An Open Letter to You

It’s been a fun ride, but this is my last post…for a while, at least.

I started this blog at the beginning of my journey as a stay at home mom, nearly two years ago. At the time, I didn’t know where it would take me. I had the kernel of an idea that the transition from seven years as a full time working mother of two, to a laid off, at-home mom, would yield lots of interesting situations and unique experiences. I thought that a blog would be the perfect forum for documenting and sharing that experience.

In 2008 and 2009, when the economy was falling apart and people were losing their jobs left and right, I never saw stories in the media that mirrored my own. Where were the other women like me? I wanted this blog to be a place for that missing voice to be heard.

This was the space where I openly struggled with the work vs. no work question, where I celebrated some of life’s small, but precious moments, and where I learned the ins and outs of blogging, tweeting, and photo sharing.

Since returning to work four months ago, I simply do not have the physical, emotional, or psychological energy to maintain the blog as I would like to. I think about it…a lot. I write posts in my head about recipes and cookbooks and outings with the kids and meditations on life, but the posts do not get written.

I feel this period in my life has reached a natural end and it’s time to leave this space. I don’t know yet if it will be permanent. I am also toying with some other new ideas that I might explore as an alternative.

I will monitor the inbox for suddenlysahm@gmail.com, so if you ever want to drop me a line, that’s where you can reach me.

Wishing you a peaceful and refreshing start to the New Year!

Jen

Project 365, put to bed

In the spirit of not being too hard on myself, I'm not going to qualify this post by saying that I didn't really stick to the rules of project 365 (snicker, snicker, I just did).  Rather, my project 365 was one done in spirit...The photos were not always taken on the day they were named for.  Ah, well.  This project became much harder when I returned to full time work eight months in.  When you are in an office all day, it's hard to take inspiring photos day after day.  The last four months were really saved by my travels and the fact that during the holiday season, there are just a lot more photo ops.

I picked one from each month of the year to share here. Enjoy:

 

January - New Year's Day snowshoeing

 

February - 24 hours alone together in Bellingham

 

 March - letterboxing in Oregon

April - benedetto di uova

 May - tulip

June - getting on a plane

July - Paradise, Mt. Rainier

August, canning spectacular

September - emerging sunflower

October - Mt. Rainier from a plane

November - approaching storm, Cancun, Mexico

December - holidays at home

A Dream Deferred

Several months ago, I alluded to an "exciting new project" here.  Well, that exciting new project never quite came to fruition.

I had planned to open a small business called "handmade jeny" to sell stuff I make for fun through etsy...salted bacon caramels, greeting cards with my photography, perhaps a handbag and quilt or two...but it never happened.

I went so far as to have a logo designed.  I knew deep down at the time that this effort probably would not get off the ground at any time in the near future.  Still, designing the logo with Kris was an "exciting new project" all on its own.

It turns out that I can't have it all all at once.  Since going back to work I hardly run anymore, I have a hard time meeting my self-imposed project 365 commitment, there's no time for quilting, etc., etc., etc.  My life has taken a sharp turn and the cards have all been re-shuffled.

So, handmade jeny will have to wait until another time in my life, or maybe she will stay a beautiful dream to contemplate.

To Give and Receive

In a season filled with gifts, one given and one received stand out for me this year....

Given:
I snapped this photo of my mom and my sister at my brother's wedding last summer.  I thought it was a terrific shot of them, so I framed the black and white, included a color version behind it and gave one to each of them.  :)

Received:
I admit it. I cried. My little men made this for me...I will cherish it for many, many years and yes, it is going to the office with me tomorrow.

Oh, and we finally got the boys a Wii...God help us!

SAHM for five days

The working Suddenly Sahm is starting the first of five days at home baking, wrapping, writing christmas cards, santa visit, the whole shebang!

Here's my favorite shot from last week - tubing at Snoqualmie pass on the hubby's birthday:

As I like to say at work these days, (because I am a process nerd), Feliz Navidata!