Cleaning up!

When we moved to Alabama, I realized that our property has a septic tank. If you don't know what that means it is simply this: An individualized waste-water disposal system. The house is 50 years old so our septic system is struggling a bit, but still working for now. Nevertheless, because a septic system relies on bacteria to break down waste, one has to be extra careful what they put down the drains. That's right. No more "anti-bacterial" cleaners for the Alexanders (shocker to me because I am crazy about bleach). This is good, because for years now I have been trying to figure out how to make the switch to organic and plant based biodegradable products. I just thought they were cost prohibitive. Now, I don't have much of a choice. For now, these are the products I have found and have been using for months. They smell great, work great, and yes - they are more expensive.

Myers, Method and Kirkland (Costco) have good solutions for dishes. Whether my kitchen sink or dishwasher - I have to be mindful of what goes down the drain!

I filled up a spray bottle of vinegar water. This is what I clean around all my drains with. For an abrasive scrub, I use baking soda on EVERYTHING! And I know I can be safe with Myers' All Purpose Cleaner.

For hands: all my bathrooms have Myers hand soap. It smells divine.

For showers: I love Dr. Bonners Castille soap. It's expensive, but transcendent. I am trying to figure out how to make my own shower gel. But that is about 5th down on the list right now. I have tried washing my hair with baking soda, and conditioning with apple cider vinegar. It was a good experience, but I have not gotten used to the feeling of no suds. :)

Laundry, I have been using ECO, a product I get at Sams. And Myers fabric softener. My friend Meredith has started making her own laundry detergent. She gave me a sample which I have been using the last couple of weeks. So far, so good. She is going to teach me how to do it. I will post about that in a few weeks.

I'm Outdoorsy.

A Gift in Spring!

Chelsea and Laila came for a visit!

My sister from another mother and her presh babygirl came to visit us over spring break! We had such a great time! Went to the Birmingham Zoo, to CHUY'S (of course), and just hung out here at the house for 5 blissful days!

It was such a sweet time I will treasure forever!

Cheers!

Best Animals on the Planet

Apollo: 4  Athena: 2  Helo: 1

My hen house is finished!

My wonderful Husband built me the henhouse of my dreams! The roof, the siding and the door, are repurposed materials. For nesting boxes, we used plastic 5gallon home depot tubs. And as for their evening roosting, we cut crape myrtle branches and fastened them to the walls so the chickens can roost off the ground on a rounded comfortable branch. It is 16X16. Big enough for about 30 hens. Right now I have 10, so hoping to build up my flock soon! I turn them out during the day so they can forage for bugs and greens. They are so lovely. And they are keeping up with our egg consumption - which is so nice!

At some point I will start selling my organic eggs. Said Creighton, "Awesome, that means that by 2020, we will have our hen house paid for...."

EWOK VILLAGE: Phase 1 of 3

Creighton has finished the first phase of our EWOK village. Two more structures to come, plus a bridge over the creek. I don't know who is having more fun with this property - the kids or us!!

This structure is two story. The first story has a 5 foot head clearing. The second level is lined with bamboo we cut right off our property. Each level is a 10x8 space for the kids to play on. And the upper level has a "porch" (one side that is open for them to dangle legs off).

Reading list

My friend just gave me the book The Hunger Games. Has anyone read it? I am a tiny bit afraid...

These are the books I am currently reading:

The encyclopedia of Organic gardening
ZEO, The Zombie guide to getting "a head" in business
Yoga Anatomy

These are the books I recently finished:

Self-sustaining with 5 acres
Composting for dummies
Living with chickens
Love Wins

Dreaming...

Fall in Alabama is amazing. It is beautiful outside. Creighton is busy building a tree house. I am busy working on my hen house (photos forthcoming). But today I am dreaming of our backyard outdoor living room.
This is the nearly blank slate we have to start with:



Plans for my fireplace: Hopefully it will look more like this:













And when we are done with the whole project, I am envisioning something like this:




Lots of plans in the works here at the Texas Embassy. I will keep you updated.

Obsession de jour: Tostitos Restaurant Style Salsa

Have you tasted this stuff? I could drink it right out of the jar.
I could dip kitty litter crackers in this and it would be transcendent.
I have literally consumed an entire jar in one sitting.

Iain McGilchrist: The divided brain | Video on TED.com

All Creatures of our God and King

We came to Alabama with Apollo (best dog on planet earth) and Athena (voted "most naughty" by all people on planet earth).















When we arrived, Bama the goat entered our lives. I have wanted a goat for a long time but our Overland Park suburban cul-de-sac was not conducive.






Then came Dolphin, the stray kitten. Fluffy, smart, friendly, hilarious. (Dolphin was the name of our swim team this summer and we found him at the pool).













Helo (pronounced Hee-lo) is our most recent purchase. Most money we have ever spent on an animal - and he is so worth it. What a well-bred prince, that one!







We finally bought a chicken coop and our first two chickens have turned out to be roosters - HAAAAA. But they are so much fun we can't get rid of them! Will be adding HENS very soon!












And besides that, it seems like every other day we are delighted by one of God's lovely creation!

























When we came to Alabama, my top priority on the list was to find some land (5acres) so the kids could have just a glimpse of what I was blessed to grow up with. The climate here is so great - we spend hours upon hours outdoors. I am very thankful for this property. We have been hard at work making it a wonderland for the kids. More on that later!

Shane and Shane in concert at Bama Wesley

Miss my friends!






It was so good to be with the Shanes last night at Bama Wesley. They are out on tour promoting their new CD "The One You Need".

People. This album is so good. So good. Go out and get it!

Living with chickens

I was so thrilled a month ago to get my young hens. The woman from whom I bought them told me that they were growing and would be close to laying within weeks. I waited - pregnant with anticipation.
You can imagine my surprise to discover that these hens, ahem, were not actually hens at all. They began to "cockadoodledoo" last week.




Yeah, I was likely tricked into buying roosters, as I haven't the slightest knowledge of the distinction of male and female in the black osterlorp breed (or of any breed for that matter). Thing is, now the children have already fallen in love with these birds! They are so tame and funny.
So, needless to say, we are keeping them. And Iris and Daisy have been appropriately renamed.

Check out my church production blog!

I invited my friend and colleague Josh Knight to join me on my church blog: churchproduction.wordpress.com

We talk about everything from presentation software to managing volunteers - communion servers to technical production products.

Pass the word around!

Garden Dreams

I have picked out the perfect spot for my garden.

It's close to the house, flat and sunny. Most of our property is sloped or heavily wooded. The garden area is overgrown with brush but it will be fairly easy to prep with a tiller.
I'm going for a design that is practical and simple, with raised beds. It will probably look something like this.




I will put a fence around it to keep the critters out. It is a fairly large area, so this is the future site of my chicken coop/yard as well.

A brief update on me and the family

1. Homeschooling is great. I have learned so much about the process and about myself. I have learned tons about my kids.
- their eating habits
- their preferred sleep habits
- when they get grumpy
- their love languages
- their conflict styles
- how to stop conflict before it starts
- their learning styles

2. I have been reading a TON (since I have no technological link to the outside world)
2 books on composting
2 books on raising chickens
3 books on organic gardening
1 book about Labyrinths
9 books on landscaping (ideas, pictures, design plans, how-to's)
1 book on how to read a book
1 book on the anatomy of Yoga (currently reading)

Oh and I am just about to finish up Rob bell's book, Love Wins.

3. I have watched my husband lose 60+ pounds.
Amazing to see Creighton successfully achieve his goal. He finally just decided to go for it. So proud of him. He is running too.

4. I have watched myself gain 10 pounds.
Here are the contributing factors.
- I no longer have a job that keeps me walking for 6 hours a day
- my whole world is less than 30 steps from my kitchen
- I have not been exercising since we quit Lifetime Fitness in KC
- I feed my kids 3 full meals and intermittent snacks everyday
- I have drank more wine these past 5 months than I ever have before
- I felt isolated and a little depressed for the first few months of our move

The good news is that I feel like I am getting a handle on it and have lost a few of the pounds back. I think I am on the mend.

5. We joined the country club.
This has been a huge blessing because my children and I are finally able to meet people. They have made some friends (just before they revolted on me for taking them away from their life in Overland Park). We joined the club swim team - which is exposing the kids to competitive swimming in a fun, low commitment kind of a way.
In the fall, we plan to get golf clubs and try to learn to play golf.

No computer for 5 months

I returned my Macbook pro to the church when I left Resurrection January 20. Creighton had his laptop still, so I borrowed it from time to time to blog, surf, watch hulu, shop, pay bills....etc.
Well, It got old and fried one day so NEITHER of us had a computer. Creighton relied on his iPad to keep him going. But I have had zilcho. Ugh.
Finally, he has a new Macbook pro which he keeps with him at all times.

I am still pining for a new mac. But it will take another couple of months for me to save up the dough to get it.
In the meantime, I am sneaking some time on Creighton's laptop while he is out running this morning.

A few blissful moments to blog, surf, watch hulu, shop, pay bills....etc.

Laura Story is building our worship band

Creighton asked Laura Story to drive over from Atlanta for two reasons:
1. To lead worship at our three preview services this spring.
2. To audition and work with students who will be the worship leaders for Wesley in the fall.

So far we have had two of the three preview services. At the first one, we had 20 people there. Last night, at our second service, there were 60 students. Creighton was thrilled last night.