In our two weeks (plus one day) of home ownership, we’ve already learned a few things. Mainly, how to do stuff. Last night, I watched my husband, who was convinced just six weeks ago that we would need to hire someone to do every little repair around the house, fix a toilet that wouldn’t stop running. He spread the instructions to the replacement parts out on the sink, got out his toolbox, and got to work. An hour later, the toilet was working correctly and the satisfied, proud grin on his face made me laugh.
blogging
A touch of Rosie (the Riveter)
For my husband to make any kind of drastic change in his life, there has to be a “last straw.” I’ve heard him tell me about his various last straws before, but I’m usually not that kind of person. This week, though, I discovered my last straw. In fact, I found a whole bag of ’em.
Finding our fit
When I got the word that the job was mine, I had exactly 5 weeks to prepare to move the family across the country. Continue reading
You can go home again, but maybe you shouldn’t…
Have you ever had one of those experiences that really just defy words? At least, right away? I went home to Indiana for a week and only recently got back to Washington, and I’ve been trying to wrap my head around my trip. I discovered something pretty profound, at least to me: they say you can’t go home again, but I don’t believe that’s true. You can, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to feel like home anymore.
We moved from Indianapolis to Seattle last August. Last September, my parents moved out of the house they’d lived in for 29 years. When I headed to their house after arriving at the Indianapolis airport, I was driving to an unfamiliar house in a town I’d never been in. There was no “going home.” In fact, home was gone.
My new normal
I’ve been away from my blog for a few weeks, and I’d love to pretend my extended absence was due to some wild adventure. But alas, I wasn’t scaling the glaciers of Mt. Rainier or kayaking up Puget Sound to commune with the whales. My new normal – pain, fatigue, and an honest loss of words – have kept me away.
DIY: Processing my herbal apothecary
Back in early September, not long after we moved out here, I ordered a bunch of dried herbs, including Dandelion Root, Devil’s Claw Root, Feverfew, Peppermint, Oatstraw, and several others from Mountain Rose Herbs so that I could try out different herbal tinctures. Well, it’s been about 8 weeks so it was time for me to process those batches. Read on for more information on how to do it and what these herbs are used to treat.
Raging winds and lessons learned
Author’s note: Post started on 11/12 and finished on 11/14…
The past few weeks have been a flurry of activity, book-ended by mornings that start long before the sun comes up and end hours after it’s already set (which here in the Pacific northwest is at about 4:30pm right now!) During these busy times, I’ve learned a few lessons that I’ve been reflecting on today, which happens to be not only a day when I’m stuck at home with bronchitis while a wind storm rages outside my door, but also my 36th birthday.
Materializing memories
When preparing to move, rooting through boxes of crap is inevitable. You find things like your high school yearbooks, which you haven’t looked at in years because you’re friends with most of those people on Facebook anyway. You find your collection of New Kids on the Block memorabilia from when you were just a kid, and your husband urges you to throw it all away, only to receive a heated glare because your Joe McIntyre doll isn’t going anywhere. Continue reading
Life on Wild Hare Farm 