In a Tiny House

Random photos of recent days...

2011-11-12T17:32:00.001-05:00

Gazebo on a favorite trail.

One of my daughter's recent dragons.

The artist at work.

Part of an ongoing attempt to spruce up my entryway.

Ongoing stair project for the entryway. I might finish it some day.

My boy.

My other boy. The triumphant leaf catcher. :)

Cheese! Wow. I am shorter than I feel.

Love this of my daughter peeking at the sunset.

My tree. Only one around left in leaves.

We're doing our best to get and stay healthy through one of the most virus filled autumns we've experienced and trying to appreciate the last bits of the season. We had the first snow fall last week, and it is always so beautiful those first flakes. But, they let us know that we better soak in the sun and the earth whenever we get a chance; sore throats or not. Winter, she looms.

Hope the weekend finds everyone surrounded by the people and places you love!

A girl and her dragons.

2011-11-05T20:13:00.000-04:00

My daughter loves dragons. She reads book after book about dragons. Her favorite books are ones with lead female characters that befriend dragons. There are a surprising number of books like that actually and she's gone through quite a stack of them this year. However, I am always on the lookout for more. If you know of any dragon books where the dragons are the good guys. I'm all ears.

She also writes her own stories about dragons and their brave girl trainers. She watches movies about them whenever she can find ones that cast dragons in a favorable light. She doesn't like stories that stage dragons as the beast to be conquered. She feels that dragons are misunderstood creatures with powers that need to be respected, not feared. She's as adamant about this as she is about not eating food that is shaped like animals. Love this kid.

And as if this isn't enough dragon-filled fun for one young girl, she also makes clay dragons. Constantly. She's gifted almost everyone in our family with their own personal dragon, and she has plenty left over to guard her bedroom.

Some of her first clay dragons.

My personal favorite one besides the one she made for me (which I failed to photograph for this post).

Recently I found a cute little shelf at Goodwill that after a good scrubbing and a few coats of white paint, makes a perfect home for some of her dragon creations.

Oh, how I love these sweet dragons. And how I love my little dragon girl.

Halloween Conquered

2011-11-05T19:56:00.000-04:00

Yep. Even my dog. We're THAT family.

A sweet Alice and a freaky sith Jedi, Savage Opress. Some Star Wars geekery for you on a cold November eve. We're that family too.

The cousins in their superhero splendor.

She had that bunny bag stuffed with candy by the end of the night.

Captain America would only let Alice hold his hand. Awwww....

Wow.

Won't be long before I'm thinking thoughts like this again. Halloween candy and I have a love/hate thing. All in all, Halloween 2011 was a smashing success all around. A weekend full of beautiful weather, wonderful company and too much sugar. Can't beat that.

Halloween is one of our favorite times of the year. We love the silliness involved, the excuse to dress up in costumes in public, the generosity of strangers. For a glimpse of past years' Halloween fun you can see here and here. We do tend to get into this holiday.

Well, onward and upwards toward the deep dark winter now, huh? Hmmmm.... might need a chocolate or bar or two to wrap my mind around that thought. Good thing we're well stocked! Wishing everyone a happy weekend filled with sweet treats!

2011: The Year of the Pumpkin

2011-10-25T20:52:00.001-04:00

Once upon a time, back when the kids were little, I thought it would be fun to show them how to carve pumpkins. So I bought a nice round pumpkin, we looked up cute pumpkin faces online to decide what to carve. Then I sat my sweet babies around me and they watched with gigantic eyes as their mother took a big knife and did this....

And they screamed and burst into tears.

It was then I realized why therapists are an integral part of society. And that was pretty much the end of me even attempting to carve pumpkins until this year. We've painted pumpkins, stickered pumpkins, pretty much anything that had nothing at all to do with murdering pumpkins.

But this year I saw THESE!

For those that don't want to click over, they are Pumpkin Teeth. SO COOL! And I bought some because, dude. Pumpkin. Teeth. So I petitioned once again for the opportunity to show my family how ~~murdering~~ carving pumpkins can be fun. And I won! Yay! I am happy to report that no children were harmed, emotionally or physically, in this endeavor. I cannot say the same about the pumpkins involved.

We did this a couple weeks ago, hence the shorts and sun, but my camera cord went missing and I just found it today when I was trying to find something else. Go figure. Maybe next time I am searching for something I'll find my missing brain.

I am happy to say that my family is now on board

with the whole pumpkin carving thing:

Pumpkin fang teeth!

An originally designed pumpkin wolf. Awesome!

Had to get a shot of the mess. At least part of it, this was semi cleaned up.

Our cheerleader.

Daddy's pumpkin. He used a design from a book and it looks really cool when lit.

I just crammed as many teeth as I could into mine. Yay, pumpkin teeth!!!

Setting up the display.

Trick or Treat!!!

The countdown starts now! A whole weekend of Halloween festivities begins in just a few short days. Wishing everyone that participates in such shenanigans a very Happy (and safe) Halloween Weekend!

Update: Fall 2011

2011-10-24T11:46:00.000-04:00

I finally got a new phone so bear with my artsy 'hipstamatic' prints I've been taking with it. It is kind of like playing with a polaroid camera with endless film.

This has been an unusual autumn for us. We are usually quite healthy in the fall and winter and then we all succumb to a few bugs come spring. However we are just ending our fourth round of viruses already this season and it seems to be a common thing around town. It might be a loooong winter. So there has been quite a bit of this around here...

There is of course there is the gorgeousness of fall walks when we are out of zombie mode. The colors have been amazing, but dare I say less POW than the past couple years. The temperatures dropped fast at the end of August and then we had a series of wind storms that blew down quite a few leaves early. So the leaves on the ground are already quite brown and the leaves left in the tree are already rather sparse. We've been spoiled the past few years with the color show. But it is still the best time of year for hiking. No bugs, no sweating, that lovely fall smell in the air, crunchy leaves underfoot. It's lovely.

There is the ever fun 'leaf catching game'. Ongoing seasonal fun.

And lots of family time. My favorite time.

Look how TALL my girl got this year!

Of course I'm rather short, so it isn't that hard for a 10 year old to catch up to my height I suppose. And, Internet... meet my chipmunk cheeks. Chipmunk cheeks, the internet. They are the reason I still get carded for alcohol even though I'm am flirting with 40. So basically, I no longer hate them.

And can you believe how scampish this one is?

And how cute this little crew is?

I could eat them up I love them so.

Sigh... there has been so much more but it is hard to keep track of it all. I have been making a lot of dolls and plan on posting about them soon. And there's the usual ton of other things that tap on my brain pestering to be blogged about and then slither back out again when I actually sit down at the computer. Perhaps my new phone will help me keep track? I discovered Evernote recently and looks promising for an 'on the go' sort of task list organizer. Might be a good place to capture those tricksy blog post ideas before the skitter away. Hmmm... I wonder if there is a laundry app for my phone?

Wishing everyone a healthy season and lots of time spent with the ones you love! Happy Monday!

Wizard Love

2011-10-11T22:58:00.002-04:00

I dare you to try to listen to this song only one time. Well, I suppose you have to love the Harry Potter world and cutesy stuff for that dare to really apply though. I've probably put half of the views up myself.

Lots of fun stuff happening lately in our world. The cool fall air, colors and the baking that is inspired by such weather helps, of course. Halloween is just around the corner.

We carved pumpkins for the second time in my children's existence. I know! I've tried but the kids have refused for years. I guess the first time was so scarring, it took a few years to build up to a retry. It was awesome this time around though. I took pictures, but cannot find the cord for my camera to put the photos on my computer. Hopefully I can get those up before winter.

Just a quick post for a tired evening as I am winding down fast. Have a good week all!

Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

2011-10-06T19:11:00.000-04:00

I was in college when I first coveted a computer. A friend had a sexy (for the time) little desktop Macintosh, the kind that had the 'hello' message when it started up. Rather dating myself there, eh? It was years later, after I somehow bumbled my way into a graphic arts job at a small town newspaper that I actually started to use Macs on a regular basis. Then the lust turned to full blown love; it happens that way sometimes. A few years later I bought my first personal Apple so it was Macs for work and play from that point on.

A couple iMacs and more years later than I care to admit... I write this from my new 13" MacBook Pro. My first laptop.

Here's my baby on her 'gotcha' day, my newest Mac adoption. Another one of those big summer events this year I meant to blog but never got around to.

I won't even get into ipods and itunes. So to say I'm an Apple fangirl is an understatement. I'd like to think that I've got some Apple cred. Proof. I have some. Remember this post? More specifically this picture:

Look closely at the bottom left corner of my door. Here, let me zoom for you.

Yeah, still hard to see. But you can probably guess that is is one of those Apple decals you get with every gadget/computer purchase. Yep. On my entry door. I'm that geek.

Here's a photo from two years ago and you can see the sticker was there even then. In fact, there has been an Apple decal in that corner for as long as I've had a personal Mac, so that means before my daughter was born. 10 years. And I have a thing about entries and exits - the statements they make, but that is a for a another wordy post on a different think-some day.

So yes, I almost cried when I heard the news of Steve Job's death last night. My husband and I found ourselves up until 3:30 a.m. thinking those kind of big/small thoughts that the underside of morning brings when faced with mortality and the end of an era. Today I am thinky and overtired and pretty much just grateful for the chance to live in this world. And to be one of the lucky ones that has the opportunity to sample an array of Apples over the years. Overthinking it? Likely. But why not?

Over the past decade all of my personally earned income has been created on an Apple computer. It is also correct to assume that much of the money I spent on entertainment and personal presents were on Apple products or on itunes. I don't see that changing in the future; I mean Disney World continued to thrive after Walt Disney passed, and I assume Apple will do the same. But today feels/is different. Today is that transition phase where Apple hasn't yet lost its living brand, yet that brand is no longer living. It feels weird.

I have so many more thoughts, the children of too much caffeine and too little sleep. But mostly they can be summed up with quotes from Mr. Jobs which is more appropriate for this post anyway.

"When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."

And:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

Yes, and yes. So this is my wordy, non-minimalist, very un-Jobsish tribute to an innovator that I've admired for so very long. Thank you, Steve Jobs. For remaining hungry and foolish in an all too serious world.

Love,
An Unapologetic Apple Fangirl

Countdown to Halloween

2011-09-30T00:21:00.000-04:00

The official changing of the kitchen blackboard.

Bits of costume already arriving.

Trying out the twirlability of a new petticoat.

Someone wants to be Alice in Wonderland this year. Since we will be doing many layers due to what will likely be our coldest trick-or-treat experience in a long time, what you see here are some of the under-layers to the costume (which has yet to be delivered). Armwarmers, tights, petticoat and even a white rabbit purse, all from one of my favorite online places, Sockdreams. The petticoat is sparkly. I am in love with this little girl art punk look thing she's got going on.

Surprise! That's my guy, the blur zipping past.

Loving this white rabbit bag. Alas, it is very shallow and won't work for a candy bag and my girl won't let me do surgery on it to remove the stuffing to allow for such use. She said she'll carry her flashlight in it. Cute though.

I know it isn't even October yet, but the leaves are turning rapidly around here and the air has been COLD for a long time. It feels like it is past time!

Anyone else planning their Halloween costumes yet?

Goodbye Germs!

2011-09-25T18:06:00.001-04:00

We are all feeling better around here, so today we all pitched in and scrubbed down the house. Be gone all you germs! The kids were eager to help with the chores.

And by chores I mean doll laundry.

My son wasn't really helping with the doll laundry, I suspect he was more interested in standing (jumping, ahem) on the bed and then jumping onto the floor. And this all made me happy because it means everyone is feeling better!!! Yay! Happy, non-mucus covered chaos! Oh how I missed it.

The clothes on the line belong to this cutie.

Internet, meet Elizabeth. Elizabeth, the internet.

This summer my daughter saved her money and bought herself an American Girl Just Like Me doll. If you are familiar with American Girl, you will know that this is quite an accomplishment. Personally, I couldn't justify spending that much on a doll, but my daughter has always been good with money and driven to succeed. She had a plan and now she has a doll. And I am proud of her.

This photo is of Elizabeth's homecoming. Much happiness this day.

American Girl doesn't make boy dolls... duh. Right? Otherwise the company wouldn't be named American GIRL. However, my boy was feeling left out. I've run into this situation before. Only this time giving an American Girl doll a haircut wasn't a realistic solution. However, I did come across CJ, from BFK, Ink., except he was only $23 when we bought him.

CJ is perfect for my guy and I like that CJ came with a journal that he likes to write in. My son really picked up on that and always has him writing in his journal. CJ is short for Charles James which combines the first names of my husband's and my favorite grandfathers. I love happy coincidences like that. So my son got his 18" doll too, Elizabeth has a friend to hang out with, and all is right in our now healthy world.

In case you are feeling worried that my son only has dolls to play with... don't. Being the youngest boy with a much older brother and a father that kept many of his toys rocks. We've got 'boy' toys coming out of our ears. However, my daughter loves to play with them as much as he does. We are equal opportunity toy enjoyers around here. :)

Wishing everyone a week where doing the real laundry is as fun as doing doll laundry. If only!

A post where I prove that illness has addled my brain...

2011-09-23T17:29:00.000-04:00

Okay, before I start posting pictures I need to layout a few things to explain why this post is proof of my mental decline. So here you go - backstory.

• I bite my nails. It is just something I've always done and likely always will.

• I do a lot of messy, hand-drying-out, nail-breaking kinds of crafts.

• While I am usually quite clean, my nails aren't what you'd call 'groomed'.

• If I were to be honest, my nails are just a couple steps above 'feral child', minus any dirt that might be associated with such a term.

So yeah, me doing a post about painting my fingernails would be rather, uh... Pointless? Ridiculous? Gross? Yes. Yes to all of that. I am guessing that you know where this is going, so yeah, those with weak stomachs might want to click away.

But hey! It is Friday. And I am on cold medication. So let's do it anyway, shall we?

For some reason my husband and I were having one of those late night, illness-induced seemingly deep but not really actually about anything conversations. Somewhere in between the topics of money, art, football, circuses, dolls, and tissues that already contain lotion, we started talking about manicures. My husband had been sort of mesmerized/horrified by a set of nails on a woman he saw earlier that day and he was wondering why people decorate their nails so much. And while I have NEVER actually had a manicure and can't imagine having a stranger touch me for that long ***shudder*** I do think that it is art. I mean have you seen some of those painted, gem-covered, foiled, stickered, beaded creations out there? I've always been fascinated with it all, but I'm a realist. The first time my nails click on my keyboard, they are going to GO. Can't. Stand. the. CLICKING. Goodness. No touching, no clicking... Sensory issues much?

So yeah. Cold meds. No sleep. Brain spinning. Not much energy to do much past showering and making soup. Yet bored. My daughter offered to paint my nails. (My daughter, btw WILL likely be the kind of girl that is very familiar with manicures in her lifetime.) So one thing led to another, which led to another, which led to this.

Yep. I zentangled my nails.

And remember the backstory? Try to ignore the shortness of the nails and lets pretend that cuticules don't exist in general, okay? Also, elephant fingers. Okay... now that I am done being insecure. Let's talk zentangled nails, because seriously? THISISSOCOOL! You can DRAW on your fingernails?!? Seriously? I've missed the opportunity to decorate these little tiny canvases that go with me everywhere for the past how many decades now? Ahem... Well. Enough.

So let's do the official manicure shots that are all over pinterest. Because, why not?

Ka-pow! There's even a layer of glitter there people.

Is this the end of my nail neglect? Perhaps. Or perhaps it is only a fever-induced dalliance into the nail arts. Only time will tell.

The official shot of what I used.

And there is a reason you only have a shot of four nails. Because it turns out that even while these nails are relatively subpar from what you find on the internet by means of nail tutorials. The four nails pictured look professionally turned out compared to the other six nails. Yeah... Gotta work on my left hand's painting/drawing skillz.

Anyway, there it is. We all survived, didn't we?

Wishing everyone a weekend of art in unexpected places and a whole fall/winter season of excellent health! I mean, who knows what I'll do if faced with another illness. Makeup tutorials? Can one zentangle their eyelids do you think? Hmmm...

Balance is good!

2011-09-19T15:29:00.000-04:00

This is not a deep post as the title might imply. Nope. This is all about YAY! Look what I got! Early!

Isn't she such a pretty, pretty book? So coy? So mysterious?

I pre-ordered Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor weeks ago and thought it would be released on September 27th. Imagine my excitement when the book arrived in the mail this last Saturday! Ten days early! Love. This. Book.What could be better than a new, much anticipated book? Right? Well...

Maybe I had already downloaded another book to tide me over until this one was released because I am all impatient like that. So well, TWO, new and much anticipated books is, you know - Even better. Even as it is a bit spoiled me-ish.

Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern... which I have to admit a photo of the cover on my Nook just doesn't have that same ummmphh does it? Oh, how I am loving this book. And I admit I enjoy holding my e-reader more than a bulky hardcover, so much so I am considering downloading Daughter to my Nook too. (Gasp! Right?) I never really thought that I'd get to that place, you know? Where I really prefer the ebook version over the actual book? Sigh... It sort of makes me sad in a way.

I wanted to get the Daughter of Smoke and Bone book in hardcover because I have a collection of Laini Taylor books and am sort of a ~~stalker~~ fangirl of hers. I even have art of hers on my wall from when she used to sell prints on etsy. See?

Ummm... What was I talking about? My inability to take clear photos anymore? Stalking? Picnik? (Which is the awesome photo editing place that let me plop that big arrow on my pic in less time that it would have taken me to open photoshop.) No? Hmmm... Oh, right. Books and how many I am juggling right now. And how I am so old that when I read for more than two hours straight I go a little cross-eyed/doublevisionish. What? We didn't get to that part yet? Well, its true. So the world has appeared a bit wonky to me lately.

So. Worth. It.

How is all this bookish gluttony about balance, you might be wondering? Well, my kids have been SICK. They've hit every lovely bit of nasty that a virus can produce with this round of illness. We've had a 24 hour stretch of constant intestinal strife and the sheet washing that accompanies it. We've had sore throats and tears. We've had noses so stuffed that the combo of every natural and modern drug remedy has barely allowed them comfort and the long nights of me propping pillows, getting water, applying nose strips and Vicks, and just sitting next to them willing them to breathe in a way that doesn't make me itch to call 911. So yeah. It has been a rough five days around here.

Having a couple GREAT books to grab in spare moments and escape my mucus-covered life has been soul-saving!

Wishing everyone who stops here a week filled with balance and pretty, pretty books!

Double Digits!

2011-09-03T19:57:00.000-04:00

My little girl has turned 10! And if you are in any way aware of children's cartoon passions you will know what this means...

Only that she is old enough to venture forth into the unknown to hunt and train Pokemon. Of course! Don't worry, she'll return before next year in time to be admitted to Hogwarts at age 11.

Here's my little Pokemon trainer, blowing out her candles.

And my sloppy attempt at Pokeball cupcakes. These were so much harder to do than I thought they would be and required an obscene amount of red food coloring.

Fun was had by all, especially this guy because his uncles were on hand to jump on:

You might be tempted to feel sorry for the uncle in this picture. Don't. He started it.

He always starts it. We try not to give either boy in the picture too much sugar.

And of course there were presents! Also, see this whole cluttered computer area? It is one of the projects I've recently tackled and it exists no more! Woohoo! Well, the computer still exists, but the desk and the clutter are gone. But that is a post for another day...

Check out this gorgeous wrapping job. Isn't it awesome? My sister brought this beauty and it was filled with a kit to make your own soaps. Something both my daughter and I are very excited to dive into!

My husband and I put together a little backpack for her filled with things she'll need on her Pokemon journey while she is alone in the wilds. A little sewing kit, first aid kit, journal, binoculars (provided by my mom), and a starter Pokemon. (An Oshawott if anyone is curious.) I failed to take a picture of it. Actually, my picture taking skillz on this day were less than stellar all around. However, fuzzy pictures and melty pokeball cupcakes aside, it was all in all a successful day.

And, I am pleased to report that so much fun was had, my daughter has decided to stick around for awhile longer. Perhaps she'll just search for Pokemon while hiking our home forests and trails when taking family walks. It seems the whole venturing out by yourself at age ten seems so overrated when you really think about it. Sounds good to me! More time to prepare for Hogwarts!

Please, Don't Text and Drive!

2011-08-21T22:23:00.000-04:00

My mother's car. Luckily, only vehicles were harmed.

The driver of the other car was texting and missed a stop sign at a very visible four-way stop and slammed into my mom. This is a four way stop located in front of a school and even though school isn't in session right now it is a very active crosswalk due to the soccer field, tennis courts, playground and basketball courts located there. So basically, it could have been so much worse. Still, I am pretty much on a mission to make people think. Do NOT text and drive.

I get it. I love texting too. It's fun. It's quick. But if you text while driving you could end up killing someone else's family. Can you imagine? So not worth it!

Well, Hello Blog ...

2011-07-29T12:30:00.003-04:00

The pictures in this post are from a recent morning walk. I tried to capture the local carferry docking in the harbor. It does this fast donut in what feels like an impossibly small space and it is awesome to watch, every single time. I worked five of my young adult summers onboard this beast. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...

2012 might be its last year to sail as the EPA cancelled its grandfathered allowance to burn coal on the lake. Will be interesting to see what happens in the future, but for now she's still here in all her coal-belching glory.

I jumped head first into summer and my online world became somewhat bedraggled and neglected. I blame Vitamin D overload. Nothing like days and days of unfiltered sunlight to make this northern girl sun-dazzled by day and exhausted by night.

I realized I started to do this not-so-great thing. A thing where I blog in my head, take pictures for said blog, however fail to show up at the actual blog and post. So I have a whole list of summer events that 'feel' like they've been blogged, however... Nope. Nothing here. So yeah. That's a habit that needs to end now.

I want to do some catchup posts, just because I like to look back over the years and remember what was going on in our world. Just trying to figure out how to organize it all so it isn't ridiculous.

Because to be honest, this summer has been ridiculous in scope. It sort of feels like we all took a big swig of Red Bull at the beginning of June, ran out the door and just sort of danced frantically through the streets of summer. Which is sort of fun, but it throws me into a bit of a daze when trying to summarize it, or worse, when I try to picture the upcoming seasons. Fall? School? Winter? SNOW?! Head quickly buries back into the hot sands of summer to procrastinate such thoughts for another day.

However, it is time to think of such things once again. I definitely need to get our school plan together soon. I have some projects I started that need finishing before I lose these long days full of natural energy.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful season, whatever that season may be, since I guess it depends on where you are reading from, right? I do look forward to catching up on all my favorite blogs, and maybe actually getting the hang of Twitter and my new love, Pinterest.

I am very excited about the coming year. We have so much planned and my kids are at such fun ages. I will do my best to stop this blogging in my head business because I know it already feels like it is zooming by. In a few years it will be one big blur, the individual moments lost to my sieve of a brain. Can't have that!

Happy Friday Everyone! Hope you have a weekend filled with adventure and fun so fulfilling that come Sunday it will be hard to find the words to describe it.

Found...

2011-05-20T14:10:00.004-04:00

Found: Art

My daughter made this colorful plastic disc from a crafting kit awhile ago, one where you make a design out of plastic beads and then melt them in an oven. I recently found it in my spring decorating box and realized I had to find a place for it. I've been longing to paint the kitchen, wanting more color but lacking the time for such endeavors at the moment. Not only does this provide me with the color I long for, but it makes my daughter happy every time we come in the door.

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Found: Time

Busy. This is our theme word right now, as it is with so many people. Good busy. But it can get exhausting as I've learned from past years. So I've tried to offset the manic feel to the spring by carving out moments. So far, so good. Since this is the day and age of carrying your phone with you everywhere and most phones have a camera attached, I've even documented some such moments...

Dates with my son at the bookstore when my daughter is at dance class.

Comics, cookie and cocoa - The happiness trifecta.

Sometimes we go to the beach instead. Not to swim yet!! Nope. Too cold for our thin blood. Sometimes we walk and sometimes we just gaze at the lake and talk. Sometimes both.

Me time. This is an odd photo, huh? It is taken behind the one way glass in the viewing room at the kids' gymnastics gym. That is my son getting spotted on his handstands, btw. I'm at this gym for three hours straight, but at least it is only one day a week.

I've learned to bring books and am actually catching up on some reading, even if I do spend every other second watching my kids tumble through half closed eyes and clenched fists. I must have been a clumsy gymnast in my youth because every time they learn a new trick I have about ten different memories of me getting hurt doing said trick. Luckily, for their heads and my heart, they seem to take after their father in the coordination area.

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Found: New Love - Morning!

I've spent my whole life happily greeting 2am like an old friend. Part of the fun of adulthood is being 'allowed' to stay up all night reading if I want to. However, the side effects of such nocturnal habits are never pretty. Literally and figuratively. This year I have so many goals for myself, my family and our business, that if I want time for it all I had to carve it out of more productive hours. Oh, late nights are fine, but they are more suited to reading or mindlessly surfing the net. I am not able to create much of substance after 11pm. So if I want to get stuff done, it has to be during the day.

So I discovered morning. It started out of necessity and I've been battling with this morning monster for many months now. But suddenly, this battle has turned to a full on love affair. It started with the return of the sun. Now I can see this beast I am battling in all her glory and GASP! She's gorgeous. Who knew? Well... lots of people, but until recently I wasn't privy to the info.

And I am tamed. I am converted. I have given my heart to morning and all she promises. And the side effects of waking early? They are pretty much amazing. I start my day by picking one of the many beautiful places to walk around my town. Wow. Talk about a vitamin for my soul. Of course, there hasn't been much late night reading recently, or blog surfing either. But I have all dark winter to catch up.

Until then... I'll be here:

All these pictures are taken by my highly inadequate camera phone, because it seems while I am getting used to waking up at 5:00 a.m., my brain cells are not yet functioning well enough to EVER remember my real camera.

And here:

Can't forget here as it might be the last year for this coal belching beauty:

And ohhhh.... here. I love it here:

I live on the west coast of Michigan, so the sun sets over the lake. Some mornings though we get sunrise reflections. I love those mornings.

Waiting for summer.

Here:

Of course... Here:

From the other direction:

Good Morning, Sun.

Watching the fog roll in and the moon set:

Foggier harbor view:

The fog about to envelop the land:

All my night loving years this outrageous morning stuff has been going on around my sleeping self. Likely mere hours after I finally succumb to dreams. I used to treat morning like an enemy or at best, a beast to be conquered. But I feel like I've fallen into my own rabbit hole, only this is a world that makes more sense than my nocturnal self ever did.

Found: Comfort

My twentieth class reunion is a few scant weeks away. Thanks to facebook I actually want to go. It seems the same people that used to make me laugh, still do. And people I was once to shy to talk to seem approachable and real to me now. However, it wouldn't be true to pretend that I don't have mixed feelings about the whole thing.

I will be going to the reunion a different person than I pictured I would be and don't get me wrong, I like myself. I love my life. But I am a heavier, grayer, and more blue collar version of myself than I ever expected. We do weird stuff like homeschool and live on the cheap-side of town so we can live within our means comfortably. I am not ashamed of any of this, but it is there... the bits of anxiety remembered from high school dynamics, from the mixture of the girl I was and the woman I am - trying to find peace with one other and with the person I still long to be.

I imagine I'll feel a bit nervous, but once we get there we'll find a little drinking, a lot of laughing, most of us happy to see the real people behind the facebook profiles. Until then though, I've listened to the following song a lot. Maybe a little shallow, but since it is a mash-up song from the show Glee, a show about high school anxieties it seems really apt. And it soothes my inner insecure teenager. And it makes me cry a little for the anxieties my daughter will likely feel some day as well. Oh, to delay those years as long as possible!

So, lots going on here. This spring finds me grateful, humble, manic, excited and introspective. Wishing everyone who stops by here a weekend that wows you, be ye of the nocturnal or diurnal breed. There is something awe inspiring out there at every hour of the day it appears. Who knew?

Mother's Day...

2011-05-07T21:10:00.001-04:00

Four generations of first born girls.

Pardon my wacky hair in the photo, my excuse is in my arms - my daughter not long after she was born. Tomorrow is Mother's Day in the United States. So Happy Day, Mama! I love you!

My mom's birthday always falls near or on Mother's Day so we usually have a combined party. That means... Cake! And any day with cake is a good day indeed.

So many ways to create beauty...

2011-05-07T00:39:00.003-04:00

Since I've been into 'thinky' posts lately, I might as well keep the roll going. Spring is raging through my world right now and though the temperatures seem like they are trying to summon winter back, the world around me is going through the work it needs to do to move the seasons forward. The animals have especially caught my attention the last few years. I find myself watching birds and squirrels that have conveniently (for me) taken up residence in neighboring rooftops. I've written of this before, here and here and more recently here.

Someone on facebook mentioned that once you start watching birds it is a sign that you are officially old, but I don't think so. I think it just means that you are past the age where you think the world revolves around you. To me it feels more like a rebirth, a quickening. Here, E. E. Cummings explains this better:

may my heart always be open to little

birds who are the secrets of living

whatever they sing is better than to know

and if men should not hear them men are old

may my mind stroll about hungry

and fearless and thirsty and supple

and even if it's sunday may i be wrong

for whenever men are right they are not young

and may myself do nothing usefully

and love yourself so more than truly

there's never been quite such a fool who could fail

pulling all the sky over him with one smile

Oh yeah, Mr. Cummings. You can be my huckleberry. Does everyone else get schoolgirl shivers when you read his poetry? Or I suppose I shouldn't assume everyone who wanders to this blog is female... So schoolboy/girl shivers then? Ahem... back to birds and squirrels, shall we?

But mostly what I've learned from the neighborhood animals is that their main point of existence seems to be nurturing and creating. Which isn't a unique observation as the phrase 'feathering ones nest' proves. But it does this mama/crafter heart good to catch a glimpse that maybe this unyielding urge to create... well, anything, is based on a primal instinct verses something less savory, like mania or narcissism.

I like the idea that one of the driving forces in this world is simply creation. Beauty, comfort, laughter, safety, whimsy.... whatever. It is all being created by someone much to the enjoyment of others. The world around us seems support that this is how it should be. Spring conquers winter with the most startling contrasts possible, redecorating with a style that never grows old. Birds and squirrels finding the most interesting places to make a home, then rebuild automatically if need be, teaching their young how to do the same.

I watched a bird that was so determined to get a piece of cloth into his nest he tried and tried and tried and finally went and got his mate who grabbed it when he flew up and pulled it in while he pushed. It reminded me of the several house projects that my husband and I have put each other through, only surviving by working together, each grabbing our end of the material. Though on the flip-side I've also been somewhat scarred by a mother squirrel that I swear is having postpartum issues and trying to whittle down her litter. My husband will be happy when that particular group moves on. I think he's sick of getting frantic texts about falling baby squirrels. Might as well keep it real, not all humans are the most wonderful example of humanity... and not all squirrels are wonderful examples of well, squirrel-hood... squirrelness... Squirreliness? Goodness... do I have a point?

Anyway... that is where my mind has drifted tonight. And then it drifted to this: (Because this post isn't quite long enough yet.) My cousins have created the most amazingly beautiful thing. Last year they started a race in memory of their brother who died of a brain tumor at age 29. Chris was my oldest cousin and his life, though filled with some of the most serious things life can throw at you, was also filled with so much creation. He had the best laugh and the gentlest personality, even as he was an amazing competitor and sportsman. Chris was kind. He was funny. He was fun. And I miss him, I do. This race is a beautiful testament to his life and it is generating funds to help researchers create too. Specifically create cures. Because brain tumors suck, even worse than precariously balanced baby squirrels.

Humans create like we live. Endlessly rearranging that nest when the wind has its way with us. And though Chris's life ended too quickly, his life was beautiful and he lived it well; with optimism, laughter, and gratitude. His sisters have continued his spark and with it created this race. And I am humble to be a part of it and to be part of such a lovely group of people as well.

We don't know how long we have on this gorgeous, tear-soaked planet. But we ourselves were made. We will be unmade. And in all the time that is in between, we can create. And there is beauty in that cycle.

I love, love, love this video. I'll post the lyrics to the awesome song too.

Nothing For Granted - Brendan James

Leave your worries, leave your fears • Leave the doubt you’re holding dear
Leave them there, love by the door • They’re no good anymore

Tell your friends you’ll see them later • Tell your family they can wait
Your only young once, only dream of the day that love will steal you away

So run with me down these midnight streets
We will take nothing for granted nothing for granted
Come with me, life is short and sweet
We will take nothing for granted nothing for granted

Stop the seasons drifting by • Stop believing there’s no time
Stop your heart from closing off • I think you deserve it all

Love your future, love your past • Love your body, it’s all you have
Love your secrets bottled up • But love them more when you give them up

And run with me down these midnight streets
We will take nothing for granted, nothing for granted
Come with me life is short and sweet
We will take nothing for granted, nothing for granted

Gotta get out of your mind • There’s so many wonders to find
So many words they could write across your early grave
So come on and open your eyes • I will be right by your side
You will see love lies in everything

Run with me down these midnight streets • We will take nothing for granted
Nothing for granted • Nothing for granted • Nothing for granted
Come with me life is short and sweet
Oh, nothing for granted • Nothing for granted

If you made it all the way to the end of this post, I am humbled. I am set on ramble tonight it seems. But I am set on grateful as well. Thank you for reading. And thank you for what you create in this world. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.

Just keep hooping. Just keep hooping. What do we do? We hoop. Hoop. Hoop.

2011-05-05T14:39:00.000-04:00

Someone got a new hula hoop and you know what that means...

Hula hoop matching time.

My girl is a hula hooping fashionista. It tickles me, the idea of dressing to match a hula hoop. I don't dress to match my hula hoop. I'd look like a Christmas bulb. I am cool with living vicariously through her artful outfits.

Like here. And here except without the fun animation this time. Lazy me.

Well, not lazy really. Sort of overwhelmed to be honest. Spring does this to me. I look forward to it. Long for it even, then WHAM! Spring descends and I just don't adjust well to major changes. I don't. I even have a hard time transitioning between vast temperature changes for goodness sake. We get busy in the spring. Oh, busy is such an understatement. Such a contrast to winter that was here just yesterday. And until I adjust to it, I get scattered. I forget so much that I forget that I forget stuff, and well... that is as confusing as it sounds.

For example I forgot to put an ad in the paper for our business spring special. Then I remembered and it went in the paper, but I forgot to turn the ringer on the business phone this morning. So then I faced a backlog of calls to return at the same time that people were calling. So I forgot breakfast. For everyone.

And that is more typical stuff... there is also the weirder proof of my decline like a package returned to me because it was going to Canada and I didn't fill out a customs form, but it was a letter and I shouldn't have had to. But it was a thick letter, so they wanted me to anyway, and during fixing that whole mess up I forgot to mail another package until I found it in my car yesterday. And I am just remembering RIGHT. THIS. SECOND. that I failed to tell my swap-partner that her package is going to be late and that is a big no-no and a probability that my rating on swap-bot will go down. Ughh... See where this is going? It is spiraling. And not in a good hula hoops sort of way. In a descending rapidly in an ohmygosh I want to somehow express how I want to run away sort of thing.

I do feel the need to point out the in between all of this forgetting is a lot of remembering. I'm not on full fail mode all of the time. There is just a lot going on. We're busy, you get it. Everyone is busy. This isn't earth shattering or even interesting, and it it certainly isn't a real problem like floods, hunger, cancer or war. I understand this and it is all in there swirling around in my brain. Grateful one second, overwhelmed and nail chewing the next. This is spring at my house.

But I try to blog happy. It helps but these days, weeks, months do happen. But I remind myself that when these moments pass, they pass. Best to let them go, right?

Hula hooping and really does help. My daughter got a new hoop because I asked her to take a class with me this summer. Not that she needed a bribe but I bought a sparkly hula hoop when I started taking classes, so I thought it would be fun if she did too. My son ended up ordering one too so I imagine we aren't done with hula hoop posts quite yet even if he is with me on the non-hula hoop matching side of the fence.

I started a twitter account, which was the inspiration for this self critical sort of post. Twitter has made me think. There's a link to it on the right sidebar if you are so inclined to follow such sport. I've had an account for a bit, but just started to use it regularly, reading and tweeting. However, it has been interesting to me to realize the things that come to me to actually tweet about.

Blogging is a few comfortable paces removed from the momentum of everyday. I have time to sit back and breathe before posting a blog and so I am able to put things in perspective. I have a facebook account that I don't use a ton but try to check in on at least once a day. I also 'think before posting' there. I mean... many of those people actually see me in real life. I could say stuff that could become potentially embarrassing in real life situations, you know? Think first, write second is a good strategy in general.

Then there's twitter. This instant medium that isn't linked to me as personally as facebook. Like blogging... without the time barrier. Suddenly I find myself fighting the urge to tweet about telemarketers, or being tired, or not having enough time to make coffee, let alone the 1,000 'real' worries and issues that everyone faces each day. Basically, I fight the urge to gripe, and I am not really a griping sort of person. And well, it is a puzzle. Is this frazzled person me? Or is it a moment that I should allow to dissolve away and be over?

Because there is a bit of the whole 'the word became flesh' about writing isn't there? If I write about how bad my morning was, then it lives on and become something 'more' somehow. It sort of starts to define me a bit, those of us leaving bits of ourselves here and there on the internet. The pieces adding up to a sort of whole, about as much of a definition of a person as anything really is. Am I really the woman who wanted to cry because the phone wouldn't stop ringing this morning?

Or am I the woman who put on the music, turned down the ringer and pulled out our hoops for a spontaneous hooping session to shake off the morning?

Well, the truth is... Both. I am both people. And well, I might not always be able to force life into the boxes I wish for it and twitter might be an outlet for the more spontaneous me, for better or worse. I don't know, we'll see. I am there anyway. And if you are too... then feel free to join me. I'm still finding my feet but it might be interesting. I am hoping it might be a way to make note of things before they slip into the ether of my brain like so many things have lately.

The weekend is fast approaching people! Get in and hang on. The ride is rough and short but often glorious. Like a child that likes to match her hula hoop and how spinning with her melts away a morning worth of problems. Sending introspective hugs out through the intertubes this morning. Now I am off to make a very large and well, shall I say, rather deserved cup of coffee.

Mail art, rhinoceros, stickers and my crafty daughter. How's that for a Monday?

2011-05-02T14:38:00.000-04:00

Another day, another swap-bot swap. This time one for mail art, which I really enjoy making and receiving. These pictures aren't of the actual envelopes I sent. These are extra ones I made along with the 'real' ones, but they are very similar. I was so involved with making this swap I forgot to take pictures during the actual process. My daughter and I were having fun with this one!

What was so engrossing about envelope making you wonder? Well, making the envies was fun and a great stress reliever. I love doodling on things and making art envelopes is like doodling with a purpose. But it was the profile surprise that we were supposed to put in the envelope that had my daughter and I happily creating things, camera a million miles from our thoughts.

This time around my partner's profile was very intriguing to me. She had some awesome 'likes'. Like the color purple, tree houses, bananas, stars and polka dots and especially, rhinos. So I thought... I'll make her stickers! Not because she especially likes stickers though she does like to make art journals and paste things in them, so I hoped that these would work for her crafting too.

But stickers fit nicely into an envelope and I really like hand-drawn art stickers. I mean in a sort of obsessive way. I keep etsy hopping with my constant prowl for art stickers. I don't know... Must be a child of the 80's thing and keeping and feeding of a massive sticker books during my formative years. Some of my etsy favorites have been Stefanie Fizer, thepoppytree, Jester777 (whom I met on swap-bot), and FlorLarios. If you know of any other artists that make illustrated stickers, let me know. I'm always hoping to find new ones.

So anyway, this is what I came up with when I combined several of her likes. :0) Such happy, silly little rhinos. I had a blast with this and got to play with my pretty markers. My daughter joined in and was sketching away across the table from me. One of the favorite things she said during that time was, "I don't know why rhinos and treehouses go together but they just do." Totally.

Then she declared her picture complete and I looked up and saw this gorgeousness:

Wow! That's my crafty girl.

All together now.

Well, her picture was enough to blow me away, but she didn't stop there. Finding a theme she liked, she kept expanding on it. Next thing I know she comes up with this little beauty:

A paper-crafted treehouse. Only this time it is for a purple tiger.

The cuteness almost made me cry.

I love this kid and her obsession for creating tiny needle felted pretties.

Love!

Just goes to show, you never know where, when or why inspiration will strike and what it will lead to. Mail art swap = me making profile based stickers = daughter joining in fun and knocking my socks off with her drawing ability = daughter creating sculptural art based on previous creations. Makes me so happy!

Know what else makes me happy? SPRING! Buds on my tree!

Happy Monday! Wishing everyone a colorful, creative week!

Hey There Little Red Riding Hood: Another Matchbox Doll

2011-04-25T23:49:00.001-04:00

I made another matchbox doll for a Fairy Tale Boxed tag swap on swap-bot. Here are links to the first doll and the second one I completed. I am sort of addicted to making these little scenes now. I keep coming up with ideas for them. I wish I could create them as fast as I can think of them! Little Red is at her new home now so I can share pictures without ruining anyone's surprise. If you click on the photos it should enlarge them if you want to see details.

Her box 'home'.

Close up of front. I knit her little cape before anything else. It was my inspiration for this doll actually, the idea of a itty bitty red riding hood cape. I used crochet thread and super small metal sock needles to knit with.

Close up on back.

Size perspective because these macro shots make her seem much bigger than she really is. She fits inside a 32 count matchbox bed, though she can't actually go in the bed I made her because of a design flaw that almost ruined her. I mistakenly painted the matchbox inside, so when I put her inside to test it out it turned most of her face and some of her hair green! I almost cried.

After I calmed down I was able to repaint her face and ended up liking it better the second time around. So - happy accident then. But she has to lay on top of her bed like everyone else now. She can just store all of her stuff in the bed drawer now instead of herself (which was sort of creepy anyway if you think about it too much). I guess that means she is just a matchbox doll in name only though.

Alone in the woods...

Yeah, she can actually carry her huge basket. She takes lots of things to grandma.

Her loot. Her books are Little Red Riding Hood and Favorite Fairy Tales. She has a little bundle of letters from her grandma that are on the table. This shot also shows the back of her cape which I like a lot. The hood has a long a pointy sort of tail to it, which you can also see better here.

Close up of home. I knit her little comforter too.

Ditto, with more side detail. Notice the wolf picture on the right side. :0)

Size perspective for the whole thing.

So that's my interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood in matchbox doll form. She was a blast to make. I love knitting little tiny things because they only take a few days to make verses weeks or months for normal sized things.

My family is still very under the weather. In fact my kids are in the cough all night phase of the bug. They are in that in-between point when it might just decide to take root in their chest with a secondary infection. I am trying to balance hovering/freaked-out mommy with relaxed/let's-eat-popsicles mommy with 'if I have to endure one more Sponge Bob Square Pants episode I might stab myself in my ears' mommy. It is a toss up which one will come out on top at this point. I might end up making an army of these dolls just so I can keep getting lost in their tiny worlds. I'm sure my kids wouldn't mind at this point.

Between the weather and the illness we've been inside WAY too much lately, which is contributing big time to the discomfort for us all. We have had lots of quiet games, movies and crafting which has been nice. My daughter has made some lovely things that have brightened my days a lot, and I'm planning a post to share them soon. However, we can't wait to run around outside in the sun, filling our lungs with fresh air and not coughing. Not one tiny wheeze. Soon! I hope!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and healthy week!

Kryptonite to my Mom Powers

2011-04-22T11:38:00.003-04:00

"Don't make me use it," said my son as he pulled 'the lip'. Please ignore his Vicks stained shirt. I should have cropped it out but I figured it goes with his dark circles and acts as a 'picture worth 1000 words' testament to our recent bout of illness. Or more accurately, I'm lazy. That would require the opening of programs and mousing. It is ever so much easier to just type. I blame recent illness. This is my excuse for the laundry pile too. Hey, we use what we have around here.

He wanted a bath instead of a shower and I had been resisting. That incredible pouty lip and the big sad brown eyes are his secret weapons. Gifts he was born with.

See? He started this early on. He's a quick study.
Lip pops out. Eyes get sad. And I'm undone.

So by now there is as much nurture involved in this behavior as the nature. The kid just melts this stubborn old mommy heart and helps me see when maybe I am being a bit unreasonable. Yeah, he got the bath. And he held still while I snapped a picture of his manipulation in action. That way we both got something out of the deal. Hey, he learned it from somewhere.

Happy Earth Day, TGIF and Good Friday. Celebrate it as you will. We are all feeling better, wit is returning, and the sun is trying to shine. Celebrate we shall! Starting with baths* instead of showers.

*Not overly full, or overly hot baths... As it is Earth Day and all.

What a week!

2011-04-21T17:49:00.000-04:00

A neighbor bird, perhaps a bit confused with the quick weather change.

This week started with paying taxes. Then spring disappeared behind 30 mph winds and under a few inches of snow. Then yesterday my whole family woke up with sore throats. Uh oh. Yep. Pretty quickly we moved up to popsicles, headaches and puke buckets as we all succumbed to an ugly spring bug. Not very fun. Nope.

BUT... Today the snow is mostly melted and the sun is out. We are on the mend. AND!

I won a blog contest! Here. Yay! I believe this is the first time I won a blog contest. It was a contest held by the Green Bag Lady, and cosponsored by Whisker Graphics and Janet Setter Jewelry. I feel like a little kid. I am so excited about winning. The bag, the twine sampler, and the Janet Setter necklace! I mean, it is fun to win anything, but especially when it is something that really 'fits' me. I saw the pendant on the blog and fell in love, and I have a long standing love for Whisker Graphics twine, and am so inspired by the Green Bag Lady. So yay!

Have you heard of the Green Bag Lady and what she does on her blog? Here is a link to her inspiring story. I discovered her blog through Whisker Graphics blog (which I stalk due to my insatiable love of her twine) and am so glad that I did. The Green Bag Lady gives away fabric bags in exchange for a promise to use it instead of plastic. At the time of writing this post she had given away 15,312 bags. Wow! Right? I love the idea of art changing the world, making a true difference. Theresa, the Green Bag Lady and her team of Bagettes is the ultimate example of this in action. Perfectly inspiring and timely story as Earth Day is tomorrow.

This is such a pick me up. It took me two hours to finish this blog post with all the soothing, ginger-ale bringing, head-cooling and popsicle fetching (not to mention the more disgusting things, blech) and I am still feeling punky too - So every bit helps right now. The sun outside promises that spring was just hiding briefly, and my boy is improved enough that I know the rest of us will follow suit soon. Winning the contest helped slap me out of the paying-our-taxes blues. There is a flip side to everything, isn't there? It is good to remember that.

So right now I am going to indulge in my favorite coconut frozen pops that my husband picked up for me this morning. My sore throat (and my taste buds) hanker for one. See? No guilt treats. A bright side to illness.

Onward to a weekend that promises to be busy. A sort of kick off to a whole season that promises to be busy. Staring with Earth Day/Good Friday, Easter and we might even have a piano lesson thrown in there for good measure. Maybe. We might end up with a quiet on-the-mend sort of weekend if things don't improve around here quickly. And that would be fine too.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy weekend filled with the bright side of things!

Stuffed animals and how to control them...

2011-04-19T13:15:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was tax day here. Tax day means something entirely different to us now that we are business owners. Oh, the good old tax days of yore, when we were employees and someone else's pain in the tax. Well, we have done our civic duty folks. Go forth government and build ye roads, schools and bridges! Whatever. I like to imagine that our bank account is drained for useful reasons. It soothes.

"In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes."

Ben Franklin. True, Ben. You speak true. Right?

Oh wait, I know another certainty, at least if you have children... Stuffed Animals. You know, those somewhat creepy, non-blinking creatures that seem to multiply when you don't look? Those dust mite covered, dubiously constructed, money sucking, anthropomorphic space invaders? Ask me how I really feel, huh? But the kids tend to frown on my desire to donate, toss and set them on fire - so they remain. (Oh, and I feel the need to point out that I do not mean handmade lovies and softies. No, no, no. Those are a delightful art, and I love them.)

And I do like the usual big-box-store-bought variety of stuffed animal a tiny bit more than I like taxes. And our relationship used to be worse. It improved once I found a way to contain the masses. See, we have a few:

Here my dog is keeping the animals in line I believe.

What's up here, other than it is way past lunch time and my kids are still in their pjs? (Hey, it is tax day. We ate chocolate too. Whatever works.) Oh, the animals are voting for their next president. My kids are the official vote talliers it appears.

Webby, the otter, held an election speech that I happened to catch. His stance was something along the lines of, "If I become president, nobody will have to pay taxes and everyone will be rich!" Okay, caught my interest. I asked how things like roads will get built. Webby (voiced by my son) said that the government will do it. One would think that maybe he didn't have an accurate grasp on politics. However when I asked where the government will get money from. He said the people. Ahhh, campaign promises dashed... so taxes then, Webby? Sounds like Webby is a career politician and that my son might know more about the reality of politics after all.

I am happy to report that Webby didn't win. Clover puppy did. I think the populace was going for the luck angle. I don't blame them. While I am not overly superstitious, I wouldn't mind some luck on tax day.

Now that is a voter turnout. However, many animals did not choose to exercise their right to vote on this day and stayed home. Where is home? Let me show you! This little animal containment idea has been a life changer.

This is how we organize stuffed animals: Pantry racks!

The kind that screw to the back of a door. They were about $13 each at Home Depot, which isn't super cheap, but after using them for months have proven well worth their expense. We just threw a few up on a wall and it is shocking how many of the little dust catchers can roost there. I've hesitated to share this tip before as doing so keeps me honest about how many stuffed animals live in my home. It is ridiculous. I know. They breed you know, when we aren't looking. The scamps.

But the kids do play with them constantly, and often save their money to buy them on their own. So I needed to find a way that I could tolerate them existing in our space. For a long time they lived in collapsible laundry bins, which was less than ideal for many reasons. This on the wall method has saved both my sanity and the existence of the animals themselves. Because I was so ready for them to go.

Here is where the idea started. My daughter's little room. Her space is very limited, so we had to think of ways to put a lot in without making it feel too cluttered. This picture shows how nicely the pantry rack keeps the animals against the wall. And I love how sturdy they are. I had purchased the green plant holders at the top of the picture on super clearance as the original stuffed animal holders for her room. They look cute but they don't hold enough and the kids can't access them very easily.

You can see I still have to finish her tree wall murals. My ongoing projects of late are all about finishing wall murals. I'm starting to question why I begin them in the first place! But much like I pay taxes, I grudgingly persist. It is just part of the process. I will finish the trees with scrapbook paper leaves that I plan to mod podge to the wall like I did in my room with our fake headboard. Which I never actually blogged about when it was done. Wow, what a slacker blogger I've been lately! I'll get to it. But that means I need to make my bed. So yeah. Later.

And my daughter wants fairies among the trees made from photoshopped pictures like she did here, and I did here. (Scroll down past the scary pictures of the kid in the cage to the fairy invite.) So yeah, we'll see if this ever gets done.

The tree that floats in air!

Actually, I was working on painting the trees when I took these photos. I am happy to report that the painting part is almost complete. Bring on the leaves and the photoshop fairies! Maybe I'll actually blog about it when I finish this time.

Well, I am happy to report that today is the day after tax day and we all survived! Woohoo! Happy NOT tax day, everyone! Go ye forth and corral your stuffed animals!

Color Returns!

2011-04-15T11:55:00.001-04:00

My kids with my camera again. I love this shot with their reflection in the toaster. They adore this little guy I received from the amazing sunnyblueskies in the Grrr... Little Monster swap on swap-bot. My son named him Billy. His removable top hat just slays me. So cute! And check out Billy's curly tail in the toaster reflection. I could eat him up I love him so.

Billy in top hat, sitting on his Grrrr... bag. This is seriously cute stuff.

I can't photograph the monster I made for the swap because my partner doesn't have it yet. And I shouldn't even put this picture up because it is also for an ongoing swap, but I couldn't help it. These pictures cracked me up. I won't post pictures of her finished in her home until my partner gets her.

I actually have a backlog of swap related crafty things I've made but never blogged about. To post or not to post? Some of them were cool swaps, but it feels weird digging back to months past too. Guess, I'll just wait and see where the mood takes me.

Don't fall in Little Red!

Counting bear, block combo pictures. This is a sort of constant theme for my kids I think. Thank goodness for digital cameras. The shots would be way less cute if I were paying for film on hundreds of shots of counting bears.

My daughter has a special affinity for counting bears. She calls them Wooshies and has a whole society based around them. I don't know. I try to stay out of it. Wooshie life is riddled with rules and I'm a more laid back sort of person. I stay out of their way and they stay out of mine. Though occasionally one ends up underfoot in the shower and then I've been known to banish a Wooshie or two.

Guard duty? Hey, napping Wooshie! Get back to work!

All in a row.

Bow before your royal highness.

Wooshies of the round table.

Wooshies most high.

He's not in focus in this picture, but I included it because

WOW! When did he grow up?

Okay I took the next series of photos and they aren't very beautiful. Spring just started here and we've been outside trying to make things happen. First thing I did was rip out a giant, eye piercing rose bush. I did leave a bit but I imagine I likely killed it as I was tearing out roots pretty savagely. My husband is partial to this rose, but it is a lot of thorns for two days of blooms. I won't cry if I have to rip the rest out next year.

I had a nice smooth ground until the local outdoor cats started digging. Sigh... I have a love/hate thing going on with a few of the neighborhood cats. We're allergic, so the ones that have adopted us as their outdoor family are sort of like distant pets. We have names for them, not sure what their actual names are, but they will come to their adopted names. We have a fondness for one in particular that we call Mr. Blik after the black cat from the cartoon Cat Scratch. However, I'll fall out of like really fast if he keeps on digging up stuff I plant.

What I found under the massive piles of rose bushes and mulch. Daffodils! Yay!

Obligatory pic of the first spring flowers scattered in the winter-scarred grass.

My next project.

One of our neighbors offered me her old patio set. Cool, huh? It is nice and heavy which is lovely because we get some WIND around here. Two of the chairs are in rough shape, but I think I can salvage them with some glue, wood screws and love. The rest just needs sanding and some paint. I started sanding as you can see in the photos. Easy! Comes right off. Yay for projects that turn out easier than expected!

Just waiting for a still, dry day to sand and paint these. I'm really impatient to start because I have big plans. Plans that involve our horrid garage that I won't even photograph because its ugliness with shatter my camera lens. However, my plan involves the garage, this patio set, paint, trellis, a new actual patio, and a sail shade that I already bought in the cart before the horse sort of way that I tend to embrace. Big plans. Just need the weather to cooperate and stop blowing at 25-30 mph. Mama needs to get her spray paint on.

Can't seem to include a post without a picture of my favorite tree lately.

Here she is in her early spring glory.

Oh, look. There is a smudge on my lens. Wonder how that got there?

I'm pretty sure it was the Wooshies.

Ah well, camera lenses wipe off, right? The winds die down. Spring comes eventually and the color always returns. And it makes me so happy! Wishing everyone a weekend full of bright colors and calm breezes.

Awesome.

2011-04-05T14:12:00.000-04:00

This. Read it. Bask in it. Roll around in it.

Then go make stuff.

Happy Tuesday!

Opposites...

2011-03-28T21:33:00.000-04:00

Dark.

Black and White.

***shudder***

Bright.

Colors.

My Precious...

New marker day! I found these pretties at Overstock.com and their discounted price plus a coupon made me finally able to stomach buying them. For anyone who ever wondered if Copics are worth it...They are. Oh yeah. I've been a Prismacolor girl my entire adult life, and I still like them. Heck as you can see by my handy tote there, I am an any kind of marker girl, but Prismacolors have always been my thing.

However, I like the Copic markers so much I might actually try to keep them away from my kids. And that is pretty much heresy here in Candyland. We'll see how long I can keep their art supply absorbing little selves away from my new babies...

Happy new week everyone - Wishing everyone color and light!

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-26T21:59:00.004-04:00

This is how we do Spring Break in Michigan.
Those of us who stay in Michigan, that is. Many flee.

Oh my gosh, look at that tongue on my nephew! Scroll down to my last post and guess which person in that picture is the mother to this child. Like mother, like son. :0)

My weekend looked something like this...

2011-03-15T10:54:00.000-04:00

A weekend shindig with my beautiful cousins (the girls that is). There was constant chatter, foo-foo drinks, the passing around of a gorgeous baby, a memorable trip to a gigantic vitamin store and hula hoops. It was time well spent! I am now a strange combination of refreshed and exhausted.

The hula hoops were my contribution to the party. Here they are mixed with our family hoops looking all candylicious. I was a hula hoop making machine before I left. :0)

I had such a good time and I love that I am close to my cousins even this far into adulthood. Now I am getting back to the 'real' world. And ughhh.... the news in Japan is just constantly on my mind. I wish there was something more I could do than just push paypal buttons with my measly contributions. Does anyone else find it hard to balance such big, bad world news with regular days? My spirit doesn't always know how to juggle the polarity of it all. I guess it is a lesson to be grateful for what we have, when we have it. And today, I am grateful for my beautiful family. Sending love to all!

Happy Birthday Dad!

2011-03-02T23:34:00.012-05:00

It's that time of year again when I post a Happy Birthday video for my dad. He lives across the country which makes visiting difficult but computers help ease the distance a bit. Obviously since I'm posting the videos in this public fashion anyone is welcome to view them. :0)

Here are links to past videos... 2007 (which was my first post to this blog actually)... Here's the vid for 2008... Okay, I forgot in 2009 but here's a link to a cute kid video a posted around his birthday... And I failed again in 2010. But here it is in 2011 and I am only one day late with my offering and I am excited to finally be fulfilling a promise to record my daughter playing the piano.

A little background on this video... My daughter started piano a few years ago when her Kindermusik teacher started offering an intriguing program called Simply Music. My daughter was using a keyboard I had from my high school days, which was more of a toy than musical instrument. But lacking the funds for an upgrade we made it work. My dad visited us that year around the holidays and the kids opened a lovely keyboard from him that Christmas. A much appreciated gift and it was well used over the years.

Here they are opening the keyboard...

It looks like my husband is trying to keep my son from jumping on top of it.
Oh my gosh! They are so little! This feels like yesterday.

The box... of course!

Giving Grandpa his gifts.

I've promised to post video of the kids playing piano for awhile and well, time flies and all that, and suddenly it is four years later. But I finally sat down and compiled a video of my daughter playing through the years. I can't find any videos of her playing at all in 2010... sigh, so there is quite a jump in skill level that happens at the end of the video.

In the video you can see the small pathetic keyboard we started with, then the two songs in the middle are played on the keyboard from my dad. The keyboard in the final song is something we saved for and bought when my daughter reached a level where she needed a full key range this past year. We passed the gift keyboard on to my sister and her sons and they hope to begin piano lessons when their sons get a bit older. So anyway, here is the video of my girl.

My boy started piano lessons this year, so here's a video of him playing too. I was running out of steam after making the first video so this one is less edited and more chatty. A fun little note: The second song he plays in this video is the first song my daughter plays in her video.

Happy Birthday, Dad! Hope this year is the best. Thank you so much for your contribution to my children's love of music. Music makes our house such a happy, happy place and you are a part of that! We love you!

We made it through February... HUZZAH!

2011-02-28T21:54:00.003-05:00

I'm slowly finishing my son's Hogwarts room. Yeah, I know we started it many moons ago. It has been 'mostly' done for months but I've been dragging my feet on the last few bits. This isn't bad compared to my usual working timeframe for big decorating projects. My daughter's room has been 'mostly' done for over a year now. I figure if they can sleep in it and it makes them happy, I am content. I know I will get to the rest when I can. Finished projects make me happy, but a sane mama makes my whole family happy.

My recent project was to lengthen the curtains that covered the closet organizer (no actual closets in my old house). Feels so good to cross that off the list. Now I just need to finish up the window murals and it will be a wrap. I can't wait to write about the whole process. It has been FUN. Until then, just a few more teaser pictures.

A before shot of the closet without curtains. Mess alert.

Hi honey! I didn't see her waving until I dowloaded these pics.

My hula hoop girly. Again with a matching hula hoop.

Sewing the curtains. I cut up a holiday table cloth because it was the cheapest way to get fancy material for the bottom of the curtains. Using my favorite pin cushion I received in a swap-bot swap from the happy honeybee. It makes me happy every time I use it. :0)

Curtains in a twist on the bed getting good and wrinkled. Awesome.

And they are finally up! Yay! A little Downy wrinkle release spray and the wrinkles will go away eventually, right? I am soooo not one to iron curtains. I'll spend months making my kid's room look like a castle, but I draw the line at ironing large masses of material. Me + Iron = Burns/Sweating. Not going to happen. A girl has limits.

My favorite is the top part of the burgundy curtains. I think the two different colors with the middle ruffle make them look like a stage curtains, especially because they span the whole length of the room. The little planet ceiling thingy was a birthday gift from his aunt and uncle. Such a fun little gadget. The planets actually rotate around the sun and the sun works as a soft nightlight.

Something that makes me happy every time I see it... the nerf sword collection in the above photo that we contained with a garage organizer. It is made for tools like brooms and rakes. I can't find a link to anything similar on the net, probably because I can't remember exactly what it is called. I know it was only about $12 and I got it in the garage/tool organizing section of the local big box store. My boy loves it and I'm all for storage that gets stuff off the floor and is easy enough for the kids to maintain on their own!

What my kids do when I'm not looking, example #1,432...

Making chains out of all my paperclips.

I started working on a freelance project this week. I grabbed a paperclip and out came this monster chain. When did they do this? I mean, it must have taken some serious time. There are a LOT of paperclips and they are almost all hooked together. I saw this as a sign to start the project the next day. I am easy to persuade like that. Errr... which sort of explains a lot.

And wow, isn't this post all over the place tonight? Which also explains a lot. I think that means I'm an easily distracted procrastinator. Yep. I'll own it. That's me in all my glory. And since I'm in full disclosure mode, I'll admit to battling perfectionism as well. So I am an easily distracted procrastinating perfectionist. Which pretty much means it is a miracle that I function at all. Yay for miracles! Wait... what were we talking about?

Hope everyone has a great week! Happy end of February! At the rate I've been blogging this year - Spring is just two blog posts away!

My bloody valentine...

2011-02-14T17:06:00.002-05:00

There are some crafts my daughter will have no part of. She was born with rules. Gingerbread houses have always been a no go. "Too cute," she'll sneer, nose in the air. WHAT? What is too cute to a kid who names her stuffed unicorns things like, 'fuzzy, fuzzy princess smooches' or something equally fluffy? I wasn't given her rule book upon her birth. I have to learn on the go. Sometimes I get confused.

So anyway, no gingerbread houses. Actually, no crafts made with food. Too wasteful. No food shaped in animal shapes. It is inedible. She can eat actual animals as we have 'omnivore teeth' therefore of course we are supposed to eat animals. She says this in a very 'everyone knows this mom' sort of voice, btw. As a short, brown-haired, cutesy-craft-inclined, vegetarian-leaning person, sometimes I wonder about my tall, blond omnivore and that old switched-at-birth thing. So okaaay. Pass the cow but animal crackers are a no. Chicken? Heck yeah. Gummy bears? No. No. And No. Maybe with a tear or two. Poor anthropomorphic sugar! Oh, the inhumanity!

Okay, on her new list of what is not an acceptable craft. Ice valentine hearts to hang outside. "Ughhh...." (She actually said ugh!) "Mom. No. Just no." Sigh... It isn't like she's a tomboy as I was at her age, so I don't really get it. Her rule book is complex. So I had to do it myself. So like the little red hen. I did.

Yes. More colored ice. It might be my theme for 2011.

Pretty? Right? At this point I thought my daughter would come around like the animals who wanted to help the little red hen eat the bread. But nope. She was, "You actually did it." All deadpan like the future goth queen she threatens to be underneath all the pink and gems. Well, I'm not worried. Back in the eighties I was all about the Cure, and black lipstick, now I'm all, "Oh, look at the cute ice cube hearts!!!" She'll come around.

So this was my goal. See my kids ignoring me? Yeah. Mom's got her craft on again. We'll be over here planning a major snow battle. Can't blame them really, the snow is finally packing! I did get in my share of snowballs after I decked my favorite tree in some love.

This tree deserves much love. A big camperdown elm.

Well, it turns out my little realist was right. The sun came out and melted my valentine hearts to freaky bloody looking organs within an hour. A visitor to the house actually asked, "WHAT is hanging from your tree?!" All in horror. The hearts got darker as they started to melt, looking much like red, red meat. The dye looked like blood in the snow. Yeah. When crafting goes wrong. I didn't take pictures of that, because to quote my daughter. "Ughhh..."

What was my daughter doing while I was making the million heart ice cubes last night? She was capturing an amazing sunset. Ooohhhh.... Ahhhhh....

I love the texture on this one.

Nature's Valentine.

So Happy Valentine's Day to everyone who tolerates such shenanagins and even to all that don't. We don't all play by the same rule book, but we all desire to love and be loved. And I love my silly little realist daughter with her very serious rules, and she loves that I try to tease her out of them sometimes.

Btw, my daughter had no problem at all with the little bag of chocolate and gum her father and I gave her this morning. To her that seemed like perfectly acceptable valentine behavior. Frozen valentines, no. Non-animal-shaped chocolates, yes. Noted for next year.

Sometimes a girl has to match her hula hoop...

2011-02-09T14:30:00.002-05:00

The groundhog didn't see his shadow?!

2011-02-02T19:54:00.001-05:00

Hahahahahahahahahha.... All respect to the groundhog, but I think he's wrong.

This guy wouldn't mind a longer winter.

She's pretty content as well.

Napping in the snow?! We're tough here in Michigan.

Like much of the country, we got a lot of snow.

Lots and lots and lots of snow.

To be honest, we didn't mind. It was a good day. Cookies and legos were involved.

I did this!!! Me and a shovel and a few hours of my morning. I hurt. My husband helped. He hurts too. We thought we'd be fine without a snowblower this year. We are fine, but we do hurt.

Best snow angel of the winter so far. My daughter rocks at these. I can't get up once I'm down and so destroy my angel trying to stand. My snow angels look more like snow seizures.

Still too cold for snowballs. The kids can't WAIT to use the snowball makers they got for Christmas, but so far this winter there has been no packable snow. I imagine there will be time yet, no matter what the groundhog claims.

Poor bbq grill got left outside this winter. I think my husband is trying to put it out of its misery for good. It has been on its last legs for a couple years ever since it was blown over in a windstorm. Obviously, we get some weather where I live. It's okay. We're hearty folk.

Well, she's not so hearty. But she does look cute bouncing through the snow like a little black sheep. What she lacks in endurance, she makes up in enthusiasm.

Hope everyone in the range of 'snowpocalypse' had as much fun with it as we did. And Happy Groundhog Day! I can't blame the little rodent for his optimism!

Winter 2011 Update: Woohoo! Four blog posts this month... I'm on FIRE!

2011-01-30T23:19:00.004-05:00

Well, more like freezer burned. Ahhh... Winter. How you try me. See the sky in this picture? I took this shot because the sky was a pretty shade of blue, verses the more usual gray of the season. Notice the lack of sun. Well, the sun does shine sometimes but it hardly counts, because it is COLD. I don't think we've had one day of packing snow yet this winter. There is an unfortunate lack of snowpeople around due to this and that is just sad. If the snow doesn't pack, it is too cold to seek sun on the skin. That opinion might brand me a wuss but there it is. My winter rule.

However, we endure. A few new things added to our typical lineup have us surviving the cabin without too much fever.

The first helpful addition to our winter-selves is the drinking of green smoothies. "WHAT?!" Right? That is how I reacted I was when I first read about them here. But I was intrigued, and thanks to my Nook and its ability to poof books magically into my home at 2 a.m. I downloaded a book by the Boutenko family and read it into the wee hours. It was one of those life changing moments. That sounds dramatic, but I am pretty serious.

I mean, I've tried to get my kids (and self) to eat greens, but honestly I thought I was awesome when I'd get them to eat a small pile of spinach leaves a few times per week. I'm sorry to admit that we had never eaten enough greens. Ever. Well, this has changed! And oh, after drinking these smoothies for a few weeks now, do I ever feel a difference. And they are EASY! That is the best part. And surprisingly delicious. Which is the other best part.

How we make green smoothies:

I usually make four at a time, two small ones and two large ones. For this amount I use about 2 cups of plain unsweetened coconut milk (this kind) though water works just fine. We just like how the coconut milk mellows it out some. I throw two bananas in the milk. Top with greens of the day. Today was spinach. Spinach is our favorite, but we switch it up mostly because we're supposed to. (Other greens make it have more of a grassy taste, not a bad taste but not as mellow as the spinach.)

Don't worry. We don't stop here. If I just blended this combo the smoothie would be too green for us at this point. I'm sure there are people out there that would be fine with this, but we're newbies. We need sweet stuff to make the medicine go down.

So I add the good stuff. Some frozen berries usually. Sometimes pineapple. Whatever fruit sounds good. Today it was frozen blueberries and strawberries. Which made our smoothies not so green in the end. The weight of the frozen berries really smunches the greens down and makes it look like there isn't a lot in there in this picture. There is a LOT of spinach in it though since the greens are the main point of the whole operation.

See? Not-so-green, green smoothies. :)

Sometimes they are quite green though!

They taste good no matter what color they end up. Honest. Well, there was one unfortunate smoothie made with mint leaves that we've crossed off the list forever and ever and ever. But other than that one, they have all been pretty awesome. And a welcome burst of nutrition for our sun-starved selves.

Even my dog likes them. She 'hoots' whenever I use the blender now. (Whenever she wants something she makes a noise much like a small owl. It is honestly one of the most adorable things I've ever heard in my life.) So of course: Hoot = Dog gets smoothie. 'Cause I am a complete mush-ball.

The next thing making winter bearable is actually a very recent addition to our days. But it is quickly becoming a family favorite:

Hula hoops!

Oh my gosh, have you hula hooped any time in your adult life? (I'm saying this in a breathless, gushingly dramatic sort of way. If you can't tell, I'm sort of hyper over this one.) If your answer is no, get your hands on an adult sized hula hoop and give it a whirl (pun intended because I am an unapologetic dork). It. Is. So. FUN! I mean, I've seen hula hooping catching on around the net and have at least one friend who has found a home in hooping. (Thanks for the inspiration, M!). But until recently I had never tried it myself.

A few nights ago in a desperate attempt to amuse myself I grabbed the kids' hula hoop and did what I could with that little thing. Which wasn't much. But I could do enough to make me 'get' what the 'hoopla' was about. (Yeah, yeah, I meant that pun too. I don't blame you if you stop reading. I have no control over these things. It is almost February after all.)

The hoops in the picture above are my kids' little hoops and two I've made from irrigation tubing using this tutorial. I need to get more tape asap. I really want to finish my candy cane striped hoop. I ordered a hoop from the local yoga shop, but got impatient waiting for it and knew I wanted a smaller one as well. So I purchased the stuff to make my own hoops, which yes was silly but... Winter. Almost February. There is no logic left in the season.

Anyway... hooping. Again another easy and surprisingly enjoyable thing. I love making hula hoops. I have mad plans to outfit my whole extended family in hula hoops. But as much fun as I have making them - I love playing with them more. And OH. My stomach muscles are sore! Proof that not only do I mentally need a hula hoop this winter, but physically I could use one as well.

And for full disclosure: It is not all fitness drinks and racing hearts at my house. Oh no. Winter has its traditions and my favorites involve blankets, books, cocoa and sleeping in. Things I quite miss in the frenzied, full summer days. So I make sure to get my fill of them now!

Wishing everyone a lovely winter filled with unexpected pleasures and at least enough sun to not go mad. And for those of you not in the middle of winter right now: You can hula hoop outside! What are you waiting for?!

To Blog or Not To Blog...

2011-01-13T13:09:00.000-05:00

My little piano man. Just one of the many events in 2010 that I failed to blog.

I was taking a hard look at my blog yesterday. Looking at the archives I noticed something that bothered me a bit. My first full year of blogging I posted an impressive-to-me 224 times, the following year I fell to around half that amount, a less impressive, but not embarrassing 109 times. That is still averaging twice a week, so okay. However, in 2010 I only was able to form a complete thought long enough to post 57 times. I wish I could say I posted once a week, but it was more like 12 times one month and then silence for three months. I seem to be halving my blog time each year.

Which leads me to a decision. I mean, is there a point to blogging a mere 25 times in 2011? Because that is what is likely if I keep to my usual path. Either that or I need to change something up. Leave facebook maybe? Hmmm... So tempting.

I love the blogging community and I love to blog. I also very much enjoy being able to come here and see the things we've done as a family year to year. I really don't think I'm ready to end this, but am questioning why I share the random crafts and stuff that I do, and the time it takes to share them. It is my very own blog version of an existential crisis! lol

I am going to try to blog at least twice a week for awhile and see how it goes. Some posts coming up will likely be about past projects I've done that I failed to blog, or events like the kids' winter recital that the above photo was taken at. At least until I catch up and get back into the swing of blogging more regularly.

Anyone else questioning their online life in the upcoming year? Anyone have tips and tricks to find balance between online and 'real' life? :0)

YAY! A New (to me) Camera!

2011-01-04T11:16:00.001-05:00

Thanks to my sister and her love for photography I have my hands on a camera that might actually work indoors during a Michigan winter! Which means I can finally take worthy pictures of our bedroom updates. Guess we better make our beds.

My sister upgraded her digital camera this Christmas and happily she was quite open to me buying her older one. And I was quite open to getting a better camera than my little point and shoot at a discounted price. Woohoo!

It's a Sony Cybershot and I have a lot to learn about how to use it. But I already love how it captures much more detail than my little camera, even in the gray light of a winter morning. And to my sister if she happens to read this before I talk to her. I love the camera. Consider it sold!

I Love Eleven!

2011-01-02T20:23:00.002-05:00

The dregs of a New Year's Double Rainbow drink.

Anyone else excited that this year is 2011? I've always loved the number 11 and while I am not a superstitious person or a numerology person, I get a kick out of numbers and eleven is a favorite. I enjoy the idea of living in a year defined by the number 11. It's an odd number, a prime number, and it is visually symmetrical. What is not to love?

When I saw this drink recipe, I knew I'd have to do something similar for our family New Year's celebration. My family loves the double rainbow video (language warning, btw - for those bothered by such things). I so understand being floored by nature and the double rainbow guy takes being in awe of nature to a wonderful level.

And the whole 11 thing connected in my brain with the word double and that just makes having a double rainbow celebration sort of a given. In my brain 2011 and double rainbow seem to be MFEO. Or maybe I just really, really needed an excuse to use rainbow colored ice cubes, because - Hello! Awesome!

Of course if you are like my husband, you see this photo and don't think COOL!!! like I obviously did. You think, "NO WAY are you feeding my kids this dye, especially when they are staying up until midnight too." Well, I won that particular round and you know what? We all survived it. ;0)

We achieved the 'double' for our double rainbow themed celebration with the addition of fruit salad for our midnight snack. I discovered brightly colored fruit eaten with little wooden hors d'oeuvres forks seems to be an ultimate eating experience for my kids. Who knew? I thought they'd be all excited to be drinking soda with colorful ice but instead the fancy toothpicks captured their hearts. :0)

For our drinks I squeezed a wedge of lemon, lime and orange into sprite and filled the glass with the rainbow ice cubes. Fun stuff. And enough sugar to fuel us into the wee hours.

Double Rainbow! Btw, my point and shoot camera is hating indoor winter picture taking. So excuse the over exposed flash pictures.

A new year brings out those resolution urges, huh? I am such a list person, so I do like a good goal setting session. Keeping with my double rainbow theme, I think my main goal for 2011 is to embrace life a bit more spontaneously, and dive more completely into the moments that come my way. It is a rather abstract goal, the opposite of list making and concrete goal setting. But it is the truth of what I wish for this year. In short... more double rainbow moments.

Happy 2011! May this year be filled with joy and surprisingly fun things like rainbow colored ice cubes and fancy toothpicks!

Happy Holidays!

2010-12-22T21:22:00.001-05:00

I know I've been such a teaser blog, showing projects I start and then never follow up. I've actually finished the projects but just didn't finish up by posting them to the blog. And that is just silly. I have no excuse, other than my life hasn't included much computer time lately.

If I am being entirely honest - me saying I haven't had computer time isn't me saying, I've been WAY too busy for the computer. It has more to do with my birthday present I received in November. My husband bought me an e-reader, a Barnes and Noble Nook. I've just had so much fun snuggling down with my inherited snuggie (my mother-in-law didn't like it, oh but I do) and a million books at a touch of a button.

But once the holiday stuff is boxed away and the visits and recitals and the wrapping and gifting and baking and feasts are over, I know I will long for blog time once again. I promise to be back with my bedroom updates and some past craft projects that I photographed but never posted about.

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who celebrate so, and a wonderful weekend to everyone.

Photo Update on the Hogwarts room...

2010-11-29T20:12:00.002-05:00

After three days of painting I feel too tired to make sense, but I wanted share a bit of what we've done so far. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed and I am very tired of painting faux stones on the wall, but it is starting to really come together. I think it will all be worth it. I'll be more sure after it is finally done and my muscles stop shaking. Here is a sort of lazy, picture-heavy update.

Blue skies.

This is the part where I got nervous, facing the highlight and shadow colors for the 'stones'. I pretty much almost lost my confidence and said, "Let's go with the dark gray, cave-like walls." Because I thought there was no way I was going to be able to make these two colors look like stone.

Saving the old murals. My husband couldn't bring himself to paint over the creepy cheshire like cat and reading mouse. I painted them on the walls when my kids were small and there used to be a little playhouse in that corner. Now this is where the closet organizer is, and the little creatures peek out from behind the clothing. The green is the old color and the dark gray is the base color for the stones.

Real window and new mural windows.

My hand isn't naturally creepy and shiny, I'm wearing rubber gloves. :0) This is what I've been doing for the past three days. I used this tutorial. I highly recommend it! But I also recommend only doing one wall in stone. Not three. Or have more than one person in the home on stone duty.

I've been doing a little bit of this too.

Yes, those are shower curtain rings. Makes the curtain slide better since we are using them for closet 'doors'.

A peek at a castle wall. A small but dramatic room, I think.

Peek at a castle window.

A peek at a very excited boy. :0)

We are quite a bit further along than these pictures, but it is dark out now and the whole thing doesn't photograph well without the sunshine to help my flash out a bit. I think I might wait until it is done to share more photos, because we are so close to the WOW stage. Just a few days away I think. I know I have to be done by Saturday because we are planning to get a Christmas tree this weekend (both yay and uh-oh) and I need to have my boy's bed moved out of the toy room by then!

Wish me luck!

2010-11-27T10:37:00.001-05:00

Today I'll be doing something like this, or this, and maybe like this if things get crazy. One good thing about having small bedrooms is that they don't take that long to paint. I'll take before and after photos, I am looking forward to that actually. This project has been a long time coming and is actually the last project on my 2010 to-do list!!! Woohoo! I should actually post a few before/after shots of all the bedrooms I've done this year. I don't think I've ever shared the transformation of the teen boy room to the young girl room which was pretty fun.

We've been prepping for the big Hogwarts inspired room redo for a long time now. I have a bunch of stuff stashed away that I've picked up on clearance here and there and can't wait to see how it comes together. Some of my favorite things are the dark red curtains that I'll use for the closet and the windows. The closet curtains I found on clearance for $4.50 each! The window curtain was more since it is an energy saving/blackout curtain, but it was only $12. My next favorite things were lantern like candle holders that I found in the garden clearance center for $1.47 each. I'll put some of the led flickering candles that don't get hot in them which are like 50¢ if you buy them after a holiday.

I guess I have as much fun finding stuff as cheaply as I can as I do when it comes to the actual room redo process. We even got the paint on a 40% off sale. I bought a utility closet type rake/mop holder during a home organization sale for $10 at the beginning of the year. Can't wait to see if it works to hold our ridiculous collection of nerf swords. If not I'll use it to actually organize our utility closet. :0) Oh! I almost forgot one of the best things. At some point we found the most perfect bedspread with a sort of crest on it, complete with sheets, pillow cases and shams all for $29.99. I am getting excited!

I think it makes the whole room transformation even more exciting when it looks awesome and yet doesn't murder my bank account. Sure, it takes more patience to do it that way, but since there seems to be a never ending series of projects to do, it doesn't hurt to put off one project until we have the stuff to do it properly. Of course it helps to have a patient son!

Well, the husband is busy with the pre-painting prep and giving me those long sort of glances like he can't believe I am blogging when we are about to get this party started. So, see you all on the flip-side!

Projects and projects and projects...

2010-11-22T23:03:00.000-05:00

Over three straight weeks of checking things off my 'to do' list and I am still not done. But I've clawed my way through the dread pirate projects and am now happily immersed in the fun things like drawing on the walls and calling it work...

And playing with pretty paper. :0)

I am hoping to have pictures of this current project all finished tomorrow. If the mod podge and sunlight is willing that is. It has been rather dark and gray in Michigan lately, and my camera needs help from the sun to function well. And so far this project has proven tricky to capture the colors. But I'll try because somehow photographing it makes it seem properly finished. Must be the years of blogging habits ingrained in me.

I have been a busy girl. A busy, busy girl. I got sick of 'someday' never being 'today'. A book I was reading flipped a switch in my head and I got up one day and got busy. But before I get chatty about it I am going to stop and save it for another post. Because while I am so happy with the progress, I am also so very tired. So on that note, I am off to bed to dream of what life is going to feel like with a blank 'to do' list. Wow, right? Goodnight!

Possible?

2010-11-07T10:50:00.001-05:00

I'm on a quest to cut our food budget in half each month and yet, eat better. It sounds impossible, but I've been bad about buying more than necessary the last few months and we've been eating out too often, so there is quite a bit that can be cut from our current budget. Still it will be like going from 60 to zero...

Still. It is time. We are ready for phase three of our adulthood which hopefully will involve saving enough to buy the house/property that will see our kids into their own adulthood and us into retirement. So the challenge will be worth it.

Suggestions?

* Photo is of two tiny clay houses that our Cousin Traveling Amy brought back for us from Brazil. If I could I'd shrink us down and move into them. They are so cute.

Learning about the Circle of Fifths...

2010-11-05T23:30:00.000-04:00

My kids with their awesome piano teacher 'Miss Melinda'.

We love our music Saturdays!

My kids learned a fun game that helped them remember which sharps and flats belong in which keys. I learned why I was told to memorize scales back when I was taking piano lessons in high school (never too late to round out a lesson I guess). All in all a successful and fun music day last Saturday. We have another one tomorrow... I was supposed to make another set of the cards. Guess I better get going on that. Oops.

"A simple way to see the musical interval known as a fifth is by looking at a piano keyboard, and, starting at any key, counting seven keys to the right (both black and white) to get to the next note on the circle shown above. Seven half steps, the distance from the 1st to the 8th key on a piano is a "perfect fifth", called 'perfect' because it is neither major nor minor, but applies to both major and minor scales and chords, and a 'fifth' because though it is a distance of seven semitones on a keyboard, it is a distance of five steps within a major or minor scale.

A simple way to hear the relationship between these notes is by playing them on a piano keyboard. If you traverse the circle of fifths backwards, the notes will feel as though they fall into each other. This aural relationship is what the mathematics describes." - Thanks wikipedia.

In speaking about his renowned theory of relativity, Einstein* said:

"It occurred to me by intuition, and music was the driving force behind that intuition. My discovery was the result of musical perception."

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. ... I get most joy in life out of music.”

Circle of Fifths: a link, another link and another link a really good chart and site.

*NOT comparing my kids to Einstein here. Just marveling in the connectedness between things, and I feel these quotes relate that to mathematics, physics and music. Intuitively I've always understand patterns in verbal and visual areas, at least things that are verbal and visual for me. (For some people math and music are very visual. They can practically see it in shapes. I think my daughter is a bit this way.) But only recently since I've been studying mathematics in a different way from the way I avoided it back in school, have I learned that this cool pattern thing, this connectedness thing - it is the same in math. It IS math. Patterns are the language of math. I've always loved patterns that present themselves in life. I always connected these with art, music, words though. But now it is math. And I feel like a little kid trying to drink it all in. I always thought I hated math. I was so wrong.

I thought I was ready...

2010-11-05T08:36:00.001-04:00

I'm not. Oh what a difference ten days can make.

Edited to add: I just looked at posts last year to see when it first snowed enough to stick on the ground in 2009. Not until December! We were still hiking in our light jackets at the end of November last year. No wonder I am feeling a little shocked to look out the window and see the promise of chilled toes. Not that snow in November is any mysterious thing in Michigan. Not mysterious, but not entirely welcome either. Off to find my slippers and more than likely, bake something. Nothing like warm pumpkin bread to help me stare in the face of winter without wincing.

Roasted Beef Mushroom and Barley Soup!

2010-11-04T22:21:00.000-04:00

Again I come here with so much to say. But the temperatures outside dipped into the low 30s today, so instead I am going to blog about what consumes my thoughts every winter... Food! I would be really good at hibernating. I am sure of it.

Anyway, I made beef barley soup tonight and I had to share the recipe. It is so easy and so good - if you are a beef barley sort of person that is. I got the initial recipe here... Roasted Beef Mushroom and Barley Soup Recipe from Everyday Food. Except I actually got mine from the magazine. I love that little magazine.

I searched for years for a good beef barley recipe, because it is my husband's favorite. I could just never get it right. Then I found this and we were quite happy with the results. And I am happy because it is the simplest recipe for the soup that I've tried yet. I've made quite a few changes to the linked recipe though.

I use leftover pot roast for the meat instead of steak. I am sure the steak is awesome, but this way I use up the leftover pot roast. I also just use whatever onions I have on hand. Throw in some carrots, because we like carrots around here. I chop extra carrots and onions the night before when I am getting them ready for the pot roast, and just throw them in a bag to wait until I make soup. Throw the meat, mushrooms, onions and carrots on a tray and mix with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in the oven at 450º for 30 minutes. Stirring it up at least once in the middle somewhere.

Mmmm.... It is hard not to just eat this stuff and forget the soup part. But once it is all roasted, throw it in a pot with broth. I use beef broth and the recipe calls for chicken. I'm sure both are fine. I slowly bring it to a boil and then throw in quick cooking barley. Lots more than the recipe calls for. In fact. I use a lot more of everything than the recipe calls for. That's just the way I roll. (Not a pun aimed at my stomach, but it could work that way... sigh.)

The only reason I could take a picture at this point instead of digging in is because it was way too hot. Even my kids like this soup, and that is saying something. And please keep in mind, I am no food blogger. I just really like food, and like sharing good recipes when I stumble on them. Not trying to be the next PW or anything, so ignore my green tinted photos taken under kitchen lights. Thanks.

Honestly, it is probably not the best beef barley soup out there. But it is pretty darn good. Awesome on a cold day, and so easy to make. It turns leftovers into something that rivals the initial meal. And the whole family will eat it. That makes it share worthy in my book.

Tomorrow is Friday!!! It has been a long week here. I am so happy to see the weekend approaching. Happy almost weekend!

Trick or Treat!

2010-11-02T22:46:00.001-04:00

Hermione and Harry belong to me. The cute little Toy Story characters are my nephews. It started out raining but cleared up pretty quickly. We were grateful for costumes that worked nicely with many layers of warm clothing. What you can't see in the photo is that under the robes my children are also wearing Gryffindor sweaters. Thanks to a daddy that spoils them with store bought costumes as much as their mom does with handmade ones. What can I say? We love Halloween around here. Costumes, people handing out candy freely and walking around outside under the stars with friends and family. What is not to love?

The children weren't the only critters in our household to have Halloween fun this weekend, however. As usual, my husband and I attended one of the best Halloween parties on the planet. I am lucky enough to have a friend who is Queen of Halloween. She decks out her home for the holiday so amazingly that it deserves to be the focus of a tv special or something like that.

This year my sister and brother-in-law joined us at the party and were a welcome addition to the evening. We dressed as the crew from Scooby Doo. The party even had a photo booth set up. How cool is that? I'm glad for these pictures especially because the ones taken in the low light of the party turned out less than flattering for all involved.

Check out my husband with hair! Quite a cute Shaggy if I do say so myself. :0)

Whew! Now I guess it is just weeks until that white stuff covers the ground and Christmas music starts playing at the stores. Wow! How did we get here so quickly?!!!

I have so much to blog about...

2010-10-25T22:50:00.000-04:00

But right now there is only room in my brain for this... The colors just wreck me.

Gale force winds expected tonight and tomorrow. So goodbye leaves. The good news is maybe I'll regain the ability to form words again. Autumn in Michigan humbles me. Okay, I'm signing off before I get all double rainbow. Have you seen that video? WOW. But you know, I sort of get it too.

It is autumn. So we are here...

2010-10-13T22:48:00.000-04:00

We are soaking in every bit of color possible. This year's color show is just kicking off. While it will be hard to beat last year's perfectly orchestrated blaze of color, this fall is certainly nothing to complain about. Such wonderful weather to walk in. And the cool air after the humidity that was this summer, is enough to make me weep with gratitude.

Birch wreckage. I love birch trees. Their papery white bark just makes me feel all warm and happy inside. Like world peace is possible or something. Seriously. That is how much I love birch trees. Even tumbled piles of birch trees. I made my family stop and pose here for a million pictures. Alas, I cannot share them because they all have smarmy "Oh great she's making us pose by birch trees again" looks on their sassy little faces. I guess the love of birch does not pass through the genes. It must be earned.

I had to include this photo because it shows the adorable habit my son has of copying my husband. He watches him out of the corner of his eye, and poses himself to match his daddy. It is constant and heart melting.

They never wait for me when I bring the camera. I wonder why.

The giant orange tic tacs that guard boaters from going over the dam.

I think we are about a week away from optimum color barring major wind storms. Autumn color is a fragile beauty and so fleeting. One minute brilliance and light, the next whiteness. Whiteness and cold. I am never quite emotionally ready for winter. However, winter does mean cocoa. And baking, warm pjs and early bedtimes. Certainly each season has its up side. I am a Michigan girl through and through and love having four distinct seasons to move me through the year. However, you may need to remind me of this later when I am grumbling from underside of February, okay?

Halloween Practice

2010-10-08T14:41:00.000-04:00

I ordered what I thought were three temporary scar tattoos, one for Halloween and a couple extra just to make sure I don't mess up on the one. What actually arrived? Three PAGES full of temporary scar tattoos. I guess I didn't read the fine print. :0) My kids are not complaining.

I admit though, that this Halloween season finds me a bit tiny bit bummed. Not in any real way, but in the missed crafting opportunity sense of bummed. I LOVE Halloween, and I love making costumes. My family sometimes tolerates this practice. Sometimes not.

This year it was three against one for the store bought costume variety. I wasn't even allowed to make Hogwarts capes. Sigh... There is always next year. It does seem to be an every other year thing. Last year I got to muck about in material and glue to my hearts content...

Halloween 2009 Gandalf and good witch costumes.

The year before the kids had a blast in store bought Jedi costumes, etc. Which I just discovered I never blogged about. But here's an action shot. Can't beat a light saber battle on a fine fall day, right?

Halloween 2008 - The year of the Jedi Knights

I also didn't blog the 2007 costumes which were of the handmade variety. Sage was Katara from Avatar - The Last Airbender and my boy was Zuko as the blue spirit. I was also a complete fail at taking any kind of decent pictures. Almost all I have is this lamish attempt at a tutorial post on making the blue spirit mask two different ways, which probably shows my ridiculous mania when it comes to making costumes. (Hence a reason my husband tends to vote for purchasing the darn things.) Though here are some shots that I am including because my kids look so little. The years sure fly.

All chubby with layers under his blue spirit ninja costume. Oh my gosh, he was practically still a toddler here! I didn't get one photo with his hood up and mask on or of my girl standing. Bummer.

Oh, who am I kidding? Store bought or handmade costumes... Either way, they are fun and it is something they can use for a long time after the holiday. And getting to wear them in public while collecting a ridiculous amount of candy and treats? Awesome! I love this time of year.

Wishing everyone a wonderful autumn season and Happy Halloween to those who love it too!

So much going on... So little blogging. :0)

2010-10-05T17:16:00.000-04:00

That is how it usually goes around here, I think. The more I actually have to blog about, the less I am online to blog and read blogs. That and I've been obsessed with crocheting. It is hard to blog holding a crochet needle. Nothing fancy, lots of granny squares and flowers but soothing, soothing repetition and yarn. I heart yarn.

There are so many things I can blog about it is hard to narrow it down. Art I've received from others... Crafts I've created... Silly things my kids do to make me laugh... Big life stuff... Little life stuff... It all rolls around in my head when I try to narrow down a post, part of the reason I've avoided blogging for awhile I think. Hmmm... where to start?

I've been participating in a lot of swap-bot swaps lately, and I think all my recent swap partners have received their stuff so I can post pics here without risk of spoiling the surprise. I love swap-bot. I am not always active there, but when I am in the mood it is a ton of fun and a great way to meet fellow art/craft/mail addicts.

Matchbox Dotee Doll Swap

I wrapped the whole thing up in a vintage doily because my partner likes that sort of thing and I have plenty to spare around here thanks to a weird ebay thing I went through awhile back. I thought I would starch the doilies and use them like snowflakes for winter decorating ala Martha Stewart. Yeah, that hasn't happened. Time to purge. Makes pretty wrapping, no?

I crocheted a flower to decorate the matchbox using Divine Twine. Two addictions coming together to make my heart happy. Yarn, twine... What is it with me and colorful string?

I made my mini Dotee a fairy because of her small size. I need work on my embroidery skillz. They lack. But I try. Dotee Dolls are all the rage on Swap-bot. They are fun little creatures to make and trading them sort of gives purpose to creating these odd sweeties. :0)

Another Dotee... Spooky Halloween Swap

My partner likes Sookie Stackhouse, Buffy and Twilight so obviously a vampire was the only choice.

And my favorite...

Quarterly Art Doll Swap, September 2010

Here she is a work in progress. I built the armiture with wood and a paper mache egg. Ahhh... craft messes and ipod, a marriage made in heaven.

Yes, the Divine Twine again. I have it in the picture here for size perspective. I knit her outfit out of it too. No, I don't have a problem. I can stop whenever I want to, I just don't want to. She was the first thing that was hard to give away. My husband thinks she looks like me, so maybe I had a self-portrait sort of attachment to her.

Well, since she mimics my actual shape a bit too uncomfortably, maybe it isn't the self portrait thing that draws me to her. ;0) I just had a lot of fun making her.

Her face and feet were made out of paperclay. I heart paperclay. And it isn't string! A whole different sort of fiber entirely.

Well, that is quite enough for now I suppose. Hopefully I can sort my brain enough to bring something coherent to the table tomorrow. Now, off to try and catch up on the blogs in my google reader!

Happy Tuesday all!

Constant Craving: Color

2010-09-14T23:00:00.000-04:00

So many ways to saturate my life with color... So little time.

I always do this when I near the end of a freelancing project. I set up a little corner and stash all the projects I'd rather be doing instead of writing advertorials for the paper. I also sign up for swaps on swap-bot so I have a more fun kind of deadline approaching than just a newspaper deadline. Newspaper deadlines are the opposite of fun. They are the stuff of nail biting and woe. Unfortunately, I am not exaggerating.

Crafting is my carrot. Whatever works, right? It motivates me to get my work done. Once my evenings are free, I can jump into the middle of my colorful toys and play. With autumn here in every way but official date on the calendar, it is my season for pulling out the art supplies and making pretty messes and I am itching to begin!

Only one week until freedom! Which means I'll also be free to catch up on reading blogs and blogging once more. Yay!

For Critter

2010-09-12T16:42:00.002-04:00

Won't embed anymore... Link.

Eat, drink and be merry...

2010-09-10T23:19:00.000-04:00

Eat: CAKE! What else?

Cake with lots of filling. Mmmmmm....

Cake to wish on. The best kind.

Speaking of cake. Have you ever tried Birthday Cake ice cream? It is cake batter flavored ice cream with blue frosting swirls and rainbow sprinkles. It is like my happy place - in ice cream form. I haven't figured out if this is a good or bad thing yet... Okay, yeah. Probably bad. But seriously. Birthday. Cake. Ice Cream. There is nothing but joy, even in the name.

Drink: Morning beverage routines make getting out of bed easier.

Current morning drink ritual. Iced coffee for me, iced fruit tea w/local honey (good for pollen allergies!) for my girl, and iced chai for my boy.

Seeing this photo makes me want an iced coffee big time, even though it is way past caffeine o'clock. I love that these cups even have reusable straws. I saw them and knew it was finally time to replace my kids' near decade old sippy cups that were sort a bit scary by now. Yes, we tried just normal cups around here, but the combo of my boy, my dog, and the constant spilling and shattering glass that goes with those two - non breakable w/lids just works better.

My little drink assembly corner. I want to be a barrista when I grow up. Oh! Have I ever talked about the way I make coffee? When my coffee maker died over a year ago, I ordered this and never looked back. It is the presslike thing next to my teapot in the picture. I love it!

Be Merry: Merriment is rather subjective, no?

I mean, squirrels in a chimney? Well. They make me happy. However, my neighbor - probably not so merry. Another neighbor with squirrel issues. I never knew how fascinating and adorable a family of squirrels could be until my neighborhood became infested with them. Here is a link to the last time we had squirrely neighbors. This time they made a home in neighbor #2's scary old chimney.

I completely missed the shot of the mom squirrel grabbing one of the BIG babies in her mouth and hauling it away. Here are the siblings all... "Ooooooo, she's gonna get it now. I told her not to get out of the chimney when mama wasn't here." I don't exactly know what was happening, but frustrated mama body language is understood across the species divide. I should give that mama squirrel some birthday cake ice cream. It helps.

Oh, and this picture makes me feel all warm/fuzzy inside too. Merry? Yeah, it fits. More than any ice cream on the planet can actually. I love watching them get absorbed in information.

I have found a love for geography along with my kids. We received this set in a packaged curriculum last year, and have since separated it and made it our own. We color in whatever places go along with our current song, and then point to each place as we sing it over and over throughout the week. Then we learn a bit about the places in the current song. It is fun. Easy. And completely works.

Example: My son was doodling on his notebook last winter and showed it to me. I glanced at it quickly, not really seeing and mumbled something lame, like 'nice' thinking it was a space battle or something. He then started to sing and point and I realized he had drawn a map of the middle east. A kid version that no one would know what it was without being told, but everything was in the right place. Well, I was pretty much sold after that.

So basically, I love, love, love this program. I might try more of their offerings as I think it is the music connection that roots it so far into the brain. Anyone know of a program that sets calculus to music? By the way, I'm raving out of my own true love for this set, the company has no clue I exist. Just a fan.

Okay, that is enough of my rambling on for the evening. Way past my bedtime. Not a lot of computer time lately, well. Not a lot of fun computer time lately is more accurate. I'm finishing up my last freelancing project for the year and it has a very tight deadline. Combine that with all the fall activities starting this week and WOW. Tired. Hence my longing for iced coffees and ice cream and all those good comfort objects.

Happy weekend everyone!

Nine years ago it was Labor Day...

2010-09-03T11:47:00.000-04:00

In more ways than one for me!

Happy Birthday to my sweet girl!

Keeping me away from blogging...

2010-09-01T13:25:00.002-04:00

A bit of this...

Just me and the kiddos for windy canoe adventures.

Her first time paddling and she rocked it. Calm in the face of strong currents. Awesome.

Well deserved picnic breaks.

Some of this...

Magical end of summer vacation at this kid paradise.

Wow. Right?

Waterpark. Mini golf. Arcade. Chocolate/Ice cream shop.
Physical, mental and emotional exhaustion... Well earned and totally worth it.

Magi Quest. Which was FUN!

Complete with interactive magic wands. Our kind of vacation!

Then of course a whole lot of sleep was is in order - Except this, this and this made that sort of pursuit impossible...

Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow.

I'm listening to the series in audiobook form and it makes it even more intense I think. Anyone else caught up in this world right now? I love my Audible account, but the big drawback is the lack of being able to share. I want to pass this series on to everyone I know!

OH! And one more thing that is big for me. I taught myself to crochet! I found a lot of pdfs and ebooks online, printed a few out and took them with me on vacation. And finally after 10 years of pretty dismal knitting attempts, I finally have a yarn consuming hobby that doesn't have me revisiting the failure dragon I used to face during handwriting class in school. (My hands don't love cursive, and apparently knitting either.) Despite the difficulty involved, I really enjoyed knitting, it just doesn't love me. Perhaps my brain is just too split for the ambidextrousness that knitting requires? No clue what my deal is with cursive...

Crochet, though. We are pretty much MFEO (made for each other - to all those out there that don't speak Sleepless in Seattle). True love always kind of stuff here. The above is just a little garland-type thing I'm stringing out of the million or so flowers I've created while listening to Mockingjay. Mindlessly crocheting flowers is better than chewing my nails down to the cuticle due to audiobook induced stress, I'm thinking.

Well, that is what has been keeping me out of blogland. Just trying to eek as much out of each summer day that we can. I love autumn. It is my favorite time of year, and I am lucky enough to live in a part of the world that does the season proud. But. This year has flown by with a speed that has me digging my heels in, trying to claim some time. Is it just me, or was it just winter a few weeks ago? I just am not quite ready to let go of summer just yet. So we're busy trying to squeeze the sunshine out of every last humid second of this season, savoring the warm days and lazy fun that goes along with it.

How about you? Is fall raging up on everyone this year? Or is it just me? Wishing everyone a few more lazy days of summer!

Magic Wand Factory... again.

2010-08-23T23:48:00.000-04:00

We are makers of magic wands. It is just how we roll. Last time we churned out a good number of wands, part of the process looked like this. If you clicked on the link you'll see a bunch of white wands that sat around forever waiting for us to paint them. We've also made really tiny wands. And a staff, a project that also involved large amounts of hot glue. So this is obviously a past-time we enjoy. Turning paper and clay, stones and bits into magical playthings. And the process is just as fun as the play that comes later. At least I think so.

So the girl and I were wanting to make a new batch and we were playing around with some scrapbook paper that I scored on sale with free shipping, yay! Btw, if you use scrapbook paper then watch Joann.com closely. Sometimes they have crazy 40% off sales with free shipping. I have no scrapbooking talents, but I do like to use the paper for many things. My daughter had the brilliant idea of making wands out of scrapbook paper. Yay, for crafty kids!

Picking out our favorite sheets and rolling them into wand shapes. Even the ever cool little brother got into the fun and chose the most rockstar looking paper for his new wand.

The future's so bright... Don't you just want to smoosh those little rebel cheeks?

Snipping off the ends before we stuff the wands with scrap paper or cotton, or whatever to strengthen them up a bit and make them ready for the hot glue. I'm not going to lie, rolling up some of the paper was difficult as some pieces were very thick or coated. But I think it will end up working out for the better in the end since it will make the final wands tougher than our last batch that was made out of office paper.

Just a pretty pile of wands ready for the sparkly bits. The best part I think, even if it does involve the hot glue gun and the inevitable burn gel. The kids are involved in the choosing of gems and stones, but I do tend to monopolize the glueing on these.

Why do we make so many wands? Well, my girl's birthday is coming up and we like to hand out little party favors to all the young and young at heart. The kids also play with them as toys so we'll restock their diminishing supply. Since they are made of paper they only last a couple years of regular kid play. Our last batch was made at the end of 2008, so it was quite time for another round.

Ooooo... pretty. We are gatherers of shiny things around here. Magpies all.

Eeek and Owww! That is all I have to say about this part.

The obligatory messy workspace shot, because you can't have a major craft project without a major mess. Well, at least we can't seem to. But to be honest. I LOVE craft messes. Other kinds of messes, not so much. Craft messes I can roll around in the muck of them for days drinking in my fill of the colors and textures. Yes, I married a patient man.

A detail picture that shows the stones on the ends of the wands. The small ends also sport either small stones or gems. These pictures were taken before we painted the hot glue accents, a process we will be finishing up over the next few days.

Magic wands drying out, standing in a canister of colored marbles, beach glass and stones. The wand in front is actually a scrap piece of paper that we used to try out watercolor paints on. We had saved it because we liked the colors and thought we'd see how it looked as a wand. If you click the picture it will show it larger. We like it so much we might make the next round of wands all watercolor. We'll just have to make a point to save the spill catcher and trial sheets we use throughout the year.

Painting the details on the hot glue. Tedious due to not wanting to mess up the pretty scrapbook paper but fun work, as it really takes the wands from pretty to Wow! Best done in good company with good music. Maybe some of this, oh - or this one is awesome too. Good magic wand making tunes. We were lucky enough to take the kids to a showing of this last spring. It was amazing!

We plan on finishing the wands with some yarn or ribbons and maybe little trinkets like bells and handmade ornaments hanging from them, stars like these perhaps - only smaller. Or diy shrinky-dinks ornaments? Oh, that could be fun. And more sparkles like sequins and beads I think. Fun stuff. Hard to stop when we get started on something like this.

And a final picture I captured tonight while my kids were howling at the rising full moon. Hi neighbors! Just us again! Talk about magical. Gorgeous! Something so amazing about a giant full moon commanding the sky, isn't there?

A magical Monday evening to all! :0)

Art Fair Day! :0)

2010-08-15T20:23:00.001-04:00

My picture hanging supplies are out, so that means we didn't come home from the fair empty handed. We hoped to fill a couple wall spaces with local artists work this year, and that was an easy goal to achieve after today's fair. Buying art is one of our splurges I admit. It makes such a difference in the feel of our home.

Here's a link to last year's haul. Unfortunately the folk artist I purchased art from last year wasn't back this year and I never could find any info on her online. Bummer... as I would like more of her work. Still, I am very pleased with our splurges from this year.

We found a new local photographer whose work awed us. The colors and presentation were amazing and the prices were almost ridiculously good. He does have an online presence which is wonderful, because I get itchy etsy fingers late at night sometimes.... okay, bank account wise that is probably bad then.

This rock picture is what drew us into his booth initially. I love how he wraps his canvas with the photo. These pictures are smaller than my macro shots make them seem. Though his big work was was amazing, we opted for the smaller pieces so we could get a few different shots. The spirit is willing, yet the pocket book is weak. They are about 10" wide and actually fit really well in the place we bought them for. Win for the wallet, win for the decor.

Together on the wall. The photographer's name is Brian Kainulainen, and he has an etsy shop and a website in case anyone out there in the blogoverse is interested. His website is only partly finished and so far there is only a tiny sampling of what he was offering at the fair. My whole family loved his work. My kids each even used their fair allowance to pick a piece for their rooms.

My daughter chose this awesome almost abstract sunflower shot. I love how the pink in the photo almost blends with her walls, though that did make it hard for me to capture as my camera didn't exactly know how to focus what it was sensing.

My son chose this awesome lighting capture near our local lighthouse. I love the green light on the water contrasted with the purple sky. This photo will hang in our living room until we get the boy's room painted. We already purchased the paint when the store was having an amazing 40% off sale, we're just waiting for the stifling heat to break a bit before digging into that project. So until then we all get to gaze upon this powerful piece throughout the days.

As a final bonus we found these small gems. Tiny wheel thrown pottery vases and a pendant. The artist even creates the stamps the pieces are patterned with. Such small joyful, love-filled things. I adore them. Alas, I have no name, business card, or any idea if she is online. I wish she was because in hindsight I would have picked up more of these little pretties, some for myself. We bought them to hold the bouquets my kids like to pick, so my critters of course think the vases are theirs.

But look how sweet they look on my kitchen windowsill. Shhhh.... maybe the kids won't notice, at least until the next art fair!

Do you go to your local art fairs? If so, what are your favorite type booths? There was a LOT of jewelry at our fair this year. A handmade jewelry lover would have been in heaven at our fair this year. I like jewelry but don't wear much myself, so I tend to be drawn most to the fine wall art, painting and photography. I also love, love, love pottery. The variety of craft out in the world is amazing and I love the creative energy that an art show brings to our small town.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy week. One filled with art and sunshine. :0)

Awards, yay!

2010-08-14T13:14:00.000-04:00

Here's some fun for my morning. Sparklee from Karmamatopoeia (which is probably the most fun combo of names I've stumbled upon in blogdom) honored me with blog awards. I believe I am supposed to tell seven things about me and pass it on to others. Let's see seven things...

I am avoiding cleaning out two rooms for a weekend painting project by reading blogs and typing this post. I am very good at procrastinating... oh, that should be it's own number.
I'd go as far to say that my procrastination skills are amazing. If there were a contest celebrating procrastination skills and I was able to demonstrate this power I have to the masses, people would marvel and weep at my ability. You might think this sounds conceited, but that is only because you really have no idea how good I am at this.
I am thinking about giving up coffee for awhile... Full disclosure: I write this one as I get up to make another cup for myself.
I want to go here. I'm willing to wait a couple years, but after that I will go there myself need be.
Right now I am very excited about a math book the friendly Fed Ex man brought yesterday.
I started writing this post early this morning and now it is almost lunch time because of this and that and everything in between... sigh. That sentence pretty much sums up my day to day.
My stupid cell phone broke and will only work on speaker phone. I hate speaker phone, so I avoid using it. And I plan to avoid using it until November when my contract is up and I can switch providers with no penalty. I'm cheap like that. But to be totally honest, I want to switch providers because I want this. I'm extravagant like that.

Okay, now I pass it on, which is the part that always brings out anxiety in me. Will the people I tag feel annoyed like I am bestowing facebook flair upon them or will they like it? I find cool blogs by people nominating others for awards, so I try to participate. If it isn't your thing... feel free to ignore with no hard feelings. :0)

Here is a little sampling from my blog menu. Some are art/craft blogs, some homeschooling, some mommy, some philosophical, but they all share a central feel I think. Great writing, funny, witty, smart women. I love reading their posts and always feel a connection to their writing, even if we don't actually 'know' each other in real life.

Regularmom at Like I Have Time For This?

Deb from Loyalist Cottage

Mummy Dearest from Life In Avalon

Katherine from Our Report Card

Val from Well, Yeah

Jennifer from Just Add Water, Silly

I have more blogs I'd award, but they are on summer break right now. I have more that I love that I know are just slipping my mind right now too. One of these days I need to make one of those sidebar links to all the cool blogs I read, though it is a bit like admitting what a large blog reading habit I have all out in public. ;0) Have a great weekend!

Mornings this week looked a bit like this...

2010-08-14T12:18:00.002-04:00

This is my dog telling me to get the flash out of her face. She was cuddled up sweetly with her puppy when I disturbed her nap in the morning sun. Yes, that is piled laundry behind her. Ah, laundry. How you challenge me.

My kids telling me to get the flash out of their faces too. My desire to chronicle our morning interrupted a very serious pokemon impersonation competition. My presence reminded my son I hadn't started making our morning drinks yet. Oops! Off to make one iced chai, one blueberry tea with honey and one iced coffee with a bit of cream and stevia. The day officially started.

My morning so far (and why I got bored enough to grab the camera and start taking photos). Tweaking our schedule folders. We aren't as structured as a folder system implies, it just helps me juggle all our commitments between the business, schedules for outside activities, books I've purchased and want to make sure we don't forget over the year, events we want to attend, family goals for the year, and personal goals for writing and art.

A few moments each day reviewing the schedule acts as a ward against that vague feeling that I forgot something, and the aimless walking around the house trying to remember what it is I am forgetting. When I find myself doing that too often, I know it is time to tweak the schedule folders.

I've had an ants-in-my-pants morning that has a lot to do with wanting to work on my Princess and the Pea doll. All the lovely art based on the story has always drawn me in with the pretty piled mattresses and the insomniac princess. My girl is missing some key essentials, like hair, clothes... a face. Oh how I want to ignore housework, the lovely outdoor day that is starting to shape up, the phone, and just get my craft on. I should never start things like this when I have big projects to attend to.

I guess we are in the dog days of summer as the advertising world likes to call them. Hot. Mosquitos. Humidity. That feeling that fall is coming and the fun and frenzy with it, so right now it feels as if we are hoarding the slow languid moments that summer allows. Tonight we might go walk along the beach. We aren't afternoon beach go-ers as the full-on sun is just too much for us. We prefer the emptier, peaceful evening beach around the time everyone else is eating dinner, in the hours leading up to the sunset.

Wishing everyone a mosquito free weekend!

Born to be wild...

2010-08-07T20:29:00.008-04:00

This is my baby.

I like to think of him as a perfect specimen of boyishness. But will I admit, I see him through a haze of mommy awe and swagger. So, maybe not perfectly... but oh, he's rather heart-melty. All rough and tumble boy on the outside, and sweet, funny character on the inside. Basically, I kind of like him. He keeps me young while turning my hair gray all at the same time, just one of many parenting paradoxes.

His favorite song is The Authority Song by John Mellencamp. It suits him.

Yesterday, he informed me that he wanted to be a rockstar when he grew up.

Ha! Perfect opening for some mom psychology. See, it was his music lesson day and sometimes he likes to be a little tiny bit rebellious about such sport. Especially because he wants to play guitar and drum, but he gets lessons in piano and violin. He is too small for a guitar and we tried with the drums, but alas, our home is too small for that kind of chaos. Until one or both situations grow to accomodate the desired instruments, we have piano and violin. And in the meantime, I do what I can to pave the way for smooth music lessons.

So my clever self told my little rocker that he should totally go for it. And did he know that rockstars can play all sorts of instruments? And how lucky was he that he is already learning to play the violin and piano? He's ahead of the game! I mean, he's my kid. He was weaned on videos of Ashley MacIssac. So he knows that violins can seriously rock, right? So he should really pay attention at his lessons so he can get started on being a rockstar. Blah, blah, blah... mom talk... etc.

And you know what? It worked! He paid attention during his lessons and has even been practicing on his own a few times since. Go me!

Oh, wait! The story isn't done... Because, he fights authority - right?

In the middle of the night my boy had an allergy attack thanks to all the rolling around in the grass as seen in the above photos. On bad allergy nights we throw the boy into bed with one of us and the lucky parent goes to sleep in boy's bed. This helps us keep on top of asthma and fun stuff like that.

My guess at what happened, is that amid the snuffling and sneezing and the chaos that is a sleepless night, my husband and son agreed to go for morning haircuts. Bribes might have been exchanged. Desperate desire for sleep calls for desperate permissions. I understand this, and therefore do not judge....

What I woke up to:

My boy and his 'fauxhawk'. One music lesson and hairstyle closer to rockstar.

Awwww.... Can you call someone with an faux-mohawk adorable? Hey, it is still better than this 'do! And I actually really like it. It fits his faux-rebel heart perfectly.

Edited to add: I just actually re-read about my boy's earlier silly hairdo from the post in the above link. In it I am blaming that weird hair moment on my allergies. I guess allergies are my go-to excuse when an interesting hairdo happens in my home. :0)

Finished Matchbox Doll, pt. II

2010-08-05T22:29:00.002-04:00

Earlier this summer I joined another Matchbox Doll swap on swap-bot. Fun stuff. Here is a link to the first one I was in when I became addicted to making these little critters. I did a travel trunk theme again this time. Last swap my doll had a steampunk fairy theme.

This time my swap partner's profile said she liked history and traveling so I made a 1940's era doll. Well - I attempted it. The doll's backstory is she longs to travel but cannot due to the war, so she collects letters, postcards and dreams of globetrotting. I know. I know. I really get into this stuff, don't I? I am an unapologetic dork.

The travel trunk.

I had so much fun with this little doll and all her stuff. I even got out my tiniest knitting needles with some good results which is pretty much a miracle, since I am in no way gifted in that direction. But here is my girl and her little room with a knitted bedspread and cape.

I kept thinking of my grandmother and things she might have had as this was her era. I tucked the photos into the mirror and picture frame because that is what my grandma always did. I also created the little perfume tray based on what my grandmother had on her dressing table. When I showed this to my mom, she told me that my grandma had a print very similar to the art I chose for my doll's wall. That made me happy.

Room close up. The green box on the bed contains all the doll's treasures.

Close up with her silly hat on. I don't love her hat.

Her bun which was a PAIN to create, but made me happy in the end. If anyone reading this has any links to doll hair 'how to' blogs or books or anything, I'd so appreciate it. I am sort of flying blind with the whole doll hair thing.

Sitting in a teaspoon for size perspective. When I do these macro shots she seems way bigger than she really is. She fits in a 32 count matchbox, which was the point of the swap. She's probably around two inches tall I'm guessing. I don't have her anymore to measure as she is now happily at home with my swap partner, thank goodness.

The most nerve wracking thing about swapping is sending out your creation and hoping the post office doesn't lose it somewhere along the way. Unfortunately that has actually happened to me before, though luckily it was only on a letter swap. Still, the experience was enough to make me a bit nervous when I hand over something like this that would be hard to recreate easily.

The very best part I think. Her cape I knit and had it actually turn out. Yay!

Here is a shot that shows her bed (which again was the theme of the swap) and the rest of the furniture and belongings I made. I made the table with a small scrap of wood that I mod podged paper onto, and then glued on toothpick legs. The doily is a scrap of lace cut from an old shirt. The perfume bottles were beads on a glass tray made from a watch face. The blanket bedspread was thanks to whatever knitting gods were smiling on me for this project.

This photo sort of shows her letters and photos that were in the box. To make them, I resized and printed free vintage clip art and emphera that I found on flickr and various blogs. I tried to make a memory box that would be cool to come across in a dusty attic. I had such a fun and relaxing time making this doll and all her goodies. My daughter made a needle felted mouse in a small box home while I worked on this, so it is a fond memory of working along side my daughter on our little mini projects. Posting about this has me wanting to make another one. An Alice in Wonderland tea party themed box might be fun... Hmmm... Might be time to turn off the computer for the night and start crafting.

Ooooh... just remembered it is Friday tomorrow. Woohoo! Happy almost weekend!

Thrift Store Finds...

2010-08-03T18:28:00.003-04:00

A few weeks back I ran into the local Goodwill on a whim. I am so glad I did as I came away with things that really made my heart sing. Our last name starts with B, so that is why I indulged in the big initial. I have plans for the domed plates as I've noticed similar things on other blogs and always loved the look.

This is what I plan to do with the first dome and candle stick. I believe I will paint it black and use it in my kitchen for baked treats or other fun things. I am so excited since this only cost me $3.00 total and have seen similar things in stores for a whole lot more. I will actually take the time to sand this before I paint it though, unlike my last project. That would explain why this is still in my 'to do' pile, instead of being used in my kitchen right now. Sigh... perfectionism plus procrastination make for a large project slush pile.

This was an easier project! More therapeutic slapping on of color without sanding ahead of time. In fact I was going for an imperfect look here, I just didn't care for the all gold tone with the rest of our decor. So I found a metallic green in my paint drawer and got busy. B can also stand for 'busy' which seems to be the theme for my summer.

This photo is a bit dated already. I moved the furniture around since I took this photo, and now the little statues and big B sit on top of the computer desk positioned under that photo. It is actually where I sit typing right this second. I like it even more on the desk, but am feeling too lazy to snap a new picture. This shot shows it in use anyway. Not bad for $1.00 and a bit of paint.

I also found these two little glass candle stick holders in the same GW trip for 50 cents each. I had previously splurged on this awesome bakers twine from Divine Twine after seeing it splashed all over the net.

I had this tutorial from the Just Something I Made blog in the back of my mind when I went to goodwill. Unable to come up with any big chunky candlesticks I bought these on a whim since I am all crowlike for glass and sparkly things. I used the same steps in the tutorial except I painted the exposed cardboard in the tubes and the dowels that hold the twine up with white paint, since I am a get lost in the details sort of gal.

Then instead of using a drawer pull, or game piece on top I used a giant flat backed gemstone. You can kind of see that detail best in this picture, though I find it hard to photograph well. If you click on it, you can see it larger.

I love how these look sitting in front of my odds and ends shelf. I like to think of this space as my craft laboratory... Insert maniacal laughter here... This goes with my theme of keeping my supplies in the open so I'll actually use it, yet keeps it organized enough so I resist the urge to shove it all away in a drawer to be forgotten forever.

I love thrift store days like this, but I find I have to fight the urge to keep returning after a successful thrifting score. I get nervous I'll miss out on more good things. The problem is I only need so many things, no matter how awesome they are - or what good deals they might be. So I try to refrain. Right now I am holding myself back until I complete my domed plate projects. Oh, but the temptation!

Have you had any great thrifting finds lately? Is it just me that has poor impulse control when faced with seemingly unending good deals? Any good ideas on how find balance so thrifting doesn't become hoarding?