today’s news from the yurt

Today Paul finishes the interior of the Noah House! We’re so excited. The paper will come off the walnut floors, the tools and sawdust will be removed, and we’ll bust a bottle of champagne on the deck. Well, okay, probably not bust it. But I might have one of my pomegranate martini‘s, or as Sophie calls them, “Mommy’s Happy Drink,” (how did that get started???) to celebrate. What, you’ve never had a pomegranate martini? You should, they’re WONDERFUL. And besides, Oprah likes them, so they must be good for me, right?

As a tease, here is a pic Sophie took this morning of her loft with it’s new railing.

More pictures of the unveiling to come! And maybe a house warming party. Stay tuned.

One thing we splurged on for the Noah House was a 24 inch monitor for hooking our laptops into, or for watching movies on while over there. Lifehacker led us to an incredibly good deal on a decent enough monitor, only setting us back a couple hundred dollars. We also got a $20 iMac to put over there for the kiddos. We’ve reached 1:1 computer to human penetration in this household. What would the Amish say? Or those Waldorf people who hate tech? We’re clearly going to the devil. Fuck it. But about the monitor, I thought it was going to be a copy, only bigger, of whatever was on the laptop screen, and when Paul hooked her up I was disappointed to see nothing on it at all (except the wall paper). I kind of shrugged. Meh. But THEN he dragged a window from his laptop monitor over onto the big monitor, as if they were connected! Holy cow! It’s an extension, as if they are side by side! I had no idea! It was like magic. I’m sure I got chills. I’m also sure this is old hat to many, but I am stoked. For example, I’ve got this plan to make a couple of ebooks, one on yurt living, and one on recycled building, taking blog posts I’ve done over the past 18 months and fleshing them out, only I couldn’t imagine doing a bunch of desktop publishing work on my little 13″ laptop. Now I’m in business! I’d like to get those puppies done by the end of the year. Keep an eye out. Because, you know, I need another project for all this free time I’ve got.

Let’s see, what else? Luc is currently building a diorama of Bikini Bottom, complete with Spongebob’s pineapple house, Squidward’s Easter Island Head house, the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket, and Sandy’s Dome. The whole thing is in foam blocks, with my yoga props featured as mountain ranges and the beach. He’s singing to himself as he works—I love it when he does that, it means he’s happy. Sophie, on the other hand, covered in about twenty temporary tattoos, just did a big glitter project and is now practicing her Yucky Mouth Noises, which means she is bored and I’d better hurry up with this blog post. Those mouth noises totally gross me out. This is an opportunity to practice my equanimity and deep breathing right? Serenity now! Good luck with that, Maya.

In other news, I have suddenly become a master of bobby-pin-fu and have been experimenting with complicated looking new hair-dos. Sometimes it is the pleasure of these small victories in life that get us through our days. Here is a photo Sophie took, telling me, “No, Mom, turn this way so you’re in the light. Now tilt your head, okay, turn—” I was expecting her say, “Work it, baby!” at any moment.

Cute, huh? Sort of sloppy chic. Kind of. Come on over, I’ll show you how you can do your very own Fancy Bobby Pin Do.

Finally, the goat babies continue to grow and Luc has announced that they are no longer babies, but goat teen-agers. I’ll agree with that, citing Cinnimon’s new interest in humping his sister, his mother, the cat, whatever. Testosterone is a powerful force. If you have some, try to use it only for good.

And that’s the Yurt Report. Good-night and Deity-of-Your-Choice Bless.