FreethinkingMom's Xanga

some recent pics

Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:41:09 GMT

This is my cat Frederick. Hes the nicest cat in the whole world. I think he knows all of life's secrets because he is always so content.

Celia and I both got skates and Rowan likes to ride bikes. He recently has mastered the 2 wheeler, with training wheels of course, but here he is on the tricycle:

This is our learning room. The kids like their new puzzle boards which help them learn to spell, and associate letters with sounds too.

This pic is a little older, it was taken on the solstice. Mike and Celia are playing hungry hippos.

Self Portrait Tuesday

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:29:30 GMT

Well I just got a camera so I played a few songs just to see if this all works! And apparently, here on xanga, it doesn't. I couldnt get my video to play here so I am linking to my youtube channel:

www.youtube.com/sadiejaneramsey

I haven't been as up-to-date online as I wanted to, so it goes.. I homeschool my kids, have them in a group that meets once a week, give guitar lessons, and the kids visit their dad once a week.

I'll give a quick update... I have several new students and so therefore Ive been busy. Rowan just learned to ride a bike and Celia has another loose tooth. I'll get some pics of Rowan on the big two wheeler, with training wheels of course, next time we go to the park... Celia and I both got rollerskates, thats a lot of fun, too.

A photo update

Mon, 24 Dec 2007 18:06:43 GMT

Well a lot has gone down in the last few months. I havent had a home phone or internet access.. these bills have been killing me. But, Im back. and because its been so long.. instead of writing a huge, long-winded update I dont have time for , I figured Id post a bit of a photo journal of our summer and fall. It's in chronological order, more or less.

{I thought Id add music you can listen to while you read up on us. I recorded this one back in aug or something.. }

This was on one of the many drives I go on with my boyfriend, Aris. He has a nice jeep and we like to drive way off and look for wildlife.

My father came to visit.. notice the dog is barking, what's new?

This is our friend Caitlyn, with Celia and I. A classic pic. I gave Caitlyn guitar lessons for a while before her family moved away. We miss them very much.

I cut Celia's hair short.

We did an awful lot of this over the summer! I had a killer tan, lol.

Here I am with Jack. Can you tell the kids have been in bed awhile? notice the drunken glaze in my eyes..

This toad is my friend. He lives in my yard.. trapped in the stone walls. He's bigger than a softball, easily. I am careful not to use poisons for his sake, and he eats the bugs for me instead. I keep the dogs away, or leashed, when its the rainy season. He's been with us for a good few years now. Its a colorado river toad if anyone's wondering.

This incredible view was from the top of a mountain, we went to see some ruins of the Salado people here in AZ. it was a precarious hike, with dogs and all, but we were with good friends so it wasn't too nerve-wracking!

and here are the ruins..

thats Rowan, with no regard for the height we are at!

Caitlyn was sketching the mortar and pestle..

and here's the view from inside.

Afterwards we took the kids to a nearby lake.

Rowan loves to make the biggest splash he can!

I cut Rowan's hair short too, sometime between these next pics!

Halloween. Celia was a princess, Rowan was a dragon. The kids' father takes them to a park for safe trick or treat type stuff every year while I get to stay home in the quiet. Its nice.

My mom came to visit recently, too.

These 2 pics are from the very last time Rowan and I had "bugga" together. He was almost 4.

I sure do miss those sweet faces they both made as nurslings.

Celia lost her first tooth!

I couldn't fit the whole thing in the frame but this is just one rainbow..

there was another one behind it but it didnt come out in the pics. we get fantastic rainbows out here in the "monsoon" season.

so, I missed everybody! I have so much to catch up on online.. I dont know if Ill ever get to read all the entries Ive missed, but I will try to keep up from now on!

Monday, April 23, 2007

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 12:00:29 GMT

Well! We have had such a busy weekend. I took the kids to their first rainbow gathering, since Celia was a baby. There was a regional here in AZ, up in Payson. We didnt get to stay too long, because the cops were already chasing everybody out of the woods, like usual. It had been waaay too long since I had been to a gathering and that was so nice for me, even for an afternoon. Just hearing somebody say, "welcome home" and give me a hug, well it affected me. Then yesterday we went to the earth day festival, as some of the rainbows asked us to meet there. That was really cool! For once I didnt stand out, it was such a counterculture scene. There were live djs, singers, rappers, etc. There was a kids' area with bean bag tossing games and such. THere was a separate dj spinning jungle beats, which I like. Practically half of the ppl there had dreads, and probably more than half of everyone there was drinking. They were selling the beer to raise money. Rowan enjoyed the kids' games, and Celia enjoyed making friends with some rainbows. After the music started to get louder, etc, there were kids dancing up onstage and Rowan went up there, in front of all these people! He was dancing onstage. I had no idea Rowan is a ham. Then we went off by the water and there was drumming, and I was singing and everyone loved it, it was great. That shit just fills me up inside. I hated to have to go.. Then one of our friends took out these things, I forget what theyre called, but theyre chains with a thick pad at the end, that you soak in gas, and light on fire, and twirl them in the air, etc. The kids were amazed by this, of course. But then we had to go. I wish we could do things like that all the time. All the rainbows wanted to know why I didnt just get a bus and travel with the kids. Silly hippies.

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 14:16:17 GMT

if you dont listen to much of my music, pick this one. this song is so difficult to play its giving me carpal tunnel's in one hand. or maybe its tendonitis. but its really fun to play. very complicated. when I was a street musician I played this one on the streets of new york with a drunk recovering addict named gus. he stole the book for this album for me. I left it on the side of the road in northern florida when I was a hitchhiker, by accident of course. a trucker pulled over to give us a ride, very early in the morning, and as we collected our things he pulled away a bit. he was impatient. so it goes. that was over 5 yrs ago. I bought the book again recently, and I have a much better understanding of music theory and picking styles so its even nicer than before. But I couldnt get the recording flawless as usual, because its just so damned difficult. so I finally uploaded an imperfect song.

radiohead's paranoid android. I altered it some, as Ive only got one acoustic guitar, and no effects, etc.

puppy love!

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:59:59 GMT

Meet Chester!

Hes the newest addition to our family. Hes a mutt, his mother was a malti-poo mutt, and his father a chihuahua mutt. He has the colouring of a black and tan chihuahua, but his ears are different. Im not really too sure how big he will get, but Im sure he'll be small.

I think he's about as cute as they come!

He was free. Ive wanted a small dog to raise around the kids, and take to parks, etc, for a long time. I was having a hard time justifying the expense.. but then this little guy needed me to take him and give him a good life.

Celia and Rowan both love the little dog already.

Having a puppy is so much like having a newborn! He sleeps much of the time, cries when he wakes up, needs help with learning to control his functions, etc.

He can be quite the chewer. When he sits on my lap he wants to climb up me and chew my dreads even!

Jack is fine with him. Jacks a great dog, aside from the nearly constant barking.

He's pretty comfortable here, already.

In case anyone's wondering.. I named him after Chet Atkins. I love his music.

some recent photos

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 04:28:51 GMT

{These are pics Ive taken over the last 2 months.}

Celia is quite jealous of Caitlyn's guitar lessons, so Ive started some lessons just for her.

Here are some pics from recent visits with our friends the York family:

Celia at bat:

And Hannah at bat:

Here's Logan!!

Their dogs are so photogenic. This is Lyra:

And Rowan at bat:

Here is a Sonoran garter snake we saw recently at the arboretum.

As of late the kids have been busy in the playroom, Rowan has a whole village for his cars:

And Celia loves snuggling and putting dolls to sleep, etc, in the tent:

I havent been too up-to-date with the pics recently.. we've been busy.

well Im sooo ready for bed! good night everyone.

some more music.

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 00:10:46 GMT

I recorded this tonite. Im playing the tambourine with my foot, like so:

I find just fitting it over the shoe like this works best.. but I cant just get up and walk around like that. While Im playing like this, I feel like I must look pretty silly, but I rather like the sound of it with the picking and such.

Its an Emmylou Harris song, written by Delbert McClintock, I believe. Its really missing something without the honky tonk piano so I felt a need to at least make it a little percussive. I also enjoy the challenge of splitting my focus so much.

{the previous post is actually from sunday, but I wrote it late at night.}

Monday, March 26, 2007

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 03:22:05 GMT

We had a nice visit with my Dad today, but I forgot to take pictures. The kids had fun, we went to the arboretum. The kids had their lunch there. We walked a bit, I brought the strings; it was a nice day. We came back to my home and I made dinner, and we drank a bit after we ate. The kids were tired. Celia stayed up tho, and I played some music before he left. Celia was so interested and excited about dancing with her Grandpa, it was adorable. I was playing random things with certain tempos so they could dance.

I got my drum in the mail a few days ago. I bought it with my cigarette money, then I quit smoking. Its an authentic drum- carved mahogany, goatskin head.. yet I chose a smaller one. It has a 9" head, yet its still very loud. Im not particularly good at the hand drum, but its fun, and nice to have around- so I can get other people to play percussion while I strum!

I photographed it next to the guitar, so you can get an idea of the scale. its a good size, I think. My drum is not as big as Mikes drum, which is waaaay too loud and very heavy, yet not too small, either. I can sit on it to play if I choose. I think its really cool, even tho I seem to break tiny blood vessels in my hands whenever I play it!

This evening I recorded myself drumming a simple heartbeat, and singing a rainbow family chant.

Its actually called "heartsong" but I couldnt get my computer to edit the song title. Ill come back to that.

actually, it was a good day..

Fri, 09 Mar 2007 00:55:53 GMT

Today was our parkday. The kids had fun, I brought a new set for making bubbles, and sandwiches, etc. I love the parkdays. I started giving informal lessons today, on guitar. My student is Caitlyn, 10. She is at the very beginning of learning. I wish I had started that young! I think it should be fun, helping her learn. I know she can do it, she just needs a little determination. And patience. I hope my style of 'teaching' is useful to her.. Im sure its different, from her perspective. I learned to play by sheer determination. I learned the chords with a mel bay book, then I got some music that went to a nirvana album I had and just slowly figured out how to play. I also just watched other players and learned by watching. So I have given her a few chords to learn. I assumed she already knew what notes each strings are, and how many notes are in a scale, etc. I didnt want to give her all this theory before she's gotten to the fun part. By next week if shes learned these chords she can either work on strumming or go right to learning to change from one to another.. then a simple song like you are my sunshine. Thats the plan. I have never taught anyone to play! So, this is a learning experience for me, too.

Today I recorded the song, 'bad day'... recently its been my fave to play.

Thanks for listening, folks. I do love sharing my music.