A New Year, A New Home

This year, we welcomed 2015 with our new home. We are thrilled and are so happy to be home. It was worth the wait to find our new house, and now that we are here, life is beginning to feel exactly how Andy and I intend for our family.

Our home is a 1954 ranch, and she's as warm and cozy as all get out! The location is super. Our new home itself is family-centered, not house-centered. More on that later. I've always been drawn to smaller spaces for the sheer fact it encourages simplicity- paring down of material items to focus on relationships firstly, and secondly to hone in on a different kind of relationship with the things we do have. Also more on that later. As for the house itself, I'm eager and excited to put our touches on the house, and get our garden started in the spring, and for the boys' help with it. Obviously, lots of that will be on this blog.

We were lucky to have a place to stay in the interim from selling our previous home in August until finding our home.  Andy's parents were generous to open their doors to us, and we spent about four months living with them while searching. There were moments of frustration, impatience, and feeling unsettled throughout the process; but I reminded myself on almost daily that, as with all else, much of life is colored through perspective. We had a warm roof over our heads as the Ohio winter turned from Indian summer to crisp autumn to cold, blistery winter.  Our bellies never went hungry.  We shared space with people who love us and whom we love. 

As with the coming of every new year, I tend to reflect on what I'd like to do differently, or do better, or do without in the coming year.  I'm still wrapping my head around all the ideas relative to this, and hope that soon I'll be able to share a bit about this. All while unpacking and creating our new home, with two rowdy boys and a busy husband!

Wishing everyone a happy New Year of happiness, wonderment, and peace.

Introducing

Nicholas Woodrow Buck.  Born 3/21/2014 at 11:42 a.m. 7 lbs. 7 oz. and I am awestruck.

From the moment of his birth, this little guy knows who he is and what he wants. He nurses like a champ. Already he has me laughing!! I love him beyond measure. 

And someone is going to be a PHENOMENAL big brother. His patience and tenderness for Nicholas truly makes my heart sing.

Welcome to the world, sweet one. 

It is almost time

The time to meet our new babe is close. I'm excited, and emotional. Today we woke to rain, which I love. To me, it's soothing, cleansing, and the shades of gray that take over the sky when it rains feel like a blanket of comfort to me.  Though I realize this is not how most people respond to rain.

Today, Nate and I plan to visit a couple thrift shops, pick up a few final fresh grocery items for the first week after babe comes home, and see the Lego Movie. Andy's been so busy with work, school, and lacrosse that we don't see him until at least nine at night; so when we do see him, it is blissful.

I've been checking through the list of everything I wish to get done before babe's arrival: stocking the freezer with homemade meals, deep cleaning, purging stuff we don't need or use or want, lots of laundry (this weekend, we donated six bags and four boxes of things to charity. It felt really, really good); and most importantly, savoring these last moments with just Nate.  He's been so much of my world these last four years, and that's about to change. My great dancer, sweet, smart, handsome, empathic, strong son is on his way to becoming a big brother; I know he will be a loving, sensitive, caring, completely awesome one.

Spring Inspiration

I'm an autumn kind of gal, but spring storms are one of my favorite things. It's temperate enough to keep the windows open, but not so deep into the warmer season that it's humid. I especially love storms at night.

A few days back it was a stormy night, and after getting Nate to sleep, I was cleaning up around the house waiting for Andy to get home from work/lacrosse.  While listening to the iPod, this song rotated through the playlist.  Maybe most, regard a song that could be the M.O. of their life.  If I were to pick a song that sums up my life, Faxing Berlin (Piano Acoustic Version) would be it. Deadmau5 is one of my favourite artists; the original Faxing Berlin is good too, but the piano acoustic resonates with me in a way that none of his other songs do. Being alone in the dim quiet, with the faint sound of spring rain outside, reconnected me to this song in a really awesome way.

It's not that the song is a translation of my moods in general; in fact, I'm not sure I could quite articulate why it embodies my sentiments around living life. There aren't any lyrics. The piano isn't the epicenter of the song. It just does.

Recently I've also been finding that I experience inspiration when I'm in the moment.  I first read Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now, in 2005 and was recently inspired to read it again.  Along with other daily practices, including readying to take on the 7 Day Vegan Challenge, I am feeling an inspiration for daily living that has beautifully coincided with spring.

bamboo tealight candle holder picked up at the local thrift sometime back, $2.50. Shotglasses from our cubbard; daffodils from our yard.

Nate and I also spent part of Earth Day visiting two local parks and making tortillas from scratch. Last week, our family achieved the smallest amount of total weekly garbage: one small, white kitchen trash bag. Definitely awesome, and I absolutely think we can do better.

Creative Outlets

First of all, I think creativity is subjective. What appears to be a creative process or accomplishment to one could be drab to another. That's the beauty of it, though.

I have so much respect for people who trust themselves enough to be creative and even share that creativity with the public. I am certainly not the most creative person on Earth, but I do enjoy utilizing creativity as a means of connection, expression, and release. There is a growing list of creative endeavors that I would love to do; some of them require a quite a bit of time as well as money, which is why I cannot do them all- or even several of them- at once. I do hope to experience them all (either for the first time or in a more developed way) at some point, though.  A few of those things:

::  Expand my knowledge of aromatherapy. This would most likely happen in the form of enrolling in an aromatherapy course or guidance as a mentee under an expert in essential oils. I currently have nearly 50 oils, which I use weekly in the form of diffusing, bath, and the occasional massage. In my dreams, I would extend my current understanding of base, middle, and top notes with a thorough comprehension of the therapeutic benefits each oil contains. Of course, growing my collection, and refining and recreating blends, and integrating them into additional products (beyond candles, balms, and room sprays, which I've done for family and friends).

:: Learn how to woodwork and have my very own shop.  I've worked with precut wood in the past, and often scour the thrift stores for remnants that I could upcycle. Complete with the necessary power tools and an outdoor shed. Working with local reclaimed wood. Using natural wood stains like coffee, tea, pennies, berries. And on, and on.

:: Learn to read sheet music for the piano.  I've been "playing" for many years. It's all by ear. I'd love to actually know how to read a sheet of music and then play. This has been a lifelong dream. There's a part of me that feels illiterate, since I can play, I just don't have the technical knowledge. Like, I cross fingers and I know that's not how a formally trained pianist plays. We have been so blessed to inherit Andy's grandmother's Cable. It is an immense source of inspiration in and of itself. It came with tenderly old sheet music that wants to be read.

:: Knitting and yarn dyeing. This place totally inspires me. Expand my working knowledge of knitting. Make, make make.

:: Quilting. I envision beautiful, monochromatic quilts in whites and grays. Blues and earthy tones. Wrapped up in them with my family, drinking coffee or hot chocolate by our fireplace.

:: Learn how to build a log home. Massive, I know. Build said log home. And integrate all the above in it.

There are more, now that as I start to actually list them. V.2 forthcoming.

two of my favorite pictures we took while Westward ho! moving to Utah. 2008

One of His Favorites (and Mine, too)

When I was about 4 or 5 years old, my father taught me a version of Let It Be by the Beatles. We had a keyboard, rather than a piano, and I remember how much bigger the keys felt beneath my fingers back then vs. now.

Nate, too, loves the song, Let It Be, and gets a kick out of watching little videos on my tablet. So I decided to video record the song for him so he could watch it anytime.  The recording quality isn't great- there's a hissing noise, but I don't really care because the best part is Nate joins me in playing.  And he did a pretty spectacular job keeping to the beat.

About the Kitchen

I've said it before: we keep food pretty simple and wholesome.  In the past, we'd do two bigger grocery shopping trips each month and, as needed, pick-up fresh fruit, cheese and vegetables in between (we'd always run out of these before two weeks pass).  I've decided to switch it up and do one (smaller) trip once a week, usually Friday, sometimes Saturday. This way, I can focus on meals needed for just that week. I'm sure many people already shop this way; but, I'm particularly grateful for this tweaked approach.

Our favorite place to shop is Trader Joe's! Though I do love Whole Foods when needing to purchase bulk. This week we'll have:
- homemade pizza (with this crust and sauce) with romaine salad
- garlic linguine with caprese salad (with marinated fresh mozzarella) and this rosemary bread
- slow-simmered pintos with homemade tortilla
- garbanzo couscous dish with free range curry chicken for the boys
- black bean and chip salad

I don't assign dishes to dates; just make what feels good that day. And I usually make enough to have leftovers the rest of the week. Nothing fancy, but certainly flavorful and fresh food. Nate loves to help cook, and we have a ton of fun in the kitchen together. One of our favorite lunches is natural peanut butter  and raw honey on multi-grain bread. Classic, and so, so good.

Some things I hope to do to alter/improve our kitchen and the cooking therein:
- build and expand indoor herb garden
- refinish dining table. It's a gorgeous walnut table that has too much wear and tear to go without a tablecloth pretty much all the time
- eliminate completely all plastic anything
- grow my wooden spoon collection

And every morning, around 9:30, the sunlight hits the prism on our kitchen sink window- Nate and I will spin the prism and watch the rainbows flicker throughout the room. It's pretty magnificent.