Meet Burp

Sidney created this pottery in art class at school--named burp :)

I wish I could harness the raw creativity that the kids have. The innate and intelligent originality. I went through years learning how to inspire the 'willing suspension of disbelief' when playing a part. I love to try to immerse myself into whatever I'm doing. But I'm conscious of it. I'm willingly suspending. I hope that as the kids grow up they can hold onto to their imaginations and continue to experience the wonder of life, as I do.

The Restless Brain

Some people have restless leg syndrome, I have restless brain syndrome.

I guess I always choose to start new projects when I have a hundred other things to do, as a way to prepare myself for the larger ones. De-clutter the brain while I'm working out how to best approach the next task. When I was in school, I always worked best when I was under a deadline. The only deadlines I have for these homey creative tasks are self-imposed but necessary.

I have a favorite magazine that I read cover to cover and hold onto every issue to use for future reference. Well, it has now become a leaning tower on my bookshelf, I can't fit any more, I struggle to put my hands on the reference I need, and honestly it just looks pack-ratty ugly!

So this evening I'm going to begin extracting the articles I need and put them in a great binder that I found when we were organizing the basement yesterday. I obviously have had this thought before, because this little gem is labeled "Mom's Craft and Project Idea Book." It was like a gift finding this book that I had started and was full of ideas.

So now I can add to the pretty colored tabs things like bread making, garden & chicken tips, and energy efficiency. Ohhhh look at all the pretty colors of the dividers! I'm not type A at all! HA! At least I'm a laid back A, who just needs to organize her creative juices before putting them into action. And this time, the idea book will be within arms reach and not hidden in the basement to find 3 years from now :)

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Finding Value

I'm sitting on the couch post Sidney's riding lesson, her dad and brother are at wrestling, and we're watching a new show that Sidney has just fallen in love with.

Sid got a net book for Christmas, no it's not an apple, but it will do for an 8 year old who loves to research and thinks google is the bomb! (yes, I've got parental controls). She also got a great gift from Santa, really a gift for the whole family. Season one of the Walton's. Since it was settling down time last night, and I was watching the Return of the King (not entirely kid friendly), she googled it, and then watched the next episode on the Internet.

How did Santa know that her dad's and my favorite past time, in the prime time viewing age before Sid was born, before the news and world took over our nightly viewing, was the one and only Walton's.

We love this show, and now our daughter has developed a passion for it and it's lessons. Call me a sap, but this simpler life is in part an inspiration for what we do. Where love and respect for family, and all of the blessings that we can get from what is right in front of us take precedence. In the time of iCarly, Hannah Montana, and the Suite Life, I am thankful that my family can balance the new with our old-fashioned values and reconcile the two.

Goodnight Mama, goodnight Daddy, goodnight Sidney, goodnight Charlie. Who are you saying goodnight to tonight?

The Great Sort Begins

Well it's day 4 of the new year and we have taken a small step toward completing one of our winter projects. I'd say that's a pretty good jump start on the year! Operation tool consolidation and arranging has officially begun. The basement has been emptied of the clutter and bits and pieces and they're making their way to the barn for the big lay out and organization.

As we began the pick up and find this morning, Brian said he was frustrated because it seems we just partially moved in. His big love and creative outlet has been his wood shop and since we moved in, we have only partially unpacked some stuff, just waiting for the other house to sell and then get the rest of it moved and set up.

Now, we are at a disadvantage since so many of his main power tools were badly damaged in last years flood. They have been moved here since we had to vacate the rest of the other house for repairs, but everything just sits in a kind of limbo and disarray. So now we begin to clear out, organize, and re-enter talks with the insurance company, with the hopes of gaining some guidance on how to fix this (we've attempted ad nausea to get bids but there are no dealers anywhere in our area).

The tools will come in oh so handy as we continue to build our life on our little farmstead. We've got a list of projects a mile long that they will be useful for. In going with the theme I presented yesterday, this year will not only be a great year as we continue on our adventure, it will also be the year that we move on and try not to start every sentence with "when the other house sells..."

Toasting 2010

Today really feels like the first day of the new year to me. We got home yesterday evening and before settling in, I set out a loaf of my zucchini bread to defrost, so that we could start the new year off tasting the goodness of last year. Today has been spent picking up, taking down Christmas, and generally rearranging things to look and feel fresh. It isn't too hard to be dedicated indoors since it is frigid outside.

When we moved into this house my parents sent us a wonderful gift basket of goodies. One of those items was a nice bottle of champagne to celebrate our new home with. I decided to put it in the fridge and crack it open when the other house sold as a celebration of the completed move. Little did I know then, that two and a half years later, that bottle would still be sitting in it's refrigerated place of honor.

I discussed with Brian last night that to start off right, we're going to open that bottle this evening, to accompany our garden feast. We're going to toast the new year and all of the good to come, instead of waiting for the special occasion that would normally give us the extravagant excuse to drink champagne. Toasting our health, happiness and the adventure to come is enough!