rhythms

The tempo of my days has changed and I seem to have more time than I did when we didn't have much to do.  Getting up at 5:30 has its perks indeed ~~ I've been so productive before it's even 9 a.m.!  Ella was questioning this yesterday when we wondered why no one got any Personal Progress or Duty to God goals done this summer:  there wasn't anything pressing and thus nothing was actually accomplished.  Now when everyone has so much to do with schoolwork and what have you, the rest of our lives are clicking into place as well.  I was anxious about school starting again, but having a more concrete schedule is definitely an improvement from what my natural tendencies seem to be.


I know I've mentioned this before, but I  really like using cloth diapers which is something I didn't expect.  I was one day horrified by the idea of how big a mountain of disposable diapers just my family had created and so I switched when my fourth was a baby.  There were also the advantages of not using bleached paper, not buying a huge package of diapers every two weeks, not running out in a pinch, and many more that aren't coming to mind right at the moment, but there were also some unforeseen bonuses: such as right away I became aware of her natural rhythms in a way that had been impossible before and I felt more in tune and closer to her.  I have discussed this phenomenon with other cloth diapering moms and they have felt it, too.  

The sun is moving south.  I wouldn't have even been aware of it if I weren't hanging out my clothes to dry, but the spot where I liked to hang my whites to get really sparkly has diminished to a small piece of line for a tiny window of time because of where my biggest trees are and I have to move my diaper drying rack onto the driveway to get any nifty sun bleaching action at all.  I know this happens every year, but I couldn't tell you exactly what happens with the sun and the moon.  I must not have been paying attention.  Does everyone know all of these things already and I'm just out of touch?  I have always been intrigued by the amount of knowledge that our ancestors had about the movement of the sun, weather predictors, plant knowledge, etc.  Where did they get all of their information without so much as an encyclopedia or google in sight?  It was from experience and necessity and we have lost so much by moving indoors, our reliance on technology, and only buying whatever "they" are selling to us.  The light moved slowly at first, but now as the equinox approaches there are huge differences every afternoon.  I am in awe ~~ of the sun, the earth, and of how much that I don't know or understand.

Like why are bubbles so totally awesome and circular?  We're going to go blow some in the kitchen before I mop and Phin will dance around in delight popping as many as he can.  What amazes you?

Assessment

What have I been doing?  I have been assessing, and obsessing about assessing.  First of all, our lawn has grubs and in other places it isn't growing.  It also is growing moss, and why wouldn't it since we apparently live in a swamp?  The rain!  It just keeps coming, and the weeds keep growing, and I have to bring all of the clothes off the line at a moments notice, and the lightning!  The thunder shakes you deep inside followed by the fire engine sirens signaling another run to put out the sparks.  And the humidity!  I cannot ever remember it being quite this bad.  Maybe this no A/C thing isn't such a good idea... no we're fine, it is quite cooling to use the body's mechanism, also known as sweating, and then let the ceiling fans do their magic.  Where was I?  The heat is making me loopy.  Oh, long story short I paid someone to assess my lawn and tell me what I can organically do to get it healthy and thriving again.  They'll get back to me in three weeks.


Secondly, I sent in my picture for a body profiling assessment at Dress Your Truth.  That only took a few days, but in the meantime I was devouring books and information online, searching madly for clues to explain me to me so that I can find my true calling and get on with it already.  After all of that wading I didn't feel like waiting any longer so I tried to cancel that assessment, but they had already finished it.  Ooh, exciting!  What would they say?  I had pretty much decided who I am, so I was prepared to be unimpressed as they told me something different.  The sceptic in me was quite sure that that part would all be hooey, but it was exactly what I had already figured out!  Wow.  So it is all very interesting and I am pretty much obsessed with it at the moment so if anyone wants to talk about it with me I could gladly blather on about it for hours.


The two oldest are at camp for the week so it is quieter and I can't just run out the door without baby any old time I want.  What the...?  (As Miss Ibby would say, so cute every time).  I miss them (and not just for what they can do for me).  And they are having to sleep outside with all these crazy storms roiling around -- yikes!

and the livin' is easy

Summertime, summertime, summer, summer, summertime.  Not much time to blog, blog, blog, but having a delightful time.  Ella went to Youth Conference late last week and it was so different being with only our three youngest.  Such a change in the dynamics and we actually had some time alone in the evening.  On Saturday we fetched big boy from the airport and had a full report on the BYU basketball camp -- definitely a great program and a hit with our guy.  He talked the whole way home with a full report on everything from hiking with his lovely cousin up Rock Canyon on a drizzly afternoon, to the amazing-ness of cookie dough milk (?) from the creamery, to the fact that his team won the whole tournament.  It has been incredibly rainy and humid in these parts (muggy, muggy, good for the skin; muggy, muggy, GREAT for the skin -- my new mantra) and the weeds are commanding quite a bit of my attention.  The garden is coming along and some fresh picked chard accompanied my poached eggs for breakfast this morning.


Also, Charles started an online math class (because he is utterly and completely mortified to be in Algebra 1 as a freshman, which is totally my fault since I homeschooled him in 6th grade, not realizing that that was THE definitive year in which the die of the rest of his life would be cast, but now do realize after receiving his schedule a few weeks ago for his entire high school career (?), which he handed over very reluctantly along with some comment about how he hadn't shown it to us earlier because he didn't want to hear about how he'd be living in our basement as an adult, and how the schedule was cast in stone and there was nothing we could do about his loser future, but after making some calls found that he can indeed catch up in math, which is his best subject, and therefore also be in the honors science class and more than likely someday get into college and having a run-on sentence like this is completely acceptable since I framed it in parentheses...) so he will be on the computer for about six (!) hours a day and I won't be seeing much of my beloved and ridiculously large computer screen.  Do you think I should go get myself a laptop?


Along with not writing, has been a lot of not reading blogs which makes me sad.  I always find so many interesting things to read!  I was recently reading how my newfound blogging friend Jen made her own deodorant -- that is something I need to try -- to go along with my baking soda hair.  I haven't used antiperspirant for years, since I first read about the harmful effects, and have had various levels of luck with different brands of more natural deodorant.  As my children have gotten older and deodorant is required in their P.E. class, I especially didn't want them rubbing aluminum directly into their lymph nodes.  My 14 year old son does not approve, in any way, of my no aluminum rule and overcompensates by using an inordinate amount of body spray -- one can even smell it outside as it wafts out of the fan vent into the yard.  What is in that stuff?  It can't be good.  I wonder how frankincense would go over with him as a natural alternative?

blowing in the wind

I finally took down my Easter decorations today which I realize is a little on the late side.  There are a few reasons for this, the first being that they may be my favorite of all the holiday decorations.  I love Easter colors,  the delicacy of painted eggs, and the whole idea behind the celebration of resurrection and renewal, which is always welcome after the dead of winter.  The second reason is probably because there is nothing waiting anxiously in the wings to take over next.  Mother's Day, Memorial Day?  I imagine some people may have the perfect decor for those events, but I do not.   We have been bringing in some late spring flowers and enjoying the scent of the mulberry blossoms.  This morning a bird hit our window and died.  It was tiny, perfect, and sweet -- so sad!  My windows aren't even very clean!

A major spring event was that I finally put up a clothesline a few weeks ago.  I have wanted to for years, but couldn't really think of a good place to put it.  About five years ago I bought a kit for one that needed to be cemented in the ground, but I couldn't quite come to terms with the permanence of it.  I prefer things to be more transitory to keep up with my many whims.  We didn't have a dryer in Japan, and although I just might possibly have grumbled about it from time to time (me?), I did love the crisp, clean scent of windblown sheets, our clothes not shrinking, etc.  In France we had a washer/dryer combo, which I wouldn't recommend, but the washer part did much better than the dryer part so I would take the clothes up to the attic, open all the windows, and let them dry to their heart's content.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that.  It is funny how I missed so many things because they seemed mundane, yet from a distance take on a measure of charm.  At any rate, drying my clothes on the line was once again in the forefront of my thoughts so as soon as we returned home I set my sights anew on finding the perfect thing.  As I looked online I came across an article that said dryers account for 10% of residential energy use!  I have often thought how silly that is when there is ample sun and wind right there, free for the taking!  (I also want to put solar panels on my roof, but that is another rant entirely).  Well, after sorting through the newfangled and fancy I at last decided upon...  the revolutionary idea of a rope strung from tree to tree across the width of the backyard.  It was the best way to take advantage of the disinfecting effects of the sun and also we have at least 60 feet of drying space there.  I suppose I had never taken this simple step in the past because there is quite a lot of traffic through the back alley and I hadn't wanted to air our "dirty laundry," as it were, so flagrantly for the neighbors.  That must show how mature I have become that I am no longer even concerned that everyone see our underwear as long as it is getting sparkling white out there!  Whatever anxieties I may have had were quickly extinguished by a kind remark from a woman down the street who told me the other day that she loved seeing our clothes hanging out because it looked so fresh and summery.  At first, the rope began to sag, but then I found a plant holder at a garage sale last Friday which works perfectly well as a midpoint support.  I would never have thought of that independently, but knew it was just the thing when I saw it.  They gave it to me for free which is even better!  My biggest problem at this point is my prayers.  Please, please, please don't rain on my clothes.  Please, please, please rain on my garden.  They're a mere three feet apart.  {awkward!}

My absolute favorite thing to hang out (I was previously unaware that I could have a favorite of that) are the diapers -- they seem extra clean after being whipped around for a few hours in the sun.  I am still loving our cozy cloth.  Sadly, it may just be for such a shallow reason as the smug and self-satisfied boost I get every time I see someone at the store lugging out yet another gigantic box of disposables.  Snicker, snicker, how unfortunate for them.

no more poo

No baby is not potty-trained -- no SHAM-poo. I have decided to try something different because I have long been bothered by the chemicals used in shampoo, but also, with so many people in the house, cannot really afford to buy the crazy expensive organic varieties. What to do? Then a friend mentioned that she was using baking soda and I thought that sounded splendid. You mix 1 T. baking soda with 1 c. of water then pour a little, rub, rub, rub, pour more, rub, rub, rub, rub some more, then rinse and voila! Your hair is super clean! To offset the baking soda, you then do a vinegar rinse which I very unscientifically mixed in a spray bottle. My hair feels so soft, clean, and not dry at all. I have seen that you can add oils to your hair to make it smell good, add moisture, etc. It is sad that I don't have amazing hair to begin with because I am sure that if I tell people to just look at me to be convinced of this practical method they would think, "Hmmm. I guess I could try that if I wanted straight, flat, thin, insubstantial locks with no volume." Someone completely unbiased in any way told me that my hair did look very shiny. You all should try it for yourselves.

Ibby stayed home from school today. Her teacher had announced yesterday that there would be a substitute and Ibby decided that she just could not handle that kind of stress and could she please not go. Matthew asked her if she would be willing to rake all day if she stayed home and she opened her eyes very wide and nodded her head earnestly. Well, that did it. We are pushovers and she is having a free day. I thought it would be nice for her to entertain baby all day, but there is something wrong with him so he is camped on my lap. I hate it when you have no idea what the problem is. He just keeps crying and fussing, not sleeping or eating well. He doesn't have a fever. I am bewildered and baffled. Perhaps it is simply that he is taking the no poo thing seriously.

Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin...

Phin in diaper -- had to wait a while for him to stop pumping all four limbs at once!

Summer is a little bit crazy. One would initially think, 'Oh, the lazy days of summer, all the time in the world to accomplish whatever didn't get done during the frantic days of winter industry; not bound by schedules and timetables; long days of early sunrise and late sunset...' But what really is happening is that there are five children here all the time, meals are erratic at best, everyone wants to go to the pool every day (no AC, it's humid, who can blame them?), the garden needs weeding, the lawn needs mowing, swim lessons, piano lessons, camp preparations, keeping the kitchen sanitary -- I was trying to make the list long, but to be honest, I really have no idea what I am doing most of the time. It took me an entire week to read a book which really isn't like me. I set a goal every day to exercise and it rarely happens. I even set out the yoga mat hopefully, but it lies there neglected and forlorn. I am on day nine of doing "8 minutes in the morning," but I have only really gotten to day 2, so do I skip all the days and get a false sense of accomplishment, or do day 3 tomorrow to be an absolutist about the whole thing? We are halfway through the third season of "Lost" so I guess the summer isn't a complete wash.

My obsession with diapers has continued with the latest culmination being the purchase of one dozen perfectly snugalicious bumgenius fleecy perfections. They are pretty pastel colors and are so soft! But their flashy exterior does not hide a shallow core -- oh, no! They are cozy and absorbent and keep Phin's bumbum happy. I saw a little t-shirt that said, "Love is gentle, Love is kind, Love is having a fluffy behind." Doesn't that just say it all? I will try to take a photo of him in one tomorrow. I told Matthew that it is so sad that we didn't cloth diaper all of the children and I am going to be sad to give up my lovely diapers when the baby is ready to use the potty. He assured me that I will be ready when the time comes and even was so uncivil as to imply that I am fickle about my compulsions and will surely be on to something else by then. They are so amazing, I am sure I can bequeath them on my grandchildren (all of whom will be cloth diapered, of course, to go along with their organic diet, only the best for my grandbabies, won't I be a lovely mother-in-law?) Now that I bought the nappies, I have already moved on to the necessary accoutrements involved -- it is truly astonishing what is out there. Designer pail liners and wetbags, velour wipes, new friends... Yesterday I found two new sites that I love: Monkey Foot Designs has bags and nursing covers and Mairzey Dotes has lovely blankies, etc. Hmmm, do you think that accounts for some of the time I have misplaced?

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I am glad you got married and just look at what you have produced! Wonderful!

I had better go to bed. My incredible baby has been asleep for a while now. My husband is downstairs working hard because the record label is exploding! Exciting, but slightly manic.

Dreams, diapers, denial...

I have been having the strangest dreams lately, probably because I am half awake all night long. Last night I dreamt that someone called me to come in to update my credit report, drivers license, and health insurance which were all on the same card. I was looking at my credit report and it said things like: March 1986 bought sunglasses; November 1996 left car door open at the mall; May 1998 bought black shoes to wear with a navy dress -- a crime of fashion! The credit report also went back to all our old houses and it turned out that our first house was a block away from a beach and we had never known it.

My baby is getting so big! Everywhere we go people are surprised at how big he is. It is tragic enough without everyone having to comment on it! Yesterday he was wearing his khakis, a polo shirt, and an argyle vest. Ibby said, "He looks like he is going to give bread away." Huh? Oh, he looks like a tiny deacon. So cute. He is especially adorable with his big, fat bottom. He has been wearing cloth diapers. Last night was the first time he wore one at night and he made it twelve hours with the same diaper on. Not that he slept that long, that was just how long it took his lazy mother to get around to it. Anyway, it is the most amazing diaper called bumgenius. I only have one of them because it is expensive. There is a whole subculture to cloth diapers and it can lead to obsession and addiction.  I figure I can put aside the $18 a week I would spend on disposables (scratchy, paper, chemical ridden...) to buy a lovely soft reusable one.  But then there are the accessories... oh my!

I would love to write more and oftener, but there are small people in my life who are saboteurs to my life as a writer. I suppose it cannot be helped, but it is frustrating.