Arrived

So we made it across the country. Alder was powered primarily by chocolate Newman-Os and the rest of us on coffee and grease. If you have choice do not drive cross country with a one year old unless you are planning to stop and see stuff. We've been here in our new place two days and are living in a sea of boxes, the kitchen and bedroom are almost done but much more to go.

Right now I'm stealing computer time from my cousin who was awesome and helped with the unpacking, but he's off today so we'll be computer-less for a few more days. Then there will be pictures.

Love to everyone and see you soon.

Stacey

4 Days See Ya In Vermont

Just a quick note as we are finishing packing. The computer is next up. Our next week will be filled with graduation, painting, packing the truck and driving across the country on 36, 24, 6 and finally onto the interstate for I-90 across New York. See you on the other side.

5 Days Simplicity...returning to

If I am up at 3 am you know that life is stressful right now. Of course we are only in the middle of moving across the country to start a business in a town where we know no one. So instead of getting some much needed sleep I am sitting here on the computer (actually in front of it, I would smush it if I sat on it).

Yes there is a lot of unknowns coming up soon so I am trying to focus on the things that I actually know. This means I have spent and inordinate amount of time collecting paint chips anytime I am at or in the neighborhood of a store that sells paint. Even if our landlord doesn't let us paint we will be able to do the fabric wall thing. Either way thinking about colors has been a good stress reliever lately.

This brings me to what I look forward to the most when we move, a return to simplicity. The last few years have been chaotic between Kevin's school and having a baby we haven't had much time or mental space for it. But now that school is over we are going to go back to our old ways. I am so excited.

This world we live in is complicated, there are so many things going on that we can't simplify (have you looked at the news paper lately?). the one thing any person can control is their own life. That is why we chose simplicity. Before you get any pictures of a Japanese inspired home with no furniture and no entertainment let me explain how we do simplicity.

To us it means our Friday night date involves cooking dinner together and dancing in the kitchen to Rosemary Clooney or Sam Bush. It means creating a home where curling up on the couch with a book is the fought after and then pile on location. It means being out on the trail before seven, just because. It means reading out loud to each other in the car. It also means that we are going to get organized.

The organization thing is the tough one for us. We are fairly good at organizing, it's the staying organized that is difficult. We get complacent and things pile up, then the piles become enemies and we fight dealing with them. But we are determined to start fresh begin with new systems for getting things done, keeping things neat, going out less to eat, and most importantly spending more time together. It sounds linear, I know, but there needs to be an underlying structure that allows for the creative, spontaneous, and random to occur.

here are some resources I found on getting organized:
I think this list is about where I am, a beginner.

This site has some good ideas, doesn't seem as Zen as the title though.

I like the 90% rules Emme has here.

This is the website of the New Road Map Foundation, Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez is the book which their ideas are based, it is a good look at how to become financially independent.

And of course there is the book that I found in a used books store seven years ago: The Simple Living Guide by Janet Lours Amazon doesn't have a copy but you can find it at Abebooks used.

The saddest part of looking up all these sites was the amount of sites that were about things you should by to help you organize. I'm not talking bookshelves and file folders but lots of crap.

I suppose I should attempt to get some sleep.

At the Gardens

It was a day of firsts and lasts. We went to the Botanic Gardens with our Thursday friends for the last time this morning. We found an out of the way garden with only one gate and let the kids run around while we sat and talked. We biked over from their house and didn't have strollers, Alder was happy to walk everywhere. This is one of those things that I have been dreaming of since he was born to walk with him holding hands rather than pushing him or carrying him.

6 Days When Your House Looks Like This

When your house looks like this:



You really only can go do this:
Or smile like this:

Visual Verbalism

When I am tired or trying to stay focused on something, like when I am at a lecture or driving listening to NPR. My mind starts to see the words written out in front of my eyes. Sometimes it's like a game where I try to keep up with the speaker, trying to catch each word. Other days it just happens. Mainly I just put this in the same category as yes I am a little weird (as my cousins reminded me in their birthday card). But just chalking it up to weirdness doesn't really give it meaning, if I did that I would not ever get to understand myself. I think it is a mix of my visual learning style along with my love of words and a little bit strangeness of being me.

I tend to do it in spates and I haven't for months until I went to the Earth Expo and got stuck in an incredibly long presentation which wasn't very relevant to me. While my friend took notes and asked questions I watched as the words the lecturer said became print before my eyes. Having Alder around most of the time is enough of a mind focus that I don't need to do the word thing. But I'm guessing driving cross-country I'll have a few moments of visual verbalism.

8 Days What a wonderful birthday

My birthday was perfect. Well as perfect as a birthday in the middle of packing up a house in the middle of a heat wave can be perfect. Kevin changed every diaper yesterday and he even braved packing the kitchen. I wasn't quiet as productive as him yesterday but we spent the day packing things and talking.

We made dinner reservations for eight at Le Central. This worked well because Alder cozily slept in his stroller while we had a romantic dinner. We even split a nice bottle of wine (I love the bring the bottle home law in Colorado, you actually take rest home).

He got me this book

I love the stories in and the illustrations by Meilo So are gorgeous. He always tries to find gifts that will inspire me to do more art.

We are trying to get in the habit of giving each other, and Alder gifts, that have more with doing than things. The other part of my gift is a camping trip to Maine in September. We would like to get to the point where each of us gets a birthday trip as the main gift. Of course there always needs to be something to unwrap, even if it's just the map.