Personal Day #1

Often times during the week, I think of something that I might like to share here on the blog, but it does not exactly fit into a DIY or home renovation post. Friday’s Personal Day posts will be filled with all of those little odds and ends. My hope is that by getting to know us better, you may gain a clearer understanding of some of the choices we make regarding BHH and why it takes so long for us to get things done around here. Mostly, though, we just like to make friends and the best way to make a friend is to open up and get to know one another.

Posts will include links at times, and some of the links will be affiliate links, but I will disclose that in each post. I think it is only fair to admit that it helps us when you click on affiliate links or purchase goods after following those links, but I completely respect that some of you are not on board with affiliate linking in blogs. The purpose of the Friday posts is absolutely not to do a link round-up in order to try to sell you anything. That is not our motivation.

Now that all of that housekeeping is out of the way, here are some things I wanted to tell you.

1. Our amazing Chestnut tree is blooming.

This tree is huge. It is by far my favorite tree in the yard. All of our neighbors comment on how beautiful it is, and people drive their cars down our street and stop to take photos of it when it is in bloom. There is a working honeybee hive half-way up the trunk. I wish I could tap the tree to get the honey. Its alternate name is some type of Buckeye, but Andy is a University of Michigan alumni, and due to the serious rivalry between U of M and Ohio State, we are all discouraged from calling it a Buckeye. It’s a chestnut tree.

Now that I have written that, I realize I may have alienated a whole group of Ohio State fans with my very first personal post. Way to go, Stacy. Rest assured that our neighbor is a huge Ohio State fan, and we have all managed to stay good friends anyway. One town over there is a house with two flags displayed during football season. One is Ohio State and the other is U of M. They fly on opposite sides of the house. My guess is that their two children go to these schools. I wonder how that all plays out at Thanksgiving?

This photo better shows just how tall the Chestnut tree is. For reference, the top of our chimney is at least 32 feet above the ground:

The blooms are 8-10″ long. They are not fragrant, but they are so beautiful.

2. Our oldest son, whom we refer to as A. here on the blog, just finished up his first year of college with a 4.0 GPA. It is so weird being old enough to have a college student, but it is such a great feeling knowing that he had a successful first year. He was homeschooled for k-12, and this was his first time in a traditional classroom setting. He really rose to the challenge. He has been a math whiz his entire life, and we always thought he might choose to study something analytical in college. However, the kid who could barely be bothered to write a complete sentence until he was about 15, is now pursuing a degree in writing. My mind is sort of blown, and I think it is fantastic. I support his right to change his mind in the future, but watching this all unfold is rewarding.

3. I am running my 11th marathon on Sunday in Buffalo, NY. I started running 10 years ago. Now, I run 40-50 miles per week. Running is my passion, and the marathon is my favorite race distance. It is going to be a very hot day for a long race, but if we all run smart, we should be ok.

Although I have minimalist tendencies, this does not pertain to running shoes. These are all in my closet right now. I should probably be embarrassed about that.

4. My second son and I are part-time Origami teachers. He has been doing Origami since he was 10 years old. He is currently 15. He spends a good part of each day working on his art. When he began, I was completely useless when he had questions. I could not figure it out at. all. My brain just did not work that way. He quickly figured out that I was not going to be able to help him, so he became self-taught. He folds crazy complex models, and he has folded thousands of pieces of Origami paper in all sizes.

Last year, we attended an Origami Convention in NYC. Being around artists, scientists, and hobbyists for an entire weekend was so inspiring. That experience lit a spark, and I have been folding ever since. We primarily teach to kids ages 9-14, but we are running some classes for adults this summer. If anyone had ever told me that I would become an Origami teacher someday, I would have told them that they had no idea what they were talking about. Life is funny.

5. I backed the Rocketbook Wave Cloud-Ready Microwaveable Notebook on Kickstarter late last year or early this year. (I forget.) It is the first affordable “Shut up and take my money,” project that I have seen on Kickstarter. My notebook arrived this past week (months ahead of schedule), and I have been playing around with it all week. The Rocketbook Wave is a notebook that you write in as if it was a traditional paper notebook. Once it is full, you microwave it and the pages become blank again. All your writing disappears. The pages can be photographed with your smartphone and sent directly to the cloud-based service of your choice. Amazing! I love the smart people who dream up these inventions.

I use a paper notebook to record all of the details of each project here at Blake Hill House. I follow a loose Bullet Journal format. My Rocketbook Wave notebook takes the place of that. The executive size slips perfectly into my purse so I can refer to it when I am shopping for project supplies.

That is all for our first personal post.  Do we have anything in common?

I hope you all have a great long weekend, and you will take the time to pause and remember those who died in active military service.

Happy Friday,