Dancing With Fairies and Watching For Dragons (or My Recycled Garden, Part 1)

Forgotten Language by Shel Silverstein

Once I spoke the language of the flowers,
Once I understood each word the caterpillar said,
Once I smiled in secret at the gossip of the starlings,
And shared a conversation with the house fly
in my bed.
Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers. . . .
How did it go?
How did it go?

I’m not a big fan of poetry but there are a few poems that strike a special chord with my heart.  This is certainly one of them.

When I was a little girl we lived next door to my grandfather and I spent many of my days playing in his yard. It was an extraordinary yard.  The lot was nothing special… a largish village lot right on a busy highway. But the yard…. oh! What a yard!

One corner was a garden. The garden was overflowing with melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, scallions, potatoes and all things fresh and delicious. It was bordered with gorgeous flowers in every color of the rainbow.  I can’t count how many hours I spent crawling along the rows next to my papa, munching on fresh onions that were still just a little dirty (“A little dirt never killed anyone,” he’d tell me.), the warm sun beating down on my shoulders.

There was a massive lilac bush that I can still conjure the scent of.

Papa hung a swing made from a piece of wood that still had the bark on one side from a sturdy branch of a huge pear tree.  I would swing and eat fresh pears while bumble bees buzzed around me, feasting on the juice of the over-ripe fruit that had fallen to the ground.

Over the back door was a trellis covered in grape vines. The grapes were green and a little bitter and smelled like heaven.

The sidewalk that led away from the cellar entrance was shaded with roses growing in a tangle of thorny vines on the arbor overhead.

Oh! It’s just so unbearably romantic to the 11 year old girl in my heart!

There was an old chicken coop, no longer in use, where he stored his garden tools and he let me use one corner as my own little playhouse. I spent a lot of time pretending to be Mary Ingalls in that little shed.  I always wanted to be Mary because she had such pretty eyes and long blonde hair (and her husband was more handsome than Laura’s).

In a hidden corner was some sort of cinder block structure that had been started years earlier and never finished. In there we had a huge sand box and every year around the edges bunnies would build nests in the long grass and raise their sweet new babies.

The entire length of the yard was bordered with a white picket fence (overgrown with rhubarb and pumpkins) and JUST on the other side of the fence were the train tracks.  During that time there was a tourist train that would run on those tracks – an old steam engine.  I would wave at the conductor and he waved back every time.

In those days I lived in a magical land and I spoke the language of the flowers.

I sang with the fairies and hid with them, watching for dragons and spying on them as they munched the branches of the nectarine trees.

I lay on my belly in the dirt and watched the worms do their work and I told them all my secrets.  They listened without judgement and whispered back with tales of the extraordinary enchanted caverns they were creating beneath the garden.

Then I grew up.  I put aside childish things. I moved to the city and focused on making money and climbing the corporate ladder. I fussed over my name-brand clothes and I ordered sophisticated over-priced drinks.

I was miserable.

I’m sure there are people in the world for whom that life is true bliss but it just wasn’t for me.

I went off in search of that elusive “something” and boy, did I search. I looked all over the planet!

I found the man of my dreams and we started the family that holds my heart.

He taught me to give thanks for the good things I have in this moment, instead of always searching for something else.  It turned out I had a LOT to be thankful for.

He reminded me that there is great value in the feeling of cool grass under your feet.

I said, “someday we will live in our perfect dream house and I’ll be able to create a yard just like my grandfather had – a place full of magic where nature is nourished and appreciated and I am nourished in return. I’ll be able to fill it with beautiful things and wonderful spaces to sit and enjoy life.”

He smiled in his patient way. “Yes. Someday.”

And then I figured it out.  My grandfather didn’t move into that space. He loved the space he had.  He didn’t spend a lot of money. He hung a broken piece of tree branch and called it a swing. He turned the earth and planted the garden and, only after that love poured out of him did the fairies and dragons appear.

So I’ve spent my spring barefoot in the yard.  My fingernails are chipped and dirty. I have a definite farmers tan and more mosquito bites than I care to count but I can’t remember the last time I’ve had so much fun!

It’s not done yet. Are gardens ever done? I don’t remember Papa ever finishing his. There was always something being planted or pruned or moved or painted.  The creation of the space is as organic as the things that live in it.  But I like to think I’m off to a good start.

First thing first, I had to make a space for the fairies!  I’m quite certain, as I was building this I could almost grasp the language of the flowers again.  It’s getting clearer every day.

The fairy house. It’s made from twigs and bark out of the yard and decorated with colorful stones and odds and ends from around the house.

Fairy parking. Their cars are MUCH nicer than mine! The empty rock is the dance floor.

The disco ball and sign above the dance floor. “When you plant your garden make sure to leave room for the fairies to dance.”

The heliport. I bought this at Saver’s because a tiny pink heliport for flying magical creatures was just too wonderful to pass up.

Here’s the whole thing, from a few steps back. In case you were wondering; You, too, can achieve this awesome soft-edged look to your photos. Just feed your toddler a peanut butter sandwich and let him play with your camera before you go out to take photos for your blog. The sticky-figured boy in question is fascinated by the giant, colorful flowers.

Come back in a day (or 3 or 4) and I’ll share some more of what The Hippies have been building in their yard.  There are swings and birdhouses, feeders, a tiny “ode to the desert” (where I met Handsome Hippie Hubby) and so much more.

Last week one of Sweet Hippie Daughter’s friends came over to play.  She wandered around the yard for a while and then plopped down in THE AWESOME PALLET CHAIR (I’ll do that post next) and said, “I really love it here.”

Victory!

Are you, too, seeking to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort?

Why not follow LazyHippieMama on WordPress, by email or Facebook to get all the updates.

If we work on our goals together, they may be a little easier to achieve!  

I Love VBS!

One of my most favorite activities of the year at church is Vacation Bible School.

I love getting ready for it! There’s  painting and decorating, creativity, music, and fun.

I love the event itself! A whole week of watching children’s eyes light up with wonder as they play and learn and grow is a beautiful thing.

I really hate cleaning up… but that’s far away so we just won’t think about that.

This year we are using Group’s Kingdom Rock format.

Last night our church had our 2nd Annual Talent Show.  We have a Wednesday night dinner and study that runs all through the school year and then breaks for summer.  We thought it would be a great time to advertise our VBS with a promo of “The King’s Kitchen.”  Each person got a personal invitation to VBS at their place setting, rolled like a scroll and tied with a ribbon and a few extras were on hand in case they wanted to take one for a friend.

It was such fun putting it all together that I thought I would share the idea of a preview event and some pictures of our “King’s Kitchen” in case you are doing the same theme and can use any of the ideas.  They were very simple and super inexpensive.  We bought the big banner from Group for $29. It will go outside in the front yard of the church now. We’ll use it on a parade float next month. And then it will be a part of our VBS at the end of July.  Everything else was just stuff from around the church. We spent $4 on streamers and $1.99 on the hoola hoop in the center of the streamers.

We centered a hoola hoop over the middle of the table and ran multi-colored paper streamers out from there. In the middle of the hoop we hung an old candle holder wrapped in fake ivy we found in a closet in the church.

Everybody looks so happy when there’s food involved!

Our big Kingdom Rock sign was impossible to miss so everyone was sure to see the dates and times of our event.

The kids were so excited to come into the “fancy” dining area. They were so funny with their “royal manners” and “proper accents.”

If you’re wondering how to decorate your kitchen I hope this gives you some ideas.  To follow the rest of the decorating as it happens or get more info about our VBS event you can visit www.blissfieldemmanuel.com.

Are you, too, seeking to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort?

Why not follow LazyHippieMama on WordPress, by email or Facebook to get all the updates.

If we work on our goals together, they may be a little easier to achieve!  

Go Outside and Play! (Take The Pledge Today!)

I was recently at a conference where the speaker gave this statistic:

In the year 1900 the acceptable radius of play for an 8 year old child was 5 miles.  No one thought anything about an 8 year old going 5 miles from home to play with friends, fish in the river, explore the forest, visit town, etc.

In the year 1950 that radius had been reduced to 1 mile.

Today the accepted radius of play for an 8 year old child is 500 yards.  Basically, children are expected to stay within earshot of their home.

Research shows that playing outdoors reduces the symptoms of ADHD.  Is it any wonder?  Think about it.  Go outside and climb trees, ride bikes, build forts, chase someone around the block.  When you come in you are ready to be calm!  Others say that kids who spend a lot of time outside are better students, have healthier bones and eyes, are more creative and suffer less from depression.

So why, then, do we keep our kids inside all the time?

Well… in part it’s because our kids like being plugged in.  One study in the UK showed that only 40% of kids would choose outdoor play over watching TV.

Maybe that’s because they are over scheduled and exhausted.  Maybe it’s because they have spent so little time outdoors they just don’t know HOW to play.

Are you nervous about letting your kids play outside because the world has become such a dangerous place?  Consider this article which compares statistics over the years.    If you grew up in the 1970′s or 80′s crime against children is NO HIGHER NOW than it was when you were a child.  The REPORTING of crimes, which came with the advent of hundreds of TV channels running 24 hours a day (not to mention internet, text alerts, etc) has increased dramatically so we may be more aware.  But the world is just as safe now as it was 30 years ago.

If you grew up in the 1990′s the world is SAFER now for your children than it was for you!  Crime rates peaked toward the end of the century and have since gone down once again.

And children don’t need to go 5 miles away.  They just need to get out of the house.  Let them into the yard!  FORCE them into the yard!  Encourage your neighbors to do the same, because playing alone is not nearly as much fun as playing with friends.  And then LEAVE THE CHILDREN ALONE!

I’m not suggesting that you never peek out the window to check on them or call out to make sure they’re alright.  Certainly I’m all for parents going outside to play as well.  But how is a child supposed to learn to solve problems, settle disputes, overcome obstacles, and generally entertain themselves if they are NEVER left alone?

They may get hurt.  They may scrape their knees or get covered in mosquito bites.  They will learn that these little adversities are not the end of the world.  That’s a good thing!  No one wants to see their children hurting but it is part of learning and growing.

They will get dirty.  Do not despair!  Children are very washable.

It will be OK.

So I said all of that, to share this with you:

The Wilderness Society is trying to save a generation that is growing up without ever knowing the joy of squishing their toes in the cool mud or conquering a rocky hill or splashing in a little creek.  They have set a goal to get 25,000 people to take the pledge to “Go outside and play and take your loved ones outside with you!”

That is a GREAT pledge to make!

Click the link and join the fun right now.  Then turn off your computer and go build a daisy chain, or roll down a hill, or play hopscotch, or take your dog for a walk around the block, or just sit under a tree and enjoy the warm breeze on your skin.  Enjoy nature!  She is as lovely as ever!

Are you, too, seeking to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort?

Why not follow LazyHippieMama on WordPress, by email or Facebook to get all the updates.

If we work on our goals together, they may be a little easier to achieve!  

Remembering The Fallen Soldiers And Believing In A Better Future

My Dad: a brave soldier who inspires me to imagine a world of peace.

Throughout history men and women have stood strong and fought valiantly against tyranny.  I give thanks for these brave souls who were unwavering, even unto death, in their principles!

I am thankful beyond any words I know to live in a time and place where I can explore and share my ideas about religion, politics, business, and anything else that comes to mind.

I am thankful to live in a land that is blessed with wild prosperity and health.  Yes, even in these times we are wildly prosperous compared to the vast majority of people who have ever lived on earth.

I pray for special blessings on those men and women who have fought for our freedoms.  I pray for every parent who has lost a child to war, for every spouse who has lost their partner, for every sibling who has lost their closest childhood playmate, for every child who has lost a parent.  May God draw them close to Him and shower them with special mercies in their grief.

I pray for the men and women who have gone to do battle as their patriotic duty and come home bearing scars on their bodies and on their hearts.  Some of those heal, but many do not.  May they be surrounded by light and love the rest of their days.

Most of all, though, I pray for an end to war.

Since the dawn of man we have shed our brothers’ blood.  We have killed one another over land, over resources, over power, over religion, over nothing at all outside of sheer hatred.  Our earth is soaked in the blood of war.

When Jesus answered the question, “who is my neighbor?” he used an example of the Samaritan, even though there was no nation more despised by his audience than Samaria.

I pray that my children may see the day the killing ends.

I pray that we learn to defeat violence with love.

I pray that we learn to overcome hatred with respect.

I pray that we learn to give thanks for what we have and share our abundance so that our neighbor has no need to steal from us.

I pray for the day when memorial day is a remembrance only of ancient history because the children of God no longer kill one another but, instead, love as Jesus loved.

May that day come quickly and may we embrace and celebrate the gift of peace.

Insanely Scrumptious (Healthy?!? Easy?!?) Chocolate Pudding

It’s fast (less than 5 minutes start to finish).

It requires no cooking and creates minimal dirty dishes.

It’s so much healthier than the stuff from the store it’s ridiculous.

OK… it’s got honey, which is a form of sugar, but it’s not processed and it’s dessert.  And we all need a little sweetness in our lives, for goodness sake! And the main ingredient is a vegetable! Or is it a fruit?  Either way it’s not poly-sorbate-mono-unsaturated-lord-only-knows-what.  And it’s not high fructose corn syrup, either.

It’s so chocolaty-delicious you will want to stick your face in the bowl and lick it clean.

Yes. It really is that good.

If you are skeptical, here are my food-judging qualifications:  I really love to eat.  I totally acknowledge the value of “real” food (no artificial or refined  ingredients) and I fully believe that organic, local food is best.  That said, I find both Doritos and those little chocolate donnettes in a wax bag from the gas station to be nearly irresistable.

Long story short, I’m making strides toward eating healthier but I am not the standard by which you should model your diet plan.

BUT…

This recipe is a meeting of the worlds.  It is junk food…. made from fresh vegetables (fruits?).  Which makes it not really junk, right?  That has got to be what heaven is like.

The original can be found at Mind, Body, Green.  This is a great site that I’ve only just recently discovered but have thoroughly enjoyed.

I made a few changes, because I’m not a huge fan of maple syrup and I found their version a bit heavy-handed on the cinnamon (though Handsome Hippie Hubby liked it that way).  The recipe says it’s for 3 people.  Make extra.  You’re going to want it!

Let me know how you like it!

CHOCOMOLE

*  1 avocado

* 3 TBSP cocoa powder

* 1/2 tsp vanilla

* 1/4 cup of honey

* 3/4 tsp cinnamon

* 2 TBSP soy or almond milk

Toss it all in a blender or food processor and run it until it’s smooth.

Enjoy it plain or use it as a dip for strawberries or other fresh fruit.

*UPDATE*

The original post called the pudding “vegan.”  It occurred to me, in the middle of the day while I was folding laundry (why do thoughts pop up at such random times?) that, since I used honey instead of maple syrup it wasn’t really vegan any more.  But it’s still yummy! If you’re a purist, stick to the original.  Sorry about that!

Are you, too, seeking to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort?

Why not follow LazyHippieMama on WordPress, by email or Facebook to get all the updates.

If we work on our goals together, they may be a little easier to achieve!  

An open letter to pastors {A non-mom speaks about Mother’s Day}

Reblogged from The Messy Middle:

PLEASE see the updated version of this post at  An open letter to pastors {a non-mom speaks on Mother's Day} at The Messy Middle

It includes resources for pastors and a chance to sign up for my quarterly newsletter. Please do not subscribe on this page but at The Messy Middle. I didn't realize this page was still active :) ...

Read more… 812 more words

I thought this was so power and so beautiful!

Homeschool, The Home Stretch

I know I haven’t written much lately.  The Hippie Household has been seized with a very serious case of spring fever.  It’s not unusual in this area.  In Michigan you go out into the warmth of the sunshine at every opportunity, as the opportunities can be few and far between some years.

We’ve spent a lot of time wrestling areas like this:

Into something that looks like this:

This is a different corner of the house, but you get the idea. Now, hopefully, the stuff we planted will grow and we won’t just have a dirt patch!

Ivy is lovely but, good grief, the stuff gives a whole new meaning to “invasive!”

I truly believe that working in the garden is a great lesson all by itself:

image from etsy.com

But we have done some other school work as well.

Lest I be accused of “fakebooking” let me say it has not all been sunshine and roses.  There were days when I thought we must be out of our minds to have taken on the task of homeschooling our child.  It is some times difficult.  Some days we struggle from sun-up to bedtime to get anything done.  Overall, though, it has been a great decision for our family.

Here’s the low-down on what we’ve been doing lately.

Last week we studied the reactions that occur when a base meets an acid.  One very cool experiment was soaking a raw egg (egg shells are primarily calcium – a base) in vinegar, which is an acid.  In a day or two the shell will have “fizzed” completely away, leaving only the tough membrane beneath.

That led to “what will happen if we put the egg in water?”

Osmosis happens! Water passes through the membrane and causes the egg to grow.

Our experiment egg was the same size as the purple Easter egg when we started.

Music lessons continue for a few more weeks and then there is a break until summer band camp starts.  Sweet Hippie Daughter LOVES to play music.  She will sit at the piano for hours, working out how to play a song and has taught herself more than I ever realized an 8-year-old could.  She has a natural talent.  However, with natural talent (and being 8) comes a great deal of frustration.  She wants to play ALL of the instruments and she wants to be a master of everything but she gets SO ANGRY with herself if she can’t play perfectly right away.

Lessons and being in a band have taught her a lot about the value of practice and patience and endurance.  She is learning that, even if you already know the scale, playing it again and again makes you better able to play Pachelbel’s Cannon in D.  Next year she thinks she’d like to continue into the advanced class with her trombone and also start over with the beginners on French horn.  We’ll see what happens.

I admit it.  I have fully climbed on the “you can’t have too much music in school” bandwagon.  ”Bandwagon.”  ”Music.”  hahaha  We struggled through the multiplication tables ALL. YEAR. LONG.

It was awful.  She would cry. I would yell.  It was the worst part of our homeschool experience.

FINALLY, she mastered them…. or… well…  maybe MASTERED is a stretch.  But she can multiply with consistent accuracy.

Once we got past that I, with great dread, moved on to long-form multiplication and division.

As it turns out, a kid that knows their times tables can breeze right through that other stuff.  Huh.  I guess there’s a method to the madness after all!

One thing I was told about homeschooling before I ever started was that you have to be flexible and willing to adapt and seek out what works best for your situation.

We started the year with Saxon Math.  It REALLY wasn’t working for us.  So we ditched it and went with these two workbooks I picked up for about $10.

For whatever reason these books just “clicked” better with my girl.  She understood the instructions better and resisted the work less.  Then, around February or March, we added a membership to Scholastic’s Mathblaster.com and she made great leaps and bounds.  Math Blaster is a very well-done 1st person space alien video game.  She can interact with other children and do several fun activities like raising alien pets and competing in pod races.  However, if she wants to advance, she has to do ever-more-difficult math.  All of a sudden she WANTED to know how to solve the equations.  Thank you, Scholastic!

***A little side note:

We discovered two separate book series’ that were both really great.  We didn’t get all the way through either series, so I plan on using them again next year.

These books are challenging enough to push SHD as a reader and fun enough to hold her interest.  The “ValueTales” she can usually finish in one sitting.  The others are chapter books and usually take her 3-4 days.  They are a great tool for teaching history, character traits, civic responsibility  reading, writing, illustrating and more.  We have used them as a “launch” for lessons on local history (Henry Ford), politics (Abraham Lincoln), science (Louis Pasteur) and more.

Now we are heading into our last few weeks of 3rd grade which will be, for the most part, one giant review project.  SHD is going to make a portfolio of what she learned this year, including some of her favorite lessons, most memorable moments and things she had to work the hardest to finish.  I am helping her sort through the year’s records and setting some parameters but she will make the final decisions as to what should be included and how to best present it.

I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

Then we are on to summer.  Hooray for the big kids coming back, days in the swimming pool, festivals, gardens, and sunshine!

Building with Old Pallets (AKA: A Hippie Mama With Power Tools)

I have never owned a power tool of any sort.  Not ever… not growing up (I’m sure my father must have owned some but I lived with my mom and 2 older sisters.  We were rock stars with a hammer and duct tape but that’s pretty much where our skills ended) or in the young and single post-college days or… ever.

A few weeks ago I went to the ReStore in search of something fabulous to upcycle into shelves for Sweet Hippie Daughter’s hoarder’s warehouse of junk room full of cherished belongings.

First, I must say that if you’ve never been to The ReStore you really must go at least once.  It’s this amazing trove of anything that has ever been/could ever be used to build/decorate/furnish a home.  It’s kind of like the Hope Depot version of the Salvation Army Thrift Store and the proceeds go toward helping Habitat for Humanity so you get to feel good about coming home with that super-cute screen door vintage 1962 that you just KNOW you are going to find the perfect place for.

Anyway, the shelves were a bust.  Nothing was calling my name…. until….

I heard it from across the room.

“Elizabeth!  I’m over here!”  I wandered toward the televisions.  I didn’t need a TV.  We already have 2 extras stashed in the attic.  ”No! Behind the TVs. Don’t leave me here! I want to go home with you!”

And there it was!

A tad rusty (no worries.  I’m up to date on my tetanus shots.) and blanketed under a layer of dust.  It was beautiful!

With this I could build an entire shelter for my family! Well… you know… if someone else cut all the wood up for me first and I didn’t have to work too far away from the electrical outlet.

I convinced Handsome Hippie Hubby that he really wanted to spend $5 on this Craftsman beauty and we brought it home.

Then, because God knew that I was now equipped to be a true craftsman (Hey! It says so right there on the side of my new drill!) He gave me a veritable treasure trove of wood pallets.

Do you know how many things you can build with wood pallets?

Me either.  But you can make a whole play structure!  And this person built a garden gate! And here are instructions for making a potting bench!  And here is a super cute porch swing!  This website gives FIFTY other projects you can make with old pallets!

For now, what I really needed was a compost bin.

We composted with such incredible efficiency that our box itself became compost and rotted down to nothing.  So, not having a proper bin, we have been chucking all of our kitchen scraps and yard clippings into a hidden corner of the yard.  That’s  all well and good but… you know… it’s garbage.  And it’s rotting.  And the squirrels occasionally spread pieces of it around.  And… it’s garbage.

So I drove the Hippie Van to my friend’s house and loaded up with 5 lovely wooden pallets.

I came home and carefully read the meticulous instructions on this website to build a very sturdy, level compost bin with a hinged accessibility panel.  It was beautiful!

Then I pretty much forgot all of the instructions and, with great enthusiasm, grabbed up my 90 pound drill (why are they so heavy?!  If hair dryers weighed that much women everywhere would have arms like Madonna) and box of shiny screws and headed outside to build something with my power tool.

I stood my pallets on end and screwed them together, skipping the “L” brackets from the instructions but adding 478 extra screws just because I could.

Then, standing there in the one spot in my yard that is ALWAYS mucky and muddy and dank, I was inspired!

I knew that one of my pallets was slightly smaller than the other 4 so I lay the last big one down like a bridge over the muck, supporting it with a few old bricks and I set my smaller pallet on top.  This way, the hinged gate would be kept up out of the muddy earth and so would my shoes.  Genius!

Know what’s not genius?

Starting a project without making sure you have everything you need.

So I loaded my children into the Hippie Mobile and we went to the local Hardware store.

This place is great!  It is everything good that people remember from the old days of “ma and pa” stores.  It’s locally owned and the staff truly knows their customers and they are genuinely helpful and knowledgeable.

That’s why I’m quite certain, when they see me coming, they quickly have an argument over who is going to have to deal with me…. the over enthusiastic Hippie Mama with 2 kids in tow who knows the name or intended purpose of NOTHING that is sold in the hardware store.

So, today, the sweet older lady drew the short straw and approached me with a cautious smile.  ”Can I help you find something today?” She asked, with a slight fearful quivering in her voice.

“Yes, thank you.”  I said, removing the screw from Chubby Hippie Baby’s fist before he actually got it all the way to his mouth and snatching Sweet Hippie Daughters hand back from the display bins of decorative rocks.  ”I need some… uhm…. you know the fasteners that move… like on doors….”

“Hinges?”

“Yes! Hinges!”  (One would think that a person who writes for several hours each week would have such a word right on the tip of her tongue but  one would be wrong.  I’m telling you I get stupid in the hardware store.  Perhaps it’s the paint fumes.)

She nodded, sagely.  ”They are on the back wall. Do you need help finding a specific size?”

Oh crap! They come in different sizes?!  

I smiled.  ”No, thank you.  I think I’ll just take a look and see what will work best for me.”

I think I heard a happy little sigh from her as I made my way back to the shiny brass odds and ends aisle.  She’d gotten off much easier than they guy that was there the day I first tried to figure out how to glue plastic water bottles together.

I found some hinges that seemed pretty reasonably priced and said that they could support a door that weighed up to 100 pounds.  I don’t have a clue how much my pallet weighed but, as I could lift it, I was pretty sure it weighed less than 100 pounds.

After taking a moment  to pretend to be a pirate with a giant iron hook for a hand in the chain aisle and spending a few minutes with Sweet Hippie Daughter cataloging ”Things in a Hardware Store That Should Not be Touched by Babies”  (there are several, to be certain) we paid and came back home where I attached the door in the wrong spot.

That didn’t matter, though!  With my beautiful new/old drill it was a simple matter to reverse the screws back out and do it over.  The second time was just right.  (If you know anything about carpentry and it’s not right, please don’t tell me.  I really don’t want to know.)

I finished up by adding a hook and eye latch to hold the door closed and a cinder-block step for short helpers.

Voila!  My beautiful new compost bin!

Isn’t it lovely? A little crooked, perhaps, but quite sturdy and a big improvement over a pile of garbage in the yard.

Being vertically challenged is no excuse for not taking the compost out now.

The face says it all.

I’m just like Steve and Blue. I can do anything I wanna do!

I was promised full support on project #2 as soon as I got project #1 finished.  Now I just have to decide… the swing?  The lawn chair?

Maybe I should swing by The ReStore tomorrow and see if they have a saw.  Just think what I could do then!

* Photo credit goes to awesomehippiegirl.  Thanks, Sweet Pea!  :)

Are you, too, seeking to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort?

Why not follow LazyHippieMama on WordPress, by email or Facebook to get all the updates.

If we work on our goals together, they may be a little easier to achieve!  

I’m Going to Attempt to Break The World Record I Helped Set

Last year I broke a World record!

Well…  8,251 other moms plus their babies and I broke it.  In April, 2012 parents and caregivers at 256 locations in 15 countries simultaneously changed all their babies out of cloth diapers and into cloth diapers.

Why?

To show how easy it is to use cloth diapers!  It’s also environmentally friendly, super healthy for babies  and oh-so-stylish.

You just can’t be this awesome in paper pants!

Tomorrow we’re going to do it again!  This time there is a brand new FABULOUS cloth diaper store (They’re online if you need the hook up.  Check them out!)   just a mere 5 minute walk from my house that is a certified host location so there’s no 50 minute trek to the big city. This means I don’t have to burn fuel to promote sustainability.  That’s a good thing!

I thought about using this post to wax poetic about all the reasons I love cloth diapers.  I thought about sharing tips if you are thinking of switching but, in the end, I realized that I  just wanted to brag that I’m in the Guinness Book of World Records.  Also, that I’ve had my best  (busiest/most positive response) blog week ever.  If you’re reading now, thanks for making it even better!

Hope your weekend is full of fun and laughter and joy.  Don’t forget to watch for miracles, they are all around you if you just make the effort to notice.

Are you, too, seeking to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort?

Why not follow LazyHippieMama on WordPress, by email or Facebook to get all the updates.

If we work on our goals together, they may be a little easier to achieve!  

Proper Care And Feeding of Your Mind (Or, How To Be The Eternal Optimist)

I’ve always been an optimistic person.

I can remember being… maybe 7 or 8 years old and DESPERATELY wanting to go to an event at church.  The weather man was predicting an 80% chance of blinding snow and ice.

“I’m sorry, baby, but it looks like your thing at church will be canceled,” my mom said.

I remember being genuinely confused by her assumption.  ”Why do you think that?  Didn’t you hear him?  There is a 20% chance that the weather will be just fine.”

I was right, too!  The storm came later than expected and I got to go to the party.

Optimism has come easily to me and my experience has been that, more often than not, when I maintain a philosophy of “things will work out,” they do….  usually.

That said, adulthood brings with it a whole new level of stress and worry.  Will this make my child sick? Is my daughter going to be in therapy forever because I said that? Did I do enough today to show my husband I love him? Where in the world is the money for that car repair going to come from?  Where will we go if we can’t pay the rent?  What will people think of me if they know I made that particular bad choice?

It’s easy to get bogged down, even for a natural-born optimist.  I can think of a few times over the years when I felt truly lost.  I was broken and without hope.  It’s the worst feeling I can imagine and it brings tears to my eyes when loved ones tell me they are in that place.  It is a dark, horrible, lonely place to be.  I would never wish it on anyone.

It was, in large part, Handsome Hippie Hubby, who taught me that everyone walks through those “dark places.”  Whether we pass through them or set up housekeeping and live there is up to us.  The better we get at “passing through” the easier it becomes until the “little things” really do seem little and it becomes very easy indeed to see the beauty of life all around us.

***Please note!!!  I am NOT talking here about people who experience true clinical depression or anxiety.  What I’m writing here, to that person, would be like telling a person who just got burned all over their body to drink a little willow bark tea to make the pain go away. I’m not speaking of medical depression, or of the despair that can come after truly traumatic or devastating events,  but rather of a chronic general “nothing goes my way” grouchiness or persistent ”what if” thoughts.  If you came across this blog looking for hope and help because you just CAN’T see hope any more, please PLEASE know that you are NOT alone and there is help.  I’ve asked some dear wise friends with experience and knowledge beyond mine for good links and they are listed at the end of this post.  ***

A week or two ago I shared this picture on Facebook.

A friend asked me, “How is that done? Seriously, I’d love to know.”

I’m not a doctor or a psychologist or a therapist or any other “ist.”  But if you’d like to know I’ll share my very best trick.

Fake it ’til you make it.

When you wake up to dog vomit on the carpet after only 4 hours of sleep that was interrupted at least 3 times by sick, whiny kids and you drop your phone in the toilet and the car won’t start you are having a bad day.

NOW is the time to make a choice.

You can use your words to proclaim to the universe how crappy your life is. You can post a status on Facebook declaring it to be a horrible start to a day that will no-doubt only get worse.  You can ask, “why does this always happen to ME?”  You can shed tears over all of the things that never seem to go your way.  You can spend your day worrying about what may or may not actually happen at sometime in the vague future and wondering how much better life would be if only……

OR

You can start giving thanks… even if you don’t feel thankful right at that moment.

Start listing things you are grateful for.   List them out loud.  Hear yourself talking about how thankful you are.  It doesn’t matter if you are “feeling it.” Fake it ’til you make it.  What can you be thankful for RIGHT NOW?

Start listing the very second you realize the voices in your head are luring you down a bad road.

My list usually starts something  like this:

“I am thankful for these socks. My feet are warm.”

“I am thankful for feet. My life would be much more complicated without them.”

“I am thankful that I am healthy and therefore able to care for my sick child.”

“I am thankful that my husband remembered to buy carpet cleaning stuff last week.”

“I am thankful that it’s not raining today. I really needed some sunshine.”

“I am thankful for running water and a working toilet so I can flush this mess away.”

“I am thankful for these incredibly comfy sweat pants.”

“I am thankful for a family who doesn’t  judge me for sometimes wearing very ugly sweat pants.”

And on it goes.

Sometimes the results are very quick.  Sometimes it takes quite a while but, always, I find that I start to be truly thankful and I realize that my blessings are many… truly infinite, I’ve never run out of things to be thankful for. My problems are few, by comparison.  It’s  like the old adage, “I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”   You always have something to be thankful for.

You may say, “my life is so horrible today I have NOTHING to give thanks for.”

Really?  Nothing?  You have a thinking, reasoning mind that was able form that sentence.  You have eyes that allow you to read this blog.

Latch on to whatever good you can find and pour gratefulness on it like fertilizer.

My mom provided me the perfect illustration of this recently.  She had a houseplant that looked like this:

Now my mom is a pretty awesome lady.  I won’t tell her age, but I’ll say that she qualified for the 10% discount at Bob Evans before I graduated High School and I’m now in view of the big 4-0.  Yet she is out and about every day.  She travels with her friends and sisters, she goes to parties and water aerobic classes and food festivals.  She is active in her church’s ministries and works there as secretary.  Last week she posted pictures of herself on Facebook, wearing a big black Stetson and dancing with a handsome cowboy at a hoedown.  She’s so busy enjoying life to its fullest that she neglected her poor houseplant.

It died.

Well… almost…

There was nothing left other than 5 little stems.

But with a little  attention, her plant started making a true comeback.  New shoots came up and the existing ones got stronger.

And so it is with us.  Sometimes we get VERY beaten down.  But if you can find that little bit of hope… allow that tiny remainder of gratitude to take root… feed it as best you can… it will grow and flourish.

Being optimistic can be a choice.  It is not about always having a big fake grin on your face or turning a blind eye to the ills of this life.  It’s not about never feeling sadness or concern.  We live in a broken world where people are hurting… where we are sometimes hurting.  But no amount of despair on our part will make someone else’s hurt go away.  No amount of worrying will fix that which is broken.  Wallowing in our woes does not accomplish anything except to make us more acutely aware of our woes.

Why not wallow in blessings instead?

Science has shown that positive people live longer, happier, healthier, more productive lives.  Why choose anything else?

Take control of your thoughts today… right now… this very minute.  Stop letting them run wild down whatever path they choose and harness them into a state of gratefulness.

What do you have to lose?

Do you have other tips for staying positive?  Please share them!

Important links for those seeking help:

USA National Suicide and Crisis Hotline

Tumblr Depression Hotline – “there’s nothing wrong with reaching out and asking for help.”

Teen Health and Wellness Hotline

Everyday Health – “Who Can I Talk To?”

24 Grief Hotline

Are you, too, seeking to save the earth, promote world peace and raise productive citizens without expending too much effort?

Why not follow LazyHippieMama on WordPress, by email or Facebook to get all the updates.

If we work on our goals together, they may be a little easier to achieve!  

Comments are always encouraged! Feel free to discuss, debate, question, constructively criticize  praise or just chat but note that name-calling, excessive use of foul language or general rudeness will result in your comments being edited or deleted.