Since I cancelled my cell phone coverage by AT&T, I’ve enjoyed using different apps and services to communicate with my friends & family. One of my favorites is Skype!

First off, I almost always Skype exclusively with my parents.

If I’ve planned the call ahead of time, I will email to set up a time.

Typically, tho, I call my mom on her home phone line, using my Talkatone app & Google Voice number. If I catch her at home, I ask Mom if she & Dad want to Skype. And we switch over to a Skype video call. They sit at their computer & I use my phone.

HOW DO I LIKE IT?

It’s cumbersome to call & then call back, but it’s not too cumbersome.

Sometimes the audio quality isn’t that great. It depends on the Internet connection.

I love including Phoebe in Skype calls. She gets to interact with her grandparents SO much, even though they’re on the other side of the country. And video calls help her communicate without having a big vocabulary.

It’s free.

It’s easy.

It’s more enriching to communicate via video than just on a phone. I come away feeling like I actually spent time with my folks!

Skype vs regular cell calls is an easy win for Skype, in my book!

I should try to Skype with a cell phone off wifi to see how that goes, as well.

^_^ Erin
5/17/2013

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

If you know me personally or follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you’ll know that I’ve been getting sick. A LOT.

I went to see my physician yesterday. She believes that I have a medley of things that are making me vulnerable to illness.

(1) I likely have seasonal allergies.
(2) I may also have food allergies.
(3) My immune system is so taxed from fighting allergies, when I encounter someone who is sick, I don’t have enough defenses to ward it off.
(4) As a mom, I come into contact with lots of sickness that I may have avoided before Phoebe, and I’m simply unable to fight it.

So. Here’s the plan. I’m going to add several supplements to my diet, per my physician’s recommendation. Some of the following are things I have already been doing, and some are new things I’m adding per my visit. I share them with you in case some of this information helps you as it helped me. (Be sure to check with your own doctor to see if these are good things for you to take).

- RAW HONEY from local farms will help bolster my system against seasonal allergens specific to my area.
- VITAMIN D3 will aid in my overall health, due to living in a cloudy climate

What homeopathic or natural methods do you use to ward off sickness or nurse yourself and your family back to health?

^_^ Erin
5/15/2013

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

This month my cell phone contract with AT&T is up for renewal, and instead of getting a new device and committing to pay them $75 dollars a month for another two years, I am cancelling my cell phone service with them. That’s right. I will kick AT&T out of my house.

BUT HOW WILL I MAKE PHONE CALLS?

I have a smart phone; an iPhone 4S, to be exact. I set up a FREE Google voice number. There are a number of apps available for placing free phone calls with a google voice number. Starting out, I’m trying Talkatone. As long as I’m on wifi, I can make calls for free. If I miss a call when I’m off wifi, Google voice will alert me to messages and will even email me transcripts of my voicemails. I can check messages and return calls once I’m on wifi again.

Wifi hotspots are everywhere these days. I live in an urban area with Starbucks and McDonalds everywhere…if I want to check in with Matt at work or change the time for a playdate, all I have to do is swing into a parking lot or grab a quick coffee and take care of my messages. Also, if I NEED to make a call, I can always ask to borrow a landline! Isn’t that what people used to do?

WHAT ABOUT TEXTING?

When I’m on wifi, I can iMessage other apple users. For free. And nothing will change for any of my family or friends that want to message me through iMessage. IF I’m away from wifi, I’ll just get the messages once I get back in range of service.

For non-iPhone users, I can use talkatone or kik or any number of other apps to send text messages for free.

Also, email is an easy and reliable way to communicate on a smart phone, as I can read email messages as easily as I can read texts.

WHAT ABOUT EMERGENCIES?

Whenever I’m at home, I’m on wifi and can make a call if need be. If the wifi is down (which might happen once a year), I can use my neighbor’s phone. No big deal.

Whenever I’m out alone with Phoebe, I only ever drive around town to go to parks or run errands. I can handle most inconveniences on my own. If I had a true emergency, there are so many businesses and people around, I’m sure someone would be happy to assist. That’s what people do.

When we go on trips or on longer drives, it’s very rare that Matt isn’t with us, and he has a cell phone for work. So, for instance, when we go on our cross country roadtrip, we will already have one cell phone. We don’t need two.

MAPS AND DIRECTIONS

I’m not worried about getting lost or finding new places. I’m going to look for a mapping app to see if I can download local maps onto my phone that I could access without data or internet. If not, though, I’ll just buy a map for the local area. That’s what I did when I first moved to Tacoma, before I had a smart phone.

If I get lost, I’ll do what former generations would have done: I’ll pull over and ask for directions.

THE BIGGEST INCONVENIENCE

I will lose my cell phone number. Instead, I will need to change all my accounts to reflect my new Google Voice number. That IS quite a hassle.

A NOTE FOR FRIENDS AND FAMILY

I emailed all of you my new Google Voice number. If I did NOT email you, please shoot me an email…I could not find everyone’s email address. If we know each other, please assume I DO want you to have my number. I am NOt trying to become a hermit. I am NOT trying to avoid people by canceling my cell phone coverage.

WHY AM I DOING THIS?

I want to save money.

More than that, I don’t like cell phone companies. Specifically, I do not like AT&T. Many customer service representatives and sales representatives that I have encountered have been misinformed, uncooperative, more concerned about commissions, or have outright lied about information pertaining to their service or my bill. The cell phone companies always have unexpected fees and overage charges. And YES. That is the way they do business. And that is their prerogative. But I still don’t like it.

This is my way of DOING something about it.

This is my way of saving money so that my family can pay for things we truly NEED, like clothes or quality food or tools for the yard.

This is my attempt at removing some of the clutter from my life.

This is a statement of faith to myself that we will be OK without a digital safetynet.

I will still talk and text and email. I will still be on twitter and instagram. I will not be going away. I will just be taking advantage of the awesome piece of technology i own, my iPhone, and using it to it’s fullest potential to work around the cell phone provider industry.

WILL I DO THIS FOREVER?

I don’t know. At this point, I think I’ll do it for 3 months or for a year. But every month I go without a cell phone bill is $75 in the bank that we can use for other things. So we’ll see how it goes. I’ll blog updates and my experiences as I have new ones to share, and I’ll try to remember to tag the posts with “Cell Bill Free” so you can easily find them. I invite you to ask me any questions you have. ^_^ I want to be an open book about this experience so that I can inspire others!

xoxo
Erin

5/08/2013

There is one category of questioning that all young parents loathe: “Are you having more kids?”

I want to share with you, my readership, some thoughts on this question so that you can be more sensitive and understanding when broaching this topic with others.

First off, if you just met someone and they have not volunteered any information about more kids, assume they don’t want to talk about it. This is a good rule of thumb for all category of acquaintances, actually. But. If you *do* ask, and they answer yes or no or maybe someday, give them a moment. If they clam up or change the topic, then drop it. They don’t want to talk about it. And that’s OK.

Parents do NOT have to justify their parent numbering choices. To ANYONE. Some people will only have 1 kid, and others will have twelve. Families look different everywhere, and for a multitude of reasons. And scoffing at a big family for bringing more children into the world or berating a parent for giving their child no sibling, these are insensitive and inappropriate ways of talking to parents. We already feel judged. All the time. We make the best choices we can, and we take the children God blesses us with, and that’s that.

I write this from personal experience, but also from conversations with MULTIPLE parents who dread being asked about their plans for future children. I just ask you: please try to be sensitive, do more listening than talking, and (when in doubt) just avoid the topic entirely.

Xoxo
Erin

5/7/2013

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I cannot BELIEVE you disabled the account for wakeupslowly. Again. Her photos are beautiful & inspiring. And, more to the point, breastfeeding in public is a legal and protected right! Removing an account because some Instagram users complain only furthers misinformation and fosters an environment where Breastfeeding is vilified. Do the RIGHT thing. Do the GOOD thing. Protect Breastfeeding Mamas & resurrect wakeupslowly’s account from the instagrave.”

Blog readers! If this is something you care about, help me support Toni & write your own letter to Instagram! Just click here . It takes 5 minutes. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just help Toni out.

Thanks!

Xoxo

Erin
5/6/2013
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Joy is a complicated thing.

Matt walks in the door after a long day. I tell him how I have felt sick all day, how Phoebe fought her nap for two hours, how all of the dishes are dirty, how it’s beans and rice for dinner because I was too exhausted to prepare anything more elaborate. With compassion, he hugs me and says, “I’m sorry it’s been a bad day.” And it hits me: it HASN’T been a bad day. A difficult day? Yes. But a good one; a fulfilling one; a purposeful one. A day filled with love and blessings.

How are we to be JOYFUL when we are called to pass through DIFFICULT TIMES? I’m not even talking about the bombing in Boston or the shooting in Newtown, although those tragedies apply. I’m talking about your everyday life, your everyday grief, the griefs you carry with you that you cannot seem to shake. I have these types of griefs, and I believe we all do: money troubles, aches and pains, illness, injury, people we have lost, relationships that have withered, divorce, death, miscarriage, the yawning pain of absence.

Being Joyful is less about being happy, per se, and more about Being OK whether or not I’m happy. Knowing that my world will not fall apart in the face of despair, this is what gives me hope and strength and tenacity. I do not speak these words as someone who has never felt pain. This I have seen time and again: wherever there is disaster and death and chaos, life and love and hope spring back in it wake. Love is victorious. Good is victorious. The flowers pop up each spring. Babies are born. Wounds heal. Rainbows paint the sky.

Loving someone means you open your heart and make yourself vulnerable. Even the most loving relationship has its hurts. But that’s ok. Because loving someone was never supposed to be about symbiosis, but about paying it forward. Love is not about keeping track of how even a relationship is. Love is about being poured out, being ok with the mystery of emptiness, and being amazed when God fills you up again.

This, I believe, is the mystery of Faith. This is the act of surrendering my idols and worshipping God. I don’t need to be healthy. I don’t need to know where my food or clothing or shelter will come from. I don’t need to be with my child. I don’t need rest. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” I don’t wallow in my sufferings, because suffering tenderizes me: it opens me up to feel the suffering of others and teaches me how to love compassionately.

My hope for you is not that you will never suffer, but that you will suffer well.

My hope for you is not that you will never feel pain, but that when pain finds you, you will allow yourself to feel it, and then let it pass; and when the echoes of that pain find you: let them fill you, take a breath, and then empty yourself all over again.

My hope for you is that, when you find joy, you dance and hug and sing and laugh. Pour yourself out, over and over, like a jar of clay. For we feel like sinew and bone, but we are dust-to-dust in the blink of an eye. And recognizing the slice of eternity we are called to steward within our hearts might just be the key to turning our Grief into Joy.

I leave you with this poem by Mary Oliver…

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean–
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down–
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Blog post by Erin
4/16/2013

I’ve been painting. I hope to start selling paintings, soon.

Xoxo
Erin
4/15/2013

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

PS: Yes. We had a zillion outfit changes. ^_^ It was a messy day. Lol.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Today Phoebe and I cleaned the bathroom floor and it was a LOT of fun! To clean the floor with your kiddo, all you need is:
- Baking Soda
- A spoon or scoop (I used a tablespoon for Phoebe)
- Vinegar
- A scrub brush
- A mop

Phoebe LOVED this chore. She absolutely loves scooping things. And once she realized that the baking soda would fizz, she started standing in it and letting me pour the vinegar over her feet.

After I’d scrubbed enough of the floor with our HOMEMADE, NONTOXIC, ECO FRIENDLY and SUPER EASY cleaner, I got out our mops. We have a miniature mop for Phoebe (purchased from the Montessori Services website). It’s the one in the picture. I ran some water in the tub & showed her how to use the mop to clean up the floor.

Admittedly, once the tub water was running, she just wanted to climb in and play in the water. Which was perfect! I finished the floor, rinsing my mop right in the tub with her. And afterwards, we snuggled up with some blankets and read Maisy books. And I could tell: she felt satisfied, and her emotional bank was full.

And, to close, just another picture, from earlier today. ^_^ Bathroom antics.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Erin
4/8/2013
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone