Loving the SoCal lifestyle!

Boy, when you're poor, nothing beats a warm day outside! When my dad was a young boy (age 8), his mother moved him and his two sisters (ages 8 and 9) to Florida. Without any child support from her ex-husband (long story), living in a temperate climate was the best solution for her since she wouldn't have to pay huge heating bills or buy her kids winter clothing.

Yes, Florida gets cold (I have a picture of my mom in college at Tampa making a snowman!), but it beats the northern climates by a landslide. Same with southern California. Today was a beautiful day -- sunny and mild with a little breeze. I took my younger son and his buddy down to Pirate's Cove to climb around on the rocks and sword fight with their wooden weapons. They hiked around tidepools, scaled a rock face, and were happy and free in their bathing suits.

I sat and read, watched the boats, climbed a bit myself, and just enjoyed being outdoors.

Later, when we came home, the boys attacked our friend's Christmas tree, which they'd donated to us for firewood. Boys and hatchets! Always a good mix.

This and That...

I've signed up to sell at a local farmer's market, the downtown Anaheim one over by the Muzeo. I stopped by today to prowl around and see what they've got for sale and found some great jute bags sold by a couple of really nice folks. I love that the handles are rounded off, not flat, as those tend to scratch me. The slogan on the front of the bag reads "This is SO not a plastic bag!" I had to laugh, then I had to buy it. It's kind of like a gunny sack and cost $5; I have a feeling I'll have this bag for a loooooong time.

I'll be starting there next week and am really looking forward to regular access to farm-fresh produce. Whoo hoooo!

Bring on 2010!

When I started this blog, my husband had been unemployed for a few months and I was finding it heartening to try and do as much from scratch as possible to stretch our shaky finances.

Now it's almost one year later. Hubby is still unemployed. Our finances are shakier. And yet... we are surviving. For one thing, Hubby was able to get a contract job for a few months which added back in some much-needed $$$. He and I have both been taking freelance jobs whenever possible (print brokering for him; light graphic design for me). He's put his head shots and CV on a couple of casting sites and picked up some acting jobs. I've begun selling hairclips and jewelry at boutiques and craft fairs (www.lillarose.biz/pam). We are making it.

Christmas was fine. It was smaller, but we made it more fun by drawing names to give out stocking presents (instead of Mama buying everything). It meant more out of our kids' pockets, but they had such a good time planning and shopping! Christmas morning was much more fun as we opened our stockings and found a wind chime for me and a mushroom scrubber for Hubby, LOL!

This new year brings uncertainty as to finances, but a firm realization that as a family we can pull through. I've become extremely creative at making dinner out of almost anything. Tonight is calzones using leftover sausage! I'll post some recipes this month of some of our favorites (the spicy seafood tortilla soup on New Year's Eve was a big hit).

Happy New Year!

It's Christmas!

Oh Christmas Tree... Oh Christmas Tree! This is our very first plastic tree. Every year we trek around to tree lots for the perfect Noble Fir, but this year is different. Money is scarce, but our ornaments are plentiful. We sat down as a family and agreed that a 4 foot fake tree was better than nothing (although my teenager is still dissenting).

It's hard to make out individual ornaments in this picture, but some highlights include the rocking horse my friend Janet made me in 1977; the seashell snowman made by Jack's friend Kanji about five years ago; the little butterfly and pig ornaments colored on one side by my mother and one side by my 3-year-old hands; and the jewel and shell encrusted ornaments my grandmother labored over and sold in order to make ends meet for her growing family.

There is no way we could eliminate a tree at our house. The tree skirt given to us by a friend...the funky folk art Santa sitting on the moon as our topper... the shiny Santas in various vehicles (well, we do have boys). You can see the hot air balloon on the right just under the white paper plate angel made by Steve when he was in preschool. That's a favorite of ours!

Best of all, it only took two strings of light to fully illuminate the tree and I could spin it around while I decorated! Lovely.

Ho Ho Ho!!!

The Christmas spirit is alive and well at our house! Even reduced circumstances can't take away from the joy we have in Christ's birth. One of the ways we celebrate is with presents (it's a birthday party, right?), so I've definitely done some shopping. A really neat thing this year is my 12-year-old son who has completely embraced the consumer spirit of Christmas and is doing all is own shopping, even hopping on his bike and hitting Wal-Mart on his own.

This is a big deal to me because we live in a very urban area dominated by SUV's driven by idiots on cell phones. We've gone through all the road safety rules a million times, but ultimately I have to send my child out and pray for him while he's gone. What keeps me going is the knowledge that God had to send out His own son to cope with the idiots on earth. My child isn't divine, but some day he'll live eternally with Jesus, and that is the best Christmas gift of all.

It's a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree!

Well, not quite. This year we haven't got one spare dime for "extras" at Christmas, so we broke down and bought an artificial tree on ebay. None of us are thrilled, but the kind of tree we'd want fresh would cost well in excess of $65. We got the fake one for about $20. It's not great, but we'll be able to hang our ornaments.

Getting any tree at all is a sacrifice this season, but our ornaments are an integral part of our family's Christmas. Our history is on that tree -- no fancy ribbons and themed colors for us, our tree contains hand-made ornaments from various family members and friends. I have the clay rocking horse my friend Janet made me in 1977; Jack has the shell snowman made by his scout buddy, Kanji; we have the exquisite shell-encrusted balls made decades ago by my paternal grandmother... these people are no longer in our daily lives, but they were important to us. Their presence and memories are reinforced when we place their treasures on our tree. My favorites are the pig and butterfly ornaments colored on one side by my mother, and scribbled on the other by me at age three.

In addition we have shiny happy ornaments that we've picked up on various vacations. I also buy the boys a new ornament every year that represents something that they love in their lives. One day they'll get married, and I'll box up their ornaments and make a very precious wedding gift to my sons and their wives. They'll start their own traditions with some that they already love.

Trying to get regular...

And no, I'm not taking more fiber! Life has been somewhat chaotic here this semester with Jack taking two out-of-the-house classes in two different cities. Both classes/teachers are excellent, but I'm doing a TON of driving and our homeschooling has a very different look this year.

I keep thinking back to the pioneers and how they'd walk or ride five or six miles (or more) to visit a neighbor. It keeps me from complaining about the 40 mile round-trip commute twice a week, that's for sure. Of course, their fuel was growing alongside the road while I'm utilizing carbon-based fossil fuels that pollute the environment.

Along that note, it was time to get the old covered wagon overhauled. The "check engine" and "brake" lights have been flashing, so the car was trying to tell me something. I knew my rear brakes needed attention, and had been told by my tire dealer that the rear shocks were worn and needed to be replaced, so I figured it was easy to kill two birds with one stone and do everything at once.

Much to my very happy surprise, my mechanic said the shocks were fine for several thousand more miles, the engine light flashed on at a routine mileage point (he checked all that out), and yes, the brakes needed replacing. Total cost: $250 instead of the close to $600 I thought it was going to be! I LOVE MY MECHANIC. Note to self: don't let the tire dealer anywhere near my car for repairs, just tires.