Home Front Economics

currently reading

October 21, 2013 by Megan

I read…A LOT.
Especially when I’m stressed.
I spent the last half of September stressed (and the first half of October for that matter) so I read even more than I usually would.
I thought I’d give you a list of what I’m currently reading and what I’ve plowed through recently.

Currently reading Insurgent by Veronica Roth.

Insurgent is a followup to Divergent which I finished in 2 days this weekend because I’m ridiculous and a total sucker for a good dystopian young adult series.
{don’t judge me}
Super easy read and totally addicting.
::UPDATE::
Totally stopped writing this post to neglect the entire world and finish this book because the last book in the series comes out tomorrow.

Just before I started my young adult fiction binge I had finished Daring Greatly by Dr. Brene Brown.
WOW.
Yup. All caps.
I loved this book and it was crazy challenging.
It’s about vulnerability.
Nuf said.
Actually I have zero problem with vulnerability with the 4 people in my life I actually let-in close enough to be vulnerable with.
As a Christian I don’t agree with all the underlying reasons for vulnerability found in the book, but in light of the Gospel the challenge to be more vulnerable is that much more compelling.

In a completely different category is The Entitlement Trap by Richard and Linda Eyre.
I actually read this book several months ago.
It was a jumping off point for My Soldier and I as we solidified our standing as mean parents.
We had been pretty fed up with our tiny little consumers who felt very entitled to ALL THE THINGS and were pretty crappy stewards of the stuff they already owned.
So, in the last six months we have slowly established a family economy as Eyre calls it.
It’s not precisely implemented as Eyre prescribes it, and I can elaborate later, but the results are PHENOMENAL.
Now my kids do chores they aren’t paid for, do jobs around the house that they earn money for, and buy ALL of their own toys outside of birthdays and Christmas.
{and the parents said hallelujah}
We can go to stores and they do not asks for a thing, if they do we remind them that they earn there own money and they can save for it and buy it with their own cash.
No whining. No complaining.
We thank Jesus for what we do have and treat it well because Mama and Papa won’t replace it if it breaks.
{i told you we are mean parents}

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.
The Cadet and I are currently reading through The Chronicles of Narnia which has been a delight.
Homeschooling has it’s perks, like picking reading material that has been on your To Read list for an eternity and chalking it up to education for the punk kid who likes a good epic battle.
We didn’t actually own the whole series so we picked up this pretty leather-bound edition at Barnes and Noble.

So that’s us what keeps me glued to my Kindle at every spare moment of time.
Those are all direct links because I’m not cool enough for affiliate links and probably wouldn’t use affiliate links even if I was that cool.

Cheers!
-Megan

Category extracurricular | Tags: , books | 1 Comment
the dining room in the southern house

August 14, 2013 by Megan

Here it is!
The dining room here in The Southern House.
Although it’s our dining room we tend to use it more for school, My Soldier studying, sewing projects, coloring, and setting stuff down and not touching it for weeks.
{totally had to move piles of flight school paraphernalia off of the table to take these photos}
We do very little dining here as we tend to eat in the kitchen where all the surfaces are wipeable. {not a word}
I’m on my third kid and wipeability {totally not a word} increases value.

Here is where we started a year ago.

I love this room.
I put a lot of thought into it because it’s definitely the focal point of this house.
Regardless of where you are in any of the shared spaces in this house you’re pretty much always staring at the dining room.
The above photos were taken from the living room.

This is the view from the kitchen.
And yes, I totally put an ivory rug on beige carpet which happens to be the exact same color as my beige walls.
Off in the distance there you see a peek through of the gallery wall in the hallway by the front door.

Also from the kitchen.
You can see the bookshelf gifted to us by Mel which is currently stuffed with cookbooks, maps, and binders full of flight school texts.
White binders with Army regulation numbers printed on the spine isn’t exactly a design choice as much as it is necessity.

Same corner as seen from the living room.
Stacks of homeless books.
{oh so many books}
The baskets are full of table lines and our bibles.
The bottom drawers are full of office supplies and kid’s art supplies.
I once had big plans for painting this shelf but I have yet to do anything with it 2 years later.

Guess what?!?
I have learned how to keep plants alive!!
{and they all said hallelu-yer}
And thus the new mantra is:
Put a Plant On It!

This is the school corner.
The Cadet sits there and does his work.
The Peanut stands by and screams at him while he does said work.
The Mama drinks coffee and turns the record player up louder.
And on the cycle goes.

I used a vintage pants hanger above his desk to display Instagram photos.

This is the view from the living room peeking through to the kitchen.

Some of my favorite things are on display here, the largest of which is that painting by my friend Scott of Notre Dame.
A vintage globe, a drum from Uganda, a vintage fan, our collection of rocks from all over the world, the giant carboy on the floor there which has collected spare change the whole of my life…all things that make me smile.
That locker unit is the first piece of furniture My Soldier and I purchased 8 years ago right before we got married.
It’s from Ikea and I’m pretty sure they still sell it.
It houses all of our homeschool materials which get locked away when we are done so they aren’t constantly screaming at me.

You couldn’t really see the curtains in the previous photos which is why I took this one.
I patched together white and ivory muslin to create floor to ceiling curtain panels.
It gives the loveliest texture when the light filters through them.
That window stares directly at the house across the street which is a duplicate of this house.
{such is the nature of army living, from the uniforms to the houses, everything blends in}
As such, I wanted curtains that wouldn’t block the light since they are pulled shut quite frequently.

I hope you enjoyed the space!
I have lofty dreams of entertaining here but dinner parties have been few and far between since moving south.
We enjoy it though and I’m glad I can at least share it with the whole of the blogoshpere!

Category homemaking | Tags: , army life, decorating, home, organization | 1 Comment
the decision to homeschool

August 5, 2013 by Megan

As of tomorrow I get to add homeschooling to the long lists of things I don’t excel at.
My Helper will return to her Primary School for 1st grade and The Cadet will be shackled to that lovely vintage desk to learn the 3R’s.
{there won’t really be shackles but it would be easier if there were}

:::CAUTION RANT COMMENCING:::
I don’t feel I need to justify our decision to anyone in this space but I will offer some insight into why we are homeschooling The Cadet in case you’re either grossly curious, debating this option for your own family, or bored.
If you have strong anti-homeschooling notions and are amping yourself up for some guilt-free judgement slinging you can feel to not read this and to click on, click on, keep on clickin’ on.
:::RANT CONCLUDED:::

The long and the short of it is that our local school couldn’t guarantee that they could keep my diabetic child out of a coma.
It’s not that cut and dry but that was really the deciding factor.
The school was actually great and willing to do a lot but they weren’t willing to give him any injections which would have required me dragging The Peanut to the school to deal with The Diabeetus in the middle of the school day.
Dislike.
They also weren’t willing to inject the drug Glucagon in case he passed out from low blood sugar.
Huge dislike.
Considering that the above scenario could land him in a coma ala Steel Magnolias we decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
At this point he’s too young to be managing much of his diabetes on his own and we’ve chosen to not put him on an insulin pump for the time being.
Doctors, parents, and child all agree it’s the best move so here we are.

This decision was also not made solely due to medical reasons but I don’t feel like outlining all 76.5 reasons he is staying home to receive his education.
This decision isn’t a declaration that we’ll be homeschooling forever.
For now the best choice is to send My Helper back to the environment she loves {loves!!!} and flourishes in.
When we move in 2014 {don’t ask when or where cause i don’t know and it makes me grumpy} we very well might pull her home as well.
We’ll take it kid by kid, year by year, duty station by duty station.

Category homeschooling | Tags: , homeschooling, The Cadet, The Diabeetus | Comments Off
sewing a new wardrobe

July 30, 2013 by Megan

3 cheers for a 2 month hiatus!
Life happens, my attentions were where they needed to be, I feel absolutely ZERO guilt about that.

So in my absence The Peanut turned 1.
There were carrot cake cupcakes and a 2-day panic from The Cadet’s blood sugar readings being through the roof.
Good times.
Good times.
Next year we will just eat carrots and skip the cake for everyone’s birthdays.

About a month after The Peanut was born I was back at my “normal” weight.
{not sure i like having a normal weight or any other measure or normalcy}
When you vomit your entire pregnancy it’s pretty easy to make friends with your scale after baby arrives.
Since then I’ve lost another 40ish lbs.
This was not intentional, I had no goal, and it wasn’t consciously done.
I have no secret weight loss tips, it just happened.
{although if i could figure out the formula i could be rich}

One of the problems that has arisen from losing weight is that nothing in my wardrobe fit anymore.
I’m sure most women would be ecstatic about this but I was not.
{seriously though, i am still pissed}
I never had a problem with my weight before, I’ve always been pretty confident, and I built myself a wardrobe of pieces I LOVE!
There was a bit of an investment involved too since a large chunk of my wardrobe was culled from the Anthropologie sale racks.

Thankfully, I sew.
{sigh of relief}
Although most of my pants can’t be altered a bunch of the rest of my wardrobe can.
On top of that, I have a loverly pattern collection which I can use to fill the holes.
Enter McCall’s 5884.
This blouse was super easy to sew!
I found the fabric at Hancock’s and was immediately smitten.
Kind of a shock since 99.9% of my wardrobe consists of ivory, black, gray, and navy items.
Not so much vibrant yellow.
But what can I say?
It was sweet penguin love that called to me!

I had cut the fabric from the smallest size in the pattern’s size range, but alas, it was still too large.
2 months after I originally sewed it up I took it in 1.5″ on each side and finished it with flat-felled/turned under seams.

I had a recent fashion epiphany and discovered the pure perfection that is the black skinny jean.
{and they all said “amen”}
Seriously, somehow I missed the memo on the universal goodness that are black skinny jeans.
I blame the entire state of Hawaii.
A wardrobe staple that slims, goes with everything, can be dressed up or down, keeps me from mom-frump, and hides stains from gross Army Brats?
Sign me up.
I wear them almost everyday.
And yes, they match my penguin blouse.

I’m off to hunt down some homeschool curriculum because we are officially that family.
More on that later!
Cheers!

Category sewing | Tags: | 1 Comment
on finally figuring myself out

April 9, 2013 by Megan

Just over a month ago I had one of those rare light bulb moments that ends up being life-altering.
I figured out that I am in fact an introvert.

I’m assuming most people are fully aware if they are introverts or extroverts.
My Soldier is a text book introvert.
That man lives in his head.
Outwardly, My Soldier and I have completely opposite personalities.
I just assumed I was an extrovert because he wasn’t.
I can be boisterous, I LOVE a good party, and I tend to be spontaneous but (and here’s the kicker) I tend to reach a breaking point with people and social situations.
I basically thought I was an extrovert…but just a really awful one.

The light bulb moment occurred when I was reading this post on homeschooling as an introvert.
{and yes, i realize it’s odd that i don’t homeschool but religiously follow homeschool blogs}
It led to me taking this Myers Briggs personality test.
I don’t normally put much stock in this type of stuff but when I was reading the description of my personality type I let out a big sigh of relief.
I finally figured myself out.
{i’m an istp in case you were wondering – and that description is spot on}
And to keep me from sounding like a total idiot, apparently having a seemingly baffling personality is key characteristic to ISTP’s.

And in classic Megan fashion, I then started to study what it means to be an introvert.
Then, I stopped apologizing for being a bad extrovert.
I used to say ‘no’ to lots of social engagements, especially when My Soldier is gone, and I would feel riddled with guilt.
People often express concern with my hermit-esque tendencies which in turn would worry me that I wasn’t worried about not socializing and never feeling particularly lonely.
(not sure that makes sense but go with me here)
Now I embrace the fact that taking a time out from people (including my children) keeps me sane, makes me a better parent, a better friend, and has boosted my productivity.

How has it boosted my productivity; you ask?
Having never considered how my personality affects areas in my life I consequently never thought to play to my strengths or be proactive about my weaknesses.
I spend all day with a wee small gang of terrors known as my children.
I never took breaks from the chaos because isn’t that what naptime was for?
But, by the time naptime arrived I usually would have a mental shutdown and couldn’t get anything done!
And then when I took a survey of our home at the end of the day I would berate myself for being a lazy bum!
It’s not laziness, it’s self-preservation!
Seriously, as of a month ago I now take an intentional break anytime I feel like I’m going to snap.
{snapping tends to lead to me asking people for forgiveness for biting their heads off}
I’ll read or just take a moment to think, and then rejoin life a few minutes later, calmer and more focused.
Trickle down effect?
My house is suddenly cleaner and my children are 100% less annoying.
{and they all said hallelujah}
There are a couple of more contributors to the suddenly cleaner home front but not being a frazzled headcase is the biggest help.
So if you’re one of the few people I haven’t already pestered to take a thorough personality test I highly recommend it.
I made My Soldier take it, he’s an ISTJ, which incidentally is the same as my mother.

Category extracurricular, homemaking, housekeeping | Tags: | 1 Comment
the diabeetus and how it’s going

March 26, 2013 by Megan

The Cadet celebrating his first 100 blood glucose reading with a couple of Polaroids!

It’s been 2.5 months since The Cadet was hospitalized and diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
Two months in and it seems old hat.
Something about being asked to keep your child alive forces you get a good grasp on the care plan REAL quick.
All of the ill effects of of his Diabetic Ketoacidosis have resolved themselves.
He’s gained back the weight and energy and is back to being a rambunctious little guy.
He’s not the biggest fan of diabetes but he’s so laid back and go with the flow that he has adjusted better than My Soldier and me.

About a month ago I had TOTAL diabetic parent burnout.
{not sure that’s a real thing but let’s go with it}
It’s a lot of work to keep up with involving a lot of math (so not my strong point}, endlessly checking blood sugar, giving shots, and worrying about what his blood sugar levels are doing.
It’s no less work, but I’ve adjusted to it at this point and we just keep trucking on.

I’ve never worried much as a parent.
I am actually probably laid back to a fault as evidenced by The Cadet being in full on Diabetic Ketoacidosis before we took him to the ER.
We just kept dismissing the symptoms.
We were at an Army function the other night and sat across from a lady who has Type 2 Diabetes.
She was asking about his diagnosis and she offers up,
“Wow! You’re lucky he didn’t die!!”
Thanks total stranger!
Why yes, we are lucky he didn’t die.
But don’t think I haven’t thought about it!

The other day at breakfast The Cadet said something profound.
{the kid has some mighty profound thoughts at breakfast}
He said,
“Mama, I will ask God to take away my diabetes.
But if God says, ‘No, I want you to have diabetes’ then that will be ok too.”
And then I cried.
{Out of the mouth of babes…sheesh}
He’s the one whose pancreas up and quit.
He’s the one getting stuck with lancets and needles all day and night.
And here I am with my panties in a wad over a bit of math {ok a lot of math} and administering injections that KEEP HIM ALIVE?!?

I’ve had the first part of this written for a while.
Weeks even.
I guess I don’t know quite how to wrap up a post on our friend Diabeetus.
There is no “wrapping up” something that is as essential to his life as breathing.
My feelings are far from wrapped-up either.
I also don’t know what to share in this space because it’s not just my story, it’s not just my battle, and it’s not just my victories.
On the other side, not sharing about The Cadet’s diabetes is preventing me from sharing anything else in this space.
So I guess that leaves me at a bit of an impasse?
I’m going to hit Publish before I leave it undecided for 2 more weeks.

Category diabetes, faith | Tags: | 1 Comment
kelly skirt in nani iro

February 19, 2013 by Megan

A few months ago I got pretty frustrated with this post-baby body of mine.
{pretty sure every female who has had a child or 3 has been there}
Still loosing rapid weight, but hadn’t plateaued yet.
Definitely a good problem to have except that the wardrobe that I ♥ so much was all too big.
This meant that eventually I could buy smaller clothing but since I was still loosing over a pound a week that shopping spree was a ways off.
So logically I sewed something.

This is my most favorite pattern sewn in my most favorite fabric.

It’s the Kelly Skirt pattern by Megan Nielsen.
It’s a dream.
{a dream i tell ya}
I sewed it in Nani Iro’s Painting Muji which is a lightweight canvas.
I loooove this fabric.
There is actually a panel of it hanging on my bedroom wall.
I hoarded it for the duration of my pregnancy saving it for this very project.

The pattern is totally sewable exactly as drafted and written.
It’s actually the second Megan Nielsen pattern I’ve sewn if you recall the Darling Ranges maternity dress I sewed last year.
The only changes I made were to use gathers instead of pleats, make the raw selvedge edge the hem, and to make the waistband and placket a bit wider to accommodate the larger buttons.
The reason I went with gathers instead of pleats is because the pleats weren’t very flattering on the post-baby-belly squishiness.

When I say I love this pattern, I’m not exaggerating.
The Nani Iro version was the 3rd version I had sewn in the span of 3 days.

Version 1 was made in a lovely chambray.
(pardon the instagram photo)

Version 2 was made in a rayon challis.
(and again with the instagram photo in my dirty bathroom nonetheless)

The only changes I made on these two was to do gathers instead of pleats.
I also used fusible interfacing along the placket of the rayon challis version because it needed the added stability for the buttons.

I hope you like them.
I sure do.
And if you sew at all I HIGHLY encourage you to try Megan Nielsen’s patterns because they are just that lovely.

I hope you have a happy Tuesday.
We are hunkered down at home on this gray and rainy day.
My Helper has a stomach bug so we are catering to that with lots of couch time.

Category sewing | Tags: , clothing, sewing | 3 Comments
my pegboard window

February 13, 2013 by Megan

Let’s get real for a second.
My house is rarely clean.
Certain areas of my home might be clean at any given moment but rarely is the entire thing clean.
Case in point:

This was my sewing closet a couple of weeks ago.
Sadly this is part of our bedroom.
{obviously I missed the Martha Stewart issue about the bedroom being a sanctuary}
I could easily blame it on the holidays, or the fact that I was the wedding coordinator for my brother-in-law The Hot Shot who got married at the end of December, or that The Cadet was diagnosed with The Diabeetus and spent a week in the hospital….etc.
but it probably would have ended up this way regardless.

I realize that I do MUCH better at keeping The Southern House clean and void of clutter when there is a place for everything
{even if everything is not often in it’s place}
so with that in mind I tackled organizing my sewing area.

I purged, and purged {and purged some more} and then folded heaps of fabric all so I could reward myself with a trip to Lowe’s!!

That nice man is cutting a discounted piece of pegboard for us.
It was $9 because Jesus loves us.

I also got to hit the antique mall because My Soldier loves me.
$25 later I came home with a loverly vintage window.

Here is the before:
{because it’s some unwritten code of the blogoshpere to have a before picture}

3 hours of indentured servitude was provided by My Soldier who smashed all the glass out of the window and then meticulously cut individual panes of pegboard to fit each of the frames.
{i ♥ him}
And here is the after:

Tada!
It’s mounted above Betty and holds all of the various things I frequently am reaching for while sewing.
There is even a tiny little shelf that is perfectly sized for my 2nd-7th cups of coffee I tend to consume while sewing.
The whole project came to around $40 with the damaged pegboard, the window, and the pegboard hooks.
I hope you like it.
I sure do.
So much so that I might stare at it for prolonged periods of time.
{i realize that’s not normal}

Cheers!

Category homemaking, sewing | Tags: , betty, cleaning, decorating, home, organization, sewing | 1 Comment
the day the cadet’s pancreas broke

January 27, 2013 by Megan

2 weeks ago The Cadet {my darling superhero of 4} was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
{ugh}
After a couple of weeks of showing some bizarre symptoms (like constant thirst, frequent urination, and rapid weight loss) he ended up in the ICU.

I hope and pray that no one reading this ever has to see their child in the ICU.
For those who don’t know, {or those too ignorant to care} Type 1 Diabetes occurs when the body’s immune system attacks the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.
My son’s pancreas broke.
Without the ability to make insulin his body can’t use the sugar in his bloodstream for energy.
Without insulin you die.
So now my super-tough 4-year old receives shots of insulin all day, everyday, and he’ll continue to do so for the rest of his life.

So how are we doing?
We are fine.
Honestly.
{that’s not some estrogen-loaded definition of fine but a webster’s dictionary definition of fine}
That’s not to say that it didn’t affect me.
I did most of my concerned-parental-panicking the day before he landed in the hospital.
My heart just hurt, and continues to hurt, for such a big burden on such a little guy.
My Soldier had his break down the day he was diagnosed.
We both spent the whole of the week he was in the hospital learning everything we could on Type 1 Diabetes because it is now our job to keep The Cadet alive…literally.
In classic Megan-is-addicted-to-books fashion, I began reading everything I could get my hands on.
We now check his glucose levels 10-12 times a day including a couple of times a night, we count carbs, do lots of diabetes related math, and give shots like it’s nothing.

And God is good.
We’re grateful that The Cadet isn’t an overly emotional kid.
We’re thankful that by nature he’s super tough and totally adaptable.
We’re thankful that we didn’t have to make any major diet changes.
We’re thankful for the people who have come alongside us to help us through the crisis part of his diagnosis.
We’re crazy grateful for the healthcare available to us from The Army.
And I’m shallow enough to be grateful that There’s An App For That.

Yes it’s a chronic disease
but
we have everything available to us to give him a normal childhood.
With that in mind we hit the ground running and found our new normal and have been cruising ever since.

I’ll probably do a series of posts realted to Type 1 Diabetes {which we affectionately refer to as The Diabeetus ala Wilford Brimley in the Liberty Medical commercials} and how we live with it.
They won’t be frequent, but for anyone out there in the blogoshpere with littles with The Diabeetus I know that any info can be helpful.

For those of you reading who I actually know and have been praying for The Cadet and the rest of our family,
Thank you!
{seriously, we are so grateful}
Honestly, we have felt so loved and supported through this whole roller coaster and are so grateful for our friends and family scattered across this tiny globe.

Category army living, diabetes, faith | Tags: , T1D, The Cadet, The Diabeetus, Type 1 Diabetes | 1 Comment
quiet spaces

November 12, 2012 by Megan

My Soldier has been gone for 3 weeks.
I talked to him for the 1st time today.
I got to wish him a ‘Happy Veteran’s Day.’
It made my heart happy.
I’ve spent 3 weeks not really talking, doing my best impersonation of a recluse.
{a recluse with a caffeine addiction and short temper.}
In all of my time hiding from people I have somehow managed to sew a ton of clothing.
I can’t bring myself to take self-portraits so you’ll have to wait for me to share.

The Army Brats and I are en-route to Seattle for 10 days.
{and don’t get any funny ideas people of the interwebs, i have a trained killer house-sitting}
The Deep South was smothering me in more ways than one.
I’ve been lonely, quiet, and a bit sad; but I don’t want this blog to be a Debbie Downer environment.
I also don’t want it to be dominated by a negative overtone.
But I don’t want to be fake, so I tend to not blog when I’m in either of those head-spaces.
I hope Seattle gives me a bit of time to breathe.
This space will likely be quiet.
Quiet is often good, especially when Jesus meets you in those quiet spaces.
And now I must feed The Peanut and head to bed.
{which happens to be one of my favorite quiet spaces}

To the men and women who have sacrificially served our country,
Happy Veteran’s Day!!

Category army living, extracurricular, faith | Tags: | Comments Off

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