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Hello Lisa

Loved the first post. Now your intro :o)

Pamela


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Seth W Bartels

righty-o!

now what the heck am i supposed to say here?!? :)

i'm 25 years old, live in NW illinois in a cute little house that we're
rented after spending the entire summer out of work and living in a tent
(albeit a large one) on our friends land playing *community* with my
husband of nearly 7 years and our three nutty lovely wee ones (eve-6 1/2,
sebastian-4, lila moon-2.) we've never sent any of our kids to school
and we have no intention of ever doing so and are currently suffering a
lot of heat about this decision now that my kids are no longer safe under
the radar (read: my oldest *should* be in 1st grade this year.) i found
this discussion group from a newsletter of a homeschooling group that we
belong to that seems to have some unschoolers with older kids that i
haven't really associated with much due to that roadblock. i'm looking
for a neighborhood (a virtual one, if need be!) of folks living similarly
to myself and my family to bounce my thoughts off of and hopefully even
help others out when they're looking for the same.

i'm interested in gardening, birth, music, sewing, felting, spinning,
knitting, crocheting, pottery, cooking, snuggling, loving, talking,
eating delicious foods (like chocolate), rolling around in mud, building
things, and destroying the infernal grumpy-monster among other things. :)

i'm not interested in grouchy people who bring out the grimace i've been
working so hard to make go away or particularly smelly things...oh, and i
hate stepping on crumbs in my barefeet!

one more idea for dealing with messes and people who don't want to clean
them up...downsize! i know this isn't practical or even desirable for
most people, but it really feels good here at our house. i am much more
efficient about my use of space and organization is no longer a problem.
i have whittled down to what isn't a waste of space to me and have made a
home for each and every thing. this includes the clothes and shoes and
dishes. when it comes time to sweep the floors or wash the dishes or
clean the clothes, even if they're all dirty, it takes so much less time
and i'm cheerful just thinking about that! we've had such
disorganization and resentment and laziness in our past that this is
clearly better. not perfect, but i don't expect it to be.

i've enjoyed the simple, yet effective suggestion of living each moment
and choosing joy. i'm working hard on incorporating this concept into my
life and i even tried smiling really big in the mirror today. i laughed,
and it felt good. :) also, the squashing of arbitrary *no's* has forced
me to be conscious of just how much i'm operating on autopilot sometimes,
listening to the whispering ghosts of my parents' rules and expectations
and relaying them into *rules* that my own children must abide by. now
my kids are up to watching more tv than i'd approve of (but i'm shutting
up about it and becoming amazed at the wonderful things my kids are
picking up from seemingly dreadful child programming) and my daughter ate
an entire bowl of flan for breakfast (which i secretly freaked out about
thinking she was going to perish from malnutrition- INSIDE, mind you!-
until she suggested we have a picnic in the yard for lunch with raw
broccoli and pbj tortillas decorated with apples raisins and chocolate
chips! and the other kids loved it too!) i'm becoming more and more
delighted with every moment that passes and i can't thank you all enough
for your wonderful discussions. i can only hope that i can contribute
back and lift you all up sometimes in kind!

ok...so i'm overly chatty and terrible at organizing my thoughts any
further than the free flow that pours out of my head. will this suffice
as an intro? ;)
-lisa
(who the principal in elem. school nicknamed *chatty cathy*)

On Tue, 7 Sep 2004 17:44:13 EDT b229d655@... writes:
Hello Lisa

Loved the first post. Now your intro :o)

Pamela

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