Bonjour, nous sommes pas mal.
Okay so I know it has basically been forever, but there's a reason for that. I know I talked about how we were moving to Vermont, well it has happened. We have been in Vermont since mid-July, and officially moved in on the first of this month. It is beautiful here and the vast majority of people are pretty nice. It's super rural here too, like at least thirty minutes to get to the nearest super market. It also took us over two weeks to get our internet set up in our apartment. There are a lot of things we love here, but there are also a lot of hard things out here too. The boys are finally adjusting, and we have been looking for daycare out here but there's a massive shortage of daycare out here apparently- so yeah that's been fun O_o. I'm going to be working for a school as a paraprofessional and I'm looking into a program at Champlain College called the TAP Program, which is a way to get certified out here to teach that takes about eight months. We are scraping by, but we are trying to keep faith and keep keepin' on. It's hard a lot of the time, and usually we are pretty happy, but some days are just really hard. My health is not so great right now, but I'm still better than I was this time last year, so I'm just hoping that it's just a flair and that it will go down soon. We are not bad, but right now we aren't great either, more like a strange middle space of living. I hope you are all doing well, and I hope the best for you all. I will try to post again soon when I'm feeling a little bit better both physically and mentally.
Au revoir,
Nate
Saturday, August 25, 2018
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Bonjour!
It has been a while, our health has been crazy the last two months, and we have a new baby! So I was sick with a cold/cough/something from the end of December and just this week (2nd full week of March) stopped coughing all the time- luckily the boys have gotten sick and better twice in that time- but so has the baby O_o . I've returned to work on a reduced schedule, and I am working more and more on finding options for income once we have moved, I'm still holding out hope that I can somehow stay with Apple. Kirie is doing well, particularly because she can eat again. I know she still hasn't posted... she's not really sure what to talk about, I've given her suggestions and she just has a bit of stage (blogging?) fright. If you really want to see her post give a response to this post and maybe the encouragement will help. I'm not gonna get into much today just wanted to let you know we are alive, and mostly well.
Nate
It has been a while, our health has been crazy the last two months, and we have a new baby! So I was sick with a cold/cough/something from the end of December and just this week (2nd full week of March) stopped coughing all the time- luckily the boys have gotten sick and better twice in that time- but so has the baby O_o . I've returned to work on a reduced schedule, and I am working more and more on finding options for income once we have moved, I'm still holding out hope that I can somehow stay with Apple. Kirie is doing well, particularly because she can eat again. I know she still hasn't posted... she's not really sure what to talk about, I've given her suggestions and she just has a bit of stage (blogging?) fright. If you really want to see her post give a response to this post and maybe the encouragement will help. I'm not gonna get into much today just wanted to let you know we are alive, and mostly well.
Nate
Friday, December 29, 2017
Of Pain and Joy
Bonjour nos amis!
I have some amazing news to share, but first let me preface it.
Five years ago I started suffering from unknown pain on my left side, as well as stroke like symptoms, a constant migraine, pressure behind my left eye, strange auras, tingling sensation in left side, numbness in left side, a strange reaction to hot and cold on my left side (cold feels warm, hot feels warm-and I mean the extremes), the inability to detect sharp objects on my left side, and as recently as last month we found out my body has directional confusion on the left side (when my eyes are closed and my digits moved, up feels like down, left feels like right and so on). Throughout this entire time I have been experiencing massive fatigue, like imagine feeling like you ran two back to back marathons fatigue, after about five minutes of any activity (granted on a good day it took three hours to feel like this, but still...). So yeah lots of crud, mind you I have also accomplished in the last three years, I've still managed to work some and I am closer now than I have ever been to gaining a Bachelors Degree among other things. But the illness continues, and I am still hurting something fierce most days, and most days I feel entirely exhausted just from getting out of bed.
Now you're like, "man is he going to let us know what is "amazing" as he said earlier?" Maybe you aren't like that, but whatever, the answer is yes.
Yesterday I went to my new doctor who I have been seeing since right before Thanksgiving, who actually has some ideas as to what I have as well as a treatment plan. So since about 2 weeks ago I started this new treatment plan, I still hurt, but (and this is a huge but- like elephant sized) I have noticed since about a week and a half ago I have more energy, simple tasks take less spoons (see previous post by me) and I have been able to do more in the last week than I have been able to do for previous weeks (or even previous holidays). It has been exciting, and granted I have had a few terrible awful no good days, they have been further spaced out. I was thinking maybe it's the medicine working, like actually working, not just a sudden working (like poof! pain gone), because things have been getting better bit by bit after initially getting MUCH worse, it has been a gradual change but a welcome one.
Anyway yesterday when I went to my doctor he ran some of the tests that have been done about a billion times since this all started, like the test where they poke you all over with their and ask "does this hurt" previously it had always hurt in every spot touched on the left side, yesterday there were spots that didn't, I thought that was amazing, BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!! He proceeded to check reflexes, HR, BP, etc. He then grabbed a tack to test sharp sensations on my as every other doctor has done with me when starting to treat me (particularly neurologists- as it has to do with nerves- that is feeling the sensation of sharp stuff on your body). I closed my eyes and he started to check my right side first, I felt the sharpness of the tack on each part of my right side and let him know. Then the strangest thing happened that hasn't happened in nearly five years, he pricked my left pinkie and I KNEW it! Because I FELT it! I said yes to something I hadn't said yes to with any other doctor in the last 5 years. He tested the other four digits on my left side as well as my arm and the only parts that didn't feel the sensation of sharp was my middle and pointer finger. Tears filled my eyes, as they do now, as I said yes to each sensation felt. Something is happening, and I am cautiously optimistic, but I think my doctor is onto something that will help me get better. I am so elated and grateful that I found him and he is helping me. I feel extremely bless by the lord, and am so grateful for the prayers and good feelings you have sent my way.
Till next time, au revoir!
Nate
B.T.W. I keep telling Kirie she needs to post, but shes about to pop because our next baby is due so soon. But I'll keep bugging her till she does.
I have some amazing news to share, but first let me preface it.
Five years ago I started suffering from unknown pain on my left side, as well as stroke like symptoms, a constant migraine, pressure behind my left eye, strange auras, tingling sensation in left side, numbness in left side, a strange reaction to hot and cold on my left side (cold feels warm, hot feels warm-and I mean the extremes), the inability to detect sharp objects on my left side, and as recently as last month we found out my body has directional confusion on the left side (when my eyes are closed and my digits moved, up feels like down, left feels like right and so on). Throughout this entire time I have been experiencing massive fatigue, like imagine feeling like you ran two back to back marathons fatigue, after about five minutes of any activity (granted on a good day it took three hours to feel like this, but still...). So yeah lots of crud, mind you I have also accomplished in the last three years, I've still managed to work some and I am closer now than I have ever been to gaining a Bachelors Degree among other things. But the illness continues, and I am still hurting something fierce most days, and most days I feel entirely exhausted just from getting out of bed.
Now you're like, "man is he going to let us know what is "amazing" as he said earlier?" Maybe you aren't like that, but whatever, the answer is yes.
Yesterday I went to my new doctor who I have been seeing since right before Thanksgiving, who actually has some ideas as to what I have as well as a treatment plan. So since about 2 weeks ago I started this new treatment plan, I still hurt, but (and this is a huge but- like elephant sized) I have noticed since about a week and a half ago I have more energy, simple tasks take less spoons (see previous post by me) and I have been able to do more in the last week than I have been able to do for previous weeks (or even previous holidays). It has been exciting, and granted I have had a few terrible awful no good days, they have been further spaced out. I was thinking maybe it's the medicine working, like actually working, not just a sudden working (like poof! pain gone), because things have been getting better bit by bit after initially getting MUCH worse, it has been a gradual change but a welcome one.
Anyway yesterday when I went to my doctor he ran some of the tests that have been done about a billion times since this all started, like the test where they poke you all over with their and ask "does this hurt" previously it had always hurt in every spot touched on the left side, yesterday there were spots that didn't, I thought that was amazing, BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!! He proceeded to check reflexes, HR, BP, etc. He then grabbed a tack to test sharp sensations on my as every other doctor has done with me when starting to treat me (particularly neurologists- as it has to do with nerves- that is feeling the sensation of sharp stuff on your body). I closed my eyes and he started to check my right side first, I felt the sharpness of the tack on each part of my right side and let him know. Then the strangest thing happened that hasn't happened in nearly five years, he pricked my left pinkie and I KNEW it! Because I FELT it! I said yes to something I hadn't said yes to with any other doctor in the last 5 years. He tested the other four digits on my left side as well as my arm and the only parts that didn't feel the sensation of sharp was my middle and pointer finger. Tears filled my eyes, as they do now, as I said yes to each sensation felt. Something is happening, and I am cautiously optimistic, but I think my doctor is onto something that will help me get better. I am so elated and grateful that I found him and he is helping me. I feel extremely bless by the lord, and am so grateful for the prayers and good feelings you have sent my way.
Till next time, au revoir!
Nate
B.T.W. I keep telling Kirie she needs to post, but shes about to pop because our next baby is due so soon. But I'll keep bugging her till she does.
Saturday, December 23, 2017
Chronic Visage
Bonjour,
Tonight I (Nate) am hurting something fierce. The last couple of day I have done much more than I should with how it is affecting my thought process and my ability to sleep. About a week and a half ago I started a new medication that actually seems to be helping though, at least with the constant pain. I have also been having a slightly easier time of completing focus based activities. Kirie and myself are hoping that things continue to improve, and are hopeful that with the help of my new doctor that things will continue to look up for this junk that has been going on for the last 5 years.
Now, why Chronic Visage? Because reasons.
Actually because I was thinking about how often over the last 5 years that people have just looked at me and been like "Oh Nate you look like you are doing great today!" or something of the sort.
Let me just say this, chronic illness is often times not visible, and if it is, it's because the person is having a really bad day. People with real chronic illness will tell you that if you see them usually it is because it is a good day and they are trying to be positive and have human interaction. We (people who have chronic illness) are resilient folk, and we also are fairly positive, oft times in the face of unknown diseases, potential treatment, or even life span in some cases (I am grateful this is not my case).
Spoonies, as we often call ourselves, try to be positive because we are in constant limbo with our health and it would be so easy to just complain all the time. Days when we are seen by others, or even large groups, we are using our supply of spoons for the entire day in a few hours of time or less. People with chronic illness have a limited supply of spoons (energy) and this energy is very limited compared to "normal" people, who have their normal supply of spoons, plus a reserve that is large, and another unlimited supply beyond that. Spoonies have no reserve, just what we have, and each task we do in a day uses spoons. The person who came up with the spoon theory really explains it best here. Needless to say this really explains a lot.
A chronic visage is a regular visage, most of the time. When it's not, you know, and you'll be able to tell. Both Kirie and I right now are dealing with chronic illnesses, but we are still positive, and in general we try to be. Most days are really hard, and I often don't even make it upstairs except for food. Kirie is amazing, she does so much despite what health issues she is dealing with.
My head is pounding, too many spoons used.
Au revoir. Nate
Tonight I (Nate) am hurting something fierce. The last couple of day I have done much more than I should with how it is affecting my thought process and my ability to sleep. About a week and a half ago I started a new medication that actually seems to be helping though, at least with the constant pain. I have also been having a slightly easier time of completing focus based activities. Kirie and myself are hoping that things continue to improve, and are hopeful that with the help of my new doctor that things will continue to look up for this junk that has been going on for the last 5 years.
Now, why Chronic Visage? Because reasons.
Actually because I was thinking about how often over the last 5 years that people have just looked at me and been like "Oh Nate you look like you are doing great today!" or something of the sort.
Let me just say this, chronic illness is often times not visible, and if it is, it's because the person is having a really bad day. People with real chronic illness will tell you that if you see them usually it is because it is a good day and they are trying to be positive and have human interaction. We (people who have chronic illness) are resilient folk, and we also are fairly positive, oft times in the face of unknown diseases, potential treatment, or even life span in some cases (I am grateful this is not my case).
Spoonies, as we often call ourselves, try to be positive because we are in constant limbo with our health and it would be so easy to just complain all the time. Days when we are seen by others, or even large groups, we are using our supply of spoons for the entire day in a few hours of time or less. People with chronic illness have a limited supply of spoons (energy) and this energy is very limited compared to "normal" people, who have their normal supply of spoons, plus a reserve that is large, and another unlimited supply beyond that. Spoonies have no reserve, just what we have, and each task we do in a day uses spoons. The person who came up with the spoon theory really explains it best here. Needless to say this really explains a lot.
A chronic visage is a regular visage, most of the time. When it's not, you know, and you'll be able to tell. Both Kirie and I right now are dealing with chronic illnesses, but we are still positive, and in general we try to be. Most days are really hard, and I often don't even make it upstairs except for food. Kirie is amazing, she does so much despite what health issues she is dealing with.
My head is pounding, too many spoons used.
Au revoir. Nate
Thursday, December 14, 2017
Building Materials One
Bonjour! C'est moi, Nathan.
I will most likely always greet in French, I love the language.
With that out of the way, today I'm going to talk a little about the house we are going to be building.
Our house will be about 800 feet squared, at least the floor area. It's not exactly a tiny home, but it isn't a large home either, it is considered a cottage home. There will be a main living area which includes the dining area, the kitchen, and the living/family room. We will also have a two section bathroom (one for bathing, the other for doing your business), 3 bedrooms (two for the kids, one master), and a small office for our computers.
We have a heating plan, but that will be in another blog post, for now I'm just going to explain the outer wall building material we will be using.
First off, it gets cold in Vermont. Oh yeah, did I mention we will be building in Vermont, where today the expected low is 7°... in Fahrenheit. Yeah it's super cold there. So my sister and her family moved to Saint Croix, where it usually is blazing and humid, and we are moving to Vermont, where boiling water can turn to ice in moments, cool! To be honest, I am super stoked to move there and excited to start our journey to being more Eco-friendly.
SOOO, because it gets cold in Vermont, we need walls that will keep that cold air out in the winter and the cool air in during the summer, because it gets "hot" (around 80-90°F I think). So we need something called thermal mass (Wiki Thermal Mass) to do this. Now there is also r-value which is the resistance to heat loss or gain (effectively keeping a cool house cool and a warm house warm) the higher the R-Value the better the material is at doing it's job and also the best materials also contribute to thermal mass.
An average wall usually has an r-value between 13 and 23, and a 2x4 wall usually is about R11-R15 (which is what most walls are made at/with).
Why all the talk of thermal mass and R-Values? Because that is what led us to a company called Shelter Works ltd. and their product Faswall (http://faswall.com/). Essentially they have these awesome insulated wood-chip cement forms that have an R-value of 21-25 before even being set with cement and rebar. There is a ton of information on their website but I'll just say this, no bugs, bugs hate the stuff, oh and it's super fire resistant (See here). Best part is they use recycled wood pallets to make up 85% of each block and the other 15% is Portland cement. Also for each ~24"x 12"x 8" block you only have ~28-31 lbs of weight, and are able to be done by the owner. Average build time for a >1000 sq. ft. house is about 2 weeks.
Why do-it-yourself? Because we want to cut down on cost as much as possible. Most likely we will still have a contractor, but we will help as much as possible to keep some money in pocket.
So the reasons for Faswall are as follows:
High thermal mass (x)
High R-Value (x)
Eco-Friendly (x)
Do-it-yourself (x)
Fast build time (x)
Cost effective (x)
Yes it is cost effective because we won't have to have a massive heating system installed into our house, not to mention our house will be fairly small compared to others that we have seen, so the build time may be even shorter to get the house done.
All in all these are some of the major reasons we chose Faswall. Pretty cool huh!
Au revoir!
Nate
I will most likely always greet in French, I love the language.
With that out of the way, today I'm going to talk a little about the house we are going to be building.
Our house will be about 800 feet squared, at least the floor area. It's not exactly a tiny home, but it isn't a large home either, it is considered a cottage home. There will be a main living area which includes the dining area, the kitchen, and the living/family room. We will also have a two section bathroom (one for bathing, the other for doing your business), 3 bedrooms (two for the kids, one master), and a small office for our computers.
We have a heating plan, but that will be in another blog post, for now I'm just going to explain the outer wall building material we will be using.
First off, it gets cold in Vermont. Oh yeah, did I mention we will be building in Vermont, where today the expected low is 7°... in Fahrenheit. Yeah it's super cold there. So my sister and her family moved to Saint Croix, where it usually is blazing and humid, and we are moving to Vermont, where boiling water can turn to ice in moments, cool! To be honest, I am super stoked to move there and excited to start our journey to being more Eco-friendly.
SOOO, because it gets cold in Vermont, we need walls that will keep that cold air out in the winter and the cool air in during the summer, because it gets "hot" (around 80-90°F I think). So we need something called thermal mass (Wiki Thermal Mass) to do this. Now there is also r-value which is the resistance to heat loss or gain (effectively keeping a cool house cool and a warm house warm) the higher the R-Value the better the material is at doing it's job and also the best materials also contribute to thermal mass.
An average wall usually has an r-value between 13 and 23, and a 2x4 wall usually is about R11-R15 (which is what most walls are made at/with).
Why all the talk of thermal mass and R-Values? Because that is what led us to a company called Shelter Works ltd. and their product Faswall (http://faswall.com/). Essentially they have these awesome insulated wood-chip cement forms that have an R-value of 21-25 before even being set with cement and rebar. There is a ton of information on their website but I'll just say this, no bugs, bugs hate the stuff, oh and it's super fire resistant (See here). Best part is they use recycled wood pallets to make up 85% of each block and the other 15% is Portland cement. Also for each ~24"x 12"x 8" block you only have ~28-31 lbs of weight, and are able to be done by the owner. Average build time for a >1000 sq. ft. house is about 2 weeks.
Why do-it-yourself? Because we want to cut down on cost as much as possible. Most likely we will still have a contractor, but we will help as much as possible to keep some money in pocket.
So the reasons for Faswall are as follows:
High thermal mass (x)
High R-Value (x)
Eco-Friendly (x)
Do-it-yourself (x)
Fast build time (x)
Cost effective (x)
Yes it is cost effective because we won't have to have a massive heating system installed into our house, not to mention our house will be fairly small compared to others that we have seen, so the build time may be even shorter to get the house done.
All in all these are some of the major reasons we chose Faswall. Pretty cool huh!
Au revoir!
Nate
It Starts
Bonjour nos amis!
This is Nate speaking today, but I want to kind of give you a rundown of what this blog is going to be about as well as some information to look forward to.
First up, this is about our journey from where we are to where we are going. We plan on going mostly Eco-friendly in the next few years, and this will document or journey there. It will also be a documentation of how we are going from our current situation, both health wise and living area wise, to our plans (good health and our own house).
It is about our family moving into an Eco-friendly environment, Kirie (my wife), Myself, and our kids. It is about how we desire to go Eco-friendly, but while still finding balance with our social and leisure lifestyles. Hence "Finding our Eco balance."
Secondly, we will speak about our health, possibly in length and depth even. I want to clarify this, we will speak about our health not to complain, but to inform how we do the things we do with our health, or just what our health is A.T.M. That being said we try to be as normal as we can, even with our massive health issues, we like to feel like normal people who can do normal things.
This brings me to my third point. We will be running a homestead. . . eventually. We will be working up to that, and it may be a while coming, largely due to money constraints but also because we have a family and want to be able to have our kids help with everything. But it will definitely be in increments, and we may even start some things right away.
Now I will probably talk a lot about the house that we will be building when we move this coming summer, I may also talk about some of my college courses (from which I will finally have a BA of Anthropology this May). I have been working on the design of the house for about 9 months now and am slowly getting it to a point where I'm starting to really feel like it will be our home.
Some of the topics I'm going to try and get Kirie to talk about are; Agriculture (how we plan on keeping is sustainable), being an awesome mom, crochet and knitting (I may talk some about sewing), and any other talents she may want to talk about (she has a plethora). But I will let her tell you more of what she wants to talk about with her first post.
We may also talk some about our writing endeavors, and how we manage it with our daily lives.
I will try to post at least weekly if not bi-weekly. If I haven't and you want more please send me a message- sometimes encouragement goes a long way!
I will be setting up a q&a and will try and pick at least 1-2 to base a post on. But I/we will try to answer all the question given as long as they aren't troll questions.
Lastly we most likely will talk about ourselves, our hopes, dreams, beliefs, family, etc.. But we won't use our kids often in pictures and such (Kirie will decide whether or not to include them), and most likely won't give their actual names(again this is up to Kirie).
All this being said we are doing this blog to help others, and as much to kind of chronicle how things are changing, to show it can be done.
I'll end here this evening, but for my next post I will be talking about the main building material/materials we will be using for our house.
Bonne nuit!
Nate
This is Nate speaking today, but I want to kind of give you a rundown of what this blog is going to be about as well as some information to look forward to.
First up, this is about our journey from where we are to where we are going. We plan on going mostly Eco-friendly in the next few years, and this will document or journey there. It will also be a documentation of how we are going from our current situation, both health wise and living area wise, to our plans (good health and our own house).
It is about our family moving into an Eco-friendly environment, Kirie (my wife), Myself, and our kids. It is about how we desire to go Eco-friendly, but while still finding balance with our social and leisure lifestyles. Hence "Finding our Eco balance."
Secondly, we will speak about our health, possibly in length and depth even. I want to clarify this, we will speak about our health not to complain, but to inform how we do the things we do with our health, or just what our health is A.T.M. That being said we try to be as normal as we can, even with our massive health issues, we like to feel like normal people who can do normal things.
This brings me to my third point. We will be running a homestead. . . eventually. We will be working up to that, and it may be a while coming, largely due to money constraints but also because we have a family and want to be able to have our kids help with everything. But it will definitely be in increments, and we may even start some things right away.
Now I will probably talk a lot about the house that we will be building when we move this coming summer, I may also talk about some of my college courses (from which I will finally have a BA of Anthropology this May). I have been working on the design of the house for about 9 months now and am slowly getting it to a point where I'm starting to really feel like it will be our home.
Some of the topics I'm going to try and get Kirie to talk about are; Agriculture (how we plan on keeping is sustainable), being an awesome mom, crochet and knitting (I may talk some about sewing), and any other talents she may want to talk about (she has a plethora). But I will let her tell you more of what she wants to talk about with her first post.
We may also talk some about our writing endeavors, and how we manage it with our daily lives.
I will try to post at least weekly if not bi-weekly. If I haven't and you want more please send me a message- sometimes encouragement goes a long way!
I will be setting up a q&a and will try and pick at least 1-2 to base a post on. But I/we will try to answer all the question given as long as they aren't troll questions.
Lastly we most likely will talk about ourselves, our hopes, dreams, beliefs, family, etc.. But we won't use our kids often in pictures and such (Kirie will decide whether or not to include them), and most likely won't give their actual names(again this is up to Kirie).
All this being said we are doing this blog to help others, and as much to kind of chronicle how things are changing, to show it can be done.
I'll end here this evening, but for my next post I will be talking about the main building material/materials we will be using for our house.
Bonne nuit!
Nate
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