Lori Seaborg

A Flooding Day

My last post was about a rainy day, "a lovely day," I said, "my kind of day." Well, sometimes rain is not so lovely. That "lovely" rain turned into a national-news-deserving flood, just 8" below our record flood for the area. It certainly has not been a funny April Fool's Day joke!

We live on a river Our river has already flooded 22' over its banks today. Our house is up 28' from the river, so we're fine, but some of our neighbors' homes have already flooded. These are houses that, just 7 months ago, suffered damage from Hurricane Ivan and were since remodeled. Some neighbors' houses are on stilts and right now those houses are literally islands (with the neighbors in them!)!

We are getting hugely ignored from even the local news so there was no warning about this, other than that there was going to be some thunderstorms today. Please pray for our neighbors and for us, too, for safety and all. The neighbors say it has never flooded this far in the past 10+ years, even in Hurricanes Ivan and Danny.

You all might like knowing that at 6:30am, my Hero Husband rowed our rowboat out across our flooded backyard and saved 9 of my 10 chickens. We woke up to the water already up to the level of their perch, which is 10' above the river. I immediately became a frantic mess, so worried about "my girls." I wished for chickens for over 12 years before we could move to the country, so I love those dumb birds! It was too dangerous to swim out to their pen, though, with the swift current and the lightning.

 

That's how my man ended up in the boat. By the time he got there, the water was over the perch and the hens were clinging sideways to the chicken wire surrounding their pen (we have an open-air pen, with only chicken wire around it). One perished before he got to them. Two have lost 1/2 of their feathers from the struggle. And all look hilarious as they are wet and worried. Like Noah, he put the chickens in the boat. On the way back, though, the rope broke that was anchoring him to a tree on dry land. The current was terribly swift -- too swift to row. There was a real danger of he and the hens and the boat being carried away. My man clung to a tree, trying to get the boat to move closer to land. I called a neighbor on the phone meanwhile. The neighbor finally came -- I thought he'd come with a kayak or a rope, but instead he just dove into the water and pulled the boat, my man , and the chickens to safety! (he's an artist, kind of eccentric, you know)

 

It hasn't stopped raining.

(This article was originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)

A Rainy Day

It's been a lovely day...my kind of day. It has rained non-stop, and I mean that literally, all day long.

Sometimes it's nice to have a little sniffle so you have an excuse to lay around for a while. Today, I don't have a sniffle, but I do have rain. It's nice to know that today my children are staying clean and I'm not going to be overwhelmed with an extra load of sandy, wet, muddy clothes from them being outside. It's been nice just to spend time indoors as a family.

We spent the morning reading, playing on the computer, playing on the XBox (it's Spring Break, you know), and doing as few chores as possible.

Tim and the baby had a delicious nap this afternoon with the bedroom's outside door open and the window cracked. A breeze blew in and the rain fell. They slept for ages like that.

While they were sleeping, I taught our 7yo daughter how to make "Yarn Babies." Midway, our 9yo son became interested in our project and changed some of the instructions to create "Yarn Ninjas" out of black yarn. Like Pioneer children, our kids were busy for hours creating and playing with their simple yarn dolls. (Tomorrow our son wants me to buy green yarn to create "Yarn Army Guys" complete with a grey-yarn gun).

After I taught the kids how to make the yarn babies, I worked on making homemade pretzels, something I used to do often in high school but don't take the time to do anymore.

We finished the evening with Pizza, Popcorn, and Pretzels (we often eat "P" foods with our pizza, so we can call it a P-p-p-party). Before the baby's bedtime, we watched "The Secret Garden" together - a movie I never tire of seeing.

Thank God for rainy days!

A (Perfect) Blog Drought

I've been in a blog drought. (Obviously.) For a while there, I had so many posts going through my head that I couldn't get them all down. Sometimes I'd even post with a past date, just to sneak in a few extra thoughts without overwhelming you all in one day.

It's upsetting to me to be in a blog drought. I write to you in my head daily, but lately my head-writing has been in sentence fragments. I cannot post my fragment-thoughts. They are not fit for such a fine blog specimen as this.

Or are they?

One of my chief problems in life is Perfectionism. Maybe everyone has it, in some area of their life or another. Someone I know is getting "twins" in April, as she says, in search of the Perfect Breasts. FlyLady writes often, in her housecleaning emails, about getting away from the idea that you have to have the Perfectly Clean House. We all want our children to behave as Perfect Children would.

I struggle with many areas of Perfectionism, and one of them is Perfect Prose. I want to dazzle you, tickle your heart, itch your emotions. I think and think so hard that nothing comes out. If nothing comes out, what's the purpose of this blog?

I want the purpose of this blog to be that of helping other women feel inspired. That if UnPerfect Me can have this silly but happy life, then you can have a silly, happy life, too. I'd like you to leave here with knowing that God loves you a bundle, that I care about you and pray for you, and that slowing down for baking bread, hugging a child, and raising chickens is well worth the lack of pace.

You can definitely over-think. Even about a blog.

Tonight, I am letting you know that I'm back, and I am committed to posting regularly, but not always in Perfect Prose.

Instead, I will look to my Creator, the only truly Perfect one, who is able to take the Unperfect and make it Just Right.

(Originally published on my 2004-2006 Keeping the Home blog)

Heard in Our House

***
"I try to be strong, but sometimes I just can't be strong." ~ our 7yo daughter, after getting teary when she permanently botched her art project at homeschool group time today

***
"And Daddy, and Popo, Amen!" ~ our just-turned-two daughter, with her hands folded, without prompting. She loves the men in her life!

***
"I have to give you 5 hugs and 5 kisses every night, and I have to give you 5 'I love yous, too!'" ~ our 5yo boy who, since his January birthday, is still very excited to be 5 whole years old and does everything possible in multiples of five

***
"Am I bothering you? I think I might be bothering you, and I don't like it when I'm bothering people." ~ 7yo daughter to me while we are gardening this evening

"Oh, no! I like being with you. You're never a bother." ~ me, to 7yo

"No, sometimes I'm a bother."

"Never," I say.

"Sometimes I think I might be. Am I ever a bother?" she asks.

"Well...you're kind of being a bother when you keep asking if you're a bother."

"Yeah, I thought I was bothering you."

(Originally published on my 2004-2006 Keeping the Home blog)

Today I Am...

Enjoying...a visit from my "kissin' cousin" who is here from Texas with her husband - possibly the nicest man in the world - and their baby doll

Losing...our boy bunny who looks like Peter Rabbit. He escaped one time too many and this time we weren't here for my hero to catch him.

Catching...our girl bunny who decided to escape, too, yesterday. Good thing she is FAT and SLOW.

Struggling...to get up at 6:30am for a walk with God in the mornings. Goodness, do I ever struggle there!

Reading...too many blogs. I am addicted, I admit it, but no - I am NOT ready to quit yet.

Writing...nothing but my blogs here

Wishing...I'd write more

Fearing...writing (for publication)! Why fear writing? I don't know, but I do.

Praising...God for providing us with our latest van to replace the wrecked one.

Planting...petunias, Holly ferns, periwinkles, and transplanting St. Augustine grass

Buying...seeds, 50 lbs. of chicken feed, pink child-sized wooden chairs, oat groats, wheat berries, a breadmaker, and a power inverter - all this week!

Thanking...God that I am an American every time I walk into WalMart and see the surplus that our country has

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)

Heard in Our House Today

"Hey, Baby." me, to our 9yo boy

"Well, I'm not really a baby, but I guess it's okay if your mom calls you that." 9yo

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)

My Van, Part II

(Read here for Part I of my van story)

"He works hard to give her all he thinks she wants." (Kenny Rogers)

Last night, my man came back from Ohio with the van that we found on eBay to replace our wrecked one. I cannot believe how loved I am by these two fellows of mine - my man and my God.

As Kenny Rogers sang the words above, we drove around the country block. The kids were beyond loud in the back seats - so excited after spending weeks in our tiny Nissan Sentra.

But my thoughts were on the fitting words of Kenny's song, the three red roses on my lap, and how my little hand fits so well into my man's great big one.

And you know what?

You who posted or told me that God would give us something even better in return for what had been taken away - you were right. This newer van has all that I loved about the other van, but even more and even better.

When God and my man get together and spoil this gal of theirs -- oh, boy, am I ever lovin' life then!

"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." - Job

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)

"Shadows"

I saw a young mother
With eyes full of laughter
And two little shadows
Came following after.

Wherever she moved,
They were always right there
Holding onto her skirts,
Hanging onto her chair.
Before her, behind her-
An adhesive pair.

"Don't you ever get weary
As, day after day,
Your two little tagalongs
Get in your way?

She smiled as she shook
Her pretty young head,
And I'll always remember
The words that she said

"It's good to have shadows
That run when you run,
That laugh when you're happy
And hum when you hum -
For you only have shadows
When your life's filled with sun."

~Author Unknown

A Stay-at-Home Mom is Stuck at Home?

 

"I don't know how you do it," Janie said recently, "I couldn't stand to be stuck at home like that."

 

"Will you be quitting work now that John got his promotion?" I ask Deb.

"No, I don't want to be stuck at home all the time," she says.

 

"STUCK at home"? Few three-word sentence fragments annoy me more than those three words put together.

 

Why are we who choose to be home perceived as "stuck" at home?

 

Aren't we the ones who have the most freedom?

 

We can get up at 10am, wear no makeup, watch t.v., walk around in grubby clothes, ignore the kids and deal with the consequences later, stay up until 2am without concern about an early morning alarm, see how long the baby can go without her diaper leaking, eat ice cream at breakfast, doughnuts at noon, and feed the kids PB&;J sandwiches for every meal.

 

Or..., we can choose to see our baby's first walk, change every one of her thousands of diapers so we don't miss out on the interaction we get with her when we do, read and study to wisen up our brains, sell something extra on eBay, practice baking and gardening and knitting and Spanish lessons, take the girls to ballet and the boys to baseball, read a book aloud to the kids after lunch and have a cup of tea at 3pm.

 

Over the past 9 years, I have been a working-outside-the-home mom, a working-at-home mom, and a stay-at-home mom (unpaid work). Of all of them, it is the stay-at-home mom who gets the greatest disdain from the outside world.

 

But don't you worry about her.

 

She owns all of the 1,440 minutes in each of her days. And she can spend each of those minutes as she wills, with no boss, no schedule but her own, and all the freedom every American loves to have.

 

If she gets a hankering for a bologna sandwich, she can go to the grocery store and get the ingredients. If she wants to see a movie, she can load the kids into the van and take them. She can attend a craft show on Friday afternoon and a Grand Opening pre-sale on Thursday morning.   

 

She has been given the freedom to choose how to fill her days.

 

If having that kind of freedom is being "stuck," then I am so glad I'm one of those poor souls who are "stuck at home."

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)

Our Homeschool Lesson for Today: Chicks Hatching!

This is a photo of our homeschool lesson for today.  Without our permission, one of our hens decided she wanted to be a mama and fiercely defended the eggs I wanted to gather three weeks ago.  Today, here is the result of our waiting, and boy! are they worth it. We have five baby chicks -- 3 yellow (one with a top hat of black), one black (with a top hat of white) and one brown with a black stripe.  She is still setting on the final 5 eggs.  I had written "Baby" on the eggs that she was hatching, so we could gather any future eggs for ourselves.  See the chick's beak?

 

 

If you are using this photo to teach your kids about chicks, tell them: 

• It takes about 8 hours for the little guy to peck all the way through an egg shell (believe me; we watched it for that long!)
• You cannot help a chick hatch.  It has to do this tough job for itself, or the chick will be too weak to live.  Cracking the shell gives the chick strength.
• The day before the chick hatches, if you put the egg to your ear, you will hear "pipping."  That's the word for the little tap-tap-tap noise that the chick makes as it tries to crack the egg from the inside. 
• Its beak has a sharp point that cracks the egg.  Within a day, that sharp point falls off the beak. 
• When it is first born, it is wet and cannot walk.  Soon, within an hour or two after birth, it starts to dry out and can walk. 
• For the first few days, the chick doesn't even need water or food, because just before it hatched, it ate the inside of the egg shell, which has high nutritional value.
• Nobody knows how, but the mama hen knows which eggs will hatch and which eggs are "duds."  She will stay on the nest long enough to hatch the lot of them, but will leave (or eat) the eggs without a chick inside. 

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)

Today I Am...

Ordering...50 baby chickens from McMurray Hatchery (up 25 from my idea last week -- still don't tell my man!)

Screaming...inwardly at the computer because I can't figure out how to put a photo next to my profile on this blog

Listening...to our baby girl make her sweet baby noises while playing in the room next to the one I'm in.

Waiting ...another 12 days or so to see if our bunnies really do "breed like rabbits"

Hoping...(all of us except my man) that we have baby bunnies for Easter to go along with our 50 chicks

Liking...my man a lot better now that I am writing about all the animals he is being so patient to let me have

Looking...at the Dead Sea Scrolls in Mobile, Alabama yesterday afternoon. Wow! Israel has never let them out of their country before and we are so honored.

Breathing...or not. A minute ago, I tried to see if I would really pass out if I didn't have a mouth and had to use my congested nose to breathe. Experiment failed, but just barely.

Sorting...through piles of children's clothes to store or give away. I cannot keep up with it!

Writing...a newsletter

Making...something that takes no imagination for dinner. I do NOT feel well! What's on TV tonight?

(Originally published on my 2005-2008 Keeping the Home blog)

Newsletter: March 2005

CONTENTS:

* Making a Bay Leaf Wreath
* Lori's TidBits
* My Daily Schedule
* Favorite Links
* What's Happening in My House
* Devotional:

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CREATING A BAY LEAF WREATH

This is a very simple project, and one that would make a lovely
house-warming gift, or a gift for a cook. Be sure to make another
wreath for your own kitchen! The finished wreath is designed to be
hung in a kitchen, preferably near the stove, where the cook can
reach up and grab a bay leaf to add to a pot of stew or to a chicken
dish.

What You'll Need:

12" wire (Buy the wire pre-cut in the florist dept. of stores like
WalMart, or cut your own. Use a fairly sturdy wire but one that can
be bent)

Needle-nose Pliers (or your fingers, if they are very strong)

Bay Leaves (1-2 ounces, depending on how broken the batch is that
you buy)

Ribbon or Raffia

Pierce the leaves onto the wire, one after another, so they are
against each other. Make the wreath as tight or loose as you like.

When you have added all of the desired bay leaves, loop one of the
wire ends. Make the string of bay leaves into a circle by inserting
the other wire end into the wire loop. Now loop this end, pinching
the loop closed.

Add a ribbon or raffia over the top of the wire loops, if desired,
to hide the wire.

Hang this wreath over a long nail or hook, or make your own hook out
of extra wire.

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LORI'S TIDBITS: USELESS AND USEFUL BITS OF INFORMATION

1. Quiet Time is the key to my sanity as a mother of four little
ones. Each day, right after lunch clean-up, the children lay down
for Quiet Time which lasts at least an hour. The 2yo naps, the 5yo
naps or reads quietly, the 7yo plays quietly or reads in her room,
and the 9yo finishes homeschoolwork or reads in his room. If Daddy
is home, he gladly naps, too. I spend my quiet time reading or
writing. I have a rule that I cannot do chores during quiet time.

Quiet Time is not only good for me, but also for the children. They
are more rested for the long day and less irritable and tired. Our
9yo looks forward to Quiet Time so he can have a break from his 5yo
brother bothering him!



2. Some Creative Places to Raise Bread Dough on a Cold Day:

- In a sunny window
- In bed with you (the Europeans often do this)
- On top of the dryer, which is on
- On top of the fridge
- In an oven with only the pilot light on
- Under the cabinet lights



3. Running your sprinklers for 1 hour equals about 1" of rain.
Your garden needs 1" of rain per week to thrive (in the hot summer,
in very hot areas like the Deep South and SouthWest, it may need 1"
every three days).

If you have not had enough rain in a week, water your garden or lawn
for one hour.

To check your rainfall amount for the week, use an empty tuna can
for a rain gauge. Sink the tuna can into the Earth. If the can is
full, you've had 1" of rain.



4. Your garden will do best if it has the 1" of rainfall all at
once rather than slowly. If you sprinkle your lawn daily for only 5
minutes each time, you are encouraging short roots that want to stay
at the water level. Short roots = weak plants. By sprinkling the
lawn or garden for one hour, you encourage the roots to stay at a
deeper level.


***********************************************************

MY DAILY SCHEDULE (Weekdays)

by 7:30am: God Time done; walk done

by 8:30am: Breakfast done; chores done; everyone dressed; beds made

by 9am: Everyone in school room, ready for homeschool.
Schoolwork and planning work (bills, menus, thank yous, research,
other paperwork) ready to be done.

by 10am: Bible and Math done
by 11am: Writing and Language done
by 12am: Science/History, and Other done

by 12am (me): Lunch ready; house picked up; schoolwork done except
reading and homework; paperwork put away or mailed

by 1pm: Lunch clean-up done; ready for Quiet Time

by 3pm: Quiet Time done; reading and homework done; kids free to
play after doing animal chores

by 4:30pm: Crafts or free time stuff put away; tea time put away
(if done); ready to start dinner

by 5:30pm: Dinner ready; floors picked up; everyone at table

by 6:30pm: Dinner cleaned up; kids chores done; family time and
baths begin

by 7:30pm: Baby (2yo) to bed

by 8 pm: 5yo and 7yo to bed

by 8:30pm: 9yo to bed

by 10:30pm: Me in bed, reading

**************************************************************


LINKS YOU MIGHT ENJOY

Urban Homemaker: http://www.urbanhomemaker.com
I found some homemaking articles on this website. They also sell
food items and grain mills

FlyLady: http://www.flylady.net
FlyLady has helped so many people organize and clean their homes. I
use much of her advice.

WindScraps: http://www.windscraps.blogspot.com
An inspiring blog (web log, an online journal of sorts) written by
author Shannon Woodward

Fun Brain: http://www.funbrain.com
A website to send the kids to for fun or for learning. My children
do some of their math class at Fun Brain each day.

*************************************************************

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT MY HOUSE

* We have two new bunnies now. We got the male first. He looks
exactly like Peter Rabbit, a brown Mini Rex. A few weeks later, we
bought our girl bunny who is white with black spots. She has
symmetrical spots above her legs, and a line of spots along her
spine. We hope they do "breed like rabbits!" We want baby bunnies
for Easter!

* Our 8 hens are laying like crazy these days. I'm going to start
feeding them flax seed, as I've heard it makes the eggs even more
healthy for us. Princess, the rooster, tried to spur me this
morning. When his girls start following me, he gets jealous.
(Princess was a girl, we thought, which is why he has that name!)

* We are having a clothing problem. Clothes, clothes, everywhere!
I am going to use FlyLady's advice (http://www.flylady.net) and work
on sorting through our clothes 15 minutes at a time. The children
grow out of the much too quickly!

* Tim made me two little raised gardens, about 4'x 6' each. They
are right outside my kitchen, so I'm going to plant herbs in them
soon. Already there is oregano,which the bunnies love to eat.
There is also one lone onion that I didn't think I planted.

* We are also planning a bigger garden. When Tim lost his job last
fall, and then Hurricane Ivan came only 2 weeks later, I wished that
I had a garden. A garden helps you feel less reliant on the grocery
store. I don't want that feeling again, so I'm planting one this
year. Besides, the kids need WAY more veggies and fruits!

* I've been setting my alarm for 6:30am. I decided to do it even
if I don't feel well (like today). I need my morning God Time.
Without it, my mood is gruff, my house is messy, the children are
grumpy, and Tim (dh) is upset. Satan would love for illness or
fatigue to keep me from my time with God. I'm not going to let him
do that anymore.

* I've been walking in the mornings as part of my God Time.
Instead of thinking of it as exercise, I think of it as prayer
time. I've been praying for the 20 or so minutes that I walk. And
praising! Nature brings out the praises in me like nothing else can!

**********************************************************

A DEVOTIONAL: "I AM POOR AND NEEDY"
(originally on my blog at http://www.keepingthehome.blogspot.com )

I love this verse of David's:

"But I am poor and needy;
Yet the Lord thinks upon me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
Do not delay, O my God." (Psalm 40:17, NKJV)

I love it that David was poor and needy, as I have been in my life.
I love it that God thinks about me no matter where I am in life.

Take comfort that the Lord "thinks upon you." He thinks about you,
even little ol' you who might otherwise feel insignificant or needy.

Maybe you feel that you are no one of consequence, poor, homely (I
doubt it!), and that you got the short end of the stick when it came
to brains.

Still, the God of all the Universe is thinking about you. That's
something!

David says, "Do not delay" to God. Sometimes God seems snail-slow
when it comes to dishing out the blessings.

If that's the case for you, ask God to hurry it up a bit. He just
might agree, or - watch out for this - He might change your
perspective. Maybe you are not as poor or needy (or as homely!) as
you thought you were.

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Have a wonderful week!

Lori Seaborg