Paris Mountain

It's been raining every day and rarely climbing above 83 degrees. Mostly we get storms in the afternoons, huge dark clouds rolling in over the backyard. There's a sudden drop in temperature and the rain pelts down, killing our garden.

I love the excitement of a good summer storm. But every day??

So yesterday, we decided to go out anyway. Yeah, the sky was dark, but the forecast assured us we had until 5pm eastern time to seek shelter in an interior room.

We went to Paris Mountain State Park and walked around Lake Placid. It was great to get out. We took off our shoes and hiked. The kids were troopers; We didn't have to carry them at all! And it was nice out the whole time.

Hiking with kids means examining every little thing. 

Bea had to stop and let her dress dry out a little.

Ambrose is still getting used to diaper free living. He needed to rinse off...

Such a pretty trail.

Dead snake. Yeah, a second later Bea picked it up.

Hiking in style.

Everyone who passed us seemed disturbed by our lack of shoes. It was ok though. We didn't see any needles.

Nothing but BS

Baking Soda, that is. Bear with me.

So my sister Emma stopped using shampoo. She's doing the "No-Poo" method. I think that sounds like something gross. It's just baking soda for washing and vinegar for conditioning. Her hair looks amazing.

Now I've joined in. I read up on it. All about how the first few weeks are going to be hell, (so make sure you don't have any big events planned). I haven't noticed any difference except that my natural curl is more pronounced, a welcome change.

But it's weird in the shower. You have the baking soda in a container, right, I use a measuring cup. You get a little in your palm and add water, mixing it up until it gets... slimy. Then you wash, just the scalp. It's just to get the build up of oil away. I'm not sure what you do if you use a lot of product in your hair. I don't. I only wash when my hair gets flat on top from being oily after a few days. It's been a lot less oily since I stopped using shampoo. Anyway, you kinda just scrub and try to get that strong desire for lather to leave you alone.

Then you rinse out the BS and condition with vinegar. I started out using apple cider vinegar. You know that sour smell of laundry that didn't get put in the dryer soon enough? That's the smell that followed me around after the first wash. I'd read that there'd be no vinegar smell. But come on, common sense, folks. If you put vinegar in your hair and let it sit there while you wash? The smell is going to linger.

Now I use regular vinegar with a few drops of eucalyptus oil. It's a lot better.

If you want to try this method, do it! I'm really happy with my clean, fresh, healthy hair. No harsh chemicals (edit: Fewer harsh chemicals in the long run) and no pricey products. :)

Lesson Learned

James got his birthday present a week early this year. And I learned an important lesson: 4 year olds can't keep secrets. Well, mine can't anyway.

I got James a ukelele and idiotically let the kids see it before I hid it away in the workroom.

That was Friday. We had a busy day and went over to Irene in the evening. We stayed late, drank mint juleps and the kids got good and tired. Messy too. When we finally came home around 10, I stuck the kids in the bath to wear them out a bit more.

James got Bea out of the bath and talked to her about settling down for bedtime. She said,"First I want to play the ukelele."

Said James, "We don't have a ukelele, honey. Do you even know what a uke is?"

"Yes, Daddy," said she. "It's like a guitar, but very little. And we do have one."

At this point, it was getting unfair. She knew she was right and James was saying she was wrong and she was getting mad. So I intervened.

"Bea, if we have a ukelele, where is it?"

"It is in the workroom, but we just have to find it!"

James put her down and she ran out there, but she didn't know where it was hidden. I discretely pointed and she pulled out a uke shaped box! Oh, you should have seen the look on James' face!!! It was so perfect! We all screamed and clapped and laughed.

Now the house is even more full of music. :)

FTP

Nap time has gotten shorter and shorter for my kids! But today I had just enough time to patch my old jeans. They are wearable again!

Also, check out the great design on my t-shirt. It is by a friend from Greenpeace Action Camp.

Home

I started to feel really hemmed in recently. Most days, I am in our house all day with both kids because we have just the one car that James takes to work. There are so many huge things going on in the world from Snowden to Istanbul to DOMA and Wendy. But it's all I can do to get these children fed and exercised and most days even that is a struggle. Things have been hard with Bea.

But I don't want to feel hemmed in. This life is my choice and I need to just make the best of it for what it is now. This too shall pass. Every time we go to anywhere, people tell me to "enjoy them while they are young because they grow up so fast." I just smile.

Anyway, while we were stuck here this week, I finally moved in!

We've been here well over a year now, yet our living room walls were bare and our sofa had no pillows. Recently new neighbor stopped by and she asked if we just moved in. Yeah, it was bad.

The first thing I did was cover this chair. We call it the Hudson Chair because Hudson's the one who pulled it out a dumpster back when we lived in Charleston. The seat and back have stains and holes, but these cushions cover them right up:

Then I put some art on the walls. It is all either by myownself or people we know:

Then I covered every pillow I could find with fabric I had lying around, re-arranged some chairs, hung up more art and brought in some plants!

I made a special corner for the kids. It is for when they get too mad to participate in family life and need to cool down. It has books. So far Amby hasn't had to sit there, but Bea spends a lot of time in it!

Distraction

James and I are pretty stressed out these days. Parenting a difficult child is not for the faint of heart and it is taking its toll on the both of us. While James was away, I bore the brunt of the burden and now my nerves are more or less shot.

SO.

I am distracting myself by imagining a new look.

I wouldn't go pastel with it, but I think my natural chestnut would carry it just fine. I could let it swoop across my face, curl it and have it all wild on top, make a nice wave, slick it back like Tilda Swinton...

Thoughts?

(more images here)

Finally!

James is coming home today. Oh, we've missed him! All you folks who wait at home for deployed partners, I salute you! A long weekend is too long for me. I did wear ugly dresses, I did drink beer and I painted. But I only painted a little.

The kids and I stayed around the house mostly (James drove up to WV in our only car). We went over to see the in-laws and my folks for Father's Day. And we went to Irene yesterday to plant some veggies. 

Bea and Am have done pretty well. I've been a little obsessed with their sleep schedules because I need bedtime to be easy when James isn't here. It's been ok, but I've had a kid in the bed with me each night.