Of wells.

Wells is a beautiful city, the music is amazing, and the people are great but oh my goodness. I wish dennis were here, it's so rough taking care of Luca on my own in a new place. Luca's sleeping right now and we're in a little store around the size of my bathroom back home. It's just been dreary and rainy and cold at night. I hope things get better, because I'm just really frustrated. We brought cloth diapers because I was told there was a laundromat but then found out there was none, and there are no places selling disposible diapers. I might sneak into the bathroom and handwash them but I don't know if they'd dry with all of the rain. Blah, I'm just frustrated. Can't wait to talk to dennis at 9:30. Can't wait for the rain to go away. Last night, I danced until 1am, while Luca slept in his stroller with his Peltor ear protection nearby. When I left him with his uncle Jay, I ran back to the camp and on my way back from the tent, I was hurrying and tripped over the huge concrete block, and ended up winding myself. Such an odd sensation to not be able to breath. Okay well I'm going to try to go and do something. Not sure what yet, but venting was nice. See you all in a few days.

Venting!

I'm still packing but oh my gosh. Luca has so much stuff! I'm bringing all sorts of warm clothes because apparently Wells gets pretty cold at night. We have a sleeping bag but you can't really be too careful with the baby! I have like 4 bags of stuff, a sleeping bag, a tent, and a jogging stroller. I hope my ride to the festival doesn't mind the heap of stuff I'm bringing... yikes. I just got a call from Everything Baby, and my B.O.B. jogging stroller just came in!!! I can't wait to go cruising in it! It's a devilishly attractive stroller. They said it wouldn't be in till the 15th of next month so it's just great that it's in so early! Yay! I wasn't able to find unbleached, compostable diapers in the hart so it looks like I'll be using cloth at the festival. I'm not too dissapointed about it, it just sucks not knowing where the laundromat is and how far it is from the festival grounds. I'm so nervous about everything haha. Haven't really gone anywhere in a year and a half and never far with Luca.

Our summer so far.

Here are a few pictures from our summer, taken by Luca's nana Jan. Enjoy!

Uncle Jesse got Luca's handprint tattooed on his leg.

Luca wakes up in time for his first birthday party!

My mom helped make his birthday happen. She helped so much!

Uncle Jesse's birthday gift to Luca.

He loves his indoor sandbox

Nana and poppys birthday gift, and Luca's first slam dunk.

Luca's first time in his mushroom pool!

Cute little bloomers.

He got out, but turned back realizing that the water was much warmer then outside was.

Such a cute facial expression.

Nana drying him off. :]

Love, from our family to yours.

Festival tomorrow!

I'm leaving for Artswells tomorrow! The friend who had originally offered to give me a ride was unable to after hitting a deer, but 24 hours later, someone posted on the ride share board offering a ride from prince george to wells so... yay! I've been going going going all day today, and asked my mom to take Luca for the next ttwo hours so I could really start packing. We went and visited his aunty dawn today, and I also bought a pair of Nomads Hempwear organic cotton/hemp "Grab Pants" and an organic cotton/soy "Blossom" shirt. Both are made in Nelson BC, and I've been a fan of their facebook for sometime now, but didn't know until today that they sell clothes out of the Homeworks store in downtown Prince George. I love them so much! The were on sale for 20% off to boot. Now that I've got my comfy hemp wear, unbleached, compostable diapers for luca, enough Amy's canned organic soup for the weekend, and Luca's hearing protection, and I feel like I'm ready to go to Wells. I'm going to see if they have any sort of computer cafe or something I can hop on and give you all an update but I doubt I'll try that hard, I'll probably be so immersed in the festivities. I'm looking forward to camping out the most probably. Still a bit weary about going with Luca, especially with all of this rain. Hoping it will work out favorably though. Oh, and I forgot to mention! Luca's nana and I went out and bought a B.O.B. jogging stroller. They're top of the line, and I just can't wait to run my butt off when it comes in on the 15th. I gained a ton of weight and I just feel lethargic when I don't exercise for long periods of time. I can't even hula hoop because I'm making a rug with my hoop! I'm such a procrastinator!

I won't be left dancing alone to songs from the past.

I just ordered some PUL! It's basically a polyester with a film inside that traps moisture and works great for diapers! Unfortunately, I don't know if I can keep selling my diapers at 10 dollars each, with 4 pieces of PUL being $22.50. I'd still have to pay for materials for inserts, velcro, fleece. Not to mention all the time it takes me to make them.. Oi! I'll have to work all of this out without compromising quality. 

On another note! I just made Luca spaghetti with quinoa. also, note Dennises glazed video game face.

Zombie zombie Zombie

I'm finally tugging myself out of my depression, and getting outside a bit more. I've been missing so much since my little slump. It's just so beautiful outside, and being out there more makes the apartment seem so stuffy and confining. I think I need to replenish and focus inwards. Fix some self esteem issues I didn't really realize I had. I think I have some sort of weird social anxiety issues. When hanging out with anyone- even friends, I just feel pretty out of place. Sort of incredibly awkward. 

I'm trying to pin the cause of it down, and I think it's really just that I've convinced myself that nobody wants to hear anything I have to say. I just sort of sabotage myself mid conversation, clam up, and then leave feeling like the biggest weirdo. Really offsets the rest of my day, and I never end up getting anything out of the interaction, and I never really say my point eloquently because I've convinced myself nobody wants to hear it. Ah! I've got tons of things I can change about myself though. Lots of time to do it too. I think I'll go on a little hiatus from the internet for a week or two after the festival. If I end up going. The friend who volunteered to give me a ride hit a deer today (he's fine!) and I'm pretty sure he has no windsheild so we'll see how things unfold.

Going to Artswells Music Festival!

Artswells music festival is coming up in just a week and I'm starting to get really excited! I just got back from getting my fringe cut, and found a ten dollar second hand sleeping bag in a store window! I love the Hart for stuff like that. After buying the sleeping bag, I went into the little cafe in the mall, and bought myself a fair trade coffee, and chatted with the owner about cloth diapers. I showed her one of the ones i make and she wants to start selling them! If I sell enough, I can invest in some lovely organic cottons. Maybe even a snap press! Oh so many possibilities... if only I could stop giving my diapers away!!! :P

Dennis and I are splitting the cost and buying a Beco baby carrier so Luca can enjoy the music from my arms, and I'm so happy we bought hearing protection for him. I've never even been to Wells or Barkerville so I'm not really sure what's there in terms of grocers or whether I should cloth diaper while I'm there and just do laundry every day or use disposables. I'm leaning towards cloth but I don't really want to be packing them around all day, with our campsite being a half hour walk from the festival grounds, and taking the time out to wash the cloth would prove difficult. It's crazy how much more there is to plan when going somewhere with a child!

I'm going to start working on making a twirly circle skirt out of some cute flower print sheets for the festival today... if I can get Luca busy with something. It's hard to sew with him around. He just loves unwinding my threads. Well I should get to it! I'll be blogging more soon, seeing as my school is now on summer break until August I should have more time for blogging. Tons to do in the next week though! I'll try putting a blog up if there are any internet cafes in the little town of Wells BC. Have a good one, guys!

why you no post?

I'm so tired.

That being said, after about 6 hours of homework, I'm finally getting somewhere. I really need to finish highschool. 

 Even a bird would want a taste of dirt from abyssal dark
The prick of a feather could make a kingdom burn and the bloodshed start

 

If she shows her breasts, she's asking for it???

While going through old news stories about the Vancouver Riots last night, I found a post about an unnamed young lady who was sexually assaulted by Olympic hopeful Nathan Kotylak while flashing her breasts to a crowd of rioters.

While the assault itself disturbed me, the comments below the post were an even bigger slap in the face.

Gwen Fitzgerald comments:

"maybe the woman shouldn't be throwing them out there?"

Dave LeBlanc has this to say about the assault:

"she provoked attention, so she got it simple"

and

"Didn't say she deserves it, like i say real women know better, THAT MEN LACK SELF-CONTROL that's why we have certain places for that crap (maybe you've never heard of a strip club?) there's a time and a place for everything, simple..."

Is it acceptable for a person to be molested if they shows skin? Is it admissible to say that if she shows her breasts, men, because of their inherant "lack of self control" are not guilty of wrong? Is it okay to blame the victim while defending the person commiting the rape?

Does this remind anyone else of the Toronto police officer who said "women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized"?

Are these comments just symptomatic of a culture which represses sexuality and sexual equality or was she "asking for it" by showing her breasts? 

Luca turns 1 tomorrow!

I've been cooking, cleaning the house, baking, and creating decorations for the past 7 hours, fueled by coffee and dubstep. 

The cake isn't doing so well, and I'm stressed that we might not have enough chili to feed everyone. Then it's raining, and I had really counted on sunshine so we wouldn't need to cram everyone into my little one bedroom apartment. I don't think my chili is very good either. Bah. Hopefully the "potluck" part shows through and we end up having enough food. I really need to start decorating, and maybe shower at some point tonight. My mom's been amazing though.

Do any of you ever look through photos on facebook, and then scroll down to comment before realizing you already did... like a year ago? 'cause I do that a lot.

Mites in my vermicompost!

I've written a brief blurb on vermicomposting (indoor worm composting) in my recent update. What I didn't mention is that when you welcome a worm bin into your house, there will inevitably be harmless critters in there for the ride as well. Not really surprising when you consider that soil itself is full of living microbes. It's not uncommon to find mites, pot worms, and even millipedes and fruit flies. All are beneficial to the breakdown of food. These bugs only begin being a problem when the conditions in the worm bin are more favorable for the other critters then they are for the worms. Luckily, an abundance of each insect is an indicator of the health of you're compost. I've learned the hard way.

 Our vermicompost has mites in it. I admit, I was guilty of overfeeding, over watering, and turning my bin too acidic (orange peels, lemon etc). Two days ago, I noticed a mass of what looked like white mold, but has turned out to be large bunches of microscopic mites covering a lemon peel. I threw it outside, thinking that that was that.The next day, the mites were all over my bin! So I scraped the top layer of soil off, and of course, the next day they came back... worse this time. So... I spent the better part of today pulling all the decomposing mite infested food out, and am happy to see that we still have plenty of worms. I mixed the compost with dry newspaper, so we will see if it changes anything. If not, I have no idea what I'll do. Guess I'll just have to let nature take its course.