Great Finds

I just talked to my sister and she was unboxing Christmas stuff.  I'm still unboxing junk!  

The challenge is fitting all our stuff in a much smaller home.  Not only was our home bigger but I was also spoiled with built ins.  So before I could get organized I needed to find some functional pieces.  There are some great thrift stores here and it has been fun!  

The lockers are actually from Ikea but they actually lock.  Perfect for messy art supplies, microscope, toddler puzzles, flash cards and whatever else is too dangerous or messy for little hands.  This was the first piece to our homeschool room - it set a very institutionalized stage so I took it a few steps further.

The desk is one of 9 I got from Southfield Public Schools, they were only $6 and now line what is suppose to be the dinning room.  I like how they open up to hide the schoolwork clutter but I also got some open face ones that will hold a computer and printer. You can find all sorts of cool school/office stuff for auction at publicsurplus.com - a homeschoolers dream.  The pencil sharpener was $3 at Treasure Mart and looks just like the ones I use to use.

The dresser was picked up at the Ann Arbor PTO thrift shop and 2 lamps, 2 beds and mattresses where found on Craig's list.  The whole room for under $250, you can't do that at Ikea.

The file cabinet is from the Ann Arbor recycle center.   This reuse center was one of my favorite stops and I'll be sure to revisit it regularly in addition to the University of Michigan property disposition center. 

The van has been great for hauling and Paul laughs every time I pull up with yet another furniture piece to unload. He also noted how practical I have become in my choice of style. I argue that style doesn't really matter in a short term rental but still these pieces have just enough eclectic flair - I'd say it's all practically stylish.

 

Frustration

We had a lot of fun living with Oma and Opa this summer, maybe too much fun because apparently some of my children forgot how to work.  I blame no one but myself and now I'm feeling it. I'm wishing Marie Ricks and Mary Poppins lived next door because I could use some expert help in retraining these kids.

The monster box was Paul's idea made up on the spot during an emergency family council just after lunch yesterday.  No one's been completing their school work, kitchen jobs and beds have been left undone, there are toys everywhere, contention between siblings and one very exhausted mom.  We were told that monsters feed on frustration and gobble up favorite toys and privileges after three warning strikes.

There were several moving boxes still laying around and it was William's idea to give one a scary face.  He said he has over 30 monster designs stored in his brain, they just came to him out of fear at the age of 6.  I told him this one was pretty scary as I watched him sketch it with a sharpie then skillfully saw out the teeth with his new pocket knife.

Today was a much better day! School work and jobs were completed without complaint and though a few kids got strikes, no one dared go beyond two, well everyone except Maryanna. The poor girl was forced to feed "Baby Becca" (her beloved Corrolle doll) to the monster after she bit her little brother's toes.  We decided that kindness and love makes the monster sick and she could quickly make the monster throw up the doll if she could exhibit such behavior.  So that's what she did and Baby Becca was back in her arms with in an hour.

I admit I felt bad when she jammed her baby through the teeth into the box, that just may be very poor parenting but at least it worked for the day and gave me enough of a mental break to start thinking of a more positive training system.  I also realize that 4 months of untraining will take more than a day to fix.   

        

Cow Share

We are now part owners of a herd of cows.

We started buying raw milk last year when we discovered Henry was lactose intolerant (he would scream, throw up, and suffer bad rashes when ever he consumed regular milk). To our delight it all cleared up with the introduction of raw milk. The closest store to purchase it from was Real Foods Market in Orem, it was 45 minutes away but worth the trip.

Four frozen gallons made the trip with us from UT to MI but were consumed the first week living here. Unfortunately raw milk is illegal to purchase in MI so we waited out a screaming toddler until we could get our own raw milk from our own cows. We picked up our first gallons today and Henry is happy again.

In addition to our cow share we may be the newest members of the local Weston Price group.  I can't wait to meet with others who share my passion for wholesome and nourishing foods - I'm also hoping to learn a lot more from them.

Change

Even the food is feeling it!  I'm guessing that has to do with altitude change and air pressure.

I wasn't anticipating our transition back to "normal" life to extend beyond two weeks but our home is still sprinkled with boxes, packing paper and stuff that has no where to go. Most of the leftover stuff has to do with sewing and I'm itching to get that going again but it may take a third trip to Ikea to make it work around here. In addition to Ikea I've been scouring craig's list, thrift stores, and recycle centers to find pieces that will bring order to our home, I've found some great stuff (in addition to a pile of sweaters to refashion).

The older kids are happy to be reunited with their stuff and toys but anxious to make friends. Maryanna says she's already made lots of friends here and counts any child or adult that greets her as "another new friend mommy".  The younger two are still out of sorts and cry a lot.  I suppose that's what's slowing down the "getting back to normal" process.

Paul is thrilled to be back here and even rode his bike with James to the Michigan game last Saturday. He is working out of a small bedroom upstairs and that will take some getting use to. But the best change of all is having him join us for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!   

Scary Halloween

Halloween was our official first day in the new rental home.

The day started off early with a trip to Target to pick up some essentials - light bulbs, hooks, garbage can, dish soap, fairy wings and candy.

Then off to Ikea, with all six kids this was probably the scariest activity of the day. We fed them a cheap breakfast and took off with 3 carts through the showroom and an additional pallet cart through the marketplace.

With so many bugs going around I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave any of them in small land -I guess we already had a bug of our own because one child was feverish and screaming well before we exited the store. The rest of the kids were running wild, racing carts, jumping on beds and collecting candy from the in store trick-or-treating station.  All the while I painfully (still sore with my back and tailbone after falling back out of the van) waddled behind trying to comfort the feverish child.

On the way home we stopped to buy pumpkins but there was no time to carve them. I spent the rest of the day unboxing while Paul was busy assembling.  He only stopped to unclog a toilet, first riding the Madsen bike to the local hardware store to buy a plunger.

We don't have a TV yet so all the boys listened to the Michigan game on the radio, it was a disappointing game and James was so disgusted with the outcome he switched his costume from a Michigan football player to Indiana Jones just 5 minutes before trick-or-treating.

Maryanna was the second child to come down with a fever and only got off the couch to take a picture and ring our doorbell.  Henry still had a fever but I couldn't resist fitting him into the Curious George costume I sewed for James 9 years ago.

There was no time (or even clear space) for sorting, counting, and graphing like we did last year.  The candy is all in a bowl and I'm thinking with sick children it might be better off in the garbage.  I'm glad I didn't toss it yet because my friend Karen just blogged about all the cool candy experiments she did with her kids -check them out here.

Halloween wasn't so much fun as it was memorable and I'm sure glad this move wasn't executed within days of Christmas.

Welcome to Michigan

We made it!  

Paul trucked it through the night through rain across I-80 from Cheyenne to Iowa City where the rest of us woke up at 7:00 am in a Walmart parking lot.  After stretching our legs up and down the toy section we celebrated Clara's birthday back in the van where she opened her new strawberry shortcake doll and Dora coloring book then sang to her over bananas and individual wallaby yogurts.

I had a small crash onto my behind while trying to exit the van backwards with my arms full of sandwiches.  Lunch was saved but after 5 days I'm still suffering from a very sore tailbone - it made the remaining hours in the car almost unbearable.  My only relief was being propped up sideways on pillows. 

The only other notable episode from our journey was the CD player once again jamming just miles into our trip. This was especially disappointing because we just purchased the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Cd's to help pass the miles.  The sharp knife I had along for slicing cheese became the rescuing tool and after several stabs into the malfunctioning unit the Cd's eventually ejected.  I even mastered this move while driving and it never failed to get a chuckle out of Paul.

Now we are comfortably staying with Paul's parents while we wait for the arrival of all our stuff. The above photo was taken at Cranbrook gardens not too far from their home. We arrived just in time for all the beautiful fall colors. As we explored the gardens one of the children asked "is this a hike"? where's the trail?" they were answered with "there aren't many hikes in Michigan, here you just wander".

It is also colder than I ever remember. 45 degrees and raining here feels colder than it ever did in Salt Lake City, even in in the winter. But still it feels like home and we have already drank through gallons of apple cider. We are excited to get settled but not so excited about facing and dealing with a truck load of stuff. William graciously pleaded in his prayer last night "please bless that we can have an easy time getting back to normal".  My feelings exactly.    

Orange wool coat

This one is Burda 9596, it needed a bit of work.  The proportions were a bit off with the waistline placement so I cut off 2" from the bodice and added the band.  The fabric was picked up when fashion affair was clearing out their inventory.

I suppose I could say a lot more and rant about pattern companies and sourcing good interfacing but I'm so tired and just glad I got it finished.  She also wanted a bonnet and I actually cut one out but it is now somewhere in a bag, in a box, under junk, on a truck and on it's way.   

There's no time to post other projects but check out what I've posted on The Joy of Japanese Sewing Blog.