Dear Internet,

I hope you’re well, but we need to chat. I feel like we have such a volatile relationship. Some days I hate you, sometimes I think you’re the toxic poison seeping in and ruining all aspects of my life, some days I need you more than anything else and some days I just flat out can’t help but spend all of my waking hours just rolling from page to page without any sense of control (or regret).

As much as I feel like taking the inspiration of Esther Emery’s ‘Year Without the Internet’ (blog • book), I don’t think it would work. But I also am interested in going TV free in our home… as I sit here typing and watching Netflix on my large screen TV….

Internet, I’m in a bit of an unsteady time.

I crave nothing more than a closeness with my husband and kids, screen free and meaningful. I crave a stillness between my heart and God, a pure, distraction free connection. I crave nature, fresh mountain air, paperback books, scratch made everything. I crave realness. Truth. Connection. Meaning.

But…. I also crave creativity. Sharing. Learning. Community that I can take in and be a part of when it’s convenient. I know that everyone having  relationships and community strictly thru a screen is causing damage to our system and being, but- for a homeschooling mom of 3, girl boss, generally crazed and run ragged… being able to take some connectivity in the slots that I have open are my option.

I want to spend more time here, blogging, sharing, connecting with like minded folk. I love that I’ve created a business that is successful and provides for my family… but it no longer is meeting everything for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond thankful- my bride’s are AMAZING and I just couldn’t be happier with the way our story continues to play out. But the road that living in your business leads to just isn’t a path I’m interested in. I don’t believe in it.

I believe in “retiring” young to live a life worth living. I believe in staying far away from the American dream/rat race. I believe in Biblical focus. I believe in pure, natural living. I believe in self sustainability. In community. In support. In not buying into the ‘who’s the most popular’, ‘who’s getting more recognition on social media’ game that consumes so many.

I know you have to bear with me as I tend to ramble and get off track, but this is my letter to you. I want to engage more with your world wide structure, but in a meaningful way. A way that can actually connect me to the true passion/drive vs. eating up my life with obsession and negativity. I want to share our journey, my story, my insight… not because I think any of it is better than anyone else or that it’s anything special… but because it’s fun to share and connect with others.

So here we are. You and me, Internet. I hope that this collection of my ramblings, stories and $0.02 may one day, possibly, lead to something fulfilling and exciting. Until then, it’s me and you and I’ll continue to use it as a place for my passions and interests with the hope of connecting to others of the same. Thank you for that, what a world we live in huh?

Yours truly,

Heidi, a fellow millennial

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Gotta go back… back… back to schoooool…. AGAIN.

Is it just me that breaks into song thinking the words “back to school”?

Probably… but that’s ok. You should have seen it when Grease went to theater’s– best sing-a-long performance! Man… 😅 😅 😅

Homeschool, much different than Rydell High, for us this year is set. Good to go. It took me one afternoon to prepare. This is a record folks!

Kids being schooled: a 6th grader (age 12 next month), a 1st grader (age 6 here soon) and a tag-a-long 3 1/2 year old

Curriculum: a Bible. This one in fact: ESV Bible on Amazon

Back to school shopping list: 2 Bibles (one for 12 year old, one for mom/dad), 4 notebooks (each kid & mom), pack of highlighters, pack of pencils (to be kept up in a closet, in a box, guarded. Otherwise… they all disappear! 😤)

Total Back to School/Homeschool bill: Less than $25. 💪 Yes please.

Plan:

By 10 AM -ish (we wake up slow), Spend 15 minutes in silence. Pray, listen for God, listen to the birds, whatever. 15 minutes of silence. Added bonus: daily practice of self control. 👍

Read the Bible, starting in Genesis. No set time, until we’ve reached a good spot or kids seats are too wiggly. We will watch What’s in the Bible to correlate with our reading.

Journal any special verses that stood out, thoughts we may have or questions of things we don’t understand. A few moments for mom & the oldest to write some thoughts and I’m thinking I’ll provide one of the verses for the 6 year old to copy write.

We will have a page in our journal that we can all add prayer requests to. People we know, people/things we’re thinking about, and we’ll close out time with a family prayer for these things.

The rest of our ‘school’ day? Service.

Taking the wise council of things like Dr. Raymond Moore, the ways of the Amish, books like Cleaning House & that ol’ Bible- the rest of the day will be spent enjoying the gift of the present and serving those around us.

We started this month with the importance of clean rooms & good hygiene. Setting a morning and evening room check for tidyness and keeping the kids in routine of actually getting dressed, brushing teeth, etc… (even on lazy days 🙈).

Next month, and with the start of our school routine, we’re adding cooking for your family & cleaning the kitchen. Each week all three kids will be responsible for picking out one meal they want to make, creating the list of needed items, and then shopping for said items. On Monday we will all prepare & serve the meal together, then each kid has a set day that they will get to provide dinner (with some help of course), serve their family (8 of us total), and properly clean the kitchen after. I think we’re all pretty excited for it!

Each month an additional area of service will be added in to what we’re already focusing on, with the morning routine of silence, Bible, journaling and prayer to remain the same. I am super excited for this year! 😍 No, my kids may not know the things that most 6th graders are learning… my 1st grader may be a little off… but that’s ok. I’ll take a lack of fact reciting to a year we spent growing closer to God and serving all we come in contact with. We can always work on fractions next year. 😉 Here goes nothing- September, we’re ready!

 

P.S., Thanks for being so easy on my pocket book! 😘

Why your house is dumb.

Let me clarify- it’s not JUST your house. It’s mine. And theirs. It’s all of them. If insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results- guys, we’re all insane.

I have dreamt of building my own home- especially out of alternative/eco building materials. Think of straw bale homes, earthships, heck– even a yurt! That’s my future goal, I dream about it, I look at floor plans and building types constantly, drool over Sunray Kelley’s cob homes, you name it.

But, what I do a lot of is make a mental note of things we won’t have in our home because they suck. Cleaning them sucks. They’re a pain in the ass. Why do we keep putting these things in EVERY house? HGTV- why do you tell us how amazing they are and how we MUST want them?!? WHY?!?! This is dumb. And it’s making your house… dumb.

At the risk of being hated and boycotted by all women, the entire entity of HGTV, and all of this considering no one actually reads this… 😉

The DUMB list that’s infecting your home and ruining your life:

Molding. All molding- base boards, crown’ed, door ways, decorative trim around your cupboard doors…. ALL of it. Guys- this SUCKS to clean, it’s just a bunch of fancy dust collectors that make all grime and gunk nearly impossible to get off. I’m still dizzy from cleaning my kitchen cupboards– maybe you can blame that for this ranting post. Let’s say NO to molding, mmm-k? Sure, it’s pretty. Buy a book of cool homes to gaze at from time to time, save yourself the trouble.

White. Paint, furniture, floors, appliances, before or after Labor day. This is SO not me– I would have a white house everything in my dream world. Then I wake up- white is dumb. Or maybe it CAN be ok if you’re smart about it. I HAD to have a white kitchen- had to. Now I scrub cupboards every week. (see the above mention at my state of light-headedness) Thought of doing a white wash on the custom table my brother is going to build me— DUMB. 8 people, homeschool, holidays? Dumb. Remember the white Pottery Barn sofas we all needed a few years back? Please.

Anything other than full gloss paint. My fancy friend painted her whole house- all with gloss paint. I remember thinking, “That’s weird… I thought you only did the high gloss stuff in bathrooms? Maybe I’ve been reading the sign in the paint department wrong?” No- she’s a genius. High gloss EVERYTHING! Clean up? The best. Anything other than high gloss in your house– dumb. Still need to have some white? High gloss. Problem fairly solved. (That and keeping your kids/dogs/husbands in bubbles.)

Doors. Ok, privacy- I get it. But doors get SO dirty! Dust collects on the pretty trim and indents (see point 1), grimy hand prints muck up all kinds of areas, dogs leave a slew of marks along the bottom portion– they get GROSS. And I cannot stand gross doors! Future home– as FEW doors as possible and probably some form of natural wood doors with as flat a surface possible. And no white, see the two previous points. (Also- great way to use macrame– a new obsession! Door curtains? YES!) Closet doors fall here too! HATE closet doors!

Anything other than natural flooring. Dumb. Carpet- collects SO many nasty things! Dirt, fleas, germs– YUCK! And I swear any form of laminate/plastic compound of some sort just gets so dirty SO quick! Raw wood sanded to perfection or an earthen floor. I’ve even contemplated concrete- then I could use a leaf blower to clear it off and power wash the floors. Boom.

Lots of cabinets/closets/storage. If you need that many places to tuck crap away– you have TOO much crap! You don’t need it, stop cluttering your home and wasting your money. A few, high quality, key items, a specific spot for each, and be done. It’ll look better, cut down on cleaning, be cheaper and your mind will feel at ease.

Tile. On the floor, counter tops, shower, anywhere! Some may be gorgeous.. but the GROUT… UGH! Scrubbing grout sucks- no way around it! And it gets so nasty- just say no. Maybe a little, well sealed on like a backboard or something. Flat surfaces that will constantly by used/walked on? No– that’s dumb.

Any furniture not hand crafted. I love you Ikea, I do. Pottery Barn, Overstock, Homegoods– love ya all. All the furniture? Guys– it’s crap. Stop investing in particle board pressed off a machine, covered in something pretty and called furniture. Build it yourself (you CAN do it) or buy local/handmade. Every time– you’ll thank me later.

 

Imagine cleaning a house that resulted after removing all those items! I hear angels singing… ahhhh…. One day!