Life's tough.

When the going gets tough, oh wait what is the rest of that saying, well anyway.  Life is tough.  I feel this is one of those times in my life that I will look back and say, Thank God I am not there anymore.  But hey, I am here right now, and man it is not fun.  They say, "pray about it", "give it to the Lord".  I am thinking that if so many Christians say those comments, it must mean that I am in the minority when I say, IT IS NOT THAT EASY!  I wish it were, I want to pray about every little aspect of my life, give my life ONE HUNDRED PERCENT to the Lord, but for me the OCD-control-freak that I am, I just cannot do that.  I know the Lord is standing right next to me through all of this, I know he wants nothing but the best for me, He is my one true Father, I know, I know, I know.  But when jobs aren't panning out, money is tighter-than-tight, children are going through life-altering events, husbands and wives aren't seeing eye to eye, there isn't enough time in the day, is it just me or is it hard to pray and give it to the Lord?

What shall I do?

January 4, 2008

So far compacting hasn't been as hard as I anticipated. However I look ahead to birthdays, baby showers (everyone I know is pregnant, hehe), anniversaries, trips out of town, Christmas and I am forced to make some decisions on how to handle these situations. I figure if I think about it now, when the time comes it won't be as hard to stick to an already made plan, instead of heading out to the mall.

Birthdays: gifts=homemade or buy used, party supplies=as much as possible use stuff we already have, none/limited paper products, make decorations, use internet to get ideas/print decorations, cards=homemade

Trips out of town: limit eating out, buying trinkets, really think about purchases. Ok I am not going to even attempt

Christmas. But I have one idea...instead of giving gifts to extended family, we adopt a child or buy an animal or something along those lines, possibly we adopt a local family and give them "Christmas".
Taken from "THE RED NOTEBOOK"

New Year but NO NEW!

We are doing it. Crazy huh!?! We are diving into our version of "The Compact". Some might be exclaiming, "not you guys", YES US, others might be cheering us on, THANK YOU, and yet most of you are probably saying "what the heck is a compact?" Well over the next months I will probably be in each one of your shoes. I am going to blog some of our journeys in compacting here, however most of the documenting is going to be done in a spiral bound red notebook. I am going old-school, I am going to hand write journal entries, can you believe it.

To get me to where I am it has been a long road.

I am a struggling Target, WalMart, $Store addict, I like nice clothes and things, I always am wanting more, I waste money on eating out and drinking "glamorous" coffee, I like the readily accessibility of new, I am a sucker for sales, clearance and anything that seems like a GREAT deal, even if I don't need it and sometimes I don't even want it.

We are a family of 6 living in a 1 1/2 bedroom, less than 1000 square foot house, with two cats and soon a puppy. We have been decluttering for over a year and simplifying and organizing throughout that time. We are earthy (some say). We cloth diaper, use cloth wipes, eat mainly vegetarian, we are about 50% organic at this point, we use natural cleaning products, recycle, we don't vaccinate, by kids breastfeed for a long time, I love tie dye and by goly I rarely shave my legs :)

Well anyway, I wanted to give you a little background on us. Moving on...

December 29, 2007

I am on a journey of less spending, less consuming, more happiness, no debt, figuring out what *I* really need, what we (our family) really needs.

I have some thoughts about what "COMPACTING" would look like to me.

*One time per month trip to Target and only for necessities

*No brand new clothes for kids until 2009

*Limit brand new clothing for Nick and I

*REALLY THINK ABOUT PURCHASES

*Do not use credit

*Buy local as much as possible

*Bake bread once a week

*Declutter 2008 things in 2008

EXCEPTIONS

*Aidan's uniform clothes (I will try to first buy used)

*Underwear, socks, undershirts, shoes

*New car seats for Aidan and Coda

*Things that will help us to become more self-sufficient (not sure if that is the right word), such as cloth diapers, seeds, potting soil, etc for planting vegetables.

*Items needed to run our business

January 1, 2007

So far today I wanted to buy a new magazine "Mothering" (maybe Kristy could send me her copy when she is done with it), I wanted to buy a new book, I am going to check out the used bookstores.

Téadora's birthday is in 16 days. We really wanted to make her a play kitchen for her birthday. So today/tonight I am going to search in the house and garage for items that could be used. I wish myself luck.
Taken from "The Red Notebook"

Now that's an outfit...

Seriously this is the most awesomest outfit ever. Each piece has a story of its own, right down to the ball in his hand. Let's start at the BabyLegs, I ordered them, thinking the purple was blue, so he has never worn them out of the house, then we go to the diaper cover and lap tee, tie-dyed by my bestest friend Kristy, underneath the diaper cover we have a "Day at the Zoo" Fuzzi Bunz diaper, then onto the ball, a Fisher Price Roll-a-Round ball to be exact, these are Dillon's security, he actually wouldn't leave the nursery at Church without taking one with him. (I think I know what we are getting him for Christmas, lol)

And did you notice....he is standing.

Life has been busy, a good busy. We are really getting back into the groove of things in Eureka. Aidan is enjoying going to school so much, Coda is enjoying the time he gets to be the "big" brother, Téadora is potty training herself and Dillon, well Dillon is no longer a tiny baby.

We are enjoying preparing ourselves for the birth of Jesus!! Aidan and Coda are really getting into the Spirit of Christmas, they are excited to bake a birthday cake for Jesus and are even more excited that they get to eat it, :)

This weekend Nick and I get to go see Sara Bareilles in concert. Nick went to highschool with Sara and now she is a big-time musician, she is so AWESOME!! We love her music. Nick's sister Anika, her husband Bob and their kids are coming up from Santa Barbara for the weekend, it will be fun to all be together, we haven't seen them since July.

Oh and Dillon got his first pair of *real* shoes, I am in love. See Kai Run - Noah. Nick actually picked them out, boy, my husband makes me proud! Well, that was a random post. Hope it wasn't too boring...

What to do?

I have three articles of clothing that do not fit me, yet as hard as I try I cannot get rid of them.  One is a beautiful skirt that I got at GAP when Aidan was a baby, it is a Size 0 (no I didn't forget the 1 in front of the 0, I was that SMALL, actually freakishly skinny), one is a cute sun dress that I wore to Nick's brother's wedding, but I can't wear dresses, I am constantly nursing someone and the third is a beautiful Hawaiian sarong, and I just don't wear sarongs.

So what can I do with these?  I have a few ideas, but I am not fully decided.  For the dress, I want to cut it at the waist-ish area and make it into a skirt and for the sarong I want to put it in the "play-room" above Téa's little reading chair, but maybe not.

Any ideas?

Questioning Consumption.

We've moved, we've downsized, I've donated, sold, traded.  I am happy with what we have.  But I constantly want MORE...NEW...BETTER.  Why?  If I showed you pictures of my children's closet and dressers you might faint, but yet I still find new that I have to have for them.  I see things and I want them.  Not because I need them, but purely desiring to have them.  Anything from a new Gymboree outfit for Téa, to new cloth diapers, to a new shirt/shoes/pants for me, or what about a new candle or frame or gadget.

The concept of living on THE COMPACT came to my attention for the first time about 6 or so months ago.   According to http://sfcompact.blogspot.com/, THE COMPACT, is to 1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc; 2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er); 3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact).

I was intrigued, intrigued enough to go out to the garage where my husband was playing music and tell him of my new plan.  He laughed.  Maybe I didn't explain it good enough, maybe he knew how much I liked going shopping, maybe he didn't want to give up buying new things for himself, maybe he just thought I was NUTS.  Well I didn't go on THE COMPACT that day, nor the next, but I did stop shopping at WalMart for a month or so.

But while I was walking through Target the other day, my baby attached to me in the Ergo, I found myself, saying OOOHH, AAAHHH, I need, I want, that would be great for... Then remembering I had just downsized my family of six and our belongings to fit into our 1000sq ft house.  (Not a simple task, but doable!)  I think how much simpler life would be if I didn't even give myself the option to buy new.  Then I think about Christmas, what would we give, would our family and friends be angry that they didn't receive the item or items they desired because we weren't buying NEW?  Should I care?

Really this BLOG is my mind talking, racing actually.  Thanks for listening.

Happy Halloween!

This year Fall has flown into action, really without me knowing it. Right as Fall began we made the decision to move, so Fall decorations were put on hold. There has been no smell of Yankee Candles "Pumpkin Pie", no harvest-y colors filling the house, no pumpkins and no trips to the pumpkin patch, that was until Monday. Monday we were able to truly begin Fall. The SIX of us took a trip to the pumpkin patch and it being #1 two days before Halloween and #2 ABSOLUTELY FREEZING, we were the only ones there, it was AMAZING. This year we opted to paint out pumpkins, WOW, I must say it is way less mess, but not quite as rewarding. We have read The Pumpkin Gospel a trazillion times this week and the smell of Pumpkin Pie candles is filling my house. Halloween was fun, we attended a Harvest Party at Church the morning of and then hung out at Nick's aunt and uncles in the evening, they live in a high traffic neighborhood and we handed out candy to over 400 trick or treaters.

Two favorites!

#1

I absolutely adore Gymboree! But just recently I discovered their Hair Curlies, I am in love! And for what it's worth, I only shop sale, I can honestly say I have NEVER bought a full priced item from Gymboree!

#2School in our jammies!
Some wonder how on earth do I homeschool with four kids 5 and under. This is how...we do it in our jammies :) We have been homeschooling for six weeks and it is going awesome. I know that we are truly doing what the Lord had planned for us...each day it just feels so right to be home together.

6 weeks down...

 

how many to go?

Homeschooling is going great. We are falling into a good routine. Aidan is loving school, Coda and Téadora are loving their version of school. I am as excited about the curriculum as the day I picked it out. Let me tell you there is so much out there, do not, do not let it overwhelm you. Easier said than done, I know.

We have been using Sing, Spell, Read and Write for our Phonics/Language Arts and Saxon Homeschool for Math. Each day we do SSR&W and Saxon, along with our Calendar, Daily Bible Lesson (usually something in their AWANA books) and reading time. Most days we also find time for a craft and an outside activity.

 

 

While sister is napping....

the brothers will have a photo shoot with mom :)

Dark-eyed Brothers

One of Mommy's tie dye creations

Huh?!

one step forward....two steps back

Over the past week we have decluttered a lot of stuff; 5 - 33 gallon bags of clothing, HUGE box of shoes, toys, misc. housewares, 1 - 33 gallon bag of toys (the boys chose the toys to give to other kids that didn't have any, and they did this without a fuss :)
It feels good to declutter, it was needed obviously, but the more I declutter the more I realize how much JUNK, excess stuff, whatever you want to call it that WE have. I have my reasons for keeping some of the stuff; another child will wear it down the road, when Téa and Dillon are older they will use the two extra beds we have. However, there is some stuff that there is absolutely no need for...I do not need 5 30gallon plastic containers full of Christmas decorations, I do not need pictures frames that I have no room on the wall for, I do not need stuff in a filing cabinet that I haven't looked at in atleast 2 years, I do not need a lot of the stuff that I have.
We are moving to a much smaller house, even though it is suspose to just be temporary, we do not have a specific length of time we will be living there. I feel like the Lord is challenging us to live simpler, to not just accumulate stuff because we CAN. The Lord has called us to move back to Eureka, to live in a small home and to make good use out of what we have. I mean what is the point of saving all of this stuff, just for the *day* that we *might* be able to use it. I mean who needs 4 Pyrex cake pans, plus two metal ones, who needs 12 coffee/tea mugs that match our dishes, plus 10 or so others that don't match.
I feel motivated to continue decluttering, to live a simpler life...I guess I fear one day I will regret giving away something, silly, silly.

one step forward, two steps back

Over the past week we have decluttered a lot of stuff; 5 - 33 gallon bags of clothing, HUGE box of shoes, toys, misc. housewares, 1 - 33 gallon bag of toys (the boys chose the toys to give to other kids that didn't have any, and they did this without a fuss :)
It feels good to declutter, it was needed obviously, but the more I declutter the more I realize how much JUNK, excess stuff, whatever you want to call it that WE have. I have my reasons for keeping some of the stuff; another child will wear it down the road, when Téa and Dillon are older they will use the two extra beds we have. However, there is some stuff that there is absolutely no need for...I do not need 5 30gallon plastic containers full of Christmas decorations, I do not need pictures frames that I have no room on the wall for, I do not need stuff in a filing cabinet that I haven't looked at in atleast 2 years, I do not need a lot of the stuff that I have.
We are moving to a much smaller house, even though it is suspose to just be temporary, we do not have a specific length of time we will be living there. I feel like the Lord is challenging us to live simpler, to not just accumulate stuff because we CAN. The Lord has called us to move back to Eureka, to live in a small home and to make good use out of what we have. I mean what is the point of saving all of this stuff, just for the *day* that we *might* be able to use it. I mean who needs 4 Pyrex cake pans, plus two metal ones, who needs 12 coffee/tea mugs that match our dishes, plus 10 or so others that don't match.
I feel motivated to continue decluttering, to live a simpler life...I guess I fear one day I will regret giving away something, silly, silly.

Fun with Yoghurt and Playsilks

Breakfast youghurt, more fun that could be imagined :)

I had to show of Téa dressing up in her playsilks. These playsilks were hand-dyed by yours-truly. Playsilks are awesome, they can be used to make pretend dresses, capes, wings, used as blankets, smoochies, danced with, snuggled with, wrapped up with, the list goes on and on.

Busy life, constant changes

Life has been busy lately. I mean we are always *really* busy, we have a family with 4 kids five and under. But lately life has been even busier. Aidan is in Kindergarten, so in September we added daily homeschool time to our schedule, he plays soccer and Aidan and Coda are both involved in AWANA. On top of that we have been praying about making some major life changes. So here it goes, at the end of the month we will be moving back to Eureka. Nick is leaving his job with Advanced Security and will be working part time subcontracting for a communications company and the other time he will be studying like crazy for his C-7 Low Voltage Electrical License. After he obtains his license, which takes about three months, he will be completely self-employed. For the time being we will be living in Nick's grandmas house (she passed away about 3 years ago), it will be quite a challenge as it is quite small, but I look forward to meeting this challenge. We will also get to go back to our "home" Church, Eureka Nazarene and Nick will be leading worship there! All and all we are very excited about this next step in our lives.

Please keep us in your prayers!
P.S. We are still working on a business name and a few other details, when we have more info we will let everyone know. Who knows Nick might be able to fulfill your video surveillance or access control or communication needs!

Wordless Wednesday

Seven Months

Dillon is seven months old, seven months old, really?! YEP. He is sitting up all on his own, army crawling his way through the house and even eating a little something other than Mommy's Milk. Last week he ate boiled egg yolk mixed with a little Earth's Best baby cereal and loved it, he has continued to eat it daily. He is by far our longest and skinniest baby, he is about 17lbs and 27inches.

Were you...

Aidan has been constantly leaving the door open when he goes out to play. So yesterday I thought I would talk to him about it.

Me: Were you born in a barn?
Aidan: Jesus was.
Me: Ok? But were you born in a barn?
Aidan: Jesus was born in a barn, Dillon was born in the car. How come I wasn't born in a cool place?

I should, he should

I should be folding laundry and he should be napping. But instead he is building with blocks and I am taking pictures of him. Well, this is more fun anyway.

seven hours.

done. finished. whew. it fit.

I thought when the process was over I would be thinking, I will NEVER do this again. But I wasn't, actually I was thinking, yeah, I could do this once a month. The day was nice, Téa was my side-kick, played with her baby and the potty on the kitchen floor, had her first experience with Playdough and took two naps (which is odd for her), Dillon napped, nursed and hung out, either in his saucer or the Ergo, and the boys were in heaven, I let them play in the dirt and ride bikes all day long. And guess what, I finished, I made twenty dinners in one day, I started at 11am and ended at 6pm. So seven hours, not bad, since I was caring for four children and cooking 20 meals. On a normal night one dinner takes me close to an hour, so hey I am up 14 hours already!

All the produce cut up, this was the first step!

YAY! One down, 19 to go.

And I am done!

I wanted to tell everyone that I do not have an extra freezer or even a really big freezer. I have a normal size freezer and I had some stuff already in it, some frozen juice, two loaves of bread, frozen chicken breasts, Eggo waffles and a few other things. My freezer is filled to the brim, but in about 30 days it will be ready to be filled again.

Happy Half Year....

DILLON!

We are so blessed to have you be a part of our family. Each day you bring joy to our lives. Your smile is contagious, you strength surpasses your age and you have the wondrous ability to warm each of our hearts!
I told Nick just last night that I don't want Dillon to get bigger, I want him to stay a baby forever. But then in the same breath, I told him how it will be so neat when all our four are riding bikes or playing soccer together.

Lord, I thank you for Dillon. I thank you for entrusting him to us. His smile warms my heart, his smell melts me, I love him more and more each day. I pray that you watch over him, I pray that he comes to know you at an early age. Lord, be with him wherever he goes, AMEN.