Summer Plans

We took our house off the market.  The more we looked around, the more we realized that we had it pretty good right here!  We're planning some major renovations to accomodate our growing family.  By the end of the summer, we hope to have the basement finished.  That means that we'll have a family room we can fit ourselves and our guests into, an extra bedroom that will be temporarily used as a hobby room, and our living room will turn into a dining room.  Eventually we'll knock down the wall between the kitchen and the spare room and make it into a big kitchen/dining room and the living room will be back to a sitting room.   I might even get a new bathroom/laundry room combo and a mudroom!  That's a lo-o-o-ong term project.  I think each 'o' in that word stands for a year.  Maybe even a decade. 

There are plenty of other things to do around here this summer that don't involve mucho mullah.  Here's my rundown:

*go through all those totes in the basement and get rid of all the outgrown & unwanted clothing

*add a couple pear trees to the orchard (I HEART my orchard!)

*make a sitting area on the lawn somewhere...maybe in place of the death trap ornamental pond?

*Waldorficize the backyard.  I'm not very Waldorf, not very Waldorf at all, but I can't help but get super pumped when I think of all the possibilities.  I'm thinking wash station, fairy village, x-tra large xylophone, modified teepee...

*clear out the baby barn of all our junk, sell it and use the money to turn the building into a chicken coop/goat barn. 

*make eyes at Richard and ask for forgiveness for buying a goat.  :)

*charm Richard into loving and accepting the animals as part of our children's education by making a spectacular goat cheese quiche. 

*finally, after 7 years of living here, install the deck (which we have) so that we can use the "out" door in our bedroom.  This leads me to imagine a cute little serving trolley that will stay by the door in our bedroom which I can stock with mini-coffee maker, cookies and good books to entice us to actually use the deck.

*on the school front, I'm nixing summer vacation.  After the March break meltdowns, I'm not going there again!  Let's face it, though - the kids need a break, and so do I.  Since a change is as good as a vacation, we're going to mix things up a bit to have a little fun while still staying in the school groove.  We're going to do some wildcrafting (another reason I love my house.  I know exactly where in the woods the mint, yarrow, burdock, etc grows.) and start on Story of the World.  I'm giddy just thinking about it!

I can't wait for summer!!  

How You Think...

I like this article.

6 Years

This May, Noble Electrolysis celebrates 6 years.  This May, I celebrate a new chapter in my life:  being a full-fledged Stay At Home Mom (SAHM). 

When I first started Noble Electrolysis, I had Maddie.  6 years later, there are three more tykes running around.  Somehow I had it in my mind that once they'd get out of the baby stage, they'd be less demanding on my time.  Not so.  As they've grown, their schedules have gotten more hectic and I've found my precious supply of energy and sanity quickly dwindling.  Finally, I couldn't avoid making the decision any longer.

It was a tough call - on the one hand, the kids.  On the other, my business.  Geez, I don't know....

I chose the kids.

There will be many, many things I'll miss about working from home.  I'll probably regret my decision many times, but it is what it is. 

Wish me luck!

Losing a Tooth

Eva lost her first tooth!  It dangled and jangled for the longest time, but there was no way she'd let us yank it out.  Finally, while we were visiting some friends, it popped out!  Our hostess, J, put it in a baggie so that Eva could bring it home and put it under her pillow.  Sadly, even with the baggie precautions, it got lost in the hub-bub of the evening.  J will probably find it when she is spring cleaning. 

No worries, though.  Tooth fairies don't dwell on the details.  They'll take your word for it if you leave a nice note explaining why your tooth is not in its rightful place.

Here's Evie - one tooth poorer and one dollar richer.

Blue Potatoes

I bought some blue potatoes the other day.  Check 'em out!

They're blue all the way through, and not just on the skin.  I mixed them with normal, white potatoes to make them go further. 

They were scrumptious served with asparagus wrapped proschiutto.

Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grows

I think this is a passage worth thinking over.  It's from Whole Child/Whole Parent, by Polly Berrien Berends (which I have not read, but wouldn't mind taking a look-see);


. . . It is written into the very nature of the oat, pea, bean, and barley to grow into fruitful plants. Nobody questions whether they want to do this, or can. So why do we doubt our children? When the farmer sows a nice, round, healthy oat and it doesn't grow well, he doesn't say, "What's the matter with the oat? It must be lazy or sick or emotionally disturbed in some way." He assumes that something is wrong with the environment in which that oat is trying to grow. Then he sets about trying to perceive what is needed."