I Am Moving

It is a time of change. I feel like chapters are closing and i am standing in front of many open doors. Where I will go I am unsure but it feels like time to put this chapter to rest and start a new.
Here is where you can find me.
Take care,
Kate

Dinner Outside

The odd early spring has been wonderful. We had our first family dinner outside while my in-laws were visiting. Yay!

Ready for May

This month was one of much working, a break and firsts.
Two weeks ago we had our first bout of lice. Laying in the hammock reading to Ella and she scratched her head a bit more vigorously than usual. I took a peek and there it was her traveling pet upon her head. A lice.
To say the least i got immediately itchy. We popped out of the hammock and I found Sam to check his head - affirmative. I texted Donn the news, grabbed garbage bags and started loading up all our bedding and recent clothing. Off to Mr. Staduim Laundry mat we went. While cleaning the clothes I took to treating the kids. Spray, nit combs and later that night Cetaphil facial cleanser, a trick passed on from some other moms.
Even before we left for Mr. Staduim, Donn was home to shave his hair off and go back to work. I found this funny. Lucking I have very little hair to worry about. It could not be better timing for me.
Four hours later we got home got fed and I was off to work tired from the days labors.

One week and two days later Ella wakes up with SPOTS! Chicken pox. Later that day Sam is spotty. So here we are on day three of quarantine. *sigh*

I am ready for May.

Making Nests

I took this idea from 5 Orange Potatoes

Yay Spring!


Mine

Sam's Camouflage

Ella's Beauty

The Fairy House

Eating Area

Camp Site

House, Path and Garden

Garden Gate

Broom and Walking Sitcks

Homeschool Notes

I am lovin' Joy Hakim today.

We listened to A History of US The First Americans Prehistory - 1600 and LOVED it! And yesterday my friend Syndallas introduced her The Story of Science Series with workbooks.

Now if I could only get organized to implement this stuff :) The kids will be at a week day camp in April and I plan to gut the chaotic playroom in hopes to find motivation and order.

I seek OOOORRRRRDDDDDEEEEERRRRR!!!!

New Old Friend

It has been surprisingly liberating and wonderful to live without hair for the past week.

I think back on one week ago today and my hesitations about what the night was to bring. It is like having a baby, it seems like so long ago and I can remember what it was like to have hair but it is kind of abstract. This was not the most life changing thing I have done in my life but it was surely one of the most liberating and surprisingly empowering.

It was not just shaving my head either. It was also that I accomplished my goal of raising $3000 for St. Baldrick's. When I set that goal I thought it might be a little lofty and wondered if I was setting myself up for disappointment (I am competitive even with myself). Not only did I raise $3000 I passed that goal.

It was also not just shaving my head but doing it in public on a stage, in a crowded bar on St. Patrick's day with folks taking photos, and sticking microphones in my face as I do one of the most vulnerable things for me - exposing myself. Granted it was not nudity but it kind of felt like it. Maybe I can equate it to going topless. I have never been one to go topless in public (I am surprisingly physically modest) so I am only guessing.

Though during the cutting I did not get emotional except for one time, when the woman with the microphone asked me how much money I raised. For some reason that question choked me up. Other questions were "Why was I doing this?" answer - "Because it felt right." "Where did I hear about St. Baldrick's?" answer - "Emiliy MacBeth" I was a woman of few words that night but that one question got me. I can't quite figure out why. I can only guess that it brought me close to that thin part of me that thinks of all the children and families that are struck by cancer and other challenges.

Before, during and after being shorn I didn't know how I would look, if folks would judge or laugh. I kind of felt like I was in kindergarten on the first day of school. It was kind of terrifying but exciting at the same time. After they shaved my head, of which both of my children assisted, they put a salon hand mirror in from of my face. I was only able to see the left upper quadrant of my head when I looked down and said "OH, SHIT!" I was smiling but I was very overwhelmed. I was not able to look at it yet. My emotions had not caught up yet with what was going on around me and to me. Unfortunately one entire wall of the room I was in was mirrors so it took a good effort to keep from looking. About a half hour later after we had sat down and had something to eat I excused myself to the bathroom of the bar and grill to take my first real look. Surrounded by intoxicated women having random conversations I looked at myself for the first time top naked. A smile came over me as if I were meeting a new part of myself for the first time in that crowded bathroom.

A number of folks kindly tried to reassure me before the day of the event that it would go fine and it is no big deal. I understand thier perspective and intention but it is a big deal.

I strongly feel there are many things through out our lives that we dismiss as "not a big deal" when really if we stop we find that there is growth, or a lesson, or just plain beauty to be found in small (or big) events that can make amazing change. Not to sound cliche but we need to stop and smell the flowers, to experience all the experiences be it a rose, a stink flower, a pine tree or a compost pile. It is the accumulation of the little things, the "no big deals", that really make us who we are.

Last week I met an new old friend, me.

Bald for St. Baldricks $3000

Well, I raised over $3000 to chop my locks. The most expensive hair cut ever.

Some funds are still on their way to my tally on my official St. Baldrick's website. Check out some pictures there of my new doo. Also I am posting about my experience on my bald blog.

I love being bald and don't know if I am going to go back. The little bean will not be happy about that But the Monkey loves my short hair. We shall see....

Flashback and Google Sites

Changing over the laundry this morning I had a memory flashback of something the Monkey said to me when he was little.
It went like this
Mom: 'Monkey, you are driving me nuts.'
Monkey: 'No momma, you drive my nuts!'

This is a great way to start the day.

On another note I must share that I have discovered (it was introduced to me really) Google Sites.

Two other homeschool moms I know showed me this on Tuesday. I was skeptical as I usually am of technology. While at the Tuesday play date I got on my friends computer to check it out. By the end of the afternoon I had set the monkey up with his homeschool website complete with the weeks schedule, his school work for each day, a list of links to his school work sites, a clock, a calendar, and a virtual spider. By the end of the day I had created another page on the site for a house calendar so everyone in the house can be on the same page (we have 3 adults in our house, we live with my mother). By the end of last night I added a page for the Bean complete with Her websites, vocabulary list and pictures of cats. I also added a Cafeteria site that lists our food deliveries, Door to Door and Calder and there is a grocery list for everyone to add to when they see we are out of anything. Then I though to make a chores page called the TaskMaster with lists of household chores, hourse maintenance, and long term project. Tonight I want to add a page that lists the places we have memberships to and when those memberships expire. For example - zoo's, museums, parks and rec, websites, etc.

This is all stuff I have on lists all over the place, including my head. My hope (!) Is that this will help me organize and RELAX as we walk through our ridiculously busy days. I often get my hopes up that things will make our life more managable but this time maybe....just maybe.....it will be true.

Blogging About My Journey to Baldness

I have had many thoughts on shaving my head for St. Baldrick's so I started a seperate blog for just these thoughts on my journey to baldness and beyond.

The Bald Project

If you have not donated do it. I will give you good reading along the way.

Thanks,
Kate

Shaving my head in solidarity and for money

Ah the silly things I do.
But this one is not so silly.

This St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, I will be shaving my head (razor shaved bald really) in solidarity with children who have cancer and typically lose their hair during treatment, while raising critical funds for childhood cancer research!

In the US, more children die of childhood cancer than any other disease. Please make a donation on my behalf to support childhood cancer research so that all children diagnosed with cancer will have a better chance for a cure.


Emily, who has organized the event at the Uptown Grille in Commerce MI, lost her daughter at the age of two to Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. Her daughter would have been 11 this years old this year. Emily is an amazing and strong woman who has lived through my worst nightmare. My heart goes out to her and all the families that deal with the struggles of cancer everyday.

To make a donation, go to my St. Baldricks page and click on "Make A Donation" or donate by mail or phone.

Thank you for your support!

P.S. I will be donating my hair to make wigs for kids in need.

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About St. Baldrick's

Since 2005 alone, when the St. Baldrick’s Foundation became an independent charity approximately 196 research grants, totaling more than $41.7 million have been awarded to enable doctors and scientists at more than 230 institutions to pursue the most promising new cures for childhood cancer and to help make clinical trials available to more children than ever.

But the ultimate goal of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation has not been achieved – the goal to cure childhood cancer. Until that day, we will continue to work with you – our volunteers and donors – to fund the best and most promising research to achieve that goal.

*Note the # of make shavees to female shavees*