today I got up early with the dog, planted the mint, strawberries, and lettuce that Mary gave me last night, watered plants, turned on the tiller, remembered it was 8:30 on Sunday morning and turned it off, painted an end table, dug out the five front bushes with chainsaw, planted the 50% off climbing roses, clematis' and hydrangea I indulged in earlier this week, tilled the rest of the backyard and four corner beds in the front (Chris was unaware of this part of the plan - he's a grass fan somehow), planted wildflower seeds in the butterfly corner, planted morning glory seeds along the remaining bushes, took Gracie for a short bike ride, continued to let the girls watch as much TV as they liked, mixed high cal lime, gypsum, bonemeal, vetch seed, oat seed, and oilseed radish (Gracie helped) and sprinkled it all on the back beds, rearranged stepping stones, painted other end table, got two loads of mulch and Wendy's for dinner at 7, unloaded first half of second mulch load in the dark, watched Nim's Island with girls, put girls to bed and read from Alice in Wonderland, plastered the bathroom a bit, and sat down with a little ice-cream to check email. Getting all this done made me feel really good. A few more loads of free mulch and I'll be done outside for the year. ... Might pick up a clearance butterfly bush, though. And I have garlic bulbs coming in the mail. Might plant those next to the roses.

Gracie likes to garden. She demands to help and says things like, I like doing this. She was one when I started to garden seriously and spent that first summer sitting in soil and eating it.

We had a little party for my dad's birthday this week. I keep making cakes with cream cheese frosting. Its so good.
1 stick butter
2 8oz blocks of cream cheese
2 seconds pour of vanilla
powder sugar to taste - maybe 3 cups?
let mixer go for a long time for fluffy frosting.

We got new living room furniture from my great aunt's estate that I'm really excited about. Will post image soon; thinking about painting all the wood white. Finally finished painting trim in dining room after starting at least a month ago. Painting windows is really boring. Have set a goal to finish my three big house projects before new art classes start in my dining room: bathroom plaster, wallpaper, floor tiles, and homemade curtains; paint living room trim and furniture white; and finish laying mulch on half the yard. Bought hairy vetch, oats, and oilseed radish to cover crop the area and just planted a patch of lettuce and sweet peas. Found a source of aged horse manure free but feeling overwhelmed about how many trips have to be made to cover the area. Wish I had a pick-up truck. What seats like a mini-van, hauls like a pick-up, and looks like an old bronco? Oh, and super fuel efficient? A unicorn?

Girls have been consistent with latest schedule: one does a dishwasher load, one does a load of laundry, one page of math, spelling/handwriting practice or quiz, journal entry, and 15 " novel reading of choice before lunch. It's an hour's worth of work asked for in a four hour window, in any order they want, that seems to be teaching them something about work before play, even if that play is invaluable unschooling. Besides, they love to read, and Charlotte enjoys making wonderful, illustrated journal entries. We are also still taking notes once a week on Story of the World and have set up a weekly meeting with one family for science projects and our new neighbor friends for weekly crafts. Charlotte is in ballet and this week her teacher made them all sit facing the wall instead of playing freeze dance at the end because two of the girls were goofing off. Charlotte says he's no fun but I'm pleased he's taking it seriously and already weeding out dancers from players. Eleanor is finishing archery, which she lights up about when asked, and starts horse back riding next week. They're the cheapest lessons I've found but at 25 a pop - which covers almost 2 hours of riding and grooming, she won't be doing anything else and won't be able to go every month. She's so thrilled about it though; I had been looking for something she would love as much as Charlotte loves ballet. Eleanor is a warrior.

I love my dog, Ramona Quimby. She keeps going in the house but that's my fault for not crating her consistently enough. Other than that, she's perfect. She lays at our feet when we're on the couch and has never run away. We let her loose in the woods this week and she never strays from us. She mostly lay under our picnic table. I love her velvet puppy ears; there's a little trim paint on one now.

Oh, PS, the bird has already found a new home.

Today we had our friends over to make our final Rube Goldberg machine. We prepared for this by watching rube goldberg you tubes, especially this one,
and Bill Nye's simple machines episode.
Our project goal was to make a machine that would make chocolate milk and involve a wheel, wedge, lever, and inclined plane. Success!

In other news, I brought an old birdcage to my aunt's tonight because they were trying to catch a parakeet that had been hanging out in their yard for days before the cold hit AND went home with a new pet bird. Not the plan but it is pretty and would look nice in a round white hanging cage in the corner. Stay tuned for Chris' reaction.

dropped dog off at 7am for spay and to remove double back dew claws. dog feeling expensive.
reading, writing, 'rithmatic. girls worked quietly on projects while I processed 7 dozen red peppers I got for four dollars.
took el to archery class. nice to see friends. started offering art classes for homeschoolers.
caught end of unschoolers' 'not back to school party.' I love those guys.

went to dad's tonight to clean out knick knacks. I hadn't shed a tear at the wake or funeral but seeing the house dismantled made it all feel real and I let it out. got a crying headache. picked some stuff out. girls came home with a box of junk they picked out on each of their laps. the house felt so lonely with the presence of gram and pa being moved out. the death of a place - the place that felt most like home. I brought some table linens home and they smell exactly like the house - the linen closet. I wrapped a tablecloth around my face, closed my eyes, and breathed in their smell as much as I could. It was summer again and Gram was there and I was 8. I sealed them in a bag in hopes they'll smell that way for a while.

had a party for violet last night. got pretty big and rowdy. fun. made red velvet cake with pink cream cheese frosting. house is getting very clean. clean and organized enough that I'm confident enough to hold art lessons here.

So I drank too much caffeine at the wedding and I couldn't sleep so I've been online or cropping, printing and arranging photos for a birthday gift for my niece. While at the wedding, I asked my aunt's brother in law, whom I've never spoken with before, if he remembers where he got a necklace for my mom forty years ago, back when they dated briefly. Of course he didn't but memories were jogged and it was all very friendly. I had worn this particular necklace for ten years. It was so delicate and beautiful and the perfect length - I can't stand to have anything touch my chest and this sat right at my throat. It was like magic, I remember from when I was little, how the sparkles moved gently within the tiny glass sphere. When I was 20, I dropped it on a tile floor and it shattered. I cried. I searched for a replacement unsuccessfully for years. An old boyfriend had a pitiful replica made for me that was neither a sphere nor filled with crystals. So this morning, in my meditative state, achieved through no sleep and sitting here at the screen long enough, I found it. Its called a floating opal pendant. There were lots of them available and, with a little more searching, I found the same one! And bought it immediately. For $50. Perfect.
This one is similar, but mine was silver. You can't see how it moves inside and catches the light, but it gives an idea.

The dog's name is Bailey. And its no longer up for discussion: out of my hands. ...I liked Ramona. This morning the whole family went to a park with a track; Chris and I jogged with the dog and the girls rode their bikes. Tonight we went to my cousin's wedding; it was fun.

I had sketched out (with rocks) the edges of next years garden beds and spent time today laying free city mulch on what amounts to about half the yard. One big chunk of that is just wood chips under the tire swing. I'm pretty excited about this project. Meanwhile, I haven't finished the bathroom walls or painting all the trim/windows. Free city mulch can include diseased trees; I'm hoping biozome soil probiotic will eat away any badness between now and spring. Will also lay down some free aged horse manure I was offered (!), high calcium lime, gypsum, bonemeal, and rock phosphate and maybe some azomite trace mineral powder. This area will get vegetables, flowers, and 2 mini-dwarf apple trees in the spring.

Most perfect and beautiful chandelier ever. Just under $700. Considering the 199 white Target chandelier and adding some strands of aqua beads, etc.

monday was so long ago, but I know we did spelling, math , and reading in the morning and that I went grocery shopping with a menu list and painted window frames after the girls went to bed.

tuesday involved school clothes shopping with a generous friend, some babysitting of nephews, and dinner at tania's.

wednesday: spelling, math, and quiet reading before lunch, history after, then visited with Cote at their house, cleaned up house, then had new neighbor friend with her 3 girls come over, had carrot cupcakes and tea and she brought fresh challah.

thursday: read about the hanging gardens of babylon from history online. made connections with current physics project (pump system for getting the water from the euphrates up the fake mountain), girls made paintings about the gardens, I went to the gym, made fettucine with chicken and herbs and tomatoes from garden, Mary and kids stopped by for a lovely last minute visit, worked on physics project, went to Amy's for dinner and visit.

friday: read book about Maria Tallchief over breakfast, girls drew pictures about their future dreams: Charlotte -ballet, Eleanor -horses, math, spelling, (spellingcity.com). its 11:30 now and I'm taking a little break and trying to get organized.

Gracie has been making "school" difficult lately. She has her own math pages, tracing numbers and recognizing them, and uses starfall for letters, but she has an exceptionally demanding personality and between her yelling and the other girls' bickering, I feel like I'm earning my keep.

Been getting up with the dog at 6:30 every morning. Feels good. This morning I took care of the dog and did dishes before anyone got up. Her name is up for grabs still. Chris hated Alice, the girls like Ramona now, ...maybe Mabel.