Friday, December 28, 2007
cooly house
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Birdie
See this? Why is it so expensive? i think I want to make some cutey little calico birds for decorations/toys and I might use these for inspiration. Cute, right? Rediculous what some people will pay for things.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
So cute new blankies
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Seasonal complaints
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Battling the brrr
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Peeping tomgirl
HUH???
;)
Yes, I am going to admit here that I LOVE it when people leave their window shades open when it is dark outside and they are home with lights on. Am I trying to see some family dispute, a torrid love scene, something titillating? Well, no-- unless, like me, you are completely enamored with home decor, which can be quite exciting!
It gets dark around 5pm now, and I drive to work around 5:30. My favorite part of the drive is seeing in all the houses! I am so intrigued by the paint colors, the furniture choices, the layout of the rooms, and the actual architecture of houses, it is a wonder I stay in my lane. I hope for red lights so I can look in and at the houses. I love the tiny houses that have upstairs. I love the Brady-Bunch "modern" slab houses with the funny little carports. I love the big old farmhouses, and I love to hate the random huge new-construction homes that pop up in the middle of modest streets and never seem to sell, forever vacant with their oversized garages and no yards and no lawns and no trees, and their for sale signs out front, eventually replaced by for lease signs. I love to see how many people have a television as the ONLY thing in their living rooms besides a recliner, and I love to see funky kitchens with brown or green refridgerators and a hundred pictures of grandkids on the walls interspersed with kitschy needlepoint blessings and half hearted collections of all kinds. I love the ugly houses that look like hip IKEA showrooms inside, and I love the gorgeous homes with nothing in them. I just love it all.
I always close my curtains, maybe because I am so keenly aware of how easy it is to see everything inside a lit up house when it is dark outside. I am not some sicko, just a very curious person who finds so much of human behavior absolutely fascinating, especially when it comes to artistic choices. If I had a dog to walk, I would probably be more subtle in my peeking. I have babies to walk, but when the weather is nice enough for that, it is usually light out until way past bedtimes...So for now, I will limit my peeping for the carride to work--and if the idea of people looking in your house freaks you out, then for goodness sake-- close your curtains!!!!
Friday, November 2, 2007
Laundry talk
We are going to go pick it up somehow tomorrow!
The nightmare of no dryer might be over. Can u even imagine, such a vital part of big family living, just interrupted? It has been horrible. BUT, soon we will be dryin up a storm, I hope.
What I want is two washers and two dryers, but I would settle for 2 washers and one dryer. anyhow, for now, that is only a dream.
We have new system, and I know big families are constantly in search of systems, so here is what we do:
We have 6 baskets, one for each person. I lay them all on the couch and then tkae huge mounds of clean clothes and toss them unfolded into their person-basket. then Daddy and the kids take them off to their appropriate rooms and, with some assistance for Charlies cloths of course, they get folded and put into the drawers and you have to bring Mama back the baskets. Somedays I will refill 'em, somedays that is all you have to do. I shouldnt say days, it is an evening chore.
What do you do to get the clean clothes back to the drawers, if you do at all? ; )
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
My first time
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Compacting continues
*The only homeschool stuff we need for DAILY use. the rest is on bookshelves or in the shoe-holders*
Each child has a drawer (not Charlie) for their notebooks and for their "WORK". this can be ongoing projects, special drawings, 1/2 done fingerknitting, etc. It is all there. I cannot see how any parent, even of pone child, let alone 4 homeschooled kids, could live with the constant "Mama!? Where's the Pikachu I drew in the car that one time? Where's my super bracelet I was working on? Where's my chart of the fruits we did? Where's my old list of ideas I did for my birthday party next year?..."
I hope we can find a new smaller home quickly and can easily pick up these things and move. I hope this is the last house that we haul pounds of flim flam to, that's for sure. As I learn more and more about the decluttering movement, the simplicity movement, I am learning tons more and more about what it is that our family really wants and needs.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Gettin started on downsizing
Monday, October 8, 2007
Learning about the Small House Society
No, no, and no. You might want to start here, at the small house society
You see, I have been a non-practising admirer of the simple living lifestyle for about 3 or 4 years now. A lurker, if you will, in magazines like Ready Made and Simple Living, a flybaby on http://www.flylady.net/ and contributing somewhat to a few discussion boards on Mothering.com about getting rid of all of our junk and becoming free. I am a huge fan of Walden. I choose a tent over a fancy RV, outdoors over indoors, etc.
I want to simplify. We are getting rid of our things. Each weekend we are giving away clothes to the goodwill and salvation army. We are purging our house as the first step to freedom from our possessions. We are discussing special trips for Christmas instead of more toys. We have pared our schoolroom down and down and down to what we really actually use and need and love. We have been trying to have hearty, simple meals such as just baked potatoes with toppings, soup and crusty bread, granola and milk...We have gotten rid of tons of dishes, and the children each have one special spill proof cup. We each have 2 sets of sheets and one comforter for our beds. (the babies have more sheets)
But its not enough. I want to move to a tiny tiny house someday. Look at this website. Type tiny houses or small house or simplify or declutter into Google and see what you get. I fantasize about being forced to have less stuff.
At our old house, it was a bit of a hellish nightmare. We had a "normal" (American) amount of c-r-a-p, but no garage, no attic, no basement and miniature closets. And so things like sleds in the kitchen and clothes in Rubbermaid containers in the living room made for a home that looked completely filthy and gross and chaotic almost all the time. We werent knowledgeable about simple living and so the smaller house was just a nightmare. We were slaves to the shuffling, cleaning, distributing, resdistributing, arguing about, and "organizing" a giant landfill amount of CLUTTER.
So we moved to this big house, near to Daddy's work, and we love it in many ways (1800 square feet 1950's brick rental, long L-Shaped ranch, one story, garage, no basement, lots of closet space) and it can look really neat and tidy whenever we need it to--company coming, etc. even with four homeschooled kids home all day long. But its a total sham. We still have WAY too much crap. You cant even open our garage door without mystery flim flam spraying down on top of you.
So, here are all the ideas I would want for a tiny tiny house with a family of six. Everything I want to own on this Earth. This is my actual list of what I would want to keep in our lives. (Then I am going to get to work on it!!!) I think being in denial that this is right for us has kept us back all these years.
Bunk beds. Custom made, if necessary, for more than 2 children. (Triple bunk!!) In the tiniest of rooms you can still fit many bunk beds. They are cozy and private and fantastic.
One bike for each person, hung from ceiling or stored somewhere clever.
Basic toiletries: Shampoo, Conditioner, mild soap, mild lotion
Towels+washcloths
Bedding
Big pot
Little pot
Frying pan
Pitcher
2 Mixing bowls
Spatula
Ladle
Tongs
Toaster
Teapot
6 Plates
6 Bowls
6 Cups
Silverware
One container for each person of "special possessions"--jewelry or trinkets.
Drawing Paper
Pens/pencils/crayons
One curriculum box for each child
One computer (laptop would be so cool, and save space but we don't have that)
2 Hampers
One giant garbage can, one little one for the bathroom
Our favorite books, the ones we really want to read and refer to, (not just the ones that seem cool to own or display)
Our favorite DVD's
Portable DVD player
One boombox type radio/CDplayer/Cassette player-recorder
Ipod
One sled for each child
One pair of boots per person
One pair of snow pants per person
One winter coat per person
Seven t shirts apiece
Seven long sleeve shirts apiece
Seven pants or shorts apiece (I don't even have this now)
Seven socks apiece
One pair of tennis shoes
One pair of dress up shoes apiece
One bathing suit apiece
One pajama set
Seven pairs of undies
Seven sweaters or sweatshirts
Full set of cloth diapers (the one size fits all kind would be ideal)
2 hats (baseball and snow)
2 mittens
One scarf
One large Rubbermaid box of old photographs
One couch (possibly a hideabed for mom and dad if it was a one bedroom cabin)
Refrigerator
Stove/Oven
Minimal toys: music toys, wood blocks, multitasking toys such as Lego or a wagon
Large family tool box with hammer nails screws screwdriver drill level pliers wrench and ratchet. Also in here could be magnifying glass, funnel, scissors, flashlights, batteries, tape, stapler,glue, hole punch, needle and thread and buttons, and measuring tape and magnets.
Sewing machine
My makeup and hair elastics
Extreme minimal first aid kit: herbal and regular medicines, bandages, peroxide
Coffee maker (or french press using boiled water from teapot)
Recycling bins (even if I had to take the stuff into a different town)
Kitty+supplies
Bunnies + supplies
Rugged jogging type of stroller for lots of walking and not using cars.
Camera
Lamps and candles
Bleach-vinegar-borax-baking soda-natural washing soap
Mop+bucket
Broom+Dustpan
Beloved board games
Wristwatches and clocks
As far as toys: my older kids love their gameboys and pets, and my littler kids love their traintracks and matchbox cars. We all play with blocks and EVERYTHING else we could go enjoy "in town."
I have left out a few things that I love and use daily but could live without and am actually a bit curious to see how I would do:
TV (Love it/hate it/would rather go outside with my kids)
Washer and Dryer (love it but some tiny houses aren't equipped and would be willing to laundromat as a weekly event)
Microwave(convenient/dangerous and scary)
__________________________________
Well, that's it. That is all I would bring. this list might have been incredibly boring to read, and I apologize--but it was really fun to write and it took me a long time. Tell what you think!
Currently reading: Simplify your life with Kids and Simplify your Christmas, both by Elaine St. James. So far so good, although she she doesn't have kids and doesn't refer to or even seem to know about homeschooling, these are both nice reads so far.
***Mom gets to keep more shoes as a gift for being so fabulous :)
***Mom reserves rights to extraneous undies :)
Please check this page for tons of info and great links and pics!
Click this to see an amazing home that you wont believe the pictures of the square footage :)
I will need to whittle down my list but if I really got to the point where everything we had in this house was that list, then maybe we could look into making some kind of huge amazing life changing move in the future--a few years down the road.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Cool Wife 101
Allow me to extrapolate: I do not get pleasure by seeing to it that my husband is deprived or beat down or depressed or feeling lower and/or crappier when I am around. I do not degrade him, diss him, hate on him, roll my eyes at his jokes, boss him like an evil substitute teacher, treat him like a servant, rain on his parade, ignore him, berate him, isolate him, control him, embarrass him or do passive aggressive manipulative stuff to him. Sick! Would you like that? YUCK!
Common decency starts from the moment you wake up. Throw everything you ever read in the women's mags and all the demented stuff you learned on MTV and Doctor Drew and Doctor Phil and just start by being a good roommate. Then move up to friend. Then maybe youll get promoted to lover--teehee. Remember who you love and why you love them and above all treat others the way you would like to be (and deserve to be!) treated.
If you do not love them or all you can do is sit there and huff and think "he needs to read this, not me" then you need to go to counseling or consider splitting up. Its 2007, it happens!
I repeat the bit about a decent roommate, because here is what decent roommates do that so many long term couples still cant seem to handle: SHARING and CARING! Yes, people, you are only 50% of the little bubble that is coupledom, and that means 50% of the housework, the back rubbing, the helping, the alone time, the active listening, and the REMOTE!
Work out deals. Constantly. "If you do the dishes Ill do the folding"...negotiate
"If you get that crap put back in the garage I will bring in all that crap from the attic and we can go through it together"...negotiate
"If I do this entire horrible bathroom will you go get us sundaes?"...negotiate
"If I get to sleep in tomorrow, you can on Sunday"...negotiate
"What shows would you want to watch if you had the house all to yourself? This is what I would watch...lets work something out..." negotiate
"I seriously cannot plan one more menu. Please help me think of food to buy and I will help you with your___ that has been driving you nuts"...negotiate
"Can we cut a deal regarding me not doing these dishes tonight?" (sexy wink) LOL
I could go on and on. But seriously! Why and when did being super mean and distant and or/evil and power mongering and controlling and seething become the standard year 2 until death or divorce way of treating each other?
I am a *cool wife* because I see how happy my husband is to be with me, to live with me, to hang out with me--HELLO--what about the fine and simple art of HANGING OUT?
There are no excuses for not trying this. There are no lack of babysitters, because you want to know another secret of me and Steve? We have a special date night almost every night. We celebrate e v e r y t h i n g. We celebrate things such as:
Its the weekend!
I worked late tonight!
Its halfway through the week!
I think my cold is getting better!
We didn't bounce any checks!
I love my new haircut!
I love your new pajamas! Go put them on for me!
We have leftover pizza AND pop AND ice!
I TiVo'ed something ridiculous on VH1 for us!
Lets do a fire in the fireplace!
Survivor is on tonight!
I don't like to reveal quite this much about my private private life. It feels a bit freaky. But what I don't like even more are all these lovebirds who are being so bad to each other. Life's short, folks. Find happiness in yourself, and spread it on. It really is ok to be a cool partner/roommate/spouse. In fact, its totally contagious ;)
Friday, October 5, 2007
His Majesty: The Scarlet Oak
A few gaming pics
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Coca Cola Blak -c'est tres delicieux!
This is my new special treat. I got one once in a gas station last winter and I LOVED it. But then I didn't see it for a while and assumed, like so many things I like, that it didn't take off and was discontinued. But not so--I got a 4 pack today from a local small grocery store--hooray!
Although this is what the official website has to say, I would describe it more as a very dark and luxurious chocolate/caramel/coffee Coke. It is decadent, like Godiva chocolates or something. It is amazing. It only comes in little glass bottles and that might make it more special. (In fact, I know that that makes it more special, because just imagining drinking it out of a plastic cup makes me feel very sad.) So yes, the little glass bottle adds to the whole thing.
If you like Guinness, espresso, or dark chocolates, give this a grown up, sultry, big sister of Coke a try. I think you might just find that its awesome.
Big Wheel link
http://www.playthingspast.com/em701.html
With an adjustable seat (no tools required, just lift it out and pop it in wherever you want) it can be shared with more than one kid.
If you don't know about Froogle, oh my gosh-- it is a service linked on the google main page that price shops for you! Try it out! Save hours!
Thursday, September 27, 2007
The Bald Cypress
The crazy roots
The bark
The "knees"
Seed again
Swamp livin'
One more pic of the gorgeous fruit.
Big Wheel bliss
Monday, September 24, 2007
YO GABBA GABBA!
It's baaaaaack...
Well, when Steve told me that for TWENTY DOLLARS LESS than we currently pay for Internet and Phone, we could have Internet, phone, and cable TV as well, I was curious and irritated and excited and mixed. but the others "won", and the cable is here!
Look, if you don't want your kids to watch TV, turn it off. But if and when you are gonna watch TV, I'm not gonna be fake and say it isn't awesome to have Animal Planet and Nick Games and Sports and Noggin and Discovery Health, History Channel, Discovery Kids, Nickelodeon, National Geographic channel and Sprout rather than static-y Sesame Street and Price Is Right.
We get to watch sports again now and I don't even dare think about Comedy Central and all that stuff---tonight I will check out all the channels we have, it seems like alot of really good ones! YAYAYAY !!!!!!
My Internet seems faster and they switch the phone in a week or so.
I am really glad. My little sick kids are completely festing out with the new shows, and they are laying still and drinking ice water. So I blog and fold clothes and switch laundry loads, and all is calm.
Monday, September 10, 2007
sometimes a pat on the back has to come from yourself
But then we had a baby and we wondered how it would all work out. Was the baby as important as the fridge, the gutters, the golfing, the flat screens, the couches? What about if we wanted more than one baby?
... then we heard about this fantastic invention: it is a person who lives at your house, full time, and does it all. She cooks breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She does all your grocery shopping, staying within budget, making healthy choices, catering to the various needs of all the family members. She cleans and cleans and cleans, even if you don't have a dryer. She does laundry and she gives the kids baths and brushes their teeth and hair and takes them everywhere they need to go. She makes appointments and keeps track of who needs what when and where. Throughout the day, she will feed your pets and clean them, too. She does toilets and stains and organizes closets and garages. she keeps up on your pool and your mail and your outside birds. She can take your kids to their schools and keep up with all of their school needs and expenditures and activities and field trips and friends and teachers and grades--or--for slightly less cleaning and slightly more money, she can teach your kids right in your own home--freeing you from worry about shootings and shunnings and failings and flunkings and lack of education and also the need for 4 minaiture trashy wardrobes. She entertains your children and keeps up with your work schedule so that you will have a hot meal ready when you walk in.
The only problem is, she costs about $40,000 a year to hire, give or take.
So we got the brilliant idea to just eliminate the middle man and have me do this job.
I don't care one bit if this post sounds sexist, in our family it was a MOM that we needed as a couple, and we both agreed that we wanted me to do this. In many families it is a DAD. In many families there is only one parent. Or two moms. Or two dads. Or Grannie and Big Ben and a dog. Whatever, I wanted to write this today instead of just cutting and pasting yet another one of those articles that claims how much what I do is "worth" in dollars. To Steve and I, me doing what I do was worth exactly one full salary of one person with a bachelor's degree in Psychology.
What is in store for our future? Possible midwifery, possible travel/relocation. Possible Dad does the homeschooling. Possible live in a camper and make our fortune doing some kind of internet based thingy which so far eldues us. House boat. Log Cabin. Downtown Loft. Who knows. But right now, I am a suburban mom, albeit a progressive one--and I know in my heart that the way we do things and the actions we make are much more real than any labels might make me or our family sound on the outside.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Two loads a day, weather permitting
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The Salmon and Salad diet, day three
This was a weird weekend for us, with my husband being out of town, unseasonal pouring rain, and of course, almost no money--so I did not go buy anything very special, but did decide to implement this new --you know-- D WORD as smoothly and as mindfully as possible, without fretting too much about going off of it. I cant tell you how excited I am to go buy a bunch of beans and greens from farmers market this weekend.
Here are the changes I have made since Sunday: I will start from waking time and end at bedtime.
Coffee with no sugar or delicious poisonous powdered creamer. Yeah, black. Shudder. Woulda went down better with a donut, but alas, that would be sugar ;) I am switching to tea someday soon...
Eggs and fake sausgage, but with no toast. So yeah, you guessed it, that means no cinnamon sprinkles, no strawberry jam, no nutella.
For me, eggs are pretty nasty without a sweet drink, and so I had some DietPepsiMax with this. Pepsi max has ginseng! I know, I know, carcinogens, yadda yadda, Im tryin, here, folks. Rome wasn't built in a day.
Tons of water, just because.
I like lemon water--and squirt a big squirt of reallemon in my water. Tastes less like city sewage and more like something sparkly. In case you didn't know this already, I love sparkly foods, and this adjective is the highest honor I can bestow upon a food.
Sunflower seeds to munch on, as well as cheese cubes.
No more sandwhich for lunch, instead I had salad. But dont think iceburg-ranch-and a crouton, more like dark greens, feta cheese, black beans, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, onions and olives.
Hummous to eat would be good and I want some soon.
No candy, no ice cream, no popsicles, and no regular pop!
We had mexican food last night, and while it might not have been on the "diet", what I had was really low glycemic index stuff. Black beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, pinto beans, jalapenos and more diet pop. I had a few tortilla chips but not mountains of them. I passed on the tortilla soft shells and the dessert which the kids enjoyed.
So, now comes my annoying born-again pushy part:
I feel like a new person and it is only day three.
No sleepy feeling after breakfast
No falling over after lunch
No evil mood swings which cause my children to look at me and wonder which mommy they will get this 5 minute interval
No sweats
No shakes
No temper tantrums
No confusion
No nothing, really!
The two greatest things so far:
No "IM SO HUNGRY! OH MY GOD! I GOTTA EAT RIGHT NOW OR I WILL PASS OUT!"
AND
No feeling like I got hit by a Mack Truck in the morning. My late night carb freakouts were causing my sugar to crash while i slept, making my awakening 7 hours later feel like a herculean task. No more, and this is the greatest gift I can think of. Yeah, it sucked a little when Charlie cried at 5:50 am. But I went and got him, and we went out in the living room, and that was that. I made my pot of black coffee and started up some eggy-wegs for me and him and was a normal girl.
It is 3:40 pm and I have not had ONE episode of hypoglycemia today. Casey left most of his pb+j on white bread on his plate and I did not jam it in my mouth. I put it in a ziploc and poured myself some more lemon water and had a handful of sunflower seeds.
Small victories!
"compacting"
Check this out and tell me what you think!
We are looking into/talking more again lately about simplicity and de-cluttering, but this time I dont mean buying $100 worth of cute containers.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
morning snack
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Late evening bliss
I read the baby a story while they get their ice waters ready
Baby nursed and put to bed in his crib without a fuss
Daddy reads the older ones a bit from a chapter book while I start the laundry
We put them to bed together; kisses all 'round
Older kids read to themselves for 1/2 hour on the bell-timer
Casey goes right to sleep
______________________________
Steve picks the CD: Iggy, MC5, Dylan, the Black Lips and more
We talk while doing 1/2 hour of power straightening and tidying
Laundry in the dryer
I lay out the next day's school work
I use the computer while he showers
He does the same while I shower
Meet up on the couch, 9:30 at the latest