The Weekend Edition ~ February Dreaming

February 18, 2012

You know what I love to do? Link to other blogs and online resources. I like to share -  information and ideas.

Over the years I've experimented with different ways of doing this. There was Sweet Stuff and FIMBY Finds. Most recently there was Inspiring Internet (I like alliteration it seems) on the sidebar with archives even. That died with some server issues we had. Currently there is Finds & Favorites where I share books, media and Pinterest inspiration. But it's not quite what I envision. 

I love reading inspiring, encouraging, or challenging words on the internet and want to share that with you. 

I'm currently using Pinterest and Twitter to share stuff but I haven't found my groove with that yet so I'm attempting something new - a weekend linky post.

I won't do them every weekend. I don't like that kind of pressure. But I'll do them as it works into my life schedule. Saturday mornings I usually catch up on my RSS so this seems like a good time to do this.

Another thing I want to try - sharing bits of our family story in short, point form. FIMBY is a personal story blog (with some creative, homeschooling, home and nature loving ideas now and then). I spend hours writing posts to tell that story and to share a few practical ideas and inspiration with you. But there's always more going on in our life, real time, than what I can fit into my weekly posts and want to share those little bits too. 

I'm going to mix these together for random weekend posts, call it the Weekend Edition and see how it goes. 

Inspiring Internet:

• The Wilderness Parent - Year 3 With Kids in the Woods @ Ground Truth Trekking
• The Importance of Being Heard: Connected Parenting @ Embracing Imperfection
• Sunny Winter @ Earthy Crunchy
• Self-Care for the Travelling Mom @ Catherine et les fées
• The Best Homeschooling Resources Online @ Parents
• Some of our Favorite Chapter Read Aloud Books @ Simple Mom
• The Greens we Eat (Our Strategy & Lots of Resources) @ Kidoing
• Preparing Food With Love: Cooking as Ministry @ Abide With Me
• Getting More Organized is Not the Goal @ Small Notebook
• How I Stock My Natural Medicine Cabinet @ Keeper of the Home
• Make Your Art @ S. Bryant
• From The Soup Kitchen @ Real Food Matters

The Weekend Story

I'm in a test group for a mom's exercise program, I'm not doing so good with it. Love the exercises themselves but making it happen, even a few minutes a day is challenging for me. 

The days are noticeably longer. This makes me happy.

I'm not finding the M.A.P.P. interviews to be as helpful as I had hoped. I don't know... I just can't relate. I think I spoke too soon (isn't the first time, won't be the last!). I listened more this afternoon and found points of connection in later segments of the interviews, especially with Brené Brown, but then again, as a recovering perfectionist I'm just a big fan of her work.

I'm a mother and a lover, a creator of beauty and writer of words. I am an adventurer on the edges of the map in the land marked "here be dragons". I am an encourager, story teller, nourisher, teacher.

I know who I am. I know my mission, passions and purposes. I have ideas I want to share (is that called ambition?). I just need help in making some of those dreams a reality.

Coming from that place I'm thinking Squee might be more what I'm needing right now. 

Halfway through winter and I've reached that slump. It's not as slumpy as it has been in the past. This has been my best winter - emotionally, spiritually, physically, creatively, etc. - for as long as I can remember. And so I was kind of surprised to find myself in this place this week - unmotivated, distracted, losing focus.

It's time for a winter break. Next week will be a full homeschool break, to tie in with Laurent's birthday next weekend and to go with the natural flow of the season. I've got a big creative project I'm doing, hope to spend some time on that.

I've always needed to mix things up in February, I'm not sure why I thought this year should be any different.

Our goal is to do one adventure trip a month. Last year's two moves messed with that a bit. But we're trying to pick it back up. This month we decided to have another ski weekend. Last month we took a weekend ski vacation at the local ski hill but that was less adventure and more "resort", but great fun!

This month's ski weekend is this week, one day at the hill (it's a great place to train and gain confidence), one day in the wilderness. Our goal is to ski for continuous days in the backcountry but we need more skill and I think some more gear (Damien's department, I'm not sure). We made the most of our homeschooling/work-at-home freedom and hit the slopes on Thursday when the hill is quiet and roomy. Sunday will be our backcountry day in the mountains.

This helps with the February slump for sure. So does dreaming of adventures. Big ones. 

For years we've dreamed (in a far off, maybe kind of way) of doing a long thru-hike as a family. This week we started to nail down some dates - for that and other dreams. Three years ago we set a date for our move and look where that took us.

We have set a date and location for our family thru-hike. I'll keep you in suspense a little longer but I'll say this - it's east and it's not this summer or next. 

This week we also started planning our summer, a bit more concretely. We have to leave the chalet the end of May. We are currently pursuing two options - find another place to rent locally and stay put for the summer or (perferred option) travel out west for the summer. Take our children to the big mountains. This week has been e-mail, phone calls and "connecting" with people who might know people as we look for a place or places to live for a trip like that. 

There's definitely a theme going on here. We reached that point in winter when we long for adventure, when the cabin walls are feeling a little too close. I'm not calling it cabin fever, we're not there yet.

Yes, those are seeds we're planting. Because we're gardeners and we need little plants to nurture, even if it is quite early for starting seeds and even if we travel this summer and pass them onto friends to enjoy in our absense. 

Winter is a time to be inspired and to dream. To make plans for the summer. And at this point of mid winter is the time to mix things up. Have an adventure - now. Go somewhere. Do something. 

That's this week. In review.

• Comments
• Subscribe to Comments