Black Beans

May 1st I found out I had to be out of my home by May 14th (in exchange for a $5000 check). My minivan had already been repossessed earlier that week. This is all fall-out from my divorce, finalized the first of May. We moved in a big rush and are now finally settled in the new home and partially unpacked so I can get my mind back on straight and organized enough for me to be back to blogging. How time flies! We moved in on Mother's Day which was lovely. I had help from the church with the move and the girls came back from the weekend with their father to see the new house! I just bought a new truck last weekend, since I'd been borrowing a car from a friend since the van was towed away, and so I finally feel independent.

I just wrapped up the school year so I'm in between projects, although I have been asked to consult on the summer camp curriculum that my friend is putting together at the local gym.

Since our house is half the size of the old one, and we have to pare down substantially in order to fit, I am giving her a lot of my old Waldorf preschool stuff in exchange for a year's membership to the gym. The wooden kitchen, fridge, and washing machine from Angels & Elves, the wooden play store from Magic Cabin, a silk fairy canopy from Sarah's Silks, lots of wooden, hand knitted, and felted play kitchen foods, the clothesline and basket of clothespins, the doll buggy, several simple sewn dolls, the Nautilus puzzle from Spiel und Holz as well as their sanded bark-free wooden blocks, a basket of felt balls that I sewed for my girls, all our dress up costumes (fairy wings, skirts, wands, crowns, princess hats), the rocking horse, the basket of musical instruments (drums, shaker eggs, rhythm sticks, clackers). The gym had a sad, miserable little play room before. It will be quite a joyous and cheerful one now!

For the summer camp, I am contributing story and art projects to correspond with the weekly field trip so when I get the book titles and projects lined up, I will post them here. I am not personally teaching any summer camps this year. I'll be spending most of the summer unpacking and planning the beginning of next school year with a new crop of 1st and 2nd graders. My girls are all attending the school, since I had to get a job after my divorce and it's a good school (an eclectic school that allows me to bring in my Waldorf influences). I've also been approached about speaking at a Waldorf conference again this summer so we'll see if that works out.