life. an adventure.

adventure is the perfect word to describe what's been going on over here lately! too many details to try & catch up on but its been one thing after another without pause to adjust. as much as we would love a little more consistency & time to catch our breath...we are accepting that this is just the way our little fams life is currently.

when we 1st moved back here to our hometown in july (which we never ever in life planned too but my daddy's incident changed that!)

we couldn't figure out WHY?!?!?!!! why Lord do you want me back here...waaaah! 

but after 8 months the bigger picture is unfolding. we are starting to see the WHY & the exciting things that are in the works for us. we are embracing the pathway our new journey is leading us on.

after all this very well may be our little fams BEST ADVENTURE EVERRR!!!

they wanted to try it

so much has been going on over here i can barely even keep up with it all myself! anniversary trip, camp trip, soccer practice & games, not to mention still unpacking etc...& to top it all off: 

this year my brownsugars all decided they wanted to try public school. 

(the pix are of their 1st days)

my oldest wants to be a space engineer & got accepted into the engineering program of her dreams. (THANK GOD!!!) she is NEVER EVER coming back to homeschooling! the program is A M A Z I N G!!! she comes home beyond super stoked every single day of her amazing new life! in turn i am beyond super stoked for her & her straight A's making self(our years of homeschooling the way we did paid off!)

the younger girls wanted to try it for a month. 

my middle girl missed being homeschooled in the very beginning, but after time & esp after 6th grade camp...she decided she has found her niche (aka new friends!!!) & is staying in school. its amazing how much she has blossomed in so many ways. she is loving having her own thing going & is also making straight A's while she's at it! 

her teacher (whom i LOVE LOVE LOVE)calls her "a model student!"

my baby girl on the other...public school just didn't work for her. i'm not going into all the negative details but she (we) really tried to stick with it (& the teacher *ahem*) for about 3 weeks but it was all way too much. things got so bad hubby even pulled her out while i was away chaperoning camp. but now she's happily back home, loving "being like an only child finally" as she put it & her little world is back to good. with mama her favorite teacher, her favorite classmates (ollie & mahalo) & in her favorite classroom

...H O M E :) 

a glimpse into my [simple] summer kitchen

GF pasta with olive oil, butter, garlic & sea salt sauce topped with melty cheese. turkey meatballs & slices of ripe tomatoes from my daddy's garden.

chunks of melon & fresh juicy fruit of all kinds.

my daddy's tomatoes & veggies of all kinds. cool refrigerated hummus to dip them in.

i thawed out some brown rice & lentils i previously cooked & froze. topped it with cauliflower lightly sautéed in olive oil, curry powder & turmeric (quickly as to not over heat). 

lots of big salads topped together with anything cold & raw.

 

it is sooooo stinkin' hot here!

we are trying to re-acclimate ourselves to the heat we've been away from for the last 7 years. with no ocean breeze to blow away this awful heat...no one feels like cooking much around here. so we have been eating simple meals.

thankfully though we have moved back to the perfect climate for growing amazingly delish local fruits & veggies. 

 

bonus: i've located the kitchen boxes with my dishes & other kitchen necessities. once i figure out where everything fits (or does not fit), i will be back to good.

 

urban country fix: DIY compost bin

there are a few things i just could not live with any longer in this house. the one that drove me the craziest was throwing perfectly good compost specimens in the trash bin (especially with my neighbors owning a farm stand!). we were used to throwing our compost directly on top of our compost piles on the ground at our other home.

but in this home we needed more of an urban country solution :)

my husband was heading to Home Depot today for some light bulbs or something & asked if I needed anything. YES...supplies to make my own compost bin. using this post as a guide i literally put this baby together just a few minutes ago. pretty much BY MYSELF (hubs carried the bag over for me). start to finish...20 minutes (including picture time) & only $23 in materials.

another thing i couldn't live with was having no garden. i miss my garden & my little container herb garden is temporarily doing the trick until I get the rest of my garden figured out.

 

*I added about less than half the bag of organic compost to add weight & a little boost to the bottom of the bin to get things going faster & to catch some of the goopy compost drip.   

"be near family" life season

WE MOVED!!!

loooong story short: 

for the last couple of years my husband has been working & traveling like 90+ hours a week at least & the girls & i were home alone most of the time in this beautiful but isolated little country town with few friends, nothing exciting to do & very little conveniences. just me & the girlies in our huge house, on a huge lot with a huge yard, huge citrus/avocado grove, too many animals, too much driving all over to get to activities (let alone run errands & daily life stuff), no family support, etc...blah blah blah. for some people the country lifestyle is paradise but for us...not so much. i like a little more city in my country, i love small (house, car, yard...) & being mostly alone to care for everything all at once, the girls & i were quickly becoming completely overwhelmed & not enjoying it!

my husband & i decided a couple of months ago that it was finally time to downsize (hence the summer: becoming minimalist project 1 2). good thing i got started early because this decision set in motion a ton of huge lifestyle changing chain of events! all of which happened so fast & to which we are still trying to adjust. so fast in fact that i did not have time to get everything purged. we had to pack some unwanted items up & bring them with, but no worries, i'll be setting up a goodbye pile as i unpack boxes. 

one of the biggest events was rushing my daddy to the ER over a month ago & spending a week with him in the hospital. afterwards we decided we wanted to be here for his long recovery & it was quickly becoming clear to us that we are in the "be near family" life season (we were too far away for emergencies). my husband had a few job offers but the day after the initial news of my daddy's health issues (before the hospital stay) he got a job offer from back home & we accepted.

*(this job has turned into a true blessing for our little fam especially in the life season we are in with our girls ages & them growing up so quickly...no more insane hours for my husband & if/when he has to travel the girls & i have family near for support)

this is all very last minute & our heads are still spinning but here we are:

back where we started, in the "be near family" life season, life literally & figuratively purged, focusing on the "stuff" that really matters & waiting to see what God's plan is & why he brought us back home.

really hope you continue to join us for this new chapter in our sweet little fam's journey. it will be different. yes...exciting different! if we've learned anything in this little fam it is that change is constant, change is good & as long as we are together as a fam & focus on the positives we will adapt. 

the pic is from the house we will be in for the rest of this year at least. we went from a 3200 sq ft home in the country to a 1800 sq ft home in the city. i, the lover of things small & a little more city...am loving it! once we recover from the move i plan on making it cute cute cute! thanks for sticking around :)

more & more good byes!

a summer becoming minimalist progress report: 

more & more good byes!!! (previous posts 1 2)

this was our amvets donation last Friday, felt so good to clear this extra stuff out of our house & give it to someone who may actually NEED it. (the black bags are filled with clothes & shoes of all sizes & seasons)

our life has been C R A Z Y since then^^^

happy weekend & be back with what's new!

summer project: becoming minimalist // an ugly update!

an ugly update on my summer becoming minimalist simplifying project.

 

 i've been working long & hard almost everyday & this is still what every room in my entire house currently looks like!

YIKES...BUT SERIOUS PROGRESS!!!

this looks far from progress, but the majority of this stuff is leaving my house!!!

FEELS SOOOO STINKIN' GOOD!

along with keeping up with a little bit of summer schooling, we've had a couple of family emergencies that required taking long road trips. one involved a family members extended hospital stay so I've kind of gotten thrown off track a bit. this has been a tedious process as i sort, purge, & organize each & every item as i go.

 

due to one of the fam emergency trips I missed our neighborhood yard sale so my current frustration is figuring out what to do with all these discards! for my sanity, i need to get it all out of the house to make it at least appear like i'm accomplishing as much as i am. (& so the kids wont go treasure hunting in the piles, or dogs & kids wont play in them & ruin my organization, etc...) 

 

a friend aptly labeled this as "THE GREAT PURGE OF 2013"!

tremendous progress...still a long ways to go BUT i now have a july 31st deadline & my mind is focused on attaining my goal of finally becoming more of a minimalist & having a drastically simplified life!

sorted, purged & organized so far:

(i'm trying to keep notes as i go)

 

1. each & every single book on the shelves. we had books in every single room including bathrooms! (i should have counted before i started!)

 

2. craft closet & supplies. down from approx. 15 bins to about 6 so far (still editing) 

 

3. my entire clothing collection, handbags, shoes. each of the girls closets & storage bins of clothes, shoes & bags. we got rid of everything out dated, barely or never worn, disliked, stained, too small (tried each item on), etc... most of the items were barely or never worn & had expensive price tags, some of the girl things i thought were super cute but not their tastes, some of my stuff was cute even, $$$ & barely worn also, but just not my style anymore. no matter...let it all go!

 

4. everything hanging on wall (art, photos, bulletin boards etc...) pottery barn? anthropologie? target? fave thrift store? love it? NO??? then who cares? its all just

" EXTRA STUFF"...let it go!

 

5. china cabinet, knick knacks & sentimentals...see above!

 

6. i tested sorted, purged, organized each & every pen, highlighter, marker, paint bottle, tub of clay, etc...making sure it's good & made an inventory list of  school & art supplies we have on hand & that needs to be replaces. i also examined school books, old school work etc...(* i have the old school work boxed, dated & marked to sort & reorganize in a more efficient system than what i previously had...another project & post for another day.)

 

7. i put all our photos in black photo boxes to sort & organize later also (* again new more efficient system...more later) in doing so i eliminated the big bulky containers they were in. the new photo boxes sit nicely & look much cleaner on the bookshelf.

 

8. sorted, purged & organized board/card games & puzzles. out with all the "baby-ish" games & puzzles, anything missing pieces or damaged. made an inventory list to replace only our faves that were damaged or incomplete.

 

9. cds: i set up a station to listen for skips, music tastes etc...as we go thru our day. we also upload them to our computer & make copies, putting the originals back on the shelf (to keep them clean or from getting any further damage).

 

10. purged kitchen cabinets & drawers. out with anything damaged, useless/unused, duplicates or not my fave. i really hate having too many kitchen gadgets, so this wasn't tough.

 

11. in the pantry i purged expired meds, including things like sunscreens, ointments, etc...we've have been cooking with stuff that needs to be eaten 1st in the fridge, pantry etc...makes for some interesting meals :)

 

12. we are using up any partially or unused body products 1st before we open or buy new. tossing anything old or outdated.

 

13. in the yard i've (drastically) reduced my "collection" of pots & plants that i did not particularly love...(waste of space, time & water!). this includes yard ornaments & figurines also. 

8th grade promotion ceremony

each grad received a cute personalized chalkboard pennant.

love love love these group of girlies!

she walked in to the "Star Wars" theme song

(each grad picked their fave song).

wearing yellow checked sunglasses.

(each grad walked in wearing shades...cool kids.) 

the co-op teacher gave each grad a special word & a special gift that defined them.

her word was empowered & her gift was a Spock figurine. both abs perfect!

dress & converse...yes!

these two crazy best friendsies...peas in a pod {heart}

yummy gluten free 'stache cakes made by my sweet hubby!

{such a good daddy!}

me & my beautiful amazing girl

 

our oldest brownsugar's 8th grade promotion ceremony was Saturday. a little windy, but an absolutely BEAUTIFUL day for a country club celebration!

 

the promotion ceremony events were planned by the 8th graders themselves & our wonderful homeschooling co-op families did such a fantastic job with the party planning, decorating, etc...! these 8th graders were such an awesome group of smarties, they more than deserved it all.

extremely proud!

 

wait.

it's just sinking in that 8th grade promotion means she is done with 8th grade forever & will officially be a high schooler next year!

WAAAAAH! NO! NO! NOOOOOO!!!& why?!?

{only 4 more years left in the nest}

it all happened so fast...sadness.

summer project: becoming minimalist

only the beginning

 

this summer we decided to SERIOUSLY SERIOUSLY SERIOUSLY purge, downsize, organize & drastically simplify our lives. finally a dream come true for me! I HAAATE having extra junk & purge often, yet our fam of 5 seems to still always have tons of STUFF. I never seemed to be able to get rid of enough & have never been able to do so on such a large scale. using this becoming minimalist post & many others around the web, as a catalyst I got busy before summer break officially began.

 

I started with the books (& the school supplies that belonged to our charter). we have books in every single room of our house (yes including all 3 bathrooms). i'm not a huge collector, overly sentimental about things, & have no problem letting things go, but OMG our books were hard to go thru & hard let go of. we LOVE LOVE LOVE our books! each & every book has been gone thru, I maaaay have even gone so far as to catalog each title in my ipad & they are pretty much done. but they were only the beginning.

 

after much avoidance & anxiety I've tackled the craft closet supplies. of which the contents took over my entire kitchen & sat there for days (& NOPE no pix...no way!). I completely avoided the storage container mountains full of fabric (I barely even know how to sew...& HATE it), yarn & knitting/crocheting tools (I barely even know how to knit or crochet), scrapbooking & paper crafting supplies (no time...nor any desire anymore)& ALL the other STUFF. for days I seriously ignored the big mass of stuff like it didn't even exist: stress eating junk, taking naps, leaving the house, avoiding eye contact with it by not looking directly at it, etc...

 

BUT this weekend I hit the coffee & the crafting purging pretty hard & got most of it cleaned out & organized. the yarn ball tangles seriously almost killed me. the girls were bummed because I dismantled the little houses they made inside the mountain of stuff (like with different rooms & walls & furniture & cubbies & stuff...that how much extra STUFF we had). 

ok, in my defense (kinda), i'm more artsy, but the girls are pretty crafty they do sew & knit & actually use those supplies for projects, but we did not need it ALL.

 

we have a HUGE yard sale planned with the neighbs at the end of the month. for the next few weeks of the simplifying process (& our summer vacay), my house will be complete chaos & I will be obsessively putting in the time & focus required to achieve this goal. purging & organizing have become one of my all time fave things to do so i'm trying to be ok with it all & bite it off in small chunks as this huge of a project is equally as exhilarating as it is overwhelming.

 

it will all be for the best & i'm sooo super excited for the final outcome. EVERYTHING MUST GO & I cannot wait ...I just hope I don't gain too much stress eating weight in the process!

nest notes{current fave health products}

 

   

last year it seemed we were sick every single week.

SO FAR, this year we have been fortunate enough to maintain our health for most of this cold & flu season.

a couple of weeks ago we had our 1st sniffles of the season, nothing to bad though other than a mild sore throat &nasal yucks.

we got a jump start on the season with these products

(& healthy foods!)

1. yogi echinacea immune support tea (Fresh & Easy) & tons of hot liquids.

 

2. emergen-c (Costco size jumbo pack)at least one pack a day.

 

3. clean well warm vanilla hand sani spray. (Fresh & Easy) cleans hands & kills germs without all the yuckie ingredients. (actually smells more like thyme)

 

4. fisherman's friend lozenges(Amazon)these concentrated tablets are amazing at clearing nasal passage ways & soothing sore throats.

 

5. LOTS of raw garlic thrown into everything possible (paired with (olive)oil or fat to prevent stomach upset).

i even used both of these both of these raw garlic methods to cure an ear ache. within 20 minutes of using the whole clove in my ear the pain subsided & with the garlic oil it was almost completely gone the next day. super happy about this one since i get a earache with my hormone induced migraine every month.

 

other tips:
*decreased sugar consumption
*warm brothy soups with raw garlic added last, ginger & fresh herbs
*hot liquids i even drink mugs of warmed water, lemon water, ginger water or combination
*plenty of rest
*layering & bundling up
*sunlight & fresh air (open windows for a few chilly minutes, or go for a walk in the sunshine & fresh cool air).

 

fave winter beauty products here

...these became part of that child



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.2.2013 Buccaneer Beach Oceanside
 

the schooners, the waves, the clouds,

the flying sea crow, the fragrance

of salt marshes and mud, the horizon's edge.

these became part of that child who went forth everyday

and who now goes and will always go forth everyday.

 

Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman

la jolla marine bio beach teach

 

la jolla 2.21.2013

miss smartypants 8th grader was invited on our homeschool co-ops high school marine bio beach teach lab. the younger brownsugars went to the Birch Aquarium with their sitter & big sis & i spent the day together exploring the beach & tide pools with the high school kids. (btw - i loved this awesome group of teens!) 

the day started out chilly but by the time we hit the water it was much warmer, sunny & absolutely beautiful!

 

*note to self*- the red wellies were a fantastic choice! i would have been miserable with wet jeans, socks, shoes & freezing feet!

 

SUCH a fantastic day & another fave field trip

(the younger girls had a fantastic time too!...bummed i missed it)