About Me

it occurred to me that entering the latter half of my 30's actually qualifies as being one of those "older women" Titus 2 was talking about and maybe I could actually be of some help to someone. I mean, really, I'm opinionated enough. And I have no qualms about telling you that your shoes don't match your outfit any more than your parenting methods match your parenting goals. I know I would have appreciated it if someone had "told it to me straight" during those early parenting years.

In my "short version" bio in the corner, I mentioned farming, but the truth is, you're getting in on the ground-floor of this endeavor. The house exists, the land is there. But I'm not in said house yet. It's a farmhouse. An old farmhouse. The kind that needs completely rewired, etc., etc. I've always dreamed of raising my kids in the country, gathering eggs in the morning, admiring my studly husband out in the fields. Now that it is actually about to happen, I'm scared to pieces. Did you know there are snakes in the country? And bears? And cougars? Seriously. I'm a Nervous Nellie when it comes to the safety of my children and this is not an easy transition for me.

I also mentioned knitting, but don't think there will be grand and unique knitting designs shared here. I can make scarves, hats, mittens, and socks. And none exceptionally well.

The homeschooling is done via a make-shift classical method. My children have always been homeschooled and I currently have children in all three learning stages at the same time (grammar, logic, and rhetoric.) We attempt every year to pursue a Charlotte Mason education. This strongly resembles classical in many ways, but is more fun and nature-focused. We always get behind and fall back to standard, classical assignments until we catch up again, which is never.

The product reviews are mostly homeschool curriculum reviews, though there are some other opinion pieces thrown in.  Most of the time, I am given the product as a gift to review, but sometimes I just feel like sharing my opinion, so I do. I write for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, which I highly recommend if you are a homeschooling mama in need of support or encouragement. They run frequent sales and even carry an online edition.

The low-carb comment referred to what works best for my family, not to what I religiously stick to. At the moment, I'm so far off the wagon, you wouldn't know there was a wagon. But we only backslide occasionally and I will very soon be back to feeding us the staples of a paleo, primitive, prism-style diet. They're mostly alike and I honestly balk at the term diet because it implies we're out to lose weight. No, we're out to eat healthy. It's a way of eating. Not just for a couple months until you reach your goal, but to love it for the rest of your life....unless you go on vacation and then that's different. Unfortunately, I really believe that last line and I extended that vacation we took in June and forgot to start feeding us the right way ever since.

Something that didn't make the short "About Me" list is my efforts towards emergency preparations, stockpiling, or sustainable living...whatever you want to call it. I'm not Mormon, and neither am I an End-times Doomsday-er. I just want to be responsible with our finances and resources, with some emergency preparations on-hand...just in case. Just in case scenarios include loss-of-job, weather-related emergencies, etc. The scenarios I foresee do not include Zombie Apocalypse, though I can't help but joke about it being our real goal. 

All of these topics are pursued with the goal of living more simply, thus the title. We make things so complicated. I've been a pack-rat all of my life, both with things and activities. As a family, we've reached that epiphany moment and are tired of the stuff. We've spent the last month decluttering and will make this move to the country with less than half of our current house contents. I'm very excited about that. It's so freeing to let go of the stuff!

And that's as much about me as I can stand to type.