Technical Difficulties...

Work is being done to fix the cute owl layout... please bear with me! :) I am also working to figure out how to remove the orange square that you see currently!

Stay Tuned

ETA: Orange square is removed and previous background has restored. Not sure when I'll get the owl layout back, but at least this is cute enough!

Wrong Side of the Bed

Now, I actually get up on the wrong side of the bed EVERY morning, since I sleep sideways across the bed. This is one of the benefits of cosleeping with W, and not having Owl Poppa in my room. W and I can sprawl all out over the king-sized bed :)

But this morning, I woke up GRUMPY!!!! W was up at least ten times overnight. I don't know if it is teeth, or the full moon, or the alignment of the stars, or what... but man, I have had enough. I can't function on so little sleep. Blech. Not at all the way I had hoped to start out the week.

SIGH

After attempting to get through a few school lessons with J, while W crawled all over the back of the couch and practiced jumping down onto my head, well, I just gave up. I took a shower, loaded all the kids into the car, made a stop at the taco joint drive thru (nothing fixes a bad day lke carb loading... white flour tortillas and a 44 oz Coke... YUM), and headed off to the park.

Thing did get better. Thankfully. We were able to spend some time with my awesome friend J and her kids... check out J's blog here. All the kids got to run around with light sabers. Nothing makes my kids happier than light sabers. :)

We also had a celebrity sighting! There in the playground, pushing kids on the swings and playing in the sandbox, was one of our hometeam basketball players. This wasn't just any old fella... this was Tim Duncan. I mean the guy has won 4 NBA championships. He's been MVP twice and Finals MVP three times (I think... you had best check with Owl Poppa for totally accurate stats). Anyway, here was this awesome upper-eschelon NBA player, sitting in the sandbox at our local park. It was awesome.

Most awesome of all was that none of the folks at the park, dads included, bothered him... not even one autograph request in the hour or so we overlapped at the park... he got to just be a poppa and hang out. I didn't tell the kids who it was until after we left. And J was totally psyched... you know why? Because now he knows approximately how tall Yao Ming is... Too funny. He's been obsessed with Yao Ming lately.

I was frustrated at how little schooling got done today, but glad to be able to call it a day when needed and head to the park to reset. And now we're going to make pear muffins... YAY! Every day is better with muffins!

Pear Muffins (adapted from the La Leche League Cookbook)

2 unpeeled ripe pears, chopped finely

1/2 C honey

1 egg

1/4 C melted butter (or oil)

1 C milk

1 3/4 C whole wheat flour

1 t cinnamon

1/4 t ground cloves

1/2 t salt

2 t baking powder

1/4 C wheat germ

Mix pear and honey in bowl, tossing to coat. Set to the side. In a large bowl, beat egg, butter, and milk. Add dry ingredients except wheat germ and stir to combine. Fold in pear mixture. Fill greased muffin cups around 2/3 full. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Yiled is around 16 muffins.

Boring Posts for Saturday Vol 1

Yay! I'm nothing if not a follower, and I wanna be cool like Dawn and Mary. Thank you Dawn for introducing me to this, and Mary for hosting.

We haven't done very much today at all. We went to the new farmer's market this morning! That was cool. But there were no vendors selling eggs or raw milk, which is what we went for. There was a reggae band though, so the kids liked that.

Then we ran to Costco to get milk and eggs (see the no milk and eggs at the farmer's market above). We also had to get a gift for a birthday party today. We just found out about it recently so there was no time to make anything. We bought books at Costco. I love books! And books are not plastic, lol, which atones for Costco not being locally owned. :)

Then it was off to the pool party. The kids had fun, and I got to reconnect with a few friends I don't see very often. Which is just a shame really. Maybe this summer will be better for get-togethers. Probably not though.

Then it was home to catch up on laundry and wash dishes. My sister in law stopped by to drop off boxes for our upcoming move. So we got to have a nice and short visit with her and her almost-fiancee. We're all anxiously waiting for the announcement. We all sat and chatted amidst the giant piles of laundry waiting to be away. Gotta love people who love you, mess and all!

Now we're all sitting around, eating a hodge-podge supper consisting of leftover pizza, sausages, last night's salad, and canned oranges. And we're happy and full!

So that's about as boring as I can be... now go check out Mary's blog Hope Echoes. And play along if you want... come on, you know you wanna!

Compacting Challenges Already

Man, this is way harder than I thought it was going to be. Not the buying second hand part... not the being patient about my wants and needs part... although I almost had a moment of weekness at Target. The hardest part is the avoiding fast food places and junk food part!!!!

I have been selling some of our excess things, and feeling very proud of the money I've made. It's not much, but I've used it for new school books for next year, traded some things for a baby carrier (more about that in another post), and, well, used it for milkshakes from the drive through. And cheeseburgers. And... doh!

SIGH

I have rationalized it that I am not really spending money on these things... that it is like I've bartered for them. But it's really just rationalizing. I know better.

And the thing is, I know it isn't good for me. I know we have food at home. I know... well I know what I OUGHT to do and it just isn't what I WANT to do.

Blech.

I am not going to let this derail me, though. I will just keep doing better. I need suggestions on some kind of sweet treat I can bring along for myself to keep me out of the drive through window... something yummy that I can buy at the grocery store. Or something homemade and truly decadent (and compatible with eating in the car). Any ideas? And in the mean time, if you see me in the drive through line, yell at me :)

Compacting (Again)

In 2006, way back in the olden days when I only had two children lol, I used to frequent the boards at mothering dot com. It was there that I came across the idea of compacting. Sara at walkslowlylivewildly summed it up nicely here. I was SO onboard. I started in January of 2007, and lasted until we moved in April 2007. Not too shabby! Right around this same time, the San Francisco Compact folks were getting lots of press (it seemed like it to me, but I am sensitive to that sort of thing). S0 it was probably good for me to bow out then, anyway, lest I be accused of (finally) being trendy (don't worry, I'm not).

But the lessons I learned in that time were good for me. It was eye opening to not be able to buy anything brand new. It was work to have to search out something second hand. It was educational to have to decide if that item was worth the work.

I think for me, this is one of those things that seems like it would complicate things, but really makes my life easier. So I'm back on the wagon :)

Here are the rules I'm playing by. I plan to take this one month at a time and just go with it. I am accepting that some months may not be perfect, and that that's okay.

1. Avoid Buying
Is this a want or a need?
Is there something I can DO instead of BUY (I LOVE Cindysporch)?
Can I use something I already have?
Can I wait?

2. Avoid Buying New
Shop Craigslist, thrift stores, etc.
Barter, Borrow, Make something
Be patient
Exceptions: personal care items (includes shoes and underwear), food, supplies for projects or schooling (only after I have gone through step one to decide if we need it or can make due with something else), gifts for birthdays (unless I have time to make something)
If I have honestly exhausted all of the above means, and I am unable to wait it out, purchases should support local or independently owned businesses.

3. Food Rules (since this is something we have to buy)
Minimal convenience foods
Buy local and organic where possible
Shop the farmer's markets first
Minimize packaging, buy bulk, bring my shopping bags
If we do eat out (let's be reasonable folks... this is sure to happen... I can only make so many changes at once) we'll keep it to local establishments

My goals:
Embracing patience
Finding contentment in the present
Combatting my tendency toward instant gratification
Cultivate resourcefulness

... and saving a little money toward that Christmas tree farm in Maine won't hurt.

Commitments

My friend Janet at mami de PAZ is a thinker of deep thoughts. I always love what she has to say about what she's been thinking over. She is someone I admire because she works very hard to live out her beliefs.

I am trying to be more like this. I admit to being an idealist. My problem is that the ideal and the reality don't match often enough.

I love making plans at the beginning of each month. Budgets, homeschool plans, travel plans (I use the term travel loosely since I hate to be far from home). It's the follow-through part that I have alot of trouble with.

Actually, that seems to sum up most of my life. Big plans, little follow-through.

So I am attempting to turn over a new leaf!

I sat down and wrote out all of my values. From there I brainstormed ways to bring my life better into alignment with those values. In some areas, I am right where I'd like to be. In other areas, it is going to take some doing.

And now June is stretching out before me.... full of promise and, well, basically, just not all messed up yet :)

I do plan to post more about all the values things I have been working on, but right now I need to start cooking supper, lol... someone's gotta feed these kids.

I will leave y'all with a fabulous recipe (that has nothing at all to do with the topic above... but it's super yummy and worth trying).

Beer Bread Recipe

• 3 cups of flour
• 1/4 C sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1 t salt
• 12 oz bottle of beer (or a 12 oz can of soda)
• 3 T melted butter

Mix together dry ingredients. Pour in beer (or soda). Mix til it forms a sticky batter. Pour batter into a greased bread pan. Pour melted butter over the top and bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes. Try not to eat it all at once! :) You'll get different flavors from using different beers or sodas. You can also do this with whole wheat flour... it's a bit denser but still yummy! Or add a handful of shredded cheese and serve it with soup... oooh, now I'm drooling! Let me know watcha think.

Cute? Things Kids Say

J, in response to me telling him for the gazillionth time that NO he could NOT go outside:
"You cut me deep mom, you cut me deep"

K, when I was explaining that I needed to try on the sundress before purchasing it:
"Yeah, so you can make sure it doesn't make you look pregnant"

W, because this is all he really says:
"dis? momomomomomomomomomomomom"