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I find myself intrigued by people who live differently than the mainstream in various ways, and it certainly has affected the way that we live. The internet is really such a good resource for things like that, opening my eyes to ideas I never would have thought of or never would have realized people do. This could cover a very large range of topics here but I’ll try to keep it brief.

Really the crux is living intentionally, and choosing to live a certain way rather than just doing what is normally done because you don’t bother to decide for yourself what you want. (How very Thoreau-like, isn’t it?)

The sort of ‘natural living’ concept is awfully broad and full of individual interpretations, but I’d say we try to be somewhere in there. I’m still figuring out where I think we should be and how we should do things, and of course as life changes the choices we make change too. I’ve learned to set very little in stone, because what works at one time may not work at another, and we learn new things and try new things it all changes.

I was reading about this family that lived without electricity for over two years and all the things they learned to do without. They now do have it, but grow most of their own food, trade services with neighbors to get things they need, etc. Like I said, I find this sort of thing intriguing. I don’t think I’ll ever be at that point, but some of those principles I think are very admirable and I like to incorporate them somewhat.

Reading about Waldorf philosphies and the idea of having natural materials (wood, cotton, silk) in toys for children really resonates with me. I cook a lot of food from scratch, though that varies with how much I feel like I can handle at any given time. It’s just a process, and it’s interesting to me how when I read about things some of it just feels right. I suspect this interest somewhere deep in me to do things a little out of the mainstream comes from my grammom through my mom, both of whom have their own cool things they do out of the mainstream. (My grammom, for example, does woodworking and has an awesome wood stove to heat her house, which she designed and built. And the idea of cloth diapering came from my mom, who did it in varying degrees with all of us.)

Anyway, all that said, we’re not really ready to go too far out of ‘normal’. When we moved we didn’t get cable as an experiment, and we do sometimes miss it. So we’ll see on that one. And I may try to eschew TV and such (my feelings on media could be a very long post that no one wants to read, and I don’t want to be so opinionated on that anyway), but then the phone or internet (well, internet on the phone) is omnipresent. And, honestly, I like nice things. I think the people who live in old farmhouses are cool, but I could never do it. I like clean and the conveniences of the modern world. Like washing machines. So am I contradictory? Probably. Who isn’t? But maybe it’s a matter of incorporating principles more than adopting full lifestyle changes? I don’t know. We’re working on it. And someday, maybe, we’ll arrive where we want to be. But of course like many things the point (the growth, the aim) is in the journey, not the destination.

Well, hello world. I’m all about blogging when I feel like it. I wish I did do more because I love going back and reading it, but I have very little computer time (almost everything I do is from my phone, including this post), so I don’t beat myself up over it. That said, quick update:

-Phoenix is good. Getting hot very quickly. I might die. Also we need to get our grill set up because having the oven on is already getting quite uncomfortable. (It’s only May 6th. Yikes.) However, we do like it here, and it was the right decision for us. Life is good.
-We spend all our free time dealing with house related things. Whenever we do move we’re not sure what we’ll do in our free time. Hehe. Hopefully we’ll have good things to announce on that front soon.
-Morgan is a blast. She’s also getting at least seven teeth right now (no joke–eyeteeth and first molars), so some days are not as easy. Poor kid. Toby is still her favorite member of the family.
-Probably as an internal defense mechanism against stress over the aforementioned house hunting stuff, I’m filled with ridiculous crafting energy again. Anyone else get that feeling? It’s also that my mind has to be constantly planning something, and right now it has settled itself on quilts and fabric. It’s the funding that’s stopping me right now. Oh, and time. So in my head I plot and calculate and dream that someday I’ll have an unlimited supply of lovely fabric. And time, again. Hehe.
-Anyone else’s brain work like that? Planning constantly? In my head I often am mulling over multiple things to work on. With each house we’ve considered I lay awake at night thinking of furniture arrangement. I plan logistics of things a lot, meal plans and shopping lists in my head, and then sometimes crafting. I get in these modes where it’s on my brain constantly. What’s up with that? I do that with a lot of things. I’ll get stuck on some topic to read about and devour it and store it in my head for possible someday use. Huh.

Okay, that’s all for now.

For some reason I was trying to remember what street a store in Orem (Utah) was off of and I started flashing back to so many things at BYU and in Provo. I was picturing campus itself and places I liked there. Of course everything so often does look better in hindsight, but I find myself figuratively kicking myself for not having enjoyed it more at the time. BYU campus really is very nice. And there’s a Jamba Juice in the student center! How much better does it get? Hehe. Smoothie locations aside, there were a lot of really wonderful things around me, and I just didn’t appreciate it as much as I wish I would have. I think I spent a lot of emotional energy on being single or silly friend drama or whining about the fact that I was stuck in Provo–which now doesn’t seem so bad. Now, we also had some ridiculous fun and of course that’s what I remember most (Phase 10, watching Pride and Prejudice, the dollar theater, football games, or a million other things). I’m just saying that I don’t remember stopping in the moment to really soak it all in.

I look back at the time before Morgan was born a little that way too. We were so free to do whatever we wanted and vacations were really vacations. But of course I spent emotional energy wanting a baby or wanting more purpose…blah blah blah. Again, I just wish I would have appreciated how great it was while I was there.

I love the age Morgan is at. I’ve tried very hard to take mental pictures and cement them in my memory as she’s grown up. Many center around nursing, incidentally, because those are the hardest to get an actual picture of–like the way she likes to have her foot in the air by my face or the sideways look and huge grin she often gives me. Right now I’m just loving seeing her learn and explore and be so incredibly happy and silly. I have wished repeatedly over the last few weeks that I could freeze time right here. At the same time I’m wishing I would have appreciated the time more when she was younger rather than stressing out, so it’s the same story there as with everything else!

Every phase, either of a baby growing up or our own stages of life, has its plusses and minuses. There are always challenges, but there are always things to appreciate, too.

Somehow it’s so hard to really stop and appreciate life in the moment when it’s happening. We can be happy, certainly, but some of that clarity seems to only come later. I hope I can stop and soak in a little more wonderfulness while I’m in it, and then enjoy it again a few years from now when I’ll probably be having this same conversation with myself.

While it still feels great to be outside I’m trying to be outside more often. Last week we brought some blankets and toys outside and just enjoyed the warmth and sun.

I worked on sewing the binding on the quilt I am FINALLY finishing. It’s very slow moving. Either I need to learn to sew faster or I might just give up and machine do it. I really don’t want to though so it’ll probably just take me another two years.

Morgan had fun playing with some blocks, putting them back and forth between the basket and their box.

I sewed a simple bag to hold clothespins, and Morgan likes to play with it, taking them out and putting them back in.

Toby wasn’t sure what to think of all this and kept trying to eat the grass/clovers.

One thing Morgan likes to do is play with this lid. About a month or two ago I think she figured out it looks funny to squish it against our faces, and of course we ham it up a little.

She has also started squishing it against her own face and trying to look through it…

And while we were playing she tried to put it towards Toby. Figuring he wouldn’t go for face squishing (kinda hard when you have a snout) I made it a hat for him instead.

Poor dog looks so tortured in this picture. I imagine he’s wondering why we humiliate him so much by making him look ridiculous. It’s all for the sake of kid play, Toby. Sorry my friend!

This is the “music corner” I previously referred to. It’s next to the desk and yes, that’s the basket of Toby’s toys there as well. I took a picture because I failed to mention the rain stick we bought in Mexico, which I also consider an instrument. We also bought a nice ukelele when we were in Hawaii (not hundreds of dollars, but not bright pink nor cheesy painted), but for some reason I can’t find it. I know it’s just in one of the many boxes we opted not to unpack and left in the garage. Anyway, so it was good to remember that we’re doing a little better on collecting instruments than I first thought.

I have been building a massive list of instruments I want while drooling over this site of kids’ toys and craft stuff that I really like. Too bad I already have next Christmas and birthday completely planned present wise. I’ll have to come up with some excuse. Hehe.