what's new

Per Lesa's request, I'm posting!

Of course, there have been a lot of changes going on. Don and roommate Joe are getting settled into their house a few blocks away. Don is working a temp job, doing data entry, and going on a Halloween date tonight (hope he doesn't mind me updating him for this blog!).

Kaleigh is getting settled into the fall routine of classes: art, swimming, gymnastics, and music, plus an unschooling/knitting playdate, plus any other extracurriculars pop up. In other words, we spend a lot of time socializing--too much for my homebody self, but not enough for superextrovert Kaleigh. Anytime at home, Kaleigh's been reading furiously. She's had a few days of laying on the couch in utter exhaustion, where she's plowed through 5 or 6 novels.

My mind has felt unfocused, and I have to remind myself to not be too hard on myself about it. It's okay to sit around and do nothing, but it's a lot easier for me to do that in a clean house with everything on my to do list crossed off. Type A!! Most recently, I cleaned everything out of my bedroom and painted it. Since I got the furniture put back into place, my insomnia has disappeared. I'm sure it's all symbolic and placebo, but I'm very thankful to be sleeping every night once again.

I've been dating a guy from Normal of all places. I have enjoyed hanging out and getting to know him. We seem to have a pair of fairly compatible personalities. So, we're taking it slowly and enjoying all the niceness and newness of our relationship, and hanging out online a lot, which seems necessary with the hour plus distance separating us. However it works, yes?

I'm not looking forward to the holidaze coming. I just don't care anymore, and I seem unable to acquire any sort of enthusiasm. Oh well! I've done a lot in past years, so it all averages out.

Knitting has become my regular past time, what with Kaleigh's activities taking me out of the house, and needing to rely on a portable hobby. I've been knitting fingerless gloves, and I seem to be able to do a pair a week. I got an order for a pair for Christmas, which is awesome. I keep feeling like once I get "enough" to stock a place, I'll take them in and see if I can peddle them, but honestly, they'll probably all go to Christmas presents, and that's okay too.

The last month has also been big in preserving garden flow. I finished canning the tomatoes and green tomatoes. There's not much in the garden now except onions and chard. I've collected raspberry, strawberry, and peach tree leaves, as well as mint and the herbs I have, parsley, oregano, basil, and sage. My kitchen looked like a jungle for a bit, there. I'm slooowwwwllllyyyy getting caught up. I still need to jar up mass quantities of kraut, for instance. Last weekend, we enjoyed some passion fruits we found in an alley. They were sooo good. We saved the seeds, and the cutting I got earlier this year is still showing signs of life.

So, there's the update on life at the little house! Lots going on, but nothing that seems extremely important, as usual!

carey

new beginnings

Ahh, it is quiet at the little house, with the wee one at her dad's for the last two days. I had time to clean and move furniture. Quiet time is so nice. Actually, I should say alone time, because I've been listening to a lot of loud music: Tom Waits, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Rev. Peyton and His Big Damn Band, Radiohead. My mind is slowly decluttering as is my house. The state of my home has always seemed to me to be a reflection of my mental state.

I have some bread rising in the oven. It's the first time I've made bread in a long time, driven by having to eat white wonder bread, the only stuff in the house. Yuck. I forgot the luxuriousness of making bread: the smell of honey and yeast perking, the feel of coarse flour in my hands, the baby butt feel of the bread when it's done being kneaded. I'm excited that in a couple of hours, I'll be eating toast fresh from the oven, with tasty butter and homemade jam.

It makes me feel self-conscious to say this, but I've signed up for online dating. The main reason is that some of my good friends met each other online, and I am hopeful to meet someone as awesome as they are. The other reason is that I am not fond of bars, and in the evening when people usually hang out, I am here with my kid asleep. I've met some cool people so far (and some not so cool people). And it's often really hilarious. I can't believe how much I've laughed. Thanks go to my friend Mark of the Beast for being my online dating guide and giving pertinent guy advice.

And so, life as a single parent begins. I am really enjoying myself so far.

carey