Just rambling on a rainy Saturday morning...

I'm starting to think people around here are overly dependent on air conditioning. As a child, we had a window air conditioner. It went on only a few times a summer, mostly on those 95+ degree humid days. It was turned on in the late afternoon and ran until the cool of the night set in during the wee hours of the morning. Most of my friends' families were similar. We do not have air in our home. It is very old with radiator heat, and central air would be impossible. We do have two window air conditioners, one of which we have never installed and the other of which we haven't used in three years. I close the blinds on the east side of the house in the morning, on the west in the afternoon. I open windows to catch the cross breeze, and leave them open at night to welcome the cool air. If it's really hot (over 90 and humid), we'll open the laundry shoot (about 1' square) and blow cool air up from the basement to the second story. We all cope with it just fine, yet we know many people who turn on their air the instant it is 80-85 degrees out, and simply cannot handle the idea of living without their air. We don't live in an apartment or in areas that are over 95 for weeks. Our nights cool down nicely. None of us has a health condition that would make handling heat hard and I'm not pregnant (the reason the window air conditioner went in 3 years ago). There really isn't a huge need for most people around here to have their air on for much of the summer. However, many spend their day in climate controlled officed and buildings. Their bodies are not given the chance to adjust to the heat gradually as the days warm up. I think this simple fact is the reason so many people cannot imagine life without air conditioning anymore. 85 degrees is absolutely gorgeous for most of us who are able to let our bodies adjust naturally to the seasons, but may bring complaints from people I know who live in air conditioning. It's too bad that so many people are missing out on the seasons like this.

The same thing can be said for heat in the winter. We keep ours at 60-61 degrees, and many people think we are nuts.

I fell off the weight loss wagon about 5 weeks ago, but the good news is I was still maintaining my weight. It stayed the same over 5 weeks, which I feel is a pretty good accomplishment. I've started getting serious again this week. I've dropped 1.75 lbs this week, bringing my total weight loss so far to 28 lbs. I've still got another 11 I want to lose at this point. It's amazing how well the classic "eat less, exercise more" regime actually works!

I've decided to work on weaning myself from emoticons. I was listening to something on NPR the other day (actually, it may have been WPR now that I think about it) which helped me make this decision. Someone was talking about how writers through the centuries managed to portrary emotions, thoughts, feelings and tone without resorting to little clusters of characters with special meaning. Too true. So instead of hammering home my emotions with emoticons, I decided I should start trying to simply be more expressive in my writing.

Now if only I could learn proper use of commas. I had a language arts teacher in 7th grade who instructed us to put commas "anywhere you would naturally pause while speaking". That has forever messed up my punctuation usage.

I'm hosting my sister's bridal shower today. The flowers are arranged, most of the food is done, the games are ready. I hope it will be a fun day. It will be at my aunt's house an hour away since most of the guests live up there. I'm going without the kids, and I'll be getting there early to set up and staying late to help her clean up. I figure with driving, set up, clean up and the party itself, I'll be gone about 7-8 hours. We'll see if Luis appreciates my day more after this day is through. After a day like this he always appreciates the work I do around the house much more for a while.

Vincent qualifies for speech therapy through the county. Unfortunately, due to scheduling issues on the part of the therapist and coordinator, the review of his evaluation with me won't be for two weeks, and therapy can't start until then. He'll only get about 2 months from this before he turns three, but hopefully that will be enough. We don't know if we want to go through the school district once he's over three.

Abigail and Isabella are doing great with their swimming lessons. Isabella is still scared, but she's overcoming it and trying some new things. We went camping over the weekend, and the campground had a pool. I couldn't get over the change in their abilities in just on week of daily lessons.

It's summer solstice today, longest day of the year. We'll have a little family celebration tonight. The girls love this sabbat. We have them jump a candle instead of jumping a larger fire, and they think that is great fun. Some friends are having a celebration and bonfire on Thursday, so we'll be getting two celebrations this year.

We took out Vincent's stitches yesterday. The finger tip is healing up pretty well, but he is definately going to have a scare. I also think that he will end up losing his fingernail. It's getting really ugly looking.

I was browsing at my neighbor's garage sale yesterday and saw some size 8 shorts. I was feeling like my 10s were a bit big in the waist, and curious, I tried to pull on a pair of size 8s. They FIT, even wearing them over my khaki capris. 8 was my goal size, but since I still have another 12-13 lbs I'd like to lose, I could easily end up in a 6! I even bought a two piece swimming suit on Monday. Granted the bottom is a skirtini, but the top is a true bikini top, not the more modest tankini. My upper abs are looking good, if I do say so myself. Those darn lower abs, not so much. I think it's due to the c-section with Abigail, and I doubt they will ever really firm up.

This summer school and swimming lessons every day thing is kicking my butt. The transportation sucks, and while it's cool to see the girls progressing in their swimming already after just 3 days, 1-2 pm lessons are totally screwing up Vincent's sleeping. Abigail also wanted to take the bus home. The first day, I called after the bus was 25 minutes late demanding to know where she was. They found out the buses hadn't left the school yet, and it would be another 20-30 minutes. I had them pull her off and picked her up myself. The second day, I didn't even bother with the bus, but we decided to try it again yesterday. The buses left the school 20 minutes late, and then when she was dropped off, it was 2 blocks away from where the letter said her stop was. I was waiting at the prescribed stop, and Abigail walked herself home, crossing a moderately busy street to do so. Luckily I had my phone with me and a friend was at our house, calling me when Abigial showed up by herself. I was livid and called the school district in fury. Apparently the bus company changed the stop and was supposed to call everyone to let them know. We were never called, and I know that for sure because I check every single missed call via caller id for my business. I left a scathing message for the bus company yesterday too, and they had better call me back this morning. I haven't decided what we are doing about bussing today. Sigh. She really enjoyed the bus and is excited about it, but with only 50 minutes for lunch, changing and getting to the swimming lessons if her bus is on time, I don't know if I can keep on taking the chances of it being so late.

A speech therapist is coming to evalute Vincent today. He's been improving, but not as much as I'd hoped. We are going through our county's birth to 3 programs, so this would only a few months of therapy if it's warranted, and it's home-based, play-based so I can see what they are doing and continue myself. We can stop at any time if we we decided we didn't want to do the therapy afterall.

This one is a cyber-pbbbbtttt to everyone in my life who claims that eating a diet of whole food doesn't really matter, or that there is no harm in feeding the kids junk for a day or two. I'm seriously considering making copies of the article to give to some of these people.

From On Wisconsin, the UW-Madison Alumni magazine:

In 1998, Wisconsin's Appleton Central Alternative High School was dealing with worrisome discipline problems in the classroom. Students were caught with drugs and weapons. They were hostile to each other and to their teachers, and their behavior was out of control.

Did the school turn to a psychologist, a consultant, or an educational specialist? No - they contacted Paul Stitt MS '69, the owner of Natural Ovens Bakery.

"When the Appleton school system came to us and said could you help us, we said we'd love to," Stitt says. "And we said, 'Certainly, we know how to correct the situation. Throw out all the vending machines with all the high-sugar, high-fat foods; throw out the pop machines loaded with sugar; put in water coolers; and start educating the kids about what they need to do to be good to their bodies'."

Stit and his spouse, Barbara, underwrote a program that allowed the school to start serving a menu emphasizing fresh fruits and vegetables, whole-grain products, entrees free of chemicals and additives, and energy drinks.

The results were dramatic. Truancy rates took a nose dive. Grades shot up. Vandalism and littering went down. The alternative school went five years with no expulsions, no dropouts, no drugs on campus, no weapons and no suicides. It was the only school in Appleton with a perfect record during that period.

Although the food costs were higher, the school saved money because it no longer had to pay for a full-time police officer, and with better discipline, it was able to increase class size from eight to fifteen students.

And this:

The Appleton program was originally inspired by Barbara Stitt's work as a probation officer. She realized that a lot of her probationers were junk food junkies who lived on soda, caffeine, and sugar, and not much else. When she showed them how to follow a healthy diet, those who stayed on it were amazed at how different they felt, and their improved attitudes and behaviors helped them stay out of jail.

And this:

One technique that Stitt says was especially effective with the Appleton students was an agreement that if the kids would eat healthy for a month, then they would get a junk food day. But after one day of eating all the snacks, desserts and soda they wanted, he says "they were so shocked and dismayed at their awful behaviour and the terrible way they felt that some of the teenagers actually begged us never to require another junk food day. They couldn't believe that they could go from feeling so good to just becoming an animal. No one ever imagined that a simple thing like vitamins and minerals and so forth could make such a huge difference. They thought it was a lack of religion or training or home life or something else."

Mary Bruyette, and English teacher at the school, concurs. "Students told me how awful they felt after the junk food day, and they said they never wanted to feel that way again."

A year ago, my aunt's long time boyfriend died suddenly at the age of 55. It was a shock, to say the least. Today, there was a memorial golf outing and picnic fundraiser for the American Diabetes Association in his memory. We were gone all day, as Luis did the golf outing. It was a very nice day, except for our emergency. The picnic was at the AmericanLegion hall and park. Vincent and Luis were playing on the turret gun (as all American Legions and VFWs have in their parks) when Vincent's finger was smashed in a part that still opened. The pressure was so intense that it blew out the bottom of his finger. It was really deep and wide, and even Luis felt it would need stitches. (When it comes to illnesses and fevers, I'm the voice of reason and treatment; injuries are his specialty and he treats almost all of the kids injuries.) We rushed him to urgent care, and he ended up with 5 stitches in his finger tip, x-rays to make sure the tip of the bone wasn't crushed and a huge bandage. He was great during the waiting, screamed and cried during the injection and suturing, and then happy the rest of the evening. Luis feels just awful, but it was an accident.

Summer is here. Lazy, crazy days of summer. Daisy and Brownie Scouts, homeschool gym, homeschool art, science club and soccer are all over for now. Time to relax, except for the fact the softball starts next week along with summer school. Abigail asked to take some summer school classes this year. They are really cool little short courses. She is taking Spanish, Art Around the World and Fit Kids (gym games). Plus swimming lessons are offered too, so both girls are taking those. You can't beat the price. Abigail's taking 3 classes in one session and both girls have 2 sessions of swimming lesson; the total cost was $15. Unfortunately I was thinking the sessions were 2 weeks long. I was willing to work around 3 hours of classes every day for 2 weeks and swimming lessons every day for 4 weeks. Unfortunately, they are 3 weeks long, and I didn't realize it until too late. So they have swimming lessons every day for SIX weeks. Ugh. I don't do so well with long term commitments that happen every single day. I'm really not looking forward to this, but at least they will be a lot more comfortable in the water by the end of this. That will be very good for when we go to Mexico in the fall.

The garden is loving the hot weather we are having here lately. I've harvested a ton of spinach and salad greens already. Much of the broccoli (we have 40 plants so far) is getting ready for the first harvest, and I'll need to start the second group of seedlings very soon. My carrots had a really low germination rate so far this year, unfortunately, but the squash and pumpkin vines are growing nicely. I'm trying to grow two of the squash (one summer and a small winter one) vertically this year. It would save so much garden space if this is successful. I normally don't grow much squash because I don't want to give up that much garden for those long vines, but it's something we really like to eat. I'm also trying potatoes for the first time this year. They look beautiful. I need to hill them up some more this week. My pear trees are fully leafed out now, and the cherries that are on my little cherry tree are starting to get a little blush at the bottom.

Abigail has been asking to color her hair a wild color for months now, probably since last fall. We told her repeatedly that she could do it in summer. Today, we picked up a box of temporary plum hair coloring, and she and Isabella now have adorable pink-purple hair. It should wash out in 8-10 shampoos, but they are hoping that it lasts a long, long time.

Okay, the real reason we picked up the hair coloring is I have been wanting to put purple streaks in my hair for a year now, but kept putting off buying the box because it's so not how other people see me and I didn't want to freak out some of the people I know around town, plus I was having a hard time visualizing what it would look like. Since the girls wanted to do this too, it seemed like a perfect time to indulge my desire without looking too totally freaky. I absolutely love it, and definately will be doing this again. To heck with other people's opinions, this is fun.

I've been struggling with the decision of whether or not I want a fourth child again. On the one hand, I'm really enjoying the freedom that comes with the children getting older. I like not having a child in diapers, being able to run out alone or drop the kids off at a friends for a little while if I need to do something. Parenting the way I believe infants deserve is very draining. I'm not sure I have it in me to deal with the intensity of the first year again, as much as I enjoyed it. I don't know if I want to take on another toddlerhood, or to change the dynamic of our family again. Part of me is also a little nervous about labor again; the last birth was so intense that I don't know how I'll handle it again if it's like that.

On the other hand, it is wonderful to bring a new person into the world, to nourish and care for them, to guide them, love them and watch them grow and learn. I've said for years that I want four kids, do I really feel complete now? I think I could stop now and be comfortable with that decision, but there would always be a little kernel of doubt and regret in the back of my mind. Each age is so wonderful, from those little newborn days with the soft skin and long fingers, to the toddler exploration age, to the preschool learning sponge stage and the elementary growing up stage. It would be fun to watch one last child go through these stages.

Luis really wants one more, but even he admits that he isn't the one who handles most of the parenting. Is it fair to him to stop now, when he wants one more? Is it fair to me to have another when I'm not sure? Will I ever be sure if we stop at three? I know four is my limit, and if we have four, there won't be discussion of five. I just can't see either of us doing that.

I'm conflicted, to say the least. However, I'm starting to lean more towards having a fourth. Six months ago, I was no where near as conflicted as I am now. Six months ago, I was definately not ready, but now? Maybe.

Maybe.

We spent the weekend at our friends' cabin with them. We get up there once a year, hopefully more often this year. It is such a peaceful and beautiful spot. I took time each morning to walk alone along the road. It's off the beaten path, a gravel road in Amish country. As I walk along, I can see the hoof prints of horses and the lines of the carriage tires. I hear no traffic, just the sounds of pheasant, turkey, bluejays, even a hawk screaming. Today I heard the gentle clip-clop of a horse-drawn buggy in the distance. It is such a peaceful start to the day. We can't wait to get back up there again, though hopefully it will be warmer! It was a cold, wet weekend, and we were thankful for the woodstove in the cabin. There is no heater, just the woodstove, which made everything cozy. Luis and I found morel mushrooms in the woods for the first time this year. We had never tried them before.

We also stopped at a large Amish nursery just up the road. I had been looking for a dwarf cherry tree this year. I bought two dwarf pear trees, but the nursery we normally by from was out of the Northstar cherry trees I wanted. Low and behold, I found them at the Yoder's greenhouses. They were so healthy and beautiful, I was just thrilled. They were even just the right height to slide into the van and make it back to the cabin, then home, without spilling dirt all over. I now have my Northstar dwarf cherry planted in the backyard. :) After giving up on it for this year, I'm very happy. I have to remember the Yoder's for next year. They were so personable and caring about their plants, making sure to tell me how to prune the tree and advising my friend about her blueberry selections. Places like that are a joy to buy from.

I had a weight goal I wanted to have met by today. I wanted to have lost 24 lbs from Feb 14 until today, about 13 weeks. I lost 22.5. I'm slightly bummed that I didn't make it, but considering that my size 10 pants are getting looser and I know that I'm adding even more muscle with my additional workout at the YMCA, I'm not too upset. I've lost a lot of weight. Now my next goal is to lose another 16.5 lbs between now and Aug 1, which would bring me back to the weight I was around the time we got married and into the healthy weight range for my height. We haven't decided yet about baby number 4. I'm kind of thinking of trying in July, which would of course alter this goal. However, I'd still be at a much healthier weight for pregnancy that I was any of the other three times.

I have to frog the Jig sweater I was slowly working on. I've realized that with my weight loss, it will be too big. I'm not willing to waste the yarn making something that won't even fit. The Jaegar Aqua was a serious investment for me. The Evening in Eden stole is coming along nicely. It will be for my sister to wear after her wedding on the beach this fall. The evening will probably be cool, and with her strapless gown she'll need something on her shoulders. It is so elegant and cozy in the cream alpaca. I want to make one for myself; I really like the lace pattern. I'm thrilled that she picked out something that looks so pretty while being so easy to create, at least as far as lace goes.

Isabella started soccer tonight. She was so excited, but a bit nervous when she was actually there. It helped that our neighbor's son is in the program too, and they ended up on the same team. She's a Bobcat. ;D She gave it her all, in her own way. She didn't want to steal the ball from the other kids (perhaps all those conversation about waiting your turn and not taking things from other kids have sunk in finally?), but really enjoyed kicking when the ball happened to come her way. She has 5 more game nights, and she can't wait. She really enjoyed herself.

Speaking of Isabella, I've been working with her on reading. Abigail did great with the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons method (though we only did about 50 of the lessons). Isabella, not so much. I think she'll be more of a sight words reader. She can remember most of the sounds we've worked on, but anticipates the ending of words when she reads them and has difficulty with the process of blending sounds together when sounding something out. She'll says the sounds S, A, T, but when putting them together, she might say "Sam" instead of "Sat". It can be really frustrating, for both of us. I got the first set of Bob Books from the library to try with her, and I may have to buy them. We have the level 2 ones already, but with Abigail I never bought the level 1 books. Isabella sat down with me and read the first book almost right away. The book format instead of just a list of words to read really helped her confidence and concentration. The repetition of the words is great for someone like her who reads more by the word then by the sounds. We worked on the sounds C and D yesterday, and she read the second book yesterday, though the word Sad was a source of frustration as she kept wanting to say Sat.

It's tricky though because she is very smart with a pretty good memory. After only a couple of times through the first book, I think she is just reading it from memory, cued by the pictures. Today I had her touch under the words she was reading, just to make sure she was actually reading instead of just reciting the story. It did alter her cadence, so I think she has been just reciting some of the last few times she read that book to me.

It's trash days again this weekend. Two weekends a year, one for each half of town, residents can put out pretty much anything for trash and have it taken away. There are no quantity limits, and people only need to buy stickers for stuff like tires. We love these weekends. Curbside shopping at it's finest! Last weekend was time for our half of town, and we got so much out of the house. Some of it truly was trash, but we neatly put out (rather on display) all sorts of things that we might have saved for a garage sale if we'd chosen to do that this year, things that didn't go on freecycle or were just too small and random to freecycle (though having successfully freecycled an open bottle of Newman's Own salad dressing, minus one salad's worth of dressing, I can say that many small and random things will easily go on freecycle, LOL). Almost everything was gone by the time the trash trucks came around on Tuesday morning, picked up by other trash shoppers.

In exchange for our stuff, Luis came home with the following: a boatload of perfectly good large flower pots, some never used, which I wanted for the front porch; a running lawn mower; a large wooden clothes drying rack for the basement; a working computer with a better processor than ours; a trailer(!) for his atv; metal tiki torches; trays and pots for starting seeds indoors; and some smaller stuff. These weekends are the ultimate in finding your treasure in your neighbor's trash.

Our freecycle group has just branched off with a barter and exchange group as well. I hope it takes off. We love to barter, and there are some things I have really been wanting to barter for.

I've had extra weight hanging around for quite a while now. Okay, since Abigail was born. It was never enough to get me motivated to do anything about it. I put on another 10 lbs last fall and winter and that was it. I started working out and watching my portion size, caloric intake and fat calories in February. I've lost 19 lbs so far. Woohoo! I have another 20 I want to lose. I have been doing Nordic Track for 45-50 minutes a day (30 in the a.m., 15-20 in the p.m.) and a Pilates intermediate workout in addition to my normal walking everywhere, gardening, etc. To be honest, I'm really enjoying the exercise and the stength I'm feeling in my stomach muscles. I've never had a strong abdomen, so this is really cool. I was wearing a size 12 (honestly though, they were tight), and now I can easily fit into size 10. The one pair of skinny size 12 pants I didn't wear all winter because they looked awful one me? I can now pull them off without unbuttoning them!

We joined the Y this weekend, something for all of us. The kids can do their programs at a *much* lower cost if we are members. Around here, the Y is the only real place for soccer, gymnastics, swimming lessons year 'round, etc. They also offer homeschool swimming and a homeschool gymnastics during the day time, instead of having everything in the evening hours. Abigail has mentioned many times that she'd like to take gymnastics, and Isabella would really like to try soccer in the fall. I'm excited about their fitness center. It's newly remodeled and pretty nice for a town this size. The Precore (sp?) machine is too fun. I've been doing 35 minutes on that the last few days and enjoying it a lot. I have also been trying to figure out exercises for my triceps (getting those saggy mom arms, ugh), so the tricep machine is too cool. Luis is thrilled to have a place to swim laps all year, and he really likes to do free weights. So, even though it's $50 a month, we'll definately get our money out it.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7184763/

I knew that there were some families like this, but I had no idea it was considered the norm these days. Reading about these people's lives was horrifying for me. I cannot imagine a world where my children's lives are that scheduled, a world where my family interacts so little with each other, a world without free time for imagination, play, long walks and conversation. There are times when I feel my kids are doing too much. For us, that means art once a week, play group twice a month, science club once a week, homeschool gym once a week (fall and spring), girl scouts once or twice a month (depending on girl). We eat dinner as a family every night, even when it means eating at 4:50 to make a 5:30 girl scout meeting. It's maybe once a month that we don't eat together. The kids have hours outside every day in spring, summer and fall, time to just be kids, to play hopscotch, ride bike, play superheros and run back and forth with the neighbors' kids. I didn't think my reality was that different. The two next door neighbors are also at home moms. The kids run around together, and we all keep eye out. It's not unusual for my kids to play next door for a few hours, then her kids come over here or go on a walk with us. They all have time to just be.

We were at the library the other night, wasting an hour while Abigail was at her Brownies meeting. I was talking with the children's librarian about various things. She's probably in her 50's, a really neat woman and fun to talk with. I told her some story about Vincent and the goofy things he does; she asked me to keep on telling her these stories because they give her hope. She said that she's noticed kids don't have as much imagination these days, that they play differently and interact with the world differently than they did in years past. If the lives of the families portrayed in this article are even remotely like the norm, then it's no wonder children are out of touch with play, imagination and family interaction. I hope this article was sensationalist, that the children studied in LA are not the norm for the US. I hope that most of the kids out there have large sections of each day to just be kids, without orchestrated activities, TV, video games or electronic media.

Now that I'm not tired, I can explain the last post more coherently. It was a cohesive thought until blogger ate half of it.

We live in an extremely Chrisitian community. There are about 30 various Chrisitian churches in this town of 10K, incuding a fair number of them fundamentalist or conservative Christians. The Christian culture is very strong here, almost overwhelming. The court house on the square downtown plays music year round; in December that music is Christmas carols, not just secular ones, but also religious ones. There was a huge upset a few years ago because someone complained about the fact that a monument to the ten commandments was in a public park. The city sponsors an Easter Egg hunt. This is a very Christian town.

Compounding this is the fact that the homeschooling community here is dominated by conservative Christians. I'm talking about the kind of Christians who feel that Catholics and Lutherans aren't real Christians (not just my impression, but that of some Catholics and Lutherans I know too). We have our core group of homeschooling friends, but we cautiously guard our religious beliefs from others in this community. We were asked to stop attending a dance class when I simply let it be known that we were not Christian. We left our 4-H group because it was overtly Christian. Abigail came back from a Girl Scout Thinking Day activity having learned "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands". When Isabella joined Daisy Scouts, I checked with the leader if they did any religious content, and was told "well, this is a Christian organization". NO, according to Girl Scouts International IT IS NOT.

So, while members of the conservative Christian community may claim they are under attack, that their values and beliefs are being banished from our society, from the perspective of someone outside of the mainstream, I can say it's not true. The Christian culture is everywhere in our society, from the obsessive coverage of the Pope issues (would it be covered so much if it where the Dali Lama or a Muslim leader?) down to the way that store clerks assume they should wish me a Happy Easter and people think I'm happy to hear "I'm praying for you" (when I haven't asked them to) or have them tell me "Jesus Bless You".

Honestly, I wouldn't even mind these biases so much if there even the slightest bit of fair trade on this. If the media covered other religions as obsessively as Christianity. If conservative Christians could accept that other people have a right to believe in other religions. If the courthouse here played traditional Jewish songs around Passover, Islamic ones for Ramadan, etc. If people who felt it was okay to share their religion with me wouldn't judge my family for being Pagan, wouldn't ostracisize us due to their unknown biases.

I always listen to NPR while exercising. Tonight the show was about the judiciary and whether it's under attack from the Judeo-Christian religious right and Congress, or would activist judges simply being properly treated through an impeachment process. One thing really struck me. One person advocating judicial impeachments kept referring to "people of faith". He kept saying that the "people of faith" were fine until activist judges started removing prayer from the schools, the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments from courthouses, making abortion accessible, saying s od om y is legal and allowing gay marriage. I find this use of the term "people of faith" used to describe those who oppose these court decisions to be unbelievably conceited and insulting. I am a person who has a great deal of religious faith. I am not, however, someone who believes in the Judeo-Christian god. I want prayer out of the schools and the Ten Commandments off of public property. I believe that gays should marry and the goverment has no business creating laws regarding the s ex life of consenting adults. Don't use the term "people of faith" unless you mean to include people of ALL religious faiths.

While I am on this topic, the Pledge of Allegiance annoys me to no end. Specifically, the inclusion of the words "under God" is irritating to me. These words were added in the '50s during the Cold War as a way of seperating the US from the "Godless Communists". First, I see it as state-sponsorship of religion. Second, if the US wants to acknowledge a higher power, who gets to pick which one? Why must it be "God" rather than the name of another diety such as "Buddha", "Allah", "Goddess" or whatever? Why isn't it just "One nation, under {insert diety name here if desired}, indivisible with liberty and justice..."? So many children are forced to say this in public schools, and that just makes me sick. Sure, it's called voluntary, but how many kindergarteners are going to tell their teacher that they don't want to recite this because their family doesn't believe in God? How many seventh graders are willing to withstand peer pressure and the idea of being perceived as different because they don't want to say the Pledge or the word God? It's voluntary%


ARGH. This post was a lot longer, but somehow part disappeared in publishing. I'm too tired to recompose it. Surfice to say there was more ranting about the Pledge as well as complaints about people claiming this is a Christian nation founded by Christians, and I gave this link.

After months of introspection, I am ready to talk again. Winter is for hibernation for many species, and I tend to hibernate mentally over the winter months. Spring is well sprung, and I am ready to emerge from a winter's sleep.

The garden is well planted already this early spring. I made a serious attempt to start my own seedlings inside this year, and it has paid off. I transplanted the broccoli outside last week, and all survived. I even have 6 extra plants to share with my neighbor. The tomatoes are growing well downstairs, along with peppers, eggplants, lavender and basil, all awaiting warmer early summer weather. In the garden outside, I have so far planted my carrots, lettuce, spinach (180 plants, OMGosh!), radishes, beets, peas and potatoes in addition to the broccoli. I've gotten serious about my gardening this year and making the most of our limited space. Successive crop growing is a must for us, and the spinach and radishes will be done just in time to clear out that bed and plant the sweet corn. I'm growing both bush peas (progress no. 9) and trellis ones (sugar snap) this year to compare yield and decide which type to continue with in future years. This is the first year for potatoes, so my expectations are very low. It seem to take a few years for me to get the hang of new veggies. I have big goals for the garden this year, and a second chest freezer to fill up with produce for the rest of the year. I really hope to grow enough broccoli, spinach, carrots, beans, beets, tomatoes and grapes (for jelly and juice) to put away enough to last us most of a year.

The dwarf fruit trees are going in this year too. I'm definately getting two for pie cherries, and then either two apple or two pear. Maybe both apple and pear. I haven't decided that yet, but need to in the next month.

We are doing pretty well otherwise. Abigail is 7 now, a reading fiend, music nut and goofy girl. Isabella is 5, with a gap in her smile now that she has lost two teeth. She's still an interesting one to parent, a combination of spunk and caution, outgoing and introvert. She's so totally me, oh bother. Vincent is two and a half. He is totally Luis as a child, which is unbelieveably frustrating sometimes. He's so smart and stubborn, a good problem solver, and totally impish. We've been debating speech therapy for him, as he is definately delayed in his expressive speech, but undecided at this point. His speech is improving, and he has gained a larger number of new words in the last few weeks. He's really improved in the last month, and we are thinking he's probably just a "late talker", rather than in need of actual therapy.

So, I'm back and hopefully will be posting here much more regualarly again.

I have been craving a place to talk natural parenting again. So, rather than complain about the lack of places that feel right, I am creating one. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturalmama An email list will have to do since I simply cannot organize a board right now.

Here is the group description:

Who is a Natural Mama? Well, chances are you can't tell just by looking at her. She probably isn't farming on a commune and spending her days in tie dyed peasant dresses, Birks and dreadlocks. Natural Mamas often look just like everyone else, but they are different inside.

Natural Mamas believe in natural parenting. They parent gently and look for natural alternatives in healthcare, education, nutrition and entertainment. Chances are their families rarely watch TV. They probably eat many organic or unprocessed foods. Natural Mamas probably homeschool their kids or have them in alternative schools. They are likely use herbal or other natural medicines. They believe in parenting without force, without belittling. Are you a Natural Mama?

This group is for families with children of all ages, but it has been specifically started for support as our children grow older. There are many places out there to find support for parenting a baby naturally, but few for parenting school aged children this way.
I hope you'll decide to join if the group sounds like you.

We are trying to decide if we should have Isabella's hearing tested, once again. She's had problem occasionally for a couple of years, but if we candle her ears, the problems stop. She definately has an excess amount of wax production in the one ear. On the one hand, my gut says she doesn't have an actual hearing problem because when we candle her ears she can hear our words and repeat them even if we speak pretty softly while she is across the room with her back turned. On the other hand, maybe it would be best just for our peace of mind?

I had an Usbourne books party last weekend. Wow, I had NO idea they had so many terrific books. They really are a homeschoolers dream. I haven't closed out the party yet, but hopefully will be able to get a $100 set of texts on science, history and geography/social studies for $25. My mom and sister bought the kids a lot of really neat books for the holidays.

Our chickens are now laying 3-4 eggs a day. This is so cool! It's neat to go out every day and get more eggs. We still have two young birds that haven't even started laying yet. I'm also getting 3 more birds (barred rocks this time) from a friend soon.

Drats, Vincent's awake.

Sure enough. Machine Error Gives Bush Extra Ohio Votes I don't even know what to say anymore.

Count me among the many, the depressed, the Kerry supporters. We felt so deeply about this election that we even had a yard sign (two actually, one was stolen) and a bumper sticker, two things we've never even considered before, and we were bugging other people to get out an vote. I was deeply saddened to wake up yesterday morning to the news that Bush was in all likelihood the winner, and then have Kerry concede midday. After things were so neck and neck in the evening before I went to bed, I really felt that Kerry had a good shot. Luis and I are very concerned about the path our country is heading down. Bush has another 4 years to screw things up, but the long term effects will be felt for many more years, especially in the judiciary and the world view of the US. I believe that our time as a superpower is ending, that within the next 10 years our role in the world will greatly changed. America has always been a great country, never the greatest in any one thing, but pretty dang good in lots of them, but I believe that our time is passing. We also fear for Luis' job as a union member.

Luis is a conspiracy theory kind of thinker, and last night he was speculating about the electronic voting machines. Out of curiousity, I started looking around last night. Okay, it was more out of "I really don't want to go to bed yet, so I'll waste some time online". Wow. The stuff I came across regarding those machines is scary.

Taken from kp and Lynn


You appear to be a Knitting Guru. You love knitting
and do it all the time. While finishing a piece
is the plan, you still love the process, and
can't imagine a day going by without giving
some time to your yarn. Packing for vacation
involves leaving ample space for the stash and
supplies. It can be hard to tell where the yarn
ends and you begin.
http://marniemaclean.com


What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Who knew? I wouldn't call myself a guru, but I do love working with yarn daily and the vacation thing is right on...

Just a long ramble tonight...

I just walked Hobo. We walk every evening, usually after the kids go to sleep, sometimes after dinner if Luis isn't busy with a project. Tonight wasn't our longest walk (30 blocks), but it was our best time. 20 blocks in 22 minutes. Woohoo!

Today's science club activity was at a local state park - a tree walk, nature scavenger hunt and then a chromotography discussion. I even learned something, what makes the leave yellow/red/orange/purple/brown in the fall.

We had our first soup night of the fall yesterday. Soup night is when I make a couple of large batches of soup or chili and a bunch of bread, then we invite a bunch of interesting people over for dinner. Whoever can make it, comes, but we never have any idea what type of group will show up for sure. I tried cream of broccoli soup yesterday, and it was very good.

We picked up three more chickens last Friday. I didn't want to pay shipping, and I didn't want to get 2 month old birds this close to winter, so I found someone through the Backyard Chickens' board who lived about 1.5 hours away and had grown hens we could have. I picked up two Rhode Island Reds (1 year old) and a Brown Leghorn (6 months old) for myself, plus two birds for my friend P. Even with the stress of moving them, we've gotten two eggs every day so far. Can I just say that it is SO COOL to go out to the garage and come back with eggs? I can't wait for the others to start laying. One or two are very very close to being ready to lay, the others need to grow a little more still.

Abigail has her first Brownies meeting tomorrow night. She is very excited about the idea of Brownies. I hope the leader and the other girls are nice.

I have finished another pair of socks for Isabella. I've also almost finished the second sleeve on the cable weave sweater, but I've realized I do not have enough yarn for the neckline. I called the store I bought the yarn at (an hour away) and luckily they had some left. They are shipping it to me. I've also got one sleeve on my Rosemary's Sweater nearly complete. I've completely stalled on the Jig sweater. Maybe once I get some of the other projects actually finished, I'll be ready to pick that up again.

Swiped from Larissa

01. Bought everyone in the pub a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula.
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said 'I love you' and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Done a striptease
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long, and watch the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Touched an iceberg

20. Slept under the stars
21. Changed a baby's diaper
22. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
23. Watched a meteor shower
24. Gotten drunk on champagne
25. Given more than you can afford to charity
26. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
27. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
28. Had a food fight
29. Bet on a winning horse
30. Taken a sick day when you're not ill (and really, who the hell hasn't done this?)
31. Asked out a stranger
32. Had a snowball fight
33. Photocopied your bottom on the office photocopier
34. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
35. Held a lamb
36. Enacted a favorite fantasy
37. Taken a midnight skinny dip
38. Taken an ice cold bath
39. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar

40. Seen a total eclipse
41. Ridden a roller coaster
42. Hit a home run
43. Fit three weeks miraculously into three days
44. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
45. Adopted an accent for an entire day
46. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
47. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
48. Had two hard drives for your computer
49. Visited all 50 states
50. Loved your job for all accounts
51. Taken care of someone who was shit faced
52. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
53. Had amazing friends
54. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country (Does Montreal Count?)
55. Watched wild whales
56. Stolen a sign
57. Backpacked in Europe
58. Taken a road-trip
59. Rock climbing

60. Lied to foreign government's official in that country to avoid notice
61. Midnight walk on the beach
62. Sky diving
63. Visited Ireland
64. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
65. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger's table and had a meal with them
66. Visited Japan
67. Benchpressed your own weight
68. Milked a cow
69. Alphabetized your records
70. Pretended to be a superhero
71. Sung karaoke
72. Lounged around in bed all day
73. Posed nude in front of strangers
74. Scuba diving
75. Got it on to "Let's Get It On" by Marvin Gaye
76. Kissed in the rain
77. Played in the mud
78. Played in the rain
79. Gone to a drive-in theater

80. Done something you should regret, but don't regret it
81. Visited the Great Wall of China
82. Discovered that someone who's not supposed to have known about your blog has discovered your blog
83. Dropped Windows in favor of something better
84. Started a business
85. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
86. Toured ancient sites
87. Taken a martial arts class
88. Swordfought for the honor of a woman
89. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
90. Gotten married
91. Been in a movie
92. Crashed a party
93. Loved someone you shouldn't have
94. Kissed someone so passionately it made them dizzy
95. Gotten divorced
96. Had sex at the office
97. Gone without food for 5 days
98. Made cookies from scratch
99. Won first prize in a costume contest

100. Ridden a gondola in Venice
101. Gotten a tattoo
102. Found that the texture of some materials can turn you on (specifically, the underside of people's tongues. don't ask)
103. Rafted the Snake River
104. Been on television news programs as an "expert"
105. Got flowers for no reason
106. Masturbated in a public place
107. Got so drunk you don't remember anything
108. Been addicted to some form of illegal drug
109. Performed on stage
110. Been to Las Vegas
111. Recorded music
112. Eaten shark
113. Had a one-night stand
114. Gone to Thailand
115. Seen Siouxsie live
116. Bought a house
117. Been in a combat zone
118. Buried one/both of your parents
119. Shaved or waxed your pubic hair off

120. Been on a cruise ship
121. Spoken more than one language fluently
122. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
123. Bounced a check
124. Performed in Rocky Horror
125. Read - and understood - your credit report
126. Raised children
127. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
128. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
129. Created and named your own constellation of stars
130. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
131. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
132. Called or written your Congress person
133. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
134. ...more than once? - More than thrice?
135. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
136. Sang loudly in the car, and didn't stop when you knew someone was looking
137. Had an abortion or your female partner did
138. Had plastic surgery
139. Survived an accident that you shouldn't have survived.

140. Wrote articles for a large publication
141. Lost over 100 pounds
142. Held someone while they were having a flashback
143. Piloted an airplane
144. Petted a stingray
145. Broken someone's heart
146. Helped an animal give birth
147. Been fired or laid off from a job
148. Won money on a T.V. game show
149. Broken a bone
150. Killed a human being
151. Gone on an African photo safari
152. Ridden a motorcycle
153. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100mph
154. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
155. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
156. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
157. Ridden a horse
158. Had major surgery159. Had sex on a moving train

160. Had a snake as a pet
161. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
162. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
163. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
164. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
165. Visited all 7 continents
166. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
167. Eaten kangaroo meat
168. Fallen in love at an ancient Mayan burial ground
169. Been a sperm or egg donor
170. Eaten sushi
171. Had your picture in the newspaper
172. Had 2 (or more) healthy romantic relationships for over a year in your lifetime
173. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
174. Gotten someone fired for their actions
175. Gone back to school
176. Parasailed
177. Changed your name
178. Petted a cockroach
179. Eaten fried green tomatoes

180. Read The Iliad
181. Selected one "important" author who you missed in school, and read,
182. Dined in a restaurant and stolen silverware, plates, cups because your apartment needed them
183. ...and gotten 86'ed from the restaurant because you did it so many times, they figured out it was you
184. Taught yourself an art from scratch
185. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
186. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
187. Skipped all your school reunions (not on purpose) ON PURPOSE!
188. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
189. Been elected to public office
190. Written your own computer language
191. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
192. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
193. Built your own PC from parts
194. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
195. Had a booth at a street fair
196: Dyed your hair
197: Been a DJ
198: Found out someone was going to dump you via LiveJournal
199: Written your own role playing game
200: Been arrested

Summer has wound down and life is back into full swing here. Art class, 4-H, homeschool gym, science club and playgroup, plus we are thinking about a dance class for both girls and girl scouts for Abigail. The kids are loving it, and I'm not feeling overwhelmed yet. Everything but girl scouts is during weekdays (the 4-H club and dance class are organized by homeschoolers), so weekends and evenings are still free. That makes such a huge difference imo. Not having to rush around during the evenings or weekends, being able to keep the weekends and evenings open for family time, that makes life seem more relaxed and open to me.

Since we have decided not to sell our house, I wanted to change the chicken coop and run. We ripped out the raspberries, since they haven't produced much the last few years anyways, and put the run there. This way I also get my 5th garden bed back. Then, Luis built a coop in part of the garage, and there are ramps that go up to the window from both the coop and the run. They have so much more space now, and I don't have to worry so much about them in the cold winter. We can just close the window of the garage to keep them in on the cold days, and there is electricity to put a light on a timer or plug in a heater if needed. Luis did an amazing job building it all.

Speaking of Luis, a teenager called him "sir" the other. He isn't coping with it well. ROFL

On the knitting front, I have been jumping projects like mad. The cable weave sweater is nearly done, about 1/3 of a sleeve is left along with the collar. I've finished a pair of socks for Isabella, and another sock up to the toe decreases. I've made Lynn's poncho for her as well, except for the furry fringe along the edges. I need her to try it on again in good light; I think the hood might be too short, as much as I'd hate to rip that out. I've done a little work on the stripey sweater, the Jig sweater and my Rosemary's sweater too. I need to focus on finishing some of these up! I want to cast on a heavy poncho for me and water bottle holder too, but I'm making myself wait until something is finished!

A Hobo finds a home

Hobo the dog has found a new home with us. He's an Australian Shepherd/Heeler mix that we recused from the Humane Society a few days ago. He was a stray, but we believe he had a home before. He seems to be housebroken, but not really trained well for sit, stay, etc. He's quite intelligent and has been learning qickly. He's a great dog, pretty calm and good with the kids. He does have a slight tendency to jump on Luis and me, particularly first thing in the morning, but is quick to stop when we say down. Vincent and Isabella are still somewhat nervous around him at times, but they are starting to relax. They really like him, it just makes them nervous when Hobo tries to smell them.

Here's our Hobo:

There is nothing like a good piece of pie. The way a truly flaky crust feels on the tongue. The contrast between the mellow crust and the burst of flavor that is the fruit. (The only real pies in my book are double crusted fruit pies. Creams, merigues, custards - those are just gussied up puddings and whatnot.) The smell that floats up as it bakes, that sweet spicy combination of sugar, fruit and nutmeg. The feeling of pride one gets when sharing a good pie with others. I love pie.

Pie lives in the shadow of the showier cakes. Cakes get all the events. Birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, retirements. They all have cake. Pie, on the other hand, is family gatherings and potluck dinners. It's sitting on the front porch on a cool summer evening, visiting with the neighbors as the kids ride bikes.

Cake may have claimed all of the milestones, but I think pie got the better end of the deal. Pie gets to be part of the true essence of living.

I've got two pies cooling and another in the oven. Why don't you come on over for a slice and chat awhile?

I can tell that we are emotionally invested in the house again. We are almost done repainting the bathroom, we finally bought the window glazing we've been meaning to all year, Luis has replaced all the old switches and I've been going to town in the garden. I moved the sage out of my veggie garden and into one of the flower beds. It was getting way too big for the veggie garden, and it looks so pretty that it does well in the flowers. The plants were both very large, but I'm happy to say they are doing well after the transplant. I was worried.

I've been ruthlessly ripping stuff out of the flower beds. There are plants I no longer wanted, or had too many off. I'm trying to find a home for three rose bushes that were here when we bought the place, but I don't want. I'm also collecting the calendula seeds faithfully. I have been letting it reseed itself, but I want to move the patch next year, so I need to collect. I'm going to fertilize the west flower bed heavily with compost this fall and put the tomatoes there next spring, so I have to rip out or most of the flowers there. I'm also going to put in a lot more lavender over there.

I'm really into gardening again now that I know I'll have this land longer.

A friend got married last weekend, and it was just the push that I needed to finish up my Cape sweater. It's a little wider than I had hoped, but still fits pretty good.

I'm zipping down the sleeve on my Rosemary's sweater finally. I decided to heck with it and used my 24" circ until I got down to the point where I can use dpns. I still need those size 8 dpns to finish up the sleeves on the two sweaters for the kids. These are driving me nuts. I also am planning a new sweater for Vincent in the gypsy cotton I have left over from last summer. I think I might have enough of the yarn left from the stipey sweater to do a second sweater (in wide stipes this time) or at least a poncho for Isabella. I made Abigail a poncho last year, and Isabella really really really wants one too.

I think we are going to take the house off the market. It's been really annoying getting ready for all of these showings for the last year with no result, and what with refinancing a few months ago, we wouldn't have all that much by getting a cheaper house, unless we go under $90K and even in this area that will get a you a house that needs some to a lot of work. So, I think we are just going to struggle through Luis' winter layoffs somehow and stay here for a few more years. Now that that's pretty much decided, I want to move where the chicken coop is, modify the garden, and plant some fruit trees. I figure if I get dwarf ones, I could fit one on the garden, one in the side backyard flower bed and one by the driveway or in the front. Of course, I need to price them out still to see if that would even be feasible.

Apparently I've reached a new level of hippie-freakdom. Our microwave died about 5 weeks ago, and we haven't replaced it. *gasp of horror* I thought people looked at me like I was weird for not watching TV. That's nothing compared to the looks one gets for not having a microwave. *shrug* It hasn't been inconvenient, except for me having to remember to get the butter out to soften before baking cookies. It's actually quite easy to heat things up on the stove or oven, and I love not having the micro on the counter.

Abigail lost two teeth yesterday, in addition to the one last week. Both of her front upper teeth are gone now, and one on the bottom. Her smile is too funny. She is lounging one the sofa right now reading Amelia Bedelia. I love Amelia Bedelia books!

Isabella got her first library card today. She was so proud when we all checked out our books on her card.

I packed away Vincent's diapers today, except for 3 for nighttime use. He's been dry 12 of the last 14 nights, so I suspect those three will be boxed up soon too.

I love fresh summertime meals. Tonight's dinner is corn on the cob and bruschetta, made from garden fresh tomatoes and basil on homemade french bread. Dessert is blueberry pie made with fresh berries. Mmmmmmmm

I bought a case of the blueberries this week and indivually froze them, then bagged in 4 c portions. That's the perfect amount for a pie or a double batch of blueberry muffins. We've got 26 c in the freezer and another 6 c in the fridge right now waiting to be snacked on or turned into something baked. I'm on a baking spree these days. I got a baking stone free from my pampered chef party and I'm LOVING it. I must get more. These things are incredible!

We took the boat out today on an aborted journey. The water pump went out about 3 minutes upstream. So, we got out the paddles and played, making the trip back last about an hour. :) It's just a little boat, nothing heavy, so it was fine to paddle around. Luis would throw a cushion life preserver in, and then the kids and I would paddle to it and one girl would try to hook it with a grabbing pole we keep in the boat. Repeat about 15 times. It was great fun and we never even missed the motor.

We had a pretty nice weekend. The country fair sponsored by Organic Valley was very interesting. We took a tour of one of their dairy farms. It was a lot like the farm I grew up on, rather than the more industrial type that we've always seen at the breakfast on the farm. It was really nice to be able to show Luis and the girls the "real" small family farm that I remember. We didn't actually get to attend any of the workshops or presentation because of helping out Lisa and John. John decided to go with Lisa to her presentation, so I covered their booth for them and Luis had the kids. However, I had some really neat conversations wih some people walking by and some of the vendors in the market, and I finally got the name of the contact person for the Viroqua Waldorf School holiday fair. I plan on participating in that this year if the booth rate is reasonable. Luis and the kids took the tour of Organic Valley's new headquarters. It's amazing how enviromentally responsible the building is - almost everything is recycled, energy efficient, etc. The more I learn about Organic Valley, the more I like them.

Vincent is well on his way to using the potty totally. He's been out of diapers for a week now, and he's doing great. He's still having some accidents, while wearing clothes particularly, but only one or two accidents a day. Saturday at the fair I was concerned because he'd be spending the entire day in clothes, but he didn't even have a single accident.

Vincent was diaper free yesterday. He used his little potty all day (with reminders from me, but twice he told me he had to go)and had only one accident in the afternoon. Hurray! It would be so nice to be done with diapers already.

I'm having a Pampered Chef party tonight. My friend and neighbor, Darla, is starting as a consultant. I hope it is a good one for her. I really want to help her make a go of this. She needs to quit doing daycare, and has high hopes for her PC business.

The stripey sweater is zipping along. It's a top down raglan, and I only need a few more inches of body. I ended up doing a lot of knitting yesterday.

It's been a while since I've done a long stream of conciousness ramble...

We went to dinner at the ILs last night.  It was a pretty good visit.  After dinner , instead of twiddling our thumbs we went for a walk to a nearby playground.  The kids had so much fun and the walk was really nice.  It gets so boring sitting in the ILs living room with nothing much to talk about and just watching the kids play for a couple of hours, so it was great to be outside and moving instead.

Our chickens are getting really close to laying.  Their combs have gotten larger, and the combs and wattles are getting quite red.  I can't wait for the first eggs!  I'm very glad we got the chickens.  Even without the eggs, they are a fun and low maintenence pet. 

Speaking of pets, we are babysitting our neighbor girl's fish this weekend.  LOL  The kids are thrilled, and love feeding it (three flakes for each girl and one for Vincent to give three times a day).  It's quite the pain to count out individual flakes, but we have to make it fair doncha know.  :D

We are going to our friends' cabin next weekend, and all going to the Kickapoo Country Fair sponsored by Organic Valley.  Lisa is doing one of the Sustainability Presentations, and John has to man a booth for their book, so we'll help out with Liam, their son.  It looks like it should be a fun day.

The Cable Weave sweater body is finished.  I love it!  I want one in my size!  I still need to do the sleeves, but that's on hold until I get some size 8 dpns.  I could work them in a magic loop way (even thought my circ isn't a super long one), but I'm really not fond of that.  Maybe I'm not getting the concept correctly or something, because I've not met anyone else who didn't like the magic loop.  I started on Isabella's stripey sweater yesterday.  It's a top down, in the round raglan, done in stripes of purple, yellow, pink and blue.  I'm randoming the stripe size, and debating if I'll random the order too. 

I so need to finish sewing up my Jagaer Cape sweater.  Two little seams and the neckline, and then it'll be done.  I'm not one who loves finishing, which is why this has languished.  I guess that's why I love designs that are worked in the round or the ones like Green Mountain Spinnery has that are done bottom up in the round, and then the shoulders are bound off together.  No seaming sounds great to me!

I've found a pick your own blueberries place about an hour away.  I want to go, but I want to know how much they charge and when they are open.  I've called three times in the last 2 weeks, and they haven't returned any one of my calls yet.  Argh.  I might just buy a case from Brennans (a local fruit/veggie, cheese and wine store) if they don't call soon.

Our local farmer's market moved up to the square.  It's closer now, and we are always up on the square, so I'm actually getting up there.  It's good stuff, very cheap, and everyone I've bought from so far doesn't use chemicals ("those are too expensive" they say when I ask).  Can't go wrong with that! 

Goodness, but I am up waaaay too late tonight.  Luis was home by noon today due to all of the rain we had here, so he decided today was the day to reformat the computer.  He's been wanting to do this forever, and he finally did.  Oh my gosh, how scary is reformatting???

He put in a new operating system (windows XP) with profiles for each of us and the kids.  Now he won't worry about the girls messing something up when they play nickjr.com.  He also got me a new version of Outlook. I can actually use my address book again, woohoo!  Somehow he messed up our old Outlook last fall, and I was never able to get into the address book again.   HOWEVER, he didn't back up our bookmarks correctly, so I have lost alllllllll of my bookmarks.  ARGH.  All the knitting patterns I had saved, all the birth and breastfeeding site, all the homeschooling resources, everything is gone.  Talk about frustrating.  I must say, though, that if he had to lose something in the process, the bookmarks were not a horrible thing to sacrifice.  Much better to lose those than my pbk stuff or emails I needed. 

On the knitting front, the Galaway Sweater is zipping along.  I'm having so much fun knitting this one that I just can't seem to put it down.  The front is completed up to the neckline, and the one side is finished.  I just need to finish the other shoulder now, and then do the sleeves and neckline.  I'm going to have to commit on a neck pretty soon.  Welts or ribbing - which will it be?

I've taken the plunge and am creating my own sweater out of the Galaway yarn.  I'm doing a pullover, working in the round from the bottom up.  The bottom has a slight rolled hem (I love those on kids sweaters) with an inch of ribbing, then is straight stockinette.  At the armhole divide, I did a garter stitch ridge, added some stitches and began the texture.  It's a cable weave pattern that is absolutely gorgeous.  I took it off a sweater in the Green Mountain Spinnery book that I love.  It will have a simple crewneck, but I'm still debating if it'll be welt like in that sweater, or if I'll do a plain ribbing to coordinate with the hem. 
 
I cast on too many stitches when I started, so Vincent will get this sweater, but not until Abigail and Isabella have had their turns.  :)  It will be the perfect size for Abigail for winter this year.  I have the bottom completely done, and I only need about 1" more of the cable pattern in the upper back.  I can't believe how good it looks.  This yarn really shows the texture nicely, and the dark red it lovely.  It will look so good on all three kids, and it's a classic, unisex style so I know they will all be able to wear it. 

We took the girls to the dentist for the first time. I was positive Isabella had a cavity or two. Two of her top teeth chipped when the teeth under them came in back when she was about 1. We've been keeping an eye on them, and they were darker in the back than the rest. A couple of weeks ago, she mentioned it hurt to eat meat, so we took her in to get them checked and to get Abigail her first checkup too. Given Isabella's nervous personality, we weren't sure how this would go.

It was great! The hygenist was fabulous with them both, and both enjoyed it. While her teeth are badly chipped and worn, there are no cavities. Talk about a relief. Both she and Abigail got their pictures taken for the "No Cavity Club". :D They think they are pretty cool stuff now.

Our library is doing a really great summer reading program, with both a program for keeping track of how much you read and weekly events. Abigail is really into it. She has been going to the events and having a blast. This week is Gold Rush week, so they'll be panning for gold and learning about rocks.

Time for a little knitting update today...

My Cape sweater is nearly done. All of the pieces are knit, one sleeve is attached and one side is completely sewn. I just have to attach the remaining sleeve, sew up the side and do the collar. It looks really nice; I love the olive-sage color.

I've started a new project, also one from Jaeger. This one is using Jaeger Aqua, a really nice mercinized cotton, in a mahogany brown color. It's called Jig, and it's a rib (6x2x2x2) rather mock turtleneck. I think it's going to take a while to do, what with the ribbing and being 6 sts to the inch. It's something I'll wear for years though.

The latest pair of socks in the Fortissima Colori Mexico Demin are complete. I'm nearly out of sock yarn! Ack!

I bought some Galaway wool this weekend to do a sweater for Vincent. It's a dark red color, and I think it would make a really nice crewneck sweater with cables. The only problem is that I can't find a pattern for what I'm thinking of. I'm thinking of adapting one, taking a pattern I have for a simple crewneck and putting cables on the upper chest like an adult sweater I like from the Green Mountain Spinnery book. Do I feel brave enough for such an undertaking????? If not, I'll probably do a modifcation of ribbed sweater from Debbie Bliss' Cotton Knits for All Seasons or a cabled jacket from the same book. This yarn is screaming for texture.

My Rosemary's Middle Sweater (Green Mountain Spinnery pattern) is coming a little farther along. The body is completely finished, so now I need to either buy the Denise set of needles or a 16" size 9 circular to finish the arms.

I did up a cute little stripey hat for the baby of one of my sister's friends. It's in Jaeger Aqua, a slate blue and sage green striped pattern, and has a little I cord topknot at the top. It's just darling.

I need to start planning some new sweaters for the girls for this winter too. I have this purple marl sweater I did last year for Isabella that she has outgrown. The color is just a little too girlish for me to keep it for Vincent, and I have more of the yarn, so I do think I'll frog the thing and reknit a larger one for this year, sizing it with some growing room this time! I'm rethinking a sweater for Abigail too. I have some of this Reynold's Gypsy to use up. I knit her a sweater with it last year, but I still have tons, and the sweater from last year shrunk up funny. It's also rather heavy. I need to come up with a lighter sweater with this yarn. It's supposed to be worsted weight, but I might work with it at 18 or 16 sts/4" instead to get a lighter, more airy sweater.

We had the best weekend. First some background. Our friends, Lisa and John of the cabin, got married 8 years ago. At their wedding, people were having a great time and asking when they were going to get together again. Lisa and John said "Come out to the farm for July 4th weekend." The Reunion, as they call it, was born. For 8 years, an eclectic group of people, many of whom had never met before this, have been gathering at Lisa and John's farm for a few days around July 4th. They have had as many as 65 people there, sleeping anywhere they could or camping around the farm. The mix of people varies each year, with new people coming or old people missing.

We have gone out for various activities prior years, potluck or tie dying. This year we went out on Friday with the camper and stayed through Monday afternoon. It was an amazing weekend. We'd met some of the people before, but got to know them a little better this weekend, and met many new people as well. There were probably about 35 people there, all walks of life. There were kids from baby through 12 years old, and a community of people to keep an eye on them and play. John had gotten a wagon of straw bales for the express purpose of building forts for the kids (later to go into the garden). Water balloons were flying and squirt guns were shooting. The big project was putting a composting toilet into their barn. Saturday was rainy all afternoon and evening, so the normal drive in movie was out, but we all gathered in the greenhouse and cantina for good conversation. Sunday was the potluck, tie dying, knitting circle and martini bar. :) Some musicians came out play outdoors during the potluck. It was such a great atmosphere. I haven't had that much adult conversation time in years!

We can't wait to go back next year. :)

It's our 9th wedding anniversary today. 9 years. It seems like just yesterday; it's not possible that it's been that long! 14 years and 2 weeks since our first day. Wow. I guess I'm not 22 anymore, eh?

I'm having a fireworks sale at Peanut Butter Kisses. 20% off all outdoor play toys, Woodkins and dollhouses, plus all organic cotton bedding, pillows and mattresses. Stop on by if you need anything, or pass the word to a friend! :)

Well that was a mistake. I browsed around yaaps. I had left there last fall after the Halloween candy and trick or treating thread was my final straw, but would still visit occasionally to read and keep up with certain people's lives. Somebody stop me! I just wasted far too much time reading the current thread there about the cost of eating healthy and about unschooling. I find the grad school condescendion of certain posters to be irritating and frustrating beyond belief, and the complete thickheadedness of others to make me want to bash my head into a wall. The unschooling thing gets rehashed about what, once a year? It's always the same thing, Robin (along with a few others) saying what she believes and most everyone else acting like she's passing some sort of judgement upon their life choices and invalidating their children's learning experiences. Puhleeze, how about just archiving the thread and bumping it up for everyone to read once a year? As for the healthy food thread, people make the choices they think are right. Everyone has different beliefs they hold to different degrees. Someone who thinks that non organic foods or those grown in evironmentally irresponsible ways are lesser foods are entitled to their opinions.

For me, things like this illustrate the limitations of internet societies. They are why I've been withdrawing from the online world and taking a more acive role in the real world. People have things they feel passionate about; everyone has their BIG issues. If I feel passionate about healthy eating, it doesn't mean I am passing judgement on those who do not. If I feel passionate about homebirth, I'm not passing judgement on those who have chosen to birth in a hospital. Conversely, I have a responsibility to realize that people who are passionate about things I'm not are not judging me or invalidating my experiences. They have simply made different choices, and I have a responsibility not to get defensive and read into their words. If people are able to discuss these issues calmly, without defensive "But my kids do that too" or similar comments, they can really learn the other point of view and come to a true understanding. I think this is something that plays out better in the real world. We have friends who are passionate about conserving the earth's resources. Sure, we reuse and recycle, but nowhere to the extent of these friends. Yet we can all go to a fair and not feel judged for using the disposable plates provided when our friends pull out their picnicware.

Is this making any sense? I've lost my point in this ramble.

Geez, not only have I wasted my time reading these long conversations, now I've just wasted it by writing about and wasted your time reading this. Time to turn off the computer and go weed the garden. We are having an impromptu picnic this afternoon with the HS'ing group that I've been working to organize. Should be a fun time!

We had a well planned weekend go completely awry, but it was still very nice. This past weekend, we were supposed to go to Dubuque to the Mississippi River Museum with my father on Saturday, then spend Sunday at the beach with friends. The funeral for my aunt's boyfriend was Saturday morning, so we attended that. While it was heartbreaking to see my aunt struggling and sad to say goodbye to Ron, it was still nice to see family we don't get to see often, nice to give my aunt a huge hug and watch the girls hug her while they made plans for the next tea party, and nice to talk with a cousin I have see far too little of over the years. Life is a circle, and in our community each funeral is followed by a luncheon to visit and remember.

After the funeral, we stopped by Madison, since we were so close. We had two merchandise credit cards to use up a couple of stores. Kohls was having 50% off most of their summer stuff, so I actually *gasp* bought some clothing for myself. We then stopped by the IL's house, so they wouldn't come down on Sunday. MIL had talked with Luis earlier in the week and told him that they were coming down on Sunday. After Luis told her we had plans, she got all huffy and told him we *had* to be there.

We got home to find out that our friends had a sick child, so would not be coming to the lake with us on Sunday. We took the boat and went out for a while; the girls had lots of fun and Vincent didn't scream. :) We went to the beach for a while afterwards.

It was an unplanned weekend, with some very sad points, but it was all together good and a pleasant time together as a family.

I'm back again

Last night we had an impromptu picnic potluck with some friends. Luis was going over there to do some handyman work, so the kids and I tagged along with a casserole. Add in some pasta and salad from our friends, along with fresh picked strawberries and raspberries from their extensive garden, eat under the sky, and it was a good evening. I watched the kids while Luis worked, and John and Lisa got some stuff done without their son underfoot. Our kids are sleeping late today because it was a late night.

It's so hard to enforce the normal 8 pm bedtime with the late evening sunshine. I guess the days will be shortening now, as Summer Solstice was a few days ago, but the lightening bugs won't be out until 9ish, and how mean of a mama would I be if I don't let the kids chase the lightening bugs sometimes? :D If only Isabella wasn't such a grump when she stays up late.

Speaking of Isabella, she is getting better about not lashing out hitting when she's upset. She is finally using words most of the time. I was watching her this weekend while we were camping. She definately is like me in a new social situation, unfortunately. I'm very shy and hang back on the edges, watching others. Joining into a new situation with new people is almost impossible for me. I want to, I just can't do it for some reason. People sometimes think I'm a snob or stuck up because of it. Isabella is doing the same things. I wish I knew how to help her overcome it. I feel for her so much.

My aunt's longtime boyfriend died last night. He was mowing lawn and had a heart attack. He was only 56, a year younger than my dad. My aunt must be hurting so much. They were together 15+ years. He was so young. Go in peace, Ron.

Taking another break

I'm getting a very negative feeling online lately, so I'm going to be sticking to email only for a while.

Quiet Time

It's 11 am, 3/4 of my to do list is done and the kids are playing happily. I'm taking a quiet moment.

We spent the weekend at our friends' cabin with them. It's such a peaceful spot. You literally can't see anything civilzed from the property; it's surrounded by farm and woodland. Abigail and Isabella got to try their first real fishing in the pond. They both caught a number of panfish, and Abigail even caught a small mouth bass. Isabella does an amazing job of setting a hook, especially considering she's only 4. I think she does better than me! We all took long walk down a nearby Amish organic farmer to buy some tomatoes (they grow them in a greenhouse) for dinner. Abigail was so funny on the walk, tracking horse prints in the gravel road. The kids also had fun splashing around in the outdoor shower.

It was a restful, quiet weekend, just what I needed after last week. We are hoping to go back in later summer or fall with them, if they have weekend without a rental that works for all of us.

Speaking of our friends, I finished reading their newest book. It was a great read, for those of us who long for a life closer to the earth and outside of the fast lane. It's got two thumbs up from me.

Update

Long time, no post, eh? I just haven't felt like being on the computer much. I've been withdrawing from the cyberworld over the course of the last year, and I'm spending less and less time online these days. The wonderful spring and summer days are also contributing, of course! I've been trying to plant the garden amid the raindrops. I have all of the tomatoes and peppers, along wiht lots of flowers, ready to plant, but the garden needs to dry out enough to make digging in it feasible.

Our chickens arrived about a month ago, and they are so fun to watch. They were about 8-10 weeks old then, so they are about 6-8 weeks away from laying now. We had two sick chicks with all the rain and dampness, but they are doing better now. Thank goodness! Abigail was so upset at the thought of her Annie being so sick.

I'm starting a new homeschooling group locally. There is only as extremely Christian group here. We obviously don't fit in, and we've discovered others locally who are Christian but don't fit in. So, we are starting our own. I hosted an informational gathering last week, and there were four of us there. Not much, but a start. We are gathering next week for a potluck and are planning some potlucks and park days for the summer. Just something to get the word out to others and see if there aren't more people who would be interested in our version of a homeschooling group.

No news yet on the house front. :( My sister moved out over the Memorial Day weekend. Her boyfriend graduated, and he has gotten a job at the same hospital she works at. They moved in together. I really hope for her sake it works out. Living together, working together. Long story as to the details, but Luis and I (as well as my brother and a few other people) have some concerns for the relationship. I really hope her boyfriend has matured and grown up over the last few years, for her sake.

Luis is on a kick to buy a new (used) car. He is currently driving to work a '91 minivan with 214K miles on it. He says the engine will make it to 300K miles, but he's not sure about the body. He also wants to get something with better gas mileage. He's eyeing a 2000-2002 diesel VW Jetta, about 50 miles/gallon. If he can find one around here, the payment would only be about $150 added to our budget, what with the savings on fuel. However, on a tight budget the thought of adding a payment is FREAKING me out. Short of taking on second day care child (NO INFANTS, even just our friends baby has added so much more stress to my day), I don't see how we could do it right now. Since selling the diaper business, PBK is much more seasonal and I need to build it up more to take on the responsiblity of adding that as well. If only the house would sell and we could get something about $50K less. Then we could definately handle a car payment.

On the knitting front, I've been on a sock kick. Monday we drove to Madison, drove around the city for a bit doing errands and drove back. I cast on a sock for Isabella as we left Monroe and was working the toe decreases as we pulled into the driveway. I told Luis it was clear evidence that we'd been doing too much driving that day. :) I've made her two pair of socks for next fall so far. I love the crazy stripe Regia yarn for her. This last pair was a great green colorway that I want for myself! :)

Ya know, I don't like Mother's Day much. I have very low expectations for *my* Mother's Day. Even with that, today sucked. The part of today that was actually *mine* consisted of doing my Pilates tape, taking a shower and exchanging Isabella's swimsuit at Old Navy. Big freaking whoop.

Okay, to be fair, we did go out for Chinese on Friday too, as part of my Mother's Day.

I'm glad MIL had a good day. I really am. But it was supposed to be my freaking day too, wasn't it?

Mother's Day of Peace

I'm not big on Mother's Day. It's a day that has too many obligations, seems contrived and fake. I like the idea of Mother's Day, but the way it's celebrated - buy the card, flowers and a present, and of course one must go visit one's mother if one lives within a reasonable distance - bothers me. It ought to be enough to honor one's Mother any day, any way.

A woman I know who feels similarly sent me the following email, and I really enjoyed it:

...a few years ago I learned about the origin of Mother's Day and found that it was indeed a concept I could fully endorse. It had nothing to do with gifts, cards, timely phone calls, or breakfast in bed. Julia Ward Howe, of "Battle Hymn of the Republic" fame, owns another great accomplishment. After closely experiencing some of the worst effects of the Civil War, working with families and orphans on both sides of the conflict, and feeling appalled at the death and destruction, she determined that promoting peace and peaceful resolutions was one of the two most important issues in the world (the other being equality).

She called for women to come together across national lines, to recognize what we hold in common above what divides us, commit to finding peaceful resolutions to conflicts, and to oppose war in all forms. She issued a declaration, hoping to gather women together in a congress of action.

She failed in her attempt to get formal recognition for her Mother's Day of Peace, but another woman, Anna Jarvis, picked up the cause. Upon the death of her activist mother, Anna Jarvis vowed to continue the work her mother had begun, which was similar in objective to Julia Ward Howe's work. She worked to found a memorial day for women, and the first such Mother's Day was celebrated in West Virginia in 1907. It spread eventually to 45 states, and in 1914 President Woodrow Wilson officially declared the first national Mother’s Day.

Recalling Julia Ward Howe's declaration now, in light of current events worldwide and particularly here at home, gives me a personal and solid reason to embrace Mother's Day. I do not wish for gifts and cards; I am fortunate to know that my children love me and do not need a special day set aside to coerce them into telling me so. What I can celebrate is a day where women decide to put their differences aside and come together for a greater common good, the promotion of peace and peaceful resolution.

It is okay to celebrate as you always have, to celebrate mothers everywhere in your own personal ways. But this Mother's Day, I encourage all mothers - all women! - everywhere to also take a moment to send their energy, thoughts, meditations and prayers out to the world, so that we may remember that what we have in common is far greater than our differences, and so that the world may know peace.

Julia Ward Howe's Declaration reads:

Arise then... women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy, and patience.
We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country,
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says: "Disarm! Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

Blood does not wipe out dishonor, Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar, but of God --

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general counsel of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Here's to a Mother's Day of Peace.

Birthdays

I used to really enjoy birthdays. I loved the little quirky "happy birthday" things people did for one another, enjoyed making a little card or finding a neat way to wish someone another enjoyable year. Then I got married. DH's family is very structured and traditional. His brother in particular cannot handle any break from their family traditions. Since they are immigrants, they have never had extended family to work around and established specific traditions for holidays and birthdays. Birthdays must be celebrated on the actual birthday. Everyone gathers and goes out for dinner, then returns to M/FIL's house for cake and presents. If the birthday falls on a weekend, gathering in the afternoon and going out for a long drive together is before dinner is preferred. A present must be bought, not handmade, but no one in DH's family will give us any ideas of what they want. Ever tried to buy a present for a single 43 yr old man who buys anything he needs when he needs it, or a 65 yr old woman who has more stuff than she'll ever use????

Now this celebration was okay when we lived 10 minutes away and before we had kids. When we moved here, almost an hour away, we asked that the birthday be celebrated on the weekend, because it was a hard for Luis to go out to dinner in Madison during the week because of how late we'd get home. He'd be so tired, and we'd have to drive two vehicles home. We also asked that dinner be earlier, not leaving the house at 6:30 to go to the restaurant, but actually eating by 6:30. The kids got/get hungry and grumpy. Plus eating that late meant we didn't even get back to M/FIL's for the requisite cake and presents until the kids' bedtime. Fun. MIL and FIL agreed to our request because, well, we didn't actually give them a choice. BIL on the other hand would rather celebrate his birthday without us if it falls in the week rather than deviate from "tradition". Okeydokey.

I dwell on this really badly at this time of year. It just becomes too much because BIL's bday is just before Mother's Day and FIL's bday is just before Father's Day. Rather than combination celebrations, we are expected to make seperate trips into Madison for each. {MIL and FIL would FREAK if we weren't there on their Mother's/Father's Day} So today we have to drive into Madison to celebrate BILs bday, the kids will probably be up too late because the ILs do their damndest to keep us there as long as possible, they'll be overtired and grumpy meaning a long night for me. Then tomorrow we'll have to drive in again to celebrate Mother's Day seperately. Fun. Yep, Happy Mother's Day to me.

I tell ya, the obligations DH's family puts onto us for these days has really soured me on them. Call me Scrooge, but they aren't fun for me (or DH) any longer.

The chicken coop is done. Luis did manage to find everything that we needed (except screws) by driving around on Trash Days. Today he even found a full 4x8' sheet of plywood, uncut, for the roof. I couldn't believe it. Everything is painted and the roof is shingled. Luis just has to finish up the chicken wire around the run, and then we are ready. The pullets (currently named Buffy, Ginger and Annie, but that could change) are due to arrive on Tuesday. The kids are so excited, and so am I. :)

Have I mentioned that Isabella started dance through Park & Rec? She had her second class this weekend and loves it. She looks miserable the entire time, but she is actually enjoying it tremendously.

I'm glad May is here. April is a *dead* month for PBK, always has been. I'm looking forward to doing more work again. The lack of orders leads to an April Doldrums for me, and I become really lethargic about PBK stuff. I need to get to work on the the new catalog pages, add a couple of new items, return emails more promptly.