All About me – Page 13 – a hippie with a minivan

just a little change…

I am facing the fact that we won’t be moving in the near future… Where I want to go is just too expensive, jobs are scarce and things are just not timed very right with finances etc…

So if I can’t move, I need to make the most of what we have now.Which means in our homeschooling life and our home life…

We have been living in this house for almost 5 years now and sadly it still doesn’t feel like a home. So I have been thinking about what would help and I think that changing rooms around would help with the flow of the house.

We have a split level with 3 closed rooms on the basement level (office, guest room and large Playroom plus the laundry room) and 2 bedrooms upstairs (our rooms) with the living room and kitchen.

Right now the boys are in a room that is 10 X 11… with a very small closet (in their room are two overflowing dressers, a bunk bed and a toddler bed)… and our bedroom is slightly smaller though we have a larger closet…

My idea would be to have the boys room where the playroom is now which would have the advantage of having space for their bunkbeds, their dressers, a large closet and I would put the guest bed in there which would become Khéna’s bed… and there is alread some shelves up for books etc… and they would still have room for some toys if we decided to have it like that…

Our room would go in the office space downstairs which is the second largest room in the house so that we would be near the boys room and because the room is bigger, Simon could have his clothes in our room also (right now his clothes are in the guest room) and we would be on the same floor as the laundry.

The other advantage is that all of our daytime living space would be on the same floor… I would have my sewing room upstairs and easier to access, and because it wouldn’t double as the guest room we could put our other table in there which we could use for crafts, puzzles, games etc and it would give me extra room for cutting fabric etc…

I am still debating on whether to keep the office downstairs and have the playroom upstairs or vice-versa….

Anyway… those are my plans and I really want to do it and soon but it is hard to even imagine where to start. It would be a great oppurtunity though to declutter even more and do a deep clean of the house…

Has anyone done something like that? any tips on where to start?

happy holidays…

Tonight is the eve and we are all getting ready to get dressed up and have a supper together…

We are having a favourite here tonight… Chinese Fondue…. thin strips of meat that you cook in a flavourful broth on the table… accompanied of course by homemade dipping sauces, veggies, cheeses and homemade sourdough bread…

Then we are going to read “The night before Christmas”,watch a movie, cuddle and then put their kids in their beds after they have fallen asleep and then finish the preparations for tomorrow morning (still a few gifts to wrap) and then cuddle again with eggnog in hand and relax together…

If you are reading… have a great night what ever you are doing…

On the sidelines…

Last night I went out for a supper with some of the ladies from the homeschooling group…

We were to go to a fine Italian restaurant (Restaurant Laöra in St-Hilaire to be exact) and have a supper and talk and share… it was awful…
not the company, not the food, though it wasn’t amazing… but the atmosphere…

The restaurant had booked another group that were having a x-mas party and were really partying… and it was so loud that we had to scream to be able to talk… it was just really unpleasant… I wish they would have at least told us that there was another group and that there would be live rock music we could have made the choice to go elsewhere…We asked them if they could put the volume down just a bit and they ignored us… awful… really awful…

but something else happened last night… and I really felt pushed to the sidelines because of our choices…

The local group have been getting together for the kids to do things and they assumed that I wasn’t interested… and maybe I would have been, maybe not, but I don’t think it was their decision to make… I have to admit that I am pretty hurt because one of them is a good friend.

They just really don’t get the way we do things… So I wrote an e-mail this morning saying that I was pretty hurt that they made the decision for me and my children and that unschooling isn’t about doing nothing, it is about having resources and activities available and letting children make their own choices about what they want to do with them. That even if we were invited, it wouldn’t guarantee our participation but at least the kids would have the option and they might very well be interested… and even if they didn’t do it they might like to hear the other kids do it and would love to get to play with them after… (they were doing oral presentations)

Though I truly believe in the way we are doing things I am getting tired of being in the sidelines all the time… having people misjudge what we are doing yet not wanting to learn more. Trying to explain and instead of being listened to having the person go into a defensive mode and see what I am saying as judgement instead of opinion…

The friend whom I am close to called me after she got the e-mail and said that she really felt bad about it and that I could of course come over… but I didn’t go… I would have felt too uncomfortable and I am feeling a bit too hurt by the whole situation…

one of those days…

Lately I have been feeling a bit cranky and sensitive to noise…

and three boys = loud…

They are acting normal…They fight, they scream when they are upset, when they are excited and when they play… they run, they jump, they twirl, they fall, they talk nonstop and they laugh…

If the snow outside was nice and not slush, I would send them out to play… but on a day like today they would come back within a few minutes because they would be sopping wet and cold…

I would put on a movie but no one can agree what to watch so they rather watch nothing at all….

So I fed them and then sat down and told them I needed a few minutes to myself, and that I need a bit of quiet time… and with that said they headed downstairs to play on their own accord…

and now they are playing nicely, no screaming, no crying… just laughing and making the sound effects for the stories they are making up… sounds that I don’t mind at all… and even more… love to hear…

I am having tea and a slice of banana bread that just came out of the oven and just these few minutes of peace will give me the refreshment that I need…

just got home…

If it wasn’t for NabloPoMo I wouldn’t be writing right now.. I am so tired…

I had a great day today… I left this morning and went to pick up a few things and then headed to my friend Gen’s house… We went out for Sushi in St-Anne-de-Bellevue at a great little restaurant with great service…

After, we went back to her place and I set up a little makeshift studio and took some pics of her… I think that there are a few that turned out great… I can’t wait to start editing…

Then we watched a movie, sipped tea and had left over Sushi… I would have loved to stay longer but I had an hour of driving to get home…

Great day… it felt really good to be out…