grateful friday

I have gotten so much done this week! There is going to be a wedding here in two weeks of two beautiful people who share such a deep love. What a motivator to get some stuff done around the house that I have been meaning to do for ages. The sucking of the septic (yuck! I still smell poop!), the painting of the walls, the watering of the grass and gardens, the sewing of the fabric that I’ve had for months… And today, I’m getting into it with a chisel and some tiles!



School has started. My girl did much better this year with the first day. Yes, I still offered her Tums, but she was functioning close to normal, and when she got home, she was on cloud 9. She had a wonderful day of THIRD GRADE. (Holy cow, how did that happen? I have 3rd grader.) The next morning she was in the kitchen singing “I’m not even sca-aared! I’m not even scared!” and doing a little jig. And next week #2 starts kindergarten, and there will be no holding him back. The kid is rearing to learn and grow and experiment with life. (Maybe you think that should scare me, but it makes me excited to learn and grow and experiment with life. He seems to bring me back to life in ways that I didn’t know I needed life breathed into me again.) And the week after that #3 starts preschool and I will have 2 mornings a week to create things in my studio by myself. {Insert heavenly choir and rays of golden light here} Is this selfish of me? I don’t know. It could be argued either way, I suppose, but I can’t wait for my two mornings a week.

The Big Winnah

Well, I wrote out everyone's names (only once EJ, although that was wicked smaht) and put them into a hand thrown pottery bowl made by my own mother, and I happened to pick

Carrie Ann

who is quite possibly my oldest and dearest friend. I almost feel guilty, but Jake kept me honest, I swear. No one has more integrity than that guy. Carrie is the person who made me start a blog--literally, she came and visited me and while she was here, she sat at my computer and created it for me and taught me how to post. She introduced me to Harry Connick Jr. and Les Mirables when I was 13 and said words like "lovely" and has the most interesting closet. She wore a hat and gloves to Brooke's wedding. When she found out that I was going to Stephenie Meyer's prom, she sent me a box full of fun dresses and antique jewelry. She's that kind of girl. She owns chickens and has named them after flowers. She is a creative soul. I love her. Just thought I'd tell you a bit about her.

That was fun! I'll definitely have another drawing (or as they say here in New England, "drahring") soon. Thanks for playing!

The Art of Life

Sometimes if we’re looking for it, beauty happens just by living life in a thoughtful way. Do you know what I mean? There are times within the craziness that is life when things come together nicely and you have a little moment. I love those moments. I love beautiful things, whether it is a tangible something, or whether it is a beautiful moment. I find myself in search of beauty.

It happened a couple weeks ago when my kids and I went to the back yard and picked blueberries. I came in and made blueberry coffee cake at my Oldest’s request, and as I cut into it, complete joy overcame me. “Look at the beautiful treat these blueberries supplied us with,” I thought! We delightfully ate it warm with mugs full of ice cold milk and shared a moment together. A moment of beauty, which, when recognized, could be considered art.

It happened again today. There was basil growing among my flowers and tomatoes showing off in all of their bright red in the vegitable garden and there were hungry bodies to be fed. Although we were still smoky from our weekend in the White Mountains, I had the urge to start gathering and chopping. I may have experienced the art of the moment alone, for I was the one who has been weeding and watering and nurturing and noticing growth in my yard. But it happened, even if I was the only one to take notice. A moment of, “this is what life if about—nurturing growth and making it into something delicious.” An every-day moment—making food and eating it, but one of beauty; beauty because I noticed it.

It just so happens that both of the moments I described here are about food. Who knows, maybe most of my moments include food, but whether or not they do, I’d like to start recording some of them here. If you notice any art in your life this week, post about it with me—I’ll start posting The Art of Life on Sundays as a form of gratitude for my blessings.

And because Lucky Candice has specially requested recipes, I’ll include mine here:

Blueberry Coffee Cake (thanks, brooke)

¼ C. butter
¾ C. sugar
1 egg
2 C. flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ C. milk

cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg. Fold in flour mixture, alternating with milk. Fold in blueberries carefully.

Topping:

½ C. sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 C. flour
¼ C. soft butter

Bake in well greased pan; 350 for 40-45 minutes.

~~~

Tomato salad—pictured above
(Rough recipe, add whatever tastes good to you! Thanks, Jessica.)

Tomatoes
Cucumber
Croutons
Basil
Parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar

Chop it all up, add seasonings to taste. The croutons soak up all the juices and get soft and mushy and delicious.

note: there is still time to enter the drawing if you are interested! I'm excited to pick a name :)

digit kits

hello, friends!

Just a quick note before we head off for a long weekend adventure. I got a lot of requests for address books back when I did one called Allie's Addies, and I have found some time to work on a few. I have a couple for sale on my etsy page and online botique now and will add the a couple more next week (including the one pictured here.). Enjoy!

ode to the birthday boy

drinker of beer and ale
(from the root- and ginger-, of course)
eyes of brown and green
your hair is starting to grey

you have spent 35 years
perfecting everything around you
noticing details that are missed by most

giver of self
even on the day of your birth
you spend serving those
who have received an aching loss

lover of nature
tickler of the monkeys
mower of the grass on your new slick ride

you make me
whole
delight
laugh
love

a little fun never hurt anyone

hello, friends and bloggers,

I thought it was time for a little give-away. So if you're interested in getting a little somethin' fun for nuttin', well, then just leave a little comment on this post and you will be entered into the drawing. Anyone can enter. You have a week from today; next Tuesday, I'll draw a name to pick the big winnah. Good luck!

Here are a few pictures:







It's a clipboard, silly! Like I said, just for fun. The side where you clip your papers is flat and the words on the bottom stick out underneath them. On the backside is a bright and colorful collage.

The quote says: What lies hehind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

up & at 'em

The sunshine is making it's way through the clouds. I'm stretching out my muscles, ready to start my life again. Here are some things that I've learned while being down and out:

• a brace gives much more freedom than a boot/cast
• it hurts to be in pain...and not just physically. All pain is interconnected and affects all aspects of life and all relationships
• not everyone likes my blog
• when one is behaving in a selfish way it is sure to affect many more people than just the self
• USPS is not always reliable on a deadline
• Satan is really good at his job. He likes that people don't take him all that seriously. He is patient. He knows our weaknesses and uses them in a way that makes us not recognize his influence, and then uses our pride to make sure we don't admit that he was part of our mistakes. (unless we are prideful enough to think that we don't make mistakes, and that is fine with him, too.)
• books are a powerful distraction
• when muscles don't get used, they weaken. That principle applies whether or not the "muscle" is a physical one
• I enjoy a crisp morning and a nice breeze
• children can find gum no matter where it is hidden.
• I really need a video camera

Compliments

When I was checking out at the orthopedic surgeon’s office, the girl at the desk was getting more of my information and when she asked for my birth date, she wrote it down and looked at it for a second and then looked at me and said, “Wow! I thought you were maybe 20 years old! You look great!”

When I was at the chiropractor, I sat down on the table and he said, “You know what I like about you? You’ve got great energy. Even though you’ve been in pain…some people come in here and drain all the good energy from the room. I see a lot of people and a lot of people in pain. I like your energy and I can tell it’s just going to get better as you get better.”

Sometimes it’s easy to believe the worst about yourself. Sometimes people can be rude. I hate it when people are mean. It’s so much harder to believe the compliments than the negative. But what if we all have good and bad; negative and positive—to make things balance out? What if the good things ARE true? It could really change my life.

I’m going to make an effort to be more complimentary to people. Try to tell them the things I’m noticing about them but that I forget to voice. It just feels so nice to get a good compliment.

"it's a boy" altered journal

Today I caught my three-year-old sticking her chewed up gum behind her ear for safe keeping until her snack of crackers was finished. This is a sure sign that she has seen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory too many times. (I’m sure only the mommy readers are starting to sing to themselves, “Augustus Gloop! Augustus Gloop!The great big greedy nincompoop!...”


"honest" page from a recent project

The other day when I told my husband that I wanted to go sky diving next time I visit California, he told me that I had to wait several more years to do something so risky…until the kids were older—he doesn’t want to raise them himself. That makes me laugh for several reasons. I must admit, I expected him to say as much, though...and I love the boy.


view of a recent *secret*project :)

I’ve been in my own little world lately. Harry Potter Reality is what I’ve been calling it. I started book six today and am enjoying my alternate reality much more than my own.

For my own reality, I have made a new playlist on my ipod entitled “vacuum your heart out.” I learned from Brooke while she was visiting that if you’re listening to really good music blasting in your ears, you just keep on cleaning and singing. It’s one of the best cleaning tips I’ve ever encountered.