#attunedpracticetuesdays: where we share the rituals and routines that are aligned with our sense of peace and wellbeing A couple of months ago, while working on a commission project , I started a new practice. I was listening to audio books while working since the project required my eyes but not my full attention, and since it was fairly labor intensive, I took the weekends off (not something I would normally do). Lacking something to do with my hands, the first Saturday I decided to put my speedy reading to good use and read a novel in one sitting (my preferred method, anyway). Then I read another novel the next Saturday. And now it has becomes a weekly thing. The only rule is that it has to be fiction - I read enough non fiction that a novel a week isn't going to hurt anything (and it wouldn't anyway, reading is reading). Helping out with Paper Heart Books and attending a bring-your-own-book-club meeting last week helped restock my dwindling supply. I like to get hard cop...

October is the Month of Fun Outings. The weather is generally pleasant, many things are less crowded than they are in summer because school has started back, and there are also an array of local events. We try to make the most of it, since I got used to not getting sick while we stayed in for a couple years so now we ride out the germiest months at home. But before that, we frolic. We'll miss our favorite fall festival due to scheduling conflict, but there will be a small one at my eldest's dance studio, and we're all going to the state fair this year. There are street fairs and at some point soon we'll go and each choose a pumpkin to stack on the front step five deep, and my littlest will name each family member while pointing at their pumpkin every time we go in or out the door.  I've started leaving windows open at night, and sometimes it's been cool enough to have them open during the day, too. My desk candle has expanded to three candles on a cheese board b...

I recently looked up the rest of the Mary Oliver poem that ends in "tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" because that was the only part I had ever heard, and it turns out the rest of The Summer Day  is about going for a walk and lying about in the grass. That's what she planned to do with her one wild and precious life. I feel like it gets misapplied a lot. As the weather grows cooler, I've been thinking about foraging, as a concept. I am a terrible gardener. Even as a child I loathed getting up early and tramping through the dewy grass to the dusty garden to water and pull weeds. As an adult, I stumbled onto the one plant that likes the climate of my front windows but claim no personal credit for their flourishing. If we ever move I may have to leave them here, to ensure their survival. There's also a pot of mint by my front step that survives on rain water or when one of the kids points out that it's a bit crunchy. Plants...

One philosophy that I hold quite firmly is "if it's not fun for everyone, it's not fun," applied not only to child/child interactions but also including myself. There is no reason for me to wear myself ragged helping everyone else have a good time at my own expense (this also aligns with another oft repeated phrase in our home: "everyone is the same important"). They play at the park, I sittervise with a cup of coffee and a knitting project I don't have to keep my eyes on all the time. On Saturdays, they have "taptap time" (noneducational games on their tablets and supervised internet access to download new episodes of their favorite podcasts) and I read an entire novel in one sitting. If it's not fun for everyone, it's not fun. Under this model, anyone is allowed input (since we're usually all impacted by the decision). Being the Generator of All Ideas is an exhausting job for one person, and this gives the kids a chance to practic...

The project that took up most of my month was two [redacted], one a sample/test knit for an upcoming book and one a personal item for the publisher because she liked the original so much but it wasn't in her size. I can't wait to share them with you once the book comes out, but in the meantime, to give you an idea of the time that went into them, here's a list of the audio books I listened to while working on them: Remote Control  by Nnedi Okorafor (a reread) Hood Feminism  by Mikki Kendall (possibly my favorite book so far on intersectional feminism) Under the Whispering Door by TJ Klune Writing Down the Bones  by Natalie Goldberg (the library audiobook I listened to was an anniversary edition read by the author with added commentary at the end of each chapter, which was delightful) Noor  by Nnedi Okorafor (another reread) Cultish  by Amanda Montell (got a hard copy of this one to add to my yearly reads shelf) The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman The Princess Dia...

#attunedpracticetuesdays: where we share the rituals and routines that are aligned with our sense of peace and wellbeing I have tried to be a morning person. I really have. All through my teenaged years, my mom (who, by nature or through years of practice, is an early riser) insisted on my morning alarm being set for 6am (a concession on her part; she would have preferred five). I have intermittently attempted to get up before the kids in order to have some uninterrupted time at the beginning of the day - but I've ultimately found that the thing that most helps set my day on the right path is not starting it with the blaring of an alarm. Since my natural waking time is... not early, let's leave it at that, that required some adjustment to the generally prescribed daily order that leaves one, according to self-help influencers and Benjamin Franklin, "healthy, wealthy, and wise." Historically, we have done school in the morning. Theoretically everyone is at their best a...

My partner and I came from households with two contrasting money management strategies: one household who sorted cash from every paycheck into labeled envelopes and still sits down together on Sunday evenings to write everything in a ledger, and one household who had more of a "spend it when you get it so you'll have food to eat when the money runs out" philosophy. As the more financially literate partner, budgeting fell to me when we got married. I initially tried to track everything but found that to be a soul-sucking endeavor that didn't really help me accomplish my goals. I have finally landed on a simplified system where I keep a list of each pay period's major recurring expenses, check them off as they occur, and then divide the remaining balance to produce a "daily spending limit." The bills are paid and I'm not trying to figure out what line item flavored coffee syrup should fall under (groceries? eating out? personal spending?) I recently re...