We have had a lot going on, so I thought it was past time for an update. We moved,finally, just before New Year’s. So we’re in an apartment in Baton Rouge and friends of ours are renting the house in Marrero. Not as good as sellng, but much better than living in two different cities. We have not gotten a washing machine yet, though, so we’re still imposing on Craig’s parent’s hospitality for that. The girls are starting ballet. Lucy’s first class was lastnightand Samantha starts later this morning. Lucy really enjoyed it and did very well, I thought. We’ll see how Samantha does. She im not as eager to follow directions as Lucy is. 
Clare has been busy. She signed her first word at dinner yesterday, “more”. She wants to eat everything. She is also making a lot of progress standing on her own – and she likes to throw her head back and wave her arms around and roar, “Look at me!” And she wants to help put her clothes on, so she spends half the day trying toput different things on her head – socks, hats, hair ties, blankets, you get the idea. And she’awake now, so I guess I’m done.
Category Archives: Domum
New things
Earth Bag Houses
For those of you we haven’t talked to in a while, this is our plan for the next several years. Why would we want to do this, you might wonder? Let’s just say we’re tired of spending $400 to fix our AC, and $300 for plumbing, and lining banker’s pockets with our mortgage interest, and wasting energy, water, building materials…it’s a long list. But go check it out:
http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/
The hope is, once we sell this house, to get some land probably in Livingston Parish (between N.O. and Baton Rouse) and get to building. If you know anyone looking to move to Marrero, let us know!
Termite Invasion III
I hate this time of year. The termites are swarming, and a few always manage to make it into the house, which is gross in itself, but sends the girls into a panic. We’ll see if we sleep tonight.
A Photo Update…I hope
Let’s see how far I get with this – we’ve been too busy living to spend time writing about living lately! So here’s what I’ve got saved up…
According to my camera, this is from last June. But I think the date is wrong, and it was actually October. Either way, it’s been a while since I went through the pics on the camera!
Excitement…
…of various sorts has been ours lately. I’ll have to come back to the posts on the road trip, but here’s what’s going on more recently.
Lucy has finally given in and decided that she is, in fact, old enough to poop on the potty. We are jubilant. And it’s consistent, it’s been only one diaper since we got back from Fargo. We even tried sleeping without diapers for a couple of nights (at her request), but that went less well. Apparently if she sleeps in a diaper, she waits until she gets up to pee, and if she doesn’t, well, she doesn’t. But maybe soon.
This week’s news
It has been a week of visitors. We managed to have someone over for a meal every day last week. After Taylor’s wedding, my mom and brother came over, so they were here Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. (Their visit also included a shopping trip to the French Quarter and a trip to the Aquarium.) On Wednesday Craig’s brother and his girlfriend came for dinner and so that Craig could help Sean with calculus. Thursday’s dinner included some of the usual suspects, Theresa and Paige. (Eric Parrie – I am calling you out publicly for standing us up!) Friday Fr. R.B. spent the night. Which I guess means I could count Saturday breakfast, too, but then Theresa brought a little girl she was babysitting over to play and have lunch. Seven days in a row!
A Community
Ah, it’s time again for me to write about something of substance. Or something.
We talk often about trying, someday in the future, to live in an intentional (Christian) community. We liked what we had at the Tulane Catholic Center, we’ve had retreat/camp experiences that were short term communities, and we liked it, so we’d like to do something similar full time.
Funnily enough, Craig’s parents already practically have this. We borrowed their house over the 4th of July weekend while they went on a vacation to Boston. Here is how our weekend went.
A month in the life of the Bakers
Well, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Nearly a month, actually. If you’re still checking, I’m impressed. There has been a lot going on, including my going offline for weeks at a time and some serious writer’s block. But here’s the update.
School ended, thank God. Everyone survived. Summer is hot, hot, hot. There will be not trips to the zoo any time soon, membership or no. The goal is for everyone to survive the summer.
Things Lucy ate this week
For once, the pause in posting wasn’t my fault! Last Saturday Craig put insulation in our attic, and bumped something that killed the electricity in the room with the computer. So that was finally fixed yesterday, when Craig was home in the morning when it was cool enough to get up in the attic again and fix it. But now we’re functional again, anyway.
We’ve been busy in the garden, and I’ll have to put up some details and pictures sooner or later. But the exciting thing, we realized last night, is the variety of foods we’ve had this week. Almost all of which Lucy has at least sampled. Many of which are things I’ve only started eating recently myself. Here’s the list, at least what I can remember, from the last week:
Garden update
The beans have come! It’s garden time, and my first order from Seed Savers has come in, and is already in the ground. Well, not all of them, but nine Flor de Junio, and nine Tejano beans (I only ordered the Flors, apparently the others were lagniappe) are in their appointed squares. Prior to their arrival, we already had onions (some green ones we rescued from the compost pile and some seeds which are just coming up), orange, green, and “chocolate” bell peppers, jalapeño and Anaheim peppers, basil, oregano (which over-wintered) lemon balm, dill, chives, parsley, orange mint, salad greens (some of which have already bolted and been removed, including the bacon-flavored one, whatever it was), and several types of tomatoes. The daffodils and tulips are bloomed out, and the iris are in full bloom now (some yellow and some white, with some white and purple on their way). I put in some morning glory seeds in pots in hopes of getting them to climb the play ground the porch posts. The orange tree is blooming (I wish I could send you a smell of it – it is amazing!) and the jasmine is almost there. All the berry bushes (ok, they’re not bushes yet, they’re sticks) have new growth, so in two years, if nothing goes wrong, we will have berries, too!
