Interview

Thanks to Madeline for this awesome meme. I'm going to treasure these answers, even if some of them are an absolute riot!

I interviewed each child separately, and Sam was kind enough to pause his game to humor me. What a guy!


1. What is something your mom always says to you?
Emily: I love you.
Julia: The more you clean up, the more you find.
Sam: Don't listen to your daddy.

2. What makes your mom happy?
Emily: clean floors
Julia: Seeing our smiles.
Sam: Seeing her children have fun.

3. What makes your mom sad?
Emily: She doesn't get sad very often, but when she yells at me she does.
Julia: When she and daddy argue.
Sam: Seeing her children being really sad and hitting their own selves.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Emily: She tries to tell a bad joke. when there's no laughter, I start laughing.
Julia: Makes jokes at my dad.
Sam: By tickling me so much.

5. What did your mom like to do when she was a child?
Emily: I really don't know; she doesn't talk about her childhood much.
Julia: Look in the garden for gnomes.
Sam: read books.

6. How old is your mom?
Emily: 38
Julia: 37
Sam: 38

7. How tall is your mom?
Emily: shorter than daddy
Julia: How do I know!?
Sam: 7 feet

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
Emily: garden
Julia: garden
Sam: garden

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Emily: Have private time with daddy.
Julia: Be on the computer.
Sam: garden

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
Emily: her delicious food
Julia: our farm
Sam: gardening

11. What is your mom really good at?
Emily: everything
Julia: farming
Sam: gardening

12. What is your mom not very good at?
Emily: video and computer games
Julia: math
Sam: building houses

13. What does your mom do for her job?
Emily: provide food
Julia: farm
Sam: gardening

14. What is your mom's favorite food?
Emily: cheese
Julia: chicken giambatta
Sam: salad

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
Emily: So much stuff, I can't choose one thing.
Julia: her gardening.
Sam: That she builds the strength to do what she does today even though it's very hard.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
Emily: Nausicaa
Julia: Princess Jasmine
Sam: Superwoman

17. What do you and your mom do together?
Emily: So many things I can't think of one. We talk together, help me read and write, and she cares about me.
Julia: play bananagrams
Sam: play

18. How are you and your mom the same?
Emily: we're very alike. We have a lot the same personality. We both get very powerful sometimes and a bunch of other stuff.
Julia: We like baking.
Sam: we both like snuggling with each other

19. How are you and your mom different?
Emily: I've got thicker hair and I'm younger.
Julia: she likes to weed; I don't.
Sam: I know how to do a lot of computer games and she doesn't.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
Emily: That she's caring enough to do things for me.
Julia: Cause she takes care of me.
Sam: Because she says it every day, and I know she means it. And she doesn't, like, roll her eyes.

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
Emily: I don't know. There's so many things she likes about him.
Julia: Him.
Sam: Everything.

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
Emily: the garden
Julia: the beach
Sam: The family room because it has all the family in it usually.

I know, I know...

It's been forever since I posted. What can I say? This is busy season on the farm, and my computer time and energy is limited. Here's a recent photo of the kids making their own pizzas one night for dinner, a common occurrence round these parts.

Em turned 11 a couple of weeks ago, came down with chicken pox yesterday, and started her first knitting project. She's quite proud of herself and has something to do while sitting in bed watching movies. You can see she has a new haircut, too.

The other kiddos are doing well, too. Jules is learning to knit as well, and is working on her own scarf. She also planted her own garden this year. Her siblings had small plots as well, but never got into it as much as she did, and she did much of the work for them as well. These sunflowers are some she painstakingly transplanted out of my market garden—volunteers for last year's crop that would have been tilled under. She also planted tomatoes, beans, potatoes, and pumpkins, though the pumpkins never materialized. She also graciously (or begrudgingly, depending on the moment) loaned me some garden space for my medicinal herbs until I get the new bed made. Here, she's dressed up as Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean III for a game they're playing, which I dragged her away from to get the photo before the sunflower came and went.

Sam's big into swimming and The Legend of Zelda these days. Oh, and Mythbusters—he absolutely loves Mythbusters. He's grown so much this past year, emotionally and physically, and he's such an amazing soul. He was so pysched to be able to climb to the top of the water truck that brought the water for our swimming pool.

8 Things Meme (grumble, grumble)

C'mon folks, I'm a dictionary; I'm really not interesting enough to come up with 8 things to tell about myself, yet I've been tagged twice, so I guess I'll need to try. Ren says she thinks it's ego that drives us to do these memes, but for me, it's more that pressure of not wanting to be the one to drop the ball—similar motivation for dragging myself to do chain letters and other obnoxious pressure-oriented stuff. Oh, and I guess I should link to Ren and Madeline who both tagged me.

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.



1) Well, since I already shared this over at Ubasics, it's a no-brainer: when I was 16 I used to sneak out of the house at night. I'd jump off the roof below my window, put the car in neutral, roll it down the driveway, and spend the night at my boyfriend's house. I was always a bit of a rebel and really couldn't stand being told what to do...or what not to do as the case may be. I'm really not much different now.

2) Despite being a wild child, I have this incredible dose of Catholic guilt. In and of itself that may not be all that interesting except that I'm an atheist and was raised entirely without religion of any sort, well besides having to say grace at the dinner table. I have this major confessional streak, and I can't seem to release things until I've confessed them and tried to make amends. Maybe this is some kind of past-life residual thing.

3) I'm incredibly loyal and excellent at keeping secrets...except when it comes to gift giving. I have absolutely no will-power when it comes to waiting to give people gifts when I think they will really like it—the excitement is just too much. And on that same note, I was a terrible snoop as a child when it came to Christmas. I used to wait until my mom was out of the house, and then I would slit the tape on the presents under the tree, carefully unwrap them to see what was inside, then put new tape exactly on top of the old tape so no one would know. Of course, I was always disappointed Christmas morning when there were no surprise gifts—I could never understand why my mom didn't hold a few back.

4) I squeal like a little girl. No really, I do. I'm highly startle-able and excitable, and I squeal; it just pops out of me involuntarily. Sometimes Jim will chase me around the house, and I get all worked up like I'm about 5 years old, which of course just cracks him up. I have an overly-developed fight or flight sense.

5) I was supposed to get married once, and I called my wedding off 6 days before hand and went to spend the summer at the beach where Jim and I met. Jim and I have known each other since we were kids, and that summer something just clicked. Truth be told, he was a large part of the reason I called off the wedding. *eg* Though I had really just been looking for an excuse for a while to end a bad relationship before getting in any deeper.

6) I once spent 6 weeks backpacking around Thailand and China and signed up for the Peace Corps, but that was all part of that bad relationship, so the Peace Corps thing got called off along with the wedding, and I went to grad school instead.

7) I have a huge scar up the side of my right shin from a bike accident when I was 13. I had more than 70 stitches in multiple layers and was very lucky that the pedal missed my muscle when it ripped open my leg.

8) My first word was "flower," and I've always been a gardener at heart. I used to love spending time at my great aunt's farm, sleeping in the loft and riding in the wagon. My heart has finally found home here on our farm, and I feel myself putting roots down deep into the earth. This fulfills that part of me that has always felt unanchored, adrift, unconnected to the world as a child of adoption. My family is my world, and I'm finished this silly meme just in time to go outside and milk my goat.

I'm tagging:

Robin,  Cheryl,  Karl,  Leanne,  Wendy,  Stephanie,  Arun,  and Christy

I'm a dictionary...

Knitmoka, took it from Crystal, who got it from Mary, and damn if they aren't all really interesting people!

I, on the other hand, am a dictionary...

You're The Dictionary !

by Merriam-Webster

You're one of those know-it-all types, with an amazing amount of knowledge at your command. People really enjoy spending time with you in very short spurts, but hanging out with you for a long time tends to bore them. When folks really need an authority to refer to, however, you're the one they seek. You're an exceptional speller and very well organized.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

The Earth Farm Song by Sam

Time is big;
Love is big.
You can have your own world right in your own hands.
You just need to focus.

Time is love;
Time is god.
You’re bigger than any god.

Time is time.
Heart is heart.
Time is heart.

Heart is soul.
Fire is fire.
Fire breathes;
Fire’s bigger than flames

Fire is heart.
Smoke is gas.
Smoke is deadly, sometimes.

Heart can be soul.
Strength is wood.
Heart is love.

Scared of the dark?
Dark is not to be afraid of,
That is where love lies.

Life is the life.
Love is stronger than any goddesses or gods.
Zeus cannot be stopped,
But love can stop him,
Time can stop him.

When they work together,
Love and time can stop anything.

We are love.
We are made from our moms and dads.
We started out as a dream,
And one dreamed us.

We are love and time.
We can hold time right in our hands;
We just need to focus.

We can all be creative
When we see something we like;
We just need to think of it.

We are love.

Vegetables are fruit.
Words are knowledge.
Clothing is our wearing.
We are all love and time.
Time is love.

We are all people of this earth.
We can see anything that’s close enough.
We can see to the Atlantic Ocean.
We can see love,
But we can’t see the heart of the love.

But we know the heart of the love:
Earth’s heart, gaia’s heart is the heart of love.
That heart is invisible.
If they ever see it or find it, the lava will burn them.

Love is nature;
Love is stronger than any force.
Love is nature.
We all love our moms and dads;
We are stronger than any force.

Mean Moms

Someone on the Ubasics list posted this blurb that was circulating and being celebrated on a local list of hers. I re-wrote it from my own perspective and wanted to share it here as well...

Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates a parent, I will tell them, as my Mean Mom told me: I loved you enough . . . to ask where you were going, with whom, and what time you would be home. I loved you enough to be silent and let you discover that your new best friend was a creep. I loved you enough to make you go pay for the bubble gum you had taken and tell the clerk, "I stole this yesterday and want to pay for it." I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your room, a job that should have taken 15 minutes. I loved you enough to let you see anger, disappointment, and tears in my eyes. Children must learn that their parents aren't perfect. I loved you enough to let you assume the responsibility for your actions even when the penalties were so harsh they almost broke my heart. But most of all, I loved you enough . . . to say NO, when I knew you would hate me for it. Those were the most difficult battles of all. I'm glad I won them, because in the end you won, too. And someday when your children are old enough to understand the logic that motivates parents, you will tell them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just for kicks, I wanted to write this out as it would look for me....

Someday, when my children are older, I will tell them:

I loved you enough to care about where you were going, with whom, and what time you'd be home and to help you get there, have fun, and come home.

I loved you enough to be silent when you needed me to be silent and to be there when you needed to talk, to give you the space to discover for yourself who your true friends were and to help you pick up the pieces when you were hurt.

I loved you enough to help you pay for the bubble gum you wanted and to make things right when they felt wrong.

I loved you enough to stand by you for a lifetime, to be by your side for two hours while we cleaned your room, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes, but the conversation was too precious to lose.

You learned that I wasn't perfect as we shared our lives together.

I loved you enough to let you make choices even when the stakes were high and to help bear your burden whenever I could.

But most of all, I loved you enough to always help you get what you needed, to put our relationship first and to walk in your shoes instead of engaging in battles.

I'm glad you came to me, because in the end, you've helped me grow and become a better person, so I won, too, in this relationship.

And someday, when your children are old enough to understand the principles that guide this legacy of parenting, I hope you tell them how they helped you grow and become a better person.

EGADS! What happened to April & May?

Whew! Two months have come and gone with no blogging whatsoever? What in the world could keep me quiet for that long, you ask? Must be something catastrophic at the very least.

Not exactly. We've been quite busy, actually, contemplating, setting up and now preparing for a move cross-state. We've had many family discussions about all the pros and cons of moving, done several reconnaissance missions, bought a house, sold a house, ushered through many an inspector and are now, somewhat anxiously, awaiting the closing date and the physical move, though we've pretty much mentally moved already.

We'll be moving to 5.24 acres in Northern Maryland where we can spread out and begin living some of our dreams. I've been wanting to homestead for quite some time, well, homestead-lite, really, and the kids are looking forward to getting more animals than we've had space for in our present home. There's a barn with three 12 x 12 stalls, which will make a great temporary home for our chickens until we build them their own digs, and which will make a great home for Julia's Nigerian Dwarf dairy goats in the spring. Emily hopes to get a horse in a couple of years, so I imagine she and I will be taking riding lessons together next year. Sam's looking forward to getting a puppy this fall and some roosters in the spring--I think his plan is to build up the male population of our little homestead.

Currently, we're having discussions back and forth about what bedrooms will look like, who will sleep where and with whom, that kind of thing. I'm planning my new kitchen, which will have double ovens and a five-burner cooktop by the time I'm through with it. We'll be laying aside some money to put in a pool next spring, which will be fun for everyone, and once we finish off the basement this winter, there'll be lots more room for us all to spread out a bit--a big rec room, a combo office/ guest room, and a stylin' exercise room with a climbing wall, dh's bike, yoga/ pilates mats, meditation cushions and maybe even a sauna. Fun for all, we hope. It helps to be handy and do as much of the work ourselves as possible, short of digging out the pool by hand, that is. I gotta draw the line somewhere.