Cultural Revolutionary

I know that some people will read the following list and realize that my life is sad… OK… Maybe “sad” is a harsh term. It just doesn’t take a lot to make me happy these days.

For instance, here are a few of the things that have made me excited to be alive in the past 24 hours:

1. We biked to my father-in-law’s birthday dinner. His gift was consumable and Compact friendly. Tony loved the bike ride and so did we. It made me realize how truly out of shape I am and I have vowed to change that. Of course, with as weak as I am right now, any exercise is a huge accomplishment!

2. Eric Keroack resigned this week. Story here: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/keroack-resignation-13556.htm

3. The new house is coming along nicely. And, better still, we are enjoying and taking pride in the process.

4. I have found several new blogs and sites to follow to keep me inspired in a variety of ways.

5. There are more…. But I am tired right now. So this must suffice for today.

LIFE IS GOOD.

“That is the key of this collection, being yourself. Don’t be into trends. Don’t make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way to live.”
~Gianni Versace

My mother-in-law and I recently had a conversation about “proper” attire for women past their early twenties (I can’t bring myself to say “over thirty”). We talked about what Auntie Janet told her years ago about shorts…. basically that they just aren’t right for too many people. For years my own mother has told me the same thing. I started to think about the whole thing though…..

Since being diagnosed with ITP, I am being much more cautious about what I wear. When I wear my favorite “cute” jeans, I end up with nasty bruising and spots behind my knees. Utterly NOT attractive. In accordance with our warm climate, shorts seemed to be the most viable option. That is, until the idea of skirts and dresses was brought to my mind by my mother-in-law. She is always trendy… I can only hope when I am 60+ that I have as much fashion sense as she does.

Pre-Compact I would have simply purchased whatever I wanted/needed. But, honestly, I have too much as it is. I am looking for ideas on re-constructing the things I already have (think denim purse made of jeans) into cute and practical dresses and skirts. Granted, I did buy a few cute skirts CHEAP from Goodwill. And, I already had a couple of things that would work. But, I was never really a fan of casual skirts and dresses before now so much of the things I had/have are WAY too dressy…

Thanks to my Granny and my Mom, I can sew. This should be a good challenge for me. Wish me luck! And send me photos or ideas!

The move is….. moving along slowly. Between me being exhuasted most of the time, the new (to us) house needing work, and Anton trying to continue working, things are going S-L-O-W.

Morgan will likely be attending Beaufort Academy in the Fall and Tony might also be able to go there. The pre-K teacher will evaluate him next week, but it looks likely to happen at this point.

The last weeks have meant a TON of back and forth trips for us. Tony has had a rough time being in several different houses over the course of a week or so. I think he is somewhat lost about where “home” really is at this point. Hopefully once the majority of his things arrive in Beaufort over the next several days, he will be a bit more settled. His case is supposed to be moved to Beaufort County’s DDSN (Department of Disabilities and Special Needs) by tomorrow. Then we can begin setting up services down here. Yippee!

I have decided to host a Green Drinks (http://www.greendrinks.org/) for Beaufort and gotten the approval of the group’s founder. Exciting stuff. I hope to be settled enough by April to plan the event. I am also going to get involved in several other green/political type groups in the area. I really feel strongly about doing absolutely as much as I can to make a difference. My mother-in-law made a very valid point to me several months ago about living in a small town like Beaufort where there aren’t a ton of like-minded people… She said, “This town needs people like us.” I don’t think she could have said it much more clearly. She’s right… the town does need people who want to make a difference.

As for The Compact, well…. as a family, the rules have been broken due to the new house. But, I have personally stayed true to my mission for the most part. Plus, we’ve only made very well thought out and planned purchases that should last a lifetime. Plus, none of them were frivolous. When we have had to buy new, we have bought from locally owned stores as much as possible. So, I feel pretty OK about it.

Right now, I am debating a bike purchase. Morgan has pretty much outgrown her $10 Goodwill bike from a couple of years ago. She is almost as big as I am. So, she certainly needs a ladies size bike and not a kid’s size. I was thinking of passing my bike to her and replacing mine. I want a very specific style of European city bike since I plan on using it as my main form of transportation in town. But, I am having trouble finding one used. The quest continues though….

(Photo credit to The Sun News)

Morgan will be attending the NATIONAL SPELLING BEE for the second time in May. She is brilliant (not that I am a proud mom or anything).

See everyone in DC!

Read her story here:

http:/www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/16899410.htm

WOW. We have even more crap than I realized. I have also realized that we don’t need it. While getting the “new” house ready, we have been living with just the bare necessities. It makes me understand just how much we can truly do WITHOUT. Granted, we have had my in-laws to borrow things from. And, we have bought a few necessities. For the most part though, we haven’t missed much of our “stuff”.

I am still on the mend from my ITP flair up. Luckily, I do not have leukemia. However, I will have to manage through the ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura) for the rest of my life. It’s an auto-immune disease and the treatments are quite varied. Luckily, the Prednisone therapy seems to have worked to quiet the symptoms this time. The bad side is that I have felt really horrible and gained weight from the meds. But, it’s better than continuing to bleed through the layers of my skin like I was before (yep… it looked icky). I am just lucky that my parents forced me to quit putting off seeing a doctor. And, I am lucky I was in Myrtle Beach and able to see a great doctor quickly. I can only imagine how long it would have taken me to get a good diagnosis had I tried to see someone here in Charleston or in Beaufort.

So, between moving, painting, being sick, being out of town, etc., I haven’t had a lot of time to keep up online. My mailbox has been overfowing multiple times in the past couple of weeks. I know I have missed some e-mails. But, life happens from time to time, right?

I have been the absentee blogger for the past week. Sorry! After a couple of personal e-mails wondering if I was still alive, I thought that I had better give a quick update.

I have been dealing with some health issues for the past week, but I am on the mend now. And, we have been preparing for our big move! We have been lucky enough to find a fabulous older home in dowtown Beaufort, SC. Beaufort is still a small town and much more community minded (in my opinion) than larger cities. Our new (to us) home has heart pine hardwood floors throughout and tons of charming period details from the 1950s and 60s. We will be able to ride our bikes almost everywhere. The house is MUCH smaller than the townhouse where we have been fortunate enough to live for the past 5 years. BUT, it has a REAL yard!!! I expect that we will be living outside much of the time. Tony loves to spend time outside. I will finally be able to have a real vegetable garden (no more potted tomatoes for me). All of this within walking/biking distance to Anton’s parents, a great little downtown area, culture, parks, etc. Plus, it is an extremely reasonable place to raise a family. The cost of living is very low (compared to other areas of the country) and gentrification of the neighborhoods like ours is abundant.

Needless to say, we’re ecstatic. We have lots of sweat equity to put into the house. And, more than anything, we are looking forward to making it our own. We are haunting the Habitat for Humanity stores looking for discarded building and renovating supplies. We need a door for the laundry/half bath area and I know we’ll find a used one. A new one won’t even be considered. I am allowing several breaks in The Compact lifestyle for things that we have decided are necessities for us to be happy in our new home. But, I don’t see environmentally freindly low VOC paint as a particular anti-Compact issue…. Instead, I am allowing myself and my family to be happy and comfortable in our new setting. I will be supporting locally owned businesses as much as humanly possible. My in-laws have recommended a nice locally owned hardware store that has been in business forever where you can still chat with the owner about your purchases. That’s the kind of community you will never find at a big box retailer. That’s the kind of community I want to support. And, that’s the kind of community I am moving to.