A Couple’s Night Out

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Bon Jovi concert.  I’ve always wanted to go to one of his concerts, since I was.. 13!  I ended up going at 31 — hehe.  I happened to tell my brother-in-law and he gave me tickets for his brother (my husband) and I for my birthday.  I was so excited.  I felt like a teenager again.  Bomb threat aside, my husband and I enjoyed ourselves immensely.  

It’s the first time we were out together that long (seven hours!) without the kids.  And my son is four and a half!  We felt like a couple again, which was nice for a change.  We won’t be doing that again for a long time, though, as we kept worrying about the kids, especially the youngest, who was only eight months old.  However, when we got home, with Grandma, a.k.a. The Baby Whisperer as babysitter, all was well.  She was sound asleep, as was Grandma. We’ve been married for eight years, and it’s wonderful to still be in love with your husband.  We’ve been together for a total of twelve years now, which blows me away.  I still get kind of giddy when I hear his voice on the phone.  

Because of the bomb threat, we had to wait an hour and a half and ended up really talking to each other. Uninterrupted conversation!  Imagine that.  The car ride itself was two hours each way.  I wanted to thank Bon Jovi for a terrific concert.  Jon Bon Jovi was amazing.  He has a real talent and professionalism, and he truly shines in concert.  He really gave us all a gift of himself that night, and I will remember this concert as one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to.  No wonder he and his band are still around.  And thank you, brother-in-law.  You are the best!

Great Food Organizing Idea

I’m in serious need of a re-haul when it comes to cleaning and organizing, thus I was perusing the Internet in hopes of finding the tools to tackle disorganization and general home dirt. I found Sandra Felton books, The Fly Lady, and a dizzying array of books on Amazon. I also found this great tip. I’m always throwing stuff out of the fridge because I don’t remember left-overs, or expiration dates and such. What a money pit. Writing labels takes too much time, especially for a person who can’t find the labels or pen to begin with. I think I’ve found the solution on the Lunch Box blog.

Refrigerator magnets! You buy strips of magnetic sheets apparently sold at Dollar Stores (will check at my local one tomorrow) and paste on them photos obtained from the weekly supermarket sales pages. Then you develop your own system of telling you what’s in the fridge and what you need. An idea that I think will stick (pun intended).

Seeing Clean

Just recently, maybe a few days ago, I have begun to realize the merits of having a clean home. I didn’t seem to understood why people were bothered by stuff strewn this way and that, a generous layer of dirt or wrinkled shirts. So what if the floors were not swept for weeks? So what if the laundry pile is looking like Mount Vesuvius just erupted? So what if the food rests and crumbs are collecting all around your kitchen counters, just underneath the armies of plates, cups and saucers? And forget about your children’s messes. If you can’t be seen cleaning up your own mess, forget about the children’s. Hmmm..

Just underneath all these “so whats?” I’m starting to see that a clean home uplifts, de-stresses, de-compresses the mind. When you walk in and your home is clean, people in general feel restful and a sense of pride. I supremely agree. I love clean homes. They are other people’s homes. I’m always in awe by them and I truly admire and respect the people who can live in a home and manage to keep it clutter-free and clean.

Back to seeing clean. If I start programming my brain to start thinking this way, that clean is THE way to be, THE path to enlightenment, perhaps then I can begin to chip away at the largest obstacle: how to convince myself I am the person who needs to do the cleaning — not only laundry (the only cleaning chore I love).

I’ve enlisted the help of the Messies e-mail list. I’m certainly a “Messie”, and I’ve decided to have The Organizer Lady, Sandra Felton, help me. She has written numerous organizing and cleaning books, notably The Messies Manual and Living Organized. I haven’t read any of these yet, but I have attended a short workshop session at a small homeschooling conference in Miami.

Regarding the e-mail list, I like how you get one e-mail every day, which includes one general tip or idea of the day plus reminders. Then you delete it so you don’t become a “messie” with your inbox either. The major issue is attitude change, and I hope as I religiously read the e-mails my mind will be nourished with wholesome, clean ideas to help me become the clean and organized person I know is lurking inside somewhere. I’ll keep you posted on my progress. This may the hardest challenge for me of all, truly swimming upstream.

Whole Foods for the Whole Family

Here I was, researching books on the subject of natural, whole foods and the family and I completely overlooked this book!  A dear friend gave me an old copy, printed in the 1980s, of Whole Foods for the Whole Family, by the La Leche League publishers.  Although humble in appearance, this 900-recipe book is a treasure trove of whole foods real families cook and eat.  So far I’ve prepared quite a few dishes, but my favorites so far are the absolutely delicious pumpkin muffins and African Chicken Stew.  The recipes are easy to follow and make you feel confident if you’re in unchartered territory.  When I read how easy it seemed to make butter (I know, you read that right: butter!) I’m inspired to try!  It’s easy enough to get cream — either skim it off the top of your whole milk or buy it in cartons at the grocery store.  With 900 recipes you’re sure to find many favorites.  Whole Foods for the Whole Family even includes two pages on introducing solid foods to your baby.  All in all, a gold mine of recipes for your family.  Thank you, Sue!

Thoughts on Conscious Discipline

Today a friend and I went to a community parenting meeting and invitation to a Conscious Discipline conference.  The parents who held the informational meeting were generous to include information they have gleaned from Becky Bailey’s successful approach and share their own struggles and aha! moments. I recommend Becky Bailey’s website, http://www.consciousdiscipline.com/ and her excellent book Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline.  I warn you, though. Like everything worthwhile, it will take work on the parents’ part to make it work.  It’s not only a “do this, and your child will do this” type of speedy read.

It’s a parent overhaul too — in the good sense.  It challenges parents in workshop fashion to make changes in their personal lives, to confront ugly truths and ultimately transform their relationships and themselves for the better.  With solid research backing it up, Conscious Discipline is not just a fad, but a real way to parent.  I struggle every day as a parent raising my two children, and I have gleaned great golden nuggets from this approach. And I’ve just scratched the surface.  

Attending this session made me realize I could dedicate some more time to attending to the basics again. Parenting is truly the toughest but most wonderful job in the world.  Here are my favorite seven parenting books (I am in the process of reading on right now, though — not included):

1.  The Baby Book
2. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk
3. Playful Parenting
4. Adventures in Gentle Discipline
5. The Natural Child
6. Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline
7. Raising Children, Raising Ourselves

Love this Striped Wool Diaper Cover!

Couldn’t resist posting my cute baby’s booty in this adorable wool diaper cover made by Kristin Jayd, a talented artist and seamstress.  You can see her stuff here.  My baby’s so comfy and in South Florida hot weather no problem!  Wool keeps her cool in the sun and warm if it gets cold.  Plus you don’t need to wash it as often as PUL covers.  It’s naturally anti-microbial and so soft!  I don’t think you can get better than that.  I love stripes, and the pinkish tones totally complement Angeline.  Hooray!  I recommend Kristin wholeheartedly. She’s easy to work with, flexible with options and oh so creative! Thanks, Kristin!

PS: If you end up getting something from her store, will you please tell her I sent you?  Thanks in advance! 

Peak with Books Curriculum

I love this curriculum.  It’s so easy and just what I was looking for — Charlotte Mason for the preschool years.  After taking about half an hour a week tops to gather all the books and request them from the library online, I only need to pick them up.  Each day I gather the requested books with the main Peak with Books foundation book, and I start.  Sometimes we’ll be at it for 10 minutes, other times 30, depending on the activity.  

So far we read Ask Mr. Bear by Marjorie Flack and Bedtime for Frances.  Brandon likes Ask Mr. Bear better, but I notice Bedtime for Frances has captured his imagination also, especially the suggested readings.  He talks about it and I see him acting out the stories in his play.  It gets him thinking.  Sometimes we’ll follow up with letter writing and some arithmetic, other times he’ll just continue playing.

Last week we read Bedtime for Frances, read the poem, discussed the story, read Peck, Slither and Slide and looked up animals in his First Animal Encyclopedia.  Then we followed up with Basket Moon and Can’t You Sleep, Little Bear?  We’re enjoying it.  I especially enjoy teaching him new vocabulary through these books.

I normally speak my language with him, but during homeschool lessons I speak English to him.  He thinks that’s grand and I think it will help him get a better command of this language as well. His father speaks English to him of course, but I really like sprinkling some interesting words in his growing vocabulary. He speaks just English most of the time, but he does understand everything I say.