About me
Welcome to the new adventures of my super-nature-o mama-hood! I’m Hope, aka “hopealso.” I’m mom to two boys, a pre-teen and a baby. Ah, the double whammy of parenthood — teens and babies! So much more fun when explored at the same time!
I may not be a true hippie, but I’m definitely hippie dippie. I make my own diaper rash cream and cleaning products, but my registry was on Target.com. I went to art school in San Francisco, and I worked as a computer programmer on Wall Street. I sang Violetta in LaTraviata, and I played a murderous sister sporting homemade blood in a Williamsburg basement (fyi, fake blood: it’s all about high fructose corn syrup…)
Somewhere in between the hippie and the hipster I learned that life isn’t about who dies with the most toys, but who doesn’t die while they’re living. So I’ve embraced voluntary simplicity and a journey to make the most of I have before me, and what I can hunt and scavenge with my mamma gathering instincts. I stay at home to mother my two babies (big one and little one), and I’m getting better at mothering the planet every day. Join me!
Currently, I reside in a town called Normal. Most folks think it’s kind of strange that a gal like me would live in a town called Normal. I guess it’s ’cause, well, I guess they don’t think of me as being all that “normal”. Which led me to ponder: what would the world be like if I was normal? So I did some thinking and here’s what I came up with.
If I was “normal”:
- The richest person in the world would be a publisher self-help books!
- Café’s would be huge and crammed with people reading about how to be better parents and reach enlightenment in fewer lifetimes.
- Nobody could ever manage to stay on topic during conversations because every conversation would somehow devolve into discussing the meaning of life.
- Every one would be on a 20 hour work week, and they’d get frightfully concerned about sacrificing their personal life when forced to work 40 hours or more.
- Every one would be poor (see above), and yet somehow not so dissatisfied (see below).
- The street would be littered with people randomly bursting into song, wiggling their butts, flailing their arms and pretending they were cute animals or experts in interpretive dance.
- Things would be pretty, and old, and kind of cluttered (I cannot lie).
- Plastic would be reserved for things that go in machines, instead of things that go on people and things that food goes in.
- Wearing perfume would be something you do when you don’t like somebody and you want to give them a headache.
- Wearing makeup would be something you do when you want to play dress up or “Put on a show!” like Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney!
- Speaking of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, at random points in time somebody would say, “Let’s put on a show!”… and then they would!
- Houses would have more people in them, day care centers would have less people in them, food would be slower, clothes would last longer…
- And finally, people would be kind of distant and not always so nice to you at first, and then more and more considerate, loving, and self-sacrificing the deeper your relationship got. When things went the other way around, they’d go back to their café’s and start reading self-help books and having dizzy, spiraling, hopeful conversations about the meaning of life.
So that’s me, on a good day. When I had my first baby, I did my best to search out natural, healthy parenting choices, but… gasp!… the internet barely existed then! How could I have managed to raise my child in that barren wilderland! These days I do what I can to make the most of our wonderful information society, spending countless hours reading and researching how to have the lowest environmental impact while making the best choices to help my baby with positive bonding and self growth. One of the things I have wished for is that I would have written down some of the things I learned with my first son, but after 12 years, the mind grows foggy… So I decided this time I’ll keep a record, both for myself and for others.
Being the best parent you can be takes guts, the willingness to sometimes be ab-Normal, the willingness to ask for help, the energy to look for it. Hopefully in my small endeavors I can be a help as much as I accept it, gratefully!
Love,
Mama Hope
(hope at hippiedippiebebe with a dot and then a com)
P.S. You can find more revealing information toward “getting to know me” scattered about on this blog. Here are some of the best spots to have a look:
Most Revealing Posts
50 Things I Like About Myself
I am human.
Tummy Time Can Kiss My Patootie!
Finding Out Who You Are
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Hmmm…I remember passing through Normal one summer on a family road trip, but it was nothing like the town you describe. I like your “Normal” especially the dancing in the streets part ;-)
Thanks!
Well, y’know “my Normal” may be shaped a bit by “my San Francisco” and “my New York” from years back, but there’s never any reason to stop dancing in the streets!
Thank you!! So far (I agree with beginning at a distance) I really appreciate you, your opinions, and all of your efforts and research!!
Aw gee, shucks, Shelly thanks! It’s been nice getting to know you too! Keeps me going to know there are people benefiting. So thanks for taking the time to comment too!
Hi, saw you added my Homeschooling Twitter. I mostly just add folks who either homeschool/are considering homeschooling, couldn’t tell from a glance at your blog.
Also, was wondering if that’s the same Normal that Karen Hughes named her book after, i.e. “10 Minutes to Normal”, from when they (w/GWBush) were campaigning? I guess she thought it was an interesting name for a town!
Hi Gordon,
Yes, we are homeschoolers. I don’t plan to blog about it too much here, but I’m glad you asked. After my son’s early years in a public alternative school of choice called The Earth School in New York City, we joined the group NYCHEA and did fourth and fifth grade homeschooling.
When we moved to this lovely place about a year ago, we decided to be “normal” for awhile and enrolled my son in the public sixth grade. We achieved what we hoped for: a couple of local good friends. And we achieved another little diddie: confirmation of the fact that homeschooling is best for him. At the conclusion of our year, my son’s teacher informed us that he probably didn’t need to be in sixth grade at all, most of the material was not new to him, and would we like to pursue advancing him to eighth grade? We’ve decided instead to pursue the curriculum choices we had planned for him earlier at home, and mix in some more stewardship, volunteerism, his own blog, and maybe a tutor in economics and policy, one of his most avid interests.
Let me know if you know of any good sources via Twitter.
And sorry, can’t tell you anything about Karen Hughes + this town. We enjoy our time here as a little oasis of extended family baby time until we return to the ab-Normal. It is fun to play with the name, though, I have to say!
Thanks!
H
Mama Hope, I love your blog! Your About Me page made me smile . . . I wish I could “meet” more people like you. Thank you for checking out my Green Mamma blog. Let me know if you’d like to be featured as a Green Friend of the Week.
Cheers,
Jessica
Green Mamma
Thanks, Jessica! Yep I do need to come back to this page every once in a while when I need a smile, too!. It was nice to visit your blog too and do some mutual venting. Sometimes it ain’t easy being greeny!
I’d love to be a green friend. I love green friends!
Thanks,
(Mama)Hope
“The reasonable man[woman] adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man[woman].”
George Bernard Shaw
This quote is in my top ten and it fits you Hope like the stars fit in the sky. I always knew you would make the world a better place–one day at a time.
PS When I lived in Normal we did dance in the streets–often! I am certain they are still doing it today.
Thank you mystery poster, khud5. What a challenge! I like the “one day at a time” part. We’ll stick with that for now (wink).
Where are these dancing folks? Ah you must mean the young ‘uns. They are forever tossing their dirty pillows into teeny boxes on the front lawn while drinking their canned intoxicants. I will not cavort with them!
Thank you for your recent article re: Eco-Certification. Yes, it is a challenge for the consumer as you described. I work with Green Seal and would like to keep you updated on whwat we are up to. Most recently, Green Seal set a new spandard for paints. Paints is the biggest contributor to indoor air pollution.
Please provide me with your email so I can update you with news on an ongoing basis. HodgsonPR@aol.com
Thanks,
Barbara Hodgson
Hope –
It took me about 2 seconds to decide your blog would be on my daily reading line up. :) Let me know if you mind me putting a link to your blog on my blog. (Not that I have any readers past… oh, maybe 5 people. But still.)
I found you while trying to figure out why my homemade lotion was spoiling so fast, and now I know. No water next time. Thank you!
Kate
Kates last blog post..Waterbirth is awesome
Kate,
I’m so sorry I didn’t take the time to give a heartfelt thanks for your kind words! I appreciate your comments and they go a long way to keeping me sharing! Now I’ll have to finally also take a moment to read your post on waterbirth!
Oh also, I believe if you exclude water altogether you’ve made a salve or balm instead of a lotion. But if you prefer lotions or creams you can always keep the stuff in the refrigerator. Downside of course: it’s cold in there!
I’ve meant to follow up on my posts with the findings of my research on preservatives but haven’t found the time! The short version: rosemary extract looks promising. Good luck to you!
I’m back up after being down for awhile (mood-wise) so hopefully I’ll have more fun filled reading to add to your line up!
H
hopealsos last blog post..Fighting The Blues — A Challenge
You are just too cool!! Occasionally, I look for blogs to visit that I can relate to and that also challenge me. Your blog has done just that today! I love the way you write. It is clever and often humorous. I think I’ll stick around for more. :)
Dawnas last blog post..You are a goddess!!!!nTeach
Thanks Dawna! I try not to be *too* cool, lol! But you gotta have some fun, right? Thanks for visiting and glad to have you around!
hopealsos last blog post..Five Alternatives to New Year’s Resolutions