Who? What? Why?

You are here because you want to know a little bit about me and why I blog. 

My name is Adelheid, but I have been called Heidi as long as I can remember. 

In 2009, I packed up my tiny car and drove from Stillwater, OK to Missoula, MT with my 15 month old daughter to join my husband. Many years later, we are still living here and often relish in the fact that we can see mountains covered in snow out of our windows almost all year.

I am now a mother of two children who keep getting older, a wife, artist, and sometimes somewhat reluctant but marginally obsessive homemaker.

I have a degree in Political Science and Studio Art with minors in German and Horticulture. I finished my masters degree in Plant and Soil Science December of 2009. I love learning and occasionally read a textbook for my personal enjoyment.

I started this blog in 2010 and I have been attempting to define the reasons that I started this blog since the beginning. 

The reasons why I started this blog:

1. The transition to being a mother and then, when I moved to Montana, to a stay at home mom was not an entirely easy one. The emotions behind both were complicated, and this blog is an attempt to define and celebrate those aspects of motherhood and homemaking that give the small moments value, joy and contentment.

2. For many years we were a family of four living well below the poverty level, but were still striving to live a healthy, rich and stimulating life. We eat well, spend a lot of time outside and laugh often. A recent statistic I heard on NPR is that 1 out of 2 American's is now living at or below the poverty level. What it means to be  'poor'  in our country is evolving and there is a demographic that eats whole foods, shops local, is well educated and underemployed. So, we do our best to reduce, reuse and recycle, often making something from nothing, and to use our resources thoughtfully, ethically and heartfully.

3. and of course, to stay in touch with family across the country and the world

What has changed since I started this adventure: 

1. I started working again. What was for a while a 10 hr a week part time position, with a living wage and an awesome work life balance, turned into a 25 hr a week position mired with all the idiosyncrasies of federally funded affordable housing. I have been working on saying this phrase out loud: "I develop affordable housing". Its true, and mostly wonderful, except that I haven't found the new balance quite yet.

2. I decided to run for public office. I was asked by a few folks I respected very much to consider running, and because my instinct was not to decline and because I did not see low income women and families being represented in our current political system, I did. The irony is that once I was elected to the City Council, the stipend I received put us squarely outside of the income limit that defined us as low income. I HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE. My husband and I both do.

3. I still blog to maintain my sanity, identify to small moments that provide joy and stability, and to stay in touch with family across the world.

And then this blog went silent for a while.  Why:  

1.  I spent 8 years in public office.  It turns out that is a little bit like being in an abusive relationship with a narcissist.  A little bit is a vast understatement.

2. Covid happened. See above reason. Mulitply the above statement by a million. The world went crazy. Missoula went crazy. I lost friends - a lot of friends. We stayed home for over a year.  We lived, worked, and did school from our tiny parcel in town. We got goats, bees, a greenhouse and built new garden beds. It turns out I love being at home. Not sure at what point staying at home turned into hiding. My term eneded December of 2023. It has taken me about a year to walk through my own neighborhood and feel like any part of my life is the least bit normal. I changed jobs. I stare at a computer. I still work on affordable housing. I spend the rest of the time driving kids to after school activities. I make art whenever I can or bake bread.

3. Through it all it is the small moments that kept me sane, provided joy and stability. Those moments were shared with the people that matter the most - though I miss using this as a platform to stay in touch with family across the world.  

4. Lastly, I managed to loose my domain name (Happy Occidents) when google domains migrated to Square Space. I could not after repeated tries figure out how to update my credit card into. It just wouldn't work. By the time I reached out to customer service, Happy Occidents was swooped up by someone else, and now this is called Busy Hands Homestead (which is also my Instagram).  

So, maybe its back.  Not sure.  This blog will continue to evolve with our daily lives and I look forward to the journey. I hope some of you will come along with us.

Heidi

P.S.  If you want to Contact Me

I would love to know more about my readers (assuming I have any) so do leave comments or send me a message.

My email:  adelheid.west@gmail.com