People-y

 People-y is a good way to describe the season of life we just jumped in to!  So, anyone who knows me knows that I am very introverted and I need quiet and personal space and alone time to be a functional person...which of course is the irony of my life since I have 5 children and I homeschool them and they are always with me.  But, despite that lifestyle, I have managed to carve out my sanity spaces with Phil's help.  I garden, I go to bed early and get up early, and before the world turned upside down, Phil would take kids to Awanas on Wednesdays and to work for supervision duties.  This would allow me at least one (often two, occasionally three) evenings where I could get a couple of hours at home alone.  I also became really good at saying "no", even to good things.  I did as much extra curricular activities as possible but living on a farm, homeschooling that entails 6 hours of tutor time, Phil's unpredictable evening schedule, and the time and energy it takes me to organize and drive and plan for various activities gave me permission to say, "I can only do so much and remain sane."

So the last month, things became insane.  I shared in my last post that in 31 days, we only had 5 days that didn't revolve around people activities (sometimes double or triple booked) where we were either gone for at least a half day (often longer) or hosting.  We hosted a total of 11 times, which amounts to 1 out of every 3 days.  It honestly has been VERY fun and I have so enjoyed making deeper friendships, hours of talking and processing the world around us, being encouraged, homechurching and feeling connected to the body of believers, potlucks, and of course watching the children enjoy all the same things.  However, I have noticed that I need to bring back a little balance and protect that introvert nature that has gotten a little overwhelmed.  I need a little quiet and I need to make sure that I have time to get school done as there has been lots of cooking, cleaning up, and time spent away from farm duties.  

One morning, when we had a free day, I let the kids sleep in (they were so tired from a sleepover that didn't get up until between 11:00 and noon) and I went by myself to a local nursery.

I bought a handful of simple, basic plants.

And plugged them into the Border Bed, which is still very much under construction.

I mulched, sparingly since I am almost out wood chips.

And the mess that is the back of the border, I mulched with grass.  The plan is to eventually put down weed barrier because I have been unable to keep the weeds from encroaching on the bed.

The next day, we had guests scheduled to come in the afternoon and we were hosting church on Sunday so I mowed the dirt.  Oh my, I was tasting and smelling dirt all day and my eyes were cloudy and filmy.

I was getting ready to shower and sent Phil this selfie while simultaneously talking to him on the phone LOL.

With all this busy going on, I had to drop down school to half days and give independent work (math, reading) on the days when I couldn't do other subjects.  And I meant to start Barton but I don't think I will be able to do that until all our friends start their homeschool year as well.

I challenged all the kids to do an independent project.  These are the unfinished projects of the older two.

Yes, this looks a bit like he was poisoned and is frothing at the mouth but Sawyer spend HOURS creating this mask and puncturing with a nail hole, snipping medal, threading wire.

And Jubilee, I was so impressed!  She wanted to color in a coloring book for her project, I nixed that and said that if she wanted school credit, it would have to be a creative project.  So, she wanted to make faceless Disney princess pictures, which is her go to.  I encouraged her to do something new, something different, and she came up with this.  She did look at a picture to help her with the painting but this was the most "out of her comfort zone" piece of art that she has ever done.  I was so proud of her!

I saw this on instagram.  I follow art journal hashtags so I can see what other people are creating in their art journal.  I long to carve out time to do this daily.  I am not doing any art work at the moment - I am not crocheting, I am not felting, I am not doing oil pastels or watercolors.  I try and snip some flowers and make bouquets when we host church but I can't seem to find a time a chunk of time when I can sit down and think creatively.

From my facebook page:

Phil, "Can't I just stay home today and work on a puzzle?" Me, "Isn't your job puzzling enough right now?' Phil, "Yes, but I can solve this one."

And...

I feel safer when Phil wears his covers as a mask...

EddieWin had a birthday on the hottest day of the year.  It was way too hot for me (even worse on Sunday, I got overheated) but I am going to miss "lazy" days of eating good food and potlucking, sitting around visiting, watching kids play, and feeling the warmth of the sun when the cloudy Winter sets in.  It feels old fashion and connecting in a way our modern world doesn't do anymore.

One thing that I have really enjoyed doing is garage saling on Saturdays.  There are about a million other things that I could be doing and ought to be doing but I am a treasure hunter and this scratches that itch.  We start the day off usually as a date.  We get a coffee/tea treat and hit the early sales, then we go and pick up kids and have bagels and lavender lemonades and they come with.  I don't generally let kids get out but they enjoy the drive, the car treats, and of course when I hand them treasures.

There was a city wide garage sale in Mount Angel on Saturday.  We found quite a few treasures!  We got a huge container of legos for 50 dollars.  In all the years garage saling, I have never come across such a find except for a good 10 years ago when a teacher friend said she was helping with a garage sale and told us they were selling a lego lot and asked if we would be interested.  That is what started our lego collection.  

I have beefed up the children's wardrobe (and mine), bought books, invested in "little" kid toys for when we have friends with little ones over, nerf guns, puzzles, pieced together place settings and mugs for nearly 50 people for hosting, found some household treasures like bathmats and mixing bowls, and a few special items like a beautiful hand stitched quilt and jewelry, fabric scraps, etc...  It is such a fun way make our house more homey but also to cheaply get things that we need or replace things that are worn out.  And, drumroll please...I found someone selling a ton of miscellaneous yarn, GOOD yarn, for only 2 dollars a skein (and this was yarn that was anywhere between 10-22 dollars new).  I grabbed a huge bag which was such a nice little treat since the Flock and Fiber Festival has been canceled and I won't be getting my fiber fix this year.

Two different shoes?  Garage saling means lots of people watching.

Big legos and Big nerf.  Brighton was so excited!  "I can't believe my eyes!!!"

And a lego dump!  In the past 4 days, the legos have been dumped and put away, separated and stacked, in a hunt for all the specialty pieces.  There was some good stuff in there!