a home for my heart

Secret Weapon: Podcasts

2020-03-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

When I need to keep the kids happy and quiet and I don't want them staring at a screen, I turn on a podcast (or an audiobook). Once we turn on a podcast, especially one where the story spans multiple episodes, my kids can listen and play relatively quietly for up to four hours! (Though the average is more like two hours.)

Podcasts are especially helpful for Orion, who craves audio stimulation and can go crazy if he doesn't get enough music or stories in his ears.

Listening to podcasts is a great way to slip in some fun education or literacy. The best podcasts appeal to both parents and kids. Here are some of our family's favorite podcasts (and why we like them).

How do you listen to podcasts?

Sometimes you can listen right on the podcast's website. But you can also use a dedicated podcast app or software.

I like Castbox.fm (app and web) and Spotify. Google Podcast has a super simple user interface. Stitcher is popular. Lost Boy uses iHeart Radio. And Apple users can use iTunes.

Our Favorite Five for Kids

Brains On! We love Molly, Mark, and Sanden (and now Bob and Gungador, too!) Each episode features a child co-host (or two) who have sent in a question that Molly explores. The questions are usually science related, and we hear from answers from experts all over the nation. There are funny skits, and Mystery Sounds, and curious kids in every show. This show is one that parents can enjoy as much as kids. And! it counts as science if you're homeschooling (or isolationschooling). If you sign up for their Fan Club, the team sends you questions to consider and activities to try at home that are related to new episodes. Also, once in a while they send you swag. We just got some cool stickers last week. This is probably our top favorite show.

Smash Boom Best is a debate show done by the same team as Brains On! They set up a debate with guest debaters, then follow a prescribed format to argue it out. Lest you think this might be boring for elementary age kids, their topics range from Pizza vs. Tacos to Robots vs. Aliens to Unicorns vs. Dragons to Piranhas vs. Venus Flytrap. And lest you think it's too silly, they have resource materials that such as a score card so your child can decide which side was more persuasive, and a bingo sheet so your child can listen for logical fallacies (or animal sound effects). They also have a half-time segment "designed to show you how to build strong arguments and how to spot weak ones." This one is potentially educational, if you play it right. ; )

The Alien Adventures of Finn Caspian is about a kid named Finn Caspian. He lives on a space station with his parents and his friends, and his robot. Finn and his friends go on exploration missions and meet all kinds of aliens, friendly and not. They get into trouble and rescue each other. This podcast is done by a dad. His young son is his editor and he interviews his editor at the end of most episodes. This one isn't my favorite podcast, but Lilli and Orion LOVE it! I do enjoy the fiesty robot co-host.

The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd Darren and the kids like to listen to old time radio shows and this podcast is like a modern old time radio show. It's a perfect fit! And it's a bit difficult to describe... there's time travel and hilarious miscommunications. Here's a quote from the podcast's description "Join Dr. Floyd as he tries to thwart the plans of his evil arch nemesis, Dr. Steve, all the while learning about the people and events that shaped the history of the Earth. If satirist Stan Freberg and Jay Ward, creator of Rocky & Bullwinkle, had created Mystery Science Theater 3000 mixed in a little Time Bandits and gave it an educational spin, the result would have been...The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd!" This is one that I like to listen to with the kids!

The Cinnamon Bear is a Christmas tradition at our house. It is an honest-to-goodness old time radio show that first aired in 1937. It is a Christmas adventure story in which a brother and a sister go on an adventure to Maybeland to find their lost silver Christmas star. Their travelling companions include the Cinnamon Bear and the Crazy Quilt Dragon (sometimes we're not sure if he's a friend or a foe!). The show was originally designed to be aired starting on November 26th, with six episodes a week until Christmas. We usually start it the day after Thanksgiving. You can find it in lots of places all over the web. We burned it to cds several years ago, but we have also found it on Spotify, Castbox.fm, and archive.org.

There's More!

If you do a quick search for "kids" in the search box of your podcast app you'll find lots of other options. I found about twenty new titles to try, including:

Highlight's Hangout
What if World - Stories for Kids
ABC KIDS News Time
Kid Friendly Joke of the Day
History for kids by kids
The Squiz Kids (news for primary school age)
A Kids Guide to Transport (geography!)
Radio Active Kids (music?)
Lamplighter Stories for Kids
Biographies for Kids
Space Cadets: Story for Kids

Do your kids already listen to podcasts?

What are their favorites?

Illustrations by Paul Goble

2020-03-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

We've been finding amazing books at the library! I hardly have to look and great books keep jumping into my hands!

Here are two books that I particularly enjoyed. They are Native American stories. I loved the art, by Paul Goble. And I love how Mr. Goble gives background information about the stories and where he found inspiration for the motifs in the illustrations.

* * * All book covers are Amazon Affiliate links. If you can't see them, you may have an ad blocker on. Please consider pausing it - the covers are beautiful! * * *

In Star Boy, a young woman who says she will marry the Morning Star. He comes to marry her and she is taken to the sky to live with him. But when her curiosity gets her in trouble she is sent back to earth with her son. Her son faces sadness and adversity in his life, but makes an important journey to secure his heart's desire.

In Her Seven Brothers, a young woman learn traditional beading from her mother and becomes a skillful weaver. She is an only child, but learns of seven brothers who need someone to take care of them, and she journeys to become their sister. (The seven brothers living alone reminded Orion and me of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which we watched a few weeks ago. But the stories are not the same.)

I'm not familiar with many Native American tales. I suspect there are symbols and imagery in these stories and illustrations that I missed. The images are so beautiful. I want to frame a spread and look at it every day, and maybe change it once in a while. I want to read more of Paul Goble's books, and learn more about the Native American traditions (he specifies what tribe or tribes are represented in the books).

Here are a few more books done by Paul Goble. Orion and I want to read ALL of them!

There are so many more books by Paul Goble. Check your library and put some on hold. You won't regret it!

Six needs More Mom

2020-01-17T23:04:00.000-08:00

Washing rocks to use for math practice.

The more I learn about homeschool, the more I love it. Orion and I started homeschooling on January 6th and it is such a relief.

My main reasons for switching him to homeschool were so that he could have:

1) more sleep
2) more playtime (preferably outside)
3) more food (though food is not my forte)
4) more Mom

The "more Mom" reason has surfaced as the most important. He has heard me summarize my reason for homeschooling him as "because he needs more Mom-time" and it seems as though it gave him permission to want me to be with him all the time. Which, as an introvert, isn't exactly what I had in mind. But which, as I learn more about motherhood and my power to nurture, I am at peace with. Maybe he needed me more than I realized. I finally gave him permission to be six and to need me.

When he wakes up he comes to find me (usually on the couch) and we snuggle and read some poems and stories. (Literature. Check!) I love Charlotte Mason's education philosophy, so we pause frequently and I ask Orion to narrate, or to "tell me what we just read." He's pretty good, when he feels like it. One day he "narrated" in gobledegook, faux Chinese, and alien before translating it to English. He did this every time we stopped to narrate... which is every two paragraphs!

Before we started homeschooling, Orion asked if we had to do so much history, like Lilli had. Of course we don't. But the next day he told me he wanted to learn about cavemen. Which coincides fairly well with the beginning of The Story of the World Volume 1. He built a country with train tracks and geometric blocks while I read about archaeology to him. Then with hardly any encouragement, he drew a map of his country in his sketch book. (Geography! Yay!)

We followed a few rabbit holes. One day I picked up a Magic School Bus book on bones that we started weeks ago (and have to turn in to the library soon). We only read a few chapters, but then we pulled out our How the Body Works book and looked up the chapter on bones. We read a bit there, then pulled out the playdough and some straws to make a model of the microscopic structure inside of bones. This was a good activity for Davey! I have been wanting to do preschool activities with him for months. But now, with Orion home, Davey is getting more stories and more activities.

We're also working in Copywork (handwriting), Chores, Devotional, Physical Activity, and Math. Though my math plan needs some work! I encourage him to draw pictures of the things we're learning and talking about in his sketchbook. But it hasn't caught on yet. I have tons of plans for art, but my execution needs some improvement.

Despite having more to do than can physically be done in a day, I feel exhilarated by how calm and peaceful I feel. I'm enjoying Orion more than I have in a long time. And while I don't get to pay quite as much attention to Davey during the morning like I used to, I have delightful interactions with him and am so grateful for him. I'm working on connecting with Lilli better, too (I visited with her in her CLEAN room one night last week and she brushed my hair! It was heaven!).

Now. If only the dishes would wash themselves!

Keeping the Tooth Fairy Busy

2019-12-19T09:11:00.000-08:00

This tooth fairy thing is getting complicated!

Lilli and Orion both lost a tooth on Sunday!

We got the teeth in place the same day, which is a record! (We put them in the windowsill, because earlier this year there was an incident with a tooth being paid for, but not collected, because it was lost in Lilli's bed for a week. The tooth fairy auditing department sent her a note (with a dime, to hold it down, because it was tiny) thanking her for turning in the missing tooth.)

Well. Lilli woke up before her tooth fairy came. She brought me her tooth in a huff and put it on my bathroom counter.

Orion, who doesn't want a fairy to come when the rest of the world get a mouse, slept long enough for el Ratón Pérez to stop by before school. But it too him two days to notice the shiny new coin.

Monday night, while I was snuggling Lilli in bed, I explained to Lilli that Laura (her tooth fairy) was running late on Monday. She had come by after Lilli left for school. Lilli knows that I send Laura messages, and occasionally deliver teeth to Laura (like in the incident mentioned above). While I was telling Lilli about Laura stopping by, Lilli said, "Wait! You SAW the tooth fairy?"

Uh... (thinking fast) "Yeees."

"What does she look like!?"

Um.... (more thinking fast)

"Well, she's taller than normal, for a tooth fairy."

"That doesn't give me much to work with. What color are her eyes? Is her hair blonde? Red?"

"Well, she's so small that I couldn't tell what color her eyes are. But her hair is kind of blonde-ish."

"Blonde-red?" (I think she imagines her tooth fairy with red hair!)

"Nooo... more like blonde-brown."

She was satisfied at that point. But if she ever starts to catch on, at least I can honestly say that I am not her tooth fairy!

We discussed putting her tooth out for Laura to come by another night. But we can't find it. I'm worried that Davey might have found it and played with it...

We knew about the little tooth mouse that visited our vecinos y amigos at our last house. But we found The Tooth Fairy Meets El Ratón Pérez by René Colato Laínez at our library just before Orion lost his first tooth and he realized that the Tooth Fairy isn't the only one with the tooth collecting job out there!

I particularly appreciated the story in this book because I have so many friends who are from other countries who are currently living in the United States with their children. When you're an expatriate or the first generation born in a new country, who collects your teeth? Your native tooth-collector? Or the one from your host country? The tension in this story subtly and beautifully addresses a dichotomy immigrants face in most aspects of their lives.

House Hunting and Cute Cheese Graters

2019-05-09T23:30:00.000-07:00

Checking to see if the cheese is coming out.

We've been house shopping!

House shopping takes a lot more work than shopping for a car or mattress! I thought those were big projects. But house shopping takes all of the online research and the test driving, plus traveling to every house you think you might be interested in.

We live almost 200 miles away from where we're buying a house, so we've also been travelling a ton. We've been home from our last (and hopefully final) house-hunting trip for five days and I finally feel human again.

Quick update:

Darren graduated from HSU in December 2018. Yay!

We had a rough month when a promised job fell through. But he was offered a job with the Soil Service (USDA) in January. I am really grateful that the job 1) started right away and 2) allowed him to work in the Arcata office so that we didn't have to move right away.

Ultimately, Darren's supervisors want him in the Chico office (which may relocate, or not, things keep changing). The housing market in the Chico area is impacted because of the Camp Fire last year (both renting and buying), so Darren's supervisors have given us extra time to find a place to live over there.

We just started inspections on a house. It's a little bit terrifying and a little bit exciting.

Meanwhile,

life with kids is like living in a blender.

We missed lunch and tea time today (Lilli and I are attempting to establish a hobbit meal schedule). I was a little skeptical about Davey helping with supper (which turned out to be dinner), but he clearly asserted that he wanted to help with the cheese.

It turns out he was hungry. He worked at it for several minutes, then asked for help. When I gave him a hand, he promptly ate half of the cheese in the serving bowl.

I guess I better do better at the meal schedule...

Unproductive but Successful

2019-02-20T22:43:00.000-08:00

Today felt unproductive. I never got around to taking a shower, and the kids wore their pajamas all day. I dozed off a few times and didn't do any read-alouds or lessons with the kids (thank goodness for audiobooks!).

We met with Lilli's teacher in the afternoon and she brought us some watercolor cakes that we had ordered a while ago, and a set of water brushes. I made the kids wait until Daddy got home to try them out. After dinner and pajamas, Darren read a chapter from The Mysterious Howling and the children painted. It made me happy. This is what I imagine homeschooling to be like.

And it is... occasionally....

but sometimes it looks like this:

(I was reading Winnie the Pooh, which counts as Language Arts.

Everyone decided to dog-pile on Orion.

You can't see him... but he's under there.)

Laundry

2019-02-11T22:50:00.000-08:00

When we moved to Humboldt, we had our own washer and dryer. They weren't new or fancy. But they worked well.

But the housing market here is pretty awful. (I know it is in lots of places.) We couldn't find any rentals with laundry hookups for less than $1000+ a month. We got lucky that we found somewhere that had a laundry room onsite.

I don't really mind the laundry room itself. But I find it very difficult to get laundry started because I have to be decently dressed and have shoes on to take it out, and to change it.

At least it gives me some good photo ops! Davey loves to go outside. And to make sure the laundry room door is closed (it's usually propped open). Today he was exceptionally cute, commenting when he found a sock, and another sock. I love how cute little people are when they're being helpful (and succeeding). ♥

Saturday Morning Cartoons

2019-02-02T08:35:00.003-08:00

Saturday Morning Cartoons. Currently: Disney's Gargoyles.

We love our neighbors!

2019-02-02T08:35:00.001-08:00

We love our neighbors! Lilli spent the morning hand clipping grass for Sparkles. Davey would feed her ten apples a day, if we let him (which we don't, I figure if too many treats aren't good for us, too many treats aren't good for her). We love our human neighbors, too. ❤

Who wants to get out of bed when there's a delicious baby to snuggle?!

2019-01-23T09:36:00.001-08:00

Who wants to get out of bed when there's a delicious baby to snuggle?! I could get so much done while he's asleep... like take a shower in peace. 🚿

Davey is finally feeling better.

2019-01-17T22:35:00.001-08:00

I think Davey is finally feeling better. This particular bug hung around longer than I expected! From Saturday to Wednesday he was lethargic, feverish, and clingy (in a delightfully snuggly way). I think the house stayed cleaner because he was too tired to play. It is good to have him playing puppy again, and looking at books, and playing with his train. ❤

Halloween 2018

2018-11-02T00:18:00.000-07:00

I survived Halloween.

It may be too early to say that...

Getting the kids into costumes and getting out the door to trick-or-treat was easier this year than last year.

But this year I know how bad candy is for me, and I ate a ton anyway. I'm still waiting for the headache and legarthy to hit.

Here are two things I remembered that made this Halloween less stressful for me:

Have the costumes ready early in the month!

I browsed the costumes at the thrift store each week when I did my donation drop off. I was fortunate that 2Flowers wanted to be something easy this year. We found a witch hat at the Dollar Store and a vampire dress at the thrift store where we had credit. Her costume was complete by a week before Halloween and I didn't have to stress about pulling it together.

I ended up with FOUR costumes for Davey! One from a friend who gave me a costume last year, one from the Pregnancy Care Center (an amazing second hand charity in the area), one from the thrift store (Free, because I had credit!), and another one from somewhere... The hard part was picking which one to use.

Orion was hard. He wanted to be a gargoyle. But I couldn't figure out how to make him into a gargoyle without lots of sewing and crafting, which I wasn't up to. The thrift store didn't have anything that lent itself to being a gargoyle. But it did have a cute adventure vest for $4. Except it wasn't an adventure vest, it was fighter jet pilot vest. I wasn't sure Orion would like it for Halloween, but I thought it would still make a good adventure vest. So I bought it (Free with credit! I love thrift stores that give you credit for donations!)

Orion was cool with the fighter pilot idea (Whew!) and already had a pair of camo pants that (amazingly!) were clean. And Lost Boy's old motor scooter helmet (which has been a dress-up for a few years) really made the outfit come together.

I felt relieved that the costumes came together easily this year. Lost Boy had school, and was gone from 8:00 am to 7:00 pm, so I was on my own.

Have a flexible schedule

I had about ten activities scheduled into my calendar for Halloween afternoon and evening. But I only had to be at one.

When Orion spazzed out (probably due to sugar from the party at school combined with excitement for the evening), I cancelled the trip to the library for Halloween crafts. We also didn't get started early enough to do the trick-or-treating Downtown.

We did hit the strip mall a few blocks away. And I think that Orion would have been happy with what he got from that circuit, but we had the ward Trunk-or-Treat, too.

The Trunk-or-Treat was a low profile activity. We didn't plan a ward dinner, carnival or harvest festival to go with it. We just pulled in, visited in the parking lot for a little bit, then told the kids to get going. We started before dark, which I really like, because then I can SEE all the cute kids, and all my ward friends, and the decorated cars.

Davey had a complicated relationship with his candy bag. He didn't really get why people kept putting candy in his bag. He did understand that you're supposed to walk up to people and they give you candy. But the candy was supposed to go from their hand, to his hand, to his mouth. No bag.

After the Trunk-or-Treat we had a 14 year old friend with us and we went around our neighborhood. The little boys were so tired. But it was nice for Lilli to have a friend to go up to the door with.

When we settled down for Scriptures & Prayer with Lost Boy, we had a chance to admire all the candy the kids brought home.

I have never seen so much candy in one place in my life.

Now what are we going to do with it?

Labor Day Week

2018-09-08T23:04:00.000-07:00

A Nature Hike

This week was kind of rough. It was our second week of homeschooling and errands and appointments kept getting in the way!

Maybe part of it was that the week also started with a holiday. The house was a mess, but we didn't make much progress on cleaning. But we did make a family Nature Hike a priority. We hiked on a friend's property and looked at Douglas fir cones, Horsetail Ferns, Penny Royal, and lots of Poison Oak with BIG leaves. Miraculously, I didn't get any!

I started a Nature Journal during the summer. I want everyone in the family to develop the habit of nature journaling. But Oreo decided to draw a space alien, and 2Flowers was more interested in picking huckleberries.

Drawing is lots of work when you're not very good at it! Lost Boy wrangled Davey so that I could have the space and time to work in peace.

Foraging for Sustenance

The rest of the week was grocery shopping, which is a bit of an ordeal because the nearest Winco is thirty minutes away. But we can buy almost twice as much food and supplies at Winco as we can at Safeway, so it is worth the drive. But the timing is very tricky. We needed to run some pressing errands in town and didn't have time to for the grocery trip before Oreo got out of kindergarten, so we had to take him with us.

I try to avoid taking Oreo grocery shopping. When the two Bigs are together and bored, or tired, or hungry, or anything, they pester each other and act out and start chasing each other around, or hitting each other, or licking each other (Honestly! Was I like this as a kid?!). Sometimes I'll put off grocery shopping for several days trying to find a way around taking the kids, or at least taking all of them.

But we desperately needed to stock up. So I took them all. And my angel neighbor happened to be shopping in the same aisle at one point and said she could take one of the kids home with her! So 2Flowers went, because the neighbors have a cat.

The boys survived.

Lessons

The rest of the week was a bit of a blur. A dentist appointment. A Hashi's flare (Because I ate three mini corn tortillas at dinner on Wednesday, hoping that I could reintroduce them. Nope.) Trying to figure out which lessons we still needed to cover when the whole week felt kind of wonky.

We did pretty well at math.

We are going to use Teaching Textbooks, but we don't have our subscription set up yet. So 2Flowers has been reading Fred (and loving it, even though it's all too easy for her so far). On Friday she wanted to play Uno, but we couldn't find it. We played Mills Bourne instead and it turned out to be a good brain exercise for her.

It also helped us make progress on my main goal for homeschool this year:

It poured into our relationship.

The two things on my mind

2018-05-23T23:59:00.000-07:00

I have been reading tons lately.

...but not my usual books...

I've been researching nutrition and gut health. I've been clipping recipes (and articles) to my Evernote like crazy.

And I've been reading about homeschool curriculum and the everyday practice of the Charlotte Mason education method.

I know I'm taking in too much, too fast. But I'm super into both topics right now and need all the info in my brain right now!

Because:

1) I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis last month.

I've suspected it for years, but had some resistance from my previous doctors on getting the tests done. Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease (my immune system is targeting my thyroid). There's no cure. But! I discovered the Autoimmune Wellness podcast in February. The hosts, Mickey and Angie, talked about how they were able to reduce the debilitating and uncomfortable symptoms caused by their autoimmune diseases by changing how they ate, how they prioritized sleep, and how they managed stress.

I decided to try out the diet, or lifestyle, they described. It's called the Autoimmune Protocol, or AIP. They interviewed a Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, so I looked at her website, The Paleo Mom, and discovered that she is a doctor in the medical field (good credentials). She reads peer reviewed scientific articles about topics related to autoimmune diseases, gut health, and nutrition. Then she summarizes her findings and posts them on her blog, WITH citations! Her sources are legitimate and reliable. Her blog is a jackpot. Eventually I'll get her books, but right now reading on my phone is easiest (because: toddler).

I've been doing the elimination phase of the AIP since March. April was a little rough. There was a wedding (I wanted some wedding cake!) and a chocolate fountain (I'm discovering it is hard to resist!), various other treats while traveling (I can only say no to myself for so long!), a baby shower (macaroons!), and a campfire (um, s'mores?). If you've heard of Gretchen Reuben's Abstainers and Moderators, I'm an abstainer. And apparently I can't abstain if it's in the same place as me.

But! An hour later, or the next day, I can feel that I ate off my diet. I have headaches, fatigue, I'm irritable, or short of breath. The pain and discomfort, and it's interference in my daily life is very rarely worth the pleasure of eating the treat. (The wedding cake was the best I've ever had, besides my own, and I didn't eat enough to get a headache from it, so that was okay.)

So. I'm reading tons. Trying to understand what is going on in my body, what different foods do in my body, and what to eat instead of what I used to eat.

2) I am going to homeschool 2Flowers next year.

We love her school and the staff there are wonderful. She is academically advanced and isn't having any problems, but... I have been feeling for a long time, like, at least a year, that I need to connect with her better. I've been struggling (and praying) to find ways to connect with her, but everyday life is just too much (hello, autoimmune disease).

Taking on homeschooling doesn't really make sense; if I am completely overwhelmed with what I've got going on right now, how can taking on something so huge help? But the way I felt whenever I considered the idea, and the way I feel whenever I move forward toward it tells me it's the right thing. It's the right thing for her and me.

So. I'm reading tons. Trying to understand how homeschooling works (both legally and practically). And I think I'm getting a pretty good idea of how we're going to do it!

...I just have no idea how I'm going to do anything else in my life...

General Conference Weekend, April 2018

2018-04-01T23:31:00.001-07:00

I haven't been able to pay attention during General Conference for long time. Keeping the kids occupied at the chapel takes up lots of my attention, and when we listen at home they often forget that we're listening to Conference. Even with the Conference Board.

Somehow, this Conference weekend was different. Maybe it was getting extra sleep leading up to the weekend and not being as tired as usual. Maybe it was having one child who mostly remembered to be quiet (for the first hour of each session). Maybe it was having a small enough house that we could play Conference loud enough that I could hear it from everywhere downstairs. Maybe it was deciding not to try to post to social media during conference.

I heard more, and was listening more.

Now, even though I heard more of the words and understood more of the topics being discussed, I don't remember very much of it. I blame this on my season of life, wherein I haven't been allowed to stay focused on any single idea for more than about five seconds at a time, for the past six years. My brain is out shape! I perused the Church's accounts on Twitter for some of my favorite quotes (and for tidbits that I missed), and copied them into my notes. I'm looking forward to when all of the talks are available at lds.org so I can read them. (The videos are already up!)

I don't have a good plan for studying them, though. In the past I've tried making a list of all the talks, but I only followed through on re-listening to two or three of them. Sometimes I'll do really well at listening to one talk, then the next, then the next, and so on for a several days. But I need some kind of study program that I can stick to (in five second increments).

Does anyone have any ideas?

Maybe this is a good excuse to shop for travelers notebooks...

A Box of Journals

2017-09-02T21:56:00.000-07:00

In my journey to get rid of stuff, I run into obstacles on a regular basis. My dad once said to me, "Ryann, everything we touch triggers a memory, but not everything has to be a memory." It was a revelation to hear him say that. Both he and I are intensely nostalgic and have detailed long term memories

Somehow, most of the Stuff I keep is paper. You can stash a whole lot of paper in a one foot by one and half foot moving box. Like, thousands of pieces of paper. Needless to say, I get emotionally burned out pretty quick when I'm trying to purge.

I opened a Box with the intent to get rid of the stuff inside only to find my childhood journals and some beautiful blank notebooks that I love (and want to fill up with writing). I can't get rid of those! Opening that Box triggered some depression (including crying). It can be demoralizing to have a strong urge to change, but are not be able to change very fast.

I've been pushing to get rid of Boxes, Stuff, and Paper faster than I've ever done since we returned from our Epic Summer Road Trip. I realized that our lack of tall bookshelves is actually a major impediment to emptying Boxes (and subsequently, getting rid of the Stuff in them). After a few days of feeling stuck, I decided that I just need to unpack the blank journals onto the shelf next to my bed. I'm obviously not ready to deal with the journals. I'm getting better at getting rid of stacks of Paper in other Boxes, so I'm giving myself some grace on this particular Box.

When you are trying to change something about yourself, what gets you stuck?

The Importance of the Dumpster

2017-08-28T23:08:00.000-07:00

An unexpected effect of spending a month away from home, was an increased desire to have less clutter and a realization that I could get rid of more of the Stuff I thought I still needed. I've been riding a wave of nesting energy from coming home with fresh eyes. I'm throwing away more than ever, and increasing my frequency of donation drop-offs.

But last Tuesday, someone threw a wrench in my system. Someone (or someones) filled up the dumpster bin at our apartment. Like filled up. To the top.

The day after it had been emptied.

There wasn't even room for the daily kitchen trash! We put the trash in anyway. (I made Darren do it. And the neighbor's husband jumped on the lid to try to squish it down.) But we were way above the "do not fill past" line. It really stressed me out.

It took me a few days to figure out why I was stressed. (Aside from the obvious: The kitchen trash stinks. I need it out of the house!) I couldn't throw things away because my trash bins were full. My de-cluttering momentum came to a full stop. But my nesting energy didn't.

It was the last week before school started and we wanted to have fun. We did have fun. We threw a birthday party and had dinner company. But I couldn't wait for the week to be over and trash day to come so I could move forward with cleaning things out of the house.

Trash day came. The truck didn't come at it's normal time. I checked the trash bin every hour (yes, I know that's weird). When the garbage truck finally came, I was so excited I think I hollered like it was Christmas.

How strange are the hangups we have when we're trying to change!

The Beginning! (Of the Epic Summer Road Trip)

2017-08-25T21:24:00.001-07:00

Someone didn't want to sit in his car seat.

Friday, July 7 Drive from Home to Sacramento

Certain moments during the beginning of the epic road trip felt unreal. This was the first one. I almost couldn't believe that I actually had the car packed (and the trash taken out, and the fridge cleaned out, and the dishes done, and...). I found myself thinking, No way! This is it? I'm really driving away from my house and won't be back for a month? I can't believe I didn't have a melt-down!

My niece, who was staying with me for a few weeks, was helpful with Davey. I firmly believe that babies should be held as much as possible. I'd like to do that holding, but I don't have the leisure of holding Davey all the time like I did with Lilli. In order to accomplish anything, I usually have to have someone hold Davey. My niece did a wonderful job.

I started a few hours after my target departure time. But this is normal for me, so I didn't get stressed or upset about it. Google says you can make the drive between home and my grandma's house in about five hours. Darren can. And my dad can. But the kids and I can do it in about nine hours. Eight if we're lucky.

Saturday, July 8
Visiting Grandma and Friends

Darren has weekends off of work, so he came up from Modesto. We were so glad to see him! He took the kids to the library. We spent lots of time with Grandma and her foster pup, Cali. We also had Uncle Jason and his boys over for dinner and swimming. The kids played hard.

Sunday, July 9
Citrus Heights Ward

I love the church's LDS Tools app. We looked for the closest LDS chapel and picked the 11:00 Sacrament meeting so I could ~~sleep in~~ not get up early. I didn't think I knew anyone in that particular ward. I was surprised to discover that I knew, or had connections to, about seven people and families there!

Things that surprised me about being apart

2017-06-13T21:13:00.001-07:00

We are two weeks into Darren's internship. So far it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be. At least for me. I think that it has been harder on Darren being away from us.

I've been surprised at how much more I can do now that I can't depend on Darren. It makes me feel like I'm really lazy when he's around! Darren says that he misses taking care of me, which makes me feel better about myself (and kind of special). But I think it's good for me to have to depend on myself for a little while. Maybe I'll be a stronger partner when we're together again.

Speaking of stronger! It's been seven months since surgery and this past week I hit a new level of healing. I can jog again! (When necessary...) And I can bend over again! You don't realize how often you bend over until you can't do it. Pretty much everything below my waist has been effectively out of reach for the past year because the energy expenditure for bending over was huge. I bent over all the time, of course, because: kids, life, gravity, etc. It is so nice to be able to bend down (and stand back up) without a ton of effort. And I'm thrilled to be able to do a (highly modified) sun salute again. ♥

Another thing I've been surprised by is how hard weekends are. I thought the school days would be hard (I don't do getting up and getting out the door very reliably), and the weekends would be easy. But by 4pm on Saturday, I was out of my mind and the kids couldn't settle down and be obedient. Next weekend I'm going to try to have a little more structure... though I'm not sure how, because I'm really bad at routines and schedules. And I have to remember to give the kids one on one time more often. I think that will help.

One last thing that has surprised me so far, is that this summer apart is already turning out to not be anything like single parenting, or coping with a deployment. Yes, I'm physically without a partner. But I get so much support from him, constantly, that I'm not weighed down by his physical absence as much as I thought I would be. (Don't worry, My Love, I still miss you and can't wait to snuggle!) We are able to leave messages for each other throughout the day, and call frequently, Between text messages, Voxer, Marco Polo, Google Hangouts, and regular calls we probably communicate daily just as much as we did when he was only a few miles away at school or work. Also, he's not on the other side of the world, or the country. We get to visit him every other week or so.

There are still really hard moments. I yelled too much this weekend. And there are ~~hours~~ moments when I just can't pull it together. But there are angels all around us. They come and hold my baby, or have my kids over to play. So, this adventure is turning out to be a good experience so far.

Our Family Names

2017-05-29T00:29:00.000-07:00

It's funny how names and titles evolve within a family unit. While I was growing up I always thought of my two youngest sisters as the Little Girls. But once they were in high school that name didn't apply very well.

When Darren and I were new parents we called each other The Daddy, The Mommy, and The Lilli. Then we added The Boy. And now we have two of The Boy and it is harder to tell who we're talking about.

When we're talking to 2Flowers, we can refer to The Boys or The Little Brothers. And when we're talking to Davey, we refer to The Big Kids (or Brother and Sister). But poor Oreo, stuck in the middle and part of both groups, doesn't have any characteristic that sets him apart and puts the other two in a group.

He also has to share some of the special names that Daddy had given him. 2Flowers was Little One (though now she prefers Munchkin, which Daddy never remembers, but which Uncle Jeremy always does), Oreo was Little Guy and, more recently, Buddy. But Davey gets called Buddy sometimes, which confuses Oreo.

Davey is still pretty new around here though, so I'm sure the names will evolve more and hopefully settle down with everyone having a unique term of endearment. At least from Daddy. I tend to call everyone Honey or Sweetie with no particular consistency. Even Darren lately!

Maybe I should look for something special to call each child. There are so many fun ones to choose from: Honeycomb, Pumpkin, Cupcake, Acushla (which means something like darling).

What do you think of Huckleberry for Oreo? For 2Flowers I like Cinnamon, but I think she would be in heaven if I called her Kitten. And for Davey, I think Honeysuckle has lots of meaning, but I don't think he'll like it later.

Or I could tap into the Spanish name:, Corazon, Muñequita, Querido/a, Pollito, Mi hijito/a, Mi chiquito/a. What about Bomboncito/a? I think the kids might like to call each other that given their current sense of humor and how it feels coming off the tongue.

I couldn't help but find a few things I might like to call Darren (who doesn't actually need a new term of endearment), like Cariño or Mi amado.

What do you call the people in your family?

Need ideas? I liked these lists:
Dictionary.com Terms of Endearment,
Oxford Dictionaries Historical Terms of Endearment,
Oxford Dictionaries Obsolete Terms of Endearment
New Republic Terms of Endearment
FluentU Spanish Nicknames
FluentU Spanish Terms of Endearment

The Crazy Epic Road Trip

2017-05-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

So, I mentioned that I'm planning a crazy epic road trip...

The more I plan, the more excited I get. And the more terrified!

I am travelling 5933 miles and 100 hours of driving (give or take some) over three months. Mostly without my husband.

What?!

Where is Darren going to be?

Darren has a federal internship with the NRCS (Natural Resource Conservation Service) in Modesto. That's about 340 miles away from our home. We're really excited about this internship because it pays well, it provides a housing stipend (so we don't have pay rent in two places), and it is for two summers, so he won't have to look for a job next summer.

We're not too excited about being apart for eight weeks. We're pretty sure it's going to be really hard. But we're also pretty sure we'll survive. One of our favorite quotes says, "...though you can have grief without adventures, you cannot have adventures without grief.*"

Ok, so why are you going on a road trip?

We also have a family reunion in San Antonio, Texas this summer. Texas is a looooong ways a way from Humboldt County. About 2000 miles.

At first I thought, "I'll take the train!" I like the train. I don't mind going slow. I can pay attention to my kids and not have to drive. It's great!

But it's not great. I'd have to transfer trains twice. With three kids (6, 4, and 8 months), four sets of luggage, car seats, and all the extra paraphernalia that comes with traveling with kids. No thank you.

For some reason I didn't even consider flying. I probably thought it would be too expensive. The cost (if I buy tickets two or months ahead of time) is actually pretty comparable to what my fuel costs will be for driving. But I got this other idea stuck in my head before I really looked at plane tickets and it sounds like a wonderful adventure.

What if I start heading out early, take it slow (I don't do well under pressure and I don't like to be rushed), and stop to visit people we love along the way?

Where all are you going?

Darren has a brother in the Salt Lake Area that used to live near us. I could catch up with my sis-in-law in person, and the kids could play with their cousins. I have a sister in that area, as well as several cousins and a few aunts and uncles. We also have some friends that just moved to that area and we really miss them. There are lots of people we could visit if we drove through Utah.

Darren also has a brother in Colorado. David is Oreo's favorite uncle.When we first moved away, Oreo would ask to go see David about once a week. That's about how often he saw David when we lived in Sacramento. But David and his family moved away from Sacramento about the same time we did. It was really hard to explain to Oreo that he couldn't see David when we went to visit family in Sacramento. After eight months, Oreo finally caught on. David isn't in Sacramento, David is in Colorado. It feels really good to say, "Yes, we can go to Colorado and see David." to my little four year old, who still doesn't really understand where Colorado is, but wants to see his favorite uncle. Attached to that uncle are four cousins that we love to play with, and a sis-in-law that I miss visiting with in person.

I'm excited for the family reunion in San Antonio. My dad, Allen, saves and plans for a few years then brings all of my sisters and brother together (except my brother just joined the army, so we don't get to see him this time) and plans some fun activities (like Disneyland or jetskiing or a river walk tour). We usually stay in a vacation home so we can all be together. We make food together, have Family Home Evening and family prayers together, and spend our down time together. Some of my favorite memories are having an nail painting party on the deck of the house in Tahoe.

Instead of coming straight home after the family reunion. We are going to visit another one of Darren's brothers. This one also lives in Texas and is just a few hours away from San Antonio. We were hoping to spend several days with them, but Darren has to be back in Sacramento for an internship meeting sooner than we were originally planning to be back, so we're trying to figure out how to get more time with them.

On the way home we're going to drive in 12 hour stretches, mostly at night. Because Darren can do that. But on the way out I'm planning to stop often. We're going to stop at Dinosaur National Monument and some of the National Forests that we pass.

I'd like suggestions though.We're looking at I-80 through California, Nevada, and Utah; Hwy 40 through Utah and Colorado; I-25 in Colorado; and I'm not sure about our routes in Texas.

What are good places to stop and play (local parks or food, national parks, or other kid-friendly type stops...)?

*Quote from The girl who circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making by Catherynne M. Valente (affliate link)

Where have I been?!

2017-05-18T01:27:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed that I haven't posted here for two years.

Two years!

I can hardly believe it. I've been experiencing something of a desert in my writer's soul. And I have not been able to figure out how to balance my creative pursuits with being a mom. Being a mom has won out and I'm okay with that. But I'm hoping to write (and post!) more often. We'll see...

Meanwhile, here is what's been going on!

2Flowers started Kindergarten in 2015. We often walked to or from school. She made friends, and I got involved with the PTO. We loved her school. We found out that Darren's dad and uncle attended the school when it was new! I love connections to history and family like that!

In December 2015, Darren quit his security job. Within a month of giving his notice, he had a new job in the Environmental Restoration branch at Teichert. During 2016 he sprayed lots of weeds and got to work outside most of the time. He also got to work on a mapping project and design a study on medusahead. He had great co-workers and supervisors and goes back to visit as often as he can.

I got pregnant in February 2016. It was a difficult pregnancy because we were preparing to move and I hadn't wanted to be pregnant until after we were settled in our new location. Darren was accepted to the Rangeland Management program at Humboldt State University. I was excited to move back to Humboldt County! I tried to pack (and get rid of Stuff!) but it was really hard. I just wanted to sleep! And to stop feeling nauseous.

In June, 2Flowers and I went to Humboldt to look for a place to live. We looked for two months and I had almost given up hope on finding a place to live. Finally, one landlord approved our application and we jumped on it. By then it was August. Darren and Oreo had joined us in Humboldt and we were all sleeping on my dad's floor. Darren's semester started within a week of our move-in date, and 2Flowers started 1st grade a week later.

My original plan involved me unpacking and setting up house during my second trimester. But I was in my third trimester by the time I actually got to start homemaking. My allergies were exceptionally awful over the summer and fall. I wasn't able to make much progress on the house. I was pretty sick by October and one prenatal appointment ended in a trip to the hospital because my OB was so worried about me.

Baby #3 was due on November 25th, But he came early. He was pre-term by one day and super healthy. The doctors let me hold him while I was still on the operating table. I snuggled him for a bit, but felt very weak. My anesthesiologist asked if I'd like to go to sleep and that sounded very nice to me. Darren held our new baby for three hours while the doctors worked on me. Darren said he wasn't worried until they called in the head doctor (who wasn't on duty). I lost so much blood the doctors gave me a blood transfusion. (I can now attest that giving blood saves lives, because I'm pretty sure that it saved mine.)

Darren was in the middle of his semester still, and his schedule had him away from home twelve hours a day, five days a week. Things would have completely fallen apart if we hadn't had help. God sent us to an amazing ward with friends that I already knew and new friends just waiting to wrap us in their arms. He sent us to neighbors who would watch over us and our kids. And He let Darren's brother, Jeremy, become unemployed so he would be available to come and live with us and take care of us for two months.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Now I've got to write again. Right? I've got to tell you more details about the baby. And about our new friends. And about the adventures Darren has already been on at school. And about the crazy epic road trip I'm planning for this summer... I don't think I have any profound or inspiring thoughts to share. But I do have lots of adventures to tell you about.

Library Finds: Pirate, Viking & Scientist

2015-01-12T14:12:00.001-08:00

We love to go to the library, but it takes a lot of energy out of me now, because in addition to turning in books and looking for new books, I've got to keep track of two little kids both of whom tend to gravitate toward the computers (and need help), want to be read to, and want to go outside and swing. So finding new books has become a very brief and almost frantic part of the library visit.

I usually plant myself in front of a part of the children's books that I haven't visited for a while, then quickly flip through the books. Any titles or illustrations that attract my attention get pulled out and briefly flipped through. If a page in a book looks interesting, I put it in my pile. If I think the ratio of text to pictures isn't right, I put it back. I also find it extremely helpful that the librarians display books on the top of the shelves. I often grab about three of those because they look fun. I try to keep my pile to less than five books each because I can really go crazy, and visiting the library every week makes our check outs really add up.

I love that it is so easy to take back books that turned out to not be interesting. And to recheck out (online) books that we really like. Sometimes we keep books for up to nine weeks!

The best thing about my new system is that sometimes we find really great books, but I didn't know how cool they were until we got home.

Here is one of our current favorites: Pirate, Viking & Scientist by Jared Chapman. It starts out with "Pirate was friends with Scientist. Scientist was friends with Viking." But,

Fun cover art (also, affiliate link)

... well... Pirate and Viking do not get along.

The book illustrates how to use the scientific method while Scientist tries to reconcile his two friends. The pictures are fun, and the unusually matched characters make the book even more fun.

Go check it out!

Other posts you might like:
The Library Lottery
My List of Good Books
Singing about Elephants and Spiders

Spicy!

2014-11-13T09:41:00.000-08:00

I cleaned out the spice drawer today. I've been wanting to put the spices in 1/4 pint mason jars with washi tape labels for months! I finally did it! Oreo helped.

We inherited Grandpa's spice cupboard when we moved into his house after he died, so we found a lot of multiples.

Including:

2 sea salt grinders
2 jars of basil
3 containers of whole cloves + 1 of ground clove
3 containers of ground nutmeg (Including two LARGE ones!)
3 containers of cream of tartar (What do you use that stuff for anyway?)
2 things of paprika (1 jar + 1 baggie from the Winco bulk section)
thyme from 2006
2 ginger
2 ground chili
2 chili pepper

Also:

Super old bay leaves
Thyme: I always ask if we even have any and Lost Boy says, Yes! But it is from 2006. I think we need to get new thyme.

Ta da!

(This isn't technically a 50% less post, but we have so many multiples and old spices that it seems like life would be better if we got rid of half of them. I didn't get rid of that much though...)

Other posts you might like:
50% Less Stuff
I'm a Milk Snob
Loosening Up

Loosening up

2014-08-29T09:19:00.002-07:00

Lost Boy and I have been married for six years now (this month!), and goodness sake, amazing changes can happen in six years!

I tend to be rather particular about how I like things. I generally like things to be precisely in their places (even though too many things often don't have places), and I like to compartmentalize. I like things to be in containers. Or zip lock bags. When I pack our clothes for travelling, I usually put underclothes, kids clothes, and socks in zip lock bags so I don't have to rummage around so much. But Lost Boy doesn't care about containers or rummaging. I just packed his clothes for an upcoming camping trip (Which I know he can do perfectly well for himself. But he's easy to pack for, so if I pack for him I feel like I've made Progress! And then it is easier to pack me and the baby). I am SO proud of myself! I packed all his clothes in a stuff sack (even more basic than a backpack or a duffel bag!) and I didn't put a single thing in a zip lock bag.

Not his underclothes. Not his socks.

I'm so amazed at how far I've come! This change is definitely influenced by Lost Boy's tendency toward minimalism (he isn't a hard core ultralight backpacker, but he practices the practical principles). And the less stuff you have to carry, the less you need to organize.

I just realized that I also packed 2Flowers without any zip lock bags. She has come to the point where she can help pack her own bag. She rummages with a vengeance and ~~requires~~ prefers very little help from me now, so there is no point to use zip locks to organize her travel bag.