Draft 2021

I have to fess up. I just can't keep this quiet any longer. It's something we've done half a dozen times so far this year. My family has gone dumpster-diving. Yes, despite our comfortable six-figure income (thanks, honey), I have participated, albeit minimally, in the growing movement called Freeganism . We had a rather tight month in January, as we have been hard at work paying off a sizable consumer debt, when I came across an article about dumpster-diving. Hmmm, could we do that? Eww, could we do that? I brought the subject up with my husband and kids and got a predictable mixture of responses - from gross, to cool, to is that legal? (a little, yeah and absolutely) I knew my husband would be easy to convince. He'll do anything to save a dime. The consumer debt is primarily my fault, and believe me, I've learned my lesson and reformed my ways. (It was my idea to downsize our housing. See?) My oldest son, Stephen, is extremely environmentally conscious,

Over the last few years I have developed a strange disabililty: I am unable to make appointments with my doctor. Actually, making appointments with any doctor has become exceedingly difficult. But, after being several years behind in my "yearly" exams, and thanks to some not-so-gentle prodding from my friends, I finally called my family practitioner and made an appointment last fall. I hadn't seen this doctor for so long that my records hadn't made the switch from paper to the handy, portable computer he carried into the exam room. I like this doctor. He has taken me seriously in the past and I have never felt judged or uncomfortable in his presence - all three or four times I've seen him in the last 12 years or so. I have had issues with fibromyalgia and extreme fatigue for years now. At least, I think it's fibromyalgia, though I've never followed through with the zillions of tests it takes to first eliminate every other possible disease it isn't

I’ve been thinking lately about terminology. I’ve never been one to define myself by a philosophy or methodology. I don’t seem to be able to declare myself 100 per cent “anything.” Maybe I’m just wishy-washy, but I think it has as much to do with seeing the world in shades of gray, rather than black and white. What am I blathering on about here? Well, there are many people who seem to struggle with how to define themselves as home schoolers. They seem to agonize over whether they “fit” the definition of an eclectic home schooler, a school-at-homer, an unschooler or a radical unschooler. I’ve been known to try to fit myself into one of these categories a time or two, but it never seems quite right. If there is any philosophy that fits me, I guess it would be to try to respect and love my children for who they are. There is a part of me that would love to fully embrace radical unschooling, but I just don’t seem to be able to completely make that leap of faith, despite t

In an earlier post, I talked about why we moved into our economically-challenged neighborhood 1 1/2 years ago. The primary motivator was economic. Since moving from our admittedly gorgeous, but desperately expensive fixer-upper in a "high-end" part of town, to our relatively cheap, fixer-upper in a neglected, poor area of the city, we have been able to cut our consumer debt tremendously. Simply with the stroke of a pen upon signing the new mortgage, we erased more than $100,000 of debt and exorbitant utility bills (that could only be ameliorated with equally exorbitant home repairs). We bought our "new" old house with special financing that granted us a forgivable loan, allowing us to replace the existing boiler that dated to the 1920s with a new, 94 percent efficient boiler. If we stay in the house 5 years, we won't owe a penny of the cost of purchase or installation of the boiler. Our current house is still sizable - about 2300 square feet of finished spac

Egg decorating was a little s-l-o-w this year, but we ended up having a good time. While I was mixing up the filling for twice baked potatoes, the kids and Michael were dying and decorating at the table. Amidst the kitchen chaos from bread-baking, ham-preparing, asparagus steaming, etc., I could watch my family as they joked and cajoled with each other. At times like these I feel a surge of complete and total love for my husband and kids. I am so glad to be who I am and where I am right now! This is Zach. He just turned 18. Usually his eggs turn out brown or gray. This is Stephen. He just turned 20. He really was having a great time. Really. He was. I swear. Sarah's birthday isn't until April. She's still 14. Her eggs always turn out artsy-fartsy. This is Melissa. She just turned 11. Her eggs turned out great, despite a horrible cold.

March has always been a crazy month in my house, with three birthdays barely a week apart. When the kids were little, I nearly went crazy with baking the special cupcakes for preschool, then elementary classes; three birthday cakes in a row, the "special" decorations chosen for each child, the gifts, the wrapping... the carefully balancing everything so no one's day was more special than someone else's... But this year, despite the fact that my children are well-past the cupcakes-for-the-classroom and Scooby-Doo-napkins-age (the youngest just turned 11, is unschooled and did in fact have balloons and streamers for her special day), I not only have the March 13, 22 and 24 birthdays to prepare for, but Easter thrown smack dab in the middle of the last two. Now, with my youngest newly 11 and my oldest turning 20, Easter celebrations aren't quite as extravagant as they used to be, i.e. I don't have to make a bunny shaped cake and everyone knows about the Easter b