the making of a rain barrel

every morning i wake up about the same time with my mind filled with thoughts, i go to the bathroom and come back to bed and try to sleep but it never happens. i lay there and think and think and think. this morning, my thoughts were about yesterday and how it was the best and worst day i've had in awhile. i was hormonal, i was emotional, i was irritable. there were tears, lots of 'em. fun stuff! but the day got better as i got it all out and we had an evening planned with friends and so i was getting it together by the time we had to leave. we went to see a wonderful dance recital that our friend iris was part of. it was really wonderful to watch all those little dancers. afterwards, we went to o'charley's to eat and hang out and talk and laugh. i called scotty after we ordered since it was getting late and he would probably be leaving work soon. he was actually leaving when i called and i asked him if he wanted to come meet us there and he did, which was really awesome because he so rarely gets to socialize. it was so so so good, so exactly what i needed. the funny thing is that earlier i told myself that we would just come home after the recital because i was just not in the mood to be around people. shows what i know. i really do never know what i need and often gravitate away from what i do and towards what i don't.

so these are the thoughts on my mind as i lay there hoping to go back to sleep. i thought about a conversation with iris' dad (and nesta and audrey's as well) about gas which led to talking about oil companies and his secret desire that everything does finally go in the crapper. he says i've got chopped wood and food put up from the garden, it's all good. which got us talking about gardens and how this is my first year doing a garden and we talked about that for a bit and he told us about ruth stout and how he's been doing her style of garden now for 3 years and it's great. we're going to look into that for next year as i want to do a much larger garden!!

this led me to thinking about it being a good year of rain so far and then i thought about my rain barrel and how i wanted to blog about making it today. and i was thinking about how i wouldn't know until it rained again whether my seal was good...when it started raining!!! at first i was bummed to hear the rain because i wanted to walk to the park today with the kids. we recently found out that we have a school nearby with an awesome playground. it's just down the street!! so that thought came to me but immediately i realized that i had just been hoping for rain. that was so weird how quickly i forgot that.

last month, my friend jess had offered to pick up barrels for anyone in our homeschooling group interested in having something that could be made into a rain barrel. i had no idea how i would do that but i jumped on getting one!! so anyway...as some of you already know, i cut the top section out of the rain barrel to fit on the gutter drain spout some time ago. i put it up under the spout to be sure it fit and then i got busy doing birthday party preparations and left it there. then it rained and rained again and then rained some more...all before i ever got the spigot put on!!! so the other day i finally got my spigot supplies, drilled the hole and let it slowly drain (most of which i caught in a low bowl and poured into my 5 gallon watering buckets). initially i thought i was going to have to cut the top off to put in the spigot because i didn't know if the barrel was thick enough for the spigot to thread into...so i had gotten together with the guy from lowe's and we came up with a 3 part system that i would put in from both sides and seal with silicone. after seeing how thick the barrel was i knew i would be able to just screw the spigot directly into the barrel...easy peasy no cutting off the top (which is what i was hoping for all along!!) so i screwed in the spigot, rinsed the barrel some more and then let it dry before adding the silicone seal. it got to dry for 2 days before the rain came this morning. i went out and checked it and it seems to be holding!!!! and already the barrel is 1/3 full.

so there ya go, the long and short of it...the making of my rain barrel. here are some pictures for you to enjoy!!:

the top hole that i made using the cutting wheel on my dremel

all the supplies i thought i would need

the supplies i actually needed (plus the spigot above)...i already had the drill bit

drilling the hole

the newly screwed in spigot

putting on the silicone

all siliconed up

my pretty rain barrel, ready for rain

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here's a fun thing to do...

okay, my kids like to play this game of running in and out of the house and locking the doors behind them. can you guess where this is going??? i have asked them to please stop playing this game!!

yesterday, i was outside enjoying a little bit of sun and pringles while the kids were running around outside playing. next thing i know, they can't get into the house...hmmm. silas and sadie both turn and look at me like i've just magically appeared there, they thought i was inside for some reason. i know instantly that they have locked us out! i try very hard to keep my head from exploding...and tell them so. i say, you have no idea how much of my anger i am controlling right now....i have told you not to lock the doors!!! all that good ol' mad mommy stuff. i sent them to sit on the front porch while i went to the neighbor's house to borrow the phone. now here's an interesting thing about the mind. something i had forgotten about...ironically. when pressed to remember something, it usually can. i normally couldn't tell you what scotty's cell phone number is. the brain gets lazy from speed dial ya know. but miracle of miracles there i was on my neighbors porch dialing his cell phone number...thinking all the while it was ringing, PLEASE be the right number. and it was. luckily, he was not all that busy and was able to come home within 20 minutes or so to unlock the door. AND, i was able to do a little of the gardening i needed to do that i'd been putting off because i had lots of little projects inside the house i was working on.

so we got in and no children were harmed in the making of this fun thing to do.

the end.Share

the kids are always watching

i think an awful lot about the example i am to my kids. my actions, habits, reactions...good or bad. i think about it. recently, my friend and her family got to witness the feeding of a deer to wolves at a state park. it sounded like something really amazing to watch. she describes it here in an email to one of the unschooling lists:

"Yesterday, we watched wolves eat a deer...in real life. The kids were fascinated by the whole process and watched as guts and bone were eaten with abandon. It was an incredibly beautiful process to me, watching one life feed other lives. It's hard to describe the feeling, because of course we're sad for the deer. But being an observer to the very sacred and real circle of life felt amazing. It could have been me saying "ooh, that's gross" or "don't look, it will freak you out" kinda stuff."

i thought that was really awesome, that she didn't cloud the experience with fear or negativity.

the other day, scotty and i were talking and somehow we got on the subject of the lottery. i think we were looking at how to save for a trip we are taking in september and winning the lottery is just a joke around here. i told him that it was funny we always joke about buying a ticket one day but we never do and i wondered why that was. and samuel looked up at us and said, "buying lottery tickets is stupid and a waste of money." i looked at scotty, pointed at samuel and said, "oh yeah, that's why!" scotty had no clue what i was referring to. i told him, "everything we do sets an example." if we bought into the idea that there was some free, easy money out there to be had, our kids would probably think the same way.

i've always had this idea of what i want to show my kids about living. that you don't lie, cheat, steal, litter, intentionally hurt people for no reason, all that. but not by telling them, by being an example of it. when they were younger we had some friends that always lied about their kids' ages to get cheaper meal prices. i get this, i understand money can be tight. but i just never felt it was something i wanted to start doing. i remember one time we all went to mr. gatti's together and their daughter turned to me, she was maybe 6, and said "tell them your kids are all under 4 and they can eat free" with a big grin on her face. this is not some evil being practiced here. i'm not saying it's deeply wrong. but the impression it made on me was that she learned that lying has these perks. i didn't like it.

so fast forward to now. samuel just turned 13 and he is very excited about all the new 13 things. no more kids' menu, using the teenager computer at the library...all that stuff. we went to the drive in for the first time in years. he is no longer 10, so his ticket is adult price. sadie is no longer free. it could've been cheaper than it was, had i lied...not that samuel would've let that happen, he was yelling from the back...hey i'm adult price now!!! and for a split second, i HAD thought about saying they were all under 10. i don't know why. another day we were at a mexican place and he shouts out that he can't order from the kids' menu now and in the back of my mind i'm thinking "sure you could've, it wouldn't matter!" ah well...they learn so much so well.

i've gotten away from my point here. ooh, that's unusual. but i was thinking about my friend's attitude and not setting the example that seeing a wolf eat a deer was gross. i am really freaked out about blood. so is my dad. watching surgeries (even the fake ones) on tv is not easy, the room spins. stuff like that. i wonder about tolerance levels for that sort of thing. is it just part of who you are or is it learned? did i learn that seeing blood should make my knees weak, did i see his reaction to it at an early age?

so i was telling my kids about the wolves and the deer and they said they would not want to watch that. funny thing is, i knew that already before i told them but i still wanted to tell them about our friends' experience. it's something interesting. so i'm wondering, did i set an example at some point that seeing that sort of thing was difficult. it doesn't bother me to watch nature programs that show animals killing and eating their prey, but my kids usually cover their eyes or ask to change the channel. it's people blood, especially accident and surgery blood, that bothers me...animals in the wild blood doesn't.

for them, it's more of an "i can't stand to watch the animal die" than a "it's too gross" sort of thing. and i get that, i know that about them. they hate when i kill spiders or flies, even. they would rather chase them out of the house. i think they are buddhists! LOL. so it gives me a lot to think about. to be aware of. to look for in my behavior. there is always a chance to do differently.

these are just random, sort of all over the place thoughts that have been running around in my head. usually i just leave them there to run until they get tired and go away. but i'm trying to learn to put some of my thoughts down in this blog (now that i can)...so there ya go.Share

thoughts about inspiration and art

written 5-11-08

I have gone for so long trying not to be inspired that now that I actually want to be inspired, I do not know where to begin. When I say that I tried to not be inspired, what I mean is that I avoided art, of all kinds. Galleries, magazines, books, everything. Especially anything having to do with sculpture. I remember picking up magazines at the bookstore and seeing all this amazing art and feeling this rise in my chest, this pulling sensation, this fear, this sadness, this excitement. All at the same time. I remember pushing it all down. Not wanting to feel those things. Not wanting to long for a world in which I called myself an artist. For so long I just had no place to do it. Living in apartments, the camper. Excuses. But I’m feeling a pull to it again. I have the space now, I want to do something but I feel so stuck. I have no ideas.

I’m just feeling like I need to create again. I go through these dry spells and for awhile about a year ago I made art, it felt good. But then I quit, I couldn’t get myself into it. I’ve tried little things, crafts, jewelry, knitting. I don’t feel like doing any of that. It’s frustrating because in the moment that I find something new to learn, it feels so right, like I was meant to do “this” all along. Then it fades. Like the hemp jewelry that lead me to macramé. It was such a high for awhile and then it just went away. Part of it, I think, was that it came during the time we were living with my parents. It was hard to feel inspired when I was so focused on getting us into our own space. But I’m like that no matter where I am I guess, that is the truth. I get fired up and then the fire dies out.

So what am I doing now? Well, I’m creating food. That feels completely awesome. It is the most exciting thing I’ve felt since making babies. I get up every morning and go out and look at all the new growth, every tiny bit that they’ve grown since the day before is rejoiced and celebrated.

But…oh you knew a big ol’ but was coming. Even though I’m loving the gardening, I am feeling this pull to make ART again. It feels good because I haven’t really even wanted to for so long…a year maybe. I have come to realize what I want to do is sculpture and so I’m trying to figure out how to get inspired to do that. Then I remembered what used to get me going. LOOKING AT ART!!! Duh! So I pulled out some old journals and sketchbooks from college. Nada. Next I pulled out all my books on sculpture that I have on my shelf. That feels like a good place to start but I had all these thoughts and so I thought I would put them down first.

Okay, now I’m going to go pour over these books. Hope for inspiration. And then figure out where to work. I have thought about building a work space in the backyard or using the camper when we get it moved over here (my mom’s idea!). But I know I will think of some way to have the space I need for sculpture. Trying to do art that requires little space has made me frustrated, they were good to keep the flow going but still not what I needed to be doing. So, what will I do next? I do not know, but I’m looking forward to it.Share

reading thoughts...

I’m reading a book right now…um from the juvenile fiction section again…I’m into chapter three and already I’ve found a few quotes I want to put on here. I wonder at that sometimes. When I read books that seem to be filled with little jewels worthy of being on cute little desk plaques or bumper stickers at least. Sometimes it seems like it’s not even the best of books that have the best of quotes. In fact, sometimes I get the sneaking suspicion that whole books are written right around a great line the author came up with and couldn’t make the rest of the book sound near as good but are readable. That could be the case with this book, but so far it’s intriguing. It didn’t have a dust jacket with a synopsis, nothing on the back. Just a great title and really cool cover. “100 Cupboards” by N.D. Wilson. A boy goes to stay with his aunt and uncle and cousins after his parents become missing. The characters are interesting and different. The small town they live in is called Henry, Kansas. The boy’s name is also Henry. There’s a locked room in the house which once belonged to a dead grandfather who Henry sees one night but then doesn’t remember it but does remember it, sort of like a dream. Then one night, some plaster on the wall above his bed starts flaking off and 2 knobs poke out. This is the beginning of his finding the 100 cupboards. That’s where I’m at right now. So anyway, here are the parts that spoke to me:

Uncle Frank pulled the truck onto a dirt patch that straddled a ditch and faded into the field.
“Here we are, Henry. Tumbleweeds are like people. They tend to collect someplace out of the wind.”
“What?” Henry asked. Frank was already getting out of the truck.
“It’s not just people and weeds,” Frank said. “It’s everything.” He stepped down into the ditch. A trickle of water ran along the bottom and into a culvert. Tangled and muddy, tumbleweed clung to the culvert mouth and rustled around Frank’s legs as he moved. He grabbed the matted weeds, lifted them up, and threw a pile onto the gravel shoulder. The bottom of the lump dripped brown water.
“You ever wonder, Henry, how bits of dust find each other on the floor?” Frank began kicking the remaining weeds into a mound. “Some part of blade of grass gets eaten by a cow and dropped out its back end, where it dries in the sun and gets trampled. Then some wind picks it up, and, of all the little bits of nothing much in the world, it comes in your window and lands on your floor.”
Henry watched while Frank scrambled out of the ditch and threw the tumble-blobs into the back of the truck.
“Then,” Frank continued, brushing off his hands, “that little bit of dust meets another little bit of dust, only it came off your sweater, which was cut from some sheep in New Zealand, and the two bits grab some of your hair and some other hair that you picked up on your shirt from a booth in a restaurant, and then they get kicked around until they all roll under your bed and hide in the corner.”
Frank was trying to tie down the weeds with string.
“It’s the same with people. If they’re a little lost, they get blown around until they drop into some shelter or hold or culvert.”
He snapped off the end of the twine and climbed back into the truck. Henry climbed back in beside him.
“There are holes like that in cities,” he said, “in houses—anyplace. Holes where the lost things stop.”
“Like where?” Henry asked.
Frank laughed and started the truck. “Like belly buttons. Like here. And Cleveland. Henry is on a much smaller scale, so fewer people drift here. And when they climb out, they end up pushed around until they come to rest someplace else.”
Henry watched Uncle Frank shift into gear.
“I was lost once,” Frank said, and looked over at him. “But I’m found now. I’m under the bed. I’m in the same culvert you are. Only, I don’t think you’re done tumblin’.”

Why does this appeal to me? Well, it’s just one of those simple and wonderful musings that I like. And it speaks to that part of me that feels just exactly like that. A tumbleweed. Like a small bit of dust in a tumbleweed. Lost and blown around until I got found along with the other tumbleweed dust riders just like me.

This other bit reminds me of how often I feel like I simply don’t know anything and that the rest of the world is somehow in on the joke.

Henry had never heard of such a thing as a forgotten door. Back at school, he never would have believed such things existed. But here was different. There was something strange about here. He felt just like he had when he’d found out that kids his age don’t ride in car seats and that boys pee standing up. He remembered unpacking his bags at boarding school while his roommate watched. His roommate had asked him what the helmet was for, and Henry had suddenly had the suspicious sensation that he had been kept in the dark, that the world was off behaving in one way while he, Henry, wore a helmet. He had barely prevented himself from answering his roommate honestly. The words “It’s a helmet my mom bought me to wear in PE” were replaced with “It’s for racing. I don’t think I’ll need it here.”
Whatever was going on inside the wall in his room was much bigger than finding out that other boys didn’t have to wear helmets. If there really were forgotten doors and secret cities, and maps and books to tell you how to find them, then he needed to know. He looked around at the tall, dew-chilly grass and for a moment didn’t see grass. Instead, he saw millions of slender green blades made of sunlight and air, thick on the ground and gently blowing, tickling his now-damp feet, and all the while silently pulling life up out of the earth. Each was another kid without a helmet, a kid who knew how things were actually done.
Above him, the stars twinkled with laughter. Galaxies looked. Nudged each other. Chuckled.
“He didn’t know about secret cities,” Orion said. “His mother never told him.”
The Great Bear smiled. “Did his dad tell him about forgotten doors?”
“Never.”
“Journals?”
“Only having to do with science projects or bicycle trips.”
“Maps?”
“Mostly topographic, or the kind that shade countries in different colors based on gross national product or primary exports.”
“Nothing with ‘Here be dragons’ on the edges?”
“Never. He found a hidden cupboard with compass locks, and do you know what he thought was in it?”
“A unicorn’s horn?
“Socks.”
“Socks?”
“Or pens.”
“Pens?”
Henry sighed. “I don’t even know how to work compass locks,” he said. He stood and started back to the house with a familiar feeling, the feeling of Now I know. The feeling that means tonight you will sneak down to the dormitory dumpster with your helmet, a stack of nightgowns, and your therapeutic bear. The feeling of Tomorrow I will have changed.

Okay, those were much longer than your usual quotes, but I liked all of it…so I left in all the bits instead of just chopping out and using only the meatier parts.

But if you’d like to hear a good short bit. Here’s one that follows just a few lines after the above:

The wind scratched its back along the side of the barn. The stars swung slowly across the roof of this world, and the grass swayed and grew, content to be the world’s carpet but still desiring to be taller.

Okay, back to my book…

p.s. yes, there are capitalized words here. Do not panic! I have not been inhabited by an alien. I’m typing this in ms word, it corrects all my laziness and bad habits.

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big backyard birthday bash

written on 5-8-08

Yesterday was Samuel’s birthday!! He is officially 13!!!!

We had the best party ever. I think there were 40 people including us. Cripes. But we had so much fun AND it didn’t rain!!! Yeah!

Our other concern besides weather was parking, but our neighbor was nice enough to let us park around his house and in his driveway. Still there were cars all over. There was lots of running in the yard and climbing the tree. Pizza, and snacks and cheesecakes.

Ren did some really beautiful face painting which was a wonderful surprise for us all.

And presents. And conversation. That was the best. It was a lot of fun and exhausting in a good sort of way. Several husbands joined us. Which was nice as we so rarely let them out. Scotty was so sweet and played a lot with little boo bear so that his mommy could relax and eat and talk. We love him for that!!

We even had a request for an overnighter. Which I thought would be fun and extend the party for the kids. There’s something really awesome and thrilling about getting to spend such a huge chunk of time with friends. So we had 3 extra kids for the night. Sierra, Iris, and Nesta. The girls ended up staying up ALL NIGHT LONG. OMG!!! Then they crashed at some time around 9 am I think. The boys had gone up to see what they were doing and found them sleeping. They had watched the sun come up and played outside way before anyone else was up. I’m sure that was just about the best experience Sadie has ever had with friends. Very independent and exciting. And tiring. It was her first all-nighter. And she loved it.

Another first we had recently was that I let the boys and their cousin walk to the comic book store last Sunday…by themselves. Silas said he felt dudely. Samuel felt independent. I actually didn’t throw up or anything. No horrible nightmarish thoughts ran through my head. They came back so jazzed up because they got more free comics (we had gone on Saturday for free comic book day and we all got free comics then too.). I’m having a constant run-on of dejavu right now. I had a real long one last night too. Very strange.

Well the girls are up finally…it’s 2:00!!! Iris left some time ago when her mom came to get her. They woke up a little then but went back to sleep. So so so tired.

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birthday days

today is my beautiful baby girl sadie's birthday. she is 8!!! finally, all of my children are ages that i can actually sort of kinda remember being...LOL!!! they got guinea pigs last month as early presents and they thought that was going to be it!! ha ha, i am too smooth for them. we snuck presents in yesterday and i gave them out this morning!! very happy and surprised kiddos. sadie and samuel each got cd players for their rooms and silas got the harvest moon game for the gamecube he has been asking for for months.

tomorrow is samuel's 13th birthday as well as the day of the big backyard birthday bash!!! 2 parties in one!! scotty made 3 cheesecakes!!!! oh my, the kids are wanting to dig into them. we'll have some of one tonight since it is sadie's birthday after all and she must be sung "happy birthday" to and have some cake.

we're having some library time now and then off to barberito's for sadie's surprise birthday lunch. and later we'll be getting ready for the big party tomorrow.

man, i still can't believe my baby is 8...and that i am one day away from being the mom of a teenager!! well, i always said i couldn't wait to have a teenager. and even when everyone said i was crazy, i always felt it would be an awesome part of this parenting journey. sadie is becoming quite the young lady as well and i'm loving watching her grow up. a little sad, but it's wonderful too.Share

we finally moved into our own place

okay, so we found a house...finally!!!! we moved the week of my birthday which was a very nice present!!! we have pretty much everything unpacked now. just a few more boxes in our bedroom and we'll be done. i finally put up the wall stuff the other day and it looks more like home, the few framed pictures of the kids, my paintings...and our white christmas lights. ahh. home.

we've been busy this past week getting stuff together for our square food gardens we're putting in. lots of learning lately. trying to keep from feeling overwhelmed by it all. it's new, but i figure we got an avocado seed to grow last year...so maybe there is hope for us yet.

the kids are loving having all their stuff to play with. well, the clock tells me it's time to go.Share

spring meme

miss CG tagged me. i wasn't gonna play. memes make my head spin. but i changed my mind and decided to be sociable.

Here are the rules:
1. Link to your tagger, and post these rules.
2. Share 5 wild crazy facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post, and list their names, linking to them.
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.
5. There should be five rules so I'm (CG) adding this one. Even though I didn't tag five people. And this isn't technically a rule. Go figure. (i had to leave this in because it made me laugh).

here are my 5 "wild crazy facts" that are going to be just off the top of my head. i cannot dig too deep for this. that would be dangerous for all involved.

1. every time i listen to music i imagine i'm on a stage as i'm singing and dancing along.

2. i type unbelievably fast. that skill is the ONLY thing i learned in high school that was useful. wanna race?

3. i cannot ever get my temperature regulated. i am constantly messing with the ac or heat in the car or putting the window up and down...and it drives scotty nuts. at the park, if it's a cool/sunny day i am on and off with my jacket all day long. in the summer i take a jacket with me everywhere because i am usually in a tank top and shorts and i will die of frost bite when i go inside somewhere with too much freakin ac. it will almost make me cry if i've forgotten my jacket and i end up at wal-mart in the vegetable or refrigerator sections.

4. if i look at my feet too long, they begin to look freakishly weird and unfamiliar. they look like monkey feet.

5. i am not afraid to dance in public places, the mall, grocery...wherever. if a song i love comes on, it cannot be helped.

who am i going to tag?? i never know enough people for these things. let's see:
heather
jess
paul
that's it'. i would do ren, but CG already got her. i got nuthin'!!Share

no belly button exam today

we had a really nice day yesterday. it was WARM out!!!! i took the kids to the pal's drive-thru and then we went across the street to the playground of the university school. it was so pretty, i wished i had my camera. then i remembered i had my phone!! i wasn't sure how i'd get them on the computer but samuel said you can email them to yourself. so i tried it. and it worked! anyway...

i was looking out at the view of the fast food places and the big hotel and the road between and i asked the kids what they thought it would be like when/if society breaks down from all our over-consumption. i said it was interesting to think about how our grandparents would talk about how they used to walk everywhere and didn't have all the modern conveniences. and how they would probably one day start lots of sentences to their grandkids like this "why i remember when we used to go about in vehicles that could take you from here to there in a flash!!" and their grandkids would be all amazed and wide-eyed imagining such a world. we talked about what would be different then. sadie said she wouldn't want to live "like old times" because there were always wars then. samuel said there are wars now!! i said that i thought once all the crime and violence settled down that people would have to get to the business of figuring out how to live (if they hadn't been smart enough to do it before). i said i thought people would form small communities again. we imagined what the area we were sitting in might look like. i thought people would gravitate towards areas where certain things already were close together, shelters (homes and other buildings) and parks and areas for gardening. people with horses would be able to live further out but i think most people will eventually gravitate towards one another instead of away.

i told samuel that i thought artists would learn to use their creativity differently. he thought about that for awhile and he thought he would probably like to make games like he does now. then he suddenly realized all the things that would still be available, things that are already here but won't be made again (skateboards and bicycles and board games). we talked about how it's easy to think about it being like it was for people a long time ago but that it would be quite different for us because we would have so many things to use from modern times. but these things would run out or get old and people would be learning how to fix stuff instead of being able to just throw out and buy new.

we played for awhile until bathroom breaks were needed and we headed home. when everyone was ready, we walked down to the pet store on the corner. it was a lot nicer than i was expecting. they had rabbits, lots of snakes and lizards of all sorts, birds, hamsters, mice, etc. all the usual pet store finds. but it was clean and well organized. silas has decided he wants a snake. he used to want an iguana, but after all the research he decided it was probably more than he could take care of. he said it seemed like most lizards move around too much. i think after playing with the lizards in charleston he got to realizing that a cage was not the best place for any kind of lizard. i think that about snakes too, but he wants to learn more about them and then decide. we stayed right up until closing time and then we walked home. i told the kids how there used to be a dairy queen right there across from the pet store and samuel just said oh that would be dangerous. meaning, to have a DQ within walking distance would be so tempting to go all the time. a good excuse for "going for a walk!" yep, dangerous.

it was a good day and i got a much needed dose of sunshine. i about talked scotty's ear off when he got home. i get like that, really hyper when i've gotten sun and exercise. yeah, it was a good day.

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change continued

i didn't have as much time as i would've liked before, so i'm doing a part 2 on change.

the reason i even decided to post about it was because i have been looking really hard at myself. i found it discouraging that a lot of people have said that people just don't change. i knew deep down inside that i had changed. a lot. but i also know that there are a lot of things i still want to change about myself. i have taken some long hard looks inside and i come up split down the middle. there are parts of me i would never ever change. but then there are those other parts. those darker parts. the ones we don't often like to talk about.

here is my list of not so pretty parts:
i can be petty
i am not always kind
i can be selfish
i judge others too harshly
i am way too defensive sometimes
i am uptight

i think the fact that there are words in there like "can be" and "sometimes" and "not always" is telling. i know that i am not these things all the time. and so i guess that would make me what? normal? is everyone like that?

anyway, thinking like this is what kept me up late at night and i just wanted to put the words out there. have a conversation. and that is exactly what happened. and it opened my eyes in a few different ways. a few thought provoking comments and emails later and i'm able to better define my struggle. at least in my head. putting words here, well...that's another story.

so i'm working on these little pieces of my personality. i think it will at least help me to chill out a little bit. i do think people can and do change all sorts of things about themselves if they choose to do so. but i'm still left wondering about the personality part. is that possible? can we do anything about our core personalities? or are we stuck with ourselves, as is, no refunds or exchanges?Share

the changling

"people don't change" my dad said to me a few months back. people are who they are, what they are, for better or worse, forever and ever amen. this is something i had not ever given much thought to. i have always assumed that people do change, are at least capable of change, if they really want to change. and that even if they don't try to change that at least they do anyway whether they want to or not because of growing older, wiser, becoming more experienced. but maybe those aren't the changes i'm really talking about.

i am all about change. i don't know how to not change. for as long as i can remember, i've changed my appearance to fit my moods. i've changed ideas and my point of view when i learn something new or different that makes more sense than my previously held view. some might call that simply "wishy-washy"...okay, if you like, i don't mind. but i've just always been open to change. never completely closing my mind to anything. i'll listen and learn, always.

one of the things that has been hardest for me to let go of in the last few years is my need to control things. my need to try to change people for their own good. oh my gosh, that just makes me laugh now to say it out loud (type it out loud??). that just isn't my job is it?

still, sometimes, i just want to shake people and say "open your eyes! stop doing stupid harmful things!" but since i can't do that, i turn that energy on myself.

i have found that sometimes, even when people ask for "advice" on how to change a particular thing that they really aren't looking for help. they are just needing an audience. i rarely give advice (and when i do, it is because someone has asked, which isn't often) and i rarely ask for it myself. i just can't think of anything that i really need help with that i can't somehow figure out if i really put some thought into it. every now and then i will think i need help with something. maybe blog about it or write on one of my email groups. but in the end, i know i'm not in need of any real help, i'm just interested in an audience or at least an interesting conversation. i sometimes think of seeking advice as the same thing as seeking attention. i mean, how often does anyone follow the advice they've sought out. so it only makes sense that they just wanted an audience, someone to commiserate with.

i like to read books about things i want to be better at. so maybe that's a form of seeking advice. some things i read i find useful and use that information to make changes in my life for the better. other things i read i find to be irrelevant to my life so i discard them. this is true especially with parenting books. i take what works and leave all the rest out. this is how most of my changes have come about. through learning new things, new ideas. i know for certain that i have changed for the better because of this learning.

i think what my dad was talking about though was personalities. can those be changed? i wonder. i think maybe they can, if you really learn to look at yourself honestly. if there is something that you don't like about your personality, can you change it?

well, time's up for today. i don't know if this is where i intended to end this. but it's all i have time for.Share

good sign

i saw a great road sign the other day. one of those yellow caution diamond ones.

it said:
grade restricts view.

hmm.Share

argh, the time flies

well, the clock says i have 17 minutes left here. i'm at the library and just done with reading and responding to email and reading some of my favorite blogs. so i thought i'd put in a little time here real quick.

what's up lately? not a lot really. but then, that is not true i don't think. the kids have been doing a lot of playing outside...which always surprises me when anyone wants to go out in the cold. but it really hasn't been that bad, they go out in t-shirts and flip-flops. oh my. they've also been doing a lot of cooking and baking with me. i'm proud to say i've let go of most control-freak moments about them using the stove and knives. i've also been open about food choices. i still have moments where i tell them i would like to see them eat something at least once a day that is a fruit or vegetable. and i have to pull back a little and try not to put so much negative judgment on their choices.

we went to sofh last week and that was a really good time. i got to meet carrie and jamie. they are really nice, we stayed and talked when everyone else left, we didn't leave until about 3:30. i think i might have talked more than i had to anyone all week. sorry for that carrie, i hope your ears recover. i am not usually such a chatterbox. the kids loved seeing so many little babies and again asked if we couldn't just please have one more. we met audrey and her wee ones. she asked if silas was for hire. that made me laugh, he is so so good with babies. so is samuel. my nurturing little men. oh, how i can't wait to see them as fathers. no, wait. i CAN wait for that. somebody stop the clock already. samuel will be 13 in a few short months. where did my baby boy go??

ah, so much more and so little time. well, there is always another day to tell our stories.Share

nothing, etc.

i've found lately that nothing aesthetic interests me. i'm still enjoying dabbling with all the new knotting techniques i've learned. but really, i am not excited about anything artsy these days. it sort of feels like floating. thankfully, there is still music.

i've been listening to a lot of kimya dawson since seeing the movie "juno" recently. i wish there were some of the songs i have on projectplaylist so i could share them here but the only songs they have are from the movie and the songs i have aren't. there is one that is really catchy and stays in my head, it's called "blue like nevermind." and there's another that i'm going to put on a cd for scotty, it's called "you love me" and i thought i'd share the lyrics as i haven't done that in awhile. it says a lot about me.

"you love me" by kimya dawson
i moved around from town to town
lots of people around, but still so lonely
friendships would grow then i'd hit the road
making up excuses for why i had to leave
always been too scared and unprepared
to let anybody get too close to me
but when i met you right away i knew
you would never ever ever hurt me
and the road's still long but you come along
and you hold my hand and you understand
when i look at you i can't believe it's true
you're all i ever dreamed of and you love me
and you love me, and you love meShare

lately...

not much.

just thought i'd share some funny.

while eating lunch today, the kids were talking about the rumor they heard this weekend that the sesame street character "cookie monster" would be changing his name to "veggie monster." they didn't like that at all, thought it was a really bad idea if it was true. i looked it up just now and it seems like it is just a rumor after all. anyway, sadie wanted to see if it was on and so while i was doing dishes after lunch they were looking for it on tv. it wasn't on but there was another show on and i overheard the following:

silas: they must think all kids are lazy!

...indistinguishable tv chatter...

silas again: oh man, now i think they think all kids are just stupid.

so now i know. this must be why my kids lost interest in "educational programming" some time ago. the people who make the shows apparently think all kids are lazy and stupid...according to silas anyway.Share

this new year

it's the 10th and this is my first post of the year. typical. this is probably just going to be a ramble, stream of consciousness, what-we've-been-up-to sort of post.

yesterday was the 9th. a year since scotty's mom passed away. he's been quiet. and i've been driving him mad i'm sure with all my "what's on your mind?" "do you want to talk?" stuff. i'm hoping i'll be able to just leave him be. let him come to me. but that is hard to do. i'm trying.

the kids are having a good 2008 so far. they loved the snow we had at the beginning of the year. they've also loved the warm weather of the past few days. we went to the park both monday AND tuesday. it gives me spring fever. but i tell myself it will get colder before it gets warmer and that is okay so long as i can stay inside. but i love those spring-like days. the sunshine was good for us all. and the exercise.

exercise. i need that. i've put on my winter layer much quicker and heavier than usual. i've been boredom eating. yikes.

been going to the library about twice a week lately. i could easily go more if it weren't cold. i could live in the library. the kids love it. reason we've been going so much is that my mom's computer crashed and didn't get fixed for a bit. it's fixed now. i'm using it. but we don't use it much anymore. waiting to put an extra one in the other room that isn't work related. so now we have all the books with all these different due dates. i'll request books as well and they come in and i go get them...more different due dates. so that means more library time...or just renewing. 2 weeks is simply not long enough to keep a book. in charleston we had a month. a whole month. it was glorious. we would leave there with 5 bags of books knowing we had an entire month to enjoy them. here, i'm having a hard time getting out of that habit and try to keep it to a 2 bag minimum. samuel and i are the ones who usually do the most book picking. sadie and silas like to play with all the toys. lately they've all been more interested in the computer area since they haven't had one to play on much lately. i'm thinking when we get moved that we might go back to just using internet at the library. maybe. maybe not.

we've enjoyed having cable now. since a few days after christmas when my mom got it installed. there are a lot of really interesting programs out there. i had not been looking forward to it being on all the time (as it is when you haven't had it in forever). but i'm adjusting to not hating it and actually will watch some of the more interesting things that come on. i like vh1 for all it's 80s music and the rockumentaries (sundance is good for that as well). i like the comedy channel and the sci fi channel (big surprise there). we've been watching a lot of "ghost hunters" and the like lately.

samuel found a book on chemistry and he's been doing some experiments. he's really excited about learning all that. he couldn't believe i didn't know so much of it. he said "didn't you have to learn this in school?" to which i replied "exactly."

christmas?? hmm, family, food, chaos...oh my. samuel's been really into his comics as usual...BUT with renewed excitement since he got some copic markers for christmas. score!! silas has been enjoying all his new video games. sadie got lots of toys and clothes and makeup. all girl. all the time. she got a new baby doll as well. hadn't wanted one in a long time, but she asked for one and she is really happy with it.

what else???

oh, i've been learning macrame!!! it started when my friend jess from the homeschooling group brought hemp jewelry making supplies to the christmas activity get together. it felt familiar. i love making jewelry and this is one method i'd been wanting to learn...but why did i feel like i knew it already. i got home and got out this little kit i've had forever that i only made 1 bracelet from. i had not packed it away in storage because it was small and i brought several of my easy-to-do-in-a-tight-spot art supplies and jewelry making stuff. this was in that. turns out, it used the same knotting techniques.

anyway. so i got the book that jess had brought with her from the library and a ball of hemp twine and went to town. bliss. i remembered my other friend nancy saying that day at the homeschooling group that the knotting was all macrame. i filed that away. that was important information. my mom saw me doing it and she concurred. macrame. she used to do it all the time. you know, in the 70s. those long hanging gardens and glass table tops suspended in that magical weave of knotted cording.

okay, i learned lots of cool stuff. pretzel knots for sure, that was the one i was aiming for. i mastered it. i love it. but i wanted more!! i wanted bigger projects, something sculptural!!!

macrame books. they had them at the library. i had to request several to be transferred but i did come home with one and i've been soaking it all up. and, it just so happened to be written by dona meilach. i read her work when i was in beginning sculpture. cool.

okay, so that's my year so far.Share

2 posts in one day...oh my

okay, so CG did a post about christmas music recently and i made a comment about having to listen to "delilah" when she came on the station here that plays all christmas music all december long. i have been mulling around in my head a post about something that woman said that got under my skin.

on the "delilah" show people call in and request music or tell a story about their christmas traditions, etc, etc, yadda yadda yadda. this kid calls in because he wants her to play his and his mom's favorite christmas song. and she says "i'll play it for you if you tell me what you hope santa will bring you for christmas." the kid says he's hoping for a particular video game for his particular gaming system. and she's like "oh i don't allow those things in my house, no video games! is there anything else you want?" ooookay. well, i can comment on this because i have BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. when my kids were very very little we had lots of NOs. we had no tv, no video games, no sugar, etc. that lasted longer than i'd like to admit, but i'm glad to say i've learned an awful lot since then. anyway...

a day or so later, christmas eve, my mom and i are working in the kitchen prepping for christmas dinner and we're listening to the all christmas station when 7 pm rolls around and it's time for delilah. ah well. it's christmas music still. so someone calls in and tells about their christmas tradition as kids to sleep under the christmas tree. delilah thought this was really neat and then went on to say that her kids wouldn't be able to do that because they would get up and throw christmas ornaments all over the room. okay, i almost cut myself at that point. i was like "wait a minute...these same kids that can't have video games would actually do WHAT?" so i'm thinking, what if they were allowed to have video games...maybe they wouldn't feel the need to chuck decorations all over creation. but i think it probably goes much deeper than that. i don't think my kids would ever dream of being so destructive or disrespectful. not that my kids are perfect or anything. they can be as wild as any kids, because kids can be wild and that's part of being a kid. but trashing a place. nope, not gonna happen. and not because i ever said "hey kids, don't trash places...that's not allowed." but because it just isn't something they would do. i do not know why. kids learn all sorts of behaviors from all sorts of places. i wonder where her kids learned that it would be okay to trash the christmas tree? well, you can bet it wasn't from any video game.Share

memememememememememe

ren memed me and i'm late getting to it, but here goes:

here's the meme:
1) Post a note about a blogger you would like to see something wonderful happen for. Maybe one whose posts have touched your heart in one way or another. Include details as to why you admire them and what you wish for them. Be as supporting and affirming as you can.

2) Post your favorite memory around selflessness, giving or doing for others. Something that has actually changed you.

3) As a postscript, name one thing you will actually do for someone in your life before December 31 that is born out of joy.

4) Tag 3 other bloggers who will play the game and find the spirit. Don't forget to leave a comment on their blog so they continue to share the good feelings.


1) a blogger that i love and have only met once personally is heather. she inspires me with her quest for unschooling information and her desire to unschool her children. she is also sparkly and creative and fun and i admire her art work. what i wish for her is that she learns to let go of the struggle. that she will just dive right into this unschooling life and ENJOY it.

2) i think most days as a mom are selfless. BUUUUUT, if i have to pick any one moment, it would have to be the moment i realized i can say YES more. this relates to my last post about food as well as just more yeses in general. this could easily get long so i'm going to try for brevity. life has changed a lot since then. saying yes requires me to be more available. not that i've been unreachable but i have had moments of "not right now" and getting away from that has been freeing. i haven't been as anxious about food as i thought i would be either.

3) i already did this one. the other day scotty was saying how much he loved the gogol bordello cd i got for him for christmas and how he really wanted more. so while he was in the shower i downloaded "super taranta!" from gomusic.ru and burned a cd with a cool picture of them that i found for the cd cover. he was really excited about it. it was unexpected and it made me happy to send him off to work with a big smile.

4) i tend to not tag. and given that it is the 31st already, well...Share

food freedom

i talked with my lovely friend tracy yesterday. she called to find out if we might be able to make it down to charleston for her winter solstice party. sadly, we can't. BUT, we ended up having a really good conversation about one of the big things i've been struggling with for years. and that is letting go of my food control issues. she encouraged me to write about it. so here goes.

as a radical unschooler, i trust that my children will learn what they need, when they need. i also trust them to decide how much tv they watch, how much video games they play, who they choose to play with, and many other things that i would trust myself to do. i have worked towards learning to give them the freedoms i enjoy as "the adult." but there has always been one thing i struggle to trust them with, one thing i can't seem to let go of. and that is freedom to choose what food they want to eat. sure, i ask them what they want to eat, but their choices have always been limited to what i choose to buy. but there are lots of times when i buy junk food as well. i thought i had gotten to a good place where i was exercising moderation. i wasn't being too strict about food. at least that's what i thought.

before we moved, sadie had been playing at her friend's house. they came over and both had the obvious "kool-aid 'stache." i asked if they'd been having kool-aid, and they both very quickly denied it and said it was lipstick. i knew it wasn't but i didn't worry about it. after we moved, sadie told me that they really had been drinking some sort of red drink. she cried and cried because she had lied to me. she said she didn't know why she lied and she was so very upset. i told her she never needed to lie to me, i wasn't mad about it. and that was that.

since moving here i've had to come face to face with all my food control issues. i'm living with my parents and even though my mom is a raw vegan now, there are still a lot of foods in the house that i wouldn't normally buy. and since i have always given my kids a choice of what's available they have been able to choose these things. i did not always say yes though. i found that more and more i was becoming frustrated about food. the weekends that my niece stays over are the worst because my mom buys food she knows she will eat. which is wonderful and considerate. but i have noticed that those weekends are when i go over the edge emotionally and fall apart.

in the last few weeks i have been trying to let go completely, but i hadn't done a very good job. i was still falling into the habit of saying "no, that's not a healthy breakfast" or "no, you need to eat something good for you." i was completely frustrated. so were my kids. so i started reading more about how other unschoolers have handled this. sandra dodd's website helped immensely. especially the section on food issues. it opened my eyes wide. the idea of letting go has been gut-wrenching. i am not being dramatic, i am not exaggerating. the feeling inside was so strong, i almost felt like i couldn't breathe. if i let go, they might become unhealthy, or overweight. i felt like i was going to puke. but as i read, i found things that rang so true i could not ignore them. i found there are other women with the same emotional food issues that i have. and i realized that i could say YES and my kids were going to be okay. they would not end up with all the issues i have about food. but was it too late for them?? were they already caught up in my issues. they refer to foods as "good" and "bad." would i be able to undo that?

after reading several things about food control that i printed from sandra's website, i talked with sadie again about what had happened before. again, she cried. she was still hurting about this. sadie has lived with a lot more of my extreme control times than the boys and she is the one who resists me the most and is the most frustrated about food. interestingly, as a side note, samuel lived about half his life with no television in the house and he is the one who needs to gorge on tv the most. so we talked about her feelings about my food control. she says she mostly wishes we could have more yummy drinks, something besides water. because she knows that we have other sweet treats occasionally but drinks are even more rare, she wants that the most and doesn't seem frustrated about other treats. drinks are her holy grail. she was still very upset about having lied to me. i knew that what we discussed before was not helpful at all for her. my saying it was okay and that i wasn't mad did nothing to start the healing process for her. this time, i talked about the situation that i alone had created that caused her to feel the way she did and to feel like she couldn't trust ME, not the other way around. she had felt like her lying would cause me to not trust HER. that was why she was so upset. plus the fact that she was still feeling deprived and didn't know what to do with those feelings. didn't know how to NOT want those drink treats. she just wanted them. after talking this time, she seemed happy, completely relieved, peaceful.

yesterday was my first big day of saying yes. i cannot describe the way i felt all day. i felt lighter. i felt free. i realized in this one particular moment that by saying yes to them, i could also say yes to myself. i no longer had to deny myself. i could begin to heal too. i did not feel the need to eat all day like i usually do. it was very weird. i tend to eat out of boredom an awful lot. yesterday i just kept feeling okay. just calm and okay. i wanted to go to the store just so i could say yes when the inevitable asking for candy in the check out aisle came. and when i thought about that i was even lighter. i realized that i CAN say yes ALL THE TIME. there is no reason whatsoever to say no all the time. it's not like they are asking for a $40 video game, or a $20 doll. it's a 50 cent piece of candy. or sometimes it's a $2 box of mac n cheese. or a $3 bag of doritoes. why can't i say yes to that?? my reasoning before was that if i said yes once that they would always ask, would always expect a yes. that i would set a precedent. why didn't i see that even when i said no all the time, they were still asking?

my kids were all breastfed on demand. i trusted my tiny little babies to know what they needed, when they needed it. and i gave it to them willingly, joyfully, freely! of course, that was easy because what is healthier than breastmilk, it's easy to say yes to "good" food. but thinking about this has helped me make more sense of this letting go process. i'm reminded of reading about how people mistakenly weaned their kids by saying no more and setting limits on when nursing could take place. the saying no only made the kids ask more. they were increasing their odds of getting a yes. little kids doing probability and statistics, imagine that. they are so smart.

and now i'm going to share something i have never talked about to anyone. not even scotty. it is something i have always felt frustration about towards myself. i have always had a feeling of scarcity about food. especially when it comes to things i crave. like potato chips. when we have them, i want them all. i hate seeing them disappear. i feel like there will not be enough of them to satisfy my wanting them. it is the reason i ALWAYS use a bowl. if i don't, if i sit down with the whole bag, i will eat them all!!! i have always thought that this was because i was greedy and selfish. i feel so embarrassed about it. it causes a lot of anxiety for me because i am so intent on "eating healthy" yet i want all these "bad" foods. when i read the other moms' stories about this very same thing on sandra's site, a well of emotion opened up inside of me and i wanted to just cry and cry. i was not alone. i don't remember a lot of details about my childhood. what i do remember though is that my mom was always struggling with her weight, she was always on some diet or other. nothing seemed to really work for her and it made her unhappy. i think i worry about food because of this. i have a lot of fears about gaining weight although i've never been overweight. i think i transfer those fears to my kids. i want to protect them from all the difficulty that comes from being overweight and unhealthy. scotty started gaining weight when he was about 9 and has never been thin. i see how he struggles with his body image and it just reinforces my need to protect my kids from that. i remember talking to ren about this craving i always have for chips. we weren't even talking about food restrictions, it was just a regular conversation and something or other about what foods people crave came up. and she said to me "i wonder how many bags of chips you'll have to just eat and eat before you feel like you've had enough and feel satisfied and no longer deprived." at the time, i understood what she meant because we had also been talking about how kids need to gorge on tv or video games when they've been controlled/limited. i never really thought she was seriously suggesting i do that. i thought she was making a joke and referencing the other discussion about limitations. i think now that she was serious. i hadn't considered that letting go of food control would help with my own need to gorge. or my kids' for that matter. i hadn't gone there yet.

another thing i'm doing is letting go of my judgements about what my kids choose. letting go of my labels of "good" and "bad" or "healthy" and "not healthy." so i'm on the path to letting go. to healing us all. scotty has been talking about after the holidays getting on a strict diet. i think what i'd like for him to do instead is stop feeling guilty about his food issues and to just let himself have what he wants until he no longer feels deprived. and just see what happens. i don't know if all days will be as easy as yesterday was. i think i will probably have moments of still wanting to control. but i know i'm on the right path.Share

music, sweet music

i want to start a radio station. i have always loved the idea of being a dj. i have always loved making mix tapes (and cds now) of what i think would make great playlists. there are just no good radio stations here. i hate it. and i have no cd player in my car so i will often listen to really old tapes. which means i am forever getting nostalgic (like that's unusual for me). i find lately i'm listening to stuff that brings out the teenager in me (again, not really a stretch) and i've taken up my old fashions and put my mommy costumes away pretty much.

i've had some people suggesting some good music to me lately. and that's awesome. thanks guys. i tend to get stuck though. i love my old stuff. and i don't have the patience or time to fall in love with any of the new stuff in the same way i did the old. i watched an awesome 4 hour rockumentary about tom petty last week. oh it was so good. where are all the really talented musicians like that these days. will any of these new guys be around in 30 years?? are there going to be any songs like "refugee" that come on the radio in even 10 years and still sound so amazing you just have to turn it up full blast. tom petty had a big influence on me musically, not to mention my fashion choices...hats, vests, cool glasses, color. but then i grew into another genre of music later on and forgot about all that good music. until i saw the show, and it all came back. so i've got to add him to my playlist of old and new faves.

i was reminded of an old passion recently at the ARGH gathering. we were talking about turning passions into profits and we were just randomly naming our different passions. my friend, ren, and i had quite a few up there and many were very similar. one thing we both wanted to do was something along the lines of a teen/community center. it brought back the memory of a time when i was in high school and my boyfriend and i got this idea we would start an "alternative" teen club. we would call it "the snakepit." gosh, we were so cool. we put up fliers, even did one issue of a newsletter. but the biggest thing we did was when we tried to raise money for it. i borrowed $100 from my sister and we went and bought krispy kreme donuts to sell. well, we sold them door to door telling whoever would listen what it was we were raising the money for. my boyfriend, tired of people not getting it, started telling them we were raising money for a church teen trip or something like that. so we sold them all. i gave my sister back her 100 and with the rest, well it sort of sat around for awhile. long enough for us to realize we probably weren't going to get this thing going. and i went and got myself some kickin' boots. ah well. at that time, a teen center was already open and it was pretty mainstream, but we went anyway and the few times they played INXS we took over the floor. i'm not kidding. we would start slamming around and everyone...everyone...moved back and made a circle around us to watch. ah, glory days. we went to that teen center this past halloween. i guess it had been almost 20 years since the last time i was there. and i danced my ass off...again. i still want to have a great place to go and dance. but i'd just want to dance to MY music. ya know?

anyone want to help start a radio station?

or a cool FAMILY dance place? wouldn't that be something different!!??Share

my latest obsession

okay, i just stumbled across the best site. i thought projectplaylist was ubercool...until i started playing around on this site: last.fm

it's just a lot of fun to find music and create playlists. you can even journal. actually it's real similar to projectplaylist. but new toys are fun even if they're a lot like your old toys!!!

i think this is the link to my profile there:
izzyart
it's not done yet, i just started it. i'll have to come back and work on it more later.

check it out and enjoy.Share

what have we been up to?

it's been a long couple of weeks and it seems like we've been just busy busy busy all the time. silas turned 10 this month and we also celebrated our 13th anniversary (both events are on the same day). we had a nice thanksgiving with family, i helped my mom in the kitchen as much as possible without getting in the way too much. after dinner with my family, we went to visit scotty's brother who recently became a father to a beautiful baby boy...and got to see him for the first time. that was wonderful and emotional for me. a new baby always takes my breath away.

the weekend after thanksgiving was filled with meeting new people and learning new things at the ARGH get together (autodidactic radical gathering of homeschoolers). it was excitement from the minute we walked in the door of the rec center on the first night. we hadn't seen ren or her family since halloween and the kids were excited to play with them again. it was refreshing to spend time with other people who are trying to live an unschooled life, who are struggling with the bigger picture where it isn't just about "education." i learned a lot. one of the big things i have been struggling with is control where food is concerned. i came away from the weekend with renewed energy to focus on that issue and to know that it's MY issue and not anyone else's. and to let go just a little bit more. the first night was all about just meeting and playing some games. that was really really fun. i often have a hard time learning new games, it's a good thing there were so many kids and adults willing to tell me just one more time how to play them. finally, i just have to play to really get it. the next day was held at a different location where we had an ATC table, a video game station, lots of toys to choose from and rooms to play in and a kitchen for making ice cream in a bag. the structure was organic and we made it up as we went along. the kids saw the adults sitting around talking and writing on sticky notes and white boards and decided to go into one of the other rooms and do the same thing. it was awesome. the next day was a more informal gathering (is that possible?) at ren's house just to hang out. poor little jalen was sick but consented to have company. the kids played in and outside, playing dress up and board games. scotty got there around 7 or so and finally got to meet everyone, then we played the bean bag toss game which he loved. steve did our human design charts and explained them to us. we didn't leave until almost midnight. i was pooped out the next day and thought i was getting the flu but just needed to rest all day long.

so that's our life in a nutshell the last few weeks. just the highlights. because, of course, there's always much much more.

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dreams

i was emailing my bff and i thought "this might make a decent blog entry since i've been so lazy and not done one lately." i had this long rant in my mind of a post that was going to be really interesting about having gone to a homeschooling talk and how i got irritated and walked out. but i just got over it and didn't feel like it anymore. maybe some other time when my feathers are ruffled again, i'll share that story. but here's a bit from my email about dreams:

back to your question about dreams. "i have so many dreams. do you ever feel that way?" yes, i feel that way so often it hurts. i just want so much this life or that one. paths i might've taken. things that maybe i could still do on this path as well. i dream of having land. to build a house with my own two hands and have a garden. i also want a store front, a retail and gallery space for local arts and crafts. there's a space for rent and another space for sale in downtown jonesboro. i think about that a lot lately. i have a food wagon idea. i dream about being a singer/performer of some kind. i want to dance and being in this space right now i can't really. i danced my ass off at rascal's halloween eve though. fun dancing not lyrical/serious dancing. i dream of building cabins for a retreat of some sort but then i imagine it would be hard dealing with people in that way and i'm not sure. i dream of living completely alone. in a little house. with very little inside of it. a bed, a table, a lamp. and a studio room. and lots of flowers. i dream of having more children, which i won't but it comes to me sometimes that i might like to. i dream of writing. stories, songs, poems. i even dream (real ones while i'm asleep) that i've written an amazing song and i'm singing it and i've gotten it written down and at some point i realize it's a dream and i tell myself to try really hard to remember it when i wake up. but i never do.Share

our busy first month back home

well, i thought i would start off my coming back to blogger with a little bit about our first month back home again in tennessee.

we started out enjoying the mountains again right away. it is amazing how quickly (if you can call 3 years quick) that i forgot how beautiful it is here. the rivers and mountains took my breath away.

spending some quality time with friends and family was a long time coming as well. our 2nd week here we went to our first sofh group in years. and it was almost as if no time had passed. a new building and kids that did not really remember each other didn't stop everyone from feeling right at home.

the kids have gotten to spend tons of time with their cousins again. sometimes a mixed blessing, but always an experience to remember. and being able to grow up around family is something i really want them to have.

going hiking again is something we looked forward to but i was unsure whether we would actually get out and get back into that habit again. i shouldn't have worried. we have gone to the mountains almost every week, sometimes twice a week since getting back. i now realize how out of shape i've gotten walking around on perfectly flat ground.

next we met some new friends that we had only known briefly through email. and we are so glad we did. we have so much fun with them! we got together once at rock creek, played in the very dry pond making obos and taking lots and lots of pictures.


another big adventure was the cutting of silas' hair!! something i hadn't thought we would be doing so soon. but it was time. and he feels a lot better. and if this is even possible, he has more energy now!! he's enjoying being able to play with gel and spike his hair ocassionally. he's even talked about dying it blue sometime.

we made cookies with sofh and had a really great time meeting yet another great family (beth and her daughter elise, who decided that silas would be her boyfriend!) and got all sugared up!! i think i had just as much fun as the kids did (if not more) rolling out the dough and making cookies to decorate!!

and then there's the day we became slug and snail pet owners!! not much i can say about that except, it was more interesting than i thought it would be. we now have 3 cages of them, one has eggs in it and we're waiting to see what happens there.

and then FINALLY, FINALLY, we got together with our best friends in the mountains. the CG clan! and as usual, they made awesome food for us. cornbread that was all fresh ingredients right off the farm. beans that tasted so good i was almost sure there had to be lard in it...but there wasn't especially for us!! the kids played games and ran around outside and when it came time to go home, they didn't want to. i came away from the day with a very eye-opening lesson on what it really means to conserve water and it has been something i have carried with me every day since. implementing new ways to do things that i would not have thought of before.

halloween was celebrated in two days. on halloween eve we went to a family event at rascals teen center in kinsport. i hadn't been there in almost 20 years and i had just as much fun dancing as i did back then. the kids dressed up and had a really fun time running around the place, eating free pizza, doughnuts, and sodas. i ran into a friend from college AND a friend from high school and traded email addresses. samuel won the costume contest for his age group...very cool! he was the grim reaper, silas was a zombie, and sadie was a witch.

on halloween night, we got together with ren and her gang again for a wandering about in downtown jonesborough and then trick-or-treating in a nearby neighborhood. the kids got so much candy, and shared some with we big folks too old to go door-to-door. at ren's house the candy sorting began as they traded and organized their candy loot. we ate yummy bread and deliciously rich beans (you can't beat having so many friends who will feed you bread and beans!!)

we've gone to my nephew's baseball games and had backporch-firepit banana roasts with grandma. we've eaten at pal's at least 5 times already (we went without it for 3 years, so we had to catch up!). i've helped my dad fix things here and there, started a compost and recycling bin for them. we've learned how to live in a multi-generational home, and see it's benefits as well as it's drawbacks (mostly having to do with space). it's been a full month. i can't wait to see what's next!!

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coming back to blogger

okay, i've decided that i'm going to try out blogger again for awhile since most of the people i know are on here as well. it's changed a lot since i last blogged here so i think it will probably be just as good as blogdrive.com, but we'll just see!!Share