GUTS Homework - I am... a blogger

On our GUTS support call yesterday, Reggie challenged us to get at least ten pictures of ourselves in December. The thought behind this is that most women (especially middle-aged moms) don't have many pictures taken of them - lots of the kids and pets and other stuff, but they are usually absent in the photos (I'm usually taking ours). I decided that I would try to post a new picture of myself on my blog every day for the rest of the month.

This is really for my own amusement, trying to capture myself in different roles.

I thought this first one should be me, writing my blog, so that if some poor soul is actually reading this, they can see what I might look like right now, typing this out. (Bekka's comment, it's not very exciting.)

Hazelnuts

Bekka skins the hazelnuts
Last week, Bekka and I decided to roast the hazelnuts that Steve picked up in the hazelnut orchard a while ago. This required lots of hand-shelling - ouch!
Shells!
We had shells going everywhere. Would have been hard to find the shells all over the kitchen if it weren't for Lyra - she would dash over to the latest errant shell so I could pick it up before she tried to eat it.

Chocolate Covered Hazelnuts
Once they were roasted, Bekka asked if we could dip them in chocolate. Yum!

Yea! I have SOCKS!

About a year ago, Steve and I went to Ashland for our anniversary and I did a lot of shopping while Steve geocached.

I love to wander around cute towns poking in and out of fun little shops by myself and they have one in particular that I've always wanted to check out, but my kids and Steve were never interested in at all. And I would SO rather be alone than with someone who doesn't want to be there!

So I wander into The Web-sters, which is pretty much a yarn shop with these really wonderful woven items on display in the front window. While looking around, the Magic Loop display caught my eye. It is a way to make socks on one long set of circular needles. I was intrigued. I asked the very nice sales girl about it and whether a true novice could knit a pair of socks. (I had knit two of three scarves and that is all the knitting I've ever done!)

She warned my about second sock syndrome, which I could completely see myself suffering from (where you knit one sock and forever have only one sock because you can't bring yourself to do the exact same thing over again to knit the second sock). So I purchased my size 0 (about the diameter of a tooth pick) Addi Turbo 40" circular needles (because I'm the Princess and the Pea when it comes to my feet and the smaller the needle the tighter the sock and the less you feel the bumps of the knitting), found some beautiful soft wool yarn from Lorna's Laces and way too much money later, I'm on my merry way.

I went back to our room and started working on my socks. I got them cast on (four or five times), knit two, and then, uh-oh! I couldn't remember how to purl! The yarn shop was closed by this time so I switched to reading the Yarn Harlot and laughing 'til I cried! The next morning I returned to the yarn shop for a quick tutorial and a basic knitting book and I was on my way.

On and off knitting (more off than on) and LOTS and LOTS of help from some very wonderful, and very generous knitters (thanks Nan (helping start the heal), Monique (general oops control and sock anatomy understanding), Anne (helping me rip out too many rows - wow - that was scary!), Ginger (heal shaping and into the gusset), Sheila (teaching me how to unknit), and Amy (early help and toe and finishing help), have resulted in a finished pair of socks!!

My first pair of socks!

I'm so excited and ready to start my next pair (toe up, two on the same magic loop, self striping)! There are many who think I'm crazy!

Golden Compass Controversy

Like many others, I received an email about the Golden Compass from a friend – it’s been circulating via email. I thought I’d share my thoughts. If you have not seen the emails circulating around, you can find a version here. For the record, I think the snopes research on this one is quite lacking.

The email I got had this added at the top, “So many things today are darkness concealed in what appears to be innocent.” My first thought was, I don't think Philip Pullman has tried to conceal anything, and certainly not "darkness concealed in what appears to be innocent" by titling his trilogy, "His Dark Materials".

I've been highly recommending this trilogy for years - and always add the caveat that the books will challenge your belief in God. I'm always confused when people never want their beliefs challenged. Being a humanist in a Christian society, my beliefs are always being challenged, and every time I reach more clarity in what I believe, not less. If Christianity is a firmly held belief, then I would think that these books would clarify their beliefs and strengthen them, just as being bombarded by biblical teaching clarifies mine.

In researching this controversy, I came across many interviews with Pullman that clarify his beliefs (as much as possible, since he isn’t entirely sure himself – and certainly not to the point of being a militant). The interview that best addresses the issues raised in the circulating emails can be found here.

And, to miss this movie, you will be missing the strongest female lead I've ever come across - and in an 11 year old girl, no less! At least, I hope the movie is true enough to the book to maintain Lyra's strength.

I'm sure my girls and I will be at the first showing - we can't wait!



Writing about the Golden Compass (by people who have actually read the books and done some actual research) can be found here:
hisdarkmaterials.org
margheim.net

Some other interviews with the author:
From the British Humanist Association website
The Guardian BooksTalk
kidsreads.com
Philip-Pullman.com has many more links to interviews and well as the author's own presentations of his works.

What do you think - is my daemon right?

We are SO EXCITED that they've made a movie from one of our favorite books! We can hardly wait until the release date!

GUTS Retreat is coming!

I am SO EXCITED! My life coach, Reggie Adams is hosting her second GUTS (Giving Unbelievable aTtention to Self) retreat at the end of this month and I just can't wait! The first retreat was three or four years ago and it totally changed my life and helped me make great strides to being, living, who I want to be.

I will be spending a weekend with 20 amazingly real women, all of whom are working hard to be who they authentically want to be. I just know this is going to be magical and life altering.

My wonderful friend, Carole will be sharing this experience with me again and on her 50th birthday no less! The day after the retreat we are moving to a fabulous spa in Calistoga to celebrate the wonderfulness that is Carole.

This is just going to be the BEST weekend!

Frustrations!

Ugh! Sometimes I just want to flail about kicking and screaming - why, oh why am I taking so long to be the person I want to be???

Why can't I just always be respectful to everyone and totally shut down those tired, old, judgemental voices or reactions?

How come I can't just accept everyone as they are and be that loving, caring person I SO want to be???

I want so many things about this world to change that I get impatient with all the little things and speak out inappropriately. I get frustrated at the unconscious rudeness all around me and I end up being rude to someone who just hasn't thought it through - how ironic is that??

I guess this is why it is a journey, rather than a destination...

Can anyone relate?

It's Kitten Time!

A Kitten Puddle!

For the last couple of months we've been fostering four of the cutest kittens ever for the humane society and they are almost ready for adoption. They were found in a cardboard box in front of the downtown Safeway and weren't weaned yet (yuck!). Now they are healthy, happy kittens in need of homes. All of them absolutely adore people. If you are interested in adopting any (or all) of them, let me know ASAP!

So meet the kittens:

Krinkle

Krinkle is a fun loving spirited girl. She loves people and loves to play, play, play.

Lyra

Lyra (named for the strong, female main character in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy) is a smart, loving girl. She loves to give LOTS of kisses. She has her moments of wrestling with the others, but as soon as you pick her up she settles down and purrs. She is very petite, but she is always the first to learn new things.

Chester

Chester is a wild little kitten. He loves to run and play and he is oh-so soft!

Teddy

Teddy (or Teddy Bear) is SO SOFT and cuddly! He is also HUGE! He is a total cuddle-bug who is destined to be a large cat. He always melts in my arms every time I pick him up - even when he is in the middle of a wrestling match and he purrs like crazy. (He also always squints his eyes when we try to take pictures of him - he really has gorgeous round eyes.) If you want a totally cuddly cat, Teddy is your guy!

Take Action Against Hate Crimes

Amazing Transportation Photos

Lords of the Logistic have some amazing, and inspiring photos of transportation from around the world. Just to prove that you don't need an SUV, large truck, or even a delivery van!

Two of my favorites are:

You Think YOU Have a Tough Commute?

Family of 5? No Problem, a Motorscooter Will Do!

Hey! My brain is Blue!

Your Brain is Blue

Of all the brain types, yours is the most mellow. You tend to be in a meditative state most of the time. You don't try to think away your troubles. Your thoughts are realistic, fresh, and honest. You truly see things as how they are. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about your friends, your surroundings, and your life.

What Color Is Your Brain?

Teenagers, an excellent essay

I just read the greatest article about teenagers and the parent/teen unschooling relationship ever!

Ronnie (or Frank - can't tell who) from the LIFE is Good Conference is the author, and I just LOVE EVERYTHING she says.

Thank you, Ronnie (and or Frank), for your inspiration.

Come See My New Venture

I'm a Life Coach specializing in helping unschooling families find more freedom and joy in their lives through my articles on my blog, "CHOOSING FREEDOM" and one-on-one phone coaching.

I've been coaching with Reggie Adams, a wonderful life coach from St. Cloud, MN for four years and I've learned so much and believe so strongly in what life coaching can do that I've decided to be a coach! Reggie has been very encouraging and has given me great pointers. I've been business coaching my Creative Memories downline for ten years, and I always end up doing more life coaching than business coaching with them, so I've got lots of practice.

I met Scott Noelle at the first LIFE is Good Conference and I was so inspired by his Daily Groove that I just had to go for it!

I'm excited to offer coaching to parents who believe in their kids and respect them as people! With all the traditional parenting examples around, unschooling parents sometimes need a little help with gentle reminders that, YES! they are on the right track. This is what I'm offering.

Oh, and I'm learning so much as I try to figure out all the website stuff! Can't wait to get an actual website up, but I've got to learn it all first. Yes, I'm an unschooler, too.

Great Essay on Productivity

My LIFE is Good friend Karen shared a link to this essay today and I absolutely love it.

In it, author Aaron Swartz shares his views on how to be productive.

There are so many things he says in the essay that I just love, but one, very subtile comment is, "Most people's time is eaten up by things like school and work. Obviously if you attend one of these, you should stop. But what else can you do?" YES! I would so love to talk with him about more of his views.

Aaron is a big Alfie Kohn fan, who, coincidentally is speaking in Portland on the 24th of July. Unfortunately, I won't be there, as I have a family commitment that night.

Makes me wonder if Aaron speaks - could be a great addition to the LIFE is Good lineup (Mary, I know you're reading!).

So, please go read the essay and let me know what you think.

8 things about me meme.

~~~Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.~~~

1. I’m average. I often wonder if you create a composite of all American women you wouldn’t get me! My hair is that non-descript medium brown, my eyes are hazel (which just means they are all colors), I’m 5’6”, I’m a size 10 in clothing, and I wear a size 7.5 shoe (which means I can never find shoes on sale, ‘cause so many people share my shoe size). When I was a kid, the average age at which girls started their periods was 13 and a half – mine started on that exact day!

2. I have this disgusting habit of chewing my cheek/lip and I can’t stop! Ugh!

3. Even though I’m totally into my kids, being a radical unschooling momma and all, I could have just as easily not had kids. I would never have gone through any kind of infertility treatments. Given my life as it is now, this factoid just seems really odd to me.

4. I’m not good at keeping in touch with people. I would love to have really close relationships with friends, but never want to bother them. My journey is teaching me to be better at communicating with others, maybe I’ll be able to get over this.

5. I love to stay up late, and I’m not too bad in the morning either. But 2:00 in the afternoon – forget it!

6. I’ve been a Girl Scout for 36 years.

7. I am a total “Princess and the Pea” kind of gal, especially when it comes to my feet! I absolutely can’t stand having anything stuck in my shoe, and socks are even worse – the tiniest grain of sand will bug me to no end.

8. I really hate doing these kinds of things, and it has taken me a good long while to do it – I was good until about #6, then got totally stuck (or totally tired, since it was after midnight one night when I started) and then forgot about finishing it. The only reason I’m doing it is because my very dear friend, Mary tagged me. (She has a lot of influence on me – good and bad :-P!)

So, I may or may not successfully tag others, but at least I did some not too serious writing!

I'll tag... okay, I have absolutely no idea who to tag. All chains eventually end with me!

LIFE is Good Tribe Member

Today I got an email from the Zenmomma herself, inviting me to join the LIFE is Good blog ring.

What fun! I love reading the blogs of other radical (whole-life) unschoolers, and some of my favorite people are connected with this incredible conference.

I hope that readers of my blog click around a little and explore the writings and/or musings of others who are choosing to live their life authentically in all respects.

Serafina

We have one female cat and two males. Our female, Serafina hates other cats and loves people. Her whole name is Serafina Pekala from Philip Pullman’s trilogy, “His Dark Materials”. She is named after the queen of the witch clan introduced in book 1, “The Golden Compass”, and her birthday is Oct. 31 (which is why we had to find a cool witch to name her after).

The thing that’s funny about Serafina is that she likes to have us wash her face. She will jump up on my lap (only when there are no other cats anywhere close), lick my fingers and then rub her face on my wet fingers.

Now, I normally hate when cats lick people, especially ME! But Serafina has a history that caused me to not mind so much. We got her from the humane society about a year and a half ago when we were getting kittens for the girls for Christmas. She was a bit over a year old and was so beautiful (she’s a blue), soft and loving.

Turns out that she was found on the street, half starved at 8 months old with a litter of kittens. She went into foster care with her kittens, who were all adopted out once they were weaned. Shortly before she was supposed to go to the humane society, an abandoned litter of kittens came in. One was so sick they didn’t think it would make it, but Serafina nursed it until it was strong enough to be adopted (wouldn’t nurse any of the others, just the sick one).

So Serafina went to the humane society and was adopted out really quickly to an older woman. Serafina is prone to eye infections, sneezing and stuff and the woman who adopted her was afraid that she would catch Serafina’s eye infection in the only good eye she had (impossible, but that was her fear), so she returned Serafina (living in fear is such a sad way to live!). Serafina had been there for so long when we met her, her former foster mom was worried she wasn’t going to get adopted and actually put together a stocking of goodies to go home with her.

She has always hated the two kittens and has been pretty uncomfortable in our home. It took her six months to purr for us at home, or even to sit in our laps. I’m sure it was partly the pesky kittens, and partly her traumatic beginnings of being homeless, having a home, and being returned. I can’t help but wonder if she thought she would be returned yet again – she had had so many homes. So I’m thrilled that she finds pleasure in interacting with us, and I’m willing to be a little grossed out to help her find her pleasure.

Another really weird thing about her is that she loves going to the vet – I think mostly because she gets us all to herself and she gets to sit in a lovely window seat and watch the birds come and go from the bird feeders that our vet has placed right outside each of her three exam rooms. She purrs and purrs when we are there. She is so relaxed and happy at the vet – makes it really easy for our vet to examine her.

This makes me wonder what people’s stories are and how I can find compassion in view of things people do that I find weird. What is their story, and how do I find out without being nosy?

Hmmmm…

What a Trip!

My friend Alicia and I recently got back from taking some of our Girl Scouts to Washington DC and Williamsburg/Historic Triangle. It turned out to be two adults and four girls (Alicia’s two daughters, Steffi and a girl we borrowed from our old troop, ‘cause we like her so much!).

We were gone for 12 days and truly had a fabulous time! I swear the only things we didn’t see were the Library of Congress and Ford’s Theater! It feels like a really successful trip, which is really satisfying after all the time and effort I put into it on the front end planning every last detail. (The girls are still a little young to plan their own trips – it was all they could stand to pick out what they wanted to do and see!)

We loved where we stayed in Washington – the Doubletree Suites in Foggy Bottom. It was a smallish hotel in a very, very quiet neighborhood (no sirens, no traffic…), 1 1/2 blocks from the Metro, 2 blocks from the Safeway at the Watergate (really, NOT impressive!!), 4 blocks from Trader Joes and within walking distance of the Lincoln Memorial.

Soaked! On our first full day in Washington we went to the zoo. This ended up being a highlight for everyone, as we were stuck in the zoo during a particularly fierce thunderstorm that made us all scream out loud. (Not all highlights are positive!) We were totally drenched and ended up skipping down the street to the Metro singing all the weather songs we could remember.

On Memorial Day we decided to go to the Arlington Cemetery Memorial Day Ceremony, where we ended up sitting in the third row of the White House guests reserved section and seeing President Bush deliver his address. We’re guessing it had something to do with the fact that we were wearing our Girl Scout uniforms.

We happened upon the Supreme Court Justices reading an opinion on Tuesday! We had no idea that that would be happening, or even that you could see it, but it was and we were some of just a few of the public who were let in to observe (after being stripped of everything we owned!).


Steffi’s 11th birthday was on Thursday, and we celebrated by getting dressed up in Colonial dresses and going to dinner at Gadsby’s Tavern in Old Town Alexandria. What an experience! The food was great and the entertainment was even better. It was a treat to imagine George and Martha Washington entertaining guests in the very room we were dining in.

After spending a full week in Washington, we rented a car and drove to Williamsburg, where the girls had a great time parading around in their Colonial dresses. They attracted a lot of attention with the dresses, making it totally worth packing them all the way across the country. We went on a ghost tour, hauled water from a well, smooshed clay with our feet in the brickyard, and taught other tourists “the courtesies”.

12 days of traveling and the girls were just such good companions! I would definitely travel with this group of fabulous young women again!

Saying a Sad “Goodbye”

Today is a sad day on our journey. We had to say Goodbye to Sirius this afternoon. The cutest, sweetest little black kitten ever!

Back in April we took him to the OSU Vet Hospital to see if they could figure out what was wrong with him – he hadn’t been well the whole time we’ve had him and our vet had suspicions, but no diagnosis. So, they shaved his little belly and gave him an ultrasound, which confirmed what all the professionals were thinking – FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis), which is fatal.

Last week Steve, Steffi, and I went to Alaska, leaving Beka home alone for the first time. I was a little nervous about Sirius, because he had really started to have trouble walking and eating. He was about the same when we got home, but on Saturday... His back legs were not cooperating with his intentions (anyone ever have THAT feeling?), and his food kept falling out of his mouth as he tried to eat. It was SO SAD!

Yesterday, Mothers’ Day, I held him most of the day and last night I slept in the living room with him so he wouldn’t have to go upstairs (he always sleeps with a human!) and risk falling downstairs to get to food and litter. (Okay, okay, it was after midnight – I didn’t even think about the fact that I could just bring all that stuff up the stairs for him! Duh!)

We discussed our options last night, and everyone agreed that he really had experienced the best life he could and that his short little life really was over. What a sad, sad thing to have to decide! I think it was a little harder for Steffi, but she came to peace with it as well.

Neither of the girls wanted to go with me to the vet appointment, so I did it alone. We have the most incredible, loving vet and she was just so kind and supportive. I can’t imagine euthanizing a pet with anyone else – it would make it so much harder.

So, Sirius is gone from our home – and we donated his body to OSU to help study FIP. Maybe he will be a little help in figuring out a treatment for this currently incurable disease.

He was such a fabulous kitten. He really, truly seemed to love us just as much as we loved him. He would follow us around when he wasn’t already being held. He was always jumping up onto my lap for a snuggle. And he will live forever in the memory of our vet as the amazing little kitten who insisted on getting into the litterbox before vomiting – three times!

Today is definitely a sad day… Sirius, honey, we will miss you!!!

Yes! Great explanation of unschooling!

Check this out!

This is the first in a series of videos by the woman who was on the Dr. Phil Show on unschooling (who was, unfortunately, trashed by Dr. Phil's prejudiced agenda). She has a good explanation of unschooling.





And this this one delves into the details of Radical Unschooling (or Whole-life Unschooling):