Updates Galore

Lots of updates. I guess that's not overly surprising, since I haven't written in such a long time.

K and I have been über-sick for days, now. Swine flu? A cold? You know, the symptoms are eerily similar. We've got sore throats, coughs, stuffy/runny noses, aches, fatigue, fever, and headaches. Hmm.... I'm not an alarmist when it comes to illnesses, but I'm tired of checking off nearly everything on the list of swine flu symptoms. I'm so ready to be done with this one.

We've started a strawberry cyser. Strawberries were cheap, so we decided it was high time we made something with them. It's gorgeous. The color is this amazing red, and the combination of apples, honey and strawberries smells bewitching. Of course, it will be another year to a year-and-a-half before we can drink it. Still, it's lovely to watch it bubble in the carboy.

We're getting ready to be backyard beekeepers. We use so much honey in mead making. Of course, we use it for tons of other things, as well - cooking, home remedies, facial cleanser, etc. Once we harvest our first honey, I plan to use it in soap making, as well, and to use the wax for balms and candles. I think the biggest hurdle will be in getting support from the neighbors. People have lots of fears when it comes to flying, stinging insects, even docile honey bees. If we do get everyone's okay, we figure we'll gather equipment over the next eleven months, read like crazy, and become bee parents around April of next year. I can't wait!

I was perusing Craigslist this evening and found six good-quality bookcases and a set of outdoor furniture for free. It took two trips in our sedan (T is a master at tying things down - we once furnished an entire 4500 (yes, 4500) sq. ft. coffeehouse using only a 1967 bug), but we've got it all home. T has put all the bookcases in the garage. He's been looking for bookcases for such a long time, and I'm so happy I could find some for him. He was busily setting up his books all evening. I think that brings his bookcase count up to nine. I just counted mine and K's, and we have ten between us. That's nineteen bookcases. We're a veritable library!

T has switched to veganism again. I'm hoping it's permanent this time. He goes back and forth from occasional meat eating to vegetarianism to veganism and back again. The last time he was vegan for any amount of time, he lost a good amount of weight, got his diabetes under control, and lowered his blood pressure and cholesterol. Yay veganism!

The other night, K and I watched a fabulous documentary, Consuming Kids. I read Susan Linn's book Consuming Kids a year ago and had no idea there would eventually be a movie based on it. It's one of those books you read that changes your perspective just enough to tilt you off balance for a while. I love books like that. I think, if I hadn't read the book first, the movie would serve the same purpose, at least to an extent. It doesn't go as in-depth as the book (of course), but it does grab you and shake you up a bit. After we watched the movie (at the address I linked to above), we stayed up late into the night (yay unschooling!) talking about marketing - why it's done, how it's evolved, how it's shaped our culture, and the effects it's had on children and on childhood. He absolutely loves movies like this. It amazes me. He just seems to sense when I'm watching something with a cultural or political slant and comes running (this is a child who adores Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow and who gets all excited when Frontline comes on PBS - go figure).

My first garden is coming along beautifully. When I was pushing seeds into the earth, I told myself, "Hopefully, at least one or two veggies will come up." Well, eveything has come up. Now, I'm going to have to learn how to thin the plants!

The book I'm working on is coming along, slowly but surely. I'm nearly done with the outlines, and I'm about to start writing the actual content. I just hope there are people out there who want to read what I have to say!

Okay, enough updates. I'll try to post more regularly (try being the operative word, here). Hope everyone is having a lovely spring!