Thrifting

So, yesterday, we met up with Ben for lunch at Red Robin.  Since we were in the general direction, I stopped by Salvation Army.  A few weeks ago, the last time we were in the area, I stopped at Goodwill (they are both within a couple of miles of one another).  At

Goodwill, I found two pairs of pants for Killian, a polo shirt for Killian, and a dress shirt for Killian.  Also 3 pairs of capris and a nightshirt for me and a long sleeved shirt for Molly.

After going there, I wondered why on earth I have not gone to any thrift stores in years.  I do believe I am going to make an effort to go at least once a month and/or when the kids or I need anything BEFORE we go shopping anywhere else.  Now, don't get the wrong idea--I don't spend a lot of money on the kids' clothes.  I frequent garage sales, swap clothes with Julie, buy stuff on extreme clearance or used online, and Ben's mom is always finding awesome little things for the girls (and sometimes the boys) on super clearance or at garage sales.  Oh, and don't forget the birthday and Christmas gifts that always come along from grandparents, aunties and unclies.

So, anyway, at the Salvation Army store, I found about 5 t-shirts for me (which I desperately needed), 2 sweaters, a long-sleeved t, and a skirt for me, a couple t-shirts for Killian, another pair of pants for Killian (still a bit long, but he will be wearing them soon, I'm sure), a Pikachu t-shirt for Liam, and two cute shirts for Molly.  Also, not necessary, but due to Molly's insistence, an Ariel mermaid pillow, a Barbie insulated lunch bag, and a doodlebear.  Oy.

Maybe "desperately needed" is not correct.  No, I did not desperately need them.  In fact, I did so not desperately need them that I have continuously put off buying anything for quite a long time.  However, having some nice t-shirts to replace the ones I've been wearing for the last few years is a real boost to me.  And, it would not have been if I spent a load of money on them. 

I also found a great-looking crib mattress to replace the one currently in the crib that is probably 20 years old and downright disgusting.  I had decided I would likely not replace it, due to the fact that we won't be using it much longer, but didn't realize I would find one at Salvation Army for 14.00.  I cleaned it with soap and Thieves' Oil and set it out in the sun when we got it home. 

So, perhaps I shouldn't  publish all of this.  Somehow there is a stigma attached to buying things used, I know.  But, consider this:  New things cost more than just money.  New mattresses off-gas yucky chemicals.  New clothes do too.  No one would know buy looking that what we bought was not bought new.  Some of it even still looks new.  New clothes are often made in less than ideal conditions for workers.  The money I paid for these is not going to supporters of cheap labor, questionable governments, massive worldwide shipping (and pollution).  Why use the world's resources (and mine) for something that already exists?  

Anyway, I'm quite pleased, and I can't believe I didn't go sooner.  I was never opposed to going, I just never did.  

Cyber Conference

So, today I attended an inservice for work on my home computer.  They used a live chatroom with voice and text capabilities.  While I listened in, I did the following:

Folded laundry

nursed Reagan

requested the new text for my class

How cool is that?  I have a couple more sessions to attend today and tomorrow.  Can I just say what a tremendous improvement this is on the traditional day-long inservice?  I haven't been to an inservice in years due to perpetually nursing a baby.  Not that I've missed them terribly, or anything.  But, it is nice to feel like I'm actually fulfilling work obligations.

:)

Chinese Gymnasts

So, this is bothering me.  Yeah, I know, the Chinese women (girls) gymnasts are not the corn-fed, drive-thru frequenting women of American gymnastics.  The genetics are different; the environment is different; things couldn't get much more different, likely.  

But there is no way all of those girls are 16.  Is there???  There is one, I am unsure of her age, who looks to be about 8.  She still has baby fat.  Ben said she looked like Molly's age, but I was guessing 8 or 9.  Crazy.

So, I just got around to Sarah's Question...

Without spending much time in thought (meaning: this is likely not anything poetic or earth-shattering), here is my response:

Sarah, I'm just now reading this. What do I want? Well, if I can get beyond the want for sleep ;0), I want my children to be happy and healthy, to feel at peace with themselves and their lives. I want to live in such a way that I feel no regret. I want for my children to be capable, strong adults who love themselves and others fully. We live in such a questionable time....I want to gain the knowledge and share with others what we need to be able to live, hopefully comfortably (though I'm not sure that the meaning of that word will always be what it is today...), come hell or high water, so to speak...How to achieve that? Well, that's another story, isn't it?

Flash Flood

Ugh....I emptied the filter on the washing machine last night and forgot to screw it back in.  So, this morning, I threw a load of sheets into the washer, walked away, and came back to a flooded laundry room.  :(

Other stuff...

So, Julie kindly pointed out to me that I haven't posted a blog since July 25, and Sarah asked if we'd sizzled away without our air.  And while I'm posting hyperlinks to other people's blogs, I should just go ahead and note that today is Jenny's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Girl!  Hopefully, you've already found our video message to you on Facebook!

Yeah, I've slacked off on the blogging, and no, we didn't sizzle away.  When things heated up last weekend, the air went back on.  I did continue hanging laundry last week, though, managing a whole 8 loads, including a load of towels which I first put in the dryer for about 15 minutes before hanging on the line (I heard this helps with the crunchy).  They weren't too bad, but I didn't have any non-dryered towels with which to compare.  I'm guessing that, like I've found with dipes, so long as they are generally alternated with line-drying and going into the dryer, they won't get horrible.  My other thought was, there is only a short window here during which line drying is actually feasible, so I think we can live with it for that time.  I have only put 2 loads out this week because of threat of rain (it actually only rained once for a short bit, but, anyway...).  I haven't done much laundry this week though, because I did a lot over the weekend. 

Tonight, the boys and Molly and Ben are out fishing again.  They are really enjoying it.  And I can't complain about a little (relatively) quiet time around here.

Oh, and more news!  On, I believe, the 25th of July, Molly and Craig Cypher welcomed baby boy Coleman!  He was 10 lbs. 2 oz. and born via c-section (so a good 10 days early, I think!).  A big, beautiful little boy!  

Also last week, I planted two little rows of carrots and radishes and some spinach and lettuce.  All of them are sprouting.  My baby broccoli in the window is looking rather spindly.  I'm hoping I will still be able to use it. It's starting on a second set of leaves, so I'm hoping it will start getting a little heartier and I can just plant it deeply.

We shall see....

I am doing lots of reading on gardening, etc. of late.  I want to talk to Ben about plans for here.  I don't know how long we will be here.  I want to do more planting, perhaps some dwarf fruit trees or something, but those would be rather a waste of time if we will not be here for a lot longer.  I know the thought would make Ben twitch, but I'd love to have a few chickens for eggs, even possibly to take in for processing(not going to touch that job!), but they are not allowed in this zone.  

Some of this comes from a question of the stability of our current way of life in this country.  There's lots of talk "out there" that would suggest that we need to learn to live differently.  I can't say though, that that's all there is to it, because, really, this is always how I have imagined I would live.  It seems the healthiest and most true way of life--to live within the seasons, eat food at its freshest, know where it comes from, what's in it, how it was processed.   Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't step off the grid unless by force, but I'd like to live in a way that left us able to live without whatever if we had to.  Yeah, I'm likely a nut, but there are nuttier folks out there! ;)  Even if things stay the way they are--the price of gas goes no higher, global warming is a myth (and I'm in no way convinced that it's not), and the dollar continues to carry on or even recover--I really believe that it can be nothing but a service to our children to learn that they don't have to rely upon the grocery store for food and that joy and happiness don't come from stuff (not that we don't enjoy stuff....).  Anyway--it's possible that rain that they keep saying is going to happen, and didn't predict today is on it's way, so I need to go get the laundry off the line.  Ben and the kids are headed back from the lake

Good, old-fashioned fun

OK, not old-fashioned, old-fashioned, but old-fashioned meaning the way we used to have fun.

Last fall, we uncovered a box sealed and labeled that had been through four moves with us.  Its contents were purchased shortly after we graduated from MSU for an afternoon of fun and packed up and moved with us as I headed to South Bend for grad school, we took full-time "real" jobs, had a baby, moved to Grand Rapids, had another baby, moved to our current home, and had two more babies.  I suppose we were distracted.  We moved on to other sorts of fun, forgetting about the box.  

Last October, we cleaned out our garage.  It was, really, the first REAL cleaning done since we moved in five years prior.  We threw out some of the original owners' trash stashed up in the rafters and around the garage.  We pulled out boxes we had not seen since we moved in and stashed them about the garage.  

It was kind of interesting,  much of the stuff was of our lives prior to children.  Stuff we've had no need for since our lives became child-centered.  Music, incense burners, books...and one box full of white cotton t-shirts wrapped in rubber bands and twine and three packs of Dylon cold-water dye (Indian red, yellow, and navy blue).  I'm pretty sure sometime between South Bend and Grand Rapids, I traded off another that was in the bag--green.  And, a size 6 one-piece outfit made from white sweatshirt material had been added to the box.  There was also a hand-cranked meat grinder in there, but, anyway....That was just something I'd picked up that I thought we might want someday, and it happened to fit in the box.  We opened it up, noting that we had wrapped marbles into the t-shirts.  I don't know whether we had heard of this technique, or just thought it up on our own and were intending to try it out, but some 10 years later, here was the unfinished project.  We set it on the shelf in the garage, open, noting that we should use this stuff soon.

So, a year later, we finally pulled it out.  I also pulled a few white t-shirts from the kids' drawers and a size 3T white one-piece sweatsuit blank from Reagan's stash.  Ben went to Ace Hardware and picked up a bag of rubber bands, and we tied up what wasn't already done.

So, the next day (Sunday) we did our dying.  As it turns out, after all is said and done, the results were, well, less than spectacular.  The kids were less than enthused except for a few brief minutes in the activity.  But, there are a few funky-looking nightshirts for the kids to wear for the next few years and a story to tell behind them.  I suspect we won't be doing it again until our kids are teens, and maybe not even then, depending on the fashion trends.  My favorite tiedie source (The Color Farm) needn't worry about losing me as a customer anytime soon.  Her stuff is art, anyway, so it's in a totally different league.

At least there's no longer an undone project sitting in our garage.  :)