Life Changes

Fun ceramic things in part of the Kinder-Garden

Summer has been wonderful to the Kerlin family, this year.  I have really enjoyed our new "kinder-garden" (as I have dubbed it) in our front yard.  Instead of trying to resussitate the dry, hot, sunny,  dusty, goatshead filled back yard into a play area for our 2 toddlers, who love to run around barefoot and at least one burns just by saying the word sun, I moved our play yard to the front yard!  Ok, we have to be careful because of stupid ordinances in our city that hate to see kids, but really, our neighbors love us, so we're ok for now.  I just make sure the toys are all reigned in as best possible at the end of the day.  We have a sand box, a pool, a swing, and a few ride on toys, and other than that they help me in the flower garden box I saved for them, some fun ceramic things that Joey gave them to play with, and generally just muck around in the (mostly) green grass in the (mostly) shady yard.

"I found a grass seat!"  Beatrice

With that, the wheels in my brain have been turning.  Ok, we have had some INCREDIBLE heat this summer, which locked us indoors for about 2 weeks, but really, other than that, why do I need to have them play indoors at all?  For my sake?  So I can get work done?  P-shaw!  And honestly, even when it gets nasty outside, why do I need babysitters for my babies?  You know, the kind that keep them from gnawing at the furniture and ruining your cell phone while your back is turned trying to type?  Really, what I need is to be ever more present in their lives.  Really.

from our very impromptu rainy day walk on the only known rainy morning we've ever had in Colorado

So, I gave up Facebook.  I KNOW!  I have been on Facebook since it began, and actually before. When my school wasn't part of the original FB network, some computer science nerd put one together for us, and then FB bought it from them.  Cool, huh?  It was when I was 19 and 20, but really?  Two kids and I still need to feel "connected" to all those friends and people I knew back then?  Sure, I still have a lot of friends from college, but honestly, I'm sick of the gossipy and stalkery nature of facebook.  Really?  I haven't talked to you in 10 years and you know how many kids I have, you've seen all my wedding photos, and you could recite all the jobs I've had since High school?  Nope.  I need to be done.

Oh, and it's not easy.  I've  been trying to quite FB for about a year now.  It's an addiction!  So I've gone cold turkey, and perhaps on the hardest day of the year for me.  Yes, call me crazy.

Along with that, I canceled our Netflix subscription. We only had instant on the Wii netflix, but really, if I was busy, or trying to clean, what did I do?  I turned on the babysitter to entertain Charlotte (and maybe Beatrice) instead of showing them how to clean, and letting them help.  Or better yet, waiting until nap to do whatever i needed to do (like type this blog post).

Dirt painting requires nothing, and provides hours of entertainment by all!

We're also cutting out cell phones (except for 1 that will go with the car) and I'm reverting to a "dumb phone" from my current G2, and getting an old fashioned house phone instead.  But that will take a few months to phase out since our contracts are all over the place during the year. 

All of this, plus we're seriously downsizing.  I'm getting rid of half of everything we own.  I want to fit our house in a house half the size because, eventually, and soon, I want to move to a house half the size.  Clothes that don't fit me any more?  GONE!  No more hopeful jeans for me.  I'm forward driven, not back.

And on that vein, Joey and I have taken a turn in our eating habits after reading (ok, we're ALMOST done) "Why We Get Fat, and What to do about it" by Gary Taubes.  While the girls aren't going without their daily bread, we certainly are.  Or at least, Joey is mainly because, well, seeing as I'm pregnant, I will be making the move a little less suddenly than he is.

Yup, I said it, I'm pregnant with number 3.  (See, blogging world, you get to know thing before Facebook sometimes.)  Hence the lack of serious posts over the last several weeks.  So maybe all this is just early nesting, or maybe it's born from a serious desire to REDUCE our home to the basics before we add anybody else to the mix.  In a permanent, visible, way that is.  (Baby's due early next year, but I won't give specifics because my children have proven so far to never obey due dates anyway).