| been awhile |
hi folks sorry about the break.
Thanks for your comments on the last post.
Marsha, I was pretty sure you guys had that book -- and if you didn't I figured you would sure like it.
The latest around here:
The concert with Sheree and Jeremy was great. Eva really liked the music. I enjoyed the concert very much. Lance opened with a couple songs including a brand new one. I felt very proud of him -- the way he crafts and delivers his songs, absolutely beautiful. I wish he had more time to write. We don't have much spare time around here. Luckily the kids like listening to him play, so he can keep them happy while he gets a little playing in.
Eva has been crawling army style for weeks now and lately has been up on all fours quite a bit, very cute. Elijah just last week got the hang of moving forward. He is much less frustrated now, spends no time "swimmming" - flailing arms and legs dying to move forward. Both kids are very interested in the lamp and computer cords, we'll have to think of a better way to keep them hidden.
Today I discovered Elijah's first tooth. This could explain some crankiness and disrupted nights lately. Speaking of nights... we are getting more sleep than the last time I posted, this is good. Nights are still hard but improving. Napping is going better for the kids too, more coordinated (atleast for one nap each day).
Lance and I have had some lovely date nights recently - thanks again to Gramps and Grammy.
We've been using cloth diapers for over a month now - thanks to Shannon, man she makes nice diapers -- and we are really enjoying it. Can you actually enjoy diapering?! Yes. Cloth is turning out to be not as much work as I thought.
Winter is getting long. We have had snow since the end of October. All of November, December, January, and now almost all of February the ground has been covered in snow. That is a long time. I am longing for spring. Dreaming about gardening (one day I lay trying to nap but was thinking about dividing perennials). Looking forward to when we can go for more walks and it won't require tons of bundling and a look at the thermometre first to see if it's too cold to go out. Excited to have the kids crawl around in the yard. It will be awhile.
Food. Eva and Elijah now eat: Bananas, avocados, rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, cheerios, and applesauce. As you'll see from the photos, applesauce was not a hit. Elijah after a couple bites would shake his head and refuse more. Today he ate more, but would scrunch up his face between each bite. Pretty tart I guess.
Okay, here are some photos:
Elijah models his new hairstyle and his usual messy eating face
Eva absolutely loves to jump! (thanks cousin Sarah for lending us your "Merry Muscles")
Eva tries applesace
Delightful Eva (looking at papa)
Elijah's vintage shoes from Phil and Ingrid (from young's general store)
Elijah makes his opinion clear about the applesauce
Handsome Elijah
I better go. Eva and I have been hanging out while Elijah sleeps, but now I'm so hungry. Better get a snack before the little big man wakes up.
Hope you are well.
Aimee |
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| Concert and Book Recommendation |
Hi guys. Wanted to let you know that there will be a great concert at CLBI on Sunday night - 7:30pm. I don't know how many readers live in the Camrose/Edmonton area (I imagine there are some unknown lurkers), but this post is for you.
Our friends Sheree and Jeremy (and band - include Kenton, who drummed on Lance's album and is a friend too) are on tour from Vancouver and will be playing a show at CLBI on Sunday. Lance will be opening for them.
So if you like folky/thoughtful/playful/profound/beautiful music and you don't have absolutely unchangeable plans for Sunday, perhaps you would consider coming.
As a side bonus you will get to see the cutest almost 8 month twins around (and their mom too).
And for all you thrify types out there I am pleased to let you know that the show is FREE! What a treat.
Check out Sheree's myspace for a taste of her music: http://www.myspace.com/shereeplettmusic
And now I am very excited to recommend to you my latest reading adventure:
This book is compilation of the newletter called the Tightwad Gazette. The newletter was published for 6 years in the early to mid nineties. I ordered the book by interlibrary loan from the library and I was not disappointed. The author, Amy Dacyczyn aka the Frugal Zealot, writes with wit and creativity. She shares detailed tips on how to save money, stretch resources, meet goals and enjoy life while doing it. She shares real life stories from her family on how they use the strategies she presents in her book. The book includes hundreds of ideas from the readers of her newletter on how to be frugal -- some are quirky and clever, some seem ridiculous. The book is full of alternate uses for things you'd usually throw out (airlplanes from styrofoam meat trays, mini greenhouses/cloches from milk jugs) From housecleaning to cooking to morgages to funerals to clothing to smash hit frugal birthday parties -- the book seems to address every area of life.
Amy includes many "philosophy" articles in her book. I really appreciated these. She challenges our culture's materialism and the view that new is better. She encourages readers to evaluate their paradigms. She shares how frugality and ecology go hand in hand. She encourages creativity. She includes an article on how to evaluate how much a second income really brings home (after costs such as commuting, business wardrobe, eating lunches out, daycare, and taxes are factored in) and concludes that in most cases families can survive on one income if they use some frugal strategies.
Now I tend towards frugality as it is, so this book was totally up my alley. What got me the most excited was hearing how with some concrete changes Amy's family, as well as hundreds of readers, were able to reach large financial goals (paying off debt, buying land/houses). What I love about the concept of frugality is that savings can be accumulated without more hours worked or a second income. Of course many ideas in the book take time, but when you factor in how much you save in relation to the time you spent on a given task, some things are definitely worth it (throughout the book Amy includes complex - well complex to me anyway -- equations on how you can actually figure out things like this).
I also liked the many creative ideas for kids in the book. I'm keeping a notebook and writing down kids craft and gift ideas.
Lots of tips for eating frugally -- which usually ends up being healthily too.
Lance and I differ quite a bit on our natural spending/saving tendencies but he is quite open to hearing about what I'm learning and putting some of the ideas into practice. I need to accept the fact that we won't change completely overnight and need to be gracious as I hope/push for changes. I need to resist the urge to be a frugal zealot.
I need to go to bed. I wish I had little exerpts from the book and could list some of the fun/crazy/creative ideas. But my brain isn't drawing them up right now, and it makes more sense to get a little sleep in.
Our nights have been a bit better. Please keep praying. Eva is still waking quite frequently.
Hope you are well.
Aimee |
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posted by Aimee at 