House Update

Tengu and Tallulah, on our borrowed dining room table.

 Life here in Columbus is chugging along. We have lived here 7 months and are still working on making our home (both inside and out) ideal. As you may know, we left furniture behind and pared down many of our possessions when we left California. We have been blessed with caring family and new friends that have made the transition easier.

When we moved into our place, we had a lot more furniture than I expected, thanks for my partner's family and our new friends. Our friends let us borrow (indefinitely!) a dining room table and some (uncomfortable) chairs. So we have a place to eat as a family. Thank you thank you thank you!

My partner's family saved for us an old living room set as well as bedroom furniture from his grandmother (she moved into a nursing home last year) and my partner's old things that were never moved out of his parents home when he moved to California (including his piano!).

So from day one, Rowan had a brand new twin bed, we had dressers for all three of us, we had a bed frame for our bedroom, and our living room was instantly furnished. We are so blessed.

We are finally in a better position financially to start trying to make up the rest of the deficits. Yesterday, we took a two hour trip with my mother-and -father-out-laws to the closest Ikea. They have larger vehicles than our tiny Honda Civic. On our agenda was cheap book shelves, a kitchen cart, and maybe a few small items.

Road trip to look for furniture!

Right now, our home isn't quite finished. We don't have all our temple furniture, we don't have enough bookshelves, and we don't have a few niceties (rugs, curtains, a TV) yet. But I am amazed at the help we have received since coming to Ohio in getting started. After all, we did not move most of our furniture from California. And I am not sitting on the floor right now as I type this.

Last month, we went to Ikea with my out-laws (I am not married to my partner). We were planning on getting a kitchen cart and some bookshelves with some money that we saved up. After looking at the cheap bookshelves that were were going to buy, my father-out-law was annoyed. He is a proud woodworker with his own workshop. "I could make better shelves than these, you know! This is sawdust and glue!" I told him that I knew that, and that his work is great. (We have several examples of his handicraft in our home.) But he doesn't have the time and we want to get this project started ASAP. We want our home to be complete soon. No more boxes, dammit!

He promised that if we did not buy the crappy shelves, that he would make the shelves, to the dimensions that we want on his next long break. (He has a job where is off for over a week at a time every few weeks.) How cool is that? So we are waiting another month, but will have better shelves, for free. For the cost of one of the shelves, he can make all three. And he won't let us pay for them. Family! What a blessing!

We bought our kitchen cart and made the requisite jokes about its Swedish name and Rowan was also gifted a tall, kid-sized, dining room chair. It's really nice and that means we can chuck the crappy plastic outdoor chair he was in (with the phone books under him). Onward and upward!

The day after out Ikea adventure, we put our kitchen cart together. It is awesome to start finally maximizing the space we have and get rid of the boxes and clutter that comes from not having enough storage or counter space.

After the bookshelves, the next upgrades are a dining room table and chairs, furniture and shelves for our temple, a few shelves for our altars, curtains (I hate mini blinds!!!) and picture framing. Then we will finally be complete. Probably just in time to start working on the yard in the spring- when we start building boxed beds and such.

Back to "Normal"

Totally unrelated, but I love this quote and the work
of this amazing woman!

Maybe you didn't notice, but the blog has slowed in the last month or so. It has been a combination of culminating my semester and then, once it was over a broken laptop.

I never knew how much I was connected to this machine and how much I relied upon it until it disappeared. Now that it is repaired and I am catching up, you can expect me to get back on a more regular blogging schedule.

What's been happening offline?

I have been working hard to learn my new position at the NUUC. I am working on lining up a summer and fall curriculum for the children and youth there, especially. So excited to start OWL training this fall.

My son is speaking in full and ever more complex sentences and reasoning. It blows me away. He says multiple things every day that are more complicated and nuanced in his use of language than ever before. I am amazed by him! I have been spending time with him and taking it all in.

Also unrelated, but I really am annoyed by the wealthy and
entitled of this world telling the working people that *we*
need to suck it up because they have been robbing us blind.
While we have not called it "austerity measures" in the US,
we have had a campaign waged against working people
consistently for a while now.

My gardening projects are taking off: tomatoes in the ground, peppers about to be, and a bed of medicinal and culinary herbs, too. I have been collecting bricks for my herb spiral, and beer and wine bottles to edge our beds and lawn in a cool decorative way. My worm bin has given us a bunch of "tea" that have made the plants very happy. We took a chainsaw to horrible 1970's era shrubs in the front of the house, and are using the brick raised bed for trellised plants lie morning glories, a pond, and flowers. It will look much nicer.

A group that I am working with, Art Party Columbus, has been super busy writing grants and building portable walls and pedestals for the Columbus Arts Festival show. Using power tools in this heat means not only getting super sweaty, but covered in sawdust. I haven't been this grimy and thankful for indoor plumbing in a while.

The community garden I help at did some amazing work with donated bricks- we took a raised bed and separated it into three areas with the brick and are building pathways, so the kids don't harm the plants (the garden is on a school property).

I will be actively posting again soon- stay tuned!

Just a Quick Post!

Hey y'all! We are almost done unpacking after moving on Tuesday the 16th. If you actually knew how much stuff was moved, you'd gasp with how much effort being "almost done" actually means. It means we only have altars to erect, a temple to outfit, and decorations to put up left. Our kitchen, bathroom, and bedrooms are complete and our books are unpacked (that can be- we need to get a few more bookshelves to fit them all).

We went to a new UU church this week- where my grad school advisor is the minister and one of my co-seminarians is the intern. Rowan got to play with kids in the nursery and after worship, I got to talk to the minister about volunteer opportunities in religious education. We are meeting later this week to chat over coffee!

Today, we got several packages (groan- as if we need more boxes to break down) that I am psyched about. As many of you know I started an Etsy store called Boline. It is a botanica (magical herb and more store) and an apothecary (herbal supplements and remedies for healing). Well, not only did my worm bin come (composting for the homestead!), but also my dehydrator and mushroom spores! I will be growing four species of medicinal mushrooms for Boline- reishi, maitake, turkey tail, and shiitake. I will be drying and offering whole mushrooms, powdered encapsulations, and tinctures of these. Stay tuned for blog posts all about these amazing mushrooms and what they can do for your health and what diseases they are used to treat.

Inspirational laundry-mat signs.

I also got a variety of oyster mushroom spore that will grow in my coffee grounds. As someone who drinks coffee almost every morning, this is an awesome way to use those grounds (in addition to the worm bin, I mean).

This weekend I have a full plate, too. On Saturday, I am attending my first ever "Art Party"- which is a monthly Columbus get-together of artists creating together. Sunday is not only church, but a bird mart. As someone who works with parrots professionally, I need to get out there and network with parrot people in my new locale. So I made new business cards and will be schmoozing at the bird mart!

My partner is at the first day of his new job. He cares for the elderly and today he starts on a "memory care" unit- which is to say people with dementia. He is sure to be excited and exhausted this afternoon when we go to get him.