An Apologetic Absence

Posted on April 25, 2012 by cheryl

I haven’t intended to be absent from here for so long but I’ve been lost in my own thoughts and trying to put some reorganization back into our home.

We recently watched (after W was in bed, of course!) a few documentaries that have left an impression on us. The first was Forks over Knives and the second was 2012: Time for Change. While both were ideas both my husband and I had discussed frequently in the past, it was nice to have visual reminders of some of the things that are important to us. In addition, it’s nice to have that resparking of imagination and creativity, for plans for the future, for a move towards a more fulfilling and more sustainable.

We have been focusing a lot on getting our house “in order.” To me, at least, this means a tightening of the belt, an adherence to the budget, to take care and appreciate what we already have rather than what we don’t. To make do and mend — not purchase new. None of these ideas are new, of course, but it’s good to be reminded of what truly feels important to us.

While my husband and I were house-hunting, we briefly found the house of our dreams. It was an old, renovated bungalow with a huge porch and an even bigger backyard. We were in love. Of course, the engineer’s report mentioned that the lack of a stable roof and the wobbly foundation meant larger down-the-road trouble and my husband and I reluctantly moved on in our search.

We settled for a not-so-big house in the suburbs in a subdivision that had a lot of what we felt was most important. It wasn’t huge (or even big, for that matter!), it has a nice backyard and miles of trails that run behind our house and connect us to other neighborhoods. It wasn’t quite what we anticipated ourselves buying, but we’ve found kindred spirits in our neighbors and that we love our house, despite not being our complete “dream” home.

I mention this because a lot of our plans for the future include ways to make our house more aligned to us and our inner selves. Keeping that in mind, here are some of our plans for the future:

-a wooden clothesline for drying clothes year-round

-a compost bin

-an herbal medicine garden

-a larger vegetable garden next year

-replanting beds and areas of our yard with herbs, fruits, veggies, etc. everything should be edible/usable

-chickens + chicken coop (this may be a joint project with our neighbor. It seems more and more likely that we’re just going to combine yards, lol)

-don’t buy anything new.

-quietly and slowly replace plastic w/ non-plastic alternatives (this is a great website for thinking about some items you can’t imagine the non-plastic version of.. like toothbrushes!)

-look for non-electric alternatives whenever possible (my husband has his mind set on a bicycle-powered washing machine!)

What are some other ways you and your family have worked towards a more sustainable life or house? I’d love to hear!

The First Salad

Posted on April 10, 2012 by cheryl

One of my favorite moments of spring is the perfect spring salad – freshly harvested lettuce with crisp radishes and local goat cheese. Every year, I look forward to the first bites of the salad, happy to know that spring is finally here.

Over the weekend, we harvested the first salad from our tiny garden plot. Everytime we’re outside, H always comments how happy seeing things alive and growing makes him feel. I have to agree. There’s something so comforting about being nourished by your own land and work.

So, this weekend, we enjoyed our first salad. With any luck, there will be many more in our future!

Happy Easter!

Posted on April 9, 2012 by cheryl

It’s a day late, but we were so caught up with celebrating, playing and being outside over the weekend that this is the first opportunity I’ve really had to sit down.

It was so funny watching W yesterday. Though we had his easter basket on our dining room table, he immediately identified it as something different and started investigating almost immediately. The first things he grabbed, of course, were the two Ostheimer figures. He played with the onyx and wooden eggs and then we spent some time coloring in the living room.

While cooking breakfast, I also tried my hand at hot cross buns. I’m by no means a baker, but this recipe was so easy and the buns were amazing! They turned out so light and fluffy with just the right hint of sweetness. I’d definitely recommend it for anyone wanting to try them out. This batch made enough that we all had some and we were even able to share with the neighbors.

How did your family celebrate the holiday?

Water Painting

Posted on April 6, 2012 by cheryl

I originally saw this idea on someone else’s blog (and my apologies that I can’t remember where), but I thought it was simple and brilliant. I’ve been trying for awhile to get W interested in coloring but his affections are so scattered that it’s difficult to get him engrossed for long. As W is happy with an opportunity to splash around in the animals’ water bowl, I thought he may pick up on “water painting” a bit easier than coloring.

We also water “painted” a ball and then practiced lapping up the water with our brush. Though not really the success I had imagined, it was still fun. (And, in fairness, lasted longer than coloring would have.)

A Simple Window Star

Posted on April 5, 2012 by cheryl

I wish that some of the other things on my to-do list (ahem, blanket!) were going as well, I did manage to make two window stars earlier this week. Despite appearances, they are actually quite easy and quick to make. I was able to make this one while papa was on bath duty with W.

The finished star inspired to me to order the book Window Stars so that I could try out some other patterns. I can’t wait to make more though I suspect the small package of kite paper I have won’t last me too much longer. (Used copies on Amazon start at just $0.55 if anyone is interested in making some yourself!)

Other than that, not too much new to report. I’ve got some knitting ahead of me today, I think, and a long day of work. I don’t see how other mamas find exciting things to blog about daily. Or, perhaps I’m just expecting the wrong things.

A Simple Wooden Puzzle

Posted on April 3, 2012 by cheryl

Over the weekend, W and I finally had a chance to visit a local homeschool store that we have been trying to visit for months. Every time it seems we have an opportunity to stop by, they’ve been closed.

I wasn’t disappointed by the store. In fact, it was crammed full of curriculum of all types. From Waldorf to mainstream, from beeswax candles to robot kits, from Stockmar crayons to dinosaur puzzles–the store had almost anything a homeschooling family could ask for. It wasn’t quite the store to allow a curious toddler carte blanche so we weren’t able to stay as long as I would have liked, but while I was there, I stumbled upon a wooden cedar puzzle.

It was wrapped in plastic wrap and hidden in the back, on a shelf with a mix of random items. Just earlier that morning, I had been looking at these beautiful hand painted wooden puzzles at Blueberry Forest (and bemoaned that none of them were in stock). Immediately, I held onto it with the intent to bring it home and to give it new life.

I soaked the wooden pieces overnight in a small bowl of water. The next morning, I dried them off and spent a few minutes assembling the puzzle. (It was more difficult than I expected, as it was unpainted and hard to discern which side was the “correct” side.) After the puzzle was together, I spent about 30 minutes watercoloring the pieces into a rainbow-inspired array of colors.

I’m pleased with the end result, though you can see that it would benefit from a nice beeswax polish. I love how the colors took unevenly and how the beautiful cedar grain is visible, despite the paint.

I hope W enjoys the puzzle as much as I enjoyed finding it and painting it. It’s funny how sometimes you can stumble upon the very thing you’re looking for when you’re least expecting!

Willing.

Posted on April 2, 2012 by cheryl

During the first part of Thinking, Feeling, Willing, I’ve been working a lot on “willing” — you know, the act of actually doing versus the art of just thinking about doing. I’m guilty of the latter a lot.

Some of it is the way I’ve always been. I tend to have spurts of high energy where I can get a lot accomplished. Other times, I get distracted/busy/disinterested and move onto other things and my follow through can be abysmal. The other part is the exhaustion that I find seeping into the limited quiet hours I have. I’ve been known to create lengthy to-do lists in my mind as I am putting W to bed… only to find that when W is happily asleep, I’m so tired that all the energy I can find directs me to the couch.

I’ve been trying to look within myself to figure out how I can make myself more accountable. I’ve been trying to acknowledge the small parcels I have throughout the day where I can maybe use my time more valuably.

Inspiration:

Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep Cosmetic Database – Maybe this is a strange source of inspiration, but I found myself looking up a lot of the natural and organic products we have lying around. It’s scary to see the links between ingredients you thought were safe.. only to find that they’re not. My goal is to replace all of our personal care items with items that get a rating of 0 or 1 on this database.
Frugally Sustainable – I think I stumbled across this following the link from another blogger. This is a terrific blog that’s full of homemade recipe ideas from everything from making homemade (and safe!) insecticides to your own skin care.
The Angelica Home Kitchen Cookbook is full of amazing vegan recipes. We tried the Moroccan-inspired tagine last night and it was incredible. I had two servings and I’m pretty sure that J went back for more, too.

The most important part of willing, though, is to not just be satisfied with being inspired but to actually use that inspiration productively–to not sit around and watch old television episodes at night when W has fallen asleep, the house is semi-clean and I’m half an hour away from sleep. I thought that perhaps one of the ways I could keep myself accountable was to share some of my “to do” list here. I’ll check in next week and note my progress. If you want to join in, feel free to share a blog link to your to-do list. Accountability is always more fun with a friend!

To Do:

Finish W’s blanket. (I have one stripe left – I can do it!)
Make Waldorf window stars. (Tutorials here and here.)
Finish W’s easter basket. (Even if this means only collecting a few odds and ends to complete it.)
Begin organizing/decluttering the crates of paperwork I’ve accumulated

As you can see, it’s not a lengthy list, but it’s at least a start! What’s on your list?

This Week..

Posted on March 23, 2012 by cheryl

I’m thankful for…

: the birds’ early morning songs – it’s reminding me to be thankful for each early morning I have

: the way that lighting a candle upon waking helps me to be mindful of the gentle way the earth starts its day

: amazing neighbors who we love and we’re so excited for!

: the reminder of how therapeutic knitting can be

: our new carpet shampooer which has breathed a little life back into our living room carpets which, in turn, has breathed new life into us!

: the funny way that creating a rhythmic meal plan has changed my son’s sleeping habits

What are you thankful for this week? Leave a comment and link to your blog here!

Happy Spring Equinox!

Posted on March 20, 2012 by cheryl

It seems as if only in this house can a mama set an alarm for 5:30am as a well-intentioned method of carving some time in the morning for herself only to succumb to spending the first hour before work laying in bed with a sleepless toddler. At least, though, today’s diversion lasted only half an hour. Perhaps by tomorrow morning, I’ll have the entire hour and a half!

(Something is dreadfully wrong with my camera – I need to look into having it fixed!)

Needless to say, life goes on! Today marks the first official day of spring and it’s started here in full-spring fashion. We’ve had early morning thunderstorms the last few days and this morning was no exception. (Our garden is grateful!) The birds are singing and I’ve decided to start my mornings by candlelight to allow myself to gradually wake up with the day.

Over the weekend, I worked on a small display for our dining room table to bring in spring and the upcoming Easter holiday. I found the adorable egg candles over the weekend and was inspired to make a simple tray of pale spring colors with eggs, rose quartz and small branches.

We also spent some time drawing on our kitchen’s chalkboard wall. Of course, as you see, toddler minds are constantly at work. It wasn’t long before W remembered he could feed the dog, so off he went!

I’ve got the second week of our spring menu plan worked out. (Hint: you can find a link to the first week over there on your right!) My plan is to add this week’s menu to the same link so that you can have access to both in one tidy place.

How are you celebrating the equinox with your family? Do you have any traditions?

Exhale

Posted on March 17, 2012 by cheryl

It was a long week, peppered with maybe the start of a growth spurt and several nights of poor sleep. Friday, after work, we just needed to get out of the house and exhale.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back with photos of our newly updated spring nature table and tales of how a toddler spends his afternoons.