Lost.

Not really me. I'm doing pretty good at the moment. But I keep feeling that this blogs needs to be something, that I need to be putting something of myself out there, but not... ugh. I don't know.

So, hodgepodge. Scattered focus. ADD.

Yeah. I'll work on that. Right about...

Shiny! Yeah, not like anyone sees any of this but me. Lalala.

Have a lot of projects in the works. Eldest is starting at the local community college for her junior year of high school, so all of a sudden our laid back, unschooly house feels, well, schooly. I'm not sure how I feel about that. But it has me focusing on math, for the twins, the eldest, and myself.

I've been playing on khanacademy.org. It's fun. Even Bug Boy seems happy on it. We'll see how long that lasts.

I've been wanting to get back to taking pictures, but I'm not seeing things through that eye at the moment. This particularly sucks because I have these awesome film cameras just no inspiration at the moment.

We've been working on rehabbing Michael. He's getting stronger, rebuilding muscle, all is well.

Been right about a year since I quit smoking and started vapeing. I still love it. Haven't touched a tobacco cigarette since July of last year. Also lost some weight. Nothing much. Can't really see it. But hey, I quit smoking and didn't gain weight. At all. Whooohoo!

Speaking about photos (I was, wasn't I?), I've been going back through some older pictures and looking at them with new eyes. I seldom get the picture I see in my head, and I need to work on that. But compositionally (is that a word?) I like a lot of what I take. The colors and focus and such may not be where I want them to be, but I'm guessing (hoping?) that just comes with practice. So I've been playing in post-processing with some photos I originally considered marginal, or were flat out mad about taking. Play with the color, crop a little from the edges, add some effects then remove them just to see the picture from a different point of view. And I'm liking what I'm seeing, for the most part. So that's something.

Projects, projects, projects:

• Math taker
• Math teacher
• Everything else teacher
• Physical therapist
• Photographer (or post-processer, or wannabe, or something)
• Organizer
• Researcher of stuff for congregational anniversary
• Planner of family things
• Sanity keeper
• Wife

Yeah, guess which of those don't happen?

So, that's what's on my mind tonight. I'll leave you (me) with a couple-few redone pictures from 2013.

Allium

Bird in a Field

Random Guy in Park at St. Louis Arch

Getting Ready for Bugs

Carrots! Yum!

Back in April, I posted about planting carrots. Sunday, we enjoyed the fruits (two of them in fact, well, I guess the roots) of the harvest!

Molly was so incredibly excited. The Little Finger carrots seem about perfect size. The Atomic Purples are still a little short and thin, even though the plan was to harvest them small. I suppose that's a good thing, because apparently Molly keeps checking which one she's pulling, and recovers it if it's a purple, because she claims she likes the orange better. She sure ate the purple, and its greens, like it was going out of style!

I have to say, the raised box of carrots has been wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. It took some time to mix up the soil mix we used (peat, a couple of types of compost, some vermiculite) but we have had absolutely no maintenance to do. Molly watered on a daily basis in the beginning when it didn't rain, and about every other day once they got to decent size. And by "watering" I mean she filled up a small watering can, squatted down, and poured it around the box haphazardly while she chatted with the plants. No weeding. No stressing. Oh, and harvesting? Yeah, we followed the greens to a root, she used her little index finger to loosen the soil around the top (mostly to check the color), and we gently tugged to pull them out. Rinsed off in hose water, munched right there. If you look closely on the purple carrot, it has already had a bite taken off of it.

I'm already working on deciding how to set up raised beds over than whole section of yard for next spring. We'll also probably plant some carrots for fall in this bed once it's fully harvested, as well as a second we'll make and put right next to it.

Yay carrots!

Playing.

My dear mother- and father-in-law are visiting for a week or two. Today they played outside with the kids, and I was able to get a few pics of the little brats that actually turned out okay. I LOVE the smile on Michael's face, but I have that horrible merge with the playset ring. Bah!!!

Warrior Girl

Smiling!

When did she grow up?

Grow little carrots!!

Today Molly and I worked outside, building a 2x2 raised bed for her carrots. It's our first raised bed, as well as our first time planting carrots.

I mean, they're generally $1 per pound, why plant? But I've gotten very interested in playing with heirloom veggies. And gardening is such a huge learning curve.

My husband's congregation takes very good care of us, and while we aren't rolling in the dough, we are comfortable. But the economy has been hard on this area. Our congregation is aging and shrinking. Taxes are, quite frankly, eating us alive, and with just the few changes I know about, our tax bill will likely triple next year. So while growing our own food is not a necessity at the moment, it's a huge part of my long term plan. The more we grow, the less we buy, and the less we drive.

I'll save my rant about the state of the country's food supply and my growing ickyness about what we put in our bodies on a regular basis for another post. Sometimes I feel hypocritical munching on Doritos and bitching about GMO corn, but it is what it is.

But today, just today, it wasn't about taxes and toxic chemicals and GMOs. It was about an awesome day of work, in the sunshine, with my beautiful girl who cannot wait to pull and munch her first Little Finger or Atomic Purple carrot out of soil she mixed herself in a box she helped to build.

Playing with Photography

Focal length: 18mm
Exposure time: 1/20
f/3.9
ISO 800

Subject: Birdie
Date: 11/22/2012
Edited: Playing in Picasa