Finding Direction

So obviously the blog has been lacking. And I'm super seriously sorry about that. I really have no good excuses other than life has gotten in the way. So what have I been up to? Well, life. Figuring out some more things, directions and goals for my family. Setting up breastfeeding groups, working on finding a midwife to work with, getting everything prepared for homeschooling/unschooling, figuring out a budget and finding out if we want to stay where we are or move closer to split the difference between our current jobs. Oh, and there is that. I took a summer job to help save up money to either a) by our own land and build up from the ground up or b) buy a cheap little house with a bit of land and turn it in to our very own homestead (or rent it).

So yes, choices, planning and finding direction. Finding out more of who I am, who my family is and where we want to be. Where our future lies. And none of these are easy decisions. The effect of these are going to dictate our next several years. And before we've kind of jumped and not planned. The fear of jumping this time is holding me back. With the results in the several previous times, I am not willing to go into our next life decision without a plan and enough money to support the decision.

For once though I am not thinking about anyone other than my little family of four. I'm not worried about what my parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles or grandparents will think. I am only worried about what is going to work best for my family. What is going to give us the life we wanted without any trouble. Without worrying about if we will have enough to provide for every day life and still be able to do everything we want in life. We are not going to compromise our goals of homeschooling/unschooling, gardening and living off the grid as much as possible, homesteading, and saving for anything. We know that we can find what we want and still have all of our integrity. We can still reach our goals. And along with not compromising our personal wants. I will not have to give up my goal of becoming a midwife and Anti-Mainstream Dad won't have to give up his life ambitions. He'll be able to work greater towards what it is he wants out of life.

Our family finally has a motto. It's not a Scripture or quote. It's just simply a goal. Our motto is a goal. “Find Yourself and Be Willing to Look Yourself in the Eye.” Nothing greater than true self love and acceptance is more important to our family. Because once we have accepted ourselves, then we are willing and open to working together and accepting everyone. So we will work towards our family motto/goal and work towards meeting all our life goals and no longer judge or regard anyone or anything with malice. We will simply be who we are and by being who we are, we will succeed in all our family goals.

A Peak Into Our Life

I forgot to do Wordless Wednesday. I really thought I would do it, but yikes, I forgot. So instead, I figured I'd share a few pictures over the last few days to give you a glimpse into our little life. We aren't a "busy" family. All our activity comes from what we do around our little homestead. So here you go....

Monday Musing and Our Meal Plan

Monday, Monday, oh Monday!! *sigh*

This past week has been an interesting one. I have teamed up with another sponsor and will be reviewing their product and hosting another giveaway shortly after the Chasing Cloud giveaway is over. I've been dealing with milk blisters and clogged ducts and horrible nursing. Hey, no one said nursing a kid at 22 months would be easy! And then there is the gardening, laundry and getting everything ready for summer. {Why did I type that while singing Cinderella? Oh yeah, we watch it daily here. Family favorite.} It's been busy around our tiny little home, and while I wouldn't have it any other way, it would be nice to have 20 minutes of a break and enjoy the trees blooming.

So what's exciting? Well, a few friends of mine and I are teaming up for a mutli-person blog that will showcase different aspects of parenting that we all focus on. Pretty excited for it's launch on May 1st! What a great day to launch our new blog too.

With the kids we are working on our Schooling Adventures and I hope to be able to update the area on that shortly. It is amazing what nature teaches you. We are focusing on growing and catching our own food and ways to prepare it this summer. The 4 year old is very excited for this. He loves fishing and mushroom hunting.

I'm working on getting enough goods together to launch my own Etsy store. I'm pretty excited. I'm going to be offering Mama Cloth, Nursing Pads, Nursing Covers, Wet Bags, Dryer Balls and Personal care products. It's coming along, but then with finding time for everything my head is spinning.

I was given new pots and pans today. My mom gifted me a brand new set of Rachael Ray pots and pans with utensils! I'm pretty stoked about that one. I also received a Big Boss single serving blender set (think Magic Bullet). It is awesome. I have been enjoying iced coffees and smoothies. The things I have in store for it! 

So that leaves me at the meal plan.

I'm thinking about doing it differently now. Today I went and did about 3-4 weeks worth of grocery shopping. I'm going to now be making my meal plans based off what I have on hand and work on just replenishing my stock when I need to each week/month.

So what's to eat you ask?

Breakfast

Chipped beef and gravy on biscuits

Bacon and Eggs

French Toast

Omelets x2

Southern Skillet

Pancakes

Lunch

Sandwiches and Veggies

Leftovers

Spaghetti

Dinner/Supper

Sandwiches and Fruit

Chicken Stir-fry

Burgers and Fries

Chicken and Dumpling on Mashed Poatatoes

Parmesean Salmon and Broccoli

Mexican Fiesta Night x 2

So excited for this next week ahead. With all the rain we're getting my lettuce is just a growing. You can see the difference daily. I cannot wait until we are harvesting our fresh food and enjoying it! 

Oh, did I mention I was able to get avocado's for a.25 a piece today! I bought 16 to cut and freeze using my vacuum sealer.

Inspire me- what's on your menu this week!?

Hugs & Coffee, 

-The Anti-Mainstream Mom

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*Planting a garden, Planting a garden*

We just recently moved to get more off "the grid" and we are taking the first, albeit, baby steps towards living our more natural, anti-mainstream life. Even though we practice several non-mainstream {or as we call them here on AMM anti-mainstream} we are always looking to increase what we do and raise our children cleaner. One of these ventures is in our family garden this year. Combined with the produce we produce, the access we have to local grass-fed meats and living right outside an Amish community we will have a plethora of other fruits and veggies to sustain us for the summer/fall months not to mention being able to store for winter.

Our garden plots. Aside from these two SFG boxes we have 4 large drums that we are going to grow crops in.

Our goal is to produce enough to feed us for most of our summer/fall dinners and put away what we can. By doing this we picked the vegetables our kids like the most and what we eat most frequently. Our kids are different than most. Broccoli is actually their favorite! Not that I'm complaining.

Our large bed has a trellis for some of our vine plants.

So what are we growing?

3 Broccoli
20 Green Onion Plants
18 Green Bean Plants
8 Spinach Plants
Mixed Greens (Mescalin Blend)
Black Seed Lettuce
Butter Lettuce
4 Cucumbers
4 Summer (Yellow) Squash
4 Acorn Squash
4 Zucchini
4 Watermelon
4 Cantaloupe
4 Tomato
4 Bell Peppers
Countless Carrots 
Assorted Herbs (Chives, Cilantro, Basil, Rosemary, Parsley, etc.)


We are pretty excited for growing our garden. Even started it before the New Moon so it would grow in favor with the moon cycle. We are very excited and can barely contain our joy to see what lessons growing a garden brings for us. 

And I think our garden was greeted with lots and lots of rain! I'm taking it as a sign of good fortune. 

So what are you growing?


Hugs & Coffee, 
-The Anti-Mainstream Mom
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Simplifying our Wardrobe: The Purge (Pt 1)

We are getting ready for a big change. A change that involves less closet space. And we are very excited about the prospect that it brings. But there is one little hitch. There will not be enough room to keep what is considered a full wardrobe for all of us. Which is okay, I'm tired of all the laundry anyway. So we are downsizing. 

"The Purge" as you've noticed it being called has started. I've sorted about 10 baskets full of laundry already. (See, told you we have a lot of clothes.) I probably have about 10 more to do as well. Plus bedding. This is getting fun.

Fun? Yes fun. Because we are making it fun. I ask my son if he wants to keep something or send it off into the Universe. We aren't just purging and throwing away. Or even selling. We are going to be giving all our kids clothes to a great inner city organization. Because coming from our homeless and in desperate need background, we know the value simple things hold. And I don't even want my kids to forget that! 

This is proving to be an exercise in learning what are wants and needs. Because we may want to keep all our favorite t'shirts, but we don't need too. And any that are stained and are not going to be able to be used my the groups we are donating to, I plan to turn them into fun little blankets. It will be a great memory and have a practical, new use in our home. 

Now on to what are we keeping.
Each family member will have their wardrobe. I will have 2. (One is a set of work clothes, the rest are home/daily clothes.) 

3 pairs of short
3 pairs of jeans/khaki's/etc.
10 t'shirts-6 short sleeve/3 long sleeve
3 pairs of sweats/house pants
3 pajamas
1 dress up outfit (for church, weddings, etc.)
1 jacket
1 sweater
1 winter coat

for the girls only
3 skirts
3 dresses
3 pairs of tights


I will not be getting rid of any socks or under wear or under shirts. We will be keeping all of those. Because with little kids, sometimes you go through lots of socks and underwear!

This is going to be an exercise in frugality. And picking our favorites to keep. I plan on keeping some extras in storage in case we need them. But for the most part we plan on relying on just what I will have on hand.  This is going to end up being an exercise in patience and all of us picking what we really love most. All clothes have to be versatile, strong, clean and  practical.

Do you think you could slim your wardrobe down? Would it be easy or hard? 

Hugs & Coffee, 
-The Anti-Mainstream Mom
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