My basement pantry is finished! I'll try and get a picture up tomorrow. I cut and added the last shelf today and am very happy with it. The top shelf is all for empty canning jars. Right now, the second shelf has last years applesauce and the 8 jars of tomato sauce I have so far. I will be making pickles tuesday or wednesday and will add them to the shelf as well. I am trying to figure out what else I can make that we will appreciate and that can be canned using a water canner. I was reading Danielle's blog a few days ago and was inspired by her usage of her new pressure canner.
The guys came back from cub scout camp and things turned out pretty well. Son had a lot of fun and so it was worth the trouble and The Calls from Last Sunday. Oh, and my mother-in-law is visiting us now. Daughter and I picked her up yesterday from the airport. We had a nice field trip to the airport (lots of process questions were answered). I made a big mistake already. I agreed to go shopping for Daughter's birthday present with her. I hate to shop. She loves it. She bought way more for Daughter than I would have preferred. At one point she asked me what Daughter would like from the toy section. I said not much. Daughter had not expressed nterest in anything from Target's toy section but she had said she needed some new toys. I let the two of them browse together and now Daughter will be getting toy horses and accompanying stuff and a croquet set. I hope she uses them and enjoys them after she gets them of course! I am getting better at releasing control over my kids. I can see that when I watch my MIL interact with them. She is very authoritarian. We shall see what she thinks of our unschooling life! Did I mention she works for the NY State Department of Education?
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
My First Sleepover
Yesterday I pulled out my circular saw to make shelves for a pantry cabinet in the basement (need somewhere to store all those canning jars full of yummy local food that I make!). Daughter and I went to Lowe's and get wood - but it was FSC certified hardwood plywood. We cut it to size with just one cut each piece. We soaped up the pegs to hold up the shelves and voila there we go. A pantry. Now I just need to go back and get more of the peg things now that I know they are the right size. I only have one shelf in my 3 shelf cabinet.
After that, I dropped Daughter off at her friend L's house (for the first time without me there) and headed off to my beloved yoga class. It was so nice to be there and it turned out to be a fabulous private class. Yeah for me! When I picked up Daughter, L came with us for our first sleepover. I don't remember sleeping over at a friend's house except maybe once when I was growing up so it all felt new to me. Since they had already had a few hours to play together, Daughter and L were getting along great when we got home. But they were getting tired already. We played restaurant (so they could have a snack), set up our city rugs and little cars to play, and got out some books for when we got tired. They were both so tired but unwilling to go to sleep early. I finally put on my nightgown, announced I was reading 2 books aloud and turning off the lights of my room. They each had a room they could go play in if they wanted. They opted to stay with me and lights out. I didn't take long for them to fall asleep. L had a bit of a hard time because Zelda the Cat was purring loudly. I got up at my normal time and hopped with into the shower. I was surprised to come out of the shower to Daughter dressed and ready to play with the sleeping L. Waiting is so hard sometimes. Zelda the Cat woke L up with her meowing for brushing to the wait wasn't too long. Getting started in the morning was a challenge with the two girls. I called L's mom and asked her to stop by and see if L was ready to go home. Once I got enough fuel into them, things were much better. L was not ready to go, so now they are in the basement being noisy and active and having a grand old time. I think it was a success!
After that, I dropped Daughter off at her friend L's house (for the first time without me there) and headed off to my beloved yoga class. It was so nice to be there and it turned out to be a fabulous private class. Yeah for me! When I picked up Daughter, L came with us for our first sleepover. I don't remember sleeping over at a friend's house except maybe once when I was growing up so it all felt new to me. Since they had already had a few hours to play together, Daughter and L were getting along great when we got home. But they were getting tired already. We played restaurant (so they could have a snack), set up our city rugs and little cars to play, and got out some books for when we got tired. They were both so tired but unwilling to go to sleep early. I finally put on my nightgown, announced I was reading 2 books aloud and turning off the lights of my room. They each had a room they could go play in if they wanted. They opted to stay with me and lights out. I didn't take long for them to fall asleep. L had a bit of a hard time because Zelda the Cat was purring loudly. I got up at my normal time and hopped with into the shower. I was surprised to come out of the shower to Daughter dressed and ready to play with the sleeping L. Waiting is so hard sometimes. Zelda the Cat woke L up with her meowing for brushing to the wait wasn't too long. Getting started in the morning was a challenge with the two girls. I called L's mom and asked her to stop by and see if L was ready to go home. Once I got enough fuel into them, things were much better. L was not ready to go, so now they are in the basement being noisy and active and having a grand old time. I think it was a success!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Painting and Concrete
Wow, today I started and completed my own project and helped someone else with theirs! After a quiet, doing little tasks kind of morning, Daughter and I started prepping the kids bathroom to be painted. That went so quickly that we got out the paint which has been patiently waiting since winter. We got the entire bathroom prepared and painted in less than 4 hours. Daughter helped the entire time. What a champ. Of course, she did get to use a screwdriver, a cleaning bucket, a paint brush, masking tape, and a paint roller. What is not to love?
After we got our tools and ourselves cleaned up (tools better than us), I looked out the window and saw a concrete truck at our neighbors house. We put on our shoes and headed over there so check out the fun. They were putting in a sidewalk to their new side door and sort of new gazebo. The forms were already up and level (hence the concrete truck's arrival), but there was still plenty to watch. I got to help screed the concrete (make the surface level with the forms), use a sledgehammer to pound the stakes for the forms in further, and hang out with the guys. Hardly any woman comments except that "there aren't many women who do what you do". I took that as a compliment. I wouldn't have 10 years ago. I have grown and matured imagine that!
After a shower that felt wonderful, we had a yummy dinner, and settled down to watch The Rescuers. It is one movie that I remember enjoying as a child, so I thought I would share it with Daughter. We watched a bit of it before she was too sleepy. Maybe more tomorrow.
After we got our tools and ourselves cleaned up (tools better than us), I looked out the window and saw a concrete truck at our neighbors house. We put on our shoes and headed over there so check out the fun. They were putting in a sidewalk to their new side door and sort of new gazebo. The forms were already up and level (hence the concrete truck's arrival), but there was still plenty to watch. I got to help screed the concrete (make the surface level with the forms), use a sledgehammer to pound the stakes for the forms in further, and hang out with the guys. Hardly any woman comments except that "there aren't many women who do what you do". I took that as a compliment. I wouldn't have 10 years ago. I have grown and matured imagine that!
After a shower that felt wonderful, we had a yummy dinner, and settled down to watch The Rescuers. It is one movie that I remember enjoying as a child, so I thought I would share it with Daughter. We watched a bit of it before she was too sleepy. Maybe more tomorrow.
Too Many Errands
Well, right now it seems that morning is when I have calm and quiet to think and blog. Yesterday Daughter and I did errands for entirely too long. We filled up on gas for our jetta wagon (a mere $52), dropped books at the library, tried to go observe a swim lesson but there was no one in the pool, took our trash to the landfill (yup - no trash pickup service for us - our choice), left an envelope at a friend's house, went to get milk and butter, stopped at the health food store, browsed at our local bike shop (its birthday month for half of our family), grabbed a dozen bagels, and purchased new homeschool journals for Son and Daughter's first one.
At the health food store (Country Nutrition) we were looking for natural versions of things we have recently started using. Son is working more on keeping his mouth clean and loving his teeth. He wants to use fluoride rinse (too many cavities) and I would like one without too many strange ingredients. I found several to choose from, but all were mint flavor which does not fly for him. Elaine is searching for more choices for us. Daughter loves to chew peelu gum (and it helps with oral care too) but doesn't care for the cinnamon flavor which Son likes. Daughter is very into self first aid for her own ouches. We are trying some arnica cream for bruises and a calendula ointment for cuts/scrapes (instead of neosporin).
Once at home, we worked on planning a pantry type of cabinet to hold canning jars and other food in the basement. Since we order from a natural food coop, we often have 1-2 months supply of some foods which live in the basement. We have these 2 large cabinets with doors which served as clothing wardrobes for our 100 year old victorian house in Chicago (which had no closets). They have poles to hand hangers from and holes in side to put in adjustable shelves - if we only had more shelves. That way, we have safe storage for the canning jars (applesauce, tomato sauce, etc) I work hard to produce. Once we obtain some shelves, we will have a pantry cabinet and a dress up cabinet. We measured and made out shopping list.
At the health food store (Country Nutrition) we were looking for natural versions of things we have recently started using. Son is working more on keeping his mouth clean and loving his teeth. He wants to use fluoride rinse (too many cavities) and I would like one without too many strange ingredients. I found several to choose from, but all were mint flavor which does not fly for him. Elaine is searching for more choices for us. Daughter loves to chew peelu gum (and it helps with oral care too) but doesn't care for the cinnamon flavor which Son likes. Daughter is very into self first aid for her own ouches. We are trying some arnica cream for bruises and a calendula ointment for cuts/scrapes (instead of neosporin).
Once at home, we worked on planning a pantry type of cabinet to hold canning jars and other food in the basement. Since we order from a natural food coop, we often have 1-2 months supply of some foods which live in the basement. We have these 2 large cabinets with doors which served as clothing wardrobes for our 100 year old victorian house in Chicago (which had no closets). They have poles to hand hangers from and holes in side to put in adjustable shelves - if we only had more shelves. That way, we have safe storage for the canning jars (applesauce, tomato sauce, etc) I work hard to produce. Once we obtain some shelves, we will have a pantry cabinet and a dress up cabinet. We measured and made out shopping list.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Camp, The Calls, and Peaceful Rooms
Yesterday I forgot about posting until it was way to late for Daughter and I to get started. She and I are without men/boys for the entire week! Husband and Son left yesterday morning for cub scout camp in VA. We helped them get packed up and head off into the sunshine for a mere 4-5 hours driving. After the should have gotten there I got The Call. Camp was closed. Yes, closed. There was an e. coli problem (7 people I think) last week. Even though the camp called everyone to assure no problems on saturday, sunday they were closed. Yuck! The Leader called around and found them another camp with space about 20 miles away. The Call from from Son who does not handle transitions well. He wanted to come home. Luckily, I was removed from the situation enough to Be The Mountain. I helped him calm down, realize he would still get to shoot bb guns, and that it would be ok. Then another Call. They were at a Italian restaurant and Son wasn't hungry and didn't want to eat there anyway. The Mountain that I am, I helped him think of just getting a glass of milk (wow it seemed he needed protein to accompany the sugar snacks he had on the drive) and asking waiter for plain chicken. Thank goodness, when he called to tell me what he ordered, he had discovered chocolate milk and chicken strips. No more calls.
Daughter and I had no trouble jumping right into projects together. Even at the tender age of five, when I told her Brother said I could clean out the unused things from his closet, said to me "I could use some of those toys since I am bigger now." Indeed, she now has many of the little cars and the homemade driving rugs. They will still play together, but Son won't have to deal with cleaning them up and keeping them in his closet. Works for them! We installed the display shelves which have been sitting on the floor, vacuumed, put away his clean laundry, and generally made his room look orderly and neat. I know it will bring him peace when he comes home. It is so hard for him to handle his room by himself all the time.
We had to work on Daughter's closet as well since she had lots of stuff she wanted access to in the house but did not want to take care of in her room. Most of the building stuff (k'nex, lincoln logs, etc.) are now downstairs where they are played with anyway! So both kids rooms now bring calm peaceful feelings. Yeah for us!
Daughter was introduced to the idea of swim lessons at dinner, so today we are going to watch a lesson like the one she would take. She will have to wait till the fall sessions start to sign up, but I think it will work. Watching first is always a good plan with my kids.
Daughter and I had no trouble jumping right into projects together. Even at the tender age of five, when I told her Brother said I could clean out the unused things from his closet, said to me "I could use some of those toys since I am bigger now." Indeed, she now has many of the little cars and the homemade driving rugs. They will still play together, but Son won't have to deal with cleaning them up and keeping them in his closet. Works for them! We installed the display shelves which have been sitting on the floor, vacuumed, put away his clean laundry, and generally made his room look orderly and neat. I know it will bring him peace when he comes home. It is so hard for him to handle his room by himself all the time.
We had to work on Daughter's closet as well since she had lots of stuff she wanted access to in the house but did not want to take care of in her room. Most of the building stuff (k'nex, lincoln logs, etc.) are now downstairs where they are played with anyway! So both kids rooms now bring calm peaceful feelings. Yeah for us!
Daughter was introduced to the idea of swim lessons at dinner, so today we are going to watch a lesson like the one she would take. She will have to wait till the fall sessions start to sign up, but I think it will work. Watching first is always a good plan with my kids.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Beach and Bike
Well, remember that go-kart part replacement from last time? The part worked just fine. After another spin in the go-kart, DS decided that it was really not what he wanted. It jiggled his body around too much, he couldn't start it himself (pull start from the back with driver pushing gas pedal down), and who knows what other reasons. So now, he wants to sell it. Hmm.
Yesterday we went to pick blackberries at a new farm with friends that we see rarely (but the Dads are officemates). Monsieur Louis' farm to be exact - in VA. Blackberries for $1/lb that are fabulous. Monsieur Louis apparently came to the US from France to be the Queen's master gardener somewhere and then never left. He has all sorts of yummies and beautiful flowers. We then went to Colonial Beach to play in the water. It was so nice to sit with a friend, have good conversation, and have all 5 kids be happily playing with each other. We decided that we really did not live too far to see each other more often. We made a pledge to see each other every other week or more. We can't wait. Our ice cream on the way home was yummy and refreshing.
Today, we got everyone up, left the house at 8, and went on a 15 mile bike ride with our bike club (Oxon Hill Bike Club). It was at a member's horse farm with a family picnic afterwards. We exercised, saw the countryside, ate with friends, petted horses, jump started my car (boy did that take a long time - it was totally out of juice from leaving my XM radio plugged intot he power outlet and the headlights on!), and headed home in the middle of the afternoon.
The rest of the day was spent resting, eating, and packing so that DH and DS can leave in the am for cub scout camp. They will be gone Sun-Sat. Yeah for them and yeah for DD and I :-)
Yesterday we went to pick blackberries at a new farm with friends that we see rarely (but the Dads are officemates). Monsieur Louis' farm to be exact - in VA. Blackberries for $1/lb that are fabulous. Monsieur Louis apparently came to the US from France to be the Queen's master gardener somewhere and then never left. He has all sorts of yummies and beautiful flowers. We then went to Colonial Beach to play in the water. It was so nice to sit with a friend, have good conversation, and have all 5 kids be happily playing with each other. We decided that we really did not live too far to see each other more often. We made a pledge to see each other every other week or more. We can't wait. Our ice cream on the way home was yummy and refreshing.
Today, we got everyone up, left the house at 8, and went on a 15 mile bike ride with our bike club (Oxon Hill Bike Club). It was at a member's horse farm with a family picnic afterwards. We exercised, saw the countryside, ate with friends, petted horses, jump started my car (boy did that take a long time - it was totally out of juice from leaving my XM radio plugged intot he power outlet and the headlights on!), and headed home in the middle of the afternoon.
The rest of the day was spent resting, eating, and packing so that DH and DS can leave in the am for cub scout camp. They will be gone Sun-Sat. Yeah for them and yeah for DD and I :-)
Friday, August 1, 2008
New Goal and Go-Kart
I start to feel guilty if I don't post for a while and then I don't want to do it at all. Also, I was never someone who kept a journal, so blogging is not a natural, easy thing for me. My friend Ronda has inspired me to try blogging more. So I set myself a goal to blog daily for 2 weeks and see if that improves my attitude. Here goes ...
This blog is named Organic Everything because I put a priority on local, organic food and on organic learning. I have yet to post at all about the learning portion. Within the last year or so, I have jumped into the river of what is commonly called unschooling. Its even more strange than that - we are trying our best at radical unschooling. I love to control things and so this is hard for me. It means letting go of bedtimes, arbitrary parental rules, food limitations, expectations of learning particular things at particular times, and parents taking priority over their kids. Radical unschooling also means giving freedom to everyone in my home no matter what age, learning about anything and everything - by choice - in a variety of ways, helping my kids and husband with what is important to them (not me!), trusting that my kids are doing the best they can right now, and living with the today at the forefront of my mind. Radical unschooling means that I do things for my kids that I would not want for myself. I do them because they want them and I am in a position to help them.
Need an example? I recently helped my son purchase a used go-kart. My personal opinion is that these types of vehicles eat gasoline, create dirty air, tear up the yard, and shouldn't be driven on neighborhood roads. Son (who is 9 almost 10) really wanted to drive something that goes faster than him on his road bike (and he races his road bike). He explored dirt bikes, electric bikes, go-karts, and at one point asked my to get him a $15,000 boat off Craig's List. He spent a lot of time watching youtube videos, checking out company web sites, and otherwise learning about non-automobile moving vehicles. After the wonderful folks at UnschoolingBasics helped me view this situation differently, I offered in a different way to walk down to our neighbor and see if we can check out their go-kart or to the other neighbor to ask to ride along on his power boat. Wouldn't you know it, but the neighbor with the go-kart was interested in selling his 10 year old go-kart for $250. Much different than the $1500 he spent on it 10 years ago and much more doable for our family finances. You guessed it! As of 7/23 we now own the go-kart.
The go-kart was used and well loved by the 3 boys who drove it (they drive cars now). So of course, after the first day of driving it almost all day. the chain started to come off. Well, Son wanted to shorted the chain (he does his own bicycle maintenance). We asked another neighbor who works on engines if that was the right way to fix the problem. Nope - just loosen the bolts and slide the engine up till the chain isn't loose anymore. Oh, but you might want to fix this wheel. What wheel? So now the poor go-kart needs new bearings for its drive wheel. So we take off the wheel, hub, and bearings and ride our bikes up to a lawn repair shop (its 7/25 now). They measure, check catalog, measure more, check catalog again, and finally pick the part to try. When we get back from our trip to PA, we get the bearings and joyfully come home to put everything back together. Alas, the bearings are not the right size. The inner hole is too small and they do not fit on the axle. But it is now after close of business on 7/29 so we have to wait more. I get out dh's calipers, take the measurements myself (well actually ds - we do unschool afterall), and call the shop next morning. It takes all day to find the right part. Turns out that parts aren't always the same as the measurements they are sold as. We are hoping that today the part will come in and it will be the right one. I could either have a very happy boy or a boy who doesn't know what to do with himself for the weekend. I'll let you know!
This blog is named Organic Everything because I put a priority on local, organic food and on organic learning. I have yet to post at all about the learning portion. Within the last year or so, I have jumped into the river of what is commonly called unschooling. Its even more strange than that - we are trying our best at radical unschooling. I love to control things and so this is hard for me. It means letting go of bedtimes, arbitrary parental rules, food limitations, expectations of learning particular things at particular times, and parents taking priority over their kids. Radical unschooling also means giving freedom to everyone in my home no matter what age, learning about anything and everything - by choice - in a variety of ways, helping my kids and husband with what is important to them (not me!), trusting that my kids are doing the best they can right now, and living with the today at the forefront of my mind. Radical unschooling means that I do things for my kids that I would not want for myself. I do them because they want them and I am in a position to help them.
Need an example? I recently helped my son purchase a used go-kart. My personal opinion is that these types of vehicles eat gasoline, create dirty air, tear up the yard, and shouldn't be driven on neighborhood roads. Son (who is 9 almost 10) really wanted to drive something that goes faster than him on his road bike (and he races his road bike). He explored dirt bikes, electric bikes, go-karts, and at one point asked my to get him a $15,000 boat off Craig's List. He spent a lot of time watching youtube videos, checking out company web sites, and otherwise learning about non-automobile moving vehicles. After the wonderful folks at UnschoolingBasics helped me view this situation differently, I offered in a different way to walk down to our neighbor and see if we can check out their go-kart or to the other neighbor to ask to ride along on his power boat. Wouldn't you know it, but the neighbor with the go-kart was interested in selling his 10 year old go-kart for $250. Much different than the $1500 he spent on it 10 years ago and much more doable for our family finances. You guessed it! As of 7/23 we now own the go-kart.
The go-kart was used and well loved by the 3 boys who drove it (they drive cars now). So of course, after the first day of driving it almost all day. the chain started to come off. Well, Son wanted to shorted the chain (he does his own bicycle maintenance). We asked another neighbor who works on engines if that was the right way to fix the problem. Nope - just loosen the bolts and slide the engine up till the chain isn't loose anymore. Oh, but you might want to fix this wheel. What wheel? So now the poor go-kart needs new bearings for its drive wheel. So we take off the wheel, hub, and bearings and ride our bikes up to a lawn repair shop (its 7/25 now). They measure, check catalog, measure more, check catalog again, and finally pick the part to try. When we get back from our trip to PA, we get the bearings and joyfully come home to put everything back together. Alas, the bearings are not the right size. The inner hole is too small and they do not fit on the axle. But it is now after close of business on 7/29 so we have to wait more. I get out dh's calipers, take the measurements myself (well actually ds - we do unschool afterall), and call the shop next morning. It takes all day to find the right part. Turns out that parts aren't always the same as the measurements they are sold as. We are hoping that today the part will come in and it will be the right one. I could either have a very happy boy or a boy who doesn't know what to do with himself for the weekend. I'll let you know!
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