Natural Attachment

January 24, 2010

Ebb & Flow

Lately, there has been quite a bit of chaos (extra chaos) in our home. It’s the kind of chaos that I welcome. There have been people. A steady stream of people in & out of our home. I’ve mentioned several times in past posts that I am NOT a people person. While I might be generous with my things, food & love, I’d rather just spend my energy on my family most days. I have friends that I love & love them dearly I do, but my tolerance for being around other people is small and often forced past my comfort level — fake it til you make it, right?

This past Fall, I decided that I was going to make huge strides in being a more social being. I started off slow, but come Winter Solstice, I had a house full of people, children being loud & dirty dishes being found four days later in the oddest places. I want the house full, crazy & never clean, because there’s always people living here, not because I’m just a lazy ass who never cleans!

I figured if I could rediscover that flexibility that I used to have before I became a parent, I might learn something, find something, over come something & get myself back on the path I had fallen off of. Since the beginning of the year, I don’t think we’ve gone more than three days without there being someone at our house & often unexpected (the BEST kind of visitors). I’ve enjoyed this immensely. The more days we have with people in our house, the more I crave for people to show up & eat. AND eat they all do…man, I miss feeding hoards of people — I love it, I crave it.

This constant flow of  people in our home has caused me to relax more, get over or confront some of my most insane OCDs. Yeah, I’ll admit, in large, it’s been about me…it’s been therapy for me. I’m eternally grateful for the awesome people who are in my life & who have been making all this possible. I’m also forever indebted to my Dear Other Half, who thankfully is the patient, tolerant, flexible person who loves me, inspires me, puts up with me, goes to work for me, makes every day magic real for me & most importantly (as far as this post is concerned) encourages the chaos from the constant flow of people coming in & out of our home — he’s the best.

This year just seems like it’s going to be busy: awesome new neighbors (hi there Gyres), births to attend, gardens to tend to, meals to be cooked, mouths to feed, parties to play at & more chaos to be created. This year is going to be magical (in every sense) and for once, I’m NOT dreading it. I’m not being pulled along kicking & screaming.

Strangely, I am welcoming it all with my arms flung wide open like a little kid about to run in for the hug.

Peace & Love
Michele

September 24, 2009

Catching Up: Elijah’s Birthday Week

Elijah turned 6 years old on September 18th. Yeah, 6…it’s craaaaazzzy. His “birthday week” stretched from Sunday, September 6th until Sunday, September 13th. Here are some highlights…

Mr. Freaky Pants the 1st

Mr. Freaky Pants the 1st

stained glass

stained glass

homemade Lego kits

homemade Lego kits

Es first set of wheels (not counting my old trike); courtesy of my parents.

E's first set of wheels (not counting my old trike); courtesy of my parents.

pirates! (dead ones at that)

pirates! (dead ones at that)

extra snuggles with his favorite person

extra snuggles with his favorite person

wine cork blow dart guns

wine cork blow dart guns

people & somewhere theres pet rocks

people & somewhere there's pet rocks

new Legos

new Legos

musical entertainment

musical entertainment

cake, candles & wishes...there might have been some ice cream too!

cake, candles & wishes...there might have been some ice cream too!

I mentioned cake, right?

I mentioned cake, right?

The following picture pretty much summed up the entire experience for Elijah.

WTF guys?

WTF guys?

It was a LONG week. We cleaned. We ate. We shopped. We made stuff. We cried. We screamed. We made new friends. We learned a lot. We saw people. We broke things. We fought over toys. We bitched about random occurrences. We loved. We laughed. We got tons of phone calls. We opened gifts from many miles away. We sang (but not “Happy Birthday”). We will do it all over again next year…all while simultaneously hating & loving it!

Many “happy” returns, Elijah.

September 5, 2009

2009 Northeast Unschooling Conference in Pictures pt. 1

:: gaming ::

:: gaming ::

play/dress-up room

:: play/dress-up room ::

:: Beautiful Flower ::

:: Beautiful Flower ::

:: Photography Funshop ::

:: Photography Funshop ::

:: Robot Arm ::

:: Robot Arm ::

:: The Free Runners ::

:: The Free Runners ::

:: Sleeper ::

:: Sleeper ::

:: Bananagrams ::

:: Bananagrams ::

:: Killer Pompoms ::

:: Killer Pompoms ::

I went through all 900 pictures that I took and picked out a few good ones and some random ones. This is part 1, part 2 can be found here and the picnic can be found here.

August 14, 2009

:: Monkey Platter :: Museum :: Mindfulness ::

...

Cats Crackers*, Almonds*, Raisins* & Toasted Nori*
Blueberries*
Black Beans* & Black Olives
Vegan Griller Patty & Ketchup*

Elijah & Collin

Elijah & Collin

On Tuesday, we went to the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum (where one of the staff recognized me & mentioned that she loved my challenge that I sent the museum) with our neighbor and her grandson. We had a pretty good time and I got to spend some more time with my neighbor who is one hip lady!

Our neighbor said that they were going to go home, eat and then go to the store…once we were dropped off and getting food around for ourselves, Elijah said, “do you really think Collin wants to go to the store with his grandma…we should see if he can play Legos with me while she shops”. I called and it was a done deal; Collin skipped over after he ate dinner and the two boys played Legos, built with blocks and did a little drawing.

This is a perfect example of kindness & respect begetting kindness & respect…I know that I’ve mentioned before that Elijah doesn’t like going to the grocery store (or any major shopping place for that matter), because it is literally an assult on his senses. I arrange my shopping plans so that I get everything done on William’s days off, so that Elijah can stay home with him or so that they can be dropped off somewhere to hang out while I get business taken care of. Elijah thought it was only fair to extend that arrangement to his friend while our neighbor went shopping. I think it was a very kind & compassionate moment for Elijah — he didn’t want to see his friend have to endure (I’m assuming he thinks most kids are effected by stores the same way he is) going to the store when there was a clear option for him to avoid it.

I love my son :)

July 25, 2009

Keira’s 3rd Birthday Party

In spite of yesterday being Learn Nothing Day, we decided to go celebrate one awesome little girl’s 3rd birthday. Unfortunately, not only did we have fun, but we learned stuff…not to mention all the stuff we leanred pre/post party. Oh, well…maybe next year we can try harder ;)

Keira wanted a pink & yellow bicycle cake; her mum Erin worked her ass off and made it happen!

Keira wanted a pink & yellow bicycle cake; her mum Erin worked her ass off and made it happen!

Keira (elephant)

Keira (elephant)

Finnegan (dragon), River (young aleister crowley) & Banyan (as her usual sweet self)

Finnegan (dragon), River (young aleister crowley) & Banyan (as her usual sweet self)

Sarah (soft-serve ice cream)

Sarah (soft-serve ice cream)

Keira makes her wish.

Keira makes her wish.

Elijah (who was a ghost, but not pictured as such) decides to appropriate some of Williams (who was a ghost hunter) ghost hunting gear.

Elijah (who was a ghost, but not pictured as such) decides to appropriate some of William's (who was a ghost hunter) ghost hunting gear.

And then there was music…


I ended up going as myself, but slightly more Gypsy than usual.

I ended up going as myself, but slightly more Gypsy than usual.

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