Be a Bookworm and Jellystone Camping

It's my review week at the Blogging Bookworm. Stop by to see a review for The Ten Trusts by Jane Goodall and Marc Bekoff - and be sure to leave some comment love! We are interested in reviewing and promoting books for Green readers of all styles - so be sure to contribute in the Monday Roundup where we call our for titles that are on your shelf.

I'm also getting my wish with a brief camping trip this weekend. No, I'm not going to be scaling a mountain somewhere or gettin' real crunchy like on a trail - but I will be OUT OF THE HOUSE and not worrying about all that I have to do, or isn't done. We are going for a couple of days to a Jellystone Park and get our freak on with Yogi Bear. The kids will have a blast and I may get to hole up with some point with a good book, a lawn chair, a cold one and no house to pack.

And hey, it is a nice and thrifty get away! Lots of activities already there for you, we have the Hillbilly Hotel (our camper) and a good grill. Fun without the pocketbook rape of your standard vacation - and I'm just throwing shorts in the camper tonight with some sunscreen and calling it a day.

I hope everybody gets a good few days away, a nice vacation, a little Fourth goodness and maybe you can sneak a book or two in. Happy Fourth!

And does anybody find it weird that I'm talking about Jane Goodall and Yogi Bear in the same post? Just kinda tickled me.

13 Bags, or, Donate When Done

Right now I'm overwhelmed with packing, thinking about packing, and dreading packing. Could we all give a collective knock-on-wood that everything goes all right with my closing date? In this day and age I'm very nervous, though oddly in a sense of denial about it all.

For someone that claims to not be attached to "stuff," I've found that I have entirely too much of it. Add in a husband with a warehouse with a penchant for pack-rat-ism and I'm kinda on the edge. I'm taking it as an opportunity to get rid of things we don't truly need or want that tend to create a cloying atmosphere.

Today I gave 13 bags of clothes to the Vietnam Vet drop box - but don't write a praise note about that. As I stuffed in 13 bags of clothes I no longer needed into a drop box I found it rather ridiculous that I technically still have a full closet. I only buy used, and don't shop that much.....but do have a habit of keeping things when they should be weeded out. I still think it is nuts that despite good shopping habits I have far too many things.

I'm also resisting the urge to try and yard sale it all - and calling it a draw on things I know won't go. I'd rather just send it along to somebody that can use it. Gotta admit - it was hard to do pre-yard sale. Planned for July 18th - and Lordy have mercy on us all. I've kept far too much stuff for the ever coming "yard sale" of the summer - and then sit on used stuff and try to make money off it. I want a massive clean out when I move - and no longer will I save to sale. I'll donate when done and give myself permission to feel lighter.

So after we move I'm pledging to live lighter in my physical spaces. I want to pare it down to what I need to live, not what I keep around me in my life. I'd like to be Greener in how I maintain my home, and maybe put a bit more simplistic Zen into my spaces.

The pic above? An image I have in my head of last year's camping vacation. I'm dreaming of a simple swim after this is all over.

Fresh from the Farmers Market

There is just something oh so yummy about food pictures, especially ones that come after a trip to my local Farmer's Market. What you cannot capture in a photo is the smell of the produce, especially the healthy red strawberries and fresh ripe tomatoes.

Meal planning is simple while I stroll through isles of ripe fresh goodness. This week we will be having mushroom patties with asparagus, Soule Mama's homemade strawberry rhubarb muffins, Daddy's Greek green beans, steamed broccoli, and Portabello wraps with my homegrown basil and fresh tomato. I probably have enough Portabello to do a brown rice and mushroom dish - and I honestly cannot get enough of Portabello so the more the merrier.

I always feel Greener when I hope at a market. Less plastic, money straight into the hands of people that grow food and a bit more connection to my community. My children become engaged in the process of acquiring food rather than just struggling to get through a grocery store visit with all the bells, whistles, and distractions.

Give it a try - and tell me about your local market finds!

Pardon Me While I Muse

I haven't been blogging as much lately, mainly because I subscribe to the "Blog When You Wanna" Club, and the "Blog When You Can" philosophical train of thought. Sometimes I can be zipping along and think, gee - I need to blog that. Unfortunately in the midst of selling my home, working a demanding job, being Mama and teaching for the first time in the summer I've found myself putting some of my own things aside.

I've found I have put on far too much weight as I nibble on the go and the bright lights of the snack machine call me into the velvety chocolate goodness. The gym misses me, and absence does NOT make the heart grow fonder in this case as the longer you stray the harder it is to jack oneself back up on the treadmill. I haven't been reading as much, and my brain muddles and needs a fresh literary infusion. It is struggle to do funsie things when you have to get up at the crack of dawn. As my home has now gone to contract (cross fingers - close at end of July if all goes well!) I've now got to think of packing, moving - and getting the kids into school. Yikes!

My husband laid down a challenge without realizing it the other day. I was discussing how I have to get going on these books in my head and put them on paper, and give myself time to write. He said that a problem that I have is that I think too much about it and though my ideas are fantastic - the translation and effort into the novel is not so forthcoming.

I was irked. And a little bummed. And then realized he is right.

I think half the point of blogging was to make myself sit down and regularly write out thoughts. At first it was about libraries - but I rather sucked at that. Then it was more about being greener - but there is only such much I can write there for the moment and I can't think up a new entry each day about the same topic. For a while I think I blogged a little bit too much as I love to read and comment on other people's entries - but one can quickly lose hours of your life in cyberspace when I need my feet in the real world with my home and family. I think ultimately posts become just a complete mash up of what is in my life, a little journal that goes with me, and a forum that I love but can only contribute to as time allows.

And am I allowing too much in lieu of my real writing? Am I using juice that needs to go elsewhere? I'd like to maybe have a life sabbatical at times - and sneak off and listen to Tori Amos, drink red wine and write......just write. So my husband doesn't completely get that my ideas aren't lost in my head, I just need time to bring them to fruition. Blogging seems so much easier at times because I can sit down and hammer out thoughts in 20 minutes and somehow satisfy that need to be creative in small spurts, as sometimes that is all the Mama juice I have for the moment. Sometimes my writing has to be in the form of my class - announcements and content and creativity bits the bullet for the tried and true for what I have to do in that respect.

So I'm making a deal with myself. More work on real writing - less on virtual writing. I could have finished a book in the time it takes to blog - in that bit by bit fashion that would move an inchworm along. There are worlds inside my head, and I just don't want to look back in 20 years and think I woulda, shoulda, coulda. I need to move my children's books forward in sending out and continuing to polish - but the adult novels need my love.

But haven't I been talking about books for an awfully long time in my life? It isn't writers block - it is writers time, commitment, and stick-to-itness. The Huz was right, but that tiny gauntlet can help one.

What are your tricks to keep writing?

Haircuts, Cooking, and Granny Things

Despite loving Lukie's long hair, we finally decided to get him more of a summer cut. He didn't have the ability to put it up in a ponytail - so not so fun in the warm months. I must admit that he is just so darn cute that people were mistaking him for a girl as well.

I realized that we seem to define, despite our best intentions, children too much based on clothes and haircut. I don't want to compartmentalize them in a gender, or expectations of such in it's trappings. He can have long hair as much as he pleases - but I know he was ready to have it shorter too.



Last night Mama and Lukie had a rare hour or so together for Mama + Lukie time. We played a game of Ladybug, ran barefoot (despite the chill) when the Popsicle Man came (thus the blue mouth), read two Dumb Bunny books by Dav Pilkey and then cooked. We made his fav muffins and made a nice quiche with fresh spinach and feta. Lukie got to pick what we did and he managed to capture several of his favorites in that brief time.

He is using my Granny's squishy whisk. I can remember her using this countless times as she made scrambled egg sandwiches with apple jelly for me. On my hot summer days Granny would cook in her cheerful kitchen with her whisk and little apron, and then send me out to eat on the clover under the shade of the pecan tree. You always washed things down with a small bottle of Coca-Cola in a small glass bottle, and then rested after lunch as that is what one is supposed to do. Maybe even a nap or so, or even just a doze.

I love my whisk - and miss my Granny - and find comfort in the small memories that keep her alive.

God Texts the Ten Commandments

God texts the ten commandments

1. no1 b4 me. srsly.

2. dnt wrshp pix/idols

3. no omg’s

4. no wrk on w/end (sat 4 now; sun l8r)

5. pos ok - ur m&d r cool

6. dnt kill ppl

7. :-X only w/ m8

8. dnt steal

9. dnt lie re: bf

10. dnt ogle ur bf’s m8. or ox. or dnkey. myob.

M, pls rite on tabs & giv 2 ppl.

ttyl, JHWH.

ps. wwjd?

Sonia shared this on Facebook and I had to pass it along. Very funny! As a non-texting person it took me a mite bit too long to figure out what they mean.

The Vicious Cycle of Wal-Mart

Well yee-haw yall. What this means to me is that more people are shopping for cheap, unsustainable, breakable stuff. Not only is it bad for Mother Nature, it is ultimately bad for our society.

The more folks shop here the more other stores are put out, and the more jobs we actually lose as companies have to outsource labor to cheaper countries. The more we outsource the more folks lose their jobs here and have to take crappy jobs stocking the shelves of the cheap store. It is a vicious cycle in my book.

Frontline has an excellent documentary on it HERE. The lower prices are ultimately lowering harming us all - and you get what you pay for with product, folks that work in the places and ultimately our diversity as all of our goods become homogenized plastic.

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Jib-jab actually sums it up far better than I ever could. If somebody could please tell me where to get underwear and socks I can actually afford for children I think I could probably ban Wal-Mart for good. I may start sewing my own just so I can! Ultimately isn't that the issue? We all think it isn't our one little underwear purchase that is the problem......and we are trying to just get what we afford. That drop in the bucket is my fault too.

Operation Raccoon Eviction

We spent a fun filled night evicting raccoons from Casa de la Raccoon. This sounds evil, but effective without poison, bloodshed, trapping or anything else genuinely cruel. We put the CD player in the attic playing the Beastie Boys (a bit of hardcore punk with a groove) on repeat for hours and hours on end.

Tonight we followed with my husband in the sperm suit and our weed whacker on high tilt. He rigged it so that the trigger was pulled non-stop and lashed it to beams in the attic and let it run to it's heart content. I think they thought Jason must be unleashed - and they have left we believe. I stood at the base with a baseball bat readied in case a raccoon decided to take a piece of the Huz.

I've been gentle, I've been kind - and I know the soft side of me understands that we've invaded their turf and they need better places to safely breed. The former animal volunteer was very hesitant to trap - but if you've ever had raccoons in your attic it is pure misery. They are nocturnal and you feel like you're stuck in the Exorcist with ceiling groans, creaks, wails and twitters.

The raccoons keep getting in because they can rip off chunks of your siding and chew in. Our house has the perfect V - shape over our garage that our neighbors don't have, thus making us a prime choice. It happened last year, and what we realized is that raccoons will keep coming back to the same place. If they've reproduced the babies will come back to breed as they think it is "home." Realize that these guys chew, poop, pee, and are not sole plant eaters. Argh!

This season we had two raccoons get in back to back, enough to drive me insane. I feel like I haven't had a good nights sleep in weeks - tough in my book as once I go to sleep far, far too late I usually have a husband that comes to bed later and wakes me up, a little one that sneaks in the bed in the middle of the night for another wake up, perhaps another little one and then up at 6:15 a.m. With the raccoons going all night I've been staring at the ceiling - and getting so frustrated that I'm whacking the walls with a hanger and barking like a pit bull. But I digress.........

We think we've safely evicted them. Finally! Take that raccoon, and with that I will now curl up with my pillow and hope for a full measure of sleep. This weekend we must put up prevention spikes so that we can remain raccoon free.

Bunny Moments

A belated Easter picture - just for a Monday giggle. I can't seem to get much of anything written lately as I try to keep up with job, class, selling a house, looking for a house. I have these wonderful blog posts run through my head and then they seem to leak out into nothingness. Sigh. Well at least a girl tries!

Lio Graduates Preschool

Lio Graduates Preschool, originally uploaded by rainbook101.

In these preschool years I've seen my love go from baby to boy. He now has his own opinions, likes, dislikes, friendships and challenges. He is bright, beautiful and a bundle of joy.

It was startling to see my child graduating from something - he is certainly ready for that, but is Mama? Do we have a lifetime of letting go, or is it a lifetime of helping him ready for all that can be his?

He is so very excited about his next milestone, Kindergarten! We've found a couple of nice houses to rent - and our goal is to rent in a great school district and get the kids through K - so two for both as they are back to back. After that we will assess where we want to go in life, living, and career.

I'd like to be moving by August if we can - and Lio can start K in late August in our new house. He is bursting at the seams with energy - and is dreaming of being in a big boy school. I'm dreaming of him being happy, healthy, and loving his new place.

I can't believe he is this big! People tell you the moments go by too fast, but it doesn't make sense until you see it in how your children grow. I can't hold onto them, but I hope I'm enjoying them while they are here.