Bliss Beyond Naptime

I Got Rhythm But Want More Please

This has been the first week of two weeks of swimming lessons everyday for Miss Edie. But unfortunately the outdoor swimming lessons Gods have not been smiling kindly upon us. It's a chilly summer! And it always seems to be about five degrees cooler at the lake where the lessons happen. We are going to take the day off today and visit with friends instead and hopefully summer kicks in so she can participate without turning purple.

So that little intro ties into my continued reading and in turn epiphanies gleaned from the Simplicity Parenting book I'm re-reading these days. The swimming lessons are kind of cramping our usually laid back morning style - throwing our daily rhythm out for a loop. This is a great exercise for me to get better organize and kind of go with the flow a bit more. When it comes to leaving the homestead I sure get uptight! I don't like hurrying the kids and hearing that Mommy dearest style voice coming up from weird crevices of my throat (Where's your sunhats? Where's your sunhats?!?!).  But I'm working on that. The beauty of Mommy yoga.

Luckily we do hold a general rhythm of the week (and one of these days I will be able to type rhythm out correctly on the first go - see? Spell check came up with rectum there.) which, funny enough, is centered mostly around food expectations: Fridays we go out for supper (organic chicken wing night!) and, since we're slowly reintroducing a little bit of wheat and dairy back into the kids' diet, once in while we treat ourselves to pizza. Point is Mama gets a night off from cooking! And Sundays we have our good old good old pancake breakfast.

Funny, I was just taking mental notes on ways to embrace more rythym into our week and the author of this book suggests (along with other Waldorf-trained teachers) to present the family with a weekly menu of foods to help in the planning of meals and bring in an air of comforting predictability and celebration of the days. Something like Monday something pasta, Tuesday casserole, Wednesday veggie stir fry etc. That would, and has when I've practiced this before, help with menu planning very much so. And of course, as soon as I think this Soulemama picked up on my brainwaves and captured my thought in this heartbreakingly beautiful photo that was shared yesterday. Yes, chalkboard menu board ~ perfect! Other must implement sooner than later idea; regularly scheduled bath times. I had this growing up. Sunday night baths. Sunday sounds like a good day to harvest ear mushrooms don't you think? Do you have a weekly routine that the kids or you get pretty darn tootin' excited about?

Simple, Serene Summer Haven

I've been feeling pretty itchy this summer and not only due to it being full on mosquito season here. Intuitively I know that this subtle underlying anxiousness is a symptom of a need for some decluttering and organizing to happen in the Happy House. Truth be told it's not too crazy but I'm kind of a minimalist when it comes to 'stuff' and I believe the kids function more optimally and imaginatively with less distraction around and, let's face it, clean up happens way smoother when there's less things to contend with and there are designated places to place such things. Less clean up time equals more knitting. Right?

If you want to jump on this bandwagon with me you should check out this beautiful post in the Parenting Passageway, part of Carrie's Serene Summer Series. This article led me to her recommendation of a book called "The Well Ordered Home - Inviting Serenity to Your Life" that's now on my wishlist. That's one of the magic words; serenity! That is what I'm inviting, requesting and envisioning here.

Around the same time I was presented with Goddess Leonie's Creating Your Goddess Haven e-course . Mmmm... haven. I actually started with it but I only got so far as making the table chart for rooms on one side and what to keep, toss etc on the other. Unfortunately I got side railed with some pressing summer projects to complete but will be revisiting this beautiful offering from the Goddess once some of these endeavours are put to bed. I believe there will be a study group of this course next month that will probably fun to participate in.

Finally I picked up my Simplicity Parenting book again got really inspired to make less more.   The author, Kim John Payne suggests to start with toys and books. The books, both the kids' and grown ups', were driving me particularly cuckoo so I started there. I decided to challenge myself to actually tackle this task by doing at least ten minutes of clearing each time Craig whisks the kids away for Daddy fun time so they won't have the opportunity to offer protest or cramp my toss out style. Simple! Because, really, they honestly have never noticed anything missing when they come back. Rest assured contentiously precious items are never fully expelled to never ever land - they just go away on a little holiday to this exotic destination known as "La Shangri Shed". This weekend, right after I waved bye bye to them as went on their exciting adventure to the dump and right before I dove into my Mommy time projects, I threw every single kid book in the house into a pile and made four piles out of that; keepers, seasonal, to be stored and to be donated.

I only kept about three books out for each child (the ones they seem particularly into these days) along with all the summer themed books and kept all of these (about twelve books all together) in a basket kept in the play area. The seasonal books I keep in totes marked with the appropriate seasons and that is where they'll be kept until fall, winter or spring rolls around again. Then there is big tote bin that I put the keepers in and that will be lugged out whenever the book stash needs refreshing or if a couple of super rainy/snowy days happen all in a row, or whining needs to be put to a quick stop before Mommy loses it.

The donated pile is pretty self-explanatory and damn, that pile feels good.

Actually, that whole thing feels pretty darn tootin' good. And no one has even noticed anything has happened yet. Funny! The next dump trip I'm going to to apply the same process with the toy situation.

 

And then I suppose I should plug through Craig and my unruly book collection. Please note this picture was taken when we first moved here about four years ago. I don't want to hurt your monitor with the monstrosity that is the state of it today. It's still colour coded but there's some serious squishing going on. It's either cull time or get a new book shelf time. We don't have room for the latter so cull time it is. Especially white books - why are there so many white spined books out there?!

Quickie Sneaky

Ugh not! My computer's broken so I haven't been able to participate in my favorite pastime all week - blogging that is. But on the upside I've been forced instead to work deligently on the Fall Sew Camp. Up there you can catch a sneak peek of what's to come to keep us cozy and cute all transitional seasons long. I'm being naugthy at the moment. I scooted away to the restuarant (that's the deal apparently, my lap top only works while I'm consuming calamari- so inconvenient!) but must hurry home for the babysitter is there and when I left the house Kale was still sleeping so who knows what might be happening now, plus, well, I promised to get loads of sewing happening with this babysitting gig so I'm off! Hopefully will post again soon. Might be new computer getting time though :(

This Moment - Monkeys Hugging

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

A Mount Too Much

I have to admit we were contemplating getting rid of Daisy throughout the last couple of months. As much as I love her it was starting to feel pretty full on - especially when Craig was out of town while the kids and I were taking turns being sick. The worst part of the conundrum was the indecisiveness. First I would suggest to Craig we should maybe sell her and then he wouldn't say anything. Then a few weeks later he would suggest the same to me and then I wouldn't say anything.

In my head I was imagining my mornings and evenings freed up from milking, getting me kind of excited, but then I would remember that I would have to buy milk from the store and then I was back on the keep her camp. And then I remember the solace I find during milkings; being outside, swimming out to the misty pasture to greet her, no one talking to me except Sage from Quirky Nomads and then I would be Daisy's number one fan again. This bliss has been especially pungent since we have recently dropped the evening milkings from our itinerary.

 I came to the consensus that because this was our first year together there was a stressful learning curve. Next year we'll be more confident in what we're doing and have systems more securely in place: things like breeding her, her calving, what to do with the calf once it's out, contending with all that milk that happens after she freshens, getting her safe access to grass around the property and, most importantly, separating the cream from the milk to feed my morning raw breve habit.

So, the latest crux is figuring out when exactly she is in heat so we can call the AI guy to race on over and sprinkle her with some Dexter seed. I'm 95% certain she was in heat last Monday (she was mooing up a storm and she hardly ever moos and there was some other signs that I'll demonstrate on today's vlog episode) which is pretty cool because it seems like she and I are on the same breeding schedule. Girlfriend!

 

SS Wednesday - Big Bananarama

  

Am I rocking the Anne of Green Gables look or what! I found a tutorial over on Elsie's site that inspired me to play with lace in my braids which just happens to coincide nicely with my pretty hippy hemp and lace bag which is holding up surprisingly well so far. I was mildly worried that it would get pretty dingy, you know, being white lace and all and living in dirt, but it still looks white. Amazing. I know I just linked to my bag's listing on my etsy shop but if you have even the slightest inkling of sewing gumption in you don't buy it!  I'm  considering putting up the pattern as a freebie here on the blog pretty quick along with video instruction on construction to give you a taste test of what it would be like to be at Sew Camp. Which, by the way, is where you can find the pattern for the banana ruched dress I'm sporting this Sustainable Styley Wednesday.

Yes, much too Anne. Up the hat goes! I've been on a yellow and white kick this summer. Perhaps it has something to do with the meters and meters of daffidol coloured organic jersey I bought in the spring. That's okay; we love bananas around these parts though I've heard that to eat them attracts mosquitoes to your person and we don't need much help in that task in this neck of the backwoods this year. Here's to being unpractical once in a while! 

Now, did you do a couple of sun salutations to warm up for this next stretch in topic tangents? Speaking of escaping mosquitoes, eating all you can eat bananas, celebrating the continuing adventure of nightweaning and that teepee you see behind me there, I will be going on my first ever Mama away from home holiday next month. I'm going to Tipi Camp! It's a boat access only retreat here on Kootenay Lake. Yoga, food, massage, food, swimming, more yoga, food. Gawd. I'm so looking forward to this. One of my best friends will be attending too and she just so happens to be the best masseuses around so this is shaping up to be a triple threat bliss!

There's Lead Where?

When my mom was visiting here the kids would watch in fascination each morning and night as she would use various cleansers, toners and moisturizing products on her face. Yes, we need to replace that bathroom curtain with a door one of these days! My mom would explain to them she was feeding her face. I remember too watching this ritual when I was little thinking how when I grow up I would too would carry that Oil of Olay sponsored torch.

I was pretty on top of that plan all throughout my twenties, cleansing with chi chi products, going in for bi-annual facials for tweaks and extractions. But something about moving out to the bush (or was it having kids, too busy blogging maybe) I kind of dropped that routine in a big way. To be honest I only really wash my face in the shower which isn't like a daily occurance.

And then last week I saw a book in the little bookstore in town with the note attached to reading "This is good". Jennie doesn't huck these accolades lightly so I had to pick up this book called There's Lead in Your Lipstick.

What an eye opener! Craig's been telling me this for ages but I wasn't listening (what an ear opener?) but the shampoo we've been using for years is not all that's it's organically cracked up to be (heads up on Avalon products). So that's like; ew. And heads up as well on anything with fragrances. You only want to put things on your person scented with essential oils only for fragrances are a cocktail blend of chemicals and Lord knows what. We purchased a Burt's Bees baby shampoo and the whole house just reeeeeked afterwards; quite possibley triggering a neck/headache in me for I still have that bionic nose lingering from pregnancy days. I just started reading the book so I'll have more to say on the matter in the near future but the first couple of chapters were not only informative but also inspired me to take some better care of my face.

The author gets into the science of skin and suggests how best to support this dance of rejuvenate and repair. She suggests to cleanse with a gentle cleanser in the evening and in the morning to only exfoiliate to unveil this beautiful new layer lurking underneath all the dead stuff. Cool! She also offers recipes along with ethically organic product alternatives to choose from (mostly Canadian sources which is especially sweet for me, eh?) so I quickly made an version of the cleansing grains she recommends using ingredients I had handy dandy in the pantry:

1/2 cup of finely ground almonds

1/2 cup ground oats

1/4 cup chamomile

1/4 cup poppyseeds

10 drops of lavender essential oil

I stirred all these ingredients together and placed it in a glass jar. To use,mix a teaspoon in your hand with a little water to make a paste then scrub, scrub, scrub and rinse off. It's especially nice if you can do this outside on a hot summer day. I couldn't believe how smooth and fortified my face felt aftwards. It was like it was talking to me saying "Thank you. For God's sake finally!" Next up is to seek out or make some kind of right before bed moisturizing cleanser.  Any recommendations? Do you have a face care routine that's pretty simple and clean (ha, ha)?

 

This Moment - Sans Training Wheels

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. ~Amanda Soule

image courtesy of Craig ~ thank you!

 

Vlogging ~ Neeples and Nuptials

As a tribute to my beloved hubby, and as an ode to our anniversary a couple of weeks ago that I, er, kind of forgot,  I decided to wear my wedding dress non-stop, all week long until his safe return from the field (yes! He had to go away again. Damn the man!).

I also decided we were due for another vlog entry around these parts. Here I share a Mumsy impersonation (you can see the real deal here where I interview her. And as you can witness for yourself I'm pretty bang on) and the cocktail party icebreaker story behind my wedding ring.

Weird how I'm speaking with a Southern drawl these days. Maybe I've suffered a stress related stroke with Craig being gone and haven't even noticed. So do you have any wedding day tales that creep out of your subconcious whilst you wear your wedding dress while hanging laundry? Try it and share any break throughs here on the comments.

PS You can see a tinch of wedding dress #3 I speak of over on my about page.

 

Spring Sew Camp is Back(woods) On!

Likey what you see? Aren't these models the cutest? I love them all so. These are some creations from the Backwoods Mama Spring Sew Camp Inaugural allumni from this May's too much fun sewing experience. Now I'm excited to announce that I have tweaked the Spring Sew Camp to make it available as an ongoing offering on my Start Dreaming Page!

Everything you need to stitch up the perfect Backwoods Mama ensemble is now instantly available upon registering via email that clues you in on the private blog address, passwords and pdf pattern pieces.

Another exciting tidbit of news is my affiliate program available to camp participants. Basically, if you like the camp, you mention so on twitter, Facebook or on your website, and with every purchase made from a link to you as a source you get $50 into your sweet little paypal account. Pretty fun collaboration, no? Details on this are also shared on the welcome page once you purchase your camp spot.

So tell all your not-totally-absolute-begginer sewing friends (I won't be teaching one how to use a sewing machine though the projects are made pretty fast and easy with simple design and alot of video and photo instruction) and stay tuned too for the sequel to Spring camp - Fall Camp;Due to bust you out in warm wooley and wild layers for Autumn time chores and crisp evening social jaunts. Yeeee-haw!