Surviving the Suburbs

Blowing My Own Horn?

2013-05-15T19:41:00.001-07:00

The ukulele wasn't my first instrument. Back when I was in junior high, I joined the band. My older sister was also a member of the band, and she played clarinet. I wanted to play the flute, but at my school, we all had to purchase our own instruments - except for those students who chose really big instruments, like the kettle drum. Unfortunately, my parents couldn't afford to purchase a

Some Things I Believe; Some Things I Just Know

2013-05-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

I know better than to respond to some people, because willful ignorance is just such a tedious thing, but sometimes, I just can't help myself. I can't. I don't know why I care to bother, but I do, and I can't just not say something, and so I do, and I always always end up beating my head against the close-mindedness. How does one argue with a person who says, and I kid you not "God put that

Lemonade

2013-05-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

The story starts last week. I had spent the morning running errands. In the afternoon, I had one more errand that I needed to run, and when I got into the car to go, the car wouldn't. It just wouldn't even start. So, we had it towed to a fix-it place, and they kept it there for a couple of days, figuring out what was wrong. At the time, my comment was that if I had to be stranded somewhere

Many Mini German Pancakes

2013-04-22T11:17:00.002-07:00

Deus Ex Machina tagged me on Facebook this morning with a recipe for Mini German Pancakes. German pancakes are a favorite food around here. Heck, who am I kidding? Pancakes, regardless of the nationality, are a favorite food, but what's nice about German pancakes is they can be dressed up with apples (and usually are) and they're cooked in the oven ... although I've used the thin batter to

Bountiful Sunday

2013-04-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

I usually like to sleep-in on Sundays. The rest of the week is so full of things to do, and Sunday is that one day of the week when we don't, usually, schedule things. It's the one day of the week when stuff around the house gets done. This morning, I got up a bit earlier than I usually do on Sunday. The sun was bright, and I knew it was going to be a laundry day. I wanted to get up and get

Home, Sweet, Home

2013-04-16T05:44:00.000-07:00

There was a time - in the not too distant past - when I used to host playdates and get-togethers at my house. It was a fairly regular occurrence to have three or four Moms with kids in tow at my house. We'd sit and chat while the kids played. It was always a wonderful time. The hours before they arrived, however, were not always so wonderful. There was a flurry of washing, sweeping, and

We Got ...

2013-04-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

The garlic I planted in the fall is growing. I grew enough garlic in a 4'x 4' bed last year that I still haven't bought garlic ... and I still have a lot left. I picked up our first ten baby chicks today. We'll raise a total of forty over the whole summer - ten at a time. These are Cornish X, and whatever people say, whatever the complaint, for us, because we have such a limited area in

Catching Up

2013-04-11T08:27:00.001-07:00

I received a note in the mail from a cable provider. It contains the usual marketing gimmicks designed to cause us stress and worry that our lives will be less fulfilling if we don't have their product - "Hurray! Don't Miss Out!" ... "Limited Time Offer!". The message inside said, in big blue lettering, Warming up by the fire is nice. Warming up with over 150 channels is amazing. Really?

The First Sunday After the First Full Moon Following the Spring Equinox

2013-03-31T09:10:00.001-07:00

It's quite possible that Deus Ex Machina and I pay too much attention to the seasons and not quite enough to the calendar. We have five bunnies that need to be harvested, and we've been putting it off. We should have done it last weekend, but got too busy with other stuff, and so today is the day. I hadn't even considered the irony. Big Little Sister pointed it out to me that we're

REuse versus REcycle

2013-03-28T10:02:00.001-07:00

I always glean some little bit of insight when I talk with my parents. I don't know if they are even aware of that fact. Like today, I was talking to my dad, and he said that the community where he lives has just started a recycling program - you know, the blue bins that go out by the road filled with paper, plastic and/or glass that someone picks up and then recycles. He likes the fact that

One More Day

2013-03-18T09:49:00.002-07:00

> I started out this morning writing a post on my thoughts about our society's fixation with zombie apocalypses and TEOTWAWKI fantasies - specifically, about why we seem to be so fascinated by (and hopeful for...?) the idea that our world will end in one big bang that will destroy 90% of the population and leave the remaining few (and we are all pretty sure that we'll be one of the survivors)

Farm Bounty

2013-03-15T14:03:00.000-07:00

The next three days will fall below freezing at night and be above freezing during the day. The sap will be flowing.

Handmaking my Home

2013-03-13T04:00:00.000-07:00

I was gifted a copy of Amanda Soule's Handmade Home . It's been on my wishlist for a long time. Not only is Amanda a friend of mine, but she also is exactly how she seems in her books - very down-to-earth and gentle, soft-spoken, and incredibly talented and creative. The first time I flipped through her book, I knew it was something I would, eventually, own. It's chockful of brilliant ideas

Save the World With a Song

2013-03-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

We walked into music lessons last week, and almost as soon as we were in the door, Andy Happel, my girls' music teacher, handed me an article to read while I waited. I was so moved by what I read that I actually cried a little. The article was written by Karl Paulnack as his Welcome Address to the Boston Conservatory, and what he says, in a nutshell, is that music is the spark of life, and

Music Alone Shall Live

2013-03-05T18:35:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Pat Frank's Alas, Babylon. Written in the 1950s, it's a post-apocalyptic tale of a small Florida town after a nuclear war. It's a good story, and for those interested in post-apocalyptic fiction, I do recommend reading it. Frank doesn't really offer any creative solutions for surviving TEOTWAWKI. In fact, the people were woefully ill-prepared, even in things that one

Hackschooling

2013-02-28T10:51:00.001-08:00

I love TED talks. They are always so inspirational, and this young man (he's thirteen) is no exception. Funny that he's figured it out - already. The question what do you want to "be"? is not the same as what do you want to "do"? Check out Logan LePlante on what we should really be teaching.

When Given the Choice, They Decided Eggs.

2013-02-26T18:49:00.000-08:00

It's a pretty well-known fact that as the days get shorter and colder, chickens don't lay as much. Older chickens, too, tend to lay a lot less than younger chickens. As the year waned, sometime after Halloween, before our pullets were old enough to lay, we were only getting one egg a day or so. By Thanksgiving, we were down to, maybe, three eggs per week. By Christmas, we were no longer

And the next day ...

2013-02-25T05:50:00.000-08:00

Today's temperatures are predicted to be in the 40's, which means this will, probably, be gone by noon. Pity, as it's so pretty ... but look at that blue sky! I should hang out some laundry!

Winter Storms and the Economy

2013-02-24T15:11:00.001-08:00

Deus Ex Machina and I are having a debate - well, not really a debate, per se, but I asked him the question, and I'm asking all of you now - do winter storms have a negative affect the economy? What do you think?

Snowy Daze

2013-02-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

Precious and Little Fire Faery were invited to a sleepover. A snowstorm was predicted with an appreciable accumulation forecast. We decided not to believe the reports and allowed them to stay all night at their friend's house. It was probably not the wisest of moves on our part, as the snowstorm happened - pretty much as predicted - and the drive out to pick them up from the party was a bit

Big Things in Small Spaces

2013-02-21T05:29:00.000-08:00

When I talk about what's possible - not what I have, personally, accomplished, but what's possible -, I'm often met with blank stares or with an it can't be done attitude. Sometimes, it's just a really good thing that I'm pretty stubborn, or that I have this weird little personality quirk that forces me to try to prove wrong the naysayers. But it's not even a life-or-death scenario, or even the

Schooling a New Generation

2013-02-20T21:47:00.000-08:00

I'm very fortunate (and very grateful) to be part of a thriving and active homeschool community. I'm very fortunate (and thankful) that I am given the opportunity to serve a very active role in that community, and not just as a parent/educational facilitator to my children, but also as a teacher. I knew very early in my educational career that I would go to college, and almost as soon as I got

How Do You Spell Spring?

2013-02-15T15:09:00.000-08:00

We spell it m-a-p-l-e s-y-r-u-p. We put in three of our fifteen taps today. The rest will go in this weekend. The sap is flowing!

Prepare to Thrive

2013-02-15T12:07:00.001-08:00

I just received my copy of the March/April edition of Back Home magazine. There's a lot of great information (including a really cool how-to article on building a pallet garden) and an article entitled "Preparedness and the Less Traveled Road" featuring ... me!

Teaching Babies to Read Doesn't Make Them Smarter

2013-02-14T09:31:00.002-08:00

In the US, we spend more money on education than any other developed nation in the world - an average of $7700 per child. No country in the world spends more on education than we do. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. *Attributed to Albert Einstein The problem is for all of the money we spend on education, we're not really