For this last year of homeschooling we haven't ever really had a schedule. Life has been fairly loose and open as The Barracuda was so young and I was so new to all this. We have let whimsy take us as we may go. Now, with me working from home and The Barracuda becoming so much more active, a schedule has become necessary in order for everything to get done. An active boy means that there are many more things he wants to do, much more dirt in the house, and lots more stuff flying around to clutter up our worlds. Also, I used to be able to completely leave the house and be isolated from family when I worked. This is definitely not preferable in some ways, but it meant that there were no interruptions.

Jules has become much more frustrated lately with how jumbled our house is and with my admitted lack of balancing ability. A schedule makes Jules nervous. He wants The Barracuda to be able to assess and prioritize things which need to be done and then complete them accordingly. He feels that timers, schedules, and specifics will hinder The Barracuda's ability to think for himself. Life is constantly changing and lots of gray area will help prepare our son for that fact.

I don't do gray areas very well. Balancing and juggling multiple things with a thousand different variables leaves me constantly surprised and with no direction. There is almost nothing I hate more than surprises. The distaste is so strong that Jules has been directly informed I do not want to be proposed to without some kind of warning. If I'm going to be accountable for something I want to know exactly how something should be done and exactly when. Things stay the same, I do them the same way, in the same order, and conclude with the same result. When that doesn't happen, I get all flustered and distracted or I make completely the wrong judgment call. Projects go unfinished, stuff gets left out, and I don't follow through with anything. A flustered, distracted, whimsical lifestyle suits me very well as there aren't too many things I honestly care much about. We need to be happy, healthy, and together the rest is just small stuff. Jules grew up in the military (born and raised either on base or just outside) and it doesn't suit him at all. All that small stuff makes him stressed.

Jules and I discussed it, again (this is a recurring conversation). The lists I have made myself weren't working; stuff was still overlooked and mis-prioritized. I was getting discouraged. Compromise was necessary somewhere in the middle of itemized life and complete open blank slate.

This morning, The Barracuda and I sat down to write a schedule that will hopefully meet all our household needs. The Barracuda got to list all the things he feels are important for our day to include even if they weren't fun things (like cleaning). Once the list was formed, he separated them into Morning, Lunch, Dinner, and Evening activities. Next, I came in with specific times for these activities to start and end. This created specific timed transitions for me to be able to have a definitive ending and starting for activities. The time is chunked out into subjects but not specifically itemized so The Barracuda will still have to prioritize and assess how things should be accomplished, but time won't get away from us. Together, we decided that everything seemed reasonable.

Daily Schedule

Morning: 8:00am

get dressed
I still don't know why this takes him ten minutes, but it does.

8:10am -- make beds
I literally have to say "I don't care if you are naked, it is time to make your bed!"

eat breakfast
oatmeal or fruit

brush teeth

9:00-9:45am -- Walk the dog

10:00 -- 2 hours quiet time
The Barracuda gets to play quietly with something that doesn't require batteries while Mommy writes

clean up

Lunch: 12:00

eat lunch
left overs, soup and quesadilla, or veggies and tuna fish

brush teeth

12:45 -- 45 minutes Barracuda's self school time
Self directed learning is an important part of our homeschooling. Math work, copy work from essays he has dictated, Rosetta Stone Spanish, finishing science or book report pictures, etc. are all things he can do without my direct assistance. The Barracuda has to work on school completely by himself unless something in his room is on fire or there is a serial killer outside his window. At that point he can call for me.

brush teeth

1:30 -- 2 hours play time
Outside, Inside, on the computer, loudly, with the neighbors, whatever. This is also Mommy housecleaning time.

Afternoon: 3:30
Dad gets home and decompresses from crazy, high schoolers that have only 28 more days of school.

Walk the dog up to the park and play

Mom makes dinner

Dinner: 5:00
eat dinner and talk together about our day
brush teeth

6:00 -- 1.5 hours of school time
This is time for The Barracuda and I to work directly one-on-one and discuss new school concepts or connections between concepts. During this time we can read a chapter or two from his novel as well. Jules uses this time to grade papers, plan, and do his school stuff as well.

Evening: 7:30
Family time to do something fun together.

8:30 -- brush teeth and jammies on
brush teeth
Barracuda goes to bed while Jules and I eat candy and go crazy while doing daily crossword puzzle together.

You may notice that brushing teeth is written quite a few times and is a schedule event. After a couple mortifying fabulous trips to the pediatric dentist I have learned quite a bit more about my horrible dental genetics and why Gatorade is as bad as soda for a child to drink. I'll post about it soon when I really wrap my head around the disastrous fabulous situation. Now, we have scheduled teeth brushing for both the Barracuda and myself a minimum of four times a day. Fun! Fun! Fun!

The only day this schedule doesn't happen is on Wednesday due to The Barracuda being with Grammie and Grampie all day. Other than that, library story times, movies or circus days at the local parks, homeschool meet-ups, and even spending time with the other grandparents fit into the time blocks so that there is a definite flow to our day. Hopefully, this will allow for us to have a much more seamless day rather than a choppy time of crazed events where much is being overlooked.

As the Barracuda encroaches on 6 he is beginning to have greater endurance. This means we can actively do more "stuff" allowing Jules and I to get a little more of our pre-child lives back. We do not wish to throw our 5 and a half year old into the deep end just yet, so day hiking is all we are taking on. This summer will be our first backpacking endeavor with The Barracuda when we stay 7-10 days in the Cahutta Wilderness. Currently, while The Barracuda is training for being able to walk 10 mile days with a backpack on, Jules and I are trying to get the kinks worked out of how our own personal hiking patterns will meld into one cohesive family hiking style.

The Barracuda is not sporting his actual Osprey Jib backpack. It would be way overkill. For day hikes he is packing his rad, little, garage sale, 1970's, fab-tacular rainbow backpack. Not only is it hard to load too full, but it also has much smaller straps and torso making it specifically for a child. With the very important job of snack carrier, The Barracuda carries a whopping 2.5 lbs enabling him to go bounding ahead of Jules and I on most any trail.

All water, cell phones, sweatshirts, and other necessities are placed in the family pack that Jules or I wear.

Happily, the beauty of nature isn't lost on our son. He keeps a pretty steady pace, but always loves to stop and look at beetles, plants, flowers, rocks, mushrooms, sticks, leaves, animals, on and on and on. He is also quite fond of the sounds nature makes and is ever alert for water, birds, chattering squirrels, the wind, on and on and on. This admiration for nature used to drive both Jules and I crazy due to causing even short jaunts to take at least an hour. By now, The Barracuda has figured out how to both look and be enamored while still moving. If a view is truly spectacular he will stop and stare from ahead of Jules and I, calling back "Hey guys! You gotta see this!" Thankfully by enduring the exceptionally-long, short hikes when he was 2 and a half we can now actively hike. It is rather wonderful for both Jules and I to realize that his appreciation spans further than a love of sticks and rocks.

Sticks and rocks are still of high importance. They are actively his favorite part of all hiking, especially when water is concerned. Most all hikes we have taken focus around water. It means that there is a definite destination which is normally quite fun and often showy. Towering water and large pools to splash around in make for quite a reason to keep walking until we get there. Skipping rocks has also become important now that The Barracuda is getting older. Much time has been spent with Jules attempting to get just the right technique. Pooh sticks (stick races named famously from the children's classic Winnie the Pooh) are a favorite game to play as well. Sticks are chosen for various characteristics (short sticks go fastest, wide sticks are more stable, long tin sticks can stretch past the finish line first) and we race them down the river to see who wins.

As much as hiking is a spiritual and physical exercise for our as a family, it is also important science curriculum at work. The Barracuda, being homeschooled, has a different sense of school than most kids. There are no breaks and there are no classrooms. We learn just about everywhere we go and especially on hikes. Jules knows much more about climbing and topographical maps. I am more well versed in flora, fauna, and rock formations. Important emphasis is placed on the idea of how small we are, how interconnected our world is, and the value of discussing these concepts with each other.

The time of year for us to actively be outside is a welcomed event in our house. The rainy season is so wet here that hiking becomes so dangerous it is rather stupid. As much as we want The Barracuda to enjoy being outside, we want him to realize some ventures are not safe. Extremely slick rocks, inches of mud, and large, steep cliff faces are not a good combination. But man, all that rain sure makes for one heck of a view when the weather dries out.

The season is definitely worth the wait!

"Now we're cookin' with oil!" as Jules would say. I don't know if that is a distinctly southern phrase, but he loves it and it always makes me smile. A new hard drive, a new copy of Windows, and a nice chunk of time downloading everything back onto the laptop and I'm typing in the backyard sun again. I can't complain too much. The nice chunk of money wasn't allocated for computer repair, it wasn't an un-doable amount and we are back in business with a fairly small amount of time lost.

I am writing this from The Barracuda's room on his ghetto older desktop. His desk is one that I had when I lived in my college van. It is rather small, and I no longer fit in it at all. The desktop is still plugging away, though it seems as slow as I remember dial up being when it comes to loading pictures. I feel a bit as though I've gone back in time and nostalgia hasn't been good to me. Needless to say, we are hoping for our laptop to come home from the doctor in about 3 days and still praying the $200 bill was not as 99% accurate as they estimated.

We are experiencing some technical difficulties over here at End of Ordinary. The laptop decided to die. A post will be coming soon!

So, what does our family do without television? We call the neighbors out to shoot off water rockets in the street.

We can get the rocket up to 100 psi and mainly the goal is to not break anything.

I am now a bona fied paid writer. I get paid to write. Real money! Well, digital money as it is telecommuting, but it is money. I claim what articles I want to write about and then I do it and I get paid. I'm still amazed by this. Total shock!

I have been writing for a subscription website for a couple months now, but it is a maximum of only five articles a month and doesn't even bring in $100. It was enough to call myself an aspiring writer, but not a real one. Not anymore! This one is enough to actually have to file a tax return!

I get to be home, with my son. I get to still homeschool. Best of all, I get to write for a living! Swoon! Happy! Happy! Happy! Happy!

The season has officially ended in our household. Not due to the equinox, or the increases in patchy rain, or even school having about 40 days left (not that Jules is counting). Nope, the season in our household ends when the firewood ends. Four cords of wood has been reduced to one small stack in the corner of the living room which awaits a cold night.


This year has been a good one. The entire winter we only used the heat in spotty increments, mainly during the afternoon-evening transition, when the house would get a slight chill. Ten to fifteen minutes of heat every few days or so lead to 30 dollar heating bills during our coldest months. Paying $120 for heating the house an entire year seems pretty darn fabulous to us. Even when the temperature didn't get past 12 degrees for a week, we stuck true to our wood fire and loved every minute of it.

Going back to heat via the furnace is definitely not an option. There is just something inherently snuggly and warming about a fire. The sense of heat is much deeper and fulfilling. Before this I didn't have any kind of judge for what real heat felt like since a furnace was my reference point. Real warmth is much wetter than the dry furnace heat. How warmth can be wet is a bit beside me, but wine can taste dry and that seems counter intuitive as well. Firewood warmth tends to expand in a room and feel almost heavy in the air, it is not light like furnace heat. Also, the smell of the hearth in the house is so much more welcoming. Walking up to our front door you can smell the fire burning from the chimney and you just long to be inside. I don't much want to ever live again without that level of longing to be home and with my family.

The knowledge that we have cut our own fuel, made our own fire, and created the warmth with our hands causes a so much more complete feeling about our life. We can now measure a winter by firewood rack and truly have a sense of the nature around us. I could not have told you before what the teens really felt like temperature wise. Nor could I have informed anyone how long our winters really stayed cold. Now I have fully lived this experience and know very well. The teens start to make your chest a little tight if you spend much time out in them. It takes about 1 cord (1 rack) of wood to last a month. Four cords works very well, but it is a little tight for our liking. Next year we are going to up it one more cord just so that we can be completely safe.


We have walked away with a better understanding of the resources we have used and the knowledge that energy taken from the earth means equal energy spent by us. If there was any testament to the importance of lost skills our year of firewood would be it.

So what does our family do without television? Dad pulls out his climbing gear and we discuss wallnuts, peanuts, karabiners, quick draws, and technical friends while playing around with all kinds of knots in the living room.



The Barracuda has already been through all the rock climbing and bouldering classes the local parks and rec offer. We are planning on being regular residents at the rock gym when he finally gets old enough to attend.

One of the most amazing things about our journey is the change that is beginning to take place within our perspective. If you had asked me six months before we began our simplifying if we would be culturing dairy products or changing break pads I would have exclaimed an adamant "No!" The idea wouldn't have seemed like a bad one, necessarily, but it would have been far past the reaches of our comfort. At this point, the idea of doing our own car maintenance (beyond an oil change) seems like a normal transition. Why not? It will cut the price dramatically and make you feel awesome all at the same time.

Like so many of the processes which seemed vastly complex, much car maintenance is a series of rather simple steps which add up to create a complicated machine. That isn't to say you should run out and just start taking things apart, but don't be intimidated by the idea of doing things yourself. A Chilton handbook can go a long way, a knowledgeable neighbor or family member, a few Internet searches, and you might be amazed at what you can conquer. This spring we (I should say Jules) conquered my brakes.

The front disc brakes of my car had hit the point of needing to be changed or serious damage was going to result. They weren't just squeaking every once in a while, nor were they lightly whining a bit. They were full on squealing in pain! No grinding had begun so the calipers were fine, but oh how the metal on metal made some noise.

Below is a picture tutorial of how to change the front disc breaks of my 2003 Mazda Protege. Most all vehicles have the same basic process, to some degree. Most all wear and tear on a vehicle's brakes occur in the front brakes. Secondly, most cars have front disc brakes and rear drum brakes. DO NOT TRY TO CHANGE DRUM BRAKES YOURSELVES UNLESS YOU ARE A TRAINED TECHNICIAN.First off, jack the car up and make sure it is fully supported. Remove the tire and locate the brake.

If you look behind the brake you will find the slide pin. It is more like a rather large bolt which holds the brake together. Usually the pin is covered with a plastic or spongy cap which is just pulled off to reveal the head of the pin. There is also another black rubber, spongy gasket the slide pin fits through. It is the black semi circle in within the highlighted section above. If your car has ever been in an accident, this is a part which is frequently replaced. In my car, the driver's side slide pin was a metric screw; on the passenger side it was an allen screw. In either case, you want to locate the pin and remove it.

Click on images to enlargeNow that the pin is removed the brake can swing open and you can change the pads inside. Pry the caliper open. It will swing up to reveal the brake pads inside. Sometimes this will be a bit tricky. Jules used the handle of a socket wrench.


There are two wire clips which hold down each of the brake pads (both front and back). You will need to pop these out. They come off easily by pinching the two sides together. Don't loose them. They are small.













You can now remove the old brake pads. There is one on either side (front and back). They should slide out very easily. At this point you can see just how much you were able to eek out of the old pair by stacking them up next to the new ones. As you can see, my old pair were just about completely toast!













Anti-squeal brake lubricant is completely optional. It helps the new brake pads seat themselves within the caliper. You don't need it, but for under 10 bucks it is well worth the cost. If you are going to use it, squeeze some of the blue (I think it is purple) goo out of the little tube and smear it onto both faces of the new brake pads.

Replace the pads into the caliper.

Put the clips back on.

You are ready to pull the caliper back down over the top of the new pads. The problem is the piston head (big circle thing) has been compressed so that it could squeeze the worn out break pads. It is too snug to fit over the new brake pads. By taking a piece of scrap wood and a big, old C-Clamp you can push the piston head (big circle thing) back into place allowing you to close the caliper. Use wood to prevent damage to the piston head. Once the piston head (big circle thing) is pushed back into place, it won't come back out.
Once the caliper is put back into place over the top of the new brake pads, all you have to do is put the slide pin (big bolt) back in. In order to do that, you need to put the black, spongy, rubber gaskets in place, line up the holes, and slide the pin through. This is sometimes easier said than done. A little wiggling, some cussing, and Jules got it to work. A couple of tries might be necessary. Put the last black, spongy topper on the slide pin and you have replaced your brake pads!

Put your tire back on, slowly release your car from the jack, and then take a short trip down the block. This seats your new brake pads. Until they seat fully, they might squeak a tiny bit. This should sound nothing like the old ones, and sometimes it doesn't happen at all. Remember the piston head (big circle thing)you had to clamp down? Well, now it is having to readjust the pressure to your new brakes in order for them to squeeze the tires. If the piston head doesn't squeeze, the brakes don't squeeze. This is why seating is so important.

Warning: Do not decide to make your first trip after replacing your brake pads on an interstate freeway drive at 70 mph. Go to the grocery store down the street first at about 5 mph. Just in case. I wouldn't have my toddler in the car either. You want to be sure that all is good before you really endanger anyone else. They are your brakes after all.

In only nine simple steps you can complete a task that should cause much pride and newly found confidence in your personal ability. Not only that, it can get you some really great bragging rights! Why not try it.

UPDATE: When you purchase your brake pads, take them out of the box carefully! Some have A and B pads designated by small extra tabs which stick out. Each brake needs to have both an A pad (with tabs) in the back and a B pad (without tabs) in the front. When Jules fixed his truck brakes, he put them on with A and A on the left side and B and B on the right. The right side was fine, no extra tabs sticking out. On the A and A side however the tabs splintered off and broke the caliper. There was no writing to alert him to look for the tabs and nothing in his manual. Just be careful. In the end, the cost was still cheap, but it was an annoying set back.

First Off, Thank You!
Our little blog is a year old now and after 3,200 visitors I'd say it has done quite well for itself. We never expected such interest, let alone international following. I'm not quite sure how to respond as this is a realm of experience I wasn't prepared for. So Thank You and hopefully we can keep providing whatever it is that people seem to get from our small corner of webspace. Any comments on what is working (or failing miserably) for those out there are greatly appreciated.

The original blog we started had little to no focus because we had little to no focus. Like many people we have now talked to, there was the idea that something needed to change. But what? We didn't really know what or how, but it needed to occur fast or we were going to loose ourselves (and our house) in the process. The reality was, we weren't making it. The big wave knocking us down was money, but the under current of disjointed frustration was just as strong. Sound familiar?

A year later, our blind stumbling has lead us to a much clearer mission and a set picture of where we are headed. The new face of our blog represents a more defined picture of the life we are carving out of the big crazy world.

We believe that the overpowering machine of Capitalism and Consumerism has begun to take over lives. Gross Domestic Product is not the religion we wish to follow. The entire concept that you always need more to be better is insidious. We now see the real question as not "How can we save some money?" but more...

Rather than constantly seeking outward approval as your incentive for personal value why not just unplug?
We are unplugging (from media, from the grid, from consumer culture) to live a life that is enough. Our personal value does not need to come from a flashy lifestyle, a stereotypical prescribed mold complete with value choices, or the lastest media hyped trend void of questioning. We are enough. Our family, our household, our lives are enough. The planet has enough to sustain us. We don't constantly need more.

As much as this is a sentiment exists around us in words, we have found that the actual living of this lifestyle means significantly more. Becoming carbon neutral means that most of the current cultural paradigm doesn't work. We have to reinvent the wheel in many ways. Moreover, we need to talk about it! For quite some time I have been reluctant to really discuss the changes our family is making for fear that it would isolate us from the rest of the world. Somehow, in my mind, if we just kept looking "normal" it would all be okay. What a great message to send to our son! What a great way to find others who were struggling so that we could create a community that helps one another! What a fabulous way to not isolate ourselves by just hiding who we are! Sometimes, I am a duphus! I believe this combination of stepping outside cultural norms and a reluctance to really discuss openly is why it has taken us so long to realize the end result for much of what we want.

With this in mind, the direction of our blog will fall into the following large categories:

Becoming Carbon Neutral
Discussing the process and outcomes of our endeavors. Our family is a unique situation in just how un-unique we really are. Mom, Dad, small child, dog and cat in an urban environment, living in 900 square feet on a low-to-middle class income. Our house was built around 1950 so we are also revamping an existing structure without remodeling. We would like to show what has worked for us and the direction we took so people can see that you don't need acres in the country or a ton of money. If we can make it work, anyone can make it work!

Projects and Skills

So much of this last year has been learning everything we don't know. Slowly we are acquiring the books, websites, and resources to try and learn the skills time has lost. We have been helped immensely from the work of others and wish to forward that on by posting schematics and how to's on many of our projects.

Gear and the Outdoors with A Small Child
Reverence for the intricacy of our planet's interdependence is a major facet of our lives. If you are truly going to live with and off the land, you need to understand and respect it. Long distance backpacking and trekking have been put on hold in our family due to the age of our son. He has been slowly initiated into camping, and soon we will begin training, gearing up, and teaching him the skills necessary to live out of nothing but a backpack for months at at time with nothing but your legs to get you home.

Personal Fulfillment Without Television
We killed our television months ago when we didn't convert to digital. We don't have a single TV in our house even for movies. Talk about weird! For the first couple of weeks we didn't really know how to even talk to one another. Now, our lives are ten fold better. In hopes of helping others who wish to unplug their TV's too, we have complied a list of some of the things we do together instead of watching mindless crap. It is so much cooler!

These categories are now linked across the top of the website as to better facilitate quick reference. It is going to take me a bit to go back and link through the last years worth of posts, but shortly all will be right. Added to the above categories is my Life List. Many of the things on it are similar to Jules' and posting mine meant he didn't have to do much. (The push to get Seniors to graduate is a bit overwhelming right now.) Using the Life List as a guideline for our family's adventures has really helped shape our lives so posting it only seemed natural.

We are hoping these changes make our site a bit easier to follow and our life a bit easier to live. That being said, make your own way! Question, ponder, and really consider. What would be on your Life List? Are you fulfilled in your life? What do you really want your children to grow up with? We have spent a years worth of nights and weekends unraveling those questions and still don't have many answers. However, we are now doing it together and have really kicked our life up a knotch!

Please give us any feedback you have as we are first timers in this whole blog thing and might have overlooked quite a lot!

So what does our family do without television? We have bonfires at the neighbor's house drinking wine, roasting marshmellows, and talking into the early, wee -hours while the dogs run about.


The boy went to bed sticky and exhausted while we looked around for more things to burn keeping the night alive.

In honor of the previous post with the words "Grow Lights" in the title, I figured one entitled "Herbage" only made sense. Let's just keep up a theme here! It won't last long since a post about Peas is coming and I don't think I can tie peas into illicit drugs in any way. For now, however, we have a new herb garden and I'm very excited.

When I first began cooking for Jules, it became apparent very quickly there would need to be a revamping of the bachelor food he had been producing for himself. I would say 'cooking' but microwaving cans of cheese glop and frozen mini pizzas doesn't really count.

The problem arose because there were no spices in his house. Not even garlic or pepper. To be fair, there was an overgrown rosemary bush (which looked like an octopus) and some french lavender growing in the backyard. He didn't know what they were, but they were there. These were all well and good, but I'm slightly in love with garlic and definitely lustful of thyme. Chives make me a bit giddy and basil pleases just about everyone. A quick trip to the local warehouse/discount store and little transplants were purchased. All was lovely in spice land.

Then we got the dog.

Guadalupe went psycho on the octopus rosemary bush. It was established enough to not even blink an eye at the crazed dog chewing. She trampled the parsley to death. She did repeated run-by stompings of the bay laurel until it gave up as well. She pooped on my thyme plant. The dill seedlings didn't have a chance. Somehow the sage pulled through and the chives held out. Both were stoic enough to hold on for a few years now and have gotten so large that the dog doesn't bother them. We moved the original garlic bed into a raised bed hoping to deter her. She still gets overly excited about neighbors pets or squirrels and leaps onto the tender shoots.

Sometimes I envision what a nice purse Guadalupe would make.

Then she reminds me how ridiculously weak I am.


How could anyone strangle this face?!

I don't think I could really pull off a fur purse. Not quite my style. The dang dog is too cute and spoiled well loved to become a wardrobe accessory. Something else needed to be done and a taser is too expensive. We decided to go with the much less child-scaring method of creating a herb garden out front where the dog is not allowed.

The plants all look so much happier in the full sun of the front yard and the protection the backyard gate allows. I am much happier as well. So much more space, so much less dog! A secondary bed is going to go in just beside the herbs housing medicinal and useful plants. Good food, good medicine, and household cleaning YAY!

Soapwart, Pennyroyal (for insect repellent, not abortion), Feverfew, and Eyebright shall soon be gracing our front sidewalk with their pretty flowers and added benefits.















Now I get to keep my snuggle buddy and have two boxes of incredible herbs out front. Mommy is very happy!

Last year, I attempted some seed sprouting. Hah! It was quite a significant failure. I figured that the seeds could do it all by themselves in the Spring time, why couldn't I do it inside. After all, they knew what they needed to do.

Well, yes. The seeds sprouted beautifully, then got really leggy and died. This year, we kicked it up a notch and put the seed starting squarely in the hands of The Barracuda. He gladly gave away his television in trade for being able to sprout our seeds.

Humbled by my complete failure, I began to read up. "Leggy" is what they call my dead sprouts. This means that the stem is too long and the plant gets top heavy. As the seed strains for light, it is undernourished and doesn't produce secondary leaves. Dead Plant.

The remedy is simple: more light. LOTS more. Complete, all-encompassing, intense light submersion. This is what grow lights are for. They give the plant strong light so that it doesn't have to over-extend itself. This makes for a strong stem, early secondary leaf production, and a really hearty start to its little life. All that light also warms the soil allowing the seeds to sprout sooner, also yielding larger plants when it is time to put them outside.

I had heard of grow lights, but figured them to be extravagantly expensive. I thought they were fancy lights with special seed starting capabilities which mimicked super specific sunlight conditions. Um, no. They are just lights. Normal, right out of your bedside lamp, lights. Completely normal, only they need to hang down REALLY close to the plant. Determined not to kill things this year, it was off to Home Depot.

The entire set up was $40 and puts out 300 watts of light. This was more than enough for our seed tray. By purchasing swankier light bulbs (which made us look even more like we were growing illicit drugs) the output could have been 450 watts. The energy efficient light bulbs were by far the most expensive part.

There are three parts to making the grow lights. Each is simple, straight forward and easy enough for even someone like me to pull off without a trip to the emergency room. Keep in mind this was what worked for us.The design could easily be modified to fit a production either larger or smaller than ours. Just remember: For every light, you need one clamp.

The Platform
1 board any size that is large enough
1 1/8 inch drill bit and the drill to go along with it
1/2 inch drill bit
4 3/4 inch U pipe bends
A hammer

Directions
Set the board down and line up the lights as you would like them to be. Trace the outline of ht lights and cut the board to fit, creating a rectangle.

Use a ruler to find the middle of each light and mark it with a big X.

Place a 1 1/8 inch drill bit in the center of the x and drill your hole for each light.

Click on the images to enlarge

Remove the U from 4 U-bends (Keep all the extra parts, you’re going to need them). In each corner align one of the U's facing down about a ½ inch from the edges. Now, whomp the U bend really hard with a hammer to make the impressions of the legs. Using a ½ inch drill bit, drill holes straight through the board where the impressions were made. Pound the U bend through the holes (it should be really tight) with the help of a hammer and secure with nuts. These are the brackets from where you will suspend the grow lights.

The Platform is done!

The Clips
The left over pieces from the U bends
The 2 remaining intact U bends
6 1/4 inch bolts

Directions
The clips are what hold the lights in place, but also allow you to easily adjust the height to which each individual lamp is raised. This is helpful when you have multiple varieties of seeds you are trying to start. Celery, for example, takes up to three weeks to germinate. The lights need to be extremely close to the soil for the entire time. If you are growing tomatoes in the same seed tray, they germinate in a week and need the lights to be raised when they sprout. By using the clips, the platform can be raised for tomatoes, and one light can remain lower for the celery.

Take apart the remaining 2 U bends. Set aside the U's as you do not need them.

Slip 2 of the flat pieces from the U bends onto two 1/4 inch bolts and secure with nuts.

You will need one clip for each light, so adjust amounts accordingly.

Construction
With those pieces assembled, you are now ready to construct the rest of the grow lights. Take the clamps off of the aluminum lights. They usually unscrew very easily. Thread the power cords of the lights up through The Platform, making sure the arch of the U’s is facing the ceiling. Fix one Clip to each light’s cord as close to the base of the board as possible. The Clip should fit snugly, but not pinch or cut the cord.

Click on the images to enlarge

You can now hang your completed grow lights wherever suites your house. In our house, an old end table replaced our son's movie television and now houses the seed starting. He is very proud of his "grow lights" turning them on every morning when he wakes up and off every evening before he goes to bed. It is the a great way to teach our son responsibility without too much by way of disastrous consequences. Secondly, science couldn't be much more hands on. Not only is the seed starting a great addition to our household, but a great addition to homeschooling as well.

The average United States consumption of electricity is 11,000 kilowatt hours per year. That makes for approximately 900 kilowatt hours per month. One tenth (the Riot Goal) would be 90 kilowatt hours per month.

Our family used 619 kWh this last month (or 33 days as our electric company calculates it). Well over goal, but well under average.

February is our largest energy consumptive month for two reasons: one, the sun has not quite yet decided to come out and two, seeds. We start our seeds indoors around early to mid February in order to have any decently sized tomato plants by March/April planting time. Most everything we grow can be direct seeded into the ground in our mild weather, but tomatoes just don't work. Seeds need 12 hours of direct, intense light a day and that makes for quite the energy consumption (even with energy efficient light bulbs).

The second major change which happened this month was saying Goodbye to our old green refrigerator. Old Greenie was AWESOME! She was a 1950's Westinghouse. Avocado on the outside, turquoise and white on the inside. The color fit for our kitchen couldn't have been any more incredible. She was small but with a built in butter dish, individual egg cups in the doors, and stainless steel racks and drawers she was definitely overstocked in the character department. She fit right into our fifties house and everyone (except Jules) loved her. What is more, we saved her from a landfill by purchasing on Craigslist for $50.

Old Greenie has been retired now and recycled through a local NGO. The thirty dollar rebate we receive from recycling her just makes her stay with us that much more enjoyable.

No, I am not without the practicality of realizing that a refrigerator from the 1950's is most likely not the greatest for energy consumption. She hogged power like nothing else and had to be manually defrosted at that. I was willing to have such a nice novelty as period appliances when there just wasn't the $1,000 to drop into a new refrigerator. However, tax time has rolled around again and Uncle Sam decided to donate to our Get an Energy Efficient Fridge Fund in the form of my tax return.

The two men who came to deliver our fridge were great guys. Moreover, they were incredibly strong guys!
That's right! They lifted this giant fridge by themselves! Strapping on their "human dolly" as they called it the two of them made very short work of hoisting our new appliance inside as if lifting a fridge by hand was what they did all day long (it actually is what they do all day, but it was still really impressive.) Jules and I stood back in complete wide-eyed wonder.

Our new fridge is now so large that both Jules and I stand back and stare at it. There is still a feeling of amazement whenever we walk into the kitchen. I can fit in the freezer without being very uncomfortable. It is just gigantic compared to Old Greenie. There are four gallons of milk in the door. Four gallons! This was Jules major issue with Old Greenie; she was just too small. By shopping only once a month, a small fridge can be a bit hard.

With the state and federal rebates for our fridge (and the incentives from Sears) the cost to us was only about $500 in reality. We won't see that money until next tax season when we cash in the rebates, but it is coming back. What is more, the entire fridge and freezer cost only $50 a year to run. I don't even want to think about how much less power that is than our old fridge!

With all hopefulness, the 68% of United States Average consumption we are currently using will drop to 40-50% by April and be as low as under 10% by the summer. Jules is looking into solar panels for the roof and the new washing machine is on its way over Monday.

This year of Rioting is more about showing us the places where our energy is going. It most likely won't be until next year that we are actively living under the 10% line. However, that is the horizon we are moving to slow and steady.

So what does our family do without television? The Ipod streams music and the finer points of Dude-culture are discussed while washing the truck.

My job (since I'm not a Dude) is to stay inside making lunch and getting the bathtub ready for the hard working fellas.

Having now attempted this post about four times, I'm just going to write it and stop caring about it being perfect. Forgive any complete acts of duphus-ness or stupidity that might follow as I'm quite good at saying things all wrong the first time around. Tact isn't one of Jules' top five characteristics to look for in a mate, thank goodness!

The last two months (or so) our household have resembled this...

Oh the outpourings of love which have been going on!

Jules and I finally got into a bickering match over a 4 dollar Pokemon game at Goodwill. We have named these sorts of conflicts "Mayonnaise Arguments" after the first instance of such bickering that Jules' is still certain was about mayonnaise. In my recollection, it had nothing to do with mayonnaise. And so, the new title was born. A Mayonnaise Argument is basically one of those instances where something stupid triggers an actual problem. We weren't bickering over a Pokemon game; we were bickering over both been stretched so thin that we felt smothered by responsibility. Niether one of us much liked our life anymore and just couldn't figure out why.

One of the great things about living in the city is that there are always new things, great cultural experiences, and a wonderful flow of creativity bubbling up and spilling out everywhere. The hard part is negotiating which of these are important to your life and which need to be weeded out. Somehow, we lost the forest through the trees. I picked up an extra day at work so that the neighbor's daughter could begin learning how to babysit by playing with the Barracuda. I traded a day of work which was laid-back and easy for a crazy, fast-paced night because no one else could do it. Jules took on new, different classes at work because someone needed to. Schedules shifted, life got crazy. More junk food found its way into the house, more days found themselves into my work week, more clutter crept into our house. Where did family time go? When was the last time I read to my son before bed? When was the last time I actually played my guitar? When was the last time I was knitting or sewing? When was the last time Jules actually got to bed before midnight?

What happened to our peaceful little family?

Once addressed, the fix has been pretty simple and it occurred to me that our adjustments would benefit many who are trying to convert to a lifestyle of more family/more time/more creativity/less stress.

1) Figure out who is going to be the primary worker and who is going to tend to life. The life-tender should cut back as much working as possible in order to maximize the life-tending. You would be amazed how much money can be saved when someone has the time to actually make things at home. In our house, it makes the most sense for Jules to be the primary worker. Thus, I gave notice I will be letting go of one day a week (hopefully more to follow.) I have also begun tutoring a local boy so that I can work from/close to home. This pays me necessary life money for many fewer hours and much less stress.

2)Go to bed so that you can be productive the next day. Rather than cycling through this dramatic dance of staying up to have time together, then oversleeping and racing through the day backlogged and working too late, only to stay up again to spend time together, just STOP. I began going to bed without Jules. If I get up to make his lunch, his coffee/chocolate milk, set everything out, and see him off, Jules has a much better day and doesn't have to buy anything he has forgotten at home. The day is productive and no one is up late again.

3)Spend time together getting off on the right foot. Jules and I spent an entire weekend cleaning the house, organizing neglected projects we always meant to get back to, taking things to Goodwill, cashing tax-refund checks, buying energy efficient appliances (long overdue tax refund presents), and generally catching up again on making our household the focus. Without starting out well, the entire process of getting back on track would be sabotaged.

4)Be deliberate!We got into this predicament by losing our focus. We were sucked in by all the shiny, fast, quick solutions to many of life's stumbling blocks: More work makes more money so you can just buy the solution, more time away from your family means you can make more money to help your family, new stuff will ultimately be better than repurposing old stuff. Find your own way. Ultimately the outside culture does not yet perpetuate much of a simple life. Stop listening to everyone else and decide what it is that you want.

We are now back on track and once again going full bore into life. The final recognition is that we do not live normal lives and just need to stop trying. Our life might not work for everyone, but it works for us. We don't need to justify it. We don't need to apologize for it. Most of all, we don't need to adjust if for people who don't get it.

I'm giving up sleeping in for Lent. We will see how well this combines with the other decision to cut back on coffee which I made about two weeks ago before realizing the time of year it was. God help my family as they try to deal with the cranky woman living in their house.