My name is Ivette, owner of thehoadermom.blog, and I’m someone who has always believed that a home is more than just walls and furniture—it’s a living, breathing reflection of the people who care for it. Every chance I get, I lose myself in gardening, cooking, and renovating, three passions that don’t just fill my free time but shape how I see the world. Out in the garden I find patience, watching seeds I planted weeks ago push toward the sun, learning to accept that growth can’t be rushed. In the kitchen I find rhythm, the way chopping vegetables and stirring pots becomes almost meditative, and the reward is sharing meals that bring my family closer. Renovating gives me momentum—the satisfaction of peeling back worn layers of a room and reimagining what it could become. I’ve spent weekends covered in paint, hands sore from sanding, but smiling because I can already picture how the space will feel once it’s finished. These aren’t just hobbies; they’re ways I practice showing up for myself, for my family, and for the small everyday moments that make life rich. I notice the way dirt under my nails makes me feel grounded, how the smell of garlic hitting hot oil centers me, how a freshly hung shelf can shift the entire mood of a room. Each project reminds me that joy lives in the process, not just the result, and that’s a lesson I’ve carried into everything else I do.
Decorating my home into whimsical, beautiful spaces is another piece of that same thread—I want rooms that tell stories, that spark curiosity, that feel lived-in without being cluttered. I hunt for fabric remnants at secondhand shops, reupholster old chairs instead of buying new ones, and turn scrap wood into frames because saving money matters just as much as beauty to me. Budgeting isn’t a chore; it’s a practice, a way of working with intention. I keep notebooks filled with paint swatches next to grocery lists, and sometimes I sketch ideas for rearranging a corner while meal planning for the week. I love finding low-cost ways to make a space feel magical: stringing fairy lights along a ceiling beam, grouping mismatched thrifted vases on a windowsill, or framing pressed flowers from my garden as wall art. Those choices make a room feel personal in ways a catalog never could. At thehoadermom.blog I share this mindset—how creativity thrives when you’re mindful about spending, how teaching kids to budget can be woven into baking cookies or planning a garden bed, and how whimsy doesn’t require wealth, just attention. I write about designing a child’s reading nook from a repurposed crate, about turning kitchen cuttings into herb gardens, about choosing calmer colors in a bedroom because rest should feel affordable, too. My home will always be evolving, because I’m always finding new joy in gardening a different patch of earth, trying a recipe I’m not sure I’ll get right, or tearing up carpet I thought I’d hate to discover hardwood underneath. Evenings for me are often spent checking seed catalogs at the table where I paid bills earlier—that overlap feels symbolic. The house breathes with these layers: dirt, dough, paint, and patience. It isn’t perfect, and I don’t want it to be. What matters is that each choice—whether planting rosemary by the backdoor, simmering sauce for hours, or wiring a thrifted lamp—carries the intention to live fully while spending gently. That weaving of budgeting, creating, and caring is what fills my days, and if I can pass a bit of that on through my blog, then every splinter and grocery list and sunlit windowsill was worth it.