HomeLife
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. - Annie Dillard
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Introducing . . .
I wish there was a way that I could get paid to tell people about all the things that I already like. Is that possible? Well, anyway, until it is – I guess I’ll just keep doing it for free. There’s just so many things that I like – so many people, so many shoes, so many craft ideas, so many blogs – you know. And here’s what I like right now . . . Emma’s new business name. Of course you already know I love Emma. And you already know I love Emma’s photographs. (They’re everywhere on this blog. The photo at the top and every really great shot…
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home bound days.
I spend the majority of my days with six people, all younger and smaller than me by varying degrees. (And as we’ve been a one-car family for thirteen days or more, it seems I have been spending lots of days at home, with no transportation at my disposal.) There have been moments in these recent days that I have felt thrilled to spend my mornings knee deep in tropospheres and the ozone layer, pleased to read novels and eat snacks with such pleasant companions. And there have also been moments in the recent days that I have felt the desperate need for fresh air, to finish a project without interruption…
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hand-me-downs
Piper’s closet is full. Overflowing. Brimming to capacity. Full. She owns five pairs of jeans. That’s more denim than I own. (Who can afford that many grown up jeans at the cost of Gap these days? And by Gap, I actually mean TJ Maxx or Target because I think those are the stores of choice for any jeans I have purchased in the past five years.) Skirts? Uh – probably a dozen. Dresses? Fuh-get about it! Too many to remember. Now wait. Lest you think I favor my fifth child more than the others or that I spend our weekly grocery budget on attire for a three-year-old, I must say…
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Next up for the Revolution
Revolutions aren’t undertaken alone. I mean, I guess they aren’t. What am I? A history teacher? Oh. Yeah. I guess I sort of am. So, ahem, as I was saying. Revolutions don’t happen alone. And at our house, in our current Low to No Revolution, Kevin has now officially joined the ranks. Not that he wasn’t already on board. But last weekend he upped the ante and created a little Something From Nothing. We drink raw milk at our home now. (Thanks to a pick up/drop off arrangement where I serve as the middle man(woman) for our home school co-op, we receive three gallons of raw, unpasteurized, unhomogenized, un-anything else…
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crayon art
There once was a wedding of two people our family loves. And Bergen wanted to help make their gift. Enter Pinterest. And don’t forget – gifts need to be on the Low to No train too. We found an idea over there and turned it into our own creation. (All mockingbird style – right?) We started with a blank canvas and hot glued rows of similarly colored crayons across the canvas. We chose reds and pinks because they are the color of love – right? (But as we quickly ran out of those colors we tossed in a few purples as well.) I printed the letters before we began the…
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a thank you, thirty years later.
Guatemala: Day One
parenting reminds me I need Jesus
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Are we the only ones?
Are we the only family whose possessions fall out of our car every time we open the door? The only family where an underwear-wearing-only kid falls asleep on the sofa? The only family whose two-year-old son is neither potty-trained nor able to communicate in traditionally “normal” manners? The only family whose son associates every animal not with its proper name but by the noise that the animal makes? Are we the only family who can never locate matching socks and whose son seems to be always sporting seasonally inappropriate footwear? The only family that says “yes” when their child asks, “Can we make popsicles out of this pickle juice?” The…
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this is the age
One day last weekend was just so lovely. Loads of creativity purring through the house. London and I creating sewing kits. Berg drawing blue birds because he wanted to. Mosely and Piper pretending the cardboard boxes I should have been packing were canoes and they were going over a waterfall like a character in a book we love. I was working on several projects at once. Kevin was teaching himself a new song by the Decemberists on his guitar – which he can play by ear. (Which leaves me more than slightly envious.) After my attempts at making shampoo and conditioner, I was able to take a rare late day…
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exactly.
Has anyone else felt a little crazy inside their own mind at times? No? Just me? Well, that’s okay. I’ve often suspected that I was, in fact, the only insane person around. Suspicion confirmed. Thankyouverymuch. Now, let’s move on. At any rate, as far as our new home goes, (because that’s what I’m actually talking about today, by the way. What? My ramblings and quick subject changes make you feel crazy? Hmmm. That’s weird. No. I’ve never felt crazy before. You must be alone in that thought.) I am feeling a little unstable in my thoughts about the house itself. I mentioned that the house has mountains – right? Right.…
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it has begun.
I love the ideas you guys filled the comments section with after my last post about the Low to No Cost Revolution. You guys had ideas for low cost shampoo, tips for the laundry soap making experience, cheap wipes and low budget meal ideas. I really wanted to try some this weekend. (I probably should have been packing or cleaning, but I was not. Just ask Kevin – I usually start the biggest projects at the worst possible moments. It’s true.) After reading your suggestions, I decided I would start with Stacy’s shampoo idea. Stacy said she used baking soda to wash her hair. At first I was hesitant because…
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it’s a revolution. want in?
“Not all those who wander are lost.” J.R.R. Tolkien We are not lost. But we are on a route that our feet have never walked. And we have miles to go before we sleep. (Man, I am just all about some literary references today, am I not?) We’re not moving until closer to the end of the year but we are anticipating that shift. And in that anticipation our family is trying to make a few changes. To tighten our belts, so to speak. (I don’t know any other euphemisms for spending less money. Do you?) Aside from large financial decisions, we are trying to look at all the small…
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a chip by any other name.
There are many reasons that I love baking with my little Willow. The following conversation during yesterday’s cookie baking is merely one of them: Willow: Mom, may I have one chocolate chip? Long pause for dramatic effect. (As if I would tell that angelic face “no” to a single chocolate chip. Why bake with Mommy if extra chocolate chips are not part of the bargain?) Me: Weeelll, Willow, I guess we could spare one chocolate chip for you to eat. Willow: Oh good. Thank you Mommy. You’re the best. I’m going to name it Pixie.
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good day.
It’s a good day. It’s a good day for making edible art. It’s a good day for hanging out with Pop Pop. How are you making your day a good day?
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Watch!
Watch! It’s the constant cry echoing against the walls of our house. Crashing against the trees by the playground. Reverberating off the asphalt on our driveway. Look! And I do. Usually. And I try to remember what that’s like. Someone watching your performance. Watching and grinning and even sometimes clapping. Someone whose eyes are steady on you only. Whose focus is directed on you alone. Not many other things in adult life are like that now, are they? No wonder kids need a mommy and a daddy. No wonder it is a gift both beautiful and rare to feel appreciated and to be loved. Adored. I have been consciously trying…
