No worries, it’s just a virtual move… from here to typepad.

Please change my blog name to suchlovelyfreckles.typepad.com. I’m trying to work out the details of using suchlovelyfreckles.com again.

So come on over, take a look around, and I hope you’ll love it as much as I do.

Or at least one would think so at my house, where my children have discovered catalogs with toys galore. And since both their birthdays are long gone, I suppose, Christmas is the next best thing approaching. My daughter’s wishlist includes many vital parenting items like diapers, a bathtub, clothes, a potty chair and a baby carrier. She walks around the house with her baby Jessy, making cooing and crying sounds that get me alarmed every so often. Is she really crying? Or is it the baby?

My son, who is giving away a train set (voluntarily, might I add) is hoping for a new one, as well as some LEGO items and other things, that make a little boy’s heart beat faster. Yes, my children do really fit into the typical roles of girl and boy.

Maybe I should start making a wishlist too. I’m sure I could think of a few things myself.

Uh, yes, I admit, I get all wrapped up in new things. I love my new scarf, despite the fact, that I won’t be able to wear it for another 3 months… But I just love to look at it. So I thought I’d share with all of you too. Don’t hurt me please.

It was really quite simple. I did double crochets all the way through. It’s just soooo nice.

And my next project is this… sorry for the bad quality of this picture.

Think I’m crazy? I do too. But the Stitching and Bitching Queen writes “My goal was to create a sweater simple enough for a beginner to make…” She seems to be certain that beginners can do this. And if she thinks so, who am I to disagree, right?

I think I may have mentioned (duh) that I don’t care much for the chores around the house. So I avoided them most of the time by making preserves (blueberries this time), muffins, and I crocheted a scarf. Yes, I actually made the whole thing in two days. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
But then my family did something completely out of the ordinary. Daddy and kids cleaned up the kids’ room. And I mean they cleaned the place up. It’s spotless. They got rid of all kinds of junk. My daughter decided she’s getting rid of her dollhouse (which she hasn’t played with in ages, so why not). Then the cleaned downstairs. We had this train table which was a terrible junk collector. Anything that came in through the garage was tossed on the table or into one of the boxes under it. You’ve never seen this much junk in one place. Well, it’s gone! The junk and the table.
Okay, so there was a very tiny, very sweet incentive. Daddy bought one of those Fussball/Pool/PingPong convertible tables to put downstairs instead. But he wasn’t going to put it up until the table and the kids’ room was clutter free.

I watched the action from a distance, as I cleaned up my kitchen, and crocheted, and baked a bread, and crocheted (and went shopping with my neighbor). In the meantime I ran a couple of loads of laundry, and I feel slightly motivated to get started on some real work. So here’s the list for the week.

1. Clean up my office! Which is really really important, because in only 5 days my daughter from Germany will come to stay with us for 5 weeks. And she’ll be sleeping in my office. So she needs some space. I’ll have to clear some closet space and a couple of drawers, so she’ll actually feel at home.

2. Clean the bedroom! I have this terrible habit of piling clothes on this little glass table in front of my the window. And despite the beautiful jewelry box on top of my dresser, plenty of my jewelry ends up in front of it. Let’s not even talk about the vacuuming that needs to be done in there.

3. Clean the bathrooms! I actually did that last week. But if I do it again now, it won’t look so nasty. (Yes, dear friends… here is the terrible, dirty truth! I’m a slob.)

4. Fill those picture frames my husband brought home from the yellow and blue Swedish furniture store.

5. Sort out the tons of books that my children won’t be using for homeschooling. There is a swap table at VH. I’ll take them there.

6. And yes, somewhere in between I’ll fit writing, crocheting (I’m so getting started on that sweater I showed you guys at the park last week) and living a little.

Why am I making this list for everyone to see? I don’t know. Don’t read it if you don’t like it. I think I got it in my head that I’ll actually do it if I share it with the rest of the world. I’ll be sitting at park day this Wednesday, and at least one of my friends will ask me about which items I can cross off my list. I just know it. Let’s hear it for friends who care.

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Say what? I need to every once in a while clean, do laundry and pick up messes, so my house won’t look like a friggin’ bomb hit it? Well, why didn’t you say so? It’s kinda too late now. The house IS a mess. Mt Laundry has reached record heights, the mess in my kids’ room is so extreme, you can’t see the floor, and the rest of the house? Oh, I’ll spare you! Here’s the thing though. I just don’t have time for trivial things like toilet cleaning and laundry washing. It’s summer. The sun is out, and we like to go outside. We are always busy, always out and about. Who has time for chores around the house? I mean, really!

Not that this changes in the fall or winter though. Because then we’re busy with other things. Homeschooling community, volunteering, fall nature walks, you name it. So the fact is, I never have time for those pesky chores. This calls for some creative thought as to how we can get rid of the messes, OR avoid them altogether.

#1. Minimize! Remove any and all toys, craft items, dishes, and other things that can be dropped around the house carelessly.

#2. Nude-ize! (?) Clothes? A thing of the past. Who needs them? Although I’m afraid this might backfire at me. Fall IS kinda sorta around the corner, and the rainy season with it.

#3. Win the lottery and hire a maid for every unwanted chore (which is basically everything).

#4. Enlist the children! (Muahahahaaaaa… now I’m laughing)

#5. Go on strike! Sounds reasonable enough, but chances are, I won’t be heard, because the mess is there already. So the strike won’t really hurt anyone. They’re all used to having to step over things in order to get to another room.

#6. Invite guests! Ahaaaa, now we’re on to something. Somehow this family turns into a bunch of clean freaks, when we expect guests. We all run around the house like maniacs in hopes of preserving the picture of clean family in front of our valued friends. Can’t tell them, what a chaos we like to create around here. Of course, that still means I have to actually do something. BUT, on a positive note… the rest of the family will actually help. Therefore the work will be done in half the time.

Any other ideas? And please don’t try to get me hooked on the Flylady or such things. I am completely unqualified for such programs as they require a certain amount of eagerness, that I simply do not possess.

Have a lovely weekend, all.

It was a nice park day yesterday. Plenty of kids, plenty of moms, zero crocheting, but lots of talk about it. In my dreams I have finished the pretty sweater. In real life I have yet to buy the yarn for it. All in due time… right? My friend B. is a true inspiration to me that way. She just about finished her first ever knitted scarf! Wooohoooo! You rock, girl.

But what I really want to write about this morning is the teamwork we have witnessed yesterday.
J., B. and I are rather good friends. And therefore our children C. (B’s daughter), M. (J’s daughter) and L. (my son) are rather good friends as well. All three of them are 5 years old, with my son towering over the two girls, which is quite cute in a way. The three were busy swinging. That is, my son was busy sitting, and the girls were busy pushing. Well, little C. (and she’s really quite little and so cute) got upset because she wanted to use the swing. No problemo. L. got off the swing and offered it to her.
Now, we’re not talking those really low hanging swings… we’re talking those kid swings that are open on one side, closed on the other, and they have a little chain to close once you’re on the swing. And that’s where the trouble started. The swing hung too high for C. So L., who is about a foot taller than C. picked her up and tried really hard to sit her on the swing… without success. He tried several times, and he almost got her high enough. Almost! What to do? As all three of them stood around the swing, all of a sudden M. climbs on the swing. And before C. could get too upset about having lost the swing to someone else again, M. said, “But I’m just showing you how to get on.” Ahaaa! She demonstrated again, how C. could climb on the swing, by putting one knee up first and then pulling herself up.
Let’s not forget though that C. is rather little. It took several tries to even get her knee on the swing. But she managed eventually, and with a few pushes from her friends, she soon sat on the swing… on her knees… facing the back of the swing. Again, not a problem for our little team. A little cheering, and holding on to C.’s arm so she wouldn’t fall, while she was turning around in the swing, et voila. She sat and was ready to swing. L. closed the chain, and both L. and M. started pushing the swing.

As for us moms, we applauded and cheered, all of us happy and proud of our wonderful children. And B., behind large shades, discretely wiped away a tear. “I love homeschoolers,” she said. And it was the same tear that was forming in the corner of my eye… the one that I swallowed, due to a lack of shades.

Yes, I love homeschoolers too. But what I like even more is that my son has those two friends. Sweet girls (with an attitude) and a boy (with an attitude) sharing a friendship, that I can only hope will last a very long time. I’ll be happy to see them use their creativity and team spirit in years to come. And now I’ll go take a shower… Tears are invisible there.

Had you told me a few years back that I’d be making my own preserves (and refuse to eat store bought preserves, because they’re full of sugar) and picking up crocheting again, I would have laughed at you. I would have told you, that crocheting in 4th grade was traumatizing, and I still can’t forget that never finished yellow potholder that I had to make for Mother’s Day. And I would have told you that the preserves at the grocery store are perfectly fine, and why would anyone go through the trouble of making their own?

Ah yes, with age comes wisdom… (uh, right). So here I am with my brand new “Stitch’n bitch crochet — The Happy Hooker” (the name seemed appropriate, so I bought it) crochet book, dreaming up the lovely sweaters and scarfs I’m going to create (or not), while bitching about why on earth I had to pick up crocheting again. Couldn’t I just stick to crocheting little red flowers like I did last year? I have perfected the flower technique. I could crochet flowers til the end of my days. BUT… as part of the homeschooling park day I have to have something in my hands. And it’s not going to be knitting needles. That leaves food or a crochet hook. Yeah well…
Rooster X asked me last night at dance class (my daughter’s dance class, not ours) if he was allowed at park day anymore, being that he doesn’t crochet OR knit. I figure I’ll bring some extra crochet hooks, and teach him how to crochet little red flowers. You’re doomed, Rooster X, I hope you’re aware of that. Sitting among “hooking” and click clacking and chit chatting homeschool mommas, what choice do you have but to pick up one of the two? Of course you could just sit there and look good. Oh, and supervise. I’m told Roosters like to supervise… Oh, I know, you’ll take notes!! Don’t forget that notebook now.

As for the preserves, they are so very delicious. With half the sugar as the store bought version you can actually taste the fruit and don’t have to go by color only. My daughter has told me that she intends to eat peanut butter and “mom-preserves” bread for breakfast, lunch and dinner today. So far I’ve made blackberry and raspberry preserves. I’ll also make plum (italian prunes) preserves, and apple jelly this year. And now, it’s up to you, dear readers. Do you just love love love preserves and even the thought of them makes your mouth water? I’m giving away two jars of blackberry jam (yes, I realize I’ll have to pack them really well!). Tell me, why you think you’re the one who deserves that delicious jar of preserves. I’ll announce the two lucky winners Saturday, July 26.

Have a lovely day.

So I woke up to another lovely, sunny day this morning and told myself I’m one of those lucky people living in the nicest place on Earth. I look out my office window, and I see all green. Different shades of green. A light breeze blows in and I feel somewhat drunk just from inhaling it. Yes, this is the place to be. Of all the places in the world this is the nicest place I have ever lived at. I can take the rainy season for this. I can stumble through spring with my shoulders drooping, the corner of my mouth drawn downwards… for this! This, my friends, is paradise.

And here are my plans for this week.
Go Letterboxing with the brood today.
Go berry picking tomorrow, so I can finally make some preserves, because I’m running out, and I can’t run out of preserves, because I refuse to buy preserves at the store.
Go to the homeschool park day on Wednesday and bring my crocheting stuff, because that’s what you do there, if you decide not to knit.
Go to OMSI and watch the Pharao OMNIMAX movie Thursday, because if I don’t do this with my daughter anytime soon, she will get on my case for the rest of my days, because, everything Egypt is sacred and must be watched.
Read the first Harry Potter book until my voice fails Friday… and go back to the horseback riding place from last week, even though I’m not sure it’s a good place, but I enjoyed riding the horse so much, that I really want to do it again.

Oh, and I have just re-discovered my love for Metallica. I can’t help it… when I hear that song, all of a sudden I’m… uh… much younger, dressed in black, banging my head in some raunchy, dark club my mother wouldn’t approve of.

… why “oldtimer” homeschoolers and “newbie” homeschoolers don’t seem to get along? Or why is it that unschoolers and “regular” homeschoolers don’t get along? Why are there heated debates over who does it the right way? Why do the “oldies” tell the “newbies” that they dislike the homeschooling movement as it is going right now? Why do the “newbies” tell the “oldies” to buzz off? And why on earth is it necessary to judge unschoolers and homeschoolers? Who decides what is the exact right way to educate our children? I believe I may have posted about this before. But tonight I just had this urge… after reading some new blogs and finding that even among homeschooling families there is so much hostility, that one might think we’re not all in the same boat, when actually we are!

We may all do it for different reasons. We may choose to include certain subjects and rule out others, or we may not teach any subjects at all. But in the end we all have one thing in common. We home educate. We chose to keep our children away from the institution school because we’re convinced that we can do a better job. This is the one thing we do have all in common. We do all believe we can do a better job at this education thing, right?

Yes, the homeschooling movement has changed, and frankly, that’s a good thing. Not because the old way was bad, but because change is good. We drop some old baggage and add something new and exciting instead. How cool is it that we can be this flexible? One would think that with the criticism that we get from John and Jane Doe whose child happens to be an Honor Student and who know “lots of homeschoolers who are plain weird and not well adjusted at all”… one would think that with this kind of criticism homeschoolers would refrain from criticizing other homeschoolers. How come we ask others to have an open mind and respect us when we are quick to judge the other family who chooses a different approach than we do?

So there… can you explain this to me? Cause I’d like to know.

There really isn’t a better excuse to get together with dear friends to chat and laugh and drink a glass of wine or two. You bring some books to swap, you look around for other books, share opinions, and go home with a big basket full of “new” books. I’ll say it again, there is no better excuse. I loved this evening. It reminded me of what a wonderful community I’m a part of and how incredibly grateful I am for it.

And tomorrow I have my first horseback riding lesson. I think I may have told everyone about this. Who cares if they want to hear it. I am so excited to learn to ride I can’t not talk about it. I have sat on horses before, but anyone who has ever been on a guided tour knows, that this usually happens with a bunch of horses who just know exactly where to go and what to do without the person their backs knowing a thing about horses. You’re not riding, you’re sitting on a horse that takes you somewhere, and you hope it won’t freak out on you (which back in Arizona, riding through the desert could have been entirely possible… rattle snakes and all…). Well, now I will learn how to do it right, and I feel quite happy to pursue this dream that I’ve had for a while now.

Oh, I love summer! And it’s just perfect this year. Sunshine every day, lovely temperatures, the freckles are exploding… it’s all good!