Looking for my Starbucks next to the Scratch Feed

I pondered the differences in my former life to what is 'the new reality.' And this is what comes to mind. I remembered a day when it was normal to see a Starbucks coffee barista in my local Target Store. Friends, we've crossed over to the 'new reality.' While buying some last minute, whoops I forgot to buy Millie dog food- cans-o-chow, I saw this. Not the starbucks on aisle 4, but the scratch feed. Yes, chicken feed in my local grocery store.

If you've known me forever, you are laughing. If you've only known me a few months, you may see the irony, or you may be offended. Don't be offended. You see there is a large lot of us city-dwellers, who are very thankful to see chicken feed on aisle 4. Especially when we're not used to stopping by the feed store & the grocery.

Still no chickens for us, but working on it.

Today, I am thankful-- yes, thankful am I.

Dream House

How do I merge 'dream house' & simple living? You know you've asked yourself equally difficult questions. I found myself on my knees asking this question today.

If you zoom in on my face, you can see me in deep consternation. I only get this look about a couple of things (adoption & real estate). This picture is taken at a potential home buy for us. This property with all its details & nuances was a real find. But one must really dig deep these days. This market is really doing a deal on my thinking. Years ago, we bought, in fact we've bought 2 homes. Long and the short, we sold the last of those 2 last May. In this market. In 2 weeks. We priced to sell, didn't take a beating, but it was painful. It had been our home. A house is only a house, but once you've made some memories in it, it's a home.

I digress. So we're still looking. At least as of 21:27 Athens time. We've decided to put the breaks on and not look till the new year. Bwaaahahahhaahaaa... that's like saying 'I think I'm going to wait to breath again until New Years Eve! I wake thinking about this, think about it while we do phonics, while I'm singing, while I'm eating... I could go on. But I don't think it's just because I've watched too many episodes on HGTV. A house is a woman's place of work. I'm in a temporary homestead. So for now, I really am concentrating on school, & dinners, games & trampolines, and being grateful for our current digs. The firepit helps. Alot.

And then... I find a blog post like this, and of all places. Martha Stewart linked up 26 houses. And of course I found the ultimate renovation. A ranch re-do. I love ranches. I love farm houses, but I also love ranches that ramble, into which you can create cozy places, with ripped out vaulted ceilings. However, I want my ranch to look like this one. I think I could find a re-do house priced right. Work on the structure & then bring it up to speed as we go. But seriously, I really don't want to be house poor. Not just house poor, but stressed because of it. We've been there. We escaped. Narrowly. The math just didn't turn the numbers I knew & dear Husband knew we needed to turn a 2 over 2 1840's on acres into our home. This is the time for me to be about as money smart as possible. Being the buyer doesn't have the same feeling anymore (if you don't like it you just sell it and move...)It may be a buyers market but that buy still needs to be realistic in order to be resonsible & live simply.

photo credit: vaulted ceiling from Martha Stewart .com

'Don't Make Me Count to Three!' - Book link

This book caught my eye. I'm in a 'take no prisoners' mode right now. Again, I say this caught my eye, haven't read it, but saw it on Equip Academy's blog & thought I might have to put it on my list to read.

Book title: 'Don't Make Me Count to Three' by Ginger Plowman.

Last Child in the Woods

I've owned this book for a couple of years. I pulled it out the other day, when we found a house that might fit the bill for us. We have wondered exactly how far in the country we wanted to live. We moved, if you remember from an urban location. Moving from one lifestyle to another is a shock to the system. But reading a book like this brings it all back to mind why we did this in the first place.

Sustainability is one of the reasons we want to be in a rural/no covenant type living arrangment. Being able to do with one's property what you want is important to us. But we've also begun to realize how important 'room to run' is to kids. After watching our kids roam without perceived physical & imposed boundaries, its become far more important to us to find a place that has 'room to run.

This book is not talking about nature worship, it does not suggest the DNR Medical encyclopedia needs to develop a new syndrome (quite the opposite), it does not advocate worship of nature instead of God.

It does enlighten one to things we probably know already. What happens when the power in your house goes out, what happens when kids see a big field or a stream? Imagination & interest come alive. There's no script (unless parents or caregivers suggest it)... When pushed outside kids have an opportunity to naturally decompress from busy-ness & overload.

Our minds were not created to be able to process the overload diet we live on. Especially pre-schoolers. This is not limited to, but certainly includes tv. (lowercase letters as we'd lower-case an alternative god)

It's hard to break away. I'm in withdrawal right now. When 'everything' is 1/2 an hour away, you really gotta want it. But I'm seeing the upside to that. You really gotta want it. It forces to you to weigh out what it is, why, how, and is it really worth it. We really have played alot of games in place of finding another outlet that might be a part of the 'over-load'.

Does everyone need to move to the sticks to do this? No, but we do need to understand our need for peace that is found in nature. Louv's descriptions of our over-dose attempts to be in the outdoors bring it home that regular simple exposure & sanctuary is vital to our quality of life.

We have no shortage of enthusiasm for dirt around our house, it's just getting them out there and becoming more accustomed to becoming lost in the quiet, peace & sanctuary of God's creation.

More on this to come. But if you've ever wanted real motivation, convicting motivation to 'unplug'-- this is it. Run don't walk to Barnes & Noble, click on that prime button on Amazon, or better yet, see if your library carries this book.

BTW, I bought it, while on a kid trip to B&N in Baton Rouge. Train table, coffee, magazines, etc... But since that day, I've realized even more how little my kids need to be exposed to extreme commmercialism. I'm a junkie. And I don't want them to be junkies. I see a connection to contentment & peace here. It was a purchase I'm glad I made tho, as I have read it as a touchstone to ground me again in a world that's looking for answers in all the wrong places.

Fun at Our House

Because things have been just a little too serious around here lately....

If you we're wondering...

In a recent post over at Mt. Hope Chronicles, Heidi posted a candid letter to a 'dear friend'. It was honest. Open, so that those who might think her world was 'perfect' would realize she was just like anyone else. I often talk in lofty thought, ideals, positives, scriptures. So this is why I posted my comments about the post-office job. Something do-able hit the radar. Something even I could justify. So...

If you we're wondering, I, in all likelihood will not persue(a word I can NEVER spell correctly) a career with the postal service just now. But it ranks right up there with the kind of thing that people always wonder about homeschool mom's. Do you miss working outside the home? do you ever think you'll go back to work? did you always think you'd homeschool? You must be very patient... I could never do that.

Like most mothers, I think I've had my share of days of complete confidence in 'the plan'(my plan being to stay at home while my kids are at home & homeschool), but there are those days you'd just like to pack it up and send them to FULL TIME DAYCARE. Anywhere, but in your own care. I'd love to have a cleaning lady, I'd love to have carpets that don't resemble a locker room floor.

I'd love to decorate with the confidence that it will not get broken before the day ends.

I'd love to have a parent-teacher conference that involves more than me and my husband.

But will I? No. I'm a pretty determined little gal, this one. I've read just about every source, even those undocumented in this blog, that convicts me for now that this is the road we'll take. That of what seems to be a traditional track, and perhaps even more narrow of homeschooling.

Now I'm also a practical gal, learning along the way, that educating one's own children doesn't always look like what you've always thought. One of my dearest friends in the world seems to have a 'helper' around pretty regularly. We often shared carpool duties to activities our children shared, I trusted her judgment in those she allowed to care for her children, and didn't overthink the ramifications of them being 'out of my care'.

I'm a very deliberate person. But I'm often the one considered a little more lax in my parameters of mothering. I'm never called a 'helicopter mom' (the hovering mom) when probably I could have been a little more involved for the happiness of everyone. But it's interesting in getting to know people, what they perceive to be the reasons one homeschools.

There are numerous reasons I want to homeschool. There are many that I can rattle off in an academic style list. But probably, it's not that I'm worried about others influence, but my lack of influence if I'm less focused on them. My opportunity for influence will diminish as the years sneak away. And they aren't sneaking anymore. Jack grew 3 inches this last year. He's huge. But his mind is what is showing me, he needs me & Eric more than he's ever needed us.

Does he need others? YES. Unequivocally. But I know myself. I cannot do 2 jobs well. My focus becomes well, diminished, weakened, lessened, when I'm involved with even noble projects.

I'm just now learning this. I used to be even a little weirded out by folks who wanted to be closer to their kids. But in this world's social, academic, spiritual, etc.. climate-- my kids need me. And they need me to be full of wholesome rituals & consistency. And quite frankly those are my weaknesses. For every 'fun-day' of homeschooling, there was a painfully awkward day of poor parenting. (that's the reality of blogging... we only want to see the good stuff, that's encouraging right? (see my reference above to http://mthopeacademy.blogspot.com/2010/09/another-note-to-another-friend.html & her letter to a friend )

This is why even tho it may be a small thing, to take a random few Saturday's in the post office to fullfill a lifelong dream(? I know, I know...), I can't go there. I've got too much conditioning of my heart, because he/they are watching. And God is hoping I'll focus on the time I have with them.

Focusing on one's kids is a personal thing-- I remember one time riding with my Dad when I was an adult, we parked at a convenience store & a car pulled up beside us. We noticed there were little kids in the back seat, safely buckled, a mom & a dad. As the dad got out to go in, we noticed the music was a little louder, perhaps even not my first choice for kids, but we noticed they were all together. They were a family. They were kind to one another, & had what looked like a fun evening going. My Dad commented 'how nice it was to see a family- together.'

For me, it's picking up on subtle nuances or thoughts in our family's conversation. Tonight someone said 'Holy cow' in a sentence, and Jack said innocently, 'is that like a God cow?' He wasn't being silly... you know when you're kids are being silly. He really thought holiness is something we associate with godliness & God. So do I. I don't recommend to my children to use this phrase. Holiness is too sacred, our speech is to be with care.

I can't interpret what it looks like for another's family. You may even be able to balance work/home/kids in a way that really, in truly works for you. And glorifies God to the best of one's ability. You may really have no other choice. I may be there with you, dear sister, one day. But for us, right now, it involves me devoting myself to the task at hand. I've never been good at 'part-time' work. Before too long, I'm full-time on part-time pay or usually no pay. So for now, I'll sit tight, and hope that when graduation comes (from homeschool/private school or public school), the post office is still hiring geriatrics. Cuz that's just where I'll be.

Medieval Costumes

Which would you pick? I think I'll go with the red tunic/gray skirt & yellow feather in my proper hat? I see some costumes on the horizon... I just can't help myself.

Typewriter's and Post Offices

Sunday afternoon, the air is fresh, there is hope in the wind. The sun is not painful. It's refreshing. Fall, blessed fall. Thank you Lord, for this day. We are having quiet time. Husband sleeping, Jack playing legos, Henry playing trains. And me. I'm not in a swivet over houses, or other uncontrollables. My well(quite literally) has been low, and it has changed the status-quo in a few ways. When circumstances shift, when there is a sudden, unexpected alteration, a variable in the equation--

--- the perspective changes. (The well being low is only the beginning of 'variables' around here...just an excellent example... it effects everything we do.)

I enjoyed a visit to the post office the other day, learning from the clerk & one of the carriers in the office that the acres at the end/or should I say at the beginning of our route off the main highway, isn't going to be a new neighborhood, but a horse pasture. Cleared entirely for horses, not for tree-less 'mc-mansions'. Remember those days? When you would pass a cleared field and know within 2 months there would be 20 houses where the oaks of 'Oaklawn Subdivision' used to be? Those days are gone folks. The recession is here. Now those houses are going for nickles on the dollar. While shopping for houses, we see empty leftover beautiful homes, all the time. That's not even talking about the forclosure market. I'm just talking about the bank-owned builder leftovers. It's sad. And factual all at the same time. It's what happens when we want more. When a typewriter isn't good enough, and we have to be able to send our words to millions, much more quickly than a letter used to travel. When we want more than we need.

So I'm crafting a set of typewriter keys on a wooden board today. (a Pottery Barn Knock-off, plain & simple) remember I have lots of bare walls & my sister-in-law, Heidi, has already supplied the board. Just got to do it. She followed Susie Harris' instructions HERE. It could be said, I'm juse perpetuating the continued obsession with commercialism/ie: all things pottery barn, but I really, really like typewriters. And I think there's just alot of cute, homey things in pottery barn. I love their style. There, I said it.

Like most mom's across America/the world, I'm trying to reconcile dreaming & wanting with contentment, recreation, and doing one's very best. And often times, one's past just creeps up and creates a whole nuther set of expectations or guidelines you weren't expecting.

Back to the post office. There's a part-time fill in position available at the local post office. You know you are becoming your mother when a very spookily similar job comes available at about the same place in your life. You see, for a time my mom ran the small library in the train depot when we lived in Cordova, part-time mind you. At least that's what I remember. I just remember lots of hand stamps and cards, and the train depot windows. Here's the connection, or unexpected memory--all my life, I've wanted to work in the post office. Just ask my family. I participated in a field trip when I was a kid to the post office in Bowling Green KY, and that was it for me. I loved all those letters and stamps. the slots, the paper, the stacks of mail. It makes me think, at least of my Mom's part-time job. Of all those compartments, books, paper & stamps. Maybe not, maybe..

But there it is. That big temptation, to step back into the work world. The world where it all makes sense, order, cooperative people to work with. A function to perform that will be appreciated immediately, with a pay-check to boot!

You see this home-school, home-maker mom dreams of the outside world. And she knows herself a little too well, to think that it will only remain 1 day every 2 weeks. or so. ? Crack me up tho... it's not an interior design firm in Athens that's wooing me... it's a local small town post office. A simple ad in the local paper. And they don't even know how strongly I'm comparing them to the Sirens that tempted Jason.

Perhaps something will come of it, & I'll learn my community better, get to know people faster, have a morning or 2 off now and then. Off from my full-time job of wife & mother. The one that only I can do. It may not seem like much to you, perhaps, dear reader, this seems like an obvious no-brainer to you, but it's not for me. Some dreams don't make sense to others (the post office???)- yet, on a more serious note, a job outside my home for me is a slippery slope, -- what may be meat offered to idols, may be just meat to others. Just a window into the simple, yet surreal life I seem to be living right about now.

Well, must finish the typewriter key art before everyone wakes up!

photos: linked from 'Cordova, TN' found on Wikepedia.com

Cordova Elementary, where my brother attended before integration & busing changed our world.

Cordova Train Depot, where I played while my mother was part-time librarian.

Our Spiritual Heritage Bible Curriculum

Some time ago, I worshipped with a church who utilized this program. The developers at JSC came and walked us through it, provided video for those who couldn't attend, and helped us understand exactly how life changing this could be for our church.
I am often reminded how our children need a solid foundation of Bible knowledge. And this curriculum provides it.
JSC is a small operation, but they are skilled and deeply devoted to the teaching of the Bible. If you have any desire to know your Bible, and have a better understanding of what happened when, and later why that is significant in the story of our spiritual heritage, then this is the curriculum for you. It is reasonably priced and has many areas of study for children.
I usually combine the outline/chronology cards with pictures for matching games & I got out my faithful children's coloring book to make the gazillion copies I use. I also did the unthinkable and cut up (yes for the 3rd time now) the pages from this Bible story book to create my own accessories for this fine material. The packages comes with all the necessaries, but I'm always looking for a way to help the non-reader get the story.
My favorite idea is to reduce the color pages, & make velcro on pictures to tell the facts on the chronology cards. We also use these as a concentration game. I'm working on getting my Mini-Patriarch cards up to dates for the months of September & October. We will be working through Advent in late November & December, so I want to have a smooth segway for that when the time comes.

Labor Day Weekend

So we took the boys to the lake-- Hard Labor Creek State Park at Rutledge Lake. Ironic huh? We had a great time. Boy's went to their first and last for a while UGA game... wasn't quite as easy a day as an LSU game. I didn't attend. Not ready to sell my soul.. er... I mean, wear the local colors. I'm still in mourning. Henry was actually much more excited than he looks. That's just his happy/I'm really into this face.

Jack had a bike wreck, we schooled and we're sort of ready for this week ahead. As much as you can be when you've had a Monday holiday.

But today I remembered: 'I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me." and I knew I could make it.

Everyday Homeschooling

Our schoolroom hasn't changed much, and like most folks we wind up at the kitchen table anyway. Jack is studying the Medieval period at Master's Academy one day a week, so we're doing activities & reading right along with the program. He's trying to work with gold leaf here in this picture, and although our technique isn't accurate, he loved it. Exposure is the key here. He can tell you anything that is included in the Story of the World about the chapters we've covered.

Meanwhile we've been celebrating birthday's (one more shot of 'day of birthday celebrating'). We stopped at Ike & Jane's for some incredible donuts. Henry went classic with chocolate & sprinkles. Jack had Resee's Peanut butter donut (yuck). He licked his plate.

We continue to press on with house hunting, for as much as this house is beautiful, it is not for us. The blessing is realizing this while renting. I won't go into all the details, but the stumper for me is the hesitancy to stick stuff on the walls. I'm not just talking about decorating, although I've done some of that. But the hanging of poster's, charts, timelines. Must say, it's killing me. I'm a pointer... one who points to reference while teaching. And in my mind, the bigger the better. We're getting to a critical boiling over, and then I'm reminded of our rental status by a call that the house will be shown tomorrow before lunch. This is a good thing. But annoying only, only, only because keeping a house clean while having 2 boys, 1 dad, 1 dog & and only 1 mom with 'the vision' of a clean house is taxing.

OK, sob story over. Thankful for COOL weather! It's beautiful.