Last Week The Little Man Celebrated 9

Sacred Sightings :: Mornings

I can't believe that it's March already.  I feel that with her arrival, there are adventures on the horizon.  What they are, I can't say yet but magic is brewing.  They may not be huge and grand like last months RV trip to Key Largo with friends, but there is great rest in being home.  

We are spending March still.  With local adventures and friends.  Focusing on the little things.  The things that seem insignificant to some.  Things that we often just glance over, but, when pausing to look and listen to them, we realize that they are truly sacred :: 

Like glances from the morning, to some these images may not seem significant but to me, they tell a story about my children.  Each one so very different, even in how they wake up in the morning.  

The little man often snuggles up close to me and stays quiet.  Usually we sit together on the floor.  He wants to cuddle.  If he wakes before us, since he's usually the first one up, he will wait on the couch until we are up and ready to share a seat together.  He, like his mother, wakes up slowly.  

My wild child and milk girl, begs for milk in a glass along with her cereal, as soon as she comes to the kitchen.  It's all about milk in the morning for her.  Somehow she also times it perfectly to be able to chug the last little bit directly from the container.  She wakes up talking.  Excited.  Ready to tell us all what her plans, and ours, are for the day. 

Our girlie girl wakes with a book in her hand.  Even bringing it to the kitchen table.  She pours her orange juice and somehow manages to drink and eat while still mesmerized with the words from the story.  She often will move from there to asking for a bath in our claw-foot tub and I know its because she doesn't want to put the book down.   

These things.  They are sacred.  I want to notice them.  To remember them.  To record them.

Adventures With Geocaching

what does eclectic learning look like for an eight year old :: unschooling :: homeschooling :: a little bit of this and that

snow. no wait. ice.

goodbye clorox, hello tea tree oil ::

I totally had an ahh haa moment this week.  I can't keep it to myself.  It's just too good.  You know, one of those things that you want to shout from the rooftops because its pure awesomeness.  Yes.  That.

So, those of you that know me (ahem: in real life) and have been to my house know that the biggest thing that I would change if I could go back to when we were creating this awesome storybook cottage, it would definitely be that I would have NEVER, NEVER EVER EVER chosen white tile and grout for the master bathroom.  Yeah yeah, I should have known better, especially since my dad warned me but hey, we learn the hard way right?!

I adore white tile.  Hell, I adore my rustic white walls too.  But this...

BLECK!  Yes, bleck.  Not fun.  

I have tried, oh how I have tried.  Ask my husband, I even began thinking of how to talk him into ripping up this white and changing it.  It is that one thorn in my side, the one thing in my house that makes me cringe.

I have tried Clorox.  I have asked the professionals that clean houses for a living.  I've done what they have suggested and opened the windows, while coughing out the fumes and afterwards had to coat my hands in lotion because the chemicals were not loved by my skin.  

It was horrendous.  It didn't work.  And, to be totally honest, had me in tears a few times.

I am thrilled to announce that I have stumbled on a magical solution that not only solves my tile issues BUT also has me giddy about cleaning my entire house.  Yes, I'm literally walking around with a spray bottle in hand, and WITH a smile.

Want to know the secret to how I said goodbye to Clorox?!

I said HELLO to tea tree oil.  I've only recently began to experiment with essential oils but I am finding them to be magic.  (I think I've said magic like three times already but as one friend once said, it's Magical Monday).

I mix my secret ingredients (baking soda, water and tea tree oil) up in my big 24 ounce spray bottle and then pour it into smaller spray bottles and keep one upstairs and one downstairs.

SO.. the exact measurement?

I fill my 24 ounce bottle with warm water.

Add 3 Tablespoons of Baking Soda

and 3 drops of tea tree oil.

Give it a little shake and you are good to go.  

PLUS:  This makes the entire bathroom smell amazing!

If you aren't familiar with tea tree oil, you can read more about it here.  It's a great germ fighter, something I'm keeping close during this crazy flu season.  

We use tea tree oil for SO many other things too.  I plan on adding more of those recipes in the future.  Recipes for things like our Tea Tree Oil Salve that we use instead of Neosporin, our Tea Tree Oil ear ache remedy and even my special Tea Tree Oil hair conditioner!

OK now for the tile photo, just to assure you that my tile looks white again.  LOL

it's a little chilly outside :: a reflection on being present

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. ~Buddha~











This year, things are changing for me, and the family.  We are doing those things that work best for us. I find myself saying this over and over again to those moms that ask about unschooling, homeschooling, marriage, sex, parenting...

there are no rules, just do what works best FOR YOU.

So here we are, once again changing a few things because there is something else that works best for us.  We will not define it, since we are learning that we don't need those definitions.  (I don't need to pinpoint what my spirituality is, or what method of learning I'm doing, because sometimes, there is none).

This year I want to focus on ONE THING ::  Being present.  Truly embracing the everyday moments as sacred and special.  Those little things like:

The cuddles under a blanket when the wind is sharp.

The smell of my husbands pipe as he tries new tobacco.

Our middle daughters wild clothing choices and personality.

The eldest daughter who has taken to stealing my things like this jean jacket, and most days my shoes.

Our son who even in winter, has to be forced to put shoes on.

This is our life :: 

The real ways of this crazy family.  We force our kiddos outside when they've spent too much time on computers and electronics BUT we feel obligated to follow our own rules, so we bundle up and join them.  The wind is sharp, our fingers are frozen but we are here bundled under a blanket together in this moment.  This is us.