90% Done!

Which, for us, is like 110% done. We seldom get this far. I still have the kick plate to put back on, and the wood putty in the nail holes is drying. We may, or may not, get those dealt with in 2013. For now, though, here it is -- The Window!

It's like having a whole new kitchen! We'll add upper cabinets, now, and put up the beadboard ceiling and trim, and then... I think that's it. The inside will be, dare I say it? :whispers: Complete. That's hard to comprehend. Oh, no. No, I take that back. The boys' bedroom windows still need to be replaced, Em's room needs new carpet, and we need screen doors. OK, that feels more like it. (I'm not sure I'd know how to behave in a finished home!)

So, I tried to find the original before photos of the kitchen, but it looks like I'd uploaded them to a Flickr account, which has since been... emptied? sucked into the ether? eaten by Yahoo? :shrug: I don't know. I could log in with my normal account, but they had an old address for main contact info, so I'm sure they warned me that they were deleting pictures, but I don't use the ISP email, so I never saw it coming. Hopefully, there are some tucked away on the hard drive James salvaged from the basement.

And then, because it's more fun to play in a well-lit kitchen, we've been busy in there...

The spiced nuts would make a wonderful gift. I think. We can't keep them around long enough to package and give away, so it's only a guess. The saltine toffee, of course, is a natural favorite. James has reached a Zen-like mastery of the Russian tea cakes (aka, Snowballs, or Mexican Wedding Cookies). And a dear friend brought the mock Turtles to the Troop meeting last week (pretzels, rolos, and she topped hers with M&Ms, although pecans are traditional, and almonds are not bad at all!) So Jase and Em have been making those. Rice krispy treat wreaths, and old fashioned chocolate chip cookies round out this week's adventures. I might make some of my Mother-in-Law's amazing candies the week after Christmas. (The kids need to be busy doing something else for that. I don't have it down well enough to supervise helpers, and there would be scalding. She would probably rescind my rights to the recipes, and rightfully so, if I scalded the grandbabies.) We're on the lookout for more ideas to make together, though. Do you have a favorite recipe you'd be willing to let me know about?

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

A Busy Day in December

Z and I did quite a bit of shopping today, finishing up the majority of our gift purchases. Coffee, quiet time in the car, no bickering over what to buy or where to go. It. Was. Wonderful. Long-term monogamy is handy for us slow learners. Give us another 15 years, and we are absolutely going to *rock* this living together thing!

I'm finally entering the... whatever century this is... and actually used my Amazon app to buy books. In the car. On our way home. I don't know why that felt like such a milestone, but it did. :tinylittlefistbump: Had this phone for two years, and it's only been in the past few months that I've figured out how to use it. This is why I'm not an early adopter, right? But, yay, Amazon loves me and there will be books beneath the tree!

James watched the siblings for us, which was huge. He wants to babysit, and so the experience is good for him. Plus, it's not a bad gig - they played Apples to Apples and Battleship. He made lunch. Jacob made smoothies. Then James and John read to the little ones, and spearheaded the video game rotations, all without wielding the Staff Of Power, or any other nonsense. Just a good, warm, gentle time of watching the Littles. They were all quite content and safe. Plus, he called to check in while we were out. :happy melting heart: He's such a great big brother. And a neat kid, overall.

The Unclaimed Baggage Center is here in Alabama. I'd feel silly if we lived here a decade and never made it over there. (Kind of like not making it to the Walls of Jericho, Chattanooga, Atlanta, Buck's Pocket, Rock City, and a few other places on our To Do list...) So that's where we went today. Wow. Oh, wow. That is a cool little place. They have a museum, with displays and information on the more interesting things that have come their way. They have a central pillar display done up like ancient Venetian plaster, with money and pictures from around the world worked into the columns. I'm pretty sure I couldn't go on a highly hormonal day, as there were a few things that you just *know* someone really, really missed, and I couldn't imagine not trying to find out who and where, to reunite them with the lost item. So. There is that warning. But if you're of a less sentimental nature, it's a neat little place to find interesting things. No pictures from there, though. They do have a hashtag and posters for Instagram users who want to tag them. I nearly took a picture of that, but couldn't decide if it was weird or ironic. If you can't tell, it's best to pass, I think.

And the window trim is up! (As of two minutes ago.) I have to clean, and we need sunlight, but then I'll share a picture of the end result. This project is as big an improvement as pulling the carpet was! (Z says not quite, from a health standpoint, the carpet wins. That's a fair assessment.)

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Late to the Festivities, but Getting There

It's taken us a while to push through this project (the paint on the trim is drying, but as soon as it's up, I'll post photos - it turned out really well, and I'm so happy with it), but we're finally kicking into the Holiday Spirit. Our Advent readings started out well, then we got into discussions of prophets, Israel, Jacob wrestling with the angel... now we're reading through parts of Genesis, and I'm not entirely sure how we got there. But it's good, you know? We're thinking, and talking, and sharing. So, yeah. Yeah, that works.

Zorak brought home a tree a couple days ago. It was pretty scrunched up, so we left it to unfold overnight. It, um, never really unfolded. It just is the size it is. Z likes it, though, and the kids think it's beautiful. I like them, and think they're beautiful, so it's a win-win if you look at it like that.

The boys tested all the lights today, fixed the broken ones, and decorated the bathroom. (Priorities are important, and a festive bath is a happy bath.) Then we got to the tree. They handled everything; I mostly wandered about taking pictures of the backs of people's heads. It's like trying to make two magnets align when they're not facing the right way. You can get close, but one's going to shoot off at the last minute. 

Every once in a while I can use the zoom to capture a moment that's honest and wonderful. That makes me smile.

They make me smile.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Wow.

There is a window in the wall, folks! It's IN. It's not foamed or trimmed, but I don't particularly mind. It's IN! It's so pretty, too. We may get up early tomorrow, just to enjoy the light as the sun comes up.

Also, that was just in time. We have a Scout meeting here tomorrow. The boys will be down in the meadow (additional serendipity: meteor shower tomorrow night! WOOHOO!), but the committee members will probably appreciate meeting indoors before that. It will be nice for there to be a marked difference, yes? Yes, we thought so, too.

Standing back, taking in the progress, I'd wondered aloud if we could find before-before pictures of the house, and Zorak mentioned that he's pretty sure there are some on the blog. I'll bet he's right! That will make before/after shots significantly easier, but it also got us thinking about how much we've done, and how much we've learned. We're really quite fortunate to have one another -- it's a good combination. Although I am excited about living in a normal, finished house for a time. At least until we have the opportunity to take on another Big Project.


Kiss those babies!
~Dy

So much paper!

Right now, I'm glad I don't have any girlfriends who come over to help me with the redecorating. It would be awful for them to have to stage an intervention in the middle of the Christmas season.

I'd put all the stray papers from the school room, including those in, around, on, near, behind, and underneath my desk, into a box. That box has sat atop the rocking chair, blocking the kids' shelves and mocking me, for a week. Tonight, as we watched a movie, I rolled up my sleeves and tackled the box.

It took two movies for me to get through that box. And just as I'd emptied the last piece of paper, James looked up, gasped, and said, "Oh, man! Someone trashed the living room!" He was right. It was bad. It took another half hour for us to put away the little, sorted piles. The kitchen trash is full, and all the things have been dealt with, thrown away, or set for burning.

I also found a dozen clean, brand new spiral notebooks, four composition books, pictures spanning three decades (just random photos -- not an actual cache of cool, lost photos, which would have been neat, and not terribly surprising), a ream of lined loose-leaf paper, and two dozen empty file folders.

Oh, and a rocking chair! :weak smile:

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

It's like having an illness!

We got the kitchen painted and the cabinets reinstalled. They look lovely. Also, the kids are stoked to eat like normal again. Meanwhile, the voices (I don't know if it's the house, the caffeine, or what) started up again. That dining table... needs to be shorter, and wider, doesn't it?

Yessss....

And then it would fit in the school room, wouldn't it?

Mmmm, yes...

I wonder if we could put the computer over in that corner?

Oh, yes, my lovely...

Ohhh! And then (THEN!) we could put furniture equidistant from the wood stove on the right, doubling our living space!

Yessss, you're mine, now. You won't be able to think about anything else until you try it...

SURE! All we have to do is move those two bookshelves, dismantle the computer desk and the shelf over that... empty the corner hutch, and... why, we can do this before dinner! It's brilliant!

It's a good thing I've never done drugs. I can't imagine how much worse this could be. The kids didn't even flinch, and when Zorak got home, there we were, wading mid-calf deep through books stacked in the living room, vacuuming up dead bugs, maneuvering around empty bookcases parked caddywompus in the dining room. He's such a sport. Mere mortals would, at the least, use a tense, hissing voice as they inquired what in the name of all that's holy is going on here. Lesser men might even have asked about the voices. He just threw some pork steaks in the oven and helped schlep books back and forth.

For hours.

But we ate in the new Dining Room! It's echo-y and bare, but pleasant and intimate. (Definitely need a different table, though.) And after the kids went to bed, we sorted and shelved books. I have about 90# of books that don't have a home now that we've taken down the computer shelf, and the corner between the hutch and the tea cart accumulated a shocking amount of crap in the last five years. (None of which I have any idea where to put.) And then there's that paper addiction we haven't addressed yet. So really, it looks worse. Much, much worse. And the voices would be laughing, but they gave up and went to bed two hours ago.

The window will be here next weekend (not the one coming, but the one after), and I hope to have everything looking like it's meant to be this way by the time the window arrives. We'll see how that goes.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Encroaching Obligations

For years, I've guarded our time at home. It's our downtime, our quiet time, our sanctuary from the ever-pressing Busy Life. This is where we delve into the ideas we have, share our questions, and explore new things. When the boys had baseball practice on Thursdays, we had piano lessons, bought groceries, and ran errands on Thursdays. Granted, it made Thursdays a little hellish, but it kept the rest of the week free and flexible. When we dropped baseball, I moved things around a bit to free up the ends of the week, but kept that same mindset: one day a week is all I'm willing to give to outside activities and demands. That felt so good. It felt so good that I clung to the idea long after I'd allowed it to die.

Recently, I've felt as if we're just bowled over by a lack of time. But we only leave the house two days a week! (Errand day and church.) How can that be? How can we not have enough time? And I pressed to make us more efficient, more focused, more diligent. Let's get to bed earlier, get up earlier. More focus, less distraction. Let's go, move, DO! Hop on one foot with our tongues on our noses while we feed the animals.

OK, that last one, not so much. But for all the good it would have done, we might as well have tried it. I sat down tonight to make our menu for the next two weeks, and thought about how I often get caught without a *good* plan on the rare occasion we have somewhere to be. So, I thought to myself, let's jot down in the menu where we have to go on those days and see if that helps remind me to plan quick meals, or crockpot meals, or whatever creative endeavor needs to happen on those days.

What the what, Batman!?

We have piano/guitar/groceries/errands one day, Scouts another day, Cub Scouts another day, community activities another day, church on Sundays. Roundtables and committee meetings. Add in the monthly Scout outing (which takes a full weekend), the regular Pack events (an additional night a month, plus prep time), Forge meetings, homeschool social activities, work, and the time required for the Projects That Must Be Done and...

We're never home. We're never still. Not for any appreciable length of time. There is no downtime. There is no quiet time. We've allowed the demands of time to be made on our every little corner of the day. And I never saw it. I never realized that this obligation, or that activity, or those events had effectively robbed us entirely of the buffer I'd thought we guarded so carefully. And the funny thing is that if you'd asked me about each thing, individually, I'd have defended each item as being Beneficial and Worthwhile. Taken as a whole, though, I'm not convinced. Our lives have not been significantly richer the past six months. They've not been more enjoyable (although we are not miserable by any means). They've just been... Busy.

And I've continued to try to pack our home life, our studies, our projects, and our downtime into what little space is left. No wonder it's felt like we're swimming with only one arm against an undertow.

So, something's got to give. I'm not sure what, or how. That's going to take some family time and discussion. It may be that we decide to keep it all and pare down the home goals, but I doubt it. I think we need to rebuild the buffer and rethink our priorities. Or, at least, I do. This one's all on me.

It's good to know, though. Meal planning for this week was a snap, at least! And hopefully by next week, we'll have a clearer idea of the path forward.

And I'm reminded of the phrase, "Live Intentionally". I know better than to let life happen to us, than to relinquish my post at the lookout, or neglect my duties at the helm. (Reminds me of another adage: "Be vigilant, for nothing one achieves lasts forever". *aherm* Yes. Well.) We must be diligent in our choices, and make each decision as if it is taken at the expense of all the other choices, because it is. Let it be worth the trade, so that we do not look back over our lives with more "If only..." than there has to be. (The natural learning curve of Life somewhat necessarily mandating that there will always be some, at least.) And so, we will live intentionally,

and kiss those babies.

Dy

Project Blogging - Kitchen Window

It's amazing how far into a project you can get before realizing the Rubicon is three steps behind you. *whew* But that's okay. Here we are...

And we're well into new territory by now, but it's coming along beautifully. The old studs are gone, the new studs are in, the shiny, lovely new header is in (and doing its job remarkably well, I must say). Zorak's made some improvements over our initial installation that we've had on the docket for the past couple of years.

You can see it beginning to take shape in this photo, above. It's going to be wonderful! We kept as much of the old studs as we could - they're Loblolly pine, which is awesome-and-awful all at the same time. Awesome because that stuff is so strong, and is probably what kept the house from falling apart during the neglected years. Awful because that stuff is so strong that bits and blade quail in its presence. So we compromised.

On the "Will It Work" front, I am happy to report that there were NO bugs, NO snake bodies, and NO evidence of mice behind the cabinets or in the walls. We were more than a little tense and puckery as we pulled the cabinets away from the wall, fully expecting to see any number of horrors back there, so it was a complete delight to find the things we'd thought would work did work! Seven years is a good trial run, too. Foam and diatomaceous earth for. the. win!

The kids have been so helpful/accommodating/resilient. I have no idea how this is all getting filed in their heads (that's what the Therapy Jar is for), but their attitudes and responses have been better than I could ask. Or hope for. This is so much fun!

So, we've got it blocked up for the night (lows in the 20's). Tonight, it's sirloin roast, steamed broccoli, and apple cider for supper. Because when your kitchen is torn apart, it helps to eat like nothing's wrong, at all.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

A Week Without Normal

We're mostly off school this week. The boys are finishing up a few things and I'm staring at the booklist, wishing I had a significantly larger budget. I doubt any of us is making much headway. The weather has been in the low-to-mid-60's and, once again, it's a good thing we don't own a hammock or we'd be getting nothing done, at all.

Our plan to do the kitchen window (replacing the light sucking hole above the dishwasher with a larger, properly centered window, allowing people to stand at the sink at stare at something other than my steep learning curve on texture techniques) is moving forward, though not the way we'd hoped. We're going to have to order a window, and that's fine. There is a ten-day lead time on it (again, not bad, considering - think for a moment how magnificent it is that we can order a framed glass window to our own specifications, and have it delivered in under two weeks - that's mind-boggling, and wonderful). But that means we'll have to juggle the steps a little to make them fit the time we have available and the weather conditions. Much like trying to get a large pillow into a pillowcase. It can be done, but you're probably not going to want anyone watch you do it.

Also, if you come by the house and see a blue tarp hanging above the sink for more than a month, don't ask questions. Don't even make eye contact if you can help it. Just bring a chocolate orange and a Black Cherry Mike's, please.

The pickup rehabilitation project is... well, Z put in a transmission gasket this week. It's dark and cold when he gets home. He doesn't particularly *enjoy* automotive work, and we all miss him and are somewhat demanding of his time when he walks in the door. It's hard to work with children stuck to your ankles, talking non-stop. It's better this way - the truck doesn't really care when you get around to it, but the kids do.

This week, we hope to find James' math disc, make headway on some projects, get squared away and organized. I'm also eyeballing the school room. It desperately needs to be Something Else. What, though, I've no idea. What do you do with a 10x10 room that has no uninterrupted walls? (Or, more accurately, what can you do with two two-foot corners, a two-by-four corner, and a sliver of space behind a door? I'm just not that creative! And if I find money, I'm spending it on books. So.)

Hope your week is shaping up beautifully, too.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

How Many Days Until...

Halloween? Christmas? My Birthday? Thanksgiving? My eleventy-first birthday? Sunday? Christmas?

It's so much fun when they start to realize time has some kind of continuity. It's even more fun when they learn to take it for granted. Right now, however, I can safely say there are four days until Thanksgiving, and 37 days until Christmas. You'll have to figure out your own birthday if you want to know that one badly enough, and you can ask James to figure out how long until your eleventy-first birthday because, frankly, he enjoys things like that and I don't.

37 days until Christmas? That doesn't seem right. But I've been using weeks, because weeks leaves them just confused enough that I can slip off to refill my coffee before they think up another question.

Em's already making Christmas presents. Paper owls and paper dolls seem to be this week's themes. I'm pretty sure the EMT will find our bodies beneath the composting piles of cardstock one day, but as long as we can breathe, we will enjoy the pretty little creations she brings us. (There are. so. many. Thank goodness nobody here suffers from Pulpuslaceratapohobia*.)

Deer season has begun. The guys were out cutting wood when one trotted right past them. Fortune, however, favors the prepared, and it didn't seem wise to lob a maul at it, so we had ham tonight, instead. Perhaps this week, at some point, we'll have time to go hunting. After the kitchen window is in. We're working on that this week!

The boys hosted an airsoft gathering at the house on Friday. Good turnout. Lovely women. Naturally, EmBaby got wide-eyed and whispered, "Upstairs?!" when I told her she and Jase could watch a movie while the boys played. What was I just saying about how we don't just shove them into the cellar? In front of new company, too. Kids are good for that - keeping you humble and on your toes. At any rate, the boys all had a really good time, and I hope I didn't do anything too weird.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy
*Fear of paper cuts. Learned something new today!

Weird Family Traditions

Not much going on today. I culled and cleaned. The guys split wood. (This will be a recurring theme.) Zorak and I did enjoy dinner so very much. Not only was the food good (pulled pork, homemade slaw, leftover pintos - always better the second day), but the kids were on a roll. They are ridiculously funny, and their inside jokes keep one another in stitches. It's like having front row seats to a well-oiled comedy team. We laughed and listened, and generally enjoyed the entire evening.

And then, the guys settled in for what I jokingly refer to as their "stories". (Did your mother watch soap operas?) They are watching The Walking Dead. It's become A Thing they do. After supper a couple of nights a week, we let the Littles play video games or watch a movie in the basement (it's like a game room - not like we just shove them into a cellar for an hour), while Z and the Bigs spool up their show. They call me in to come watch with them, because they're cool like that. It *is* a good show. But, I get... tense. So I have to get up and walk around, switch out some laundry, get a cup of coffee at... crucial moments. Drives them nuts. "Mom! MOM! You're missing it!" Either one day they will understand, or they'll go to their graves thinking their mother just didn't know how to have a good time. Regardless, they're building memories. I hope they're good ones.

Deer season starts next week, the stores have the holiday displays in full swing, and the electric bill has mellowed out for the winter. That's all such comforting stuff. The kids are talking about making Christmas presents, and they're ready to get moving. After seeing what they did for birthdays this year, I'm looking forward to it!

We'll probably have to split more wood, first, though.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

It's Hair Day!

How banal. And yet, it's all I've got. But it's enough.

Susan of the Magnificent Shears is my hero. She handles Jacob's crazy, multi-textured, vari-directional hair like it's the most natural thing in the world. I love to watch her work. I love that she doesn't get halfway around his head and look suddenly lost, as if she'd just woken up and isn't sure how she got there. From start to finish, she's on it, and she owns it, and he walks out of there looking (and feeling) like he's off to his next Jr. GQ shoot. Every time. She is amazing.

I'm still thisclose to asking for a pixie cut. Which I shall then dye peroxide blonde, so that we can find the ticks easily. Obviously, Zorak's trying hard not to make eye contact or say anything that might drive me over the edge while I'm mid-panic. But the Scouts are going backpacking next weekend, and I just don't know that I want to tackle another episode with this much hair. So I'll talk to Susan the Magnificent. She'll be able to talk me down and do something with it. I wonder how bad an idea it is to backpack on Xanax?

Then we're off to buy more garlic, some duct tape, a bottle of Skin-So-Soft, a pair of good tweezers, and more Tea Tree Oil.

*twitch*

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Sweater Weather!

It never got above 60 in the house today! I had all the windows open and made everyone put on sweaters when they complained about the cold. It was glorious. (The odds that it'll be warm enough to cook outside at Christmas are pretty high, so I have to grab it while I can. I may not be able to get away with wearing a sweater again until our mid-January cold snap, and by then, the windows will be sealed up tight.) Jacob asked for soup, so I'll put some bones in the crockpot to simmer overnight and we'll enjoy a lovely stock for soup tomorrow! He knows how to get in on the excitement, that one does.

We got in a great mix of academics and general grunt work this week. ("Great" being a purely subjective term. But they read and talked a lot, and we stayed on target with school. Plus, the basement looks magnificent, the Suburban is full of donations and things to go to friends, and the trash haul is going to be massive this week -- so if you're grading with a Mom Rubric, it was Great!)

And, you know how I mentioned that the boys had a blast on their ride? They've talked about it, shared stories from it, gushed about the things they loved, planned for the next one, brainstormed some amazing route ideas -- all on their own. All week long, they've been at it. I've received texts from parents telling me what fun their sons had, too. But at the meeting this week, when the SM asked for feedback from the boys, it was like they were all surprised there was a quiz and they didn't know what to say. So the only feedback he got was, "The hamburgers were good." :sigh: Really? Well, so much for breaking the inertia. I don't know how much support we'll be able to maintain for completing the badge as a group. I have asked some trusted friends what that is (that weird Beavis-ization of the man children that occurs the minute they walk into the Scout meeting - because it happens more often than not), and several of them swear it's normal for this age, and that they do get over it. I don't care so much about the normal part, but so help me, if they don't get over it soon I'm going to start drinking before we get to the meetings. And in the meantime, if any boy wants to ride, we'll ride. That's just how we roll. Er, ride. Whatever.

And - hey, we have a rooster! Actually, two confirmed roosters, and it sounds like we may have three or more, which would be a bit of a glitch on the hatchery's part, considering we ordered the all-hen layer mix. But they're fun and loud and healthy. Thank God for healthy! Oy. And so beautiful! James started looking up info today on how to get into showing chickens. There's a 4-H club somewhere, I'm sure - not here, but nearby. Anyway, I'm leaving it up to him. If he wants to show chickens, and is willing to do the legwork to get started (and handle them), then we'll buy a chicken hauler (or... a what? Let's hope he figures out how best to transport chickens) and we'll give it a shot. Still no eggs, though. I really hope we didn't end up with 19 roosters...

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Seriously? Again?

We were busy today! Zorak welded a traveling stand for the plow disc cooker. It has clips to hold the disc vertical, and the propane tank fits inside, so it's now ready for next weeks' Big Inaugural Outing with the boys. (Not only will it travel more easily, but it's significantly more stable than the fish fryer we jury rigged in the first place. Go, Z!)

John cleared the sloped portion of the front yard, and we brainstormed a mulching/garden plan for it that should be more aesthetically pleasing as well as making the space more productive. Zorak hammered out a plan to refurbish an old stone bench to a useful state (we lived here five years thinking it was a creepy grave stone before a neighbor told us it's a toppled bench - so really, it's rather flexible, but should be put to good use in some form or other).

James and I began work rehabbing the tiered... plant... um, spaces...(?) at the front of the house. What it really needs is a bull dozer, a load of brick, some perf pipe, and a little zen garden master. Or maybe a 1950's horticulturist with a penchant for color. It gets... us. But we have some semblance of a vision, gorgeous weather in which to work, and a willingness to wing it until it looks about right. It's amazing what you can do with that much on your side!

We got most of the wall rebuilt and reinforced before James accidentally cracked his finger between two rocks. It looks broken. Ice, anti-inflammatories, rest, water. Wee. (Although I'm a little unsettled about having to take the child in *again* for a broken bone, I am once again unbelievably glad we went with the guy who handles these things instead of trying to find a pediatrician. Childhood illnesses are not so much our bane. Gravity and friction, however, seem to be kicking our butts.)

Shortly after we got him squared away on the couch, I noticed the yellowjackets swarming the area we'd just been working. Never found the nest, but it's good to know they're out there. Even better to have been inside when we found out!

We finally listed the old washer/dryer unit on Craigslist, and it looks like it'll have a new home in a day or two. And, we'll get the front porch back.

Wow. If we keep this up, the place may just look like somebody actually lives here!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Oh! I didn't tell you about this!

The "sanitize" bit in yesterday's post reminded me. Our Big Excitement this Summer: a new washing machine! Actually, a new washing machine and dryer.

But it's all in one tub.

Yep, you put in dirty clothes and remove clean *dry* clothes. One move. I'll give you a minute to consider that.

Although perhaps you didn't need to wrap your mind around it. You may have known about it. Somehow, we seem to be the last of a handful of people to ever hear about this. (No less than three friends, when told about our new toy, squealed and said, "Oh! You are SO European/Korean!" They were pretty evenly split on the influence. But we had no clue. However, we did go with the LG. So -- Go, South Korea! You nailed the landing on this one!)

One word: Awesomeness.


Some of the reviews we read said it's not a good fit for a family because you're limited to doing only one dedicated load at a time. Meh. We've been using it for a little over a month, now, (seven people, one virus, plus allergies, chickens, and mud - that's plenty of laundry to give it a run) and I could not be happier. Yes, it does take longer to wash and dry one load at a time compared to the ideal, which looks like this:

wash one load/get it drying while you wash another load/fold the first load while the second load is drying and you wash a third load. 

But if you compare it to my usual:

wash one load/forget it's in there, getting mildewy, until I desperately NEED to do the next load so I can switch them out before bed/re-wash the first load/stay up way too late to be able to switch the second load out after the first load finally passes a sniff test... 

we're coming out ahead, my friends. So very far ahead. Add in the delayed start which allows Zorak to have freshly washed jeans in the morning, but we can still be in bed by ten. Or eleven. But if we stay up, it's by choice, not desperation. How cool is that?

It's a crazy little machine. It dries everything to perfection except for our thick towels (they take about ten minutes under a ceiling fan to finish off), and the thickest part of the crotch of jeans (again with the ceiling fan) -- and really, I don't move that quickly, anyway. Worst case scenario, I put in the next load, refill my coffee, address a handful of random interruptions, and it's all dry and ready to be put away. *with no re-washing, ever* And if I want to line dry some things, BONUS. Everything is clean and nearly-dry, even without the drying cycle. (Today, alone, I washed and hung three loads of wash, and still had time to wash/dry two more loads in the machine. So wonderful!)

The kids love it. Well, some of the "new" has probably worn off by now, but they appreciate the quiet spin cycle, and the clean clothes, and no longer needing to buy Shout in the gallon jug... It's a gift that keeps giving. I just don't know why we didn't know about these sooner!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

On Catching Up

So the kids had their plan in place:
Get up early
Hit the books hard
Spend more time reading between the writing-intensive studies to provide for stimulation and avoid death by pencil.

This was their recommendation for getting caught up to where the lesson plans said we should be. I thought it was pretty responsible (and beats what I'd have done when I was 12!)

We hit it hard on Monday. John had allergies, and he struggled, but we pushed through.

We hit it hard on Tuesday. James had allergies, too, that day, but we pushed through.

Wednesday, they mostly sat around, looking stunned, wondering that allergies could be so harsh...

Thursday, Jacob developed allergies. Or, as we began to suspect, "allergies". :groan:

Thursday evening, EmBaby and I both fell prey to what we'd been calling "allergies". I don't know what this is, but it's nassy! Since it's knocking us all down like dominoes, we're guessing it's viral. So our new plan is in place:

Water
Vit. D
Water
Pray this runs its course before it mutates and does another lap through the house.
Water
Water
Netflix

It's been a documentary-heavy couple of days, here. So far, we haven't had to try out the "Sanitize" option on the washer, though. I'm counting my blessings!

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Whoa! Where'd the week go?

John turned twelve this week. (He lobbied to be promoted to 15, as he swears he's been 11 for three years and we need to set the balance right.)

Thanks to the envelope system, there was enough cash in the gift envelope to take him to the drive-in to see The Avengers. Do you remember going to the drive-in when you were a child? Yeah, it's still awesome. Of course, as an adult with children in town, it is also a little aggravating. (The Bigs totally "got" it, and they were fantastic. My plan to set the littles up with their own cushy paradise inside the Suburban, where they could play quietly? That didn't pan out. So, even having braced myself to be okay with a certain level of aggravation, the littles far surpassed that. Crazy little overachievers. :eyeroll:) Friends came with us, which was doubly cool. (And you know they're loved, because the children spent half the time in their car, as well!)

We'll pop it in the queue with Netflix and watch it again when it comes out. I don't think Zorak or I have laughed so hard, or enjoyed a movie quite so much in a long time. (Even when you factor in the littles.) I do think we'll try the drive-in again, though, after making some adjustments (or finding a sitter) for the littles. The Bigs really got into it, and they were a riot.

The last of the chicks are now in the barn! Hallelujah! They all seem happy there, and I know I'm downright giddy with reclaiming the space.

After an embarrassingly long time, I've finally painted the two bedroom doors that never got painted. Most of the delay has been that the basement is always in use as something far too messy for painting to occur concurrently. So this week, while it was empty and relatively clean, I went to work. It's impressive how nice a freshly painted door looks (especially when one's standards have been lowered, by notches, to a shocking degree).

We are down to one toy shelf, *and* there's an empty bookshelf on the front porch, slated for life with someone else. It's a pretty crappy bookshelf, and we've used it well beyond its appointed time. But it still stays upright, the shelves aren't too saggy, and so it's functional. I can't bring myself to toss something functional. Not sure how to get it to the donation site, though. (DAV will come pick up, but we'd need to have a pile to justify asking them to bring the truck out and use more in gas than they'd have spent just buying a new shelf.)

The okra is doing beautifully with our system of gardening by benign neglect.

We did get James' desk and computer into his room, and he's standing ten feet tall right now. Possibly even bulletproof.


So. That's where the week went. Makes perfect sense.
Kiss those babies!
~Dy

The Cleaning End of Limbo

Monday and Tuesday, we got ruthless with the Stuff around here. I feel like a Big Ol' Meanie even saying that, because we don't have a lot of Stuff, relatively speaking. (OK, the Legos are getting out of hand. But four of the kids use them, often playing together, and it was my own fault for letting them into the house in the first place. They start out so innocuously, with those little $4.99 packets that come with one or two figurines and a couple of extra parts. There's no warning label on the packet that tells you you've just released the plastic equivalent of the Plague on your home.) But for the most part, it's not been bad. We have two toy shelves, which hold a total of nine medium Sterlite tubs, and 12 small ones. Each bin holds a specific item (hand puppets, magnetics, tanagrams, plastic cowboys/indians/army men, wooden blocks, etc.), and each child has one of the small ones for his/her own special things (sketches, pen innards, rocks - you know, Precious Things that I might mistakenly toss because I don't know better). Still, the Stuff had grown unwieldy.

So Monday, thinking to start easy, I began with the master bedroom. *snort* We did clear out a lot - mostly from under the bed, which held enough random stuff to make me wonder if everyone I live with is using it as a Room of Requirement. Then the drawers. Then the nooks and crannies, where things fall, gather dust, and become terrain for spiders. I thought I'd get rid of most of my yarn, as it's mostly cheap yarn and doesn't crochet up into anything comfortable, but Jacob gasped and said, "Mom! That's an almost endless supply of STRING!" He may have inherited The Gene... Anyway, I'm not done in there, but I gave up. The yarn is in the craft closet.

Tuesday, we tackled the toy shelves and a bookcase. All the VHS tapes? Gone. That freed up three shelves' of space. (I have no idea where we'll sit today, though, as they're all in the car to be dropped in town.) Then, on to the toys - things we've been promising we'll use "now that we know where they are" -- for the past three cullings -- are off to find a new home. Even now, nearly 14 years into this gig, there's a deviation between how I envision our family and our days should look, and how they really look. I needed to let go of the dream and embrace the weird. It's all good. Plus, we culled and cleaned the things that there is no one left to play with, now. No babies, no toddlers. Even Jase prefers the smaller Legos to the 1" Duplos.

So, in the end, we culled quite a bit. Enough that if we find a new place for the boys to keep their Special Buckets, we can now remove one of the toy shelves from a bedroom! That'll be a whole extra six square feet of living space we'll gain! (Which is roughly equivalent to enough space for all of us to stand side-by-side and stare at the wall. I know this. Still, it makes me giddy.)  Next, I hope to square things away well enough to remove the large book case from James' room and replace it with his desk. That's all kinds of exciting, when you don't get out much.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Hot 'n Sticky Holiday

Zorak worked on the project with his co-worker most of the day, Saturday. I don't think they got it finished, as he needs a torch. I wish I'd known that before Father's Day. Someday, we will manage to figure out what he needs and get it for him before he runs down to Home Depot or the Welding Shop and buys it for himself. Not that he minds. Gifts don't say I love you to him - time, thoughtfulness, naps, kind words, affection - those things wrap him in a big hug and whisper, "You mean so much to us." And humor - a family that laughs together is happy and solid. We're fortunate, and we've got it good.

Father's Day was spent working in the garden. Sort of. I like to think we'd be better at it if our lives depended on it. I may be wrong, though. It's pretty miserable down there in the afternoons, and we haven't disciplined ourselves enough to get down there and get it over with in the cool of the mornings. (Of course, there will be no cool, ever, in another two weeks, so maybe it's just a pre-emptive adjustment on our part?) Thankfully, okra will grow with pretty much no input from anyone.

We graduated a couple more chicks from the basement to the barn. I cannot tell you how glad I will be when I no longer have livestock living in my home.

The kids and I made lunch for Zorak (shredded BBQ brisket sandwiches, tomato/cuke/sweet pepper salad, green salad, pintos, and cheesecake). We enjoyed lunch and then laid down -- and stopped moving. Z got a Father's Day nap. (Best Gift, Ever!) The rest of us watched MacGuyver and lolled about, with our limbs dangling off the ends of the furniture.

If I haven't done so already, I need to go on record now as saying I am SO wholly on board with the implementation of siestas in the South. Nobody wants to work during the hottest part of the day, and in the summer it's light late enough that you can get more done after a refreshing nap, anyway. When you add in the humidity and the lunch... Oy! Siesta is the only thing that makes any sense. But it's never caught on here in the South, for whatever reason. A shame, really - it's a lovely way to get through the hot'n'sticky part of the day.

This week? This week we don't have to be up at 5:45, so we're not going to be. That's about as far as we've made it on the planning end. And we're okay with that. :-)

Kiss those babies!
~Dy

Things Are Changing!

Mostly, my email spam. I used to get offers for Sexy Asian Singles and lots of Viagra. Today, I got my first "hip implant recall" solicitation. *sniff* I feel so grown up.

A co-worker of Zorak's is coming down today so Z can do some welding for him. He'll probably bring his wife, and that's always a treat. She's one of those beautiful, deeply rooted ladies who are kind and gracious. She doesn't mind the chaos of the house, as it reminds her of her years raising their children. (I'm still going to clean up, here in a bit, though. No sense in triggering any Maternal PTSD that may be lurking. We all have it. We should try to be aware.)

The kids are sleeping in this morning, except for John, who bounded out of bed at seven, made his bed, let out the chickens, fed and watered everything that needs us to feed or water it... without me having to ask. That makes me so ridiculously happy! So I let him play some video games while his siblings sleep. (I like to think of it as positive reinforcement.) Of course, Em awoke not long after he started and stumbled sleepily over to me to inquire why, exactly, John gets video games. I could see in her eyes there was a "not fair" skulking about back there. When I explained what he'd done, and how it was on his own motivation, and I felt that merited game time, she was pensive for a moment. Then she perked up, said, "Oh. OK!" She grabbed an apple and plunked down on the couch to watch him. I guess she weighed the options and decided a little game time wasn't worth getting dressed and started on chores just yet. Fair enough.

In other news, a cousin and his family were able to return to their home in New Mexico today. So many homes have been destroyed in the Little Bear fire. Theirs survived, and so they are home. Now the community begins the process of mourning, healing, and rebuilding. As far as I know, all of the family is safe. Over in Ruidoso, the folks at Ski Apache used some ingenuity and turned the snow makers on to help keep the fire at bay by spraying the area with Hail Mary shots. Meanwhile, there are floods in the southern part of our state. I find myself nudging the boys to consider some kind of engineering study that would allow them to devise a feasible means of diverting water from one place to another, cross country - eliminate damaging floods, and quell the raging fires, all in one awesome project.

Kiss those babies!
~Dy