News of no import.

Man, we have had some amazing food lately. Wild game gumbo (which also included chicken and chorizo, but also had bunny and squirrel), pulled pork, and last night...bangers and mash. My husband is a whiz in the kitchen, but I feel bad sometimes because I swear, he spends 99% of his time at home in the kitchen. I really need to get off of my duff and cook that man a meal. He's on a roll these days, though, and I hate to interrupt.

Deschooling is going well. When the boyo came back from his Florida vacation, the very first morning, he got up and turned on...drum roll please....a nature show. Not cartoons. A show about the planet's deadliest animals. Yes, on purpose. There has been much watching of "Clash of the Gods" around here (thank dog for the DVR), as well. Last night they were watching the one about Perseus, and it was talking about how Medusa came to be a Gorgon. I had told boyo that he could watch them all, and there was no problems, but how do I explain to my 7-going-on-8 son what rape is, and why Medusa's tale is so tragic?? Better yet, how do I decide whether to go back on my word and turn that off and tell him he CAN'T watch it, and STILL have to explain why? At one point, there is talk of how Zeus fathered Perseus, and I made the comment, man...Zeus really needs to keep his penis to himself. And of course, I had to explain that. Some days it's difficult to know what concepts are too adult, and what concepts need to be explained. We had a playdate with some unschoolers yesterday that would've went ever so much better had I not overdosed on caffeine and made myself very ill. *facepalm* It was nice to get out, though, and lovely to see friends.

This weekend I managed to pick up an electric skillet on the cheap for batiking. Hi ho temperature control. Maybe this will assist the wax in penetrating the muslin better. I, of course, am absolutely stocked with ideas. I need to start writing some of this stuff down, because maybe some day, I will actually be able to have a few hours free in which to work on crafty projects.

Speaking of crafty projects, it will be the seventh wedding anniversary for me and the mister in a couple of weeks. Wool is one of the seventh anniversary materials, so I am knitting him a pair of convertible mittens. He spends a lot of his limited free time out in the woods, and I'm sure they'll come in handy. Hah. Har har. Handy.

Still waiting on our appraisal from the bank for the short sale. We're really in a holding pattern now. We have a possible rental, but it's currently got tenants, so I'm not sure if it will be made available to us or not. We both have our hearts set on it, it's on 8 acres and the house is just barely big enough for us, and within our budget, and it all seems too perfect...I am just waiting for something to come up and mess it up. *sigh* Gotta keep our highest good in mind, not "me me me what i want gimme gimme gimme". It's owned by my friend's mother, and I've talked to her about it, but it's really her son's, so...we'll see. Lots of convolution goin on there.

Until we find a bigger place, or a place with a basement, I have zero room to craft and sew and create...I think since we already have an offer, it's time to take the bed out of the third bedroom and try to re-organize it and maybe get some projects moving. The other problem is that by the time I get little stinker bean to bed, I am exhausted. Who else has a baby that doesn't go to sleep until 10 and gets up at 8?! CMON. How is THAT fair? And she still wakes up 4-5 times a night, too. Sometimes more. AND thrashes about in her sleep. You cannot keep this child still. Not that I'd want to, but she's far removed from how boyo was at this point. Good thing there's so many years in between them, because his babyhood is just a distant memory now, and I hate comparing (although I often do).

I am trying to convince the mister that we need to order seeds, just in case we do wind up in the house we really want in time for planting. The biggest problem is that we've always started our seeds, and only bought transplants as needed. If we do get the rental we want, and the garden is approved by the landlord (which I'm sure it will be), I'm hoping it'll be planting prime time (think April or May). But because it's not a given, I am terrified to start seeds and then wind up somewhere where they'll go to waste. I guess we could go with transplants this year, if all goes well. I am also so nervous about the timing, because if the bank decides to hurry up and approve the short sale (fat chance THAT'LL happen), there is a contingency in our offer that says we have to be out within 30 days. What if the house isn't available? What if what if what if? Luckily, if we do get to rent the house we've got our hearts set on, there will be plenty of room for transplants, and maybe I can finally order some transplants from Richo Cech @ Horizon Herbs. And maybe we can build a portable hoop house....

In other fun food news, we just ordered half a pig. And I got my 10 pounds of bacon from the bacon co-op. And just placed a sizeable order for dry staples from Country Life Natural Foods. And I'm about to order a bushel of oranges from a grower in Florida for putting up. I wonder if I can make fruit leather with citrus? I'd really like to get my hands on some key limes directly from a grower, I should probably check localharvest. I also need to make some soda with the eldest, our water kefir grains are probably as ready as they'll ever be, if I didn't kill them. It's so cold to start a sourdough culture, but I think I'll start that today too. And strain yogurt for whey. Of course, this is all dependent on getting my disaster of a kitchen cleaned up. Good food makes a good mess, that's for certain.

In fun non-food news, Herbal Roots Zine is having a giveaway for their latest issue, which features Birch medicine. Second place winner gets birch medicine supplies from Mountain Rose Herbs. I am quite partial to Mountain Rose. If I can't get it locally, I order from them (some of the time). You can check it out and enter a chance to win here.

Some day, I will have the time to make all the medicines I want. For now, I'll just do what I can.

a long overdue update, part...whatever.

um, wow. so, it's been a few years. a lot has happened, a lot has changed. I'm re-taking-up-the-hobby of blogging. I do a lot, and I like to share, a lot. Or maybe that's overshare?

In any case, cliffs notes version.

November 2009 - got help for my drinking problem. Happily sober since 11/23/09. Hard work, sometimes it sucks, but overall, I've never lived such an awesome, happy, authentic life, and I get to do cool things now, like...oh, I don't know...act like a grownup. Have real relationships. Be happy. Take responsibility for myself. Live in the now. Live with integrity. Moving on...

February 2010 - start living my dream and working full time as a massage therapist.

August 2010 - Find out I am pregnant with my second child. Know I want to do things much differently. Join an amazing super secret local group of attachment parents.

September 2010 through April 2011 - hardest pregnancy ever. Well, I mean, by comparison. Had to quit doing massage therapy. LOST weight being pregnant. Sick, painful, ouchie. Get ready for the birth and care of new sweet baby girl, whom, I might add, is extremely feisty in the womb.

December 2010 - take up fiber arts in the form of knitting. This is followed by crocheting (a little bit) and spinning my own yarn (hardly, but I have the supplies). Also, hand embroidery (taken up earlier in the year) and machine embroidery (taken up earlier in the year).

April 2011 - Sylvia Fae is born. Her birth kicks my ass. 40 hours of labor, vomiting, dehydration, horror, 51 minutes of pushing with her having her back rotated towards my side, me screaming all the time about how my hip is breaking... I would do it again in a heartbeat. Most amazing, breathtaking, powerful experience I've ever had.

One week later - realize my exclusively nursing babe has a cleft palate. Uh, no, they didn't realize in the hospital. *sigh* Break out the pump and start pumping for her. I am happy to say I made it six and a half months attached to that horrible device, through 4 rounds of severe mastitis, raynauds, plugged ducts, thrush, falling supply, and plenty of naysayers. Many make it longer than I, but I am at peace.

April through August 2011 - my beautiful daughter spends most of her time screaming her lungs out. Does not sleep much. Mostly just screams and cries. The dreaded colic.

August 2011 through present - my daughter rocks. She has turned from a screaming demon into this amazing, beautiful, fun, happy baby, and I credit that entirely to attachment parenting. Cosleeping, babywearing, the works.

October 2011 - go back to work a couple of days a week as a spa manager/massage therapist. Put our house on the market for a short sale.

December 2011 - pull my now 7 year old son out of school for home schooling.

December 2011 through early January 2012 - fail miserably at deschooling, making us all miserable. Back to the drawing board.

Which brings us up to today! My son has been on vacation with his grandparents for 8 days, and I miss him terribly, and am looking forward to actually DESCHOOLING when he gets home.

Working on other fiber arts...tie dyed some stuff for my daughter the other day, turned out awesome. Tried my hand at batiking, turned out sucktastic. There are some supplies I need that can be had cheap that I plan to acquire shortly before I make another go-round.

On the home front, we're waiting for a determination from the bank regarding an offer we got. This may take some time. I'm so sad to see our home go, but have made peace with it, and await our next adventure. I will miss our gardens, and want to dig up our perennials and take them with us (strawberries, asparagus, blueberry bushes, various herbs), but that'll have to wait until we find a place, which will be a rental for quite some time anyway. The amazing part about being inspired is that no matter where I go, it will always be home, because I'll make it so.

Current kitchen magic - just pulled off a batch of homemade yogurt from our milk share. It's chilling for a bit, then I'll strain half of it for the whey and probably lacto-ferment something. It's been awhile, but all of a sudden I'm manically (is that a word??) inspired. Husband made wild game gumbo the other night, holy christmas. There's some kitchen magic if there ever was some. I need to pick up some rice flour to start a sourdough culture (yep, still GF). And I've also got water kefir grains out, anxiously awaiting A's return home, so we can make some "soda". Contemplating ordering a bushel of oranges to put up, also paid for and waiting for a ten pound order of local bacon (meat candy co-op? amazing), considering a half pig and a quarter cow from a local farm. It's really hard to come up with cash up front, but there goes a ton of our grocery budget for the whole year, if we can just scrape it together.

So! Onward! I'll be closing down my tumblr which was sporadically updated and shifting the posts over here if I can backdate posts, and I'll be moving on!