way past late

This post is way past late, but here it is. So much is going on this fall. Here's a rundown.

First and foremost, Lillian has started school. It was a bit of a transition, but she loves it! She is there MWF from 9-11:30. She loves showing us what she has done. We are wrapping our minds around that fact that she has her own life now. Wow!

I have started school too. I am in the Purdue Master Gardener program. I am very excited and have already learned a lot. I am also taking a Fibromyalgia class at the YWCA starting this week.

Paco and I have looked at 2 possible new locations for La Scala. We would like more space, but the reality is that we don't really have the $$$to move. Right now we are waiting to see how much one space would lease for.

I have been doing lots of canning and freezing. I have just about cut out traditional grocery shopping. I am trying to put away what I can for winter. The picture is of Lillian helping me process tomatoes. Of course, she is eating one as she works. She has her swim goggles in case I chop onions which "poke her eyes"!

We went and visited Karen Stegmeier's farm to look at her goats. A very nice doe named Cordelia allowed me to learn how to milk. Karen is hoping to get a couple of goats bred for me so I can move them over here and should be milking by the early spring.

I have also been researching chicken and turkey breeds which we will start in the spring.

We visited the Indy Zoo last weekend with my cousin Annie, her partner Shannon and their kids Tiffany and Denny. I had not seen Annie for 17 years and we had a great day. We hope to go visit them in KY sometime soon.

Lillian will be attending Village pre-school this fall--actually she starts next Friday. Yesterday, Paco brought in the mail and Lillian had a postcard from her teachers. She was so thrilled she was jumping up and down. I am so happy she is excited. I feel like the whole world is going to open up for her.

Summer is ending. I love fall, but I don't think I have ever enjoyed a summer more. I have felt energized and healthy. I am a bit apprehensive about winter after this last one. I was just so sick! I think a lot of that was undiagnosed fibromyalgia, but only time will tell.

This will have to be short. Lillian and I have to get our day going.

A Lesson Learned

The picture is from the second session of zoo camp.

Now, it's a breeze. She just needed to be sure she knew where the bathroom was and she was fine. Not only did she love camp, but it has helped tremendously in prepping her for preschool. She is sitting with Shiloh the tortoise.

I learned some lessons this week from and about my daughter.

First, Paco and I went togther to pick her up from camp on Tuesday. We sat quietly and watched as the kids met the last animal--a rat. Each child is supposed to signal the zoo staffer with a thumb's up if they want to touch the animal and 2 thumb's up if they want to hold the animal. More or less, the kids did this and the staffer proceeded around the circle. When Lillian's turn came, she started chatting away explining that she would like to hold it but the rat might poke a hole in her shirt with his nails. She wouldn't like that, so she better just pet him. If she was wearing an older shirt it would be ok, but she didn't want a hole in this shirt. The zoo staffer politely listened with a slightly amused and exhausted look. DING DING DING I realized that not all kids ramble on and qualify everything they say. My daughter, bless her, can drive me crazy with this stuff. Now you (reader) no why she models me and tells her dolls--"yes or no, just tell me yes or no."

My second lesson was yesterday. Lillian had an echocardiogram and I promised her a lunch date out with ice cream after. So here we were att he IHOP. I was hungry and a little on edge form just seeing my daughter's heart on TV and NO ONE was waiting on us. The woman who I thought might be our waitress seemed lost in space and even if we got her attention, things did not look good in the service department. I was wondering if we should just leave, but knew that would mean loading Lillian up again and starting all over somewhere else. So, I asked Lillian what she thought we should do. She thought about it, smiled, and said:

We could just wait our turn.

Ah, the wisdom. So, we did. We flagged down a waitress and told her of our plight. Lost in space hustled over to our table and we did fine.

About the echo. Lillian was born with a murmur--we were told an innocent one. Our doc has heard it on and off over the years and he said if we had paid our deductible we might as well check it. She is obviously very healthy so nothing too horrible can be wrong (at least we try to tell ourselves).

More of a good thing

Well, we followed up our daredevil success at the fair with some real thrills at Indiana Beach. Not only did Lillian have fun, her daring was only hampered by her father's own queasiness!!

As for me, no way! We didn't even get a ride bracelet for me. Plain old playground merry-go-rounds make me pukey! I was so bewitched to watch my daughter have such gleeful, carefree fun without a moments hesitation.

The picture is from the county fair. I made sure we saw all the dairy goats and here is Paco moving in for a kiss. I have made a contact at the Farmer's Market who has a herd of about 20 dairy goats. We are going to set up a time to see their operation and get a better sense of what we would need to do.

My own locavore project is going extremely well. Of course as the song goes....it's summertime and the living is easy. I can get all my meat and produce locally at the Farmer's Market, go to the natural foods store for dairy (Zionsville) and organic grains. I am buying very little at the big box stores. I am trying to store what i can of summer's bounty now, but we still have a long way to go before we can be true locavores. Paco is fine with me turning into a small-time farmer so I guess I am only hampered by my own commitments and my health.

The Amish family I am buying pork form at the Farmer's Market has half a hog for me this week for the freezer and I have already laid claim to 10 organic free range chickens this fall.

I picked up some long purple shelling pods called "crowder peas" at the market this morning. I had no idea what they tasted like so I thought we'd try a few and see. Lillian and I shelled them this afternoon and she had a wonderful time. She was gobbling them up as fast as she could get them out of the pod. That makes this whole thing worthwhile!!!

A burst of bravery

Our usually timid daughter shocked both of us when she rode the Ferris wheel, fun slide, crazy bus, and roller coaster at the county fair. We had been talking about the fair for quite awhile and she said she wanted to ride the Ferris wheel, but neither one of us really believed it. Not only did she, she had a blast! She threw up her hands, hooted and hollered!! It was a joy to see our usually cautious girl go in head first and have so much fun. Paco was a little green a couple of times, but Lillian cried for more and was curtailed only by our pocketbook.

We are so dazzled by this new show of daring that we are taking her up to Indiana Beach this weekend with some friends.

We also spent a lot of time in the animal barns. This was my doing since I am the one pushing my family toward some livestock next summer.

so much more

...has happened in the past month or so. Lillian grabbed her sidewalk chalk one evening and started making drawings--actual representational ones. She now makes stick people, spiders, dogs, house, and trees!! She will sometimes do this with paper, but seems to prefer the medium of sidewalk chalk on the driveway. ---Mom and dad can only preserve these with the camera. I will post the original drawing here.

She started using the potty in April, but mastered #2 this week after much encouragement. She even wakes up dry most mornings, but I think going cold turkey would be premature. (speaking as the laundress around here)

We have all been busy. Paco is dismantling one of the 4 pasture fences to begin to expand the look of the back yard and is beginning to talk about starting demolition of the old barn. We are planning on keeping at least 2 of the pastures with the lean-to's and might get chickens and/or goats. We are also planning for a big veggie garden next year.

The gardening and animal plans are fueled by my obsession with becoming a "locavore" family after reading the life-changing book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I have also been teaching myself how to make cheese as well as putting up farmer's market food for the winter. We are all eating and feeling better than we have in awhile. I am making a lot of local contacts with farmer's and finding out how to get the best food for my family.

Bad Blogger

Well, I am on the fence about continuing this. At a time when there don't seem to be enough hours in the day, I'd rather spend them doing something than regurgitating it for the blog. But.....it is a nice record and a way to communicate to friends and family.

It's been a great summer so far. My health is good and we have been busy. We just hosted Nanny and Grampy for a week of fun and birthday partying. We have been swimming a lot. Lillian just completed her first summer day camp experience--three 9-12 days at the local zoo. This was BIG, BIG, BIG. It was the first school-like experience for her and the first time she went and did anything like that herself. The picture is of her and Lucy the horse on the first day of camp.

The house is getting some fixing up too. The guest room is getting a makeover to become a craft/art room for me and Lil. It was painted "willow herb" green today and I am giving the old potting table/changing table a spray paint makeover to become our main craft organizer.

Catching Up

Well, I am not going to attempt to cover everything I've missed, but I am up early and do have a chance to do this. We've been super busy lately since I am on a home projects rampage. Lil and I have been working hard upstairs. I've made new curtains for her room finally and we added some more wall decor and organized her closets. We have been centrealizing all of outr craft stuff to the guest room and getting that organized. The craft stuff has been the final phase of the move. Until now, it has been all over the house. Lillian and I have been trying to put the stuff to good use too. I have been showing her some different media--especially pastels.

Lillian is campaigning hard for a sibling. She spent a good 10 minutes the other evening at bedtime telling me how much she wants a baby brother and all the things she will teach him. She has offered again to grow one in her tummy. I think I finally convinced her that just won't work so she says she will find another lady to grow one. I told her that a baby brother is a project for mom and dad to work on right now and even if we don't get one we will be a happy family.

Paco and I are talking about going through foster parent training this fall and perhaps fostering to adopt. I need to get my very carefully worded story straight to explain this to Lillian in the right way.

Lillian is super-excited right now about the impending arrival of Nanny & Grampy and her birthday party. Paco and I have been teasing her and telling her we had no idea she wanted a sandbox for her birthday and that's not what she is getting.

We have been swimming a lot too--when it hasn't been pouring. We ares o proud of her swimming, She has come a long way since last summer. We presented her with a BRAVO ribbon from the dollar store. The morning we gave it to her, she proudly wore it to the grocery store.

Lillian and I also went to Hands on Trucks at the Imagination Station a few weeks ago. Paco was at the restaurant fixing the toaster oven unfortunately, because this would have been a great event for the 2 of them. Lillian checked out the City Bus, trash truck, and fire truck. She also proudly told the lady manning the Mobile Library that her mom helped make it. Then we left--way to many sirens for Lillian. The picture is of her in the trash truck--by far her favorite. She was gleefully reciting bits from Trashy Town. "Dump it in, smash it down, drive around the trashy town."

Bootiful Tummy

This will be a scattered post. I have several things to report from the last few days.



Now that Lillian understands the whole tummy/baby connection and that mommy's tummy is not strong enough to hold a growing baby, she has decided that she will grow us a baby brother in her tummy. She has assured me that her tummy is very strong and that she is up to the job. I explained to her that her body is too small to really accomplish this feat and that it takes a very long time to grow a baby in your tummy. What a wonder!!



I remarked to her the other day that she is very beautiful. I don't say things like this too much. She is remarkably beautiful and hears it ALL the time wherever we go. She is fed up with it. PLUS I don't want her sense of self to be entwined with her outside appearance anymore than it has to be, but I am sometimes overwhelmed by this beautiful creature who is my daughter and it slips out. She replied

It takes a long time to be as bootiful as me.



We went discount shopping at Big Lots for a birthday present we needed for the weekend. As always, we found more than we came for, including some plastic farm animals and some jumbo Lincoln logs. I remembered my own Lincoln logs and was sold. Anyway, we came home to set-up our farm and had a blast. After we built our Lincoln log farm, Lillian sorted all the animals into family groups and was quite vexed to only have 2 chickens. Of course, she wants each family unit to have a mommy, daddy, and baby because she is modeling us. We solved the problem, by having the chickens have a duck daddy and then we were fine.

How Good It Feels & The Big Question

...when it all clicks. We had a great day. Just stayed home. Cleaned upstairs, made enchiladas for lunch, went swimming, gave Lil a bath, trad with her (Little Critter marathon), worked in the kitchen (made brownies and hung curtains (she played with her little zoo), and then to bed. Completely ordinary, but Lillian and I were meshing so well it was just great.


After her bath, she asked me to rock her oin the living room. I rarely get this chance so I said sure. So we sat in the rocker and watched an episode of Franklin. Out of the blue, she asked me

how did you make me?

I paused for a moment and then told her I did not make her. She grew like a seed (I also said flower) in a tummy and then she was born (came out) and mommy and daddy were waiting for her. She asked me if it was my tummy. I said no, it was a different lady's tummy. She asked if the different lady took her home. I said of course not because mommy and daddy were waiting for her and took care of her in the hospital and then brought her home. She paused a moment and seemed satisfied. Then she asked me to tell her again. I did and she said OK.

I felt so proud of her for the smart questions, sad that I could not tell her I made her, and happy with my own handling of the situation all at the same time. I thank author Karen Katz for the "you grew like a flower in another lady's tummy" concept. I am deeply grateful and think it the perfect phrase. I was clam and cool, but inseide I was caught between tears and screaming "Holy Shit!"

How does your garden grow?

Paco, Lil and I spent an hour after dinner yesterday pulling weeds and getting the flower bed around the fence and under the crab apple in shape. A job I had been dreading was a lot of fun when we all did it together. Lillian is a superb gardener! She was making sure not to pull the wrong thing and having a lot of fun. This was especially remarkable since she already should have been in bed. She was in such a good mood though that I just let us all ride the wave of it.

She said

mom, i love working in the garden. sometimes i find something beautiful and keep it for a little while and then put it back.

I showed her an immature apple that had fallen off the tree and she put it in her pocket so it wouldn't get cold. We also saw a cocoon and Lillian told me the story of the Very Hungry Caterpillar.

The picture is from Lillian's expanded garden several weeks ago. It is much fuller now and her lilies are blooming.

Lots more kisses

Last night while getting ready for bed, Lillian found a small bruise on my shin and gave it a kiss. I thanked her and she said,

Don't worry mom, I have lots more kisses for you!

AHHHHHH. She sure can make me melt. This has to be put in the context of me telling ,y doctor this week that I would be fine if Lillian would just shut up!

Here is Lillian playing with her over sized soccer ball and goal while waiting to get in the pool. Note this picture is right before our annual super-short summer haircut.

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Lillian and I had a busy day yesterday. We made goop (the cornstarch kind) and Lillian was amazed by this crazy stuff that was liquid and solid all at once. We played for quite a long time and then we cleaned up for quite a long time too. We made cloud pictures. Lillian's is a piece of popcorn and mine is a ladybug (who actually looks like a turtle).

We drove down the road to Hamilton's to see what was left in the greenhouse and picked up a few things. Lillian was talking up a storm!!! You just never know when she will be social or not. She even let Mrs. Hamilton take her and put her on the tree swing. She was identifying flowers that I had taught her and even asked if she could eat some of the chive plant.

Speaking of chives, she has decided that she likes to eat onions (but not be in the kitchen when mom is cutting them) and she likes spicy! Go girl!

LAst Saturday was the 'Round the Fountain Art Fair and Lillian and I had a great time while Dad worked. We talkied about all the diferent things people use to make art and were inspired to do more of our own. We checked out the Hobby Lobby clearance asile this week and are the proud owners of pastels and watercolors. Mommy is hoping to do some on her own, but I will share too.