dishwasher rant

yesterday as i was washing the dishes for the first, second and third times i kept thinking about how much i want a dishwasher. i was thinking about the time that jubal is able to occupy himself long enough for me to get at least a fair amount of the dishes done and how much i'd rather be doing something other than dishes with that time. like sewing or working on my gocco master screens. it's not impossible to get a free dishwasher, i actually have one on my porch if anyone wants it! BUT, the doofuses that re-built this house, for some reason that i cannot fathom (because there isn't a good one!) put in bathroom height counters instead of kitchen height counters. why would you do that? dishwashers don't FIT under bathroom counters! there is a hole for a dishwasher. and wiring for a dishwasher. it mocks me! but a dishwasher doesn't fit there! it's been suggested that we ether rip out the counter or the floor to make room. but i don't want to rip out the nice tilework on the kitchen counters, and it would be a huge pain in the "A." to cut some of the floor out, and probably violate some code or other, as well (although you'd think it would violate a code to put bathroom height counters in a kitchen, eh?!). one of those nice half-size dishwashers that look like drawers in fancy remodel show kitchens wold probably fit there, but they are like 800 bucks and more. and y'all have seen my kitchen, there isn't ROOM for a freestanding dishwasher! i've tried making vesta do the dishes some of the time, but it's more of a hassle than it's worth and she takes forever and i have to rewash several dishes afterwards. so. i guess the solution is to just accept it and move on. but for the record: it is dumb, stupid, ridiculous, and downright cruel to build bathroom height counters in a kitchen and especially to create and wire a hole for a dishwasher in said kitchen. and further for the record: i deserve a dishwasher!!! wahwahwah. okay, i'm done.

life is good

i hope everyone had as great an easter as we did. i loved dying eggs with the girls. and dinner at dad and beckie's with nana and bill and beckie's friend cindy was awesome. i forgot all about missing the beer hunt. jubal had a blast showing off his standing ability and took a couple of his tottering steps toward vesta, which thrilled her.
it's naptime right now. seriously! but jubal was not having any of my attempt to get him to take a nap with me. i've been so freaking exhausted lately. i'm about to go make a spot of tea to help shove me through the next few hours. i have to re-pot some tomato plants and create window shelves for the new seedlings, as well as clear a path through the back side of the office to get TO all the windows! (everyone always "tucks things away" back there and it frustrates the hell out of me!). i planted two rows of potatoes--i think it was 18 chunks of seed potato by the time i was done. i just did two long trenches, with the seeds about 6 inches apart. not ideal (giant, deep, straw-filled holes all 3 feet apart from each other)...but definitely suitable and QUICK! i planted them in the turned-in oatstraw cover crop, so there's a ton of gorgeous green manure in there. the soil was nice and dark and workable, loaded with fat earthworms and chunks of mycelium (the white webby bits left by mushrooms). one of the best spots in the back garden, for sure.
gratitudes: 1) dad has been talking a lot and reading a lot about writing--plus actually writing! and it is so exciting to me that he's doing it. i look forward to reading it. 2) rodney may be copy-editing super part time at the local paper and he seems excited about that. 3) the Sentinel might actually get a copy editor!!! (it's like a dental visit sans novocain to read that paper 4) there is a brief respite from jubal's insane teething. it's slowed to mentally fit teething. ahem. 5) i have a bunch of material and am itchy to sew some bags and whatnot from it. even if i don't get the chance to sew much, i'm grateful just for the excited itchy feeling of wanting to.
i vow to sew at least one whole, entire, completed thing this week! oh yeah. and rodney wants me to sew him a zafu (meditation pillow that looks like a cloth tuffet or something)...which i sort of threw a fit about at first, but if he gets it all pinned and ready, i'll sew it for him.

quickie blue mountain update

the ODE let us know they are issuing or requesting a new PFO (which is the thing the hearings officer wrote) and will base their decision on that. that seems good to me because the PFO was confusing before--basically mostly approving of us, but deciding against us for unclear reasons. no matter what the new PFO says or what they decide, the school will stay open and funded for the whole school year. it appears we will not get a decision in time to request a renewal (which doesn't matter much because why on earth would the school board who hates us vote to renew us?!). but the good news is we get to finish the year and have time to figure out "the next step"--whatever that's gonna be. thanks for the interest and support! xoxox

spring "egg"quinox

hooray for spring! last night i tried to stand an egg on end--a feat you are supposed to be able to accomplish on the equinoxes because of the precisely balanced way the earth is spinning at the exact time of the equinox...and this is something i have wanted to try for years, but either didn't know the exact time, or didn't have an egg with me just then. so i knew the time and i had the egg...drumrolllllllllll please....okay, it would not stand upright on a hard flat surface, but it would stand on end on the flat of my hand (my hand was NOT cupped!) and the egg honestly felt different than usual. the yolk was *different* inside of it. i consider the experiment a partial success and it was definitely exciting. (note i restrained myself from saying "eggciting"! hahaheehee)

so spring means lots of rain, which means i've yet to plant my potatoes...but lots of stuff is planted: greens, 2 successions of peas, radishes, carrots, beets, onions...and lots more stuff inside. peppers and kale and flowers (hazel picked hollyhocks and vesta picked sweet red peppers). i'm running out of room on my window sills.

i'm fairly exhausted lately. jubal's putting out teeth like the marsh marigolds put out runners. it for some horrible reason involves an important ritual of waking up to either cry or just mess around at crazy times like two in the morning. this ritual does not get in the way of the rest-of-the-night ritual of constant nursing and needing to shift sides. for the record, it isn't literally constant, but it feels that way to me and my hips, which tire easily of lying on my side. six down, a helluva lot more to go...it seems like they settle at twenty for a long time. so fourteen to go. for now.

i am still struggling with the way i want my life to be versus the way it really is. all the secret details most people don't know. yup, even i have them! the things i want and don't want and how to achieve or avoid. what to accept responsibility for and what others need to own. spring seems like a good time to deal with some of that *stuff*...you can use your planting and weeding to do little rituals of nurturing or releasing--saying again what you want to grow in your life and what you won't allow. what needs serious boundaries and what is free to blossom wildly. and anything you don't want you can compost.

happy spring everyone!

gratitudes: !) eggs. are you kidding me?! they are amazing! chickens lay more than they need and we can eat 'em. you don't even need a rooster! and my neighbors will be pleased to learn that you can have three chickens per household in the city limits (but no roosters). @) patience. somebody somewhere has some, and i'm glad. #) asparagus. yum. $) the library. i love that place. they have everything there. %) my kids. they are really amazing and resilient and creative.

i got gocco

yyyyaaaaayyyyyy! the gocco arrived right on time--it's my latest art tool for printing stuff--a little screen printing device that is popular in japan and which seems to be booming in the american art community lately, as well. i'm totally stoked to try it out, BUT, all the instructions are in JAPANESE!...so i have to find a good online tutorial (i'm downloading a you-tube piece featuring la gocco as we blog). anyways, i'm excited. it's a new tool and a new toy and a new way to express myself and make cards. so: yyyyaaaaaaaayyy!
when i figure out how to do it, and get my master image all drawn out, i will send you a card!
grateful for:
life
love
goccos
ink
dirt
earthworms

the slow spring clean

well, i've recovered from mom's visit. we love having her here, but it's tiring and i need a day or two to recombobulate afterwards. i've been making baby steps in the office, and already it feels like a mountain has been moved. i'm still not sure where it went, but i can *almost* use the office efficiently as a workspace. today will involve more office arranging, the folding of yet another pile of laundry, and the ever-famous White Shelf Clean-Up...anyone who has visited my home knows about the white shelf in the main room that no matter how many times i clean it off and swear to behead anyone that henceforth uses it as their piling station, still! becomes covered in masses of little kid crap like beads and sculpey items and anything else that can fit in the hands of a child. i must be more vigilant!--ahem...
the seedlings are all doing well. i've created shelves for them out of old beams and bricks and jars supporting narrow cuts of plexiglass. there are only three pots out of the 40 or so that i planted that did not sprout. amazing. the borage seedlings are positively huge, considering...and if a couple of you out there need borage plants let me know, i'll have a few extras, barring unpredictable cataclysmic seedling events.
jubal just woke up, so i'll close for now. i hope everyone has a marvelous day!
today i am grateful for: 1) love, in all forms and expressions 2) all my wonderful tools of the craft (sewing machine, block printing goodies, waxed book linen thread, etcetera... 3) having a roof over my head and walls to protect us from the elements 4) time (even though schrodenger's (no way i can spell that!) cat could argue successfully that it doesn't exist) 5) a super exciting presidential campaign.

just say no to no

there is a certain somebody in this house who (almost) always says "no" first--literally AND figuratively. if you need help with something or need a little positive reinforcement...you'll always get a negative joke or a downright NO first. and while they usually end up helping nicely afterwards, it just sort of ruins me for them for a while. if i'm asking for help it's because i need it. you can bet it's been a long day with jubal, full of chores and tasks and half-finished-need-to-get-back-to *stuff* and i wish people would consider the other person before they just say no, or say something negative. i'm probably tired and i ALWAYS benefit from a kind word and a supportive gesture.
it seems so much better to me to be positive as much as possible. i try and do that in my daily interactions--i don't always succeed! but i do try. there's so much in the daily grind that wears a person down, whether it's a long day at the office or jobsite, or a seemingly endless pile of laundry and not enough hands to prepare dinner with. at the end of the day, it's so nice to have a partner and a family to relax into. i encourage everyone to make a soft place for your loved ones to land. help out with a smile. surprise someone with a nice rub or a break from making dinner. do that chore you've been putting off that's driving your spouse nuts. just say something kind and unexpected. right now.

gratitude abounds: 1) thanks to rodney for rubbing my tootsies at the end of the day 2) thanks to wyatt for learning "sit" like *that*! 3) thanks to vesta for helping out with the baby and the piles of laundry 4) thanks to hazel for spontaneous, beautiful gifts 5) thanks for my bed, in which i am going to sleep very well tonight.

spring fever

okay it's been a month since i last wrote on here. i've been BUSY. jubal turned one a couple of days ago. one! i cannot believe it. he's amazing as always, and teething again. but still mostly happy. we put the raised beds in, and my first green seedlings are up and growing. i direct-seeded arugula, corn salad, and italian dandelion seeds. i have also started the following seeds in the house: broccoli and cauliflower, chives, burbank slicer heirloom tomatoes, borage, catnip, epazote (the add to your beans herb), german winter thyme, skullcap...and maybe a couple others i am forgetting right now. but everything is labeled and dated, so i'm on top of it. i got this handy tool that makes starting pots from old newspapers that i totally love, because you can sit around watching t.v. or listening to music and grind out a million little pots super easily and don't have to deal with finding, cleaning, and disinfecting the leftover plastic pots from last year. now i just need a greenhouse!!! where to put all my seedlings once they sprout?! we have some great southfacing windows in the office, but frieda goes there a lot, so i have to figure out how to keep her from dumping them. my broccoli seeds came up already and they have been moved to the kitchen window. it's so exciting. really, it thrills me. every year i am re-startled by the simplicity of seeds and life and watching the whole process unfold. and then you get to eat the results! how totally perfect.
i am still in the midst of trying to organize the office, but am making little progresses every day and find that satisfying enough. it will get done eventually.
we got a puppy a few weeks ago. he's a rottie-black lab mix who i named wyatt wayne, cuz he's a little cowboy toughie. i know, i know! i really needed something else to clean up after--but it's not too bad and he's awesome, a perfect addition to the family--though hazel may have her doubts, as he targets her for roughplay...i guess he considers her the other puppy in the house, having already realized he will not be allowed to play with jubal that way.
overall i am pretty dang happy with my life and my family. loving being busy and having fun with everything i do. i've been able to work a bit on my bags and cards and even found a potential outlet for sales...anyone out there heard of etsy.com?! it's an online marketplace for crafters of all kinds and is so awesome and inspiring. if you feel like shopping for some amazing handcrafted goods, please do go there. i will, of course, alert you all when i have my own etsy "shoppe". be well and know you are loved.
five things to be grateful for today: 1) seeds! 2)the library 3)my dad--he helped me the other day when my car wouldn't start in town--i was stranded with the baby AND the puppy and dad helped me figure out what to do and even took the puppy around with him so he wouldn't be stuck for hours in the car. it was so great 4)my kids who are so well behaved and sweet and genuine 5)the new grill! the tax return money has come and gone, but it left a new grill in it's wake and i so love it. and what the heck: 6) the new FRIDGE! it doesn't freeze the lettuce and spoil the meat! no pool of mysterious goop on the bottom of the fridge growing science experiments! i am truly grateful for it. and i bought it at ferguson's and while the in-store guy is a bit surly, the delivery guy was funny and nice and set it all up for me. woohoo!