I titled it, “The Family We Choose.” And then I grabbed a Kleenex because, well, so has been the story of this week.

The Family We Choose

6.1.2017

And here we are, the time that I wasn’t looking forward to, the time where I start waiting for an indefinite time to see you guys again, and it’s honestly one of the hardest things I’ve ever have to do in my life.

In these past 5 months I’ve learned quite a bit how to deal with distance, but now it’ll be different: when I was there I had dates, I knew exactly when I was going to see one of my two families again, now I’m not sure of how long I’ll have to wait, and this is honestly freaking me out, I miss you, so much.

5 months flew by so fast, and I’ll never stop saying that!

But now it is the 6^th again, so let’s focus on our last month (sigh!)

December, if I have to be honest, has been one of my favorite months, and it’s probably been because of Christmas and the trip to Minnesota.

This past month I learned, more than ever, that HOME TRULY IS A FEELING. I can guarantee that I’ve never, ever, ever, ever felt as a foreign neither at home in California nor at home in Waseca, MN, and between people that I’ve seen maybe even just a couple of times, I felt just as a member of the family, and they felt just family to me.

I learned to welcome new people, complete strangers, in my life, with no prejudices from neither sides; I learned to open myself and let everyone discover who I really was without any fear to be judged, and I learned that people can be really amazing. Because those people that I welcomed into my heart have really been able to take a big part of it, and now it’s full of love for every single one of them, and this truly is amazing.

But if I learned how to welcome people into my life it’s because they taught me how to do it by doing it first.

When I was in Minnesota I found myself being truly amazed from the people I met, and I’ll explain why.

When I first got to know Sarah and Ryan, I didn’t know there could be anyone else like them, I had never met anyone like them before, and I had never felt at home (but so far away from my home country) like that with anyone else before, and anyone had never welcomed me with such opened arms before, so I was already seriously amazed. Until the time that I met their families and discovered that there is a reason why they are such amazing people: because their families are just as amazing as they are.

So if there is something that I learned in these 5 months, it is that FAMILY doesn’t have anything to do with blood, instead, WE CHOOSE OUR OWN FAMILY, and however it is composed, as crazy as it could possibly be, even if we have to deal with distance between the members, even if it takes dedication and patience, even if sometimes we think it doesn’t, it fits us perfectly, and the love that you share with whoever you choose as your family can not be compared.

Loving and missing all of you so, so much.

I hug you tight,
Ceci

p.s.s. Ceci – We’d choose you over and over and over again. You are the family we choose. XOX sweet girl.

p.s.s.s Ceci – Both our families adore you! They will love your letter.

Xox,
SKH

Sarah Kay Hoffman

You will heal. I will help.

childlike-sports.flywheelsites.com

My Hardest Goodbye

Filed Under: Inspire, Love, Our Home Tagged With: cecilia from italy, inspire, life, love

“You are my favorite hello and my hardest goodbye.”

We returned from Minnesota late last Tuesday night so it was understood by all that first thing Wednesday morning we would celebrate Christmas with just the six of us.

Like clockwork, I woke up super early that morning, when it was still dark.

As I rounded the corner to head for the kitchen, I noticed a light in the room where our tree was. I thought it was strange, but then, “Ryan must have forgotten to turn the light off after he finished placing all of Santa’s gifts out.” I went to turn the light off, and instead of seeing a light on, saw this. (Totally get that this picture will not do it justice.)

I literally sat there for like a half hour. I took all the pictures and video I could to capture how beautiful it really was. Sadly, there was no way to capture its beauty. It was so amazing, in fact, that we never turned it off. A couple days ago, the lights naturally died off.

We got home from bringing Ceci to the airport around 5 pm last night. When we walked in the house, I noticed some stuff on our table. Ceci left more things for us, including this (already neatly placed on the fireplace mantle):

My eyes swelled yet again.

We ate dinner, and after we put the two littlest down to sleep, I began unclipping all the pictures from their clips. They weren’t just pictures, either, Ceci wrote something, namely quotes, on the back of each one.

I read each, one-by-one, deep lump in my throat. (I cried a lot yesterday. A LOT.)

And then I knew I couldn’t go to bed until I wrote this because I had to make sure that Ceci got it immediately upon getting back to Italy.

My Hardest Goodbye

On August 6, 2016, our adventures with Cecilia began, which means that this is the fifth and final “installment” of all things Ceci.

In case you missed month one, you can read it via Being Curious Makes You Richer, month two via Inspiration All Around, month three via Time Flies, and month four via Thankful.

Month 5: Me to Ceci

Dear Ceci,

I wrote you a goodbye letter but saved some little things from here-and-there that I hope we don’t forget (Many of them are inside things that only Ryan, you and I will “get.” And I like that about us!).

Appreciation for homemade pizza. Thank you!
Dah-di-dah. ‘Nuff said. 🙂
Volleyball games. We loved your games.
Asian takeout 🙂
You always waited for us all to be seated for dinner before you’d start eating. That has never been done in this household until you.
The salad utensils you gave Ryan and me that your grandparents were given as a wedding gift. We feel so humbled to be invited into your family like this.
Grocery shopping, because you never turned down an opportunity to go with me.
No one knows quotes – good quotes – like you.
I will always think of you whenever I hear Adele. My heart will sink for awhile listening to your CD. (“Mommy, play oooooohhhhhh…..ooooooohhhhhhh.“)
“Watch Ceci, watch daddy, watch mommy.“
You and your pictures + video of Ryan (and John!)
Our weekly TV sessions of This is Us.
Venice Beach, Ryan picking up the ladies 🙂 (<- I’m still laughing.)
Pedicures
“The Last Supper.” These were your last two (by request) dinners with us: 1. Bone broth, chicken, and rice and 2. Sweet potato fries, hamburgers, and my bread.
Speaking of which….sharing our faith with you.
Baristas coffee.
The Farmers’ Market.
Christmas decorating with you.
Black Friday (early morning) shopping.
Peace and calm at The General Store with lattes.
Walks.
Your espresso coffee.
Weekend trips.
Someone who absolutely adores Lake Tahoe as much as me.
How much you love (and how much they love you) Samarah, Isaiah, and Amiya.
That you were able to fully immerse yourself here, which is something that I don’t believe many people would be capable of doing, let alone at 17-years-old.
Your brilliance.
Your love for the world, life, and the everyday, even the mundane.

Ryan asked me as we left the airport what you said to me during goodbye. I told him I couldn’t remember. I really couldn’t because I felt so heartbroken.

Later, though, I remembered your most important words to me during goodbye, “Thank you for making my dreams come true.”

But no, Ceci…..thank you for all the joy you brought to our lives these past 5 months. I feel changed, in a weird way, because of you.

I am going to miss you so much, sweet Ceci. Like terribly.

People always said how hard it would be having a foreign exchange student, two children and one on the way. Looking back, I’ll tell you the only hard part is that now we had to say goodbye to that foreign exchange student because she wasn’t a foreign exchange student…..she is family, like the 17-year-old daughter we just would never ultimately celebrate a Gotcha Day with.

The back of one of your photos from the Christmas string of lights said,

I couldn’t love you more. – Ceci

WE couldn’t either, Ceci.

I know the days will get easier, and when I work in your room I’ll feel more at ease, but for today, just kind of a sting. A big sting to my heart.

You’re totally my hardest goodbye.

Xox,
SKH

p.s. See you on Skype, via WhatsApp, (Isaiah will see you in his dreams!) and in due time…..in person. 🙂

p.s.s Silvia and Massimo – thank you, thank you, thank you. The whole world should be brave enough to raise a daughter like you have.

Sarah Kay Hoffman

You will heal. I will help.

childlike-sports.flywheelsites.com

A Simple Toddler Room

Filed Under: Inspire, Love, Our Home Tagged With: life, love, our home, urban homestead nest

I have been meaning to share more about a simple toddler room for quite some time now. Life got in the way, but alas it’s here today.

Come, step into her room.

A Simple Toddler Room

Here’s the deal, there is nothing magical about Samarah’s room, except that it’s simple and just sweet all around. Her room is currently comprised of 4 main elements:

Bed
Teepee
Standing bookshelf
Bunnies

Bed

We made the crib-to-bed transition around the end of February, just prior to our call for Isaiah. (Yeah, yeah, I get it….February was so long ago! I’m busy.)

We got the bed frame from Wayfair. And it has been a great bed. I love its simplicity and the three pull-out drawers, which we keep shorts, pajamas, and accessories in.

But the bed frame is not the reason Samarah loves sleeping in it so much. It’s all about the bunnies. In case you have never heard of The Land of Nod, I am here to tell you that their stuff rocks! We bought Samarah the Bunny Pillowcase (which I remind her is “a funny bunny” each night) along with the Bunny Quilt.

When planning a simple toddler room for her, we more or less started with the bed ‘n bunnies, and then went from there.

Standing Bookshelf

Before Samarah came, Ryan and I took a trip to The Container Store. We got this bookshelf and another one that looks similar, only it’s a desk that I use in our bedroom upstairs.

We should have gotten more of these bookshelves because they have been a great way to display just a few things in her room without leaving clutter all over the floor.

Her shelf (starting from the top) holds her two main bunnies, the Mr. and Mrs. (which I got at HomeGoods last Easter), a painting from Hawaii, her piggy bank, monitor, a card that always reminds me of she and Reagan, her Samarah sign my dad made for her, another bunny, one of her dolls (or as she calls them, “dollies”), two quote signs and a couple of books (the other 800-something books live in our book shelf on the second floor and playroom on the first floor).

The shelf is mounted to the wall, by the way, so it can’t fall on her.

Teepee

Other than her bookshelf, this is the only other main item in Samarah’s room. She loves it, and could play in it for hours. In fact, I think she does sometimes during naptime or late at night/early in the morning. I’m totally fine with that.

The Land of Nod sent me the Silver Metallic Teepee because that was my favorite for her room, but all of their teepees are adorable.

Samarah likes to take her dollies and bunnies in the Teepee to play, and Isaiah loves to play peekaboo in-and-out of it. It’s a great place for reading stories to them, and I love the simple and fun element it brings to her room.

If you’ve never been to a Land of Nod store, you must see if there is one in your area. If you’re in the Bay Area, there is one at the Broadway Plaza at the Crate and Barrel in Walnut Creek (also Palo Alto). The store spaces are inspiring, but the truth is that I order most of our stuff online!

p.s. We may or may not have gotten baby girl’s crib bedding from Land of Nod. Stay tuned:)

Miscellaneous

Other than the bunnies, TeePee, and bookshelf odds and ends, there are just a few more touches that make a simple toddler room complete.

Her clothes. The girl has clothes galore, but not because I bought them. My cousin (and best friend) has sent 80% of her wardrobe. She has two beautiful older girls now, but she kept the best clothes just in case. Sure enough, our own beautiful girl came along, and so she graciously passed along her awesome style to us. (If you’ve ever seen Samarah in person, then you know she is always dressed insanely adorable. Guys, I have nothing to do with that. Me + fashion are far from friends, but that’s okay because it has meant that my marriage is even better. I would never be found on a shopping spree, unless it’s at Dick’s Sporting Goods or Target. Ha!) Because there are so many clothes, her closet is organized by color.

Random stuffed animals. Remember the story about the light? These are a couple of the guys who help watch over to make sure she does not get out of bed before the light turns off. Cute, but let’s be honest. They have not been doing their job to make sure she stays put. She is still out of bed no less than 5 times each night.

Dolly. She has really taken to her main Dolly, you know, the American Girl doll she got this past Easter from our IVF doctor. I wrote about it via Easter is Hope. She likes to do Dolly’s hair, put bracelets on her wrists, hold her, and sometimes even get a diaper out to change her. Ha! Yes, she is still a little too young for such a nice doll, but we watch her with it, and let her play with it as often as she wants.

Samarah’s special dates. After Gotcha Day, my friend Jen had this made for Sam. It hangs on her wall, right as you walk in. My heart is full each time I look at it. I mean, there is nothing more precious than those dates when you foster-to-adopt!

And that’s pretty much it. There is one other small nook that has a tiny shelf with a bunny sitting on it (are you suprised?), and her closet is really big (semi-messy), but all-in-all just a simple toddler room.

Now, to get Isaiah‘s room done (elephants are the theme), and baby girl’s a little more settled.

p.s. Do you like when I do these features of rooms in our home? Let me know. I can do more. Like the kid’s bathroom – we have finally settled on a Dr. Seuss theme, so I could invite y’all in for that next?

Xox,
SKH

Sarah Kay Hoffman

You will heal. I will help.

childlike-sports.flywheelsites.com

Making House Home

Filed Under: Inspire, Love, Our Home Tagged With: farmhouse style, inspire, life, love, our home, urban homestead nest

I put Samarah down for a nap yesterday and immediately ran to our garage. That’s where I’m working on a few painting projects. I realized, while putting another coat of fresh Duck Egg paint on my chairs and crate, that making house home has helped me deal with my SIBO relapse these past couple of weeks.

I used to dwell on the bad gut critters, but since stress worsens every gut situation, I stopped. I am doing as well as I quite possibly can, given everything that’s going on right now. Soon I’m going to tell you about my antibiotics (which are currently en route to me, you’ll understand when I explain) and then about how I am going to heal this SIBO issue for good.

Making House Home

Inspired by the “Farmhouse Style” (bonus: in an urban setting?!)? Click HERE to save this post for later.

Farmhouse style….making a house a home.

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And in the meantime, I’m over here making our house a home. It wasn’t until recently when I realized that there is a distinct difference between the two.

Moving into this house was somewhat overwhelming because I didn’t have a clear vision, and most rooms were empty for a long time. Today, the walls and a few rooms (guest room, one of the living rooms and the new baby’s room) are still fairly empty, and my sense of “home” is definitely not complete.

But here we are, several months later and progress has been made, so I can finally start sharing some of the things we are doing.

Farmhouse Style

It took a long time for me to really understand my style. I began grabbing pieces here and there, and when my mom was visiting she said my style is definitely farmhouse style. I began researching, watching HGTV (um, hello Joanna Gaines and Home Town), perusing Instagram hashtags (obsessed) and doing Pinteresting things. I have also learned a ton from my mother and from the awesome ladies at The Owl Box in Tracy, California.

Guys, it takes a village to build a home.

I believe that old crates and boxes are beautiful.

I think old mason jars serve an awesome dual purpose for mixing function with farmhouse fashion. (Like THESE DIY Mason Jar Table Centerpieces.)

I no longer believe that if furniture isn’t purchased from a top-end store it’s not quality. In fact, I bought Samarah’s playroom table, 2 chairs and a bench from an online garage sale.

I believe that painting is magical and that with a little touch-up full restoration is possible. (My China cabinet below is not finished. You can see that I’m doing the inside currently. Its location is also changing because that room is turning into my own little “personal project.”)

Ladders, floating shelves, old books and Heather flowers rock.

I find comfort and peace with hand-made (in the USA) old, white rocking chairs sitting on a wrap-around porch.

I could go on forever, but instead, I think you’ll get a sense for my farmhouse love as we go.

Farmhouse Food Full Circle with Farmhouse Style

Simple, rustic, whole and unprocessed. Farm-to-table, fresh as we can find. This is how we eat probably 93% of the time, and while enjoying my Nutiva Organic Coconut Oil and Blood Orange-Herbed Roasted Chicken on Monday night, I realized that the farmhouse food came full circle embracing an entire farmhouse style.

There is something very beautiful about the farmhouse culture. Maybe it’s because I grew up on gravel roads or that I got the real taste of it from being at Grandma Verna‘s farm so much then watching as my mother implemented it all into her own house. (But for the record, my mom’s style is way more antique than mine. She is currently hooked on Primitive, if you know anything about that style.)

Whatever it is and wherever it came from, I am so grateful, and I can’t wait to make our house a home.

p.s. You can follow along with the inspirations here as well:
Follow Sarah Hoffman’s board Our New House on Pinterest.

Xox,
SKH

Sarah Kay Hoffman

You will heal. I will help.

childlike-sports.flywheelsites.com

Get Instant Access to your FREE Master Gutsy Resources Spreadsheet Download Now

Our Home

There is No Dishwasher

Previous 101-Day Change Series Posts

Coming Soon

For Sale

House and Home

Previous 101-Day Change Series Posts

The Family We Choose

My Hardest Goodbye

Month 5: Me to Ceci

A Simple Toddler Room

Bed

Standing Bookshelf

Teepee

Miscellaneous

Making House Home

Farmhouse Style

Farmhouse Food Full Circle with Farmhouse Style

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