Shrinking My Footprint

Since moving out to the country and becoming a full-time homemaker, I've become more sensitive to the impact my family and I leave on the environment. I've been working, slowly, at incorporating energy conscious, waste reducing habits into our lives. I know we could do better, but at least I'm actively trying to be more green.

(1) (<-- picture of the compost bin I want Mark to build) The biggest thing for us, that Mark still resists, is composting our household waste. I try not to buy paper towels, but I don't feel as bad when they go into the compost bin instead of the garbage when I do use them. I've found a remarkable amount of "garbage" that now goes into my little white garbage can in the kitchen that I use as temporary compost storage. I get giddy as I watch it fill!




(2) I've reduced our use of chemical cleaners for the house. I still have some around, but I'm weaning myself off of them slowly. My favorite replacement is good ol' vinegar and water (check out http://www.versatilevinegar.org/usesandtips.html). It cuts through anything, and I honestly love the smell after washing my floors. Clean, without that industrial irritation that I always used as the "clean" standard.



(3) We have big plans for a substantial vegetable garden this year. It's going to be alot of work (part of my weight-loss plan, no joke), but it will help us cut our purchase of non-local groceries, not to mention the taste of fresh produce is incentive alone!

I'm a bit nervous to be honest, about how much weeding will be required. We're planning on using organic methods as much as possible - no pesticides, herbicides, fertilizer etc. We'll see how it goes!








(4) Over the next few years, I plan on replacing all the lawn turf around the house and along the driveway with certified native grasses, shrubs and flowers. I know to some it may look a bit messy, as it will not be the immaculate green carpet of lawn to which we've all grown accustomed. The prairie garden will serve a few purposes: Low maintenance, environmentally sustainable, butterfly & moth habitat, native plants conservation, uniqueness. It's going to be a big multi-year project for me and I can't wait to get started!

Suck it up, Princess

While I most often blog about my son, I do have another child to whom I am as wholly devoted. Princess Robyn fills our lives with sunshine; her smiles can make the grey-ist of days shine with color. We are a lucky crew when she bestows us with her happiness. If the servants of the petty household displease Miss Robyn, or the day just isn't as she dictated it to be - well, sunshine is more akin to fire and brimstone.

Thankfully, Robyn is a pretty happy child.

The Princess disdains mud, poop, smelly dogs, wet dogs, bugs, flies (especially dead ones), snow, cold, hot, tall grass, pokey grass, sticks and almost everything to do with the out of doors. This poses a problem for us as an outdoors-y/camping-y kind of family. I've coached myself and Mark that we cannot force her to enjoy somethign that goes against ehr grain, but she will be exposed. She's 3 1/2 afterall... surely there's time to convert her?

Today may have been a step in the right direction! Wahooo! We all dressed up after lunch to go outside and with minimal grumbling and whining she suffered through the chore of exploring and playing in the melting snow with Mom and Conner. As long as I held her hand and kept the dogs at bay, she was able to somewhat enjoy the warm sunshine. But then something happened.. she saw Conner playing on a snowpile, laughing and having fun and decided she wanted in on it.


"Conner get me up!", she instructed.

"No Robyn, you gotta climb up yourself." I cheerfully replied.

Robyn looked at me like I was crazy. How in the heck was she supposed to get up there without falling or, heaven forbid, get dirty snow on her? But.... she tried it! And fell on her face. In the snow. *grimace*

Conner gallantly offered her a hand and before you know it, Princess was sliding down the snowpile with a giant grin!

"That was fun Mom!" That is a success worth celebrating. Maybe she wasn't born to the wrong family afterall?

A good start to a new week

Woohoo! Conner had a great day today at school. Considering where we started last week - it's something to celebrate. No hitting, biting, pinching, yelling or screaming - he did get upset but he worked through it with words.

I re-read what I write and try to see it through someone else's eyes and I wonder sometimes how we got here. Before Conner opened my eyes, I was the person who saw parenting in black & white. Children behaved, or misbehaved and that was dependent for the most part on their parents and the household rules. I've learned alot in my 6 short years as Mom... but nothing as powerful as an open mind (the humble pie I've had to eat by heaping spoonful helped).

We don't allow our son to jump off the back of the couch and fly through the air at random intervals throughout the day, but he does it. We don't allow Conner to physically attack the animals or his sister, but he does it. We don't allow temper tantrums, but amazingly, he's prone tho those several times a day. My point? It's not about rules and allowances - he does have to suffer the consequences of his poor decisions and some days are full of poor choices. But it doesn't mean he will not do those things and there's only so much supervision I can give him.

We're trying, hard, to learn why he's doing those things so we can help divert him and teach him to deal with his emotions and physical energy in more positive ways - but making a list of rules and allowances - cross it off the list.

I love my boy for so many reasons like every mother. On really difficult days I try to remind myself of the gift Conner is to us - before him, the world was black and white and had straight edges; Conner's world has brought color and deviation to mine.

I'm Baaaaaaaack

Yes, I'm back from relative obscurity. No, I didn't go anywhere fun or exciting, I just simply have been distracted and fell out of the habit of blogging. It's important to me so I'm back and have promised myself 2-3 weekly updates! Yay me!!

On the home-front, we've had a bit of a rough 3 months. Conner's undiagnosis (yes I made that up) is becoming an issue. His teachers, the O.T., and now the Family Student Liaison worker are unsure how to proceed with Conner's treatment not knowing the full story. So we've set up another round of appointments to hopefully find some answers.

Concerns for him are growing for emotional well-being and mental health. He has anger and impulse control issues that seem to be worsening now that he's attending school 3 times a week. Sometimes, the outbursts are so bad that he is physical towards others or verbalizes threats.

I'm scared. There seems to be so much going on with my little boy, yet the cause is so illusive. I feel as though he's getting lost even though he's right here in front of us.

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On a positive note, Conner celebrated his 6th birthday at the Royal Tyrell Museum of Paleontology as a sleep-over with his dad. Robyn and I treated ourselves to relative comfort at a local hotel, snacking on chips and chocolate bars in bed while watching "Tree House" until 11pm. We don't have t.v.'s in our rooms at home, so she thought this was a great treat.

While he still maintains that he wants to be Nigel when he grows up, Conner's head has been turned towards his father's childhood hero - Indiana Jones. As long as we get to see smiles like this one, I don't care what he wants to call himself!