Clay girl

Yes I know she is nude. If this is inappropriate for anyone, I do cry your pardon. I think she is beautiful this way. I dont have a good picture of her face, I was thinking of beginnings and the perfection of life at the start of it. I want another baby very badly, and I think that nursing bonds mommy and baby more than anything else! For me anyways... My best friend's son chose to have raku clay as the activity for his birthday party. I had no intent to make a bowl, or a sort of looks like an animal clay production. So I made nothing. Nikki (best friend) told the kids to shut their eyes and think of what they wanted to make, something that meant something to them. So I thought, and came upon a mother nursing a baby. Now I have never touched clay, I dont even like play dough and never did. I dont mind being messy though, so I gave it a shot. I came up with the girl here, and somehow she is a girl rather than a woman. Maybe because she looks like a prehistoric woman, she has the flatter forehead and wider, less protruding chin. Her jaw is wide and thicker and her hair seems clumpier than ours. Some studies show that prehistoric people became adult at young ages. She took me about 4 hrs, I think.

This clay is done by starting with a large piece and sort of carving it off with wet fingers or some tools, carefully. I used a butterknife! I was able to easily form her muscles, at her shoulders and legs. She is very thin, but that is how I look and how I best knew how to form her. Her baby is nursing, though you may not be able to see this. She isnt dry yet, she also didnt make it through the firing. I am glad I took these pictures of her!

I loved the clay, I loved seeing what I saw in my head come to life. I like to draw, and I am okay at it, but not amazing. I love photography but dont have a great camera. But for 11 $ I can buy a big pkg of this clay, and make whatever I like! Once again, I wont be perfect at it, but I loved it. I loved the way it felt, like sewing. I love the way the fabric gives, comes and goes, stretches and pulls.

I am sorry she broke, but she was my best so far masterpiece all the same...

Earthfare

Today I went to earthfare, the local organic grocery store. This may be a widely known chain, I dont know. If it isnt, it should be! I have rarely had such a good shopping experience. The children and I spent about 2 hrs looking around and buying a few things.

Its a bit more pricey, but not as much as I expected. The organic and local grown produce was compareable to stores such as Kroger, Publix and Bilo. Not much more than the commissary actually. Now walmart produce is cheaper, however, my walmart produce can rarely be considered food. And I dont feel good eating it. Something is off! I bought yellow and green squash (zuccini) there recently, and they were like chewing rubber. No, it wasnt my cooking. I can steam veggies!

So we bought lots of produce, even peaches which are ripe naturally. Then we bought some bulk grains, not in bulk but you measure them out yourself. Both ground and unground. Some nuts, trail mix, granola. Then organic soy milk and feta cheese. Also comparable in price. The meat was higher, too high, as was the juice. However, the store is a source for some herbs, essential oils and supplements that I usually order online.

The people there were nice and helpful, and seemed like they wanted to be there. If I worked at a grocery store, it would be earthfare. You think they get a discount???

We are trying to move towards organics and homemade. For several reasons, I dont like the additives, preservatives and hormones in foods. I also dont think that many processed foods (ie premade dinners in boxes, oreo cookies, processed cheese slices which are made of oil) are actually considered food. They fill you, and they come back out a different consistency. But if you eat a lot of them, make sure you take a total vitamin and mineral supplement bc you are not getting any food... Homemade food is also cheaper. I need to find ways to cut back, if I want to buy organics. As they do cost more, and I want to stay in the same grocery budget. I know that my husband will let me spend whatever I possibly want or am able to, but I like budgets.

So thats it, I am becoming more weird by the day!

Family cloth

Off the top of my head, here is an interesting list:

Paper towels
disposable dusters
swiffer wet sheets
swiffer dry sheets
clorox or lysol wipes (or off brand of either)
baby wipes
wet wipes for hands
toilet paper
toilet wand cleaning pads
kleenex
throw away napkins
tampons
maxi pads

Now consider:
Cloth paper towels- a large quantity of cheap washable kitchen towels work for this
Microfiber duster-needs to be washed about every 8-10 household dustings
Microfiber cover for swiffer-works for wet and dry, wash every 3-4 moppings.
For clorox or lysol wipes- home made washies or cheap washcloths
wet wipes and baby wipes-same as above
toilet paper-lets not give that up...
toilet wand pads-well if you are a seamstress, keep the small scraps you would have to throw away otherwise.
kleenex and throwaway napkins- I made muslin ones but some cheap cloths would do.
tampons-this may be a stretch unless you are allergic to tampons but here goes. Diva cup or keeper cup. Amazing items...
pads-once again, a stretch just after TP, but if you are allergic (rash, itching, many uncomfortable problems I wont list here) then its a welcome relief to use washable ones.

So that is my environmental post for the week. I know I am officially weird. My kids will probably grow up and say, why couldnt you have just bought a pkg of paper towels or peanut butter that didnt have to be stirred??? Well, its a risk I must take.

I recently heard a number of people discussing the environment. They had no plans to help it in any manner, they would use disposable bath towels if they were offered. And they dont care because God will come back soon, and make a new earth! Well, lets look at it this way. Do any of you really think that God wants us to destroy what he gave us just because he can make a new one? We are trying to teach our children this on a smaller scale. My son will break something because he isnt paying attention, I will remind him that he must pay attention. His answer used to be, but daddy can fix it! Daddy can fix anything! Well, he sure can fix a lot of things. Things other daddies wouldnt know how, or would just think the trash was the best place for the item. The fixing aside, dont break it bc someone big and kind will come along and help you out. I know that there are verses in the bible concerning this, I honestly dont know them off the top of my head. I WILL research this. My friend Angela often know bible verses that pertain to situations and she will be happy to read up on this with me.

I know that the bible tells us our bodies are the temples of God. So we SHOULD care for them. He gave us a body, to care for until he makes it perfect again. He doesnt council us to trash them because he will fix them. So feed your body well, feed your mind well, and care for the beauty he has granted us. He gave me the dirt, the grass, the trees. He gave the animals home as well, animals we are destroying with our ways. One of the greatest ways to thank him would be to stop throwing away what he gave us.

I am not trying to judge anyone for doing things differently than me. I just recently was able to convert my home to cloth. I used cloth diapers and wipes on my babies largley, but other things were throwaway like paper towels, dusters etc. Now, we are almost disposable free! I think everyone needs to do something, drive a car with good gas milage, use some cloth items, buy cleaners that are bio friendly. We use all biofriendly cleaners and our home smells nice! There are no chemical odors and we know that the cleaners are just as effective at killing bacteria. The cost isnt greater either, and our grocery/misc budget is down 40 every 2 wks with our cloth use and because I trade for bio friendly cleaners.

My plan is to convince people that while they dont have to all the way, they could put in a bit of effort to save some of what HE gave us. Praise with your actions, not just your words.

picture of me

So its not a good picture of me, but its one of the only pictures of me. There are a few family pictures, but few snapshots. Oddly, a 6 yr old doesnt take good pictures!

I was looking for pictures, I wondered how I "looked." I recently began to feel very old and frumpy, not old as in elderly. But the kind of old where I stop caring if I match, dont worry about being in Pjs all day, and wear my house shoes to the store. I worried that surely my husband wasnt pleased with this "me." I laid in bed late and worried about this.

The next morning, I was in the bathroom cleaning up excess toothpaste on the counter top. I looked up in the mirror and was surprised by what I saw. I saw my mom, as I had seen her when small. I remembered suddenly all of these things about her, the things I never even knew how to express then.

Her hair was long, but just there, never fixed. To me this meant, she never said, dont touch my hair. I could twirl it, braid it, brush it. It smelled of shampoo, nothing more. Never stiff from hairspray or gell, she never had to take time out to curl it or blow dry it. She had no makeup, I think there was some mascara in the cabinet but it probably dried out long before it was used up. Her face was just hers, her smile and bright blue eyes were more interesting to a child than perfect blush.

She wore old jeans and t shirts, nothing to mess up. She didnt worry about the baby spitting up, or us touching her while we painted. I loved the sound of her jeans, the way the legs touched when she walked. I listened to this sound at night. If I fell down in the dirt, she picked me up without worrying about dirt, blood or my smelly little kid sweat.

My mom never used perfume, she used plain ivory soap. She smelled of soap, and mommy. Never of anything stuffy or dressy. Even in her church clothes she was the most approachable person I have ever known. Her voice was deep and quiet, and she was calm. She made children feel safe, and comfortable. All kinds of people wanted to be around her, and they didnt know why. Maybe it was because she laughed for real, as if she couldnt help it. With her head back and her hand on her chest, it made me feel good. When I told her something frightening to me, she would often laugh this wonderful laugh and I would know that my imagination had gotten ahead of me. She was my reality, my way to ground.

So in the mirror, I saw my long hair that has no special cut, my blue eyes with no mascara. My favorite t- shirt which is now so thin it cant be worn away from home, my old blue jeans that make that wonderful sound when I walk. My ratty brown shoes, plain shoes, nothing special. I smile at the me in the mirror, I finally see in me what I loved in her. And I laugh, I laugh with my head back and I have to hold my chest as I am laughing so hard it hurts. I laugh for the waiting, the years I waited to be her. I am her, for she is in me. But I am me because she let me be so. I laugh because I have worried for nothing! I am what a child wants and needs, I am someone cofortable for my husband to be with, someone that no one worries about messing up. I am the woman I dreamed of being. I am, exactly what I love.

Family

So I think we are settled on letting our extended families know that I have a blog. Just wanted to say a few things to all who read this and actually may see me on holiday.
Yes I do know that you probably read through my craziest blogs. No, I dont really want to break it down at all, or discuss it. Surely I have forgotten what I posted 4 wednesdays ago. Yes I do want you to read it and see what we are doing, yes I am sorry for posting so sporadically. No I dont spell check and yes I do have run ons on purpose. They amuse me. I do know how to write, matter of fact I am decent at it. But this isnt school so bear with me!
Yes I am interested in your blogs if you have them, if not, please get on that. I DO want to know what you are doing and yes we are going to be in the military forever and will probably live in weird far away places that cost 2 months pay to fly to. And then you have to consider the 2 mo pay to get back... And I know you dont want to live with me, I am overly organizational and usually a neat freak! But then who wouldnt be, my husband puts his laundry NEXT to the hamper and thinks that the robe he wore for 10 min a morning 4 mornings in a row IS worthy of the hamper.
Just kidding, he is great and I know a lot of you who are related to him somehow are interested in what he is doing. He is fixing our house, playing with our children, helping me with my work (the man can sew!), fixing the car(s), pipe dreaming about extra work in the house, studying for school, getting ready to go to warrant officer school, listening to me...
I will put pictures of homeschool stuff, house and car stuff, and updates on my business. I hope that you all have some insight on this life that I love!

Drywalling

These are pictures of our bathroom in progress. Frank is finishing up the drywalling here. It looks good except for the pink! Both the tiles and walls in this bathroom were pink. We are not settled on how to redo the floor yet in a simple/inexpensive way. We redid this bathroom in order to have space for a stairway to the attic. We made a room the entire length of the attic, we didnt finish drywalling up there but its servicable. The attic is where my work things are stored, fabric and inventory mostly. The stairway is where the master bath was. And on the other side of the master bath was a very large closet which we took part of for the bathtub/shower. So now their is a new wall in the closet and the bathroom! We did all the work, though Frank has done more than I by far. Today he finished the hall ceiling where the pull down ladder used to be for the attic.

We hope that the attic and redone bathroom will attract buyers. We also tiled the kitchen and put wood laminant throughout the living room and hall. There is a very nice new dishwasher and we have had work done on the heating and cooling unit. We plan to list soon, a lot of mudding and painting for me to do first!

These are all bathroom pictures, sink is gone because the pc of drywall needed to go behind it.

Homeschool

Okay so here is why I homeschool! Not just because I like them, but because they have a chance at real life experience. Not many kids get to learn their parents trade. My kids help with drywalling, they know what tools to get for daddy, how to unlock the shed to get the tools. My son knows where to get them from in the tool chest! Even I don't know that... They know how engines work- in part. They can both sew, and now Tad can make inserts for the diapers on the serger. I have an attic full of fabric bales and bins now, we organized yesterday. My children can stock bins, pick fabric by style i.e., go get some flannel print in a girl color. Nathalie will bring down as many choices as she can carry. Tad knows the difference in hemp fleece and cotton fleece, by the weight, the feel of the fabric.

I learned long ago that I sew not only because I know how but because I listen. I know thats crazy, but this is my blog thus my crazy spot. I hear fabric, I dont just feel it. I can listen to it, know how to pull and push it, when to let the machine take it so it doesnt get too stretched out. I cant teach someone to listen, I can only hope they hear. As children, we all heard. My children do hear, I dont have to explain it. I try and they can tell me what I mean, what I am trying to say. They understand, dont worry mommy. I know what you mean.

This is my greatest advocacy for homeschool. My children understand herbs from nikki, nursing from nana, cars and houses from daddy, sewing from mommy. And they can read, write, do arithmatic and know who hitler was. And who American Indians are, and how many continents there are, and the order of the planets in the solar system, and why the moon follows us at night...