Logan's 8th Grade graduation

It's so hard to believe it's been 2 years since we gathered at the Phoenix Homeschool Convention for Adam's 8th Grade Graduation. Now it's Logan's turn. These past 2 years were full of changes. I had to go find a part-time job (twice), we moved to a whole new demographic area, we had Tim go from working all the time in sales to being Self-Employed in our Monavie business, and we entered the world of our 16 year old - moodiness, silence, dating, etc.

It scares me to think that in just 2 more years, not only will it be Jordan's turn, but that same weekend, Adam will be graduating from 12th grade and I'll be down to homeschooling just 2 of my kids! It's been my God-given purpose for so long, and at times I've had to fight to save it with everything in me, but too soon it'll be over. What will I be purposed to do then? I hope it's still teaching. Maybe a small group setting? Maybe a Ladies' Bible Study? Maybe tutoring? It's too unnerving to think about.

Logan's graduation was this past Friday night. He was so handsome in his shirt, tie and dress pants. The funniest part was the dress shoes. For some reason, he admitted, he walked different in them...more like a salesman walk than a student. He couldn't explain it, but it was really obvious. What genetics will awaken in him later on in life?

I was happy to see so many of our friends graduating with Logan. His friends Joey, Austin, Lauren, and Colin graduated with him. They were all in drama together for years. I've watched them grow up too. Time goes so fast! We were also blessed to have been able to share this moment with Nana, as well as Ken & Arleen Burke, friends we've known since before he was born.

This has really been a great time in Logan's life. He's stepped up and become more trustworthy and responsible lately, a true hard-worker. He almost never complains about doing all the physical jobs - he almost seems like he enjoys it - like he knows the secret is that it'll make him strong with a washboard stomach (he's already got one with about 0% body fat). I'm so proud of him.

I'm going to really try to savor every single moment of the next/last 4 years of homeschooling him.

Summer So Far...Part 2 of 2

Here's the second batch:

July - 4th of July parade in Show Low, Jordan & Logan carried the sign for the AZ Rangers and Tim's dad was on the horse on the left, fireworks are set off on Cinder Mtn. right out the front door, we went to Club 61, a local eatery, to help celebrate a friend of the family's bday. About 7 people showed up w/guitars and played old cowboy songs together (very old west), Tim & Logan played with them. Then we have our friends' wedding, Gabe & Steph. The shots of us, Tim's parents & Logan are from the wedding, then there's an amazing sunset, a hummingbird (they live in the bushes behind the house), a rainbow that we could see end to end, our cat, wildlife on the side of the road in Springerville, and a closeup shot of a dragonfly I took - looks like a science book photo.

Photos of my summer so far...Part 1 of 2

I never know what order the pictures will load to my blog but here a rundown of what I posted:

New House - my industrial stove, my private living room & kitchen (there's a family room w/a fireplace in a common area), the hall w/5 bedrooms off it where the kids are, Tim & I are in the in-law apt., just the 2 of us, it's great!, and the "atrium", it's a room with 3 glass walls and it's our classroom, scrapbooking room and dining room.

June - Jordan at Lyman lake, my friends Moni & Gloria when they came up to visit, Tim & me on Cinder Mtn. on his bday, the lavender farm, and Mom's Red Hats float in the Concho parade

May - me & Tim the night before moving, my bible study friends when we had tea together one last time, my cousin Melody had a baby girl named Lexi, my family (at work), and Logan's baptism that he had both our pastor and Tim officiate.

Concho's 5 Senses - Part 1: Smells

This is part 1 of 5 in a series. I want to remember what it was like when moving to Concho was new. The first of the 5 senses I'll blog about is the sense of smell here:

The new smells here I enjoy:

1. The smell of rain coming, it's not a wet cement or metallic smell like in Phoenix, it smells like water on fresh dirt, a real earthy, natural smell.

2. The smell of plants here, from wildflowers, the garden, and juniper bushes. They have a unique smell when carried on the cool breezes up here.

3. The smell of fresh-cut grass when they're maintaining the golf course here. I haven't smelled the same smell since we lived in NH. In the valley, fresh cut grass was hot and dry and didn't bring back memories of being brought up in the country at my grandmother's house on weekends and during the summer, but in Concho, it does.

4. The smell of wood. We live in a big house with wood shingles, and since part of it used to be outside before it was enclosed (by the previous owner), there's a casual faint wood smell in the house.

5. The smell of fires. Don't get me wrong, this isn't an alarming smell of an apartment building on fire. There's control burns around the woods up here in the mountains and when the wind shifts our way, it's like a campfire smell. Again, it stirs lots of happy memories.

6. The smell of fresh produce. At the local farmer's market, at the health-food store, and even in the Safeway grocery store, the produce smells amazingly good. It's not a dull, waxy, unripened smell like other grocery stores (even back east). The melons, peaches, fresh peas, they all smell like they were just picked. Having grown up with a garden both at home and at my grandparents, there's a certain standard produce should uphold. Today's foods are sadly lacking from what they were 2 generations ago.

7. The smell of the gas/oil when Tim & I ride the quad. Okay, so this isn't a real "girlie" smell, but I love it anyway. It reminds me of good times with my Honey.

8. The smell of the wind. It's clean, unpolluted and natural. There's nothing like it in the Phoenix area.

9. The smells from my my kitchen. I didn't have time to cook every day like I do here. I love my new stainless steel, industrial kitchen stove. I waited for 18 years to have a gas stove again (hate cooking on electric). I love to cook, and I may even learn to enjoy baking while I'm here. In the winter, we get to try out the huge griddle that makes up half my stovetop. It's just too hot and stays hot too long to use in the summer. I'll be able to make 20 french toast at a time!

10. The smells I'm introducing to the house. I've got room and proper ventilation to finally light scented candles, try making homemade potpourri's, warm herbs and spices on the stove, etc. I couldn't do that in the downstairs of a 1000sf condo. 500 feet is just not enough space, anything I tried was overwhelming, but here, it works.

Stay tuned for part 2: sense of sight

Summer in Concho

I'm so glad we were able to move during the summer. I'll have plenty of time to adjust before we have to be in the thick of the school year. This year, I've got 2 in high school and one in Jr. High...my journey will be over soon. Then what will I do?

Local color here? We went to a friend of the family's bday party recently where we sat in a fairly small room and about 7 or 8 people brought guitars and a fiddle to play OLD country songs...like Roger Whittaker, folk songs, and something that ended with a cowboy yodeling. Very different from my normal city life, but I can appreciate the flavor of the old west that still runs strong around here. It's like being on vacation and seeing new sights, taking in the local atmosphere. It was more fun than I expected.

Then we went to a friend's wedding. He and his fiancee lived in the valley when we met them, now we both live up here about 40 minutes apart. It was at a cute church where the preacher has a strong Texas accent. Then the reception was back at the house among pine and oak trees - haven't seen those in a while! It was outdoors and it'd rained pretty hard while we were all at the church, but everyone pitched in and wiped tables, wiped chairs, put out tablecloths, lit the candles and cooked the food.
It turned out chilly but very pretty in the end. The food was all stuff everyone brought and there was more than enough. The bride was beautiful, the groom looked so happy and wide-eyed the whole night, and they have a little girl who was absolutely adorable and very well behaved.

This morning we tried a new church. It reminds me of our old church in Rochester, NH. It's small, and there's a mix of jeans and dresses (along with suits from 1972), and even cowboy getup. We'll try it again.

Up here, there's old people and very young families with kids under 7, so the gap in between happens to be our age group. Hopefully, we'll make some friends closer to our age. The 2 younger kids have found a few friends, but not our 16 year old hermit. Maybe when he gets a job in a few weeks he'll make a few.

Anyway, Aug. 16th we start our normal routine back up WITHOUT JOBS so it should be a smooth, wonderful year. I'm so excited that Tim will be around every day and he'll have weekends and holidays to improve the closeness of our family relationships.

I love being Self-Employed!!!

10 of my favorite things

1. The color pink - I don't care if it's a cell phone or a toothbrush. If it's pink, that's the one I want.

2. Bubble Gum ice cream - the pink one, not the blue one that tastes like play-dough.

3. Beaches - I don't care if it's at a lake, pond, river or the ocean. My goal is to finally see a west coast beach for the first time, hopefully by next summer.

4. Travel - there's so much to see in the world, and I want to see it all, well, maybe just most of it, there's a few places I could skip.

5. Batman - how cool to be a super hero with no powers, he's just really smart and really athletic.

6. Homeschooling - I wouldn't have it any other way.

7. Scrapbooking - I don't drink, smoke, take drugs, or go to clubs. It's my only means of escape.

8. My Faith - it's gotten me through things I never could've gotten through otherwise.

9. Arizona - different parts of the state are SO different, I don't ever want to live anywhere else.

10. My husband (not that he's #10) - I'm still married to my best friend after 18 years! And he gets better every year.

Loving our new home

We've been in our new home for about 2 weeks already. It's amazing how fast the days go by here. We've taken the drive into town (Show Low) and to St. John's.

There isn't much in St. John's we need, the Ace hardware store, a movie theater that plays just one movie at a time, a pharmacy, a few gas stations, some dollar-store type places (not $1, but cheap stores), and the ALCO store. Actually, we kind of really like the ALCO store. It's a mini dept. store and their prices are as low as those in the Phoenix area. That's unusual up here. Usually everything here is more expensive because of lack of competition, or added fuel costs to get the stuff up here.

Show Low is the "big city" that services all the towns around here - about 10 of them. It's where you find the grocery stores, franchise fast food, national chains like Kmart, Home Depot, Big Lots, WalMart and Fashion Bug. If you're going "into town" you ask everyone around if they need anything because no one wants to make unnecessary trips 35 miles away.

As for life here on the hill, it's so peaceful. It's quiet. There's no traffic. Only an occasional barking dog in the distance, almost always wind but sometimes it's a nice gentle breeze. I love that I can get through my day without feeling rushed, without having a million places to go. Even though I saved a fortune by shopping the sale flyers and hitting 3 to 5 grocery stores a week in the Valley, I enjoy that I shop at just one place at a time here. I just have to shop smart.

Having Tim here 24/7 is a real change too. I enjoy knowing he's close by, but the house is so big, there's still many hours that go by where we don't run into each other. My favorite part of this move is that now, for the first time ever, we eat 2 to 3 meals a day together as a family. It's nice to be together throughout the day, although Adam the Hermit objects to leaving his room - he does it anyway.

Every morning I wake up thankful I live here now.

We're moved and it's great!

So here we are, in the middle of nowhere, and I'm liking it even better than I expected. The people are friendly. The quiet here at times is incredible. I've seen elk, rabbits and lots of lizards.

I'm enjoying the space and freedom to read when I want, sit outside and enjoy the quiet when I need it, and the space to do scrapbooking projects when I get a new ink cartridge to print out my photos.

The kids are adjusting pretty well. We go for walks, rides on the scooters and quads, walk up the hill when it's time to feed the horses, and we're watching movies together (well, Logan, Jordan & me). We never had time for that in the city. It was always running from one errand or class to another. There were so many days as a homeschooling parent that all I longed for was to spend a day at HOME. Now, I feel this year will be the one with the most progress, the best memories, and the greatest flexibility we've ever had.

I'll be back to the city about once a month for the next few months, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying just staying home.

Why I'm excited about leaving in just 10 days...

We're so excited to get out of here! It's been 7 long years in 1000 sf, living next to horrible bullying neighbors, loud cars & motorcycles, and you don't want to know what else...

When we moved in back in 2003, our kids were 5, 7 and 9. We planned on staying here just long enough to figure out where Tim would be working, then move close to there. We only took this one because it was under $80K for 3 bdrms and we were next to a pool, grassy common area, all major highways, and the neighbors were very nice and there were lots of kids to play with the same age as ours. Within about 3 or 4 years, owners moved away, renters moved in, the pool started falling apart, along with the parking lot, the new neighbor moved in his homeless girlfriend with her 4 kids (they don't share a father), drug dealers and addicts moved closer, homeless people set up their spot on our community grounds, and our expenses to live here went way up after the HOA president embezzled $300K in one year. At that point, Tim's job situation had changed and our $70K+ income dwindled in half.

We adjusted, shopped smarter, spent less, and we floated (more like bobbed up and down at the break-even line) along for another year or two. Meanwhile, gas doubled, groceries went up, and the sales industry here went down. It was time for me to get a part-time job, with no history, no college diploma, and we were entering the recession in fall of '08.

I found a job at a tea house. Hard work, but God blessed it and made it fun and purposeful. We made due for about 6 months, then it shut down suddenly w/o even a 24 hour notice. Then it got bad.

In 2009, Tim saw a paycut, overtime stopped, his regular hours cut, was moved to a store in a dead strip mall, moved to other stores where our gas costs doubled, and I even had to find another job again (same location/different tea house). We dealt with his salary going from $70K to $35K, but then it was cut drastically from that! Now we're seeing his checks, after taxes and tithing, are only $1400/month. How can a family live on that? My job is just 8 to 10 hrs. a week, and we're approaching our slowest season - the 110 degree summers and the snowbirds move away til fall.

So now the good news! In just 10 days, we'll be able to live close to Tim's parents again, the kids can be close to them again, we'll have lots of space, fresh air, (no Phoenix brown cloud), clean water, and hopefully, we'll learn how to grow our own organic vegetables too! Our kids need to be away from the bad influences they're now involved in. They need to get back to the family values they were taught growing up. It's only been the last 2 years or so that they really changed. With me working, and our constant struggling, something had to give - and I'm all done with that being our children's future. Time to re-learn a few things.

I'm ready to unplug from so much activity. I've been involved in so many things when they were younger. We've done dance, gymnastics, karate, drama, cartooning classes, soccer, flag football, scrapbooking classes, Co-Ops, homeschool groups, Park Days, Field Trips, Local events, museums, zoos, and a bunch of stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting. I'll enjoy just cooking, eating, cleaning up and relaxing with my family for a change. Tim will be able to join us for dinner FINALLY! I don't think in our whole 18 years together, he's had supper with the family consistently since our first year.

We're going to do lots of family things together, especially camping. We love to go camping. We're going to sit around a fire pit and see more stars than we've ever seen before. We're going to talk through things as our kids encounter situations. And we're going to get our family back on track.

That's why I'm so excited about leaving in just 10 days.

Her Last Few Days with a Pool

Every summer Jordan drives us all crazy asking to go to the pool...every day! Having a pool was the best part of living in this little townhouse for the past 7 years. It's odd that we both bought it and will be moving out of it on our Anniversary. Jordan didn't know how to swim when we got here. Now she swims, dives and does tricks underwater. Here's a few photos from when we first moved here and now that she's about 5 feet tall and almost 12:

The Moving Truck is Booked !

We booked the moving truck this week. On May 30th, we'll pick up truck, go to church for the last time (for a while, anyway) at Mountain Valley, then come home to move. Hopefully, we'll have some help. My boss and her husband agreed to help already, they've been so great about this.

We have such a small place that we can't pack much until the truck's here. Boxes take up more space than the stuff when it's in the drawers and cabinets, so we have to wait til the last few days to really pack most of our stuff. It doesn't help that it'll be around 110 degrees that week! But, we didn't pick the time frame, our bank did when they sold our mortgage 67 days after the last payment. The new company wasted no time picking an auction date just a few weeks away. So it's got to be now.

Actually, with just about another month and a half to go, we're ready to just go. The waiting is hard. I like change. It opens up new possibilities. I'd love to get moved into the new space and begin our new life, so waiting is getting old.

We actually do have to put a few more things in place before we leave, so I guess it's a good thing that there's another 45 days or so. Adam wants to keep working til the last possible day, earn as much as possible, and buy the things he needs for his new room. Tim and I are working at growing our business with more intensity than ever before, hoping to reach another level or two so he can ONLY work part-time to help his parents. We really don't want him to have to take another sales job, or something that prevents us from fixing our family. Too many hours and weekends away has caused some issues that can't be resolved without family, not a job, coming first.

If Tim can start up his own company too, that'd be great, but we only need a few things to fall into place for us to retire him...Gotta go get to work.

A Mad Hatter Tea Party

Did I mention we do fun stuff at work? My bosses came up with the idea to have a Mad Hatter Tea Party just as the new movie was coming out. We all dressed up (mildly) and set a large table for a tea party. Customers that paid to come to it were all sat at the same table, decorated like the movie/book. We covered it with teapots and teacups of every color, meringue mushrooms dusted with cocoa powder, a chocolate jelly roll that looked like a real log, a caterpillar made of cupcakes, hedgehogs made with good n' plenty candies, red heart cookies, and so, so much more! I got to play the white rabbit. Perfect for me, always neurotic about being late for anything! My middle son Logan played the Mad Hatter, Johnny Depp style - although it was more of a cross with his Willie Wonka character and the Mad Hatter. Very Tim Burton-ish. Anyway, we had a great time, the customers loved it - especially the walk-ins that had no idea what we were doing that day. It was a lot of fun. I'll miss this crew when we move.

Top 10 Reasons why I love where I work:

1. I have the best bosses you could ask for, Debbie & Donna. They're kind, caring, and understand that as a homeschooling Mom, sometimes my kids have to come before the job...and that's ok.
2. I work with Moni again! She's been a great friend. I can tell her anything and she'll find a way to be positive and encouraging for me.
3. I work with a team, not just a staff. We all want to do what's best for the business to succeed.
4. I get the greatest customers, like Tess. Many are from when Abbey Gardens was in that location so it's nice to see them again. I love serving wonderful women.
5. I work in the prettiest surroundings.
6. I make good money.
7. At work, everyone's family joins this larger family we're all a part of.
8. My bosses appreciate when I go the extra mile, and I know many people don't have that where they work.
9. If anything were to happen to me, Tim or one of my kids, I know they'd be there to help however they could - and I'd do the same.
10. Working at the Front Porch Tea Cafe has put some fun back into my life I was desperately missing.

Soup of the Week

I've never been a soup lover but lately, I've been getting into making a soup every Sunday. I started with a Potato Leek soup, then a Broccoli Cheddar, then a Chicken and Dumplings, and this week, it's a Pasta e Fagioli.

I go through phases where I want to cook/eat one category or one food for about a month. Sometimes it's Buffalo Wings, other times it's cooking Mexican food, and at the moment, it's Soup of the Week. I have lots of ideas, including some chili and Sweet Potato chili ones; it just depends on what's on sale and what organic veggies I can get my hands on.

I'd love to try to make a Borscht (cold beet soup) at the end of the month as we head into Passover, but I'm the only one in my house who likes beets. Maybe I'll just make a small pan for one.

Another favorite of mine is true Scotch Broth with lamb, but lamb is so amazingly expensive here, it's out of the question. A small "leg of lamb" portion is about $20!

There's so many possibilities with soup I could make one a week for a year and not repeat them - but I'll probably be onto another food or ethnicity before too long.

Patient, heal thy self

My blood pressure's been averaging around 145/95 (and above at times) for about 3 months now. Between the stress of being upside-down every month, Tim's income dropping by 55%, dealing with an angry, withdrawn 16 year old, facing a foreclosure on our home, and moving to a place with no jobs available...I've been in the Hypertension range for too long.

My doctor tried Liprinosil. It didn't work, and it made me have a severe intestinal flare-up about every 30 days - one so bad I ended up at an Urgent Care place. So what did she do? She DOUBLED the dosage...I was so dizzy, sick, exhausted, and stressed out! One day when she was sick, her colleague prescribed a less harmful medication. No side effects, but it didn't work either. After 10 days, my bp was just as high as ever.

The words of (I think it was) Socrates, "Patient, heal thy self" were stuck in my mind, like a broken record, over and over and over. I decided to listen to that still small voice and do my own research on the matter.

I found some natural herbs and enzymes that have been used by doctors to reduce blood pressure so I tried them. I bought Co-Q10 Enzyme - in liquid form, and then Hawthorne and Valerian, also in liquid form. From that very day I started taking them, my bp dropped to the 120/80 range with many readings over the last week in the last week under 110 and under 80! Maybe that's what I was supposed to do all along. Again I had that restless spirit regarding taking prescribed medication. I believed all along God gave us what we need on this earth already to heal us. It's up to us to do the work to find it.

I go back to the doctor's on Wed. I don't know how she'll react to my doing this, but it's working. It may be working in conjunction with the new medicine...it may be doing the job in spite of it. I'm not sure if I'll continue to take it or not, but I know I'll keep taking the natural path to healing.

I've also dropped about 10 pounds since Christmas and added an additional 10 miles of walking every week since starting to waitress again. I've added tons more organic fruits and vegetables to my diet and cut out a huge portion of unhealthy stuff. I'm on the right track.

Wish me luck, Wednesday.

About 100 Days to Go

The countdown has begun, at least in my mind. In just over 100 days, we're leaving our jobs, celebrating our 18th Anniversary weekend with our friends here in the Valley, and then moving up to the mountains.

I need to get boxes and storage bins to start packing. Back in NH, there were state liquor stores with the perfect boxes for moving. They're small enough to lift and carry, yet strong enough to pack well without worrying about the bottom falling out. Around here, stores break their boxes down before I can get to them - not sure what we'll do. I know we'll get a few dozen bins, though.

Here's what I'll miss: working at the Front Porch Tea Cafe, God's Girls and Mom's Night Out with East Side Explorer's homeschool group, Tuesday mornings with the Ladies' bible study group, listening to Pastors Phil, Jeremy and John at Mountain Valley on Sunday mornings, being able to just "run and get" whatever I need within 5 to 10 minutes of the house, having multiple choices to shop for groceries and necessities so I can get the best deals, living so close to museums, parks, shopping, great restaurants, dollar theaters, Christian book stores, and concert events, beautiful sunsets, palm trees, shorts in January, winters in the 70s, swimming more than 6 months of the year.

Here's what I won't miss: living in "the ghetto" (not really, but it's a townhouse condo in a busy area, not a neighborhood), cars all hours of the day and night, neighbors who date loud, obnoxious people I'd never let near my kids if it were up to me, high pollution days, being stuck in traffic, city water you shouldn't drink, 5 of us living in 1000 sf, the boys having to still share a room, no yard.

The inconveniences we'll have to deal with: Just running to get milk is a 40 min. drive EACH WAY, you have to get in your car and drive to the old grain store to get your mail every day, living on a "county road" that's not really a road on a map, living where it snows, temperatures below freezing again, living 3 1/2 hours from my friends, no high-speed internet cable - just DSL lines available, too cold to swim even in the summer (from the dryness and high winds), the aloneness the kids will feel for a while, although I love my in-laws, sharing a house isn't the same as owning your own space and being able to make decisions for yourself and your own family regarding changes or the yard.

So why are we going anyway? Fresh air, clean water, a chance to try organic gardening, a slower-paced life, cooler summer nights, lots more space for each of us, more privacy for each of us, a chance to un-plug from always rushing out the door to go somewhere, a chance to do family things together, and hopefully, this will be the chance we needed for Tim to start his own business instead of being a slave to a job that restricts our schedules and pays less than we can survive on. It's also a chance for my kids' grandparents to teach them life skills. It's a chance for me to be closer to Tim's mom. I'm looking forward to taking my experience and helping a local church and homeschool group up there, but not to the extent I've had to keep up with here in the city.

I look forward to summer nights around a fire pit with Tim, and with our kids. I look forward to seeing a wide-open starry sky with no lights to interfere. I'm looking forward to sleeping with the windows open. I long to hear Tim playing his acoustic guitar off the deck as the music travels on the wind through the stillness and quiet...oh yeah, and the long walks and fun 4-wheeler rides with my Honey.

That's why we're doing it.