A Little Bird

with a yellow bell,
came to rest on my windowsill.

This sweet little beauty made it's way into our house this morning. Thank you, Allison! I will no longer be bellowing when dinner is ready- I'll let her do the job for me.
I have been yelling, pouting, and threatening all too much lately. (Wait, who's the 3-year old around here?) Along with the bird bell, here are a few other corners of my house that will help me stay calm.

Mr. Butler invited his mom, sister, and uncle to come help me clean Leah's room out yesterday. She just has access to too much stuff, which results in nonstop cleaning and/or stressing over messes for me.

Here are their spoils.
Leah caught me as I was hauling the last box out of her room, and she quickly discovered that something was missing. When I asked her what was gone, she looked and thought and looked some more, but couldn't come up with anything. 10 minutes later she came to me with tears in her eyes and said, "My cowboy hat! It's gone!" Not the piggy bank, beloved stuffed animals or huge box of dress-ups... just one ratty old straw hat.

Next up, the best $30 I ever spent. I can now shower in relative peace, knowing that the kids are safely locked away- forced to play with the pittance of toys I have left out for them. I'm a mean mommy, I know.

And this little beauty. Where there used to be a jumbled mess of wires and blinking modem boxes, there is now a tidy little corner of happiness on my desk. The computer stuff is all tucked away in the yellow box. Pretty sneaky, huh?

I like clean. I like calm. I also really like my kids, and I'm hoping these corners of happiness will help me enjoy both.