above freezing

I placed the toddler on the snow then picked up the shovel.  I pushed the shovel through the snow then pulled up the carrots.  Then we made stock.

can't shop, must compost

There is so much abundance without spending money. We just have to take the time to plant, water, pick, wash, peel, and bake it into exsistance.  The plentitude hits at the end of all the hard work, like a pumpkin pie in the face.

Holing up at home we've managed to avoid another Black Friday.  Before the sales frenzy hopped the border we used to observe Buy Nothing Day.  In the past I wasn't aware that Black Friday was a thing.  Now I have to resist opening another tab on my browser to avoid the shopping impulse.  I used to be able to just steer clear of downtown and the mall to avoid draining the bank account.

Instead of shopping I will... (insert things you love to do here)

When baby naps I'd rather practice writing, take photos, or design a haircut that shows the world how beautiful you are.  Scrolling isn't relaxing and when was the last time we read an article to the end?

Squirrelling

We harvested Russian and Ukrainian garlic.

a minimalist makeunder

before

after

Winterizing

This Lodgepole Pine has a narrow diameter and won't require splitting.

deep space

When baby was only a zygote I used to imagine her as a star flying through space.  At the edge of the universe is the wall of the uterus.

manspreading

we ladies are instructed
cross your ankles, close your knees
but I must implore you gentlemen
keep within sixty degrees

endarkenment

At the end of the meditation I feel an energetic tingling.  Then I stand up and realize it's because my legs have gone to sleep.

breath

I've taken up meditating.

prolific

Zucchini chocolate chip cookies.

wasps 2

Warren taped two sticks together and climbed up onto the workshop.  Approaching from above, he whacked the wasp nest down.  Later came two more cans of wasp spray, and water from the hose.  I hid in the living room.

wasps

We never took an organic approach when it came to wasps. The hive was up a tree, 25 feet in the air. Kitson balanced on top of the ladder, which balanced on top of the roof, and hit the hive with spray foam.

renovating on the cheap

Here is the master bedroom before our renovation.  The closet had sliding doors. This meant you could only see inside one half of it at a time.  The wire shelves were crooked, as was the floor.  The linoleum had two overlapping layers in the closet, apparently having been cut too small.  There was a wallpaper trim.

Before we moved in we took down the wallpaper and painted the room Mascarpone with Chantilly Lace baseboards (white and whiter).  Eventually we added a blue accent wall in Cumulus Cotton.  I wanted bifold doors.  I wanted to see the whole closet at once.

After we moved in we spent a few days sleeping in the dining room while installing new floors in the bedroom, right over top of all the old layers.    It actually made the bedroom floor level with the rest of the house and minimized the slope in the closet.  Instead of buying new doors we cut the old ones in half, turned them into bifolds, and painted them Stonington Grey.

We were able to reuse the middle shelves, we gave the wire ones away, and added dowels to hang our reduced wardrobe.

We got the doorknobs from my in-laws  who had been saving them for us since they renovated their house in the nineties (before they even knew I existed).  The hardware is sixties era and apparently there is more.

The clothes are arranged using the folding method described in "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up".  What you see inside is both of our entire wardrobes minus underwear, accessories, coats, and shoes.  Our socks are in the box.

The rug is in the same position it was in when my daughter was born on it last December.  The rose painting was meant to be used as a meditation tool during labour (a blooming flower). At the time it was wedged in the middle of a pile of junk and there was no time for meditation.

purple passion

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, Lavender.

normcore

Normcore is a trend toward plainness.  The goal is to be nothing special.  The dress is very basic.  Classic articles of clothing are key.  The button ups are white and the strait leg denim is blue.

Normcore is a reaction against everything alternative, which is now available by mass market. Too many lumberjacks are roaming coffee shops with typewriters.  The only way to stand out is by not standing out.

minimal exercise

When I was pregnant everyone kept telling me how I hadn't gained any weight, that I was all belly.  I was feeling smug about it to be honest.  Now that Lavender is two months old the scale tells me I'm 18lbs heavier than I was before the pregnancy.  It turns out I had gained weight.  No big deal, it's just a number.  I'll turn the weight into muscle!

Last time I got really fit I used weight training for a minimalist fitness program.  The trick is to only work out twice a week but lift enough weight that all of your muscles hurt for the next two days.  The muscles grow as they repair themselves during the rest days.  Once you have some muscle then your body burns more calories at rest, which helps to shed fat.  Avoid time-wasting cardio, except for a quick warm up to prevent injury.

I killed it at the gym last night!  I was the sweatiest person in the room.  No one else's face was as red as mine.  Soon I'll be able to do one pushup again.  Now if I could just find an efficient way to look after my heart and lungs I'll be set.

the stamps

Safeway has tricked us into going for a big shop before the stamp deadline ends.  I wonder what $160 worth of groceries will look like balanced on Kitson's bike trailer.  Yes, we have two cars with gas in them.  Oh and it's raining.

since minimizing the workload we're taking austerity measures

We painted the hallway mostly white, with some cumulous cotton (blue).  We chose the cumulous cotton because it was the closest thing to the colour of the year which we loved (a breath of fresh air), but was cheaper.  Actually, that was last year's colour of the year, we're a bit behind. We have to use what we've got before we buy more paint (or anything else).  We used the white (mascarpone) because we had a gallon kicking around.

With any luck the last of the 90's yellow should be covered up by tomorrow.  It wasn't so much the colour that was the problem but the smears of white putty from holes I had filled back in September.  Using the roller on the arch should be exciting.

the long cut

It wasn't until we got the final coat of 'lemon meringue' onto the accent wall of the formal dining room that it dawned on me: When we moved in, the walls were yellow.  We painted three coats of white over the 'dated' yellow and now we have painted yellow over the white.

placenta encapsulation

I've long been fascinated by hippy culture.  I may have gone too far trying to prove it.  Woo, look at me, Mother Earth incarnate.  The pregnancy was my chance to be as bohemian as possible.

An opportunity to take pre-natal yoga.  A chance to have an unmedicated home birth and show them all how tough I am.  The time to employ a swarm of holistic practitioners with their smoking needles and expensive vitamins.

I think that as I become a conservative housewife, I must be trying to prove how wild and crazy I really am.  Is that the reason I had my placenta encapsulated?  It was only meant as a joke!  I just wanted to freak out my friends!

Almost all mammals consume their placenta after birth.  Even some humans.  In Traditional Chinese Medicine it's something of a tradition.  Eating placenta is meant to have benefits like increased milk supply, vitamins and iron, and lower rates of postpartum depression.  The Naturopath and Midwives support the practice (although they will be the first to admit that there is no scientific proof of its benefits).

Also, you can get your placenta dehydrated and put into capsules.  You don't have to dig in with a knife and fork.  The doulas offer it as a service here.

Here I am $275 poorer with a jar full of pills staring at me in the face. Gross! Who ordered these? It was supposed to be a joke.
"You paid for them, you're eating them!"
Now I have to eat them.