It seems I only blog when the rest of the world is sleeping. One reason I actually love insomnia. It helps with creativity. Plus, I'm pretty good about allowing myself to take a nap during the day, so if I don't get much sleep at night, I don't stress it.
There was a really awful sounding bird squawking outside my window when I woke up. Some bird noises are peaceful and serene. Owls are awesome. But this bird was more like a squeaky door being opened and closed continually in my yard. Nature: it takes all types.
Not to mention the fact that I usually wake up in the night feeling like I am dying of thirst. Is this because I am too distracted in the day to make sure I drink enough water, or because I sleep with my mouth open, and wake up with a dry mouth and throat? I am on my second liter of water since 4:30 am. And yes, I have a bladder the size of a walnut.
I have about two and a half weeks till my due date. Half of my place is still under construction. I have made it clear that whatever doesn't get done in the next week will have to wait until after the baby's born. I want the last two weeks before my due date with my house to myself, without construction workers coming in and out all the time. When I've explained this to people, they've assumed it was so that I could follow my "nesting urge", or as someone put it, so that I can decorate. It's not. I feel very little urge to nest. Is nesting really supposed to be an urge that all pregnant women get? Or is it simply what they become obsessed with based on their domestic motivations?
I have much respect for my friends who are domestically inclined, who keep a neat and tidy house that looks nice, with everything in it's place, who are usually on top of things like laundry and dishes, who get all their baby stuff laid out before they enter their third trimester. That's just not how I roll. I would be lucky to go into labor with my kitchen floor recently swept. I am pretty okay with the way my house is most of the time, and the amount of work I put into maintaining it.
The reason I want my own space for a few weeks before the baby's born is because I like solitude. It helps me focus. This construction is disrupting my chi. I need to meditate, to settle into my space and feel like it's mine. Like its safe, private, calm. This baby will be born here. So over the next few weeks, the place I intend to birth will become like a sanctuary.
Even as my inner life becomes more and more still, my outer life keeps rolling along. Yesterday I helped build a compost, and learned about it, so that I can build one at my place this weekend. I picked up some fencing, which will go up in preparation for when the goats come. The goats I had been looking at got sold to someone else, and it was back to the drawing board, but I am going to look at some more this weekend. I may just bring them home in the minivan!
I'm pretty excited about setting up my little homestead. My goal is to produce the food we eat in a sustainable and healthy way, and take care of the land. Part of modern homesteading is also living in a more sustainable way, which influences what I consume and my connections with the community. Our vegetable farm has started to sell some produce at the market. It went really well last week, and we'll be there again this week. I'll try to post some pictures of that, and anything else that happens around the funny farm. But for now, it's time to start the morning fiasco. Wake my daughter up get her clothes, make breakfast, pack a lunch and get her off to school. It seems so strange, but even by grade four, I still don't find this easy. Of all the things I do in my day, this is the hardest part.
