Moving On

D and I are hosting a Pumpkin Carving Party next Saturday night. We enjoyed the one we went to in PA a few years ago, so we decided to have one ourselves. I love, love, love picking apples and carving pumpkins. It was a tradition growing up and I loved every single second of going to the orchard to pick apples and pulling slimy seeds out of the pumpkins (truly, I can not think of a bad childhood memory...I think we had the perfect childhood, if there is such a thing!). Anyway, Dad always used to toast the pumpkin seeds we gutted and I've done it every time we carve pumpkins and will collect everyone seeds and the party and toast them. They're tasty...and good for you! And then I'm making some semi-good-for-you snacks, such as pumpkin bread or cookies, apple muffins, and some other stuff I've yet to decide. I'm excited!

D and I moved our room around the other day. D helped kicking and screaming (well, as much as David can be like that...which is not much at all!) because he didn't think I'd like it and want it back the other way. Not sure why he thought this since we've never moved a room around in our five years of marriage, but he helped none the less. It looks a lot better/cleaner/roomier and I'm not sure how many times D's said, "Our new room is awesome!" but it's been more than once! Micah was quite puzzled over the whole thing for a bit, but there are new things for him to get into, so I think he likes it, too!

Deal of the Century: or at least a great deal. I was at Walmart for two hours yesterday getting stuff on a list that has been accumulating for a few weeks now. One of the things on my list was room-darkening curtains for both of the bedrooms because the sun comes up on that side of the house. Micah doesn't need to be up with the sun, so we've been hanging blankets over the windows. While it's very effective, it's not so aesthetically pleasing. That doesn't bother me so much, which is why I haven't gotten them earlier, but when you (and I mean me) see room-darkening, noise-reducing, energy-saving curtains that were once $21.97 and $16.97 per panel marked down to $5 and $4.50, respectively, per panel, well you (and I mean me) don't just pass that up. I needed two pairs of panels, but I got four pairs because it was such a great deal. They had the colors I wanted, too, which was even more of a blessing!

Speaking of house and home, I'm going through every room and tossing/repurposing/giving away anything that we don't need, use, or want. In a word: simplifying. Micah's toys have been greatly reduced (he hasn't even noticed) and I'm only putting a few out at a time. He usually only plays with one thing at a time and it's usually something I've given him from around the house(ie empty containers), so he's probably happy he doesn't have all that stuff in his way anymore. I'm shifting his room around, so the toys and books that are out are all at his level. I'm working towards teaching good habits (lots of good info about teaching good habits early on in the Charlotte Mason books I've been reading) like putting things away, making your own bed (when he gets a toddler bed), etc, so everything needs to be at his level in order for him to do that!

And a foodie update: I'm adding more things into our diet now that I've gotten rid of almost all of the junk we used to eat. My goal is to incorporate more sprouts, lacto-fermented foods, and sourdough bread in the upcoming months. I'm getting my grain mill this month, a food dehydrator next month, and hopefully a water purification system the next. Mom found a sustainable farm in VT where we're going to be ordering our beef from, from now on. I only have beef on the menu twice a month, anyway, so it should last quite a while. Their starter packages are neat: a roast, some ground beef, some other cuts that I don't know too well because I don't cook a lot of beef. The passage in 1 Corinthians 10 is so apropos to our newly adopted way of eating, but I especially like verse 31, "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." My thinking: Christ freed us from the laws of the Old Testament, but in my opinion, if God created us (and he did) and he gave certain laws about what is good for our bodies and what is not (OT food laws) and our bodies haven't evolved over the past few millenia (and they haven't!!), then it makes sense to me that what God said was good and bad for our bodies still applies. So we try to follow them as much as we can. Mom and Dad have totally jumped on the bandwagon with us and they're enjoying it as much as I am. Mom's convinced that if she ate better and fed us better, she and Ry wouldn't have been so sick. It's quite possible, since you are what you eat (well, you are what you digest, but that's a completely different discussion!), but I want to do the best possible for our family now that I know what the best is!

Ok and since you put up with all that, here are a few pics of our little-but-wants-to-be-big boy: