Our House in the Middle of Our Street

Please understand the silence for the next week or two. We are moving internationally , and although my best intentions will be to get internet up and running as soon as possible, but that depends on availability in our area. Thank you! See you on "the other side"!

flower corner in a local community garden I've recently become a bit of a podcast addict. There really isn't a better way to get housework done than listening to interviews between authors, artists, financial gurus, and spiritual leaders. Killing two birds with one stone makes my INTJ-self happy, and I'm learning a lot while doing the necessary mundane. Here's a few episodes that I wanted to pass on to you. I hope you find something useful and interesting between the links. *I loved this podcast from Elsie Gets Craft about Having Writers' Block . Awesome tips on mapping ideas, creating 'more' from inside the box, and more. *Listening to cellist Yo-Yo Ma doing a Julia Child impression on Krista Tippett's On Being podcast literally made my day. *Doesn't everyone want a book deal? Well. I know I do. Listening to Tsh and her literary agent , Jenni Burke was fascinating and humbling. I've got a long way to go before I'm ready to ship, ...

Freight train coming right through White Rock Well, that moment has come. We're finally moving to Canada! When we moved to Blaine 18 months ago, we had a job placement and easily found a place to live, a church, and a homeschool group that we've enjoyed. It's time to move across the border, though, and keep all our income (!), put down some roots in the same area for a few years, and keep living our life, reconnecting with Stefan's friends, making new friends, and investing in our community.   We're thrilled . We found a fabulous place ( like, so fabulous, I'm still pinching myself ) and we get to paint and improve in whatever aspect we want. It's a dream location and I'll be posting lots about it once we're over the line. We move on Sept. 20, and we have a lot of packing to do. We're going to try to shrink wrap as much as we can (bookshelves, dressers, etc.) and move as is. My job for this week is to inventory our entire household, and p...

totems giving me the stink eye in White Rock I've got some goodies for you this week. I've been saving them up for about a month! Elsie Joy's podcast is quickly becoming one of my favorites. She talks about creativity, motivation, small business, blogging and inspiration. I'm slowly making my way through the archives. I need new podcast recommendations like I need another hole in my head. Like my mom says. I loved this idea from Sarah Bessey--to high light local places that need small, but tangible gifts to help the community in which they're found.  Some friends and family back in Lincoln are doing a first ever Makers Market in September. I am so proud of them and wish I could be there to see All The Things!  This was the best type of back-to-school homeschooling advice ever. (Say it with me: sense of humor, sense of humor, sense of humor) This   was pretty gratifying to read   (language alert, spoiler: copious F-bombs). The kids have been arguin...

Well, that was certainly unexpected. And expected. Stefan and I spent a couple days watching the Oscar-winning drama  Her , and both came away with the feelings of being impressed, creeped out, informed, and well, entertained. The plot is a modern take on a 1984-esque story. The main character, Theo, played by Joaquin and his creepy mustache (and yes, the mustache was a perfect fit for the character!), falls in love with his computer, Samantha, a female companion 'matched' for him from a series of questions. Scarlett Johannson plays the perfect body-less, sexy voice of the artificial intelligence, who 'learns' as she is used. Think charging your car battery while you run the car, but in a much more complex way. As Theo is finalizing a divorce, he starts to spend most of his free time with Samantha, who quickly becomes his girlfriend. The other characters try to accept this new 'different' lifestyle, as a lot of people in the culture have started dati...

I just got back from the car repair shop, this time in Bellingham, for the second day in a row. It's way past the kids' quiet time for the day (also known as MY time limit of noise, questions, interruptions, and broken brain synapses), also for the second day in a row. We were out of bread this morning, so I had to make do and pack a too-small lunch for us to eat in the tiny lobby of the repair shop. Boy, have we had a time of it.  The reason we were in the shop was because our back alignment was out of whack, causing our tires to be bald on the inside corner of them. The tread was so bad that on our trip to Peachland, Stefan had to spend some time rotating the back to the front, just so they wouldn't be a road hazard. We still had to get down the mountains! We made it safely home (me, not without a stomachache) and yesterday they diagnosed and then today repaired the back alignment. After a $2,350 repair in February (yes, you really did read that number right), thi...

The Good : --camp joining --end-of-school-year partying --friend seeing --book reading --recital dancing --retreating --conferencing The Bad : --day slowing --laundry piling --decluttering (again) The Ugly : -- Car fixing (again) -- Health care renewing --tax paying, money ordering, hand-delivering, loan acquiring, [crying] --document gathering, paperwork filling, medical testing, photograph taking (immigration) --every-item-in-our-house inventorying, cleaning, moving, renting, depositing

photocredit I've been checking out a lot of fun things on the web in the last month, here are a few I've loved. I tested my quick reading skills against Rory Gilmore and came up with about a 40%. Not bad, for a Stars Hallow wannabe.  I loved this honest look at "5 Things I Hate about Homeschooling" . I also loved the second part, the token, "5 Things I Love about Homeschooling" . I particularly resonate with #s 1, 2, and 4 in the "strongly dislike" category, and #s 1, 4, and 5 in the Love category. Who doesn't love a good cheese spread? Breakin' it down for what's what, where to put it, and what to serve alongside. Excellent entertaining option! Jean at artfulparent.com regularly has amazing art projects to do with kid. The contact paper stickers are a fav! I thought this NYTimes piece called, "The Busy Trap" , was pretty interesting. I don't agree with it completely, but I was struck by how articulate th...

photocredit This is one of the first books I can remember where the subtitle spoke to me more than the cover  and title. This topic is near and dear to me because, as an introvert, I've had to readjust and think about so many things in my life this relates to, not to mention conversations within my marriage to my wonderful extroverted husband, and trying to understand and parent my children for their success .  I first heard of the term  introvert , I think, when I was in high school. I had a pleasant enough experience with private elementary and then private high school in our town, and I did well. One of the things I didn't like through high school, was the group work . I dreaded this, for a few reasons. For one, I want whatever project I work on, to be well done. I do not like to leave my 'name on it' without my own expectations fulfilled; a job satisfied. I also found the group setting to be a significant waste of my time. I could be getting right do...

Source: media-cache1.pinterest.com via SHERRI on Pinterest This year I'm doing something really fun in the summer--I'm sponsoring a Reach for the Stars! Summer Reading Program with the help of Usborne Books & More!  It's a reading program that rewards kids for reading with free Usborne books, and books for children in need within our community through the avenue of the Lincoln Crisis Pregnancy Center.  The goal is to motivate children to read, keep them reading, and then reward them with books they will love, along with helping others at the same time. Throughout the 6 week time period (June 1-July 20th), they can participate by reading (or being read to) 400+ minutes of any books of their choosing (more prizes for those who go above & beyond!), collecting pledges from friends, neighbors, and relatives to support their reading activity, turning in pledges & choosing their own books, and books for the Lincoln Crisis Pregnancy Center, who will u...

Recently I watched a movie called " Forks Over Knives" , just another documentary about healthy food choices, our national food & obesity epidemic, and the S.A.D diet (yes, those are the acronyms for Standard American Diet, and they are not far off). This movie was more or less news and information I already knew, since I read The China Study years ago. This was the book in documentary form, from explaining the theories of Dr. Campbell and Dr. Esselstyn, who lament the american diet and encourage to eat a animal-product free diet (vegan) or what they call in the movie, "Plant based whole foods", which is also becoming a popular buzz phrase in itself. I would recommend this information to everyone because if their claims are true-- that diet and nutrition (plant based whole foods) can decrease and diminish cancers and disease --it could literally save this nation billions of money in health care (going from solution based to preventative), keep us all more heal...

photocredit Linky love is back and after it's rather long hiatus I've got tons of inspiration-filled DIY's, fresh color palettes, a few diet and nutrition goodies, and we couldn't be politically incorrect without a few news clips. Enjoy! My favorite SAHM blogger has another beautiful and interesting e-course up called Style Your Space all about pulling together a beautiful home with vintage, thrifted, or made ideas. Promises of snooping through other blogger houses included! Um, this was hilarious. And true. Don't ever say those things to me. At Simple Organic a really exhaustive post was put together titled Identifying and Avoiding Toxins in Beauty Care products . For those of you who revel in your "no 'poo" method, this post is for you. I'll be watching Last Train Home very soon. It's in my living room as I type. I checked out the book, Handmade Weddings from the library simply for the pictures, but I loved what I found inside. Color pa...