The best plans come about when everyone involved reconsiders and refines until the best solution comes clear. We have not hesitated to retool, revise, and re-do as necessary. Every iteration taught us something new, and every version incorporated new and better ideas. I only started to feel embarrassed when I thought about writing another...
Read more →I get credit in some circles for “being a good parent.” This makes me feel great, but here’s the secret just for you: my best parenting techniques are quite lazy. Anyone could do it. Housecleaning. Your house will look the same whether you pick up toys twelve times a day or just once after the...
Read more →It comes down to this: it will take too long. From the moment we can initiate construction on the yurt — and we still haven’t completed our research– we will have a six month lead time, at minimum, because it takes that long for Smiling Woods Yurts to build the kit. I understand; they...
Read more →This project has revealed things that I hadn’t expected. Some of the more obvious conversations I could have predicted: we’re discussing our beliefs and values around things like interior design, rural vs urban living, sustainability, environmentalism, and even plumbing preferences. However, I didn’t expect the project to unearth some strong differences in our spatial...
Read more →I wrote a post about bed-sharing when my daughter was in her first year. I advocate co-sleeping, and bed-sharing worked very well for me. It continued to work well into her second year, though it added additional difficulties and sweetnesses. For example, every time I rolled over she would nuzzle to nurse, and I...
Read more →Fifteen years ago, I would have confidently declared myself an extrovert. I talked a lot, enough that I received feedback that people sometimes had trouble getting a word in edgewise. Fortunately they found my subject matter interesting and my passionate discourse endearing. Plus, my gender read clearly as “cute geek girl,” so people mostly found me...
Read more →I wouldn’t have thought that choosing a site for our yurt would be so difficult. I know that this whole adventure is a process, with ideas and details that will morph and change often; however, I still figured that it would only take an afternoon to pick the right site. Well, I’ve walked the...
Read more →Texas summers are hot and humid. I’ve camped during the dog days of August; in my camp counselor days I spent most of the summer living in a canvas Army tent pitched on a platform in the beautiful and magical forest of the Lost Pines area. I had every advantage: an electrical outlet which ran a...
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