Rise & Shine Sleepy Head...

I'm not gonna lie...I love, love, love to sleep. I go to bed early, stay in bed late and take an occasional nap every once in a while. For the last few years I have come to believe that I am a night owl. This is primarily because I stay up until 10:30pm or 11:00pm in an attempt to complete as much as possible while the birds are in bed. Why do I focus on doing this at night? Because waking up in the morning for me is HARD! I am so tired in the morning even though I have been in bed between 8-9 hours that I will hit my snooze button over and over again until I have no choice but to get up and get everyone ready. As recently as a month ago, I had resigned myself to this sad, sad fate. Try to go to bed early, try to get up in time to get the boys off to school and myself to work and then nap whenever I get the chance (or splurge and sleep in AND nap on the weekends). Needless to say, sleeping and waking have both become really stressful to me. Which upon realizing this, got me to thinking...

It wasn't always this way.

I come from a family of early risers and as a child all the way through my teens, I had no problem getting up early. I can remember my friends in high school giving me evil looks in the morning and complaining that no one should have that much energy before 9am. I got a lot done and went to bed at a reasonable hour. I still napped though...(there are very few people in my family who don't nap.) Maybe that's a learned behavior, maybe its hereditary. I don't know. What I do know though is that I am tired of being tired all the time.

Over the years I have tried lots of different ways to try and get up early. I've prepped everything the night before so I can take as much stress off in the AM. However, this leads to my morning self using it as an excuse to sleep in. "Well you don't have to make any lunch now, or lay out any clothes so you can sleep in a while longer...go ahead...no one will judge you..." Except myself. I've even gone so far as to set up an alarm clock in the kitchen so that I would have to get up and go shut it off. Half way through the night though I woke up and started to worry that the alarm clock would wake up everyone in the house and I didn't want that so I turned it off. Sigh*

This sleep problem has lead me to do some research on sleep habits. While I have learned for the most part that sleep habits are largely determined by your genes, you can still gradually work your way into the time frame that you want. Here are a couple great links I found on sleep habits.

If you prefer reading to video check out this article from Espresso Science; Can a Night Owl Become an Early Bird? (click pic for link)

And if your a video person who can't stand reading check out AsapSCIENCE's awesome video about the differences between night owls and early birds. (But seriously, check them both out...)

So obviously I want to fix this. Because while some people might not see being a night owl as a "problem," I do. Mainly because I don't feel like this is my natural state of being. My reasoning for being one at this point is that through a combination of motherhood and going to school full time while working full time and being a generally lazy human being, I have progressed from my natural state of being into a more sluggish, depressing state. Not cool.

There are so many different articles and discussion boards out there about how to change your sleep habits. While they all offer great advice that work for some people, I have tried most of their suggestions and have still come up short. The only one I have not tried yet, but will be forced into once we move to Hawaii is the whole camping for a week thing. Researchers have taken people out into the forest with no electronic devices and had them camp for about a week. Afterwards, the participants sleep cycle has "reset" and they now get up and go to bed with the suns cycle. Camping for a week in the Pacific Northwest is kinda hard just because you can't really plan around the weather here and some weeks it feels as though we go through every single season known to man. So camping on our property in Hawaii while building should change things around for me. But...being the impatient person I am, I don't really want to wait that long to get a handle on things. So (que more awesome research) I found this amazing app for my smartphone that I both love and hate...it's a complicated relationship.

It's called "I can't wake up" and it is available in the app store on my android phone. Not sure if its available for you apple people or not...#sorrynotsorry. Basically it's an alarm clock on steroids. You set the time that you want to wake up at and then you set tasks you have to complete in order to turn it off. I know right...My inner early bird is all like "Yay! This will be amazing!" while my inner night owl is like "Are you f'ing kidding me..." I have used it twice now and let me tell you, this thing works! I have two tasks set for my alarm. First I have to play memory/matching with 9 different cards. They shuffle every day so they are never in the same space in a row. Once I match all the cards the alarm pauses for a couple of seconds and then starts again. My second task to complete is a barcode scanning task. I selected the barcode on the seasoning salt we have in the kitchen for this. I have to get out of bed, go into the kitchen, track down the seasoning salt and scan the barcode to shut off the alarm. I control the volume of the alarm when I set it so I don't have to worry about it waking up anyone else. Just me. And boy oh boy did I have a productive morning after using it. Below is what the different screens look like. There are 8 different tasks to choose from and you can set the difficulty range however easy or hard you want to make it. Click on the pic below to take you to the android app store to read more!

Have I fixed my issue. Probably too soon to say. But I am very optimistic that I am well on my way to getting my internal clock back into working order. Time will only tell. Until then...


Sweet dreams...

Rachel B. 

The Starter Homestead...

Papers have been signed and money has been sent. We are now just waiting for the whole closing thing to happen and the fresh start we are looking forward to in Hawaii is all ours!!! I started this whole adventure feeling scared about what the future may hold. We are going to Hawaii without any jobs and without a house. Just a forested plot of land and a sense of adventure. Call us crazy...others have. Now however, I am feeling more and more excited about the whole thing. We have house plans and a massive pinterest board with loads of fun ideas to get us started. We'll take enough money with us to survive on until we find jobs and in time, hopefully, everything will fall into place. Its not going to be easy on any level. The pictures I have of the property are enough to tell me we are going to need a hotel to sleep in until we can at least clear a spot for a small shack or tent. There is a lot of foliage. Don't believe me...check it out.

This is a straight on shot from Alii Rd which runs in front of the lot. 

This is an aerial shot of the property. Those three giant trees are on our lot. The house is our neighbors.

Since I'm sure someone will point it out, yes we know those are Albizia trees. We understand how much they can cost to remove and the hazards they pose. We get it, we got it, we've accepted it and are moving on from it. The front corner of the property is that small patch next to the front tree that has no giant tree on it. That is where we are going to clear and do our temporary site.

As for the main house. We are thinking about working with a company called Yurts of Hawaii to build a 770 sq ft yurt that will be on a platform that will provide us with the additional 110 sq ft we need to meet the home owner associations CC&R's. Overall, we have a plan and we are moving forward as diligently as we can. We are excited to be taking on this adventure head on and win or lose, we are sure to walk away with some amazing memories.


Rachel B.

New Happenings for the New Year!!!

Well it's almost completely official. By the end of next week, the hubby and I should be the proud owners of a small but lovely plot of land on the island of Hawaii!!! We are purchasing the property in full and plan to move there within the next few months. At this point it looks like I will be going over first and he and the boys will follow a couple of months afterwards. The hope is that I can secure a job and get the ball rolling on our house building plans before they get there.

To say I am excited is an understatement. This year is going to be our crazy adventure year!! The only thing I will have at my disposal when I land on the ground will be a plot of land, a tent, and a set of house plans that we have designed ourselves. The rational part of my brain that shuns adventure of any kind is constantly tisking and shaking its finger at the animalistic part of my brain which is always chomping at the bit to do something amazing. Am I scared at all...oh yeah! But not so much in a bad way. There are a lot of people who have told me we are crazy to be doing this and there are those who have just fallen short of begging me to take them along.

The hope for this whole adventure is to hit reset. William and I have been stuck in a rut for too long. After talking it through I think we have both come to the realization that we are never going to go after what we want here. We need to shake things up and to move on. The compromise in all of this is he gets Hawaii, the place where he was born and feels called back to, and I get my off grid paradise. I will do my best to blog about this adventure so that if others want to set out to capture their own dreams they can look to see where we have succeeded and failed and hopefully learn from us. Do I expect there to be bumps? Yes. Absolutely. But I'm an obsessive planner so plans A through Z will be mapped out in full before I even step foot onto the plane. But what's life without the occasional ups and downs. Once the sale is final I will share what limited pictures I have and begin the task of detailing our map for the future. And thanks to my amazing husband, the house plans already rock...

Here's to adventure, good or bad, better or worse! Everyone should have at least one crazy thing happen in their lifetime that they can look back upon and tell the grandkids about. Life is too short to be so boring....


Adventure awaits...

Rachel

Changes for the New Year

Its been a long time since I have opened up this blog to write. I love writing and I miss blogging but life gets busy and things get forgotten or put to the way side. But here I am with some time to finally sit down and say hi. "Hi!" The last few months have had a lot of ups and downs but there are huge changes on the way. Not "new year, new you" kind of changes...I'm talking life altering changes. At this point I wont write much. We haven't told our family or friends yet what our plans are. I am so incredibly excited and a little anxious though. Once we have told them, I will begin blogging again because it will all be too exciting to not share. In the mean time, this blog will undergo some changes too. I want to make it more user friendly. I'm gonna figure out how to get my posts to appear on the appropriate page and I am going to add you tube videos to it. I hope that everyone who reads this blog will be patient with me as I move forward with the changes. I promise, they will make everything better in the end...


Just keep swimming...

Rachel B. 

DIY: Block Print Stamp

The last few days my brain has been swimming with ideas for my very own product line. Because I am creating kid friendly clothes I want kid friendly fabrics, designs and prints. Now don't get me wrong. The print fabrics they sell in stores are great and all but I really wanna do my own thing. After some extensive research (which equals hours cruising pinterest)...I settled on the idea of block prints. This technique is where you take a block that has a design on it and print the fabric with it over and over again. Since I am a "do it myself" kinda gal, I didn't want to buy a stamp. But, I can't carve so I had to figure out a way to make my own block stamps. Preferably using the materials I already had on hand at home. So, without further ado...here is what I came up with!

Supplies: 

Poster board (6"x6") plus some small two inch long strips
Craft foam
Glue
Marker
Scissors
Some kind of weight (I used a rock)

Step 1: Cut the poster board to size

I cut my blocks into 6"x6" squares. It seems to really be the perfect size for handling the prints. After I cut out the main block, I cut the scraps into small long strips for the handle.

 

Step 2: Glue on strips/handle

I used Elmer's school glue which so far has held up pretty well. You just need a little bit to get it to stick. Once you have glued and stacked all of the little blocks on top of one another, place the weight on top. Allow to dry.

Step 3: Create your design

Take the foam and draw your design onto it. For this tutorial I did circles, which I intend to use on a cute skirt design I have in the works. (Polka dots rock!!) Once you have drawn the design cut it out and glue it on. There is no set way to do this. The more random the better. Allow to dry, again under the weight.

Step 4: Print Away!!!

The very first block print I made was of mini-mustaches. To show how well the block print works, I took a little bit of paint, sponged it onto the print (just covering the raised print) and then dabbed it onto a scrap of plain white fabric I had.

Overall, I think it turned out pretty snazzy looking. I hope that this tutorial will help inspire you to create your very own prints!!

Happy Printing!

Rachel B.

Busy Days Ahead

I think I have finally decided to take the plunge into this whole "business" thing. For years I have sewed for family and friends as a hobby. At one point I thought I would make wedding dresses that would be of my own design but I got bored with that quickly. I find myself, time and again going back to kids clothes. I have two amazing little boys and a whole bushel of nieces and nephews so I have plenty of opportunity to make stuff for little kiddos. I've just never sold any of it before. With that being said, the next few weeks are going to be spent drawing up and creating prototypes, developing my brand (hence the new blog design...) and creating a real life business plan.

Wish me luck!

Rachel B.

Hiking Season is Coming!!

Yay!!! It's almost spring time (well...in a couple of months or so) and in our house that means its time to get ready for the hiking season!! In the past our hikes have always been really low key short little treks out and back, usually to some waterfall. However, Bird, my oldest, has become uber fascinated with survival skills. What better way to teach him survival skills (and the rest of the family too) than to go on a few overnight backpacking trips! When I was a kid all we ever did was car camping and no hiking. My kiddos have both car camping and day hiking under their belts so this just seems like the next logical step. Of course I'm geeking out about it over here because I can just imagine how fun (and probably stressful) this will all be. So to gear up for the season we are going to start small, organize our gear, shake off our winter cobwebs and work on some fun projects.

We got started this last weekend by going for a short day hike out along Strawberry Island. There are several trails through this little patch of land that are pretty well maintained and are not very far from our house. Score! This really made for a perfect little trek out. While we were out there Bird decided to bring along some of his tracking books. We bought him several animal tracking books for Christmas because it never fails, every time we are out on a hike we come across tracks we can't identify. Not this time! Towards the end of our hike we stumbled across a print in the mud that at first looked like it could have been a dog (to my untrained eye). Checked the book...not a dog...Bird thought it might have been a cougar...checked...nope...William thought it could be a coyote print...checked and BINGO!! We took pictures and while its kinda hard to tell from them, we feel pretty good about our id. Overall it was a successful first trek out. Because of the weather here we wont be able to actually go backpacking until April or May but until then the short little day hikes should be good for brushing up on our skills.

Happy Trails,

Rachel B.

New Years Resolutions!! (Yep...it's that time of year again...)

Ahh New Years...That wonderfully obnoxious time of year where people talk about how they are going to change and make plans to do so but fail to follow through. Yes, I am one of them. Every single year I set goals, some I achieve, most I fail at. Why? Because change is hard!!! Also, I don't really put a lot of thought into my resolutions. I tend to regurgitate what everyone else does. Exercise...sign me up for that. Get better organized...oh yeah, I should do that too. So after giving it some thought this year, I realized that the goals that other people set are never, ever going to work for me. I have to put some thought and effort into what I need and what I want to work on.

On my old running blog (which I deleted...sigh*) I had written a post about SMART goal setting. Specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time bound. The theory goes that if your goals meet all of these criteria, you will be more successful at accomplishing them. Here is a wiki article for more information. While I had this in the back of my mind, the goals I laid out really don't fit within the SMART criteria. Yes, they are specific, attainable, and relevant. One of them is measurable but none of them are time bound because they are life long aims. Despite scoring 2 out of 3, I think they are still pretty smart. So, without further ado, here are my personal goals for this year...

1) No new volunteer commitments. Ever...ever again.

I love to volunteer, don't get me wrong! But...I have a habit of volunteering for EVERYTHING!!! Which in turn leads me to over extending myself and becoming super super stressed out. 90% of the volunteer work I do does nothing to forward my goals to be a better mother and provider for my family. If its not adding anything to my life, then its taking from my life and I can't have that happen any more.

2) Work towards eliminating TV from my life.

I gain absolutely nothing from watching TV, yet I find myself curled up on the couch watching it for hours on end. Sometimes, I will sit around and watch re-runs of the same movie or show that I have seen a dozen times. Not only is this not productive, it also takes up valuable time I could spend doing something else, like gardening, reading to myself or my kids, playing games with my kids...etc...TV is a time sucking vampire and I am soooo over it already.

3) Sort out my priorities. Family, Personal Health, Spirituality, & Wellness, Work & School. In that order!

There are a lot of things I put on the back burner because I am trying to be everything to everyone and have no time to be who or what I need to be. My goal for this year is to put a lot of time into my family and myself. Work on gaining experience and furthering my plans work wise and finishing up school by December so I can move onto my masters program. To me, these things are the only things that are important.

4) Embrace my inner night owl.

For years and years I have tried and failed (even setting this as my new years resolution on occasion) to get up around 5-6am to workout and get stuff done before everyone wakes up in the morning. For whatever reason, I have this idea planted in my head that getting up early is what "successful" people do. The early bird gets the worm after all... But I am not a morning person. Its not that I can't get up that early in the morning. Its just that I love sleep too much. I will try to go to bed around 9 in an attempt to get up early only to toss and turn for hours, look at the clock to see its midnight and then hit the snooze when 5 am rolls around. I am not a morning person. I get more done at night after everyone has gone to bed. My internal clock is set for sleep from 11:30pm-8:00am. I need to embrace that and stop fighting it. I think that in doing so I will save myself a lot of headaches and frustration with myself for not being able to get up when I planned to.

Overall, I think four goals are just right for this year. I will probably take the time to make out a list of how I am going to make these SMART goals (I'm an obsessive list maker...) and move forward from there.

The point I want to stress in this post is that if you are going to make resolutions, set yourself up for success. Don't look at other peoples lists and think, oh year...I should be doing all of that. No! You should be doing what you need to do to become the best you. Think about what you need to do in your life, for yourself and/or your family, that will enrich your well-being and add to your happiness. Remember: If its not adding to your life, its taking from it. Only aim for that which will add to your life.


Happy Planning,

Rachel B.

Post Christmas Report

I gotta say, I am glad the holidays are over. This year wasn't as stressful as most years have been. I got all my shopping done early, managed to keep baking/cooking to a minimum and spent a great deal of time enjoying my kids company. Christmas was a huge hit for me gift wise at least. My awesome husband bought me a new satchel and books!!! Books are hands down the best gift you could ever get me. I love books more than I love food and sleep. I have foregone both in order to finish a good book. On other blogs that I have managed (and since combined into this one) I had done book reviews. They were usually related to the books I read that pertained to that subject, example, running blog= running books, anthropology blog= anthropology books. But since I've combined everything together I haven't done any new posts. (And as a side note, I am considering picking back up the anthropology blog...just saying...some days I missed writing about humans...their fascinating creatures.) But I digress...

For Christmas my husband bought me two books. The first one, (which I have not started yet) is the first book of the Divergent series.

I was not overly curious to read this before I heard about the movie but since they are making it into a movie series I figured why not. The story line sounds promising enough. Although, I will admit, reading the book series of an upcoming movie has been hit or miss for me. I absolutely adore Harry Potter. (Proud Potterhead! Tattoo and all...yes I am that serious about it...don't judge me.) Twilight on the other hand...I would rather eat dirt than read those books again...and don't even get me started on the movies. Watched the first one by choice, next two by force, and didn't even bother with the last one. With the Hunger Games Series I was okay...except I thought the way that Katness was written reminded me too much of a whinny Bella (from Twilight) and that annoyed me. So, as far as Divergent goes I am cautiously optimistic...fingers crossed and all. I've never been one for the popular book series. My husband bought me the 50 Shades of Grey books thinking I would want to read them, cause their books afterall...he thinks I will read anything. I did not want to read them but since the money was spent I read them anyway and hated them as much as I thought I would. I work in the field of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault and could not remove my advocate hat at all...I spent most of the time wishing I could reach through the book and punch the guy in the face. Yes, he is a textbook abuser. Get over it. I have no intention of wasting my time with the movies. Anyways...moving on...

The other book that he bought me was one I have been wanting to read for a long, LONG time. 1984 by George Orwell.

About a year ago I got my hands on a copy of Animal Farm, another book by Orwell. Amazing!! Could not put it down for a second. If you have not read anything by Orwell, you should. He is a phenomenal writer. I've known of him since I was a teen but for whatever reason haven't got around to reading his work until now. So of course after reading Animal Farm, I had to read 1984.

I am only half way through the book and lets just say, I was upset I had to actually get some sleep last night in order to go to work today. Otherwise, I might have just stayed up all night and said screw sleep. Talk about a sitting on the edge of your seat, biting your fingernails down to the quick, thriller...holy cow! My intention is to do a full on review of the book once I have finished reading it. But so far, it has not disappointed.


Overall I am super happy with my haul on Christmas. I am a big book person and willingly admit to trying to force that onto others. My husband and kids get books for Christmas every year and will probably continue to do so until the day I die. In my opinion, books are the only gift worth giving. And just as a point to how crazy my book obsession has gotten, the satchel I got, I special requested cause I really, really, really wanted a nice bag that was big enough to hold a couple of books at a time, without actually having to carry a backpack around. My husband delivered! That's one of the many ways I know he loves me...he buys me books and crazy things to make carrying books on me at all time easier...lol.


Go pick up a book already...

Rachel B.

Christmas Bazaar

Well...its that time of year again...Christmas. Wow, that snuck up on me fast. A couple months ago I had signed up to do a Christmas Bazaar. Mind you, I have never done one before. My main purpose for doing it was to promote my new business, Raelyn Jack Studios. (Visit my Etsy page here.) My goal as a wedding gown designer was to have a sample dress made and ready to go to have on display. But displaying a dress would be just about the lamest table ever so I had to think of something to actually do while I was there besides take up space. What did I finally decide on? Gift wrapping!!! Gift wrapping is about the only thing I do well at Christmas time so I figured why not.

Because I live in a rather small community I bought enough supplies to be able to wrap about 50 gifts. I thought this would be an appropriate amount until I asked the chamber of commerce how many people the usually get through the event...6-700 people!!! Yikes...I know not everyone is going to want things wrapped but man did I under plan. After my shock wore off I started to get really excited about it all. I'm going to wrap gifts, sell my hand made salt dough ornaments, gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies. The event is this Saturday so needless to say I have a lot of work left to do. You may be seeing a lot of posts from me in the near future as I plan to take pictures of each of the different processes and then post them on here for others to do. Also, in the near future 2 Birds will have our own etsy shop selling handmade crafting goodies and children's wear! Check back for more updates...


Happy crafting,

Rachel B.

Things that Blow your Mind...

I found something today...something that I was certain was gone. Something that I wasn't even looking for. To anyone who isn't a member of my household, it's absolutely meaningless but when I saw it I was just floored.

Nearly 2 years ago at our old house, my husband helped the boys put together a super top secret (no girls aloud) lair. But since I'm mommy I got a free pass to enter. Or it could have just been that they needed an evil villain to fight...I don't know. When you entered their top secret lair there were a couple planks of wood that were hung from a tree by rope. On one it said "top secret" and on the other was a "key pad" and 2 "hand scanners." About a month and a half before we moved some neighbor kids went up into the area and trashed everything (teens...pft). After that the boys didn't play up there any more. Admittedly, we also didn't clean up the mess that the teens left. The rope, planks, and anything else that was up there at the time was left to nature.

Fast forward to today...almost a year and a half after the destruction of the secret lair and our move to a neighboring town. I still work not far from where we used to live. There are a lot of really great hills near by and I thought I would go for a walk today. As I got near the area where we used to live I saw something on the ground next to the sidewalk. I was standing across the street walking towards it and it took a couple of seconds for my brain to register what it was. There, laying on top of the ground, nothing on it, barely dirty, still painted clear as day, was the plank of wood with the boys hand prints on it and the key pad.

Keep in mind its been well over a year since anyone of us has seen this! Not to mention that our old landlord had the hill where the top secret lair was cleaned and cleared shortly after we moved out. So to say I was surprised to see this just sitting there is a terrible understatement. I sent my husband a quick message with a picture of it and explained to him that the way it was sitting, the lack of debris on it, its good condition...it felt like someone had walked by a few minutes before I did and sat it there for me to find. It was a mind blowing experience for me cause I really don't know how it still exists.

Needless to say I lugged it all the way back to my office and its sitting on the floor next to me right now. The child like part of me is afraid that if I look away it will disappear as quickly as it reappeared. Tonight I will show it to the boys and see if they remember it. After that it will go up as art work in their room. Probably hung at a level where it can still be "used" to enter their new lair. It's sentimental to no one else but us...but boy does it now have an even cooler story to go along with all our original memories of it.



Finding treasure in unexpected places,

Rachel B.

Couples Fitness Challenge

So for anyone who doesn't know my husband and I personally, we are really competitive with one another. Most of the time it's in good ways, some times it's bad. (Like the fact that we bet on pretty much every single presidential election...yeah...we're those kind of people.) It's always in good fun though which I think is important and we never get upset about losing to one another. (Unless it's scrabble...neither one of us EVER wants to lose at scrabble.)

How I look losing at Scrabble...lol

Anyways...

Competition runs in our veins. Now this would be nice if we could harness it for something useful. 10+ years of marriage and that hasn't happened yet. Rewind to last night...we're setting in the front room and I make my all too frequent comment that I'm going to get up early and work out in the morning. Without missing a beat William scoffs at me and chuckles. Okay...so I say this a lot and never actually do it...so sue me.

I may have been feeling a little mischievous (with a capital M) when I turned to him and said "Oh yeah...why don't we have a competition..." and so it begins. After much deliberation about rules and dates and guidelines and such...and of course getting input from our facebook friends (who are probably shaking their collective heads at us right now) we finally settled on our latest game.

On July 1st 2014 (our 11 year wedding anniversary...YAY! We're still alive...lmao!) we will post "after" pictures of ourselves on Facebook. This will happen whether or not any change has occurred (so if we don't do any work we are up for some embarrassment). The catch is that we will be wearing a swimming suit that the other one picks for us. Can you say YIKES!!! I've already vetoed William's first choice. We do get some say after all.

I guess the good part about this is 1) we are putting our competitive energies to good use (my pictures are going to be way better than his...lol) 2) we are doing something fun together as a couple and 3) we are being held accountable for working out and staying healthy to a larger audience. My hope is that this will be a positive experience for both of us.

Now if only I could find a way to get up early and work out...


Rachel B.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game Review

My youngest son Gryphy is a huge fan of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Last year I happened across the game around Christmas time and snatched it up. Before today we had only really played the game seriously once. Mainly because we tried playing it on Christmas day and there were other toys that commanded their attention. Since that time life has gotten busy and we have made attempts to incorporate family games into our routine but for whatever reason, this game migrated to the bottom of the pile. While the boys were doing homework I hopped into the game cabinet to see what I could pull out and this is what I settled on. Needless to say it was a huge hit! We only played one round but even Phoenix (who's 8) was asking for another round.

My overall opinion of the game is that its very simple. But most kids games are. The game is rated 3+ and I would say that is about right. However, if you have a Caterpillar obsessed 5 year old like I do then its still a great fit. My kids both love it and I am sure we will be playing it more in the future. It is only four players so if you have a large family it probably wont work so well. The majority of reviews I saw for it online were pretty negative, most focusing on the simplicity of the game. I disagree with them. Board games for kids should be simple, engaging and fun. This game is all three of those things. If you are interested in purchasing the game here is the link for it on Amazon.com. (Ahh...Amazon...) Although, I did not pay $18 for it at Toys R Us and I wouldn't pay that much. I bought it on a game sale during the holidays. If you can find it for less then I would recommend getting it. Your little ones will love it.

Here are some pics of my two little birds enjoying post homework game time...

Gotta love the chipmunk look of concentration...lol

Uh Oh! Grypy pulls ahead of bubba!

Its neck in neck...

Mommy for the win!! Poor Phoenix finally pulled ahead two spaces from the finish only to have me roll the magic number 4 right after him. I asked him to give me his angriest "how dare you face"...this is what I got...lol.

So close to victory, yet so far away...

The game ended and led to an impromptu reading session. Yay for books!!

Happy Learning!

Rachel B.

Defiying Nature: Growing Tomatos Indoors in the Winter

Living in the Pacific Northwest has its upsides and its downsides. On the upside, you absolutely cannot beat our outdoors. There are so many trails and natural oddities just within 100 miles of where I live that it would take a lifetime to explore them all. On the downside though, we really only have two seasons, Spring and Fall. Anyone who tells you we have a Summer is lying. Summer does not exist here. Our short seasons and mild weather leave me firmly planted in Hardiness Zone 6B where the growing season runs from about May to August. Granted this is largely dependent on rain levels. We get an outrageous amount of rain every year. One year I planted my garden at the end of May thinking it would be safe from rain storms and it was drowned out within a week. Sigh* So needless to say, being November right now, the growing season is over...or is it?

Right around the beginning of October I got a huge case of cabin fever, which I normally don't get until around January. While rummaging through the house upending and re-potting any plant I could get my hands on, I stumbled across an old packet of tomato seeds. I figured, why not try to grow them indoors. I had never tried that before but I have a great south facing window that gets full sun all day long so I went with it. It is now November 4th and my little indoor gardening experiment is paying off. I have 11 tomato plants growing in my windowsill. Yesterday I had to transplant them into their own little containers. I took pictures of this process but for whatever reason everything turned out blurry even though it looked fine on my viewfinder, so I apologize ahead of time.

Here are the pictures of the transplanting adventure:

To begin collect your supplies and sprouts.

For transplanting I used plastic cups, a bowl full of dirt, a knife and some scissors. The mason jar full of white stuff is crushed egg shells. Rumors in the gardening world has it that the calcium in egg shells is like crack to tomato plants so I've been collecting them for a while.

Sprouts (about 3 weeks old) and crushed egg shells

Recycled dirt

Plain ol' plastic cups for potting containers

After you have your supplies, look through your sprouts and determine which ones you want to use. From there, prepare one plastic cup for each sprout. To prepare the cups puncture a hole in the bottom for drainage and then fill with dirt.

Hole in cup for drainage

Next, take a long something or another (I used a paint brush) and swirl it in the middle of the cup to create a deep hole for the plant. You want it to be deep enough that you can fit all of the roots into the hole and the plant. 

Paint brush stick used to create hole in dirt for roots and plant

If you have an egg shell collection, add them now. I sprinkled them into the bottom of the hole so that the roots could get the calcium from them. 

Egg shells crushed into dirt

Next carefully take the sprouts that you chose out of their original container. The sprouts that grew in my tiny little flower pot actually had the best leaves. So these were the ones I transplanted first. You want to gently separate the plants so that you don't go ripping off every root. The object is to gently untangle the roots and separate the plants with as little damage as possible. 

Baby tomato plants...aren't they cute!!

Once you have separated out the plants that you want, carefully tuck the roots of the plant into the hole followed by the whole plant. And by whole plant, I mean, you need to bury the plant all the way up to the bottom of the two smooth leaves. 

Plant buried deep in the dirt.

Once you have buried the plant, cut off the two smooth bottom leaves from the plant.

Snip, snip...

Once you have done all of that, water the plants enough to wet the soil through and then find a nice sunny windowsill to put them in. 

Happy plants sitting in full sun...

And there you have it...tomatoes in November. I am hoping that these will grow to be full on plants that will produce tomatoes for us over the course of the winter. Time will only tell though. I will be sure to keep everyone updated on their progress.


Happy Planting,

Rachel B. 

Ghostly Adventures in the Gorge...

My oldest son Phoenix and I both share a love for ghosts. Now...I've never seen a ghost and still hold a little skepticism but all in all I think the "idea" of ghosts existing is pretty cool.  Phoenix on the other hand swears up and down that he's seen a ghost. He calls him the "terrible terror" and no matter how many times he tells the story, it never changes. That's pretty important given the fact its the recollection of a 7 year old.

This year for his 8th birthday we were talking about what he wanted to do. He's really been stuck on visiting a ghost town. I found one that would be perfect to visit but given the fact that it's nearly four hours away, a trip there would require a little planning. So we needed something close and immediate. Lucky us...we live in the Columbia River Gorge where history runs deep. Knowing there had to be somewhere local with a reputation for haunting I set out to find our first ghost hunt.

Main building no longer houses guests.

The location that was eventually chosen was the Carson Mineral Hot Springs. The hot springs is one of the longest running hotels in the state of Washington and is reported to be super haunted. The worst haunting stories take place in the bath house but since Phoenix is not 18 we cant go in there...bummer. Other haunting reports come from the second floor of the main building but due to age, the current owners had to shut down that portion of the building because they couldn't keep it up to code. There are however cabins that run along the side of the main drive in that are still open and functioning. These cabins are great because, although not original, they sit in the very same spot that cabins have sat since the hotel opened.

The main reason that the hotel is haunted or reported to be haunted is the fact that the original owner Isador St. Martin was murdered on the property during a fight. His wife died shortly after him from heart break. The wife is the one reported to be on the second floor of the main building. As for the bathhouse, no one knows who haunts that spot. The only reports are that it is incredibly eery and slightly negative. 

I figured that this would be a really great location for our first ghost hunt and made reservations. I have also purchased Phoenix a tape recorder (for EVP's) and an EMF detector. Our plan is to record our little adventure on the two video cameras that we own and take tons of still images as well. We will then put together our own little ghost show for our family and friends to watch.

There is a part of me that hopes we don't find something cause I'm a pretty big chicken and then there is another part of me that wants Phoenix to have an awesome birthday and he seems to want the experience. (To each their own.) All I have to remember is that I am the adult and no matter how much we freak ourselves out, I have to be the one to offer comfort. Overall though I am really looking forward to the adventure. If nothing else Phoenix and I will have spent some really great bonding time together and will be able to share the memory of our first ghost hunt together. Memories are what matter.

Here is a link to a longer blog post about the Carson Mineral Hot Springs and it's ghosts...
http://www.thegorge.com/carson-hot-springs/



Rachel B.

NAKED EGGS!!!

I am a HUGE fan of all things science. Because of that I am constantly trying to instill in my boys a love for the subject. So far I have been hugely successful. Yay for Team Mommy! Every once in a while we break out in scientific fever and must experiment on something. Yesterday we decided to try out the naked egg experiment. If you are not familiar with the naked egg experiment you can read about it or watch a video here or watch the following video:

If you want to try this experiment here is what you need:

Egg
Jar
Vinegar

Yes...its that simple!

Pour the Vinegar into the jar and then place the egg inside. Let that sit for 12-24 hours and then dump out the vinegar and enjoy your super awesome naked egg!

What exactly is happening in this experiment?

Well...egg shells are made out of calcium carbonate. Vinegar has in it a substance called acidic acid. By putting the egg into the vinegar you are creating a chemical reaction. The way I explained it to my boys was that the acidic acid "eats" calcium carbonate, so you could say that the vinegar is eating the eggs shell. Because the egg has a "skin" inside called a membrane, it holds everything together when the shell is gone, creating a naked egg...an egg that you can see through. The guy in the above video says it takes 5-7 days but that's not the case. Ours was in the vinegar for less than 24 hours and it turned out great. There is another really great video in the other link provided that explains why the egg actually gets bigger once the shell is gone...(hint: osmosis!)

They absolutely loved this experiment and had a blast doing it from start to finish. Take a look at our pictures and then try it out for yourself!

Phoenix's egg before

Gryphon's egg before...he looks a little worried

Vinegar and our containers...gotta love Mason Jars!

The bubbles is the vinegar eating the shell...

Mesmerized!

The next day...the foam is the shell

Soft and squishy...eww...

Naked eggs are bigger than the regular egg

Squish!

Gryphon impaling his egg with a skewer

A popped naked egg: the membrane looks like pacman. lol

Phoenix holding up the membrane

Gryphon stirring up the left overs.

Happy Experimenting!

Rachel B.