Garden!

I have finished reading the Bountiful Container! Then I went back through and marked the things I am interested in growing, more things than I am planning on doing the first year. This is my list for this year and next so far....

this fall, well, this week, hopefully, I will be planting lettuces. That's about all I can plant this late in summer.

Next spring, so far for veggies I want to plant peas, tomatoes, lettuces, and mini pumpkins (in Kaia's garden). Also in Kaia's garden will go radishes.

For fruit, strawberries and blueberries.

For herbs, mint, bay, basil, oregano. Gonna possible add a couple more.

For edible flowers, I can't remember their names. But about 2 or 3 types.

I have learned SO much about gardening so far, and am feeling a bit more confident about my ability to learn more. Wish me luck!

small smidgens of info for you

my laptop is sick....it's very worrisome to me. Oh Clementine! My Clementine! Get well!



I have a headache, which interferes greatly with my grand cleaning plans today.



Cherry fruit leather! In the oven! have my doubts, considering the smell, but staying positive.....



Kaia, today, when told we would be cleaning this weekend, and encouraged to join in because dad will be home in a week, says......"mom!! I have a great idea! Let's keep it clean!!" Child, you are channeling your grandmother, and she ain't even dead.



the lunch a caring yet headache filled mommy gave her child today: avocados, applesauce, and chicken in a bisket crackers. Not perfect, but will do.


since reading the container garden book, the veggies I am inspired to grow: pole beans, snap peas, tiny pumpkins, tomatoes! Herbs: Bay! it's a tree!

Simplicity Lesson One

I have a book - Simplicity Lessons. Each one has a lesson, questions, and assignments! It suggests keeping a journal, so that I can read my answers more than once...but I figure this is just as good, and I am more likely to use it...so here goes...answers to--

Lesson One
Why Choose Simplicity?

1. What does simple living mean to you? How would you define it?
To me, it means living without clutter, physical and emotional. Living without tons of technology, always needing the newest thing. It means living well below my means. It means keeping only those possessions which are useful or very important, and not allowing those possessions to own ME. It means teaching my daughter that material things are not even close to the most important things. It means learning to be happy with what I have. Also, it means living closer to the Earth, being more in tune with my surroundings, with my fellow humans.

2. What is it about your life right now that attracts you to simplicity?
With a very tight budget, we need to really limit what we buy. Much of the above answer answers this, I think. Living simply seems more calm, with more time to enjoy life, and live it, rather than working just to get to the next purchase.

3. Have you experimented with simplifying your life? What were the results.
So far, I haven't done a huge amount. I'm clearing out my house of unnecessary things. Next summer I plan to have a container garden and supply my own veggies and fruits. I want to learn how to sew more, and sew more of my and my daughters clothing, but haven't started that yet either. Clearing my house is helping clear my mind, creating a more calm environment, and keeping the clutter down!

4. Can you imagine what your ideal life of simplicity would look like? Describe in detail.
In time, I want to have a garden big enough to grow all my own fruit and vegetables. I'd like to be completely debt free. I'd like to have chickens supplying my own eggs. I want to learn to can, and keep a large amount of food on hand in storage, shopping less often. I'd like to sew many of my own clothes. Mostly, MOSTLY, I'd like to learn to be honestly happy with what I have, and enjoy my family, friends, and self to the utmost.

Assignments - none yet, just do the rest of the lessons.

have only just realized...having child take shower BEFORE eating cherries is bad idea.

something feels so good about connecting with Nature....gathering my own food from the source....providing for my family, WITH my family.....joining with my daughter and our friends.....it was a good time. aw yeah.

CHERRIES!!

and MORE cherries!! I am a bit overwhelmed...Kaia and I went with Andrea and her kids cherry picking, and I got a bit greedy I think....15 pounds later......

they were only 60 cents a pound! Do you realize what a good deal that is?!?

my god....what am I going to do with all these cherries?!

I do love cherries, hopefully still will when these are gone.

and in case you're wondering, we had a BLAST!

the sale got me

okay, I spent money. Yes, I did....BUT check out the deals I got!!!

Blank scrapbook, with the letter "k" on the front
regular price - $30
my price - $1 !!

4 books
regular prices - $14, $18, $23, $25
my prices - $1 each!!

So am I forgiven?

Paul Harvey Writes....

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room, but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.
I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy\girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hanukah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

$$ spent today!

I have spent NO money today!

Things I didn't buy--

a snack wrap from McD's.

a canning book and beginners canning set from Amazon.

MRE's and other emergency preparedness stuff. (working on my emergency stuff)

general update

Today is a blah day. Kaia is cranky, and I am not seeming to be able to do much.

This morning she had a dentist appointment, just a cleaning. Went fine, she was really good. The annoying thing is that her dentist (which is the only dentist in this area who takes her insurance) only sees children on Wednesdays and Thursdays between 10-11:30 am. Now I realize I am lucky that my daughter can GO to the dentist, really, I know this. But it just doesn't make sense to me why they would purposely do something so inconvenient. okay, enough of that rant.

She has swimming tonight, she's really enjoying that again. She's in a class with older kids this time, instead of pre-school kids. At 5 years old, she can be in either one. She seems to not be intimidated at all, and is actually doing better than most of the kids in her class!I actually brought my camera today, so will get some pictures. I keep meaning to post some here, just haven't had time.

Michael gets back in 10 days!! I am so excited. It's been hard with him gone, Kaia's felt it the most out of all three of us I think. She misses her Daddy! It'll be so nice to be a family again.

Simple Living Update:

-still waiting for the garden book....got 3 planters, and Andrea is going to give me some 4 gallon buckets to use for more.

-Since mom was here this last weekend, we got a lot of cleaning done, but only a little clearing. Still need to work on it.

-was thinking about learning to can, but I want to can vegetables, and apparently, from what I've read, you need to use the pressure canning method for that ( I wasn't even aware there were different ways to can!) I don't have a pressure cooker, or even the tools for the water bath method. That is still an idea I will follow up on, just not right now.

So really haven't done much on that venture lately, but it's still a priority.

Ah well, just got a package that I need to enter into inventory, so goodbye for now!

baring it all

okay! new plan....every day I will post what I have spent.....being accountable will help me NOT to spend money, which right now is imperative!

today--

partial health insurance payment - $250/$379

If you feel finances are too personal to read about, go away.

(well! that was a bit harsh, wasn't it?! She's feeling a bit spunky today!)

All One?

I realized I haven't gone into the reason for my title......can't in detail now, but will post a quick explanation.

First, the URL "estodosuno" means It's All One in Spanish. I changed that to We're All One for the title to my space because I thought it looked better.

So, we're all one. One of my strong beliefs, and the main reason I have issues with organized religion, is that I believe we are all made of the same stuff - some say star-stuff, some say god-stuff, or universe-stuff. It's all one, and we are all made of it. Not one of us is better or worse, and more importantly, more Holy, than another.

We are all on a Journey through this life. On the way, we have all encountered good and bad things, and we are all affected by those things. To say someone is mean, or cold, or stupid, is to forget they are not finished with that journey, and to ignore the fact that everyone has issues they are working on.

I need to remind myself of this everyday. I am FAR from perfect, and I do go on rants and raves about people I come into contact with. There will be angry monologues on here.

But day to day to day I try and remember to treat my fellow humans with respect and love. Because

they are me

me is they

We Are All One.

Ode to Mothers Everywhere...

Got this in an email from Andrea......


A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard.
The door of his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.

Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or something serious had happened. He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pajamas, reading a novel. She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, "What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?"

"Yes," was his incredulous reply.

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

Weekend

Good morning! Everyone have a nice weekend? I did. My mom is visiting, and we've been have lots of fun. Kaia's been getting a little bored shopping, but she and her Granny are out having fun today, while I work. I get off at one.

We washed my car yesterday, and it was so hot that my job had to be just keeping the car wet, while mom scrubbed. Kaia washed the curb, her flip flops, and a rock. She also had a blast playing in the mud. Didn't get any pictures... :-(

..............

.............

can't really think of excited stuff to talk about at the moment.....will post something from my floder of things I made when I didn't have a blog....

d.

Written July 6th, 2006

Fine, wear whatever you want.

This morning, my daughter wanted to wear her dress with long black velvet arms. Very warm. I looked outside, and saw sunny bright skies, shining down on green grass. Though yesterday wasn’t sweltering, the day before was, and I didn’t want her to be uncomfortable. So a long drawn out argument began. She was in tears, begging to wear the dress. With her comfort in mind, I stoically resisted, and told her if she wasn’t dressed in five minutes, I would pick out her outfit for her. This usually is threat enough to get her moving quite quickly, but this morning she remained on the floor, sobbing. Five minutes passed, and I picked out some shorts and a short sleeved shirt, perfect, I thought, for the weather we would have. I forced her into the hated outfit, which really was quite cute. She tearfully followed me to the car, and into preschool. On the way in, I pointed out the bright cloudless sky. She wasn’t buying it.

I am now at work. Watching the rain pour down and listening to THUNDER for god’s sake. Sigh. I give up. She can wear whatever she wants, and if she’s uncomfortable, well, too bad.

Today's Quote

Optimism is essential.

Jeff Bezos (1964 - )

CEO and cofounder of Amazon.com

Simplicity Plan - The Beginning!

I am overrun with stuff. I actually have a lot less than many people, but it’s still getting to be just too much. My daughter’s room, when not picked up, is a pig-sty. We have so much stuff that we never use!

My newest endeavor is to change to a simpler style of living. This will be in a series of steps. My usual way to do something new is to jump right in, buy all the “necessary” components. Then I either get distracted or intimidated, and quit.

So…

I am taking this slowly. I have bought only ONE book, which is part of Step Two.

Step One

Clear out house. I am going slowly here too. Instead of decided to clear out my living room, for example, I am clearing out my movie collection. Instead of clearing out my whole kitchen, I cleaned the top of my fridge. Baby steps. But I am getting there! Last night, I cleared off my dresser in my room. Now, when I say “cleared” I don’t simply mean my usual cleaning. I mean picking up each thing and deciding if it’s really needed in my house. So far I have cleared my front closet, my fridge, my movies, my dresser, and part of Kaia’s room. From that, I have gotten rid of 5 bags worth of stuff (taken to Goodwill) and 1 bag of garbage. My next places to do are both bedroom closets, and the patio. Because…I need the patio clean for Step Two….

Step Two

Start a patio garden and grow as many of my own fruits and vegetables as I can. This is what I bought the book for. The Bountiful Container. It has wonderful reviews, and is exactly what I am looking for. It talks about how to grow veggies, fruits, and herbs in containers when you don’t have room for a garden. I want to start with blueberries! Yummy, but SO expensive! Also, tomatoes, and some others. I’m waiting for the book to tell me what might be best to begin with.

Step Three (though taking place kind of at the same time as One and Two)

Begin eating more natural, healthy food. Cut down on preservatives, and artificial additives. Add those home-grown veggies to our daily eating, and eat more of them! Begin experimenting with different foods, finding more meals we all like. Also, involve Kaia more in the food preparation. When we move, and can afford it, I plan on buying all the food (except what I’m growing!) at a natural food store.

Step Four

This is a financial step, one I am already trying to incorporate. I want to get rid of all credit card debt, and never use credit cards again. That’s right, never. I want to start investing again, and saving for when we need a large amount of money, so we don’t need a credit card. This isn’t possible right now, the saving bit at least. We haven’t used a credit card since we moved – wait, that’s wrong, we used dental credit cards. Don’t want to do that anymore either!
Part of this step is changing how we spend money in other ways. When we need new clothes, our first stop will be a second hand store. If they don’t have it, okay, but we will have checked. We will also limit what clothes we buy, cutting out unnecessary shopping. Until we move into a bigger place, nothing else is really needed in our home. We don’t need more furniture (well, we could use a book case, but have no place to put it, so therefore we don’t need it.) We don’t need more movies, or dishes. We don’t need more decorative stuff that fulfills no other purpose. I don’t need anymore makeup. Mike doesn’t need more computer stuff. Notice the “need” bit. Yes, we all three have things we want, but we simply don’t have the space or money for them at this time. So we will wait.

Okay, I think that’s enough for now…this will be a continuing venture for me, so you’ll hear more, probably more than you want!

d.

Written on July 2nd, 2006

I watch my husband and my daughter laughing on the floor. She gargles her spit then dissolves into giggles. He pretends disgust and turns away, and she throws herself over him, growling. They both roll over, and he accuses her of farting – she adamantly denies it. Giggles take over again as he attempts to capture the hug he claims is on her shirt, and he sneaks in a pouffle. He has not been home in over a month, and her elation at his visit is immense. Heedless of safety, (honey!! I say, exasperated, but smiling) he throws her into the air, catches her and squeezes tight. Now lying on his stomach, he allows her to thump him a few times before suddenly rolling over and once again stealing a pouffle – she is outraged for a few seconds, until he draws the breath-stealing giggles from her once more. We have missed him. Oh yes, we have.

Quote for Today

For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin

--real life.

But there was always some obstacle in the way,

something to be gotten through first,

some unfinished business,

time still to be served,

a debt to be paid.

Then life would begin.

At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.

-- Alfred D. Souza

I will not settle!

I wrote this awhile ago...I need to read it more often...

I WILL NOT SETTLE!


I will not settle for less than my tip top dreams.

I will not settle for a job I don't like because I was too lazy to get A's in my classes so I could be an Ultrasound Tech.

I will not settle for a house that isn't EXACTLY what I want because we couldn't afford what I DID want.

I will not settle for my daughter growing up with a hum drum education, instead of a well rounded one that includes academics, arts, physical fitness and day to day common sense.

I will not settle for a marriage that isn't joyously happy, and fully functional.

I will not settle into the habit of spending money because it's there, and not save all I can for the future I WILL HAVE.

I will not simply meander through my life expecting it to work itself out and miraculously become perfect.

I am willing to deal with not having what I want every day now, so that I can have what I want later.

To Begin Again....

While I am waiting for my own blog website to be up and running, I discovered I had two choices...bug my very busy husband daily about working on our blog page, or simply use another until it's ready. Since I love my husband, and he loves me, and I want that to stick around, I decided daily bugging would not be advised. So here I am! More later, I'm just starting work, but wanted to get this created. Things I will be blogging about....

1. my new "simple living" plans
2. well...I know there were other things....drat....well, you'll see when I do, I guess....

Have a wonderful Thursday!

d.