Unschool Monday - Freedom

I hope I'm doing this right, I'm still not tech savvy, but I'm going to start participating in unschool Monday, an idea from Owlet's wonderful blog.

The most wonderful lesson unschooling has taught Indigo so far is that she can be ok, so much of her school time was spent not being enough, not fast enough, pretty enough, popular enough, smart enough (even though she's crazy smart, pretty, fast etc) Un schooling has given her this sense of freedom and independence that I was hoping for, but it's gone way beyond that! I've lost the moody, whiny, jealous little girl I had and in her place is a confident, self possessed, free thinking young lady who is a pleasure to spend my days with, and who feels confident enough to go play with her friends, join clubs, walk to the shops, talk to people on the phone, a whole range of things. I'm SO happy with our decision, my one regret is that I didn't unschool from the start, as I wanted to, but I can't go there, I did the best I could at the time and now that I know better I'm passing that on to her.

owlet: unschool monday :: look at them learning

Had for $14

Now I'm back in the spend spend SPEND mode (just kidding, I'm being very good really, the no spend challenge really did change how I use my money) I went op shopping yesterday. I'm very lucky that there's no op shops near by because I could seriously do this all day every day, I LOVE the hunt. This lot is surprisingly from a Salvos, and a new Salvos at that, I went in expecting majorly overpriced stock like you usually get with those guys, but this one is a goodie, I'll be back many times here! You can't really see in the pic but I got sixteen clothing items as well as a doll (who looks familiar, I'm thinking it's a Madeline? Rainbow won't know, but it's cute anyway) that is going to be put away for Christmas, she's sitting on a sewing kit, again is going to be for Christmas, I'll stock it up and give it to Indigo, an animal cage - that red wicker thing, which is awesome, I've been looking for one and this is the coolest one I've ever seen, I was sure I was going to have to get an ugly plastic model, this one looks great and is the perfect size for the cats or the rabbit when I need to take them to the vet, and lastly the big cane basket which is what I've been looking for to store shoes near the front door. Not thrilled with the color, I'll live with it for a bit and maybe paint it, but it's huge, perfect for all our shoes. I'm so happy that this lot only came to $14, I did a double take when the cashier told me!

Cute little kittens!

Here they are at one day old!They are little gooey balls of sweetness, but the girls annoyingly invited their friends over for cuddles so Jemima has fled with them up the manhole into the roof, so I can't get to them at the minute! We'll have to climb onto the roof and pull off a few tiles to reach them because they are too far from the manhole and we can't get to them. But at least they're not being bugged by kids at the moment! We'll have to wait for a day when it's not pouring rain to climb up, I don't really fancy doing it today in the wet.

Kitty love

This is not the mummy of the new kittens, and I sure as heck hope it's not the dad, because he's also their uncle, but just had to post a photo of Ginger involved in his fave pass-time - sleeping in someone's bed. This little guy thinks he's a person, at least in this pic he's in a traditional cat pose, I can't tell you how many times I've pulled back the covers to wake up Crystal and Ginger is there, flat on his back, paws above his head. Scares me every time! He's a treasure.

What would you do if you had no fear?

So what would I do if I had no fear? I can't tell you! Not that I don't want to, not that I won't, I will, and I'm bursting out of my seams to tell, but I can't. Ducks must be aligned.

And I'm not doing it because I have no fear of it, I have plenty, horrible fears both rational and irrational. I'm fearful that I'm going to disappoint some people (so many people :( but it's inevitable) I'm fearful that I can't hack it, I'm fearful that I'm going to damage my children, I'm fearful that I'm selfish, I'm fearful that it's all going to go horribly tragically wrong, I'm fearful that I don't know what I'm getting in to, I'm fearful that the bubble will burst, I'm fearful most of all I think that the fantasy is going to be just that, and that the new reality will be even more crap than the current reality but it will be too late. I'm fearful that I'm going to lose all I have and hold dear, and that I can't get it back.

HEAVY STUFF!!!! So here's a picture that makes me smile. Indigo in 'I'm a hippy, peace man' mode, yet she's blurred out Crystal in the background! Peace and Love doesn't extend to little sisters don't you know?

Oh, and tiny little footnote, I'm quite embarrassed to add, little Jemima our cat had kittens today. I know, I know, irresponsible pet owner me, I was planning to get her de-sexed I swear! I really was, she beat me to it though! It's her one and only litter, promise and I'll make sure they get good homes. Pictures to follow but they are four sweet little babies! They're going to be heaps of fun!

I pretty much suck

At the no spend challenge! I can't remember when my month is up, I can't remember what I've spent cash on and I can't be stuffed trying to figure it all out! To be fair I think I've basically done well. I've stopped spending for the sake of it, I haven't gone into an op shop for ages (well, ONCE last week, I spent $20, I know I know, that's way too much!) but I feel like it was valuable to get me really thinking about my buying habits and I have become more aware of it. But I'm done now! I'm not going to go nuts but on Thursday I am going to go op shopping in a big way, Indigo has this habit of growing like a weed and she doesn't have any bigger sisters to pass things down to her, so she needs new shoes (I'll probably get those new, but I've been lucky getting brand new shoes at oppys before so I'll have a hunt) and new summer clothes. And I'm really looking forward to it!

Pox on us and random things

Indigo has chicken pox now, again for the second time! What's with that? I thought we escaped with only Crystal getting them but nope, the minute we got back into society Indigo gets all spotty. She has it so bad, I feel really sorry for her. All over her face and body plus on her tonsils and all through her mouth. She's miserable, poor dear.

The positive is that it's made the no spend challenge a breeze! I spent $1.74 on soap, I count that as spending not groceries because I got the soap to do felting so it wasn't a necessary purchase. But that's it! Other than that it's only been food and petrol, I'm quite proud! I've walked past op shops and not gone in and I've thought about purchases and then not gotten them, I'm ace! The huge huge pay off is that I put an extra $300 on my debt and have money sitting around the day before pay day - RARE! So that's good, although I confess I am looking forward to it being over so that I can get some plants.