Valentine's Date and Eyeliner | Ramblings | Mom Life Journal

Earlier in the month my husband and I attended a Valentine dinner at our church. We had a great time being out together without the kids and spending the evening with our church family.

When I was getting ready to go, I did something I don't always do. I put on eye liner. I used to wear it every single day,(the pencil kind that looks like a colored pencil.) then it started to irritate my eyes. I stopped wearing it a few years ago. I felt like looking special for the occasion, so I dug into the bottom of my make up container and found an old eyeliner. It was so old I figured I would get an eye infection. Surprisingly I didn't. Yay!

My kids asked what was wrong with my eyes and my husband was even surprised I was wearing it. Which prompted a couple of conversations about make up. I asked my family and basically all of them couldn't tell if I had it on or not most days. Hmm. While I'm all for it looking subtle, I kind of figured people could at least tell I had it on. 

Which also prompted the kids asking why my face looks weird and their father telling them that's how a lot of women wear their make up, mom just happens to be different. 

It caused me to think that maybe it wouldn't hurt to wear a little more make up than I currently do. Especially if people literally can't tell if I'm even wearing it. 

If you are still reading this you are probably wondering where I'm going with all of this. 

Well, after wearing that super old eye liner, I didn't have any issues with my eyes. Which then prompted me to buy some new eyeliner that is less likely to give me an eye infection. Haha. 

I grew up in a rather conservative home, and my mother was very strick with make up in particular. So while a lot of girls in their teens were trying out make up, and learning how to use it...I wasn't. I basically missed that whole part of growing up. Now, I'm not saying I especially missed out on anything special with that. However I definitely missed the part where younger teens learn how to do some of these things. 

While shopping for eyeliner, I discovered waterproof liquid liner. Um, liner that doesn't smudge under my eyes and stays put all day? Yes please. 

Turns out there is learning curve with putting on liquid eye line. Lol I'm 35 and I was up late a couple nights last week watching videos on how to put on liquid eye liner. Yep. I did that. 🤷🏼‍♀️ It helped. I can actually put liquid eye liner on really well, on one eye. Haha. I'm still working on the other eye. Yep. I'm 35 and still learning how to be a girlie girl, I guess. 

This little adventure also prompted me to send a handful of random pictures of my eyeballs to my friend Julie, because she is good with make up, and ask her if I was doing it right. At one point I told her I feel like I missed a seminar on this when I was twelve and she promptly replied 'You totally did.' and that is one of the many reasons why I love my friend Julie. 

Well. I guess this rambling has no true reason, besides I went on a date with my husband, I kind of learned how to put on eyeliner and all of this snow is starting to drive me bonkers. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Happy Thursday!

Snow Day! | Mom Life Journal

 Yesterday we had a lot of fun in the snow we got from winter storm Orlena. 

                                                          

We did school in the morning, then went outside to sled during our lunch break. Then back inside to do school and chores, then a coupe kids went back outside again. 

I finally got around to making a video for the YouTube channel. A few of us have been feeling under the weather, hence the sniffly noses in the video. I'm considering taking up making more videos again. I know for a fact that life is going to be one crazy roller coaster ride this year, and I'd like to have video evidence of it in later years. :) 

Yesterday was one of those days that you really remember later on in the year. The type of day that you dream of having when you think about winter coming to town. Sledding, snowball fights, attempts to make a snowman, hot chocolate, and if you are Alex you body slam snowdrifts. Ha, teenagers!

My legs are sore from climbing hills with the kids yesterday! shew!

 Today the snow is still out there, but slowly starting to melt. It is pretty darn cold out there, but it is sunny and that is nice. I love the sun, too bad it barely feels like the sun this time of year. 

It's all down hill until the time changes now! We are gaining 2 minutes of daylight a day right now. It has been light all the way up until 6pm the last few nights. That brings me serious joy. :)

I'm including some pictures of all of the snow we got, some sun in the snow and the you tube video that I made.

Happy Wednesday!

~Lyndsay

Alex found a new sledding hill. It's fast and you have too bail out of the sled before you slide into the creek!

A woodpecker has been hanging out on the front tree.

A couple inches of ice plus 8+ inches of snow!

Alex did a lot of shoveling!

Poor Pool...the steps almost disappeared.

First Day of Homeschool Co-op 2021 | Homeschool Life

Co-op started last Friday. It was nice to get back to seeing friends and learning together. This is not our normal co-op, but it has some of the same friends. 

I know we live in a totally different world now, and I sometimes wonder if things will ever be the same again. However, a first day of co-op picture felt necessary this year. Even more so than on other years. 

We all had a great first day, and Anna even cried when it was time to leave. That's a major change from our last co-op experience when she cried the entire time we were there. 

I really enjoyed teaching my literature class and can't wait to go back next week. I've never taught middle school grades before, and I'm pleasantly surprised. 

We are all looking forward to a fun semester! 

Well... | Mom Life Journal

Here I am after making a commitment to write and it has been six days since I last wrote. Yep. I failed. Oops. It's a good thing I didn't set parameters to all this, right? 

In my defense, I was sick most of last week and a lot of the time when things are quiet here online there's actually a lot going on in my real life. 

We started back to school last week, and I managed to power through not feeling so hot and we got it all done. We kept the house clean most of the week and stayed on top of laundry. Yay! 

We had a new employee start at work, and I had to go set that up. We also had to make some big decisions regarding the business, which took a lot of number crunching and prayer. 

Like I said, it was quiet around here, but it wasn't quiet in real life. 

We were supposed to start back to co-op last Friday, but it got postponed because of a funeral. Postponing was a small blessing for our family, because last week was full. Speaking of back to co-op, I'm teaching a middle school literature class...and the book list was already chosen before I got the class. I haven't heard of or read a single one of the books. Which is ironic because I read a LOT of books every single year, and my kids do too. You'd think we have had heard of these books before. 📚 I'm looking forward to teaching the class and plan to have some fun with it. I haven't really taught middle school at co-op yet, so this should be interesting. I used to always teach under third grade and then I taught mainly high school. Wish me luck! 

Speaking of books, a friend told me about a book challenge group she joined with another friend. They are doing an alphabetical book challenge. You read a book that the title starts with each letter of the alphabet. Um, I find this kind of cool. It would be good to help you get out of a book rut. My friend said she also joined a challenge with a friend to read 80 books a year. Knowing my friend, this will be no challenge for her. She and I got to discussing it and we ended up doing a quick count of the books we had already read this year...I'm up to 15, not including books of the Bible I've been reading. I told you I read a lot.

I'm half tempted to keep a yearly count of the books I read this year. Maybe I will, although I have a feeling I'd lose track eventually. But it would be nice to know my total count for the year. Hmmm. I'll have to think on that one. 

Church was amazing on Sunday. It had been a couple weeks since we got to go, and and we definitely missed it. I snapped the above picture of anna while she was praying at the beginning of church on Sunday. Let me tell you, this little girl has been blessed with a heart for prayer. One of the elder women in the church stopped me a couple months ago and said she was surprised to hear Anna truly praying while she was at the alter on Sunday mornings. I'm also surprised how much she pours out for the Lord in her moments of prayer. Such a blessing to witness the Lord at work in my childrens lives. It's only been two days and I'm already ready for next week's service. Why can't everyday feel like Sunday?

 Today I went to get my hair cut and dyed, I didn't take a single picture of the process like I normally do. I need to take more pictures of daily life again. I get swamped in actually living life and forget to take pictures of it.

Tonight was carnitas rice bowl night for dinner. 

Something kind of sad happened yesterday. My friend has been inviting me to join her at a women's conference hosted by her church for years now. I've always wanted to go, but it never seemed to work out. This year it finally worked out for me to go, and I logged on to sign up. It was sold out, when an hour before it had openings. :( They placed me on the wait list but said they were taking half the women than last year because of new virus restrictions. What a bummer. I really kind of hope someone cancels so I can go, but I'm also aware of the fact if I don't get to go then I must be because someone else needed to go and hear the word more than I did. I'd love to go but will understand if it isn't the Lord's will for me to go. 

Dustin and I are planning to attend our churches Valentine's dinner early in February. I'm excited about it. They said they play their own version of the newlywed game, and it's their favorite night of the year. I'm really looking forward to attending. 

Well, that pretty much catches everyone up on life at our house. I'll try me best to write more later this week. We have plans every single day this week. We aren't used to our weeks being this full anymore. It's an adjustment for sure.

I'm also realizing that even though we went on vacation in January, it didn't keep us from getting the January blues. All of us are a little sad and really hoping for some sunshine soon. Springtime, hurry up! 

Happy Tuesday!

~Lyndsay

January 2021 Budget | No Spend Month

Happy January! 

 I can't believe it is January again. I feel like we were just here. 

Dustin is still off work and working on the utility room. However, it iced this morning and has switched over to pouring rain for most of the day. He needs to haul the shiplap home from the hardware store and can't until the rain lets up. He is basically stuck cleaning and working on a few small things while we wait for the rain to head out. 

  I am working on our January budget, and decided last week to make it a no spend month. Despite the obvious purchases for the remodel, it will be a month of only purchasing what we absolutely need. Although I might do a grocery stock up toward the end of the month, like I mentioned in other posts. 

  I am so thankful for how our debt free journey has changed our lives. We never imagined our lives would be how they are now. However, sometimes I worry that the lack of struggling will affect us in some negative ways eventually. I don't Dustin and I or the kids to never forget what it is like to struggle or to grow complacent over time or even become spoiled or expectant of things that they 'deserve'. I'm not saying we have become that way completely, but I will admit that I occasionally struggle with the thought popping into my head that I 'deserve' something. That kind of self talk can be unhealthy. I want to make sure we strive to make responsible financial choices, and that we are modeling it for our children.

  In the last year, our budget got a little out of balance. It was mainly because grocery prices fluctuated uncontrollable and it was just a matter of paying what you had to pay. Some of it was unexpected purchases, and some of it was me just not being as conscious of what I was spending at times. It was a crazy year, and that's not a good enough excuse...but it is the truth. I let it happen. 

 

  Did it get completely our of hand? No

  Did we go into debt? No

  Did we spend more than we made? No

But...

  We did eat out more than we should have.

  We spent more on impulse than we should have.

  I did not keep track of things as closely as I should have.

  We did buy way more Starbucks than we needed to for our budget and our health.

  I did shop at some stores out of convenience and not at some stores to save money when I could have.

We/I could have done so much better on the financial department last year. My plan is to bring it back into line this year, starting with this month. 

This 'No Spend Month' is not a challenge to see how little we can live on. It is a practice to get back in the habit of watching what we spend more closely, and curbing the small impulse buys that sneak in. 

I will also admit that I am trying to cut back on the amount of food we are keeping on hand. I am all for being prepared and always have been. Although in the past few months I have kept more in the house than needed out of fear of not having enough. That is not a healthy way to live. We still live in the land of plenty, and have never gone without. At least never in the true sense of the word. I am praying about this and working to decide how much is truly enough to keep on hand. This is something to find a balance of between me and the Lord. I will always be someone who likes to be prepared and who will combine and condense trips to the store for groceries, but I never want to become someone who hoards excess food out of fear. Given the past year, I can see how I started to fall into this way of feeling and thinking. I have spoken to a few friends who have dealt with the same thing. It was a strange year. It shocked the balance of life for most people in our country and all across the world. I plan to write more about this later, but for now, I'm working to make sure that we have enough, but not too much. 

 I use a paper and a budgeting app each month. I am old school with my budget and can comprehend it better with a paper budget. I do like the Every Dollar app for on the go, and to keep long term track of our budget. Plus I usually lose the paper budget halfway through the month. Yep. I just admitted that. Ha!

 Depending on how I feel about this post later, I might continue to share my budget each month. I also might come back and update how the 'No Spend Month' goes. Although I already had to stop myself from buying something this morning. Can we say impulse buy? Ouch. Wish me luck! 

Have you made your budget for January?

~Lyndsay

It Was A Busy Monday | Mom Life Journal

Is it really only the 28th? 

How is it not already the new year yet?

I thought today was Tuesday half the day and even had to ask someone to try to be sure I had the right day of the week. 

Today Addison and I got our nails done. I keep a full set of acrylics and Addison gets one finger done with acrylic. She has a damaged fingernail from being a sick a few years ago, and we are seeing if the acrylic will help it to hold together and heal correctly. Lots of prayers have been going up for a fingernail that grows correctly. 

After the nail salon, we went to the grocery store for a few items, then we got gas and stopped at mcds for lunch. 

I was home for about an hour and then Alex went with me to take the Macey(our dog) to the vet for her yearly check up. She was due for shots and they won't renew her prescription of thyroid meds without a yearly blood check. 

She cracks us up so much. She barks and barks when people come to visit, but she is truly a big baby at her core. She cried the whole way to the vet's office, because she couldn't be on my lap. We finally park at the vet's office, and she can finally get on my lap. It helped with the crying. Then she would let out a whiny bark when she saw someone and then would hide.

All while wearing her 'I 💜 Cats' sweater. She likes for people to think she is big, brave and ferocious, but she is not.

 After the appointment we stopped at Alex's bosses house to drop off a belated Christmas gift. We had planned to drop it off at on Christmas Eve, but the roads got too slick before we could. 

It was nice spending a little time with Alex. He and I always seem to be busy, moving in opposite directions if each other. I guess that's life with a teenage boy. 

I made pork chops, macaroni and cheese, fried potatoes and three types of vegetable for dinner. I almost went to town to buy dinner, but we did agree to eat at home more. One meal out today was more than enough. 

  Dustin made three trips town today for various things to complete the new hot water heater. Actually I think one trip was to do something at work. He says tomorrow is the day the new hot water heater will be up and running. No more tank! It's supposed to save hundreds of dollars per year. I'm curious to see how much of a difference it makes. 

Well...I'm off to bed. Tomorrow I plan to clean as much of the house as I'm able with all the construction, and I need to start working out again. I took about a week off over Christmas, plus the treadmill was in a strange location because of the construction. I also need to finalize the budget for January tomorrow afternoon.

Today was very busy with a lot of errands. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to being home. 

~Lyndsay

Merry Christmas! (2020) | Mom Life Journal

Merry Christmas! 

We had a wonderful Christmas day, spent relaxing, eating, playing in the snow, playing together, napping and enjoying each other's company. 

I can't tell you the last time we got snow on Christmas. It makes for extra special memories for all of us  

The highlights for the day include Anna getting a karaoke machine and everyone singing along, my husband getting a container of 'Tang'(A childhood favorite drink.) And talking about it, and making endless jokes about Tang, Alex and Emma played anew video game (Overcooked) that had all of us rolling with laughter, Addison got her most requested gift an Instax camera, Dustin alsi received a Sling puck game that everyone has enjoyed. The kids gave Dustin and I a massage chair and massage gun. Such useful gifts for all of us! 

The high on Christmas was 19 degrees, and we were basically snowed in. The roads were very icy and the county did not clean them until early the next morning. It was nice to be at snowed in home, with no where to go for Christmas. 

How was your Christmas?

~Lyndsay

Day 11.  I have not been entirely consistent but I'm getting words on a page a lot more often than I was before. It will be easier after Dustin goes back to work and we are back in school. 

9 Random Facts About Me (Confessions of a Homeschool Mom)

For those of you who keep commenting that you think I have it all put together. 

Here are a few random things that I feel you should know.

1. I'm a recovering Supermom. Don't believe me? You should read my blog. Google tinyhousehomeschoollife, find the blog and then search postpartum anxiety. You can read all about how and when my entire self worth as a person crumbled and I had to learn to rely on God, my family and my friends just to get through the day.

2. My house used to be spotless on the daily. One downsize into a 100yr old renovation with zero closets, a fourth kid and a whole lot of life later....and we try but it's far from spotless. I supposed I could spend all of my time cleaning and it would look nice, but we'd have no life. I like to think they won't remember the clutter in the corners. 

3. I have not worked out consistently in a long time. Yes, I used to be that annoyingly fit person, I lost 90+ lbs, trained for a half marathon, wore a size 2 and assumed I'd stay that way for the rest of my life. Yeah, life happens and I'm not in that place mentally, physically or emotionally. I'm not sure I'll ever be back in that place, or that I should ever want to be. I do plan to take more time focusing on my fitness this next year. It's not easy adding one more thing back in, especially when I'm not willing to drop any of my other priorities or compromise my health. I'm not going to say I'm unhealthy right now, but I will say I need to work on my strength and fitness level. 

4. Homeschooling and raising four kids is wickedly hard and majorly time consuming. It's exhausting guys! I'd be lying if I didn't confess to considering alternative options from time to time. I love being with and teaching my children daily...but it means I'm with my children daily. It can be a lot, especially when you want to do it right, and send some very prepared and capable adults out into the world. Sometimes it is all we get done. 

5. I love to cook and serve healthy foods for my family, but sometimes life takes over and the focus is on filling bellies. Whether it be by a compromise in what meals I'm cooking or a run through a fast food place. It is how it is right now and that's ok. I push vitamins, vegetables and fruit when I can. Fun fact, I've ruined more meals in the last two years than I think I have in my entire adult life. 

6. I sometimes forget to take care of my husband. We've been married 18 years and together for almost 20. We own a business together, have four kids and life...and in the midst of it I sometimes forget about him. Seriously. Last Sunday I went to Chipotle after church for lunch and totally forgot to order his food. Thankfully one of the kids reminded me once we got back in the van or I would have went home without food for him. I truly love him and do not mean to forget about him. This goes both ways right now, he has forgotten I'm allergic to chicken(It's a new allergy) and brought me a chicken sandwich.(It used to be my favorite thing to eat.)

 It's just the season we are in, it will get better as the kids get older. 

7. Twice a week there is a pile of clean laundry so tall if it fell over it might hurt someone. My husband refers to it as the laundry monster. I have tried many things to keep it under control and folded daily, but it just hasn't worked out. So I have resorted to throwing a 'folding party' twice a week. I turn on a show, put it all in the living room and fold every single piece and match every sock. Then I lovingly call out (I yell) this phrase...'If you live in this house, come put your own clothes away!'. Interestingly enough, my husband started putting his own clothes away after I started doing this. I didn't bother to tell him I only meant the kids, and just went with it. 😂

8. I wrote all of these with my feet propped up after a day of school...while my children are cleaning, doing their daily chores. After school is done I need one full hour before I can address any of their questions/wants/needs. I am an introverted extrovert, I need my down time. 

9. Sometime I forget to take care of myself. I've been known to order a meal at a fast food drive thru and forget to order food for myself. I have also showered on a Monday night and not had a moment to take another one until Saturday morning. This wasn't with a baby in the house, it was three weeks ago. Sometimes I forget to drink water and have four cups of coffee throughout the day instead. At least two of them are decaf, I like to think that makes it a little better. 

Why did I type all of these random facts about myself? Because I NEVER want my life to be a stumbling block to anyone else. I fail every single day and it's by the grace of God that I'm still here raising these four crazy kiddos while trying not to forget about my husband. 

All of this being said, I'm not perfect, no one is! If you are struggling in life and need someone to remind you it's okay to struggle, call me. I promise I will have a reason for you to feel better about yourself. We need to band together to help each other, not just assume someone has it all together. Satan loves for us to compare and assume, and isolation is his biggest tool of destruction for women! Don't give him the satisfaction. 

Blessings! 

Lyndsay

10 Steps To Taking a Relaxing Mom Bath *Humor Edition*

 I love taking baths. They are an essential tool in my busy mom life!
  

 I used to be a shower person, and I still am to an extent. In recent years I have found that a good soak in the tub can work wonders on my mood, it helps with sore muscles (Thank you T-TAPP boot camp!), stress, anxiety and my arthritis pain too! In all honesty it is my time to decompress after being with the kids all day, every day.
I absolutely love being a homeschooling Mama to four awesome kids, but it can be mentally and physically exhausting.

 I try to take a soak 2-4 nights a week. If I'm having an arthritis flare, it's even more often than that. You would think this amount of repetition would make it painfully simple for the kids to understand that Mom is taking a bath, all other things can wait fifteen minutes or at least be redirected to Dad until further notice. 

Nope. Nada. Not happening. 

*Sigh*

 

We only have one bathroom in our house, so I tend to not lock the door while I'm actually in the tub. I lock it before I get in and after getting out. I do it in case of urgent needs or emergencies etc.

It has come to my attention that my children do not know the difference between urgent needs vs. totally unnecessary whims. 

 I've been keeping count and on average I am interrupted no less than six times per bath! SIX! How many times do they go to their Dad? Zero. Zero times. 

 Upon further thoughts on this topic and the sheer mass and absurdity of the interruptions, I decided to mentally keep track of my interactions with my children while taking a bath and then relay a sampling of them to you. Because we all could use a little more humor in our lives. Plus if we are being honest, this happens at your house too. 

So I present you with my typical bath time 'routine'.

Step 1
  Place tired, freshly bathed, milk cup holding, blanket snuggled toddler up with an episode of Doc McStuffins on a tablet, on the couch near Dad. Announce to my husband that I'm taking a bath. Tell the children I am taking a bath. 

Step 2
  Grab my towel and favorite pajamas. Wait outside bathroom for the traffic jam of kids who can't wait fifteen minites to go. 

Step 3
 Remove toys, and wet wash clothes from tub. Run the hottest water possible into the tub.

 I do this for two reasons.

 Reason one; I am usually the last one to bathe and the hot water tank is typically tapped out by now. 

 Reason two; because the tub never stays hot long enough and non dissolved Epsom salts are not your friend!

Step 4
  Add Epsom salts and turn on favorite worship music on my phone. My phone automatically starts playing The Greatest Showman sound track, because one of the kids was borrowing my phone. Switch music to Lauren Daigle.

Step 5

 
  Strip down, avoid mirror (I've had four kids after all) and climb into tub.

  Child knocks on door, interruption one. 

 It's Addison(age 7) she enters the bathroom because she has to pee. I remind her she just went pee, but she has to go again anyway. She turns down the music because it keeps her from being able to go...makes perfect sense. 

Still sitting on potty, 'Mom, what are you doing?'

Me: 'I'm shoveling snow. Why? What does it look like I'm doing?'

Addison: *giggles* 'Oh. I thought you were taking a bath. I thought it was summertime, I didn't see snow?'
*All sarcasm is lost on this one.*

Me: 'Yes, I'm taking a bath. But you already knew that and probably did not need to ask.
Are you done yet? Please go finish your evening chore.'

Addison: *Washing hands painfully slow, asks five more questions and comments ranging from why the sky is blue to how babies are born. I politely suggest she go ask her father. She finally starts to leave,
'Do you want me to keep you company? Do you want me to sing you a song? Are you lonely? I'm gonna miss you!'

Step 6
  Soap up wash cloth, shave legs above the shins for the first time in longer than I care to admit, and wash body. 

Someone stands outside the bathroom door, doing a rather loud, completely  believable cry.
Interruption two. 

  

I yell through the door and ask if someone is bleeding. 

'Huh Mom? What? Do you need me? Did you miss me?'... It's Addison again. 

After reassuring her that I promise I'm not lonely, and as long as no one is hurt I'm good for her to leave. 

She leaves, but leaves the door cracked 2.5 inches. *Sigh*

Ten second after Addison leaves, Emma (age 10) appears at the door. Knock, knock...'It's me Emma, I figured you would shut the door for your bath?'

She is doing her kitchen chore, 'Mom, how do you get the lid off of this cup. It is on really tight.'
Me- 'There are two very strong and able-bodied men in the living room.'

Emma: 'I already asked Alex (13), he said it was too tight, Dad said he couldn't because of the tendonitis in his arm.'

Emma hands the cup into the bath, I open it in .5 seconds. 

'Wow Mom! How did you do that?!'

Me- 'Magic mom powers.' *hint of sarcasm*
Emma leaves, actually closing the door.
That's the end of interruption number three.

Step 7
  I attempt to listen to music(at it's still lowered volume) and think calm thoughts. Twelve seconds later...
I hear a scratching  and meows at the bathroom door. Ah yes, interruption number four (Anna, age 2) has shown up right on time. 

Anna: 'Mommy, I WANT you! Meow! Mommy I NEED you!' Scratching. 

Me: Silently praising God that the toddler lock is still on the doorknob. 'Why do you need me?'

Anna: 'Doc turned off. I need Doc.'

Deep breaths, with the mental image of her getting up from near her father and walking past three other capable people in search of me. I remind her that Daddy is home and can help.
She mumbles through the door and walks off, meowing. 

Forty-five seconds later, Knock knock. 

It's Addison...again.

Number five.

 
She wants to make sure I don't actually miss her. Comes into the bathroom and makes herself comfy on the toilet lid.

'Mom, can I get on my tablet? I did my chore.'

Me: 'Yes, put PJs on first.'

Thinking to self. This is great, she will go and watch a show!

Nope. 

 
She decides to hang out for a few. She is writing a note on the mirror, so I can read it; in case I get lonely and want something to read. Also in case I might forget about her in the whole fifteen minutes of my bath.
She opens the curtains and insists I should read the note, so she can see the surprise on my face. 

Me: 'Addison'

Addison: 'Yes, Mommy?' *doe eyed*

Me: Cringing from guilt before even opening my mouth. 'Get out.'

Addison: 'Won't you miss me? Will you be lonely? Do you want me to tell you a story? Do you want to tell me a story? Can we have ice cream for a snack?

*Slowly leaving room and sticking her face in the crack as it closes.*

'Bye Mom, I'll miss you, I can stay if you want. I love you!'

Walks away leaving door cracked 2.5 inches. Every single time.

Interruption number six. 

 
  Alex (age 13) sees door is cracked and assumes no one is in the bathroom. Whips open door.(Yes, I'm smart enough to shut the shower curtain while bathing.)

 
Alex: ' Oops, sorry Mom. Didn't know you were in here. Hey?! Why don't you shut the door so people know to knock?'

Me: 'That's a really good idea. I'll have to remember that in the future. I'll be done soon.'

Alex: 'Ok. Hey. Since you aren't busy I have some questions about co-op, is there going to be...'

Me: cutting him off. 'Get out.'

Alex: 'But...'

Me: 'Unless you want me to come in and ask you questions while you shower, get out.'

*Silence*

He is gone.

Step 8

 
  Having lost all hope of having a relaxing soak in the tub, I release the tub plug and admit defeat. I Climb from the tub to find my towel has been used to dry someone's hands and my clean clothes have been trampled, I lock the door.

Vowing to never leave it unlocked again.

Then I hear a knock knock on the door and a 'Hey, why's the door locked?' from Addison. 

SEVEN. 

 

Step 9
  I emerge from the bathroom 17 minutes after entering to find everyone happily engrossed  in other things. They don't need me anymore, I'm clearly available to help them now.

Anna is passed out cold on the recliner. 

 I walk into the living room and my husband looks up from the movie he has been watching uninterrupted and asks, 'How was your bath?'

Maybe yoga would be more relaxing?

Step 10

 
Briefly consider running away to a deserted island and then secretly admit that I would miss them, plus the art work here is priceless! 

Blessings!

~Lyndsay

I think I may have a seed buying problem...

 


  Actually this is what has accumulated over the last few years. Each year we planned to start the garden and it fell through for one reason or another. Yet, each year I purchased a few(or many) in anticipation of starting the garden.
  I grabbed a few today, then came home to gather and sort the rest. There were a few more than I thought. Oops! I'm calling it long term savvy frugal garden preparation. 😉😊😎

I still need a few more though. It's a sickness!🌱

 I grew up on  farm and I guess having sees around is kind of part of who I am. The feeling of running out of seeds to plant is similar to the thought of not having any extra food in the pantry or money in the emergency fund. Yep it's that important.

Now to start laying out the plans for the new beds we need to build. We are open to any and all suggestions in that department. We will be building raised beds, a new things for us. We have also been discussing giving straw bale planting a try, at least for a couple things.

 I already started me medicine and herb garden area last fall. That will be expanded this year as well.

Who else is deep in garden planning?

New Additions! Operation Homestead 2018! *Video at bottom of post*

 At our old house I had attempted to start a homestead of sorts. With so many little ones in the house it quickly became too much for me. I had to let it go for a season.
Now we are more than settled into our new house, our business is under way and the kids aren't all as little as they used to be. It's time to restart 'Operation Homestead'!

 Dustin and I had already been discussing building the garden beds and possibly getting chickens and rabbits this year. Then a fellow homeschool family decided to incubate some eggs for a science project. They live in town and can't keep more than a few chickens, I was more than happy to take them off her hands.  

  The oldest two children remember having chicks and chickens, but the younger two have never experienced it. They are so excited for this brand new experience! We brought them home a few hours ago and the joy is unreal. :)

   Dustin told Anna (2) that we got the chicks so we can have fresh eggs. She has since been telling them to 'Get comfy, cook eggs!' and keeps asking them 'Where's you Mama at?'
She asked me 'Where's their Mama at?' I told her she was their Mama now. She likes that idea. 

  Everyone is very excited to start this new step in our journey. I have missed having 'farm' animals around, gardening and tending to a mini farm/homestead are two things that bring me great joy.

From a homeschooling standpoint, this offers all kinds of opportunities for real life, hands on, science education. It also teaches them the value of hard work and the enjoyment of the rewards of caring for another living thing. 

 

 Plus this has brought a fun new thing to brighten our days after having not so great of a start to the year. Between sickness, cold and snow, it has been a long winter. Everyone was more than ready for a glimpse of life to prove that spring will eventually arrive. This will serve as a wonderful distraction from the greyness outside.
 

~Lyndsay

7 Quick Takes! A Recap of Life in the Tiny House This Week! The Secrets Homeschoolers Keep, Mom Fail and Random Thoughts!

 It's Friday! We made it! Thank goodness. Because I spent part of the week asking what day it was. It was one of those weird, confusing catch up weeks. I think, mainly because it was our first official week back to life, post holidays and sickness. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights most of the week. 

1. New Year, New Curriculum.

 I am terrible at sticking to some really boring less exciting curriculums. If we get half way in and realize it isn't working for us, we change it. Thankfully, we have most of our core subjects nailed down. It is just a couple that keep getting shifted around. 

 I tried something new with our reading/comprehension at the beginning of the year. The older two did it, but hated it. I got them to stick to it for the first half of the year. When we were prepping to start back they voiced their dislike of that particular area. I mulled it over for about a week and agreed that they shouldn't have to do it, if they hated it that much. They love to read and they do read a good bit. (A large part of their curriculum is independent reading.) I did not want to start making them hate reading. Especially after all the years of encouraging it. Honestly, I should have just left well enough alone this year and stuck with what worked last year.
  
 I also switched Addison back to Life of Fred for math. She finished the math I had for her before Christmas. I know which one she will be switching to, but I feel like we need to take a side road and do some Fred. Fred is awesome. 

We are still struggling in the History department. Why? Because I dropped the ball. (Real life, moment.)  This happens with History and Science, more often than I would like to admit. I have not found a history program that truly fits for us yet. So, I build our own. When I'm on top of it, it is great. I can build a curriculum. I actually enjoy it.

 Then, life happens, and they run out of what I have planned for them, before I am done planning the next section. My goal for this year is to plan the whole year of history in advance. That is how we do most of our subjects. 

We have continued to shift to a more heavy Charlotte Mason approach to our schooling. Below is a small snippet of what they are currently reading. (This is not their full work load.)

Emma

Alex

 

Addison

2. It's not messy, it's 'school mode'!

I was texting my friend Sveta this week, when I should have been doing school with the little one. Yea, I was playing hooky. You caught me. Any-who, we were discussing what we had planned for the day, and what we had accomplished that day. 
I commented that my house was fairly clean (had laundry going, etc, etc, mom stuff). She commented that her house was not clean. Which made me giggle because her house is never dirty. She sends me a picture of her living room as proof. It looked almost exactly like my house, but with different children in it. 
We both agreed that our houses were not exactly dirty at that moment in time. We were just doing school. Once school is finished all of it gets tucked away for the day. Then normal house reappears. 
 We decided to call it 'School Mode'. 

It is almost impossible to homeschool and avoid the daily clutter explosion that happen while school is in session. I refuse to call it messy anymore. Because it is not an accurate representation of our life.

As proof, I'm showing you our house in 'School mode'. It is what it is for about 4-6 hours, then it gets put away for the day. 

 


The cardboard in the background is a project that was in the works. When you live in a little house, school happens everywhere.


3. Jarred Cactus?

 All of the kids were sick for a little over a week. It happened to fall on the first of the month, (When I typically shop for the month.) and during a snow storm with a cold snap of single digits.. I was more or less house bound. Not necessarily because of the snow. Although, I hate driving in the snow. It was because of the kids. 
 I was wondering how I was going to get to the store and manage to get the month worth of groceries with all these sick people.
 Then it occurred to me that between Amazon, Walmart and Sam's Club, I could order 80% of our pantry, household and grocery items without leaving the house. 

Our prime pantry box

I only had to go out once. Dustin brought home pizza on Friday after work. Emma and I loaded up in the van. We picked up our site-to-store order from Sam's, then popped into Aldi. Because of the storm we ended up having to stop at Kroger also. People in our area still function on 'Panic mentality' any time it snows. They buy all the milk, eggs and bread. 

 We were gone maybe 2.5 hours and it was a lot less stress for me.

 Emma and I like to cut up and have fun. We have this rather dry and almost mean sarcastic humor, that I do not allow her (or myself) to use on others. When we go out alone I turn her loose with it. It is very Lorelai and Rory. We even sometimes pick an accent and use it the entire time. 
 We can't help it, it is in our personality. If I don't let her get it out, she uses it at all the wrong times.    So, we came to an agreement that we can use it on each other at certain appointed times. Then we have to turn it off. Plus it teaches her how to control the sarcastic humor that she was born with. Something that I took a long time to learn. 

Something that caught our eye, While looking for a certain type of beans and attempting to use all of the words from different languages that we knew, in one sentence, while speaking in a British accent (I feel the need to mention that I had not had a lot of sleep.)...we found this. It is jarred, pickled? (I assume) cactus?!

I feel the need to try this in the near future! Maybe while we are studying deserts and cacti. Because who doesn't want to read about something rather different (At least to us. We live very far from a desert region. ;) ) and then you get to eat one?!

 


4. The part they don't tell you about homeschooling.

 I'm sure you have heard the jokes about homeschoolers never getting out of their pajamas. There is also the joke about how socially awkward we can be and the media always likes to toss around the 'socialization' scare tactic. 

 What most people don't realize is, we are typically just as busy as the rest of the world.  Between work, the chiropractor, the orthodontist, hair appointments, the dog, basketball, the library and co-op(That is not everywhere we went.) we left the house and were gone basically every day this week. 

We do a lot of 'car schooling'. This is what it looks like. Mom tip, always bring snacks and water! The toddler will act much less like a feral cat. 





5. Speaking of feral cats...

  I think I mentioned co-op started back up this week. We were all so read to go back. I was prepared and excited. Probably more than the kids. 
We get to co-op, unload the car and Anna decides to turn into a thrashing, screaming, psychopath. It was like giving a feral cat a bath most of the day. I have rarely been so embarrassed by one of my toddlers actions. It was terrible. I wasn't even able to help teach my class. We ended up wandering the halls, eating our lunch early, and I spent the better part of the day apologizing to everyone in our path. 
  After she went to bed last night, I was telling Dustin about our day. He pointed out the fact that she was still on steroids and meds. #facepalm Her crazy behavior makes a bit more sense now. Major mom fail. :( 

She isn't usually like that. It was so bad. So, on a positive note. This is how she normally looks and acts.




6. The mug that matches our house perfectly!

While our friend Laura was visiting recently. She told me about a mug that was in the works at our local pottery place.  She said it matched our house and life perfectly. I had to stop in to pick up a special order item that Laura made, later in the week. I happened to see the mug before it went in for its color dip and glaze. I put a hold on it and asked for it in blue and white. Rachel Shepard (I will be doing a feature on her soon.) made this one. She is one heck of a talented potter!  There are so many talented artists housed in this building. It is non profit and they do loads of ministry and work in our community. If you are interested in learning a new craft, supporting a local business and ministry or just purchasing a one of a kind piece of artwork to sip your morning coffee from...go visit The Potter's House!
The kids are taking classes there this month. I'm excited to watch and maybe get my hands dirty as well.

 

7.  Friday thoughts

 I feel like all of this post was about homeschooling and books. That's probably not what you might have been expecting today. This blog is about our lives and our lives encompass a large variety of topics. As life tends to go though, sometimes our lives get more focused on one topic than others. That is how life works. Part of being a part of our blogging life is coming along for the ride with us. We have been focusing on less media, less tv, less electronics etc. Which means more books and more quiet.
We have been doing lots of reading, writing, reflecting and making the right choices in our lives, business and homeschool. It's January, that's what it's all about. 
Dustin is working a lot. Works is going good. When he isn't working, he is spending time with us and or reading his Bible. 
I have been focusing on reading more, making the habit of exercise stick, spending more time with the kids, and making plans for the future of our lives, this blog and our business. We are starting to move into the next season of life with no babies, no debt and the ability to follow our dreams.

We are making the plans and taking the steps now, to make the next ten+ years pretty awesome.  

 Blessings!
~Lyndsay

I'm kicking around the idea of doing a day in the life vlog once  month. As well as some tutorials. There are also plans for a room by room house tour. It has been so long since I vlogged and or even put my face in front of our youtube channel. It is like starting all over again with the butterflies and everything. 
There you go. That's why I haven't vlogged, I get camera shy. Plus the editing takes a while. I don't always have the time to take from my family.