Our Own Tasha Tudors

If you look around your neighborhood, family, friends or aquaintences you may just find your own Tasha Tudor among them. They may not be as involved as Tasha was in her artistic endeavors and passions. Perhaps they're just someone who lives a peaceful life and keeps their home and property breath-takingly beautiful.

I know a small handful of ladies who are Tasha-esque. One of them lives just about a mile down the road. Yesterday, she stopped by to let me know that she's putting her beautiful home and property up for sale again. Last year she had it all for sale (home, barns, 10 acres) but it was way WAY too expensive. She told me the sad news that she subdivided her beautiful estate and is now offering chunks of land as well as her home, barns and 3 acres for $289,000. That's about $200.000 more than hubby and I can afford, but I'm just devastated that she's sub-dividing. It is a property worth keeping together, in my opinion. She's cared for it very well over the years. I'm sad to see it being chopped up and sold.

While Tasha Tudor's hard work and legacy live on, this sweet german lady's hard work and legacy will be bull dozed and wasteful mcmansions erected in its place. I pray another Tasha Tudor can afford to buy it all and keep it well.

Back In Business/Homeschooling

Looks like I'm back in the sewing business. I'll be making a King's 8th Regimental Coat (like the one shown above...I made this one several years ago) and waistcoat for a fellow re-enactor. I'm going to take this slowly. Perhaps one order at a time will be best. I don't want to get bogged down and totally stressed out. My life is busy enough caring for family and home. I am excited to make another regimental coat. I haven't made one in quite some time.

I gotta say, I love Target. In their one dollar section they've been having such great workbooks, posters and things suitable for homeschooling young 'uns. I was even able to pick up a lesson plan book and a grading book. They'll be great for "unofficial" homeschooling which I plan to start this September.

Rain Rain Go Away

It's been raining so much this Spring and Summer! I'm trying not to let it bother me by occupying myself indoors. However, my gardens are all completely overthrown by weeds. I told my husband that if I find a monkey in the jungle of weeds, I'd capture it for a friend of ours! Before the storms rolled in, I was able to pull up two wheelbarrow loads of weeds from my vegetable garden. As soon as this rainy weather passes I'm going to have to put housekeeping aside just to catch up on the gardens and yard work.

We spent 5 blissful days at a re-enactment last week. We took along a young lady from church as a nursemaid for our littles and it offered me plenty of uninterrupted time to set up, keep tent and cook. I was even able to grab some shopping time with hubby and a quick nap. It was also blissful in that the cares of the modern world were no where to be found. The onslaught of media about Michael Jackson's death were miles away and drowned out in the chorus of 18th century sounds....fiddle music playing, the natives war whooping, joyful chatter, the crackle of camp fires, the shouts of children, the roars of laughter from the men, the glass-tinkling giggles of the ladies, wood being chopped, musket fire, bacon sizzling in a cast iron pan, and children playing gleefully without an electronic or fancy toys to be had. Bliss.

I'm trying to figure out where to homeschool my son this fall. We have such a tiny house and I don't want to just sprawl out on the dining room table. I have cute maps and posters to hang up. My only options right now are my porch and my basement. I think basement might rule out because my porch gets quite cold in the wintertime. In the basement I have access to the computer, a television set with DVD, and shelf and wall space for various homeschool supplies. The only challenge is keeping the basement dry and must-free. I think it's time to finally hook up the humidex. I can use the dryer vent since I don't use the dryer anyway.

In other news, I'm happy it's July. There's just something so nice about a fresh, new month. I feel open and excited about all the things I can accomplish this month. Plus, I love seeing my pantry and freezer fill up with this year's harvest. More Bliss.

Health and Well-Being

This is going to be a random post of various thoughts on health and well-being. You see, I'm sick again. I've lost count of how many colds I've had this year. Bronchitis twice. I'm sick of being sick. So, I'm looking into why I'm getting sick and how to rebuild my immune system. Here are my thoughts:

1. Reduce stress by prioritizing better and not getting bent out of shape if things don't go as planned. No one says I have to do this or do that right now. I can say no. I can put some things off. (Some things I can't.)

2. Cut out refined sugar. This is going to be hard because I love a good cookie, pie, cake or pastry. However, my body does NOT handle sugar well. Despite coming up negative on diabetic and glycemic tests, I do NOT handle sugar well. I get dizzy, I feel dehydrated and thirsty, I crash hard and I get kinda mean. I notice the link more because if my son has too many fruit snacks (which I used to dole out liberally and some family members love giving him) he becomes very whiny, impatient, throws tantrums and generally doesn't act like himself.

3. Amp up the veg. I need more power-house foods, but foods that are easy on the system to digest. Veg and broth, I think. I plan on cutting back on heavier or altered carbs and keeping my dairy intake in check. I don't really believe in eliminating something from my diet (ie...becoming vegetarian or diary-free). I believe in a healthy balance.

4. Echinacea! Garlic! What else is a natural immune-boosting product?

5. I think I might try a different water, too. I drink my tap water which goes through a water softener. Salt. My parents have great water. I think I'll go fill up there.

6. Play with my children. Not only does it help them behave better, but there's a great stress relief in kneading play-doh and coloring or tossing a ball around.

7. Exercise. Nothing too rigorous. But movement is good.

8. Sleep. If I have to give up a favorite TV show or some internet time or even start my day later, it's imparitive that I have enough sleep.

9. Learning to just enjoy things rather than stressing out about getting it done.

10. Learning to ask for and accept help rather than stressing about putting someone out and needing to do it myself.

11. Eliminate stress-triggers such as loud music/TV, political talk shows, newspapers, action movies, etc.

Do you see how many times I listed stress? I think this is key. I can say "no." I can leave early. I can skip out. It's not selfish to do what you need to do to stay healthy.

Father's Day, Beep Beep

Our daughter just adores her Daddy. Daddy just got home from work in this picture and she wouldn't stop hugging him. :)

For Father's Day I took hubby to the Wildlife Museum and then out to lunch at one of our favorite restaurants on Saturday. He was quite pleased. Sunday, we all went to church where we heard a VERY good sermon on Biblical Fatherhood/Manhood and then we went to visit hubby's daddy who we haven't seen in a dog's age due to conflicting work schedules.

Beep Beep! I have Road Runner now! The local cable company had a 1 year deal and we were able to get Road Runner Lite and Digital Phone for less than what I'm paying for local phone and dial-up! I can speed through the internet now and get things done a lot more quickly. I can visit blogs I've been avoiding because they would take forever to load. I can finally download the many pictures I have stored on my computer to Walmart.com photo center and get hard copies done!! Woo hooooo!!! This is an answer to prayer.

My next big prayers of faith are for a new mattress (our current one is so bad I can barely move when I get up in the morning and often have to sleep either on the sofa or on the window seat in the porch) and a truck for hubby. His current one is too small for our family and really old and is driven every day with prayers that she'll continue. Due to the type of job he does and where we live, hubby needs a truck as opposed to a van or car. Now we just wait for God's timing.

Enjoying June

Between raindrops I took the children for a walk today. We enjoyed the sights, sounds and smells of a beautiful, overcast June day. We smelled the farm, peonies, damp earth and this ground cover weed that brings me back to my childhood summer days. We heard frogs, birds and water flowing down a nearby creek. We saw chipmunks, our neighbor, and a beautiful, well-kept piece of property that thrust me into sweet daydreams and new inspirations.

A second break in the rain urged me outside to my own little garden where I harvested plump turnips and chamomile:

Currently, I am looking for a local farm that sells strawberries for a good price. I want to get 5-10 lbs to eat with abandon and preserve.

Today, I also tidied up my kitchen. Kitchens are such easy places to get cluttered up with this and that so I went through and put away all things that didn't belong. Now I have plenty of counterspace and the whole room doesn't look cluttered and unkempt.

Hubby surprised me today with a gift certificate to a day spa and he ordered out Chinese for dinner. I didn't have to cook! What a perfect ending to a much-needed relaxing day. I feel refreshed.

Books, Devotions, Learning

Just for fun, here's a picture to share. We were at a re-enactment last weekend. The blond, curly-haired fellow is my son's best friend.

I promised myself that I wouldn't read any books until I finally finished reading the Bible all the way through. However, I recently felt more pressure on my heart to do devotions with my children. After some thought, I decided to attempt to find a good devotional for pre-schoolers. I simply don't have the time to put together my own Bible study for the kiddos and Bubby's learning style is one that just sitting down and reading from the KJV won't cut it. While some may disagree with me, I'm quite certain that I'm heading down the right path for my family to incorporate daily Bible study and devotions.

For myself, after I finish the Bible, I want to start on The Well-Trained Mind, and start on the Classical Eduction reading list. One thing I've been having a hunger for is studying grammar and how to be gramatically correct. I'm pretty sure I suffer errors in my grammar and punctuation.

I'm also wondering if I should start a more steady homeschooling effort in the fall. It would be unofficial, as Bubby is only 3, but I think it might be good for us to get used to the time, management and discipline needed for the adventure.

My dear son has a very kinetic learning style. Sitting down and doing lessons isn't quite his thing. He needs to be active. For example, a workbook of shapes does nothing for him. However, the other day, I drew a path of shapes with sidewalk chalk on our driveway. I showed him how to hop from shape to shape, naming them as he went. This worked like a charm! I also noticed that he likes to play "teacher" with me and he learns by asking me.

I do find myself comparing him to his peers. "Oh no! So and so already counts to 50 and Bubby can barely make it to 20! He's only 2 1/2 and he already knows his colors!" Etc. etc. Then, I realize that Bubby has his own strengths and weaknesses, too. He sings a handful of songs. He already knows how to drive the lawn tractor (he's VERY mechanical). On top of that, he speaks very well for his age and absorbs anything about farming. He's a lot of fun to teach.