When Going Back to the Land Isn’t an Option

I’ve mentioned a few times on ye olde blogge that a while back, I was very interested in a “natural” lifestyle. Heck, even over in my profile bio on the right, I mention that in my daydreams, I live on a ranch. Well, a few years ago, from around 2006 to 2008, wanting to live a “back to the land” lifestyle was a very strong desire of mine.

Recently an online friend blogged about something similar – seeing the positive qualities in a simpler life, a more natural life, a slower lifestyle. She admitted that she probably romanticized it but that it still looked appealing. I noticed many commenters agreeing, saying they felt the same way. I jokingly commented that she sounded like I did, a few years ago. She responded and asked what I did about it, and here’s what I told her:

I made certain small changes to our lifestyle, and honestly, I kind of grew out of it because it wasn't a dream that was to become a reality for me anytime soon. :/

My husband wasn't interested (especially in the back-to-the-land stuff - he's a city/suburbs guy) so without buy-in from him, it wasn't going to happen, you know? And because of that I just kind of let it go and began focusing on other things. I get my "fix" in other ways - spending more time outside, eating better, doing creative things with the kids, watching Frontier House on PBS, ha!

Something I've noticed about myself is that I will get really gung ho about something that interests me, and I'll think that I need to change my whole life to look like whatever that interest is. What I'm still learning is that maybe "tweaks" are what I really need. Maybe I don't need to homeschool and make all my food from scratch and raise chickens and live on a farm sustained with electricity from our windmill and become a midwife . . . maybe what I'm feeling is really a pull to spend more time with my kids on what they're learning from this world . . . make better food choices and start a container garden . . . cut costs and make eco friendly choices in my suburban townhouse . . . tell my friends about great pregnancy and birth resources and let them know I'm available with a non-judgmental ear if they need to vent or need advice. Maybe I can use my interest to advocate on behalf of people who need a lot more of these things in their lives but have even less access than I do - people who live in food deserts, people who have only ever been told that birth is a terrifying, painful thing to leave up to a hospital staff, people who have so little chance to visit a zoo or forest or farm, or even just a park.

I'm still interested in all those things and love to see, read, hear, talk about them . . . but in their full-blown form they don't work for me. Doesn't mean I can't incorporate some of their important principles and aspects into my life!

Do you do this? Do you get really excited about something, learn a lot about it, and think you must change your whole lifestyle to be happy? Have you actually done it? If so, how did it work out? Are you like me – it takes a while but eventually you understand that perhaps a radical change isn’t in order, but smaller changes are?

What are things you thought you needed, and it turned out maybe you just needed to make some tweaks?

What I Did On My Winter Vacation, Pt. 2

I played Dominos and Uno with the family . . . and never won! What’s up with that?!

 

I did a LOT of knitting – mostly new cozies, but a few headbands and phone cozies as well. This is just a small sample.

I took photos of my daughter modeling my new knitted headbands . . . she’s so pretty. :)

I stood at our patio door or bedroom window and just stared at the pretty field behind our house. This is where the doggie playdates go down.

I hung out in my daughter’s room and watched movies with her, while knitting. And reading. And watching the 4 year old jump into my shots.

I also watched him dance around her room, always in front of her mirror.

 

I took photos of the fabric I’m hoping to destash and sell.

I enjoyed our colorful Christmas tree. I think trees with white lights are so beautiful and classy, but trees with colored lights make me think of my childhood, and I just love them the most.

   

I went to the library a couple times. Not pictured here are the 37,000 anime DVDs my daughter checked out.

I got inspired to do something crafty and cool with boxes . . . can’t wait to finish these and show them off!

I wondered why I found my camera in my bed, with no battery life left. Hmmm . . .

 

OH HAI, CULPRIT! I SEE YOUR LITTLE 4-YEAR-OLD FEET. And the 29 blurry photos of your WWE “action fingers”.

More to come!

Proud of my husband

Among other things, my husband is a high school football coach. He coaches at his alma mater, under the same head coach he had when he was in high school. This is a big school where football is king, and he's coached there for a few years now, working his way up the ladder.

He's held different coaching positions on the freshman team and has been asked to coach on the sophomore team next year. Also, recently a senior player on the varsity team was highlighted in the Chicago Tribune. That player mentioned my husband's coaching during his freshman year as something that helped him a lot. Very cool!

As a coach he's mentored many kids & teens - athletically, academically and in terms of character and choices. He really shines in this sort of role and I'm proud of him.

Wake me up in January . . .

Life is a little crazy right now.

1. We rent a townhouse and unfortunately, the owners lost the property in foreclosure. We got notice a couple weeks ago to move out in 90 days. We thought our lease would protect us but 90 days is the max we get. There are some provisions for renters under a law passed in 2009 but we fit in a couple of the loopholes so we don’t get to stay unti the end of our lease.

a. The last couple of weeks have been very stressful as we search for a new place to live.

b. We found something! Same school districts, same size, cute. I’m excited because I’m going to lobby to set my sewing machine up in the living room by a window which looks out onto our backyard, a field & trees.

2. This weekend my brother and sister-in-law are coming to visit us, they have business in Chicago.

3. Next weekend we’re going to an engagement party for my friends.

4. The next weekend is our anniversary and will possibly be the weekend we move to the new place.

a. I’m supposed to go thrifting with friends this weekend, I think. Or some weekend.

5. The following weekend is my birthday.

6. The next weekend is when I celebrate my birthday with coworkers (my annual Big Night On The Town).

7. Two weeks later is Thanksgiving.

My Etsy usually takes off in November, and we could use the money with the move and all, so I anticipate the next 6 weeks or so to be complete chaos as we pack, move, unpack and fit in more socializing than we do almost all year. And as I try to sew, knit, photograph, promote, sell and ship my stuff. OH. LAWD. HELP. ME.

I may not be giving you fresh blog content every day or even weekly but at some point I will be back, I promise! I’ll try to at least keep the Dance Party Friday action going . . .

Here are some random pics for you:

My co-worker and lovely model, E. She stopped by my office yesterday and was wearing one of my headbands. :) She’s GAWGEOUS.

Kids . . .

 

 Some knitted cup cozies and fabric-covered buttons that will be in my shop soon! (Each cozy gets a set of 3 buttons) 

Happy Thursday, Y’all!!

Thrift Store Fashion

I like to buy clothing at the thrift store, especially one just a couple blocks from where I live. It’s massive and has great finds, from vintage to name-brand to everything in between. The other day I was there with my daughter and we came across a shirt that she liked, but it had a big hole in it (actually unusual for this store, most merchandise isn’t damaged). She’d already pointed out a dress she liked that had tiered ruffles, so I decided to try to recreate the look of the dress with the top she liked.

You’ll have to excuse my messy photos – I didn’t bother to clean up my work table before starting in on the project. Now you see what my small IKEA sewing table looks like 95% of the time, including when I’m sewing. It just collects so much crap that I don’t have a good space for or am too preoccupied to put away. My husband, the neat-freak, has somehow learned to live with my messy chaos. Poor guy!

Besides buying the damaged top, I also bought a like-new black tank top to use as the base of the top. Without detailing every step, I’ll give these basic explanations about how I constructed the top:

The plaid blouse had a cowl neck, smocked front and little puffy sleeves. I cut off the sleeves, cowl neck and back of the shirt, so I only had the smocked front. I cut the neckline until it was the shape I wanted, hemmed it and sewed it to the front of the tank top.

I then cut the lower portion of the top into equal sized strips to be the ruffles, hemmed the (visible) bottom of each ruffle, and sewed the top part of the ruffle to the tank top. I created gathers as I sewed the strip so that it would create ruffles and not just hang flat. I believe I created 6 ruffles. Then I sewed down the sides of each ruffle along the side seams of the tank top. She’ll wear the tank alone or with a cardigan over it. The end!

Cute, huh?

We love the library!

My dad brought me up going to the library at least once a week and I’ve passed this tradition on to my kids. The thing that overwhelms me about the library – that I’ll never have time to read everything there – is also what I love so much about it. So much to learn about the world, right there at your fingertips! Though my online writing doesn’t always reflect it, I learned grammar, spelling and the roots of words just from reading all the time as a kid. When you see something done the right way long enough, it seeps in and you become able to do it right, too . . . or at the very least, you learn how to spot when someone else is doing it wrong.

Here are a few pics from a recent trip to the branch that’s 3 blocks from our house. My four-year-old wants to go to school so badly, and was over the moon when my husband brought home a Thomas the Tank Engine backpack for him. He just HAD to wear it to the library to carry his books home.

Most of these pics are of the kids' area at our small branch. I’d have taken pics of the tiny young adult & adult sections, but there were lots of people and I didn’t want to try to sneak photos.

The castle

Inside the castle. We usually put together a massive train set in here.

We cut off all his curls. Sniff. He always seems so much older when his hair is big and curly.

LOTS of books for beginning readers.

To the left of King Tut are cool non-fiction DVDs for kids, like “How to Knit” and so on.

The little one loves lighting up all these panels and looking at the different dinosaurs.

Mama wants some fun, too!

Do you go to the library often?

What sort of books do you like to read?

Lunch at the Shelter

A few weekends ago, my kids and I joined my friends at High 5 Functions to prepare and serve lunch at Lincoln Park Community Shelter.

Mural on the wall at LPCS. LPCS was recently awarded “Partner Agency of the Year” from Emergency Fund, the organization I’m donating 10% of my Etsy sales to this year. It was just a coincidence that my friends at ^5 chose to do a volunteer event at LPCS, a very cool coincidence!

LCPS is a comprehensive social service agency serving adult men and women who are experiencing homelessness. LPCS has been providing shelter and other basic needs to Lincoln Park’s homeless neighbors for 25 years. Today, LCPS provides interim housing, meals and a targeted array of social services to over 300 people each year. (from the LCPS website)

Check this out – I’m connected to LCPS in another way that I just realized, when looking up their website to get a description of their services. I’m a student in the Non-Profit Management program at North Park University, and the LCPS website says: At the annual symposium hosted by North Park University’s Axelson Center for Nonprofit Management Lincoln Park Community Shelter was honored with the prestigious Alford-Axelson Award for Nonprofit Managerial Excellence! This is a competitive field each year, with previous winners such as The Night Ministry, The Cara Program, and Deborah’s Place.

Bennett (9) and Kori (11) eating a healthy breakfast of iced honey buns, waiting for the el (elevated train) to Ana’s house. We left Rian (3) at home with Daddy. He can help out when he’s a bit older.

First, we went to Ana’s apartment to prepare the food.

Here’s the ^5 team: Curt, Kelli and Ana. You’ve seen them before as a pirate, parrot and mermaid when they raced in the Chiditarod. These awesome folks are among my very favorite former co-workers, and though we don’t work together anymore, we’re still buds. You would be hard pressed to find smarter, funnier, cooler people with more energy and interest in the world around them. Love, love, love them. They are each rising stars, too – super awesome at what they do.

We were quickly put to work. The kids were given multiple copies of the placemats which had menu selections on the opposite side.

Their job was to color up the placemats, and they took the directions to “be creative” seriously. They began using the salad bowl as a spot to personalize each placemat. They started with Chicago sports team names/logos and then moved into country flags.

At one point, a Kelli and I came into the living room to see how the kids were coming along, and were telling the kids we liked the creativity they were using. We notice Bennett had just finished coloring a salad bowl with the German flag on it, and began writing something . . . we watched as each letter was formed, and seemed to understand what he was writing at the same time. Kelli and I both said, “Ohhh . . . OH! Um, ok, no, Bennett, I don’t think this one is going to make it to the shelter. Your sentiment is in the right place, but . . . no. Inappropriate.”

Later, on the kitchen counter, an iPhone covered up the important part, allowing the placemat to send a very different message. This placemat is now awesome fridge art at Ana’s. I should note that I had to confiscate one more placemat that said R.I.P. and had a picture of the Undertaker (professional wrestler). No more messages, Bennett. ;)

So! While all this was going down in the living room, I was helping the rest of the team & volunteers in the kitchen and dining room. That’s me, holding up a tomato.

After cooking up a hearty tomato soup, packing up the sammich fixins, mixing, freezing, cutting & bagging the peanut butter rice krispie treats and putting together the salad, we were ready to go!

Lincoln Park Community Shelter is housed in the basement of Lincoln Park Presbyterian Church. 

   

The kids hung out in the conference room and played games while we got busy in the kitchen.

We butterrmarginerenened a whole lotta bread . . . and yes, that’s what we called it. The word changed every time we said it. That’s me & Curt next to all the margereinereetterd bread.

Lacey checking an order to be sure she was making the right sammie. That’s Jenny behind her, you may recognize her as the first mate from the Chiditarod!

Royal modeling his apron, daydreaming of a weekend at Martha’s Vineyard, while Jessica stirs the soup. Royal kept us laughing all afternoon. 

Ana was our grill master – we served a few different versions of grilled cheese sandwiches. It was pretty awesome – the lunch guests all raved about the food. The sandwiches were a hit, the soup was complimented over and over, the salad was called a “perfect summer salad” and everyone was happy that we brought a dessert that wasn’t chocolate. Take note, Chicago – serve something besides chocolate once in a while, dang! (You are free to always serve me chocolate). Oh, we also served tasty lemon water and cucumber water.

Kelli and Jenny prepare salads . . . closeup below!

 

Here’s another great mural in the dining room.

We didn’t take a lot of photos of the guests, we didn’t want them to feel as though they were on display for us. I do want to note that everyone was exceptionally nice and appreciative of the time we spent there and of the quality of the food. Lots of compliments, smiles and thank yous all around. I would LOVE to serve here again, and I really want to go back and learn more about what LCPS does for the community.

The staff at LCPS were so kind and let us take over their kitchen. They thanked us over and over. One of the guests was helping out in the kitchen when we first got there, she was cleaning out the refrigerator and needed some help cleaning up some water that had spilled on the very bottom of the fridge. I’m crazy short, so I said I would do it, but she refused immediately, and said, “You are already doing so much here. No way.” That felt great, and we were so happy to serve, but the most credit should go to the people who run the shelter and the guests who also give of their own time and energy to help keep the place in working order and good condition. All the guests were appreciative of the lunch we prepared and thanked us many times. One guest wrote a special note of thanks to us on her menu.

Big thanks to the High 5 Functions team for setting up the volunteer session at LPCS and organizing the day. And even more thanks for continually spreading the word to their friends, co-workers and community members that serving our community is a fun and worthwhile way to spend some time. If you’d like to keep updated about the interesting ways they’ve gotten involved in our community, follow along on Facebook!

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Random, but on the way home, we saw a wedding party up on the Fullerton el stop. Dunno if their ceremony was there, but they took pics there. Fun!