It has been awhile since I posted anything, so sorry about that, but life has been extreme for us these days. We have been going, and I mean going like a whirlwind for about 3 months now. We have traveled near and far and explored the world around us, as much as one little family can in due time. We have managed to see the whole West coast this year - plus AZ, UT and ID.

Let's see -

We went on a spontaneous "weekend" trip, in early Sept. to Seattle. That turned out to be 6 days and the whole WA coastline, plus some islands in the Puget Sound. Gorgeous! We of course only have 35mm of that trip since we didn't think ahead to charge the digital, so no pix to share of that trip yet.


Then we went to the OR coast aquarium in Newport for M's 4th, in late Sept. Of course stopped at every point on the coast between here and there and back again, camping each night. Totally fell in love with the Central coast. Cape Meares and Cape Kiwanda seem to have left the most impressions on us. Some really great communities down there, but just as removed from civilization.


We most recently went to CA to visit friends and for K to do some work - Redding (10 days), Redwoods camping, long boring Central CA drive to San Diego (14 days) then off to AZ to see parents, then Zion Nat. Park in UT, then long boring drive through ID and Eastern OR. All in all this trip was 3800 mi. We did get the luck of purchasing a new family vehicle for the long haul, and it was a wonderful thing for us. We had long out grown our small Subaru. We loved seeing dear our friends and catching up was long over due. We had some fun in the Redwoods, and Zion and AZ on the way. Unfortunately, we missed our animals terribly and 27 days was way too long to be away from home, for all of us. I managed to homeschool the children and keep up with my school work too, somehow. Diligence and fortitude, right ;-)



MONTEZUMA'S CASTLE [somewhere in AZ]

I will post more on this trip later. We have some neat pix. Just wanted to catch all y'all up on what's up with me and family.

"Ego has no place in rational discussion. I think it's important as a culture to become more thick-skinned and see things as they are, not as they are in relation to ourselves."

~ Gloredhel (fellow Buddhist homeschooling momma)

I try to step aside in awkward or stressful situations and just "be." Things don't always work out the way I prefer, but this definitely helps me to process and move on.

Next time life tries to slap you in the face, just "be" and see what happens. You will be greatly surprised how much effort it takes to react to a situation versus watching the situation resolve itself naturally.

Life is funny that way, things always seem to work out. Try to stop fighting the process.

Hello, all 2 of you~

I have not written in awhile for a few reasons: life is crazy busy, and my wonderful neighbor somehow reverse checked my email and found my only outlet for my angst!!! What a loser, does he have nothing better to do, but look at what I am doing? I haven't posted anything due to this violation, hopefully he has moved on with his life by now.

Ken and I have been busy looking for a new house, mostly because of said loser, but also because we seem to somehow attract them in this wonderful place, like flies. I didn't want to say anything about the hunt because I would rather him not know anything that we are doing, but who really cares what HE thinks after all. We just don't want him to be more rude and invasive then he already is. The last time the cops came to my house though, it seems they may have finally told him to leave us alone; because I had it, I cracked and called him a bad name - and he called the cops on me - it was great. I have never been in trouble before, it was kind fun!! They told me to never talk to him and don't let him get to me, since that is what he truly wants - to irritate. They also got an ear full from me about how the situation has escalated to this point and they have taken almost 2 years and 10 cops to actually hear what I was saying - " this guy is a bully and is trying to claim our property, and that we are guardians of the house we live in and we are looking out for the best interest of the owners, in the long run..." Surprise! Our great officers of the peace have really impressed me now.

Overall, we are not loving it here in this town, and the family has come to a consensus that we are searching for a better place. We will stay put for now and save up some money until the day comes. No worries, that is just life sometimes. We are making lemonade of it, taking trips and learning about new places in the NW. We know we really like it in the coastal areas up here - gorgeous; just where we like seems to be the issue. There are many great communities around here. We just want to find one that offers plenty clientele for both Ken and I (construction and alternative medicine) and activities/schools for the kids (neither of which are very good here.) Coming here has definitely given us the opportunity to catch up on life and get to a good place in our marriage, so there are some benefits to dealing with strangeness in the world, you can actually befriend your mate in the process ;-)

Moving on....

We are staring our 4th year of homeschooling D. I am really nervous and excited. I start school again this month, having 6 weeks off for summer with children, which was nice. Plus, this year I have the added bonus of pre-schooling M. Finding activities for her outside the house seems to be a little easier in this town, luckily. We are doing a children's choir and tap dance this semester. D is a little harder to provide activities for, but we have him doing soccer this season and maybe we will try jujitsu again after that, since the instructor seems to have a kids class finally. We stopped going due to the fact that he had no kids in the classes regularly and D was stuck grappling with 6 ft. men 3 times his size. Not cool! He actually came home with a pinched nerve one time, it was scary.

Anywho, I have babbled enough. Just wanted to give a quick update on the blog. I will be trying to post more frequently now. I truly enjoy the writings, and I need to have a place to put all my thoughts, whether or not anyone reads them is another issue. I plan on at least leaving quotes and quips on the bloc for viewing on dry days. Those I am full of - I have been meaning to write a book, and someday may. Until then, I have this tiny bloc....

Amazing optical illusions within the real space of buildings. These are pure artistry. Imagine the mind at work here...










http://mightyillusions.blogspot.com/2006/03/3d-painted-rooms-illusion.html
Checkout the link for more cool images.

Wow! I took this online color quiz. It took a few minutes of my life, and I like color; so thinking not much of it I gave it a wirl. Surprisingly it was quite accurate for my current personal life:
Working on finishing up this semester's classes - almost done. Dealing with shitty neighbor situation. Looking for new home - getting warm. Husband working way too much for the last several months - stressing out. Dealing with bored summer children everyday - aggravating and time consuming, yet somehow fun. The list goes on.....

Try it yourself, if you dare.

WHEN NEIGHBORS DON'T GET ALONG - This is a legal option ;-)

Puppy tails!!

We just got a dog this Saturday. He is kind and gentle and obedient, a pleasant surprise. We think he is a German Short Hair Pointer, possibly a purebred. Very wirey and sprite. Full of love and already answers to his name. He has cow spots and freckles, great wirey hair, and points when he is inspired to do so. Definitely not the Hound/Dalmation mix the pound labeled him as.



His name is Edison, just like the inventor. D finds he is a kindered spirit, since he was sent home from public school and told they couldn't help him also. A fellow homeschooler indeed! We studied many of his biographies and inventions this year. Finding they have many personality familiars, and D being an inventive guy loved really delving into it.

Hard to believe someone dumped this poor puppy in the woods to fend for himself, he is only 6-8 months old! We all feel better, knowing that we are giving him a loving home. We searched for the right one, and got lucky. We had to drive to Longview to get him (an hour away) but well worth it.

He is a perfect fit for the family. A little bigger than we originally planned on, but worth the extra efforts. It seems to be our luck with animals for the most part, we find gentle souls.

Wow!

We really Do live in a beautiful place.

I am so truely happy that my son has passed his state mandated test with flying colors (99th percentile) so now we can explore freely, and just be. The season has started, and we are out of the gates running as fast as we can. We love to be out and about. The family harmony is truly rejuvinated this time of year.

Yesterday we went to Seaside - to the toy store, to the carousel, to the beach, flew our kites, made sand castles, laid down and cuddled, had a bit of a nap and got a bit of a tan/burn - it was wonderful!!! I love home schooling, we can do these sorts of things in the middle of the week, when no one is out really.

Not having any pressures to crunch my son with is a big relief. I still have my own school work to do, but I feel like we can start our summer now. We are still "doing school" though, just not at a break neck pace.

The other day we went for a huge hike and I made press books for the kids to gather any plant they wanted to keep; we collected at least 50 samples between the 2. They had a blast. We came home and organized all the plants, and we will identify them and sort them when they are dry. I want to do this with all the different terrains we have here. We covered the Columbia coastline, we will be doing the Pacific coastline, and at least the rainforest species; I would like to cover the mountain plants too, if we have time. What will be neat is to do all this and then have a Spring sample to compare the other seasons with on future hikes. This is something we can build on over the years. I am very pleased that my kids love to hike, and love plants as much as I do.

To kick off the Plants theme I checked out tons of stuff from the library, and D came home and gobbled up 1/2 the books that day, with M at his side taking it all in. I was so proud. I find that when I cover topics he is interested in, we go through everything like lightning. And M is right along with us the whole way. She is a sponge, and comes up with the most amazing things, days or weeks later, describing the world to me; so I know the retention is there. And she loves it when I quiz her, which I do regularly, just asking about details of things we have done or read about. I love my job (most days) ;-)


HAPPY SPRING EVERYONE!

That which is loved is always beautiful.
~ Norwegian proverb


I love my garden and have always had a major soft spot for any plants that I may possess. On that note, really, they possess me.

The obsession started as a small child picking weed bouquets for my mother, whom was tragically allergic to them. She had chronic asthma and bronchitis and was allergic to everything under the sun. I don’t think having me around helped, at all.


I have a very compact yard to work with at this house, to my frustration. But I have managed to find a small plot for organic vegetables by moving several trees and tons of ground ivy and I thinkg a million lilies of the valley. I needed to till the top 24" of soil to make it workable and add some new organic topsoil for my own peace of mind. I framed out the plot with stone work and of course threw out my back in the process. But it was all worth every ache and pain. I was so enthralled that I ended up making another small plot right next to the first one, for tomatoes and herbs! As soon as my back recovered that is.

I started everything from seed inside, my dining room looked more like a grow room. About 2 weeks ago I moved all the babies outside, and most of them took pretty well, the last heat snap we had (90 degrees) killed my sweet yellow pear tomatoes though. So at this point I have quite a variety for such a small space: Heirloom steak tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, chinese long beans, shallots, garlic, green onions, butter leaf lettuce, purple basil, sweet basil, thai basil, mint, oregano, cuban oregano, thyme, tri-color sage, liquorice sage, lemon balm, chocolate peppers, pablano peppers, and a row of calendula flowers right done the middle of it all... I used the laws of companion planting this time around, I am curious to see the results.

So far, all the plants are little, but very well loved.

Altruism??


We here in our house are bored with the daily grind but I always try to stir it up a bit ya know, in order to keep what sanity I have. Something as simple as running errands can be a chore, but Mommy stops at the park along the way while the milk gets warm in the trunk. She's so fun! We love you Mommy! Your are the best!

Well little do they know I am not the best, just trying to earn brownie points where ever I can. If they think the world of me, great, the extra effort pays off. They are not aware, as I am not usually, that I am giving them this chance to run free so they are not crazy monkeys when we get home. It is really self-serving, not fun for them as much as it is a relief for me.

I think most actions we do for others are not altruistic, very little is really, if you think about it. Look at all we do in our days here on Earth. What actions can we put aside to become more universally pure in thought? Act on the notion of Dasein. No ego. No self. Only the universal order or chaos, whichever way you see it. No conventions, labels, preconceptions. Be here now. In that I find my purest moments. I strive for this often, don't usually find it in the mundane buzz of daily life.

Think about it - how much of what we do along our path in life is to feed our egos? Do you do the things you do for you, or for the satisfaction of pleasing others? Is the act of pleasing others in reality pleasing you? Do you like making your kids happy so they will behave better for you, or to just make them happy?

I think it would be nice if we truly put ourselves aside for one day (maybe make it a holiday) and we all did nothing but self giving acts. Not something in the name of others to please our own needs, but completely 100% selfless acts. We would all see ourselves in a different light, and have a pure perspective on things the way they really are. As a whole, we would be better people, that would make for a better planet, I think. Or at least it would lend chance to us finding some universal synchronicity.

Be, just be.... try it, you may like it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Going with the flow:

A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."

Welcome to my world....

Kids - everything, they are still young
playdates
schooling
clothing
bathing
entertainment
feeding/drinking
cleaning up after
pet upkeep

shopping
cooking
dishes
laundry
housecleaning
maintenance and upkeep

book shopping
page thumbing
researching
creating curriculum
teaching kids homeschool
grading and reviewing

studying for myself
homework
papers
presentations
research
tests

Cooking
Herbalism/Natural Health
Gardening, when I can :-)
Reading - too much
Meditating - as often as possibly, never enough peaceful time though.
TV - only a few shows I like - HUFF, Weeds, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, Carlos Mencia, Daily Show, CSI:Miami (when I catch it) and sometimes ER.

Personal issues and ailments - the list is too long and sad...

Husband never home, friends spread out all over, everyone just as busy it seems.

Still feel new to the area, met a few great people and alot of duds, unfortunately. Don't have much time to see the ones you want...

I keep telling myself that living in a small community brings everything into extreme focus, like a microcosm of the real world. That's is the only logical explanation I have to this place. Trying to make it wonderful for the family, and I guess myself.

Just a snapshot into my daily grind. It is all worth it, since I always seem to have coffee in my cup every morning!!