Start a fire

On warm, sunny days like today, it's so easy to be productive. Even taking frequent breaks so I don't over exert myself (not something I worried about before I started growing another human), I've already finished two (albeit small) painting projects, cleaned up the yard, gathered some firewood, washed the dishes, and done a load of laundry. And there's still another 5+ hours of daylight (okay, 4 now... The Avengers was on tv). Have I mentioned that I'm solar powered?

Even in sunny Southern California, days aren't always warm and/or sunny. This past weekend, we got an inch of much-needed rain. But, I'll admit, it's hard for me to want to get anything done when it's gray outside. Especially if it's chilly, too. Like I said, I'm solar powered. 

When it's chilly, I tend to huddle up with whichever warm bodies are readily available (any combination of hubby, dog, and kitties). Over the chilly, damp weekend, my hubby got the fireplace going to the point where I was comfy in just a t-shirt. Until I needed to take the dog out, obviously. 

The point is, I was warm enough to be productive, at least a little bit. And I worked on something that's going to help me be warm next time it's chilly and damp out. In less than an hour and for almost free, I made 84 fire starters. How, you ask? Let me show you!

First, gather all your supplies: as many cardboard egg cartons as you have (free), sawdust from cutting firewood (also free), candle wax (I got 10 pounds of wax on Amazon for less than $20, which is enough to make more than a year's worth of fire starters), and a double boiler (which prevents the wax from behaving badly while you melt it).

On the kitchen counter, fill each egg carton well with sawdust. 

Then, melt the wax in the double boiler (I think I spent $10 on my double boiler, and I only use it for melting wax, which means I literally never clean it. Hooray!). See the melty wax in the middle?

Pour enough melted wax on top of the sawdust to almost fill each well. 

Here's the tough part: let them cool on the kitchen counter until the wax is hard (tough for me because this literally takes up ALL of the counter space in my tiny kitchen). 

That's it! They might not be the prettiest fire starters, but trust me, popping one of these little guys in the fireplace under some tinder (little pieces of wood, for you city dwellers) is SO much easier than crumpling up every piece of scrap paper you can find! And cheaper than the store-bought fire starters (that don't work as well, anyway). I'll follow up with instructions for how to use your homemade fire starters next time we have a day that's chilly and/or damp, but until then I'll be outside recharging in the sun!

Finding Happiness

In honor of today being Mother's Day, and because I'm going to become one in five short months, I've decided to take this blog in somewhat of a new direction. 

My hubby and I have chosen to live our lives differently than most of our (especially my) peers. Instead of idealizing a life in the suburbs, we've decided that we would be much happier moving out of civilization and into nature, which is why we have made our home in the woods. Literally. This is our backyard:

Pretty awesome, right?

Anyhoo, I grew up in the suburbs and living in the woods has definitely been a learning experience for me. And, I'm hoping, that it can also be a learning experience for anyone else who thinks they might be interested in taking the plunge that I'm taking. Or maybe my experience will give you the confidence to take your own plunge in your own search for happiness. 

From here on, let's focus on making improvements. Making improvements to our home, our diet, our feelings of self-sufficiency, our happiness, and whatever else we can improve to make our lives, our family, and our planet better. 

Winning

There is no winning when you're pregnant. 

You try to do the right thing, abide by the rules of what you should or shouldn't do, should or shouldn't eat. You do your research. And then, inevitably, whatever you think is okay to do or eat, you're wrong. 

One pregnancy website, book, or "expert" tells you that you need to cover yourself with sunscreen the moment you step outside, and another tells you to avoid sunscreen like the plague because of all the chemicals in it. I figured the doctor would be the most reliable tie breaker, so I asked her. She told me to wear baby sunscreen, which sounded reasonable, so I bought the regular baby sunscreen the next time I was at Target. I mentioned this to a couple of friends who also happen to be toddler moms, and they both went off the handle about how you have to get a specific baby sunscreen because the regular (read: cheap) ones still contain nasty chemicals you don't want leaching through your skin into the tiny human in your belly. Of course. 

Or maybe you're hungry (not unlikely when you're pregnant). You're on a lovely vacation in Italy and you see a place to get gelato. As you're finishing your Snickers gelato, you think to yourself "I hope this is okay for me to eat. I don't think it has any deli meat or sprouts or soft cheese or booze or raw eggs in it." And when you get back to your hotel that night, you read that while some gelatos are safe to eat while you're pregnant, some may contain questionably processed eggs and therefore, nasty bacteria. So it's okay to eat the fruity gelatos, but don't eat the creamy/custardy/eggy flavors like the Snickers gelato you just finished. Yep, that sounds about right. You then spend the entire rest of your time in Italy eating lemon and strawberry and coconut gelato while sneaking covert glances at your hubby's cup of chocolate and peanut butter and coffee custardy goodness. 

Or maybe you're going to be in a wedding while you're pregnant. Let's just assume it's tomorrow (it is). Your first inspection of the Internet tells you that you can only wear a select few brands of nail polish that don't contain select nasty chemicals (are you noticing a trend yet?). You go through your not insubstantial nail polish drawer and find that you own 3 of the select nail polishes that the Internet told you are acceptable. Except that when you look at the ingredient label, you see the words "formaldehyde resin." Well, shit. So you go back to the Internet for more answers, and find that one of your favorite brands is considered safe (for now). 

But who knows what new information will come out tomorrow about the horrible things you shouldn't do while you're pregnant. See what I mean? There is no winning when you're pregnant. 

Tiny

At this point, I might as well just come right out and say it: I'm pregnant. 

My honey and I have known about the tiny human growing inside me since Valentine's, but didn't want to announce it right away for the usual reasons. We shared a little before the recommended twelve weeks, but I already haven't been able to button my pants for several weeks and anyone looking at me would be able to tell I'm starting to have a belly. 

All of this means, though, that I have a lot of early-pregnancy stuff to catch up on here before my memory fails completely (I'm already partway there thanks to constant exhaustion. Growing a human is hard work). 

For now, I'll stick with the short version: no nausea (yay!) but I'm exhausted all the time. And I'm so glad I learned early on that looping a ponytail band through a button hole makes it less obvious that your pants don't fit (also yay!). Preggo pants most likely coming soon. 

Seasons

We had a beautiful February. I know we desperately need rain in California, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy basking in the sun when it's out. All of our plants got tricked into thinking it was springtime and so, of course, they all started budding out to enjoy the sun as well.

The sun is most certainly not out today. 

Today, we have the joy of our first real snow since Christmas. My honey and I took stock of the plants and decided our apple trees are on their own. Same for the daffodils. But we wanted to help our little nectarine tree that is quite literally in full bloom. My honey wrapped the little tree in a garbage bag to keep it warm. 

So now the dog is scared of the nectarine tree because she's scared of garbage bags. 

Luckily for her, it's supposed to be warm and sunny again by tomorrow, so we should be able to unwrap the big, scary garbage bag from the nectarine tree in the morning. 

Snowpocalypse?

So far, the Snowpocalypse has been a bit of a let down. Instead of the 2 to 3 feet we were supposed to have by now, we have a whopping 5 inches of snow. Which the dog has no problem pooping in--if she stops frolicking long enough. 

Snowpocalypse 2016: Wednesday Morning

My hubby and I have spent the last couple days preparing for our first Snowpocalypse. We bought extra kibble for the dog and the kitties, extra kibble for ourselves (read: canned goods), and made sure our firewood wasn't in danger of disappearing under the two plus feet of snow that's been predicted to dump on our quaint mountain home over the next few days.

So far, we've gotten over three inches of rain and about an inch of slush that would make a great dessert if we had the proper flavor syrups and it wasn't full of leaves and grit from falling on the ground. Here's what's predicted as of this typing:

That's right, the low end of the most up-to-date estimate is that we'll get just over three feet of snow before I'm supposed to go back to work on Sunday. Who knows if we'll be able to shovel our way out by then. 

In any case, we're expecting to be snowed in for at least a few days. We have our "snowed in" cocktails lined up and hopefully enough firewood to last awhile. Our biggest concern at the moment is: where is the dog going to poop? She isn't tall enough to poop in three feet of snow...

More updates to follow as Snowpocalypse 2016 moves in.