consensual purification

Summer Solstice

2012-01-09T17:13:00.001-08:00

Solstice eve

2011-12-21T06:36:00.001-08:00

The fairy dust trail before the addition of the flouro yellow glitter. The only colours left in the fairy dust shop were black and flouro yellow. These fairies need to gather their supplies a little earlier next year.

Snow

2011-11-29T02:18:00.000-08:00

Nearly six months old but there you are...

Playroom Purge

2011-11-18T17:43:00.001-08:00

A few weeks ago while P was in NZ we decided to tackle the impenetrable fortress of knee deep toys that was the playroom. To be honest we didn't really purge that much, I dis spirit a few things away during the process but mostly we focused on creating homes for everything. Here are some "during" pics...

Tappers

2011-10-21T18:27:00.001-07:00

Growing Up - sniff

2011-09-14T06:16:00.001-07:00

It really is high time A got his own blog. But since he doesn't yet, do you notice something about this picture? That's right - it's the not quite a toddler anymore who is no longer content to watch from the back with Mama during his sister's ballet lesson.

Unschool Monday - Museum

2011-09-12T05:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we had from 10 til 4 to kill time while P had a class - at the museum! This wasn't a problem at all.

Mess

2011-09-08T23:42:00.001-07:00

Learning

2011-08-21T19:52:00.001-07:00

Me that is, not them. They learn non-stop. Lately I've been learning about things Waldorfy. About the value, oh the value of a strong daily rhythm. About how to lead without controlling. That's hard! Learning about balance too. About when to let go of my attachment to "low media". M has her own iPod now...

Dinner at Eight

2011-08-13T06:15:00.001-07:00

This afternoon we rang a local Japanese restaurant to make dinner reservations. We were told "I'm sorry, the earliest we can fit you in is eight.". Ok, not too bad we can do that.
At 7:45 my phone rang. "I'm very sorry, your table won't be ready until 8:30.". So we arrived at 8:20. By the time we were finally seated it was 9pm. By now we were definitely past the "Oh, that's a big late but the children will cope stage.".
They did both manage to stay awake long enough to eat something. Just.

Thunder

2011-08-09T07:06:00.001-07:00

We had out first thunderstorm in quite a few months last weekend. Both children needed protective equipment. I think we'll have to get another pair of those earmuffs.

Winter Solstice

2011-06-27T06:30:00.001-07:00

What a special treat we had for Winter Solstice this year. The littles and I had been at a homeschool event further down the mountain and this is what greeted us when we got off our train home.

Unschool Monday - downtime or what's the hurry?

2011-06-26T15:36:00.000-07:00

I'm learning (and relearning) the importance of time. Time to stop, time to just be. Time to take two hours to walk to the park (20 minutes at adult pace) in the Winter sunshine if that's what we need.
Today is Unschool Monday over at Owlet and we are having a "Home Day" to recuperate from a busy weekend. What are you doing?

Mini-fashionista

2011-05-24T05:18:00.000-07:00

Joining in with Owlet.
M, wearing her red coat inside out as a cape. shows off the sparkly lining.

Asgard's Swamp

2011-05-15T01:03:00.001-07:00

The obligatory Sunday bushwalk. Lovely day for it. I rather enjoyed it.

KLA Thursday - HSIE

2011-05-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

HS what? Ugh. Acronyms like that make me shudder and bring back memories of a blonde teacher with a musty mothball accent who insisted no indigenous people were needlessly killed by European arrivals to Australia. Hmmm, why did I choose to home school again? No need to rant here.
Anyway...
On the education department's website HSIE section under Change and Continuity I found:
Students will learn about:
• events and stages in their lifetimes
• people in their families, past and present
• people who have met their needs in the past
• places in the their immediate environment
• changes in their lives, both past and present
• changes to people and places in their neighbourhood
• Aboriginal Dreaming stories as a reflection of the creation of Australia
• the structure of students’ families

So uh, how do we cover this at home without a curriculum? Well, it's pretty hard not to. Last weekend was a pretty significant event in M's lifetime, actually in mine too. I'm halfway to 70, eek! Many people in her family have contacted her about it funnily enough.
Getting older brings plenty of questions about "when you were 5 Mama?" the natural progression of ensuing conversations pretty much covers the second, third, fifth and seventh points. Did I say pretty much? This is my daughter we're talking about. "Tell me a story about when you were little/I was little." Repeat ad infiinitum...I doubt there's any material left uncovered.
As for places in their immediate environment, in the past month M has of her own accord made a map of our house and the route to the local shops as well as talking about making one extending to the local school (where her ballet classes used to be), library and Catholic Church hall (where her ballet classes now are). Of course there's always looking at our house on google maps (doesn't everyone do that?) and scrolling from there to other places of interest and following the flashing blue dot on an iphone map while driving. Can't forget all the historical pictures of our town on the walls of the pub and Indian restaurants we often eat at - those cover number six as well. As does her keen interest in the two houses constructed earlier this year a couple of blocks from us. We passed those almost everyday on our walk to the local shops/library/ballet class.
That leaves only number seven - dreamtime stories. Well, we have plenty of books but I also love these
Marmoo and Biamee
Gotta love what one USA unschooling parent called "The Youtube Curriculum"

Purge

2011-05-08T05:32:00.001-07:00

Last week I freecycled all of our recipe books except these and P's favorite baking book. It felt great. Now if I only apply the same concept to the rest of our "stuff".

WW

2011-05-04T06:33:00.001-07:00

Outside

2011-04-23T19:11:00.001-07:00

Me. No-one else. P has technological things to deal with which means my hopes of dragging the two small people out into the natural light and bird calls are dashed. I can lead by example sure, but I'm not the only example. So the iPad wins. At least right now.
Eating...P's sourdough toast with local marmalade
Drinking...coffee of course
Reading...homeschooling message boards and occasionally Waldorf blogs that drown me in inadequacy until I discover the punitive discipline and think our technology filled chaotic lives aren't so bad after all
Listening...to the bird calls in our peaceful backyard.

On sleeping, toddler messes and adventures

2011-04-15T20:36:00.000-07:00

WW

2011-04-06T05:37:00.000-07:00

Ballerina

2011-04-02T06:04:00.001-07:00

On Thursday M chose to perform a dance she made up in front of about twenty students (plus parents) from the same studio. Most of them were 2-10 years older than her. This is her afterwards. She looks happy to me.

High Needs

2011-03-29T05:58:00.000-07:00

I have a lot to say (write/post/blog), mostly about my eldest child. I start a million blog posts a day about her. I'm just so gosh darn confused by her really I am. I first read the term "high needs baby" when she was only a few weeks old and thought how awful that was since I couldn't imagine any baby requiring more from it's caregivers than mine did and therefore "high needs" sounded like hell on earth. It took me until she was 12 months old, yes, an entire year to realise she actually was high needs. I looked at a similar aged baby one day happily cooing in it's pram and realised that there was a possibility that child was not just pretending to be happy there because it had been tortured by being left screaming in the pram until it realised it wasn't going to be picked up. A possibility that that particular baby might just maybe possibly have been naturally ok with not being constantly held. That did my head in. I honestly thought up until that moment that all non-attachment parents were baby torturers. I really did. Because that's what it would have been to M for us to parent any differently.
The thing is, before I had that realisation I also had a niggling little thought hidden deep within that I was somehow failing at motherhood. That because I found my baby so hard that I was somehow lacking.
What I've realised in the last week is that although they've changed a lot at the age of not-quite-five-years, those high needs haven't gone away like I thought they had. No, they haven't gone anywhere at all. That niggling little shameful thought though, it's come back with a vengeance. Go away little thought! I am not failing because our days are hard sometimes. I am not failing because I'm not a perfect unschooler nor am I failing because I'm not a perfect Waldorf mother or a rigorous classical homeschooler. I am also not failing because I sometimes contemplate trying to fit those or any other labels, sometimes think a formula would make it easier.
She is hard work. I am hard work. Life is hard work. That's ok.

I think I've finally

2011-03-22T06:24:00.001-07:00

found an app that actually works to allow me to blog from my phone. Thus I will be able to listen to myself speak (write) constantly from now on! How exciting.

New Rhythms New Approaches

2011-03-22T06:00:00.001-07:00

So we have been home for half a week now and things are slowly settling into place. Well, the mess certainly is! As we find our rhythm again we find it has changed a little here and there.
For one thing we seem to be lacking a space in our week for the library visit we loved so much. Friday would work but our teeny tiny local library isn't open on Friday. Thursday before ballet would be possible but I'm learning the wisdom of simplifying as much as possible at the tender ages of A and M. We are all so much happier and calmer when we only do one major thing on each outing. So perhaps the library will have to wait for the weeks we don't do the local homeschool co-op class.
One thing we are experimenting with is an earlier dinner time for everyone. P was only eating two meals a day while he was away and would like to continue and M has always had a certain point in the evening beyond which she just won't eat anything so I'm hoping this will work for all of us. The mountains are turning on the full force of their weather at the moment but on the nicer days we have been eating then heading outside to play until the chickens are ready for bed. It's challenging for me as I'd rather be inside cleaning up but I feel outside time at dusk had many many benefits so I tell those nagging little voices to be quiet.

Blue Mountains Food Co-op 30th Birthday

2011-03-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

This was meant to be just a short sojourn in our Saturday but both children had such a marvelous time we ended up staying around 7 hours I think.

Unschool Monday - screentime

2011-03-07T02:23:00.000-08:00

No, not a self-righteous post full of impassioned arguements for or against. Just a description of our day. M's day at least involved a lot of it. A lot. She grabbed the iPad and started playing her new Magic School Bus app before even getting out of bed. Actually most of the day was spent with that app. It would possibly be an understatement to say she loves it. She also tinkered around with a few other apps - mostly phonics/spelling type ones and currently she is on a youtube enabled Magic School Bus marathon. I think we're on maybe the fifth one for the day. I politely suggested this might be the last one since (appropriately) she is booked in for a CSIRO run chemistry workshop at the local homeschool co-op tomorrow morning.
Joining in with owlet

Home again

2011-03-06T03:39:00.000-08:00

and peaceful. Travel was peaceful, home is peaceful. Strange (to me at least) but true. Parents and children meditation tomorrow. Grand.

Metamorphosis

2011-02-12T05:16:00.000-08:00

Holding the space for a few more weeks...

Unschool Monday - Sibling connection

2011-02-07T05:11:00.000-08:00

Had M started school this year, this would most likely have been her second week of school. This morning at an activity we witnessed a very very sad little girl. Not a meltingdown or a tantruming little girl, but one who is just very sad at heart. Too sad to play with some of best friends. M has two very dear friends, siblings who are quite close in age and very close emotionally. Today this little girl's brother started school. Today and from now on she will not see him between the hours of 9 and 3 on weekdays.

Today the brother and sister who live here took a nap

and a walk

There's a bed in my loungeroom

2011-02-05T06:06:00.000-08:00

and this feels very strange. It's not a temporary, set-up for welcome (or less welcome) visitors. It's a new permanent feature. It's actually a kind of chair/day-bed. Never the less right now it looks a lot like a bed to me and I find it weirdly disturbing.

Second born child

2011-01-28T06:05:00.001-08:00

Poor little A. It must be tough being the second born. Still, we all think it endlessly cute that his first response to any mention of food or anything else that sounds like it might be fun is "Me firtht!"

More "school"

2011-01-24T22:51:00.001-08:00

Piano, violin, two sorting activities from BFSU and in the mail today came a phonics/writing workbook that M had requested "so I can read little words like you", so she did a page of that too. Currently M is painting the air drying clay that we modeled last week and A is throwing his crayons across the room and attempting to stick glitter on his picture. Should go and help him...

Curriculum

2011-01-20T05:41:00.000-08:00

Yes, really. Reading around here and there always searching for something that fits M's latest interest I came across Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding. Looked good, so I ordered it. Luckily it didn't take anywhere near as long as Amazon thought it would and I didn't have to wait until the 9th of February. It arrived a few days ago and yes, it actually is good. He quotes Alfie Kohn in the introduction so it has to be good right?
Anyway today we tried out the first activity. We found three big plastic containers and a bunch of stuff from the kitchen as well as a bounce-on ball (in lieu of a balloon). She enjoyed sorting them into "solids", "liquids", "gasses" so much that she then decided to sort all her animal toys into "insects", "mammals", "others" and then asked me to find her something else to sort. I found some puzzle and tangram pieces and she sorted them into "one sided", "three sided" and "four sided".
Much, much, much fun was had.

Dietary Inasanity

2011-01-16T18:07:00.001-08:00

Not generally a fan of sudden changes in this area but I'm so frustrated by the awful and stubborn eczema that improved significantly after going gluten free but is none the less still here that I'm attempting a weeks of GAPS. Not the intro, just the full diet. Theoretically no coffee either but I don't think it's fair to subject the littles to the withdrawal. I'll save that for a day when P is around to protect them. Never the less it's after one pm and I haven't had my second coffee yet. Maybe after lunch (pumpkin soup with homemade beef broth). Wish me luck.

Unschool Monday

2011-01-10T06:19:00.001-08:00

Or is it?
Of late we've embraced quite a bit more of what looks like "structured academics". This is not in the interests of pushing any kind of educational agenda but rather in the interests of maintaing household peace. Put quite simply, ms 4.5 thrives on the kind of one on one attention provided by workbooks, reading aloud practice etc etc etc. She also seems to really enjoy being told what to do, as long as she has a certain element of choice. So not "it's time for maths now" but "would you like to paint a picture or do some [cuisenaire] rod activities?" . Maybe it's not technically unschooling but my wonderfully calm little girl who has gone to bed every night this week telling me "I didn't get upset at all!" tells me it is meeting her needs for now and that is far more important than getting stuck in any dogma no matter how radical.

Jammin'

2011-01-09T05:11:00.000-08:00

P made his second batch of Cloud Garden raspberry jam today (although apparently the Cloud Garden has changed it's name, I'm not sure what to - I couldn't read the handwriting) after a very productive picking session with some visitors from Sydney.
The children weren't so pleased about the trip to the garden today - although they both enjoyed a duck & chicken hunting expedition. It ended up being rather fun for them though, when we were leaving V & S's ute got mightily, inextricably bogged. This necessitated a trip to the owner's house, a ride back to the ute in the back of the owner's 4WD ute and joy of all joys, a chance to sit on the tractor for each of them. The ease with which that old tractor pulled the ute out of the mud and up the hill was almost comical, it might as well have been pulling a feather. V took pictures of M on the tractor pretending she was the one who pulled them out of the mud. I hope she emails them.
That's all folks. Raspberry jam on fresh sourdough for breakfast for them and on left-over gluten-free kefir pancakes for me.

Windsday

2011-01-05T06:05:00.001-08:00

Child the larger likes to insist that we eat pancakes on Friday because they are fried and that it must be windy on "Windsday". Well it wasn't windy today but there was a lot of thunder. Very loud thunder! Recipe for disaster around here. Or at least a recipe for a catatonic older child.
Despite the conditions however we had a lovely day. Our days are becoming much more structured, well our home days at least. Offering more structured academics seems to be helping everyone in the family to get their needs met. CTE (child the elder) and I chatted about "school" and decided that for January everyday at lunch I will tell her three suggested activities and she will choose one to be completed at her leisure but preferably before dinner. Funnily I had trouble on the first day because she had already done all the things I was thinking about suggesting.

Another Monday Rolls By - Unschool Monday

2010-12-27T08:45:00.000-08:00

Was it me or was that week ridiculously quick?
We are all enjoying having P work from home for those crazy days between the big Christian celebration and the big calendar celebration. There was some mention of camping but nightly downpours and (lovely) misty days have done away with that idea.
Peter Pan was the order of the day today, precisely Return to Neverland. Can't say I'm all that comfortable with all the questions the air raid sirens are bringing up but I guess that all counts as deschooling for me. Well, it's not entirely accurate to say Peter Pan, rather when one has memorised all three of the existing Tinkerbell movies and listened to Peter Pan read aloud one needs to search further afield to get one's Tinkerbell hit. Which leads me to the fact that we now own not one but two Silvermist dolls(and if you don't know who that is you haven't watched enough Tinkerbell) as well as Iridessa and Rosetta. So much for no barbies! At least they have a reason for having such ridiculous feet since they don't actually need to walk.
What else today? Well, lots of cubby houses, painting. I love love love that a gift of a sideboard plus taking the legs off the craft cupboard has meant that all the art stuff is accessible. I want to do some painting has become I'm going to do some painting. Piano for both littles (I guess it's a sign of a younger sibling when one of their early phrases is "fist first me!") and violin for child the larger. Actually she played a concert for a knitted mermaid doll (we do have some non Disney Fairy toys, phew) who enjoyed it very much.
Lunch was in Kat while scrambling to shop at the co-op before it shut early. We read a second grade science textbook in the car on the way there and at the table while waiting for our food. It occurred to me that it may not look particularly like natural learning to be reading a science textbook while waiting for our food in a cafe but I suppose most parents know you just do whatever works.
Oh, I almost forgot that child the larger wanted to read a book for her library Summer Reading Challenge thingo so I pulled out an easy one she has read before but hasn't counted towards this round of the challenge, no dice. "I've already read that one!". She grabbed a much harder one and struggled through it with all the stubbornness of a childhood me and the single-minded drive of her father. Wow. No amount of "let's finish it tomorrow" or "shall we read a page each?" made a difference. No, she read Every. Single. Word.

Unschool Monday

2010-12-20T05:07:00.000-08:00

Joining in with Owlet et al. Today Child the Larger:

Sketches planning, more sketches and more planning for the movie M woke up on Saturday morning wanting to make.
All of the mazes from the local Library's "school holiday entertainment pack". Wow, I'm impressed with her maze solving ability.
Used water colour pencils to paint colouring pages from same (note to self - water colour pencils would make a good present).
Painted a diorama of mountains against blue sky (acrylic paint this time)
4 pages of Miquon Maths Orange Book.
Carried around the broody chicken, pushed her in the wheelbarrow and swung with her on the swing seat (chicken didn't like swinging very much).
Watched segments of the latest Tinkerbell movie seeking inspiration for her own endeavour.
Watched all of The Princess and the Goblin (I love the flute in the soundtrack)
Quizzed her brother endlessly about all his new words (many many many)
Listened to an audio book
Op shopped
Walked in the cold cold wind and
Asked a million challenging and insightful questions

Child the smaller:

Answered correctly every word his sister quizzed him about (since she had just modeled it for him when asking)
Made quite a few deliberate jokes
Was adorably cute despite the fact that he
Insisted on the millionth read-aloud repetition of "Sparkle Fun Christmas Shapes" in that way only toddlers can
Delighted me with his little pre-sentences such as "Mama. Apple. Up. Cut." ... "Shankyyooo."

And much much more between them of course.

Having doubts

2010-12-16T04:51:00.000-08:00

About homeschooling or maybe about natural learning. Not the cliched "She wont learn if I don't teach her" kind but more the (also cliched) "I don't have the patience for that" kind. Sigh. Guess I'll have to get it though because she most adamantly (tearfully) DOES. NOT. want to go to school.
What do I need? More rhythm? More space (alone time)? More purpose (my own music)? Or just to put it out there that today was a hard day ;)

India again

2010-11-27T03:37:00.001-08:00

Maybe as soon as January. Really. Or maybe not.
Who knows.

Snow Woman

2010-11-26T04:08:00.000-08:00

Snow Goddess

2010-11-26T04:04:00.000-08:00

India?

2010-11-07T23:27:00.000-08:00

That's all.

Must be crazy

2010-10-25T04:35:00.000-07:00

I decided it's time I knitted something for myself. Of course, I settled on this:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/steingraues-strickmieder
I worked out casting on and the band pretty easily but had to consult google translate for the lace pattern. After reading this my hands are shaking too much from laughing to knit ( even if I could figure out what to do)

Decorative Weight Loss:• Leftist decreasesAt the beginning of the Rs 1 RM st, K1 st, slip the next st re(= How to knit right), the following M re st pass slipped throughM to knit pull. Thus, the decline tends to the left.• Right-wing inspectionsAt the end of the RS is the third and fourth last zus.str sts, K1, 1 RM.Thus, the decline tends to the right.

Just because

2010-10-24T05:47:00.000-07:00

It hardly happens anymore. At 16 months M was still napping in a sling quite regularly, A hardly ever does. It seems he'll give up sleeping in the daytime even earlier than she did.

What we've been doing

2010-10-17T05:13:00.000-07:00

This is M helping P paint a stupa at a hospice (Karuna) in Brisbane. As I mentioned we recently got home from our second big road trip in a few months. This one was really big. From here to Brisbane, stopping a couple of times on the way up to camp then to the Sunshine Coast, then back to Brisbane for a day and night, a night in Ballina and then P pulled off a masterful feat on superhuman effort by driving all the way back from Ballina to the mountains in one afternoon/evening!
P studies Tibetan Buddhist art with Andy Weber who is only here once a year. We arrived in Brisbane a few days early so P could help with the stupa painting at Karuna as per the photos and then headed up to Chenrezig Institute for the real work.
Gosh it was a tough trip, but brilliant at the same time. We arrived at CI late at night & transferred the children straight into beds in our dorm. First thing next morning while walking up to breakfast the director stopped M and I, gave us big hugs and said "Welcome Home!". Ah!
Many more stories to tell of course, but that's enough for now.

Deprived of childcare

2010-10-16T21:03:00.000-07:00

Apparently my children are. This is the creche at the sports centre which also houses "Kids Kingdom" (cheesy play centre). There are little cars to ride in, huge slides, tunnels and trampolines but what are my children fascinated with? The mini-prison...

Jiggetty Jig

2010-10-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

So we are home again after our second big road trip. Much to report! Hopefully I'll get to it soon. Life just does not stop of course and I feel as though we hit the ground running, more like sprinting upon our return and haven't stopped yet.

Consensual Purification

2010-09-05T04:43:00.000-07:00

I've yet to explain the title of this blog so here goes. Consensual refers to our aim for our family life. In the sense of Consensual Living or Radical Unschooling, applied to all relationships within our family unit. Purification refers initially to the Vajrasattva practice I began around the same time as I began this blog but also to the idea that living peacefully with our children (and spouses) will contribute little by little to peace for all beings. Even or perhaps even more so when it's bloody hard (hence purification).

Adjusting to life with one less computer and more

2010-08-17T06:56:00.000-07:00

I've already mentioned the demise of my dearly beloved laptop. She is much mourned by M as the last remaining source of dvd viewing pleasure (the drive in P's laptop having been worn out from over-use in the months following A's birth). That means we compete to get our screentime fix from the itty-bitty HP Mini thingy. Which really means that M gets her fix (of youtube or reading eggs usually) while I'm cleaning or cooking or putting A to bed and I get mine late at night when she is finally asleep and he wakes for more milk & sleeps on my lap while I read or right now, blog.
P has quit or is in the process of quitting his main client. Which is, I must say, the best news I've heard in a long time. The house feels different already. The children are enjoying having two parents instead of one and a bit and I am enjoying less cooking (as well as the conversation). No doubt it will bring us a little closer to the (financial) edge than we have been used to for the past few years but it's nowhere we haven't been before and the benefits abound :)

Ooops!

2010-08-09T07:06:00.000-07:00

Doesn't everyone have to make a post like this sometime? My laptop appears to be dead. Vale, dear friend. You served me well. However...............No kudos to me for never quite getting around to backing up the photos or the library data for Kunsang Yeshe I say again. Oops!

If you've ever doubted

2010-07-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

That it's difficult to do anything in a kitchen with a toddler around and especially if you've ever wondered why mother's complain about how difficult cleaning is just take a look at what can happen in 20 seconds...

He had fun.

Anger

2010-07-15T17:16:00.000-07:00

Gosh, is it that time of the month already? The time when anger explodes out of me before I even realise I'm angry. When the look on my little girl's face is what makes me notice I'm shouting. Sigh. Better take some magnesium...

Foster Care

2010-07-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

Am I crazy? Fostering is something I've always wanted to do. My previous partner and I went through the application process, were approved and about to start training courses when we moved interstate. Since then I've either been concentrating on music or breeding small ones of my own. However last week I saw an ad (a rather desperate ad actually) in an op-shop and it's been eating away at me since then. Could we do it? Could our littlies handle it?
Questions questions questions

Ouch

2010-07-09T07:33:00.000-07:00

For three days now I've had awful stomach cramps starting in the mid-afternoon. I am hereby officially diagnosing myself with colic (the horse kind, not the baby kind). I've obviously been eating too much lush spring grass!

A community cafe

2010-06-04T19:16:00.000-07:00

The wonderful (and aptly named) Joy whom I consider to be very definitely a part of my tribe despite having seen her less than biannually in the last 15 years is working hard to get a brilliant idea of hers off the ground.
You can check it out here:
http://background-joy.blogspot.com/

Photo-free

2010-06-03T20:15:00.001-07:00

There's lots to share but I find it so much easier to have a photo or two to start the flow of words. Unfortunately the black hole in our house seems to have swallowed the camera battery charger. Then of course there's the whole ongoing mobile phone saga too, so not even any mobile photos to share. Sigh. Oh well.
In case you were interested - child the larger is currently covering the loungeroom with an elaborate wooden train set construction. Including a road next to the train tracks like the GWH here in the mountains.
The small one just fell asleep in the "other" meitai.
Grass-fed beef with black bean and red wine (and lots of garlic for our colds) stew is in the oven. Two loaves of sourdough were removed from said oven (not by me) shortly before the stew went in. Cottage cheese is draining (again not my work) and we are planning on going to Juggling Jam tonight.

The one year ago right now post

2010-05-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

One year ago right now the fire in my loungeroom was blazing, hotter than before or since.
One year ago right now I knelt on blankets and mattresses in front of the blazing fire holding my tiny son.
One year ago right now I felt the wave begin to crash over me and handed my son to his father so I could concentrate on the contraction that would finally help his placenta be born.
One year ago my loungeroom was full of blood and towels and blankets and water and hot hot hot fire and precious people and love, so much love.
The mess is gone, the people are sleeping and the fire just barely sputtering but the love is still here.

Exhale

2010-05-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Well, I really don't think A has measles. Thank goodness. His rash continues to fade and there has been no fever since Monday night. The mastitis is on it's way out as well, and good riddance to that!
All in all it's been a week of hermit-dom though. We've missed all our usual activities through either me being to sick to take them, wanting to quarantine A in case he was infectious and M deciding she needed a day off from ballet. Actually (sickness aside) it's been lovely. I love home days. I do feel out of touch though, I hate to admit it but I'm missing facebook. Certain people don't seem to get emails, or text messages or any other form of messages really. Oh well, I guess the trade-off for enjoying peaceful days at home is becoming a social pariah.

Measles Alert in the Blue Mountains

2010-05-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

Ugh! That's enough to make any mother of an 11 month old with a rash panic. Fortunately a) A's rash looks nothing like the pictures I can find of measles b) it seems to be fading a little and c) it started on his trunk and spread to under his arms, groin and now behind his knees. Still, the fear is quite pervasive. Must stop consulting Dr. Google and just take him to a real doctor tomorrow (scarlet fever is my current diagnosis, eek!)

No pot roast

2010-05-18T22:09:00.000-07:00

Well, at least not yesterday. It's in the oven today. Somehow I doubt A's fever was teeth related since he came out in an awful rash. We thought it might be chicken pox but to me it looks more like excema. Sigh, who knows. We haven't been off to the doc because (apart from that one hour of fever on Monday night) he has been perfectly happy and hasn't seemed sick at all.
Of course, along with a sick baby what do I always get? Mastitis. Ugh! Yesterday I was feverish and out of it all day. Hence no pot roast. I think I did well just keep the fire going and give M some pasta for dinner. Today is better but still sore and low on energy.

Tomorrow I will learn how to cook a pot roast

2010-05-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

Or I will try at least. I deleted my facebook account, so now I'm forced to share my inanities here.
My boy is feverish too. Teeth I hope.

A special guest

2010-04-18T05:39:00.000-07:00

A great-auntie who is truly a great Auntie. Much loved all round.

Real Food, Real Kitchen, Real Parenting

2010-04-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Calamity Jane's post on "real kitchens". Here is my kitchen after an afternoon of cooking with two small children in tow. Lasagne, beef and lentil stew and chicken stock if I remember correctly, plus assorted snacks for the larger child and myself.

And after an hour (yes, an hour) of cleaning...

New Shoes

2010-04-06T01:41:00.000-07:00

Simple livin' be darned. I've got a shoe fetish (it seems). Today I bought a black pair to match my red mary janes that are pretty scuffed and I've got three pairs for A (yes three) and a pair for M on order from here. Not that she needs any more shoes but it wasn't fair...

Boys

2010-03-24T04:28:00.000-07:00

Bibliophilia

2010-03-12T15:10:00.000-08:00

One of the spaces I look when things get "too quiet" around here. At least they like to read.

Rhythm, routine or just stuff I want to get done...

2010-03-07T21:00:00.000-08:00

This is a fairly mindless post, prompted by the fact that Monday is turning into a regular home day around here which is great. So I thought here was as good a place as any to jot down a list of Monday chores:

Vacuum/sweep
Tidy kitchen/dishes/laundry/feed the chickens - all the normal daily stuff
Mop
Change sheets if needed
Grind flour
Cook something that attempts to use up the remainder of last week's organic veggie box
Start a new batch of beef broth (I much prefer the name "Broken Bone Soup" as it's called in Healing with Wholefoods)
GET RID OF (one or two) THINGS! More gently known as decluttering or even purging. It's sorely needed around here.

Oh, and of course play with the kidlets. That kinda goes without saying.

I'm exhausted today

2010-03-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

and surfing the net while M watched a dvd and A slept in a meitai on my chest I found this post of Soulemama's. Ahh.
Now the dvd is finished, A is awake once more. Off to mother myself by mothering my children.
Have a lovely day.

Blog Crush

2010-02-21T19:42:00.000-08:00

I have a blog crush. Calamity Jane has been listed in my links at the side for ages but after this post:
http://apronstringz.wordpress.com/2010/02/21/radical-homemaking-and-feminism/
I'm am head over heels in love. Ah!
The article she links to is great too and I NEED that book.
I've been meaning for ages to post a response to Calamity Jane's "Real Kitchens" series. I'll get onto it soon. I have the pictures, I just need to charge the camera battery so I can upload them...

First word

2010-02-16T13:56:00.000-08:00

A does lots of imitative speech. For example if he is looking at something and we name it he will try to copy the sound. Last week at the museum he said something recognisable not in imitation (at least the first time I've noticed). Reaching out for the door of the cubicle we were in he said "ah-dooooooooor". I know I'm not crazy because M excitedly turned around and said "Did he say door?"

Should be titled miscellaneous

2010-02-15T21:23:00.000-08:00

Here are a few things we've been up to. Making cheese (not that I can take any credit). Moving on from cruising to climbing, yes he got onto that chair all by himself and mighty proud he was too. And the biggest little one (pictured at Jenolan caves), oh there's lots to write about this little one. Perhaps best saved for her own blog or at least a post of her own.

Electricity-free day

2010-02-08T00:16:00.000-08:00

Phew. It's been an interesting day here. Last Friday a friend lent P one of Laura Inglis Wilder's books he'd recently read to his nearly 7 year old daughter. While I'd seen a few episodes of Little House as a child, I'd never read the books. In fact, I didn't realise there were books until I was about 30. This led to all kinds of disccusions about what can best be described in shorthand as "doing it all". You know what I mean, the thing that always comes up in self-sufficient type discussions. Timely discussions for us as a strange set of circumstances led to us having far too much raw milk that needed to be used up so most of the discussing occurred whilst P was making cheese or evaporating milk (takes hours!) to make Indian fudge. Around midnight last night in the midst of said discussion, "click" the modem and phone were off. Hmm, my computer started showing the battery icon double hmm. A glance into the bedroom where the little people slept. Yep, the night light is off. Yet we have lights. Hmmm. A trip to the fuse box. Yes, the safety switch for all the plugs in the house has been tripped. OK, turn it on. Nope. No difference.
So until 2pm today when the electrician arrived to replace the faulty safety switch we had effectively no electricity. Because one doesn't really need electric lighting in the middle of the day even here in the misty mountains.
*snip*
Blog post interrupted by life.
So to get to the point, our day yesterday until the elecrician turned up was really rather pleasant. For one thing it was nice to be able to honestly say "No you can't watch a video" rather than saying it but actually meaning "I don't want you to watch a video". I liked it so much I'd like to do it every week. P suggested going further and having "electricity day" once a week. Sounds like a fun challenge but I know M wont be pleased about it.

Aw man!

2010-01-31T22:35:00.000-08:00

I've been really enjoying the chance to do a few minutes flute practice here and there and piano too now that we have a reall one *happy dance*. But today A decided he is old enough to crawl up the stairs out of the studio. Dang! There goes my practice time.

Just a day

2010-01-21T22:33:00.000-08:00

Aren't they adorable?

Eating

2010-01-02T14:42:00.000-08:00

Oh yes, my boy is eating. Where did the time go?

Two simple days

2009-12-27T18:55:00.000-08:00

December 25th. Paper-making for P with some help from M, then M and I made a doll and I sewed a water bottle carrier for her. I also put some new elastic in the pyjamas Grandmama gave M for her first Christmas so that A could wear them. No photo of that because he was snoozing in them.

What a blissfully simple, happy and productive day.

Followed by another almost as simple on the 26th when we finished the day by all strolling around together in the mist foraging a salad to accompany dinner. Yes, really. That was a lovely holiday!

Changing rooms

2009-12-19T18:44:00.000-08:00

P and I are swapping rooms. He is moving his meditation and painting into the teeny space off the playroom which was previously the sewing room. Which means I now have a big big room for sewing/office/guest space. As always, moving into a new space brings piles of good intentions for being super organised and productive. We shall see. Hmm.

Breastfeeding mothers always face their baby while cosleeping

2009-12-13T05:23:00.000-08:00

except when they turn to face the larger and much more restless (and more like a purple fairy) child. And yes, I was sleeping on the gap (ow!).

Garden Update

2009-12-12T20:15:00.000-08:00

The chickens have been banished from the main vegie beds. As you can see, one at least ignores our decrees. Actually she is looking for a place to lay. Yesterday we cut out all the weeds from around the compost bin then Paul built a new bed and spread the compost out init before moving the bin. While I was clearing the weeds I found a little nest with seven eggs in it. When I let the chickens out this morning she ran straight over and through a gap in the fence we hadn't noticed then started looking frantically around for her sheltered laying spot that was no longer. Guess she'll have to find somewhere else (maybe even in the luxurious nesting box we provided for her)

Two things

2009-11-20T03:32:00.000-08:00

Playing and dishes. Actually, I wanted to write Dishes. I think it needed a capital. Playing and Dishes. There you are, that's better.
Robin Grille's book Heart to Heart Parenting contains an exercise to address the feeling of complete disinterest in or frustration with playfulness that involves remembering how it felt to play as a child. Specifically at the age your child is now. It goes on to give suggestions of how to deal with any negative emotions that may bring up perhaps around not being allowed to play or getting in trouble for being silly etc. Guess what? I can't remember playing. Not at all. I have plenty of early memories, some hazy, some not so. But I can't remember playing. Not until I started school. No wonder I struggle to play with Meri. Do I have emotions that come up around that? A little bit of fear perhaps, that life from ages 2 - 3.5 really sucked for me. Anger, a little.
The good news? I'm finding it easier and easier to engage with Meri's fantasy play. The fog is clearing. Now if I could just enjoy the silly splashy messy play just as much.
And Dishes? I hear you asking. Well tonight I cleaned the kitchen before Paul cooked dinner. The mess wasn't made by me and most of it wasn't even from a meal I had partaken in. Yet, I offered to clean it up. In fact, I wanted to clean it up. I wanted to give him the gift of a nice clean kitchen in which to cook. Then, after dinner I did the dishes again (I can't really say I cleaned the kitchen again because he is a rather neat cook most of the time). Without grumbling, even inwardly. I do admit though, that the second time was more motivated by me wanting everything clean. Weird stuff to write about you think? This is HUGE for me. Resentment about housework was an enourmous part of my life from age 15 until I got kicked outof "home" in first year Uni and kicked out again in second year (long story....). It continued into my future relationships including with Paul until recently. Come to think of it though, the dishes still seem to be an issue in that household. Well, they still seem to be constantly piling up around the kitchen whenever we visit despite me no longer being resident to play scape-goat. Hmmmmmm

Garden Update continues

2009-11-16T02:46:00.000-08:00

Pea teepee

November Garden Update 1

2009-11-15T14:35:00.000-08:00

Berries etc yet to be planted

One of two cold-frames made by Paul.

Rental rainwater harvesting

Happy chookies who have just started laying!

A boy and his placenta

2009-11-08T20:21:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the little boy's newborn pics I haven't shared. We weren't neccessarily convinced about Lotus Birth before we tried it but now I'm so glad we did.

Chooky chooky chooky

2009-08-27T21:03:00.000-07:00

We have chickens! Three 12 week old Australorps. Photos were taken in my excitement but I'm struggling with transferring and uploading now that we are all sharing Paul's computer (mine had a little accident), it's very time consuming for one. So no pics to share yet sadly. Be assured though, our days are being spent in a lovely chicken watching haze.

Raspberry Observations

2009-06-21T18:44:00.000-07:00

This morning Paul noticed little buds on the raspberry cane I planted on the 25th of Feb so that's almost exactly four months for nature to show her stuff.
Life with a new babe is rocketing along. He speaks the same language as his older sister did. This morning he said "ungah" in just the way she used to when she was tired so I popped him in the sling & off he went. ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Bring forth new life

2009-06-02T22:52:00.000-07:00

Ten minutes from here

to family

Garden Update

2009-04-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

Mermaid's cave

2009-03-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

Nothing much to say except THIS is just down the hill from where we live. Nice!

Garden Progress

2009-03-04T19:06:00.000-08:00

First, the box seedlings. Growing growing. Brassicas under attack from cabbage moths but nothing too perilous.
Then, our first no-dig bed...

The frame.

Newspaper, cardboard, lucerne and grass clippings.

Then comes the cow poo.

The finished garden bed.
First to be planted were some strawberries that have been waiting for a week for a new home (I hope they're ok!).

Green Things

2009-02-26T17:17:00.001-08:00

In the past I've been rather hopeless at keeping garden records. Here is as good a place as any I guess, so I can happily report that yesterday Meri and I planted our first raspberry cane (how exciting!). Our "box" seedlings seem to be doing well despite visits from the local cabbage moth population. I removed some eggs this morning but no caterpillars.
On another, even more exciting green note - here is Paul's Green Tara mandala that he got back ready to hang last night!

Finally our new abode

2009-02-24T22:53:00.000-08:00

First, the driveway. Somewhat of a feeling of seclusion don't you think? That's Nellie the Elephant sitting at the top of the driveway.
Next, the front garden. Sloping but relaxing and lovely. Although the agapanthas and the orange flower in the foreground are actually classed as noxious weeds in the bush up here.
Now this...
garden bed at the side of the house was a lovely overgrown thing when we inspected the property. Full of potential we thought. After we picked up the keys we discovered this monstrosity of white gravel had been dumped (and planted with natives, ok) here and on the driveway. Sticking out from the edges we could see that they had not lined it with weedmat or plastic but old lace curtains. Um, how will that stop the weeds growing through?
And of course, the backyard. There are more photos but blogger seems to have had enough. To the right of the shed there is a gap in the hedge which leads to a lovely shady overgrown patch which needs to have chickens installed in it post-haste. We just need to manifest somewhere for them to sleep.

Quinoa soup?

2009-01-12T23:33:00.000-08:00

In an attempt to move away from the excesses of the solstice period I made a menu plan today. Tonight's fare is Peruvian Quinoa Soup. I'm not sure it'll be a hit.

A little fear released

2009-01-07T19:56:00.000-08:00

Today I bought the first item for the new baby! Although I had stuff I'd picked up in various disastrous pregnancies I didn't buy anything at all for Meri until after the foetal anomaly scan. Not having any ultrasounds this time means a whole different way of dealing with that fear.
We were in the local op-shop and Meri was looking at swimwear meaning I had to browse near her or risk her running out of the shop which she had done in a deli five minutes earlier. Having a choice between baby clothes or men's suit jackets I went with the baby clothes. Lo and behold, right there in front of me was a little top and pants set in perfect condition. That would be good for EC I thought, remembering our desperate shopping trips to find pants for teeny Meri when we discovered how useless all in one suits were for taking a baby to the toilet. When I picked it up not only was it not an all in one suit, but the pants were split-crotch! Perfect. So since split crotch clothing is virtually impossible to find unless you have it custom made (or make it yourself) or know someone who lives in China, I had no choice but to "feel the fear and do it anyway".

18 week belly

2008-12-17T04:27:00.000-08:00

I started taking photos at 11 weeks with Meri so this is a little later but here it is anyway. I don't think I really look pregnant unless you know. I do have a pot belly normally, but it's not normally that ROUND.

Blood Sugar and Bleeding

2008-04-29T23:07:00.000-07:00

PMS schmee m s. It's all about what I eat. Here we are, eight days before I'm due to bleed and I find myself getting unreasonably cranky with Meri. Hang on, I haven't eaten anything for a couple of hours and no protein for ages. Quick, make an emergency tuna sandwich and, just like magic, ten minutes later I can't imagine why I would ever get cross with her.
Just a quick post, off to take a magnesium supplement in case that makes a difference too!

Cranky

2008-03-25T06:44:00.000-07:00

I need a magnesium alarm. A little device that sits in the corner of the hallway counting how many times a minute I walk past. More than five & it moves to frustration. More than ten and it starts to beep with a little red sign flashing "Take Magnesium Now!!".
It would save poor little Meri Erde a lot of heartache.
Cranky Mama!

The Orchestra Appluaded

2008-03-20T23:12:00.000-07:00

Mahler. Have I lost it? Purging is difficult. That's why it's called purging I suppose. Getting rid of old baggage. Still, some old baggage is kind of pleasant to keep around. Like applause, or Mahler.