Happy Spring Equinox!

Music Man discovered Spring had sprung today. I thought it was very fitting for the first official day of spring! Though, of course, we New Englanders know not to be lulled into a false sense of comfort, the snow and cold are not yet done...but we'll take the 70 degree day we were given today and smile and be thankful. Sometimes, that's what it's all about.

Wishing you crocuses of your own today, ~Peacemom

Homeschool Day

There are days when I have something planned that I feel will be more informative to the boys then what they will be learning in school that day. Friday was one of those days, and I've dubbed them "Homeschool Days". Friday dawned absolutely beautiful here in southern NH. Since Little Red doesn't have school on Friday, we sent Maestro off to school so that he could take his spelling test, then picked him up early and headed over to the coast for the day. We have a favorite beach over there that we frequent all year round, and decided this was the perfect day to make an appearance.

I thought that a really fun thing for the boys to start doing is keeping nature journals. Friday's lesson included a totally wonderful scavenger hunt in all the amazing things that washed ashore from the big storm a week ago. There were literally hundreds of huge clams (they may be actually quahogs, not sure, but they were BIG), which multitudes of seagulls were feasting on, crab shells, many types of sea weed and kelp, floats, naturals sponges and some flotsom and jetsom. But by far, our favorite find was pictured above. A true blue lobster claw. Very cool!

Maestro and Little Red are loving their nature journals so far. They listed what they found, three facts about each thing, and drew a picture of it. I had taken photos of many things and printed out some for them to put in their journals as well. It's pretty neat, and they did a really great job! We're going to further the lesson by going online and finding out some facts about things even Mom doesn't know about, like Razor Clams...I'd like to learn something new about them, too.

Wishing you learning and wonder in your own way, ~Peacemom

A Good Day for Soup...

It is raining and blustery out, yet again. We've had over 4 inches of rain fall in the last 48 hours. And yes, our basement flooded again. Worse then the last time. We are so sick of dealing with it. And our landlord told us that is why we have a sump pump, but the sump pump does not work on the parts of the basement that are not level enough to actually drain to the sump pump. And the water is pouring down the walls on the inside of the basement, so everything is now up on pallets or in plastic tubs, but not before Music Man lost another large amount of his very cherished "stuff". He's sad, angry and sick of it. And I'm feeling the same for him.

I decided, in light of Little Red's hoarse voice and the boys having no school today that it would be a good day to make some soup. I also like to clean out the fridge of left overs and see what kind of concoction I can come up with. The boys and I had gnocchi on Saturday night and then we had a delicious farm fresh baked chicken last night along with mixed veggies. Last Friday night, for date night, Music Man and I had some wonderful ginger marinated chicken wings along with a rice mix I made up and some sauted kale. So, in the fridge I had left over gnocchi, chicken, mixed veggies and kale. I sauted some onion, celery, carrots and garlic and added some chicken stock, the gnocchi, mixed veggies and kale and a mix of herbs (basil is a favorite!). The soup came out pretty good for a "kitchen sink" soup and I whipped up a moist cornbread which I make in an iron skillet in the oven. First browned the butter in the pan and then added the batter and baked up. It's quite yummy!! Served this to the family and even the world's pickiest 5 year old ate it up. A success!

Bailing tonight, hoping for the rain to slow down and we moved Music Man's office upstairs into the kids playroom for now until we can figure out what to do with all the wet mess down there. I'm thankful he was home to deal with this today as I don't think, along with working most of the day, I would have been able to handle it. The water was at least an inch deep all over the basement and I couldn't have swept it all day like he did. He sure can come through for us when he needs to, that's my beloved hubby. Especially appreciated since our landlord only makes excuses and doesn't lend a hand when it's his responsibility.

Hope you're all dry and fairing better then we are tonight. We are eternally thankful that we didn't lose power this time around as we would have literally had at least 3 feet of water without that sump pump. Little graces, we'll take 'em.

Wishing you a dry place to lay your head tonight, ~Peacemom

My Seasonal Fav

I know, I know for an organic, local foodee like me, this picture and my fondness for these is a travesty. Well, okay, so I never claimed to be perfect...this is my very favorite Easter candy...because sometimes all you want is some Peeps and a Coke, and that's okay, too.

Sweetie treaties to you, ~Peacemom

Laundry Time

I was hanging the clothes on the line in a wonderful breath of fresh air yesterday. I have been taking full advantage of our lovely 55 degree temps and breeze to save some energy and money by not using the dryer. I realize what I'm about to tell you is revealing something deeply disturbing to some people...but, that's okay with me.

I love hanging clothes on the line. In fact, when we signed our lease, I wrote in the stipulation that I wanted to put up a clothesline here (along with a garden, both of which the landlord approved...gotta love rural living!). At our condo, we were not allowed to have a clothesline, it was written in the bylaws...how stupid. And I love the scent that line dried clothes have- fresh, clean and sunny- and the stiffness and roughness that drying without chemical dryer sheets affords.

There are so many great things about the art of hanging clothes. First of all, the time it takes to perform this chore. It makes the pace of life automatically slower for that moment. Really, there's no way to rush through hanging clothes out. It takes as much time as it takes, and that's that. In this time, which invariably includes sunshine and warm weather to enjoy (not many household chores afford that luxury!)-- I think. I spend a lot of the household chore time thinking, pondering, working things out. Today, it prompted me to consider the sacredness of this chore. It gives me time to be alone, inside my thoughts-silence if you will. For a Quaker, there is divine in silence, and with the three men in my life that are constant chatter boxes, I don't get enough silent time. I crave and revere it, in fact. In silence, the opportunity to hear God's message for me is available, there isn't all that other noise to clutter up receiving it, and I am able to speak to Him without distractions.

I'm able to take a moment and just breathe, to listen to the birds (which I was thrilled to discover were around in full force!), to feel the sun on my skin and feel the refreshing thrill of spring. All the while, performing the methodical task of removing clothes from the basket, shaking the wrinkles out and pinning to the line. It's a tangible reward, this chore. To go from a full basket of wet clothes, to an empty basket and a full line, then when dry on a full line and empty basket back to a full basket and empty line when removed. Tangible feeling of accomplishment for me, and I do appreciate the reward of that.

I also feel the sacredness of caring for my family in that moment. It gives me a chance to really see the clothes. A loose button here, a rip in a seam there, I'm given the opportunity to see what repairs my family's clothes may need. When stuffing into the washer, to removing to dryer, I don't see the clothes as well, don't analyze their appearance the way the slower method of hanging to dry allows me. My hands are on each piece individually as I carefully pin them to the line, so my sense of responsibility to my family is right there in my cold, damp fingers.

I know, I'm in the crazy minority of people in our lovely country who would actually enjoy such things. I'm very aware that my desire to keep my life at a slower pace is in direct contrast to most Americans. I don't have any wish to cram as much as possible in my days to fall into bed exhausted and, what for me, would be unfulfilled at the end of my days. I'm always looking for ways to slow it down, to make it more sacred, to honor my time and job as a mother and homemaker. Yes, I make a home for my family, that's no small accomplishment. To be responsible for the health, cleanliness, nourishment and well being of three souls beyond myself every moment of every day. That is sacred, that is valuable, and that is where part of my heart lies. I feel good at the end of a day, like today, when I've cleaned the bathrooms, washed the clothes and come in from taking them off the line to the smell of bread baking that will nourish my family, and know that I made a difference to them today.

Wishing you your own moments of sacredness, ~Peacemom

Taxes...UGH...

Hello Y'all,

I'm currently listening to the Gin Blossoms cd while I attempt to do our taxes. The album is aptly named "New Miserable Experience". I've got to tell you all, I literally detest doing our taxes. And it was okay before we had a rental "income" (cough, cough, what income?) property. And the fact that we are renting when we own something is making a nightmare of it all. Having to figure depreciation, investment amounts, income...oh and did I mention I also have a home office?? all this is like a foreign language to me. It looks like I'll have to take a crash course in tax filing so I can figure out how to do this stupid thing.

Not my strong suit, this whole miserable tax experience. Anyone with advice in the know about how to manage all this is welcome to offer some assistance. I would give you a big fat kiss if you could bail me out of this depreciation misery.

Wish me luck!

Frustrated and hating the IRS today, ~Peacemom

Floods, Hurricanes and Homelessness

Hello All,

We are on day 5 without power at our house. On Sunday, which would have been night 3, we packed up and headed north to my mother-in-law's condo. She and her fiance generously offered to have us stay there as they are in FL right now. Their place got power back on Sat, so here we are- warm, have toilets that actually flush AND when you turn on the faucet, water comes out. WOW! And we have a beautiful view of the Merrimack River, which is flowing right outside the back door, about 20 feet from the house. All in all, outside of worrying over our house and how to get the kids to school on time 45 minutes away, we're very comfortable. Once the power comes back on our place, we've got a hella mess to clean up in our basement.

On Thursday night, with the winds howling, rain pouring down in torrents, we lost our power. And along with it the sump pump that was keeping some of the basement water actually leaving instead of entering. The land around the basement is graded very poorly and the water literally pours down the bulkhead stairs. Most of the time, not a problem, it just goes right into the sump pump and back out again. We just don't put anything where we know it will get wet there. When you've got rain like we had, the other foundation weaknesses show up on full force. Water was coming in all walls, up through the dirt floor in the root cellar, and flooded Music Man's office. This house came with a nicely finished office space in the basement, so he was all set up down there, about literally 1,000 cd's out, album, musical instruments, and a bunch of boxes of books, photos and other assundry things that were going to be sold on ebay. Much, much, much of it got wet and ruined. Luckily some instinct took over in him prior to the actual flooding and he got his instruments up off the floor as that would have been the most costly of problems, he's got a lot of them and they're not cheap. And, of course, renter's insurance doesn't cover flooding, so yah, oh well.

Once the sump pump quit and Music Man was bailing with buckets for all he was worth and couldn't keep up, I made a mad dash to the landlord's house about a mile up the road. As I was driving out of the driveway, wind blowing the van about, trees crashing in the road all around me, power lines falling, I drove like a little giddy mad woman to get there in one piece. It was a feeling like the world was ending and I was the last person on earth trying to flee the inevitable. Very weird sensation. We had winds that were sustained at about 65 miles per hour here, though I did hear a report that the winds on the Isles of Shoals off the coast of NH were clocking at 91+ miles per hour. Ummm, we live in New England...and it's FEBRUARY...we don't get hurricanes in New England in February. It was purely crazy. I was driving to the landlord's because we figured, he owns a construction company, perhaps he'll have a portable generator we could use. After waking him up...I don't know how he was sleeping in that, it was insane, we found no, he didn't have a generator. He called the fire department to come pump it out (we were not in that dire of a need, so I called them back to tell them not to come since I was really sure there were people who needed them worse then we did that night!). We were more then a little disappointed at his lack of regard for our plight, he didn't really care and told us, well, that's why it has a sump pump. Umm...that is great if THE POWER IS ON. and it doesn't work on the whole basement because the floor is not graded towards the sump pump, it's totally uneven, so you could have 4 inches or more of water in some places before it would even reach the sump pump. It would have been nice to be told that the basement floods so badly in heavy rain, and why is there a finished office down there if it floods? The previous tenants built it and only stayed a year...we're beginning to understand why.

So, since our town is on two separate power companies (don't ask, we have no idea why), the folks who have PSNH lost their power for about 12-18 hours. We're currently on day 5 with no power. I don't know about you, but I'm seeing something seriously wrong with this picture! As we are driving on our roads we can see houses in both directions that have power, and we do not, it's infuriating. BUT, it also makes you really take note of how dependant we are on electricity and all the comforts it provides. For me, I can basically live without most everything except heat, a way to cook and water. When we were living in our condo and lost power for the ice storm of '08, we had a propane stove (cook, check), we had a little propane heater (heat, check) and we were on city water (water, check) so it ran even when the power was out. It was cold, the little heater could only keep it at about 48-50 degrees, but we were okay for the 6 days we were powerless. Here, where we have a well pump, a basement that floods and the little propane heater can't keep up even with the help of the fireplace, our patience wore thin a whole lot faster. Creature comforts sure do make the world go around.

In any case, Casa de Peaceable Kingdom is moist for the moment, when we get power back we'll survey the true damage, it's hard to do that in the dark. Until then, we are warm, dry and comfortable in the condo that people who love us welcomed us into. We are eternally thankful for that. As before, when the ice storm took out our power and eventually our spirit, some angels gave selflessly of themselves and helped us out. Grace happens even in dark times.

Wishing you your own creature comforts, ~Peacemom