so long

farewell, nablopomo or whatever it was that I signed up for that made me commit to myself that I would post every day. It was sometimes hard and frustrating and sometimes rewarding. I stretched myself and that's good. But I sure am glad that now I can just post whenever I feel like it....see ya in a month. Oh, wait, no--I'll see you tomorrow when I post the big winner!

apron love

sold!

Wow! Who knew that so many of us love aprons? This has been a fun and apron filled couple days. Thanks for all the compliments and encouragement! You know how to make a girl feel good.


sold!

Even the delivery guy said he'd like his girlfriend wearing one:



So even though I started out making them for myself, turns out that there are a few for you, too. Go on over here and go shopping for your wife/friend/mother/self...whatever floats your boat. I have limited time before Christmas, though, so you better hurry. If any of you have special requests just drop me a line.

edited to add: Look, I'm featured here! Thanks, Daria!

living with my boy

#2 at the beach, making a map and burying a treasure.

#2: {pulling #1’s ear buds out of her ears quickly} (he had been saying the same thing over and over and over to her) Take these out of your ears so you can hear, ya gung-ster!

#1: HEY! {grabs them back and starts putting them into her ears again} And it’s not gung-ster, weirdo, it’s GANGster.

I guess that was enough to distract him. He pondered gangster vs. gungster as he started spooning his grape nuts into his mouth again and #1 tuned back into her tunes.



Every once in a while, the little guy shows song preference. You never know when this will happen, but when it does he lets me know. I am never surprised by his choices, they make perfect sense to me when I consider his personality. He will start pushing repeat and soon ask me to put it on his playlist and eventually burn him his own CD. This morning he pushed repeat on Weezer’s Sweater Song. I don’t know if it was the guitar or the chorus:

If you want to destroy my sweater
Pull this thread as I walk away.
Watch me unravel I’ll soon be naked
Lying on the floor
I come undone.

Other songs on #2’s Playlist include:
Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash
Fun, Fun, Fun by the Beach Boys
Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran
A Message to you, Rudy by the Specials
And many more…




The other Sunday my boy had drawn a picture for one of his buddies during a talk. His buddy was a few pews away, so he figured that the best way to get it to him would be to make it into an airplane and fly it to him…in the middle of Sacrament Meeting while the speaker was in full swing. Luckily we were toward the back of the chapel. Jake rarely catches his eye from the stand, but there were some warning glares sent in his direction that day. Hey, ya gotta give it to him; it was genius (he's not rebelious, just naive). And great engineering considering that the plane hit the exact kid it was intended for right in the shoulder.

Self Portrait Challenge {What I wear} *and a giveaway,too!

You asked for it, and here it is! If you want to own this apron, just comment below. The deadline is Friday, November 30th at 11:59 pm. Anyone who leaves a comment will be entered into a drawing and the winner will be announced on December 1st.



I have been making bunches of aprons and will be taking pictures of them and posting them at my etsy shop later this week. I will also be running a Christmas special on the lotions!

Happy holidays!

*the coolest pantry ever*

I just thought I'd share a few pictures of Jake's dad and Nancy's pantry. Every time I go over to thier house I just stand there and look at it. Then I walk in and out of it and touch things. Nancy is a potter and all those dishes are one-of-a-delicious-kind. Roger can make anything under the sun; he designed and built this. It is a functioning piece of art in there, I tell you.


spices and mugs

Sunday Scribblings {Misspent Youth}

The first thing I thought of when I read this prompt is the fact that when I was a teenager, I was deeply offended by my parents. They didn’t always trust me. To me that was so unfair and judgmental. I was good! I wasn’t drinking, smoking or doing drugs… How dare they make me feel like I shouldn’t be trusted?

Looking back, I realize now that they didn’t trust me because I wasn’t trust worthy. Silly me. I was so busy defending my trust worthiness that I forgot to recognize that someone who says one thing and does another, well, they can’t be trusted.

I felt like I understood that their rules were for my protection. But I knew myself better and I was the exception to the rule, so I made my own set of rules. I spent a lot of time lying, trying not to get caught being trustworthy of my own rules. Lying about riding in cars with boys, going on dates, sneaking out at night…

Sorry mom and dad, you were right. I wasn’t trustworthy. Funny how that works—no matter how offended you get that someone doesn’t trust you, it doesn’t make you trustworthy.

because i like them.

Here’s what I’m doing {besides trying to get over the fact that I committed to blog every day. That’s the last time I’m doing that. It’s not that I don’t love blogging, it’s that now I’m supposed to blog.} lately, in-between the bathing and feeding and cleaning up after three small children and festivities and days off school, etc, etc, etc…



I am not, {I repeat} NOT a seamstress, but I can pretend, right? Since Kim over at OJ &Co. keeps selling out of her killer aprons, I decided to just make one for myself. Well, of course, I have to go nuts deciding which fabrics I love, and maybe I can use some of my collection of vintage hankies, add some lace and whatever and stuff and you have…some attempts. I’m getting a little better, but I will make them much better. (It would have been cheaper just to spend the $40.) I have googled fabric flower tutorials (there are a lot!) and have started fooling around to see what I like, so most likely I’ll have a mish-mosh of random fabric flowers, but how can that be bad? Maybe I’ll have an apron give-away one of these days.

Tonight I ate octopus. raw. I'm too tired to think of anything good to say, so here's a little song I'll share with ya before I go to bed:

Holes in my shoes sometimes give me the blues
And my second hand clothing, it makes me look lonely
But draped in jewelry doesn't feel much better
So let's be poor together

Let's Be Poor Together by:
Johnny Lloyd Rollins

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope your day was a good one. We had a delicious meal with wonderful family in a beautiful house. Thank you R & N!!

blessings

“The unthankful heart discovers no mercies;
but the thankful heart will find, in every hour,
some heavenly blessings.”
~Henry Ward Beecher

self portrait challenge {what I wear}

I prefer floral scents.

spc

whatever and, um...you know...stuff

I have pretty much been fulfilling my end of the bargain, and posting every day (although I did cheat and change the date on that last little one), but I haven’t been really saying much. The truth is I really want to vent. I want to spill it all. It’s not completely mine to share, but there are pieces of it that ARE completely mine. There are things that affect me and me alone. There are things that are so confusing that it would certainly help if I could dissect it a little. Maybe if I could let it out, maybe it wouldn’t hurt so much. But then again, I get it. I understand how telling too much leaves it open for judgment from those who have no business judging, yet do it anyway. It leaves it open for the scarlet letter syndrome, and who wants a scarlet letter? I wouldn’t. So I will try to move past it.

Starting…NOW!

So, I just wanted to say thanks, Brooke for the cute/embarrassing birthday quiz. You’re such a great sister—I’m glad you’re mine. Looking at all those pictures made me all sentimental about you. (Although some of them just made me feel butt ugly) Love you:)

My bud Shelby started a blog and I’m going out her right here, right now. click here!

An update on the devil in pink: I have been being coached by a couple peeps about parenting with love and logic. I should probably just go take the class, but the things I’ve been trying have been helping. She still is THREE and she still is a little under the weather, but we’ve been doing better at “using our friendly voice” and I’ve been more patient and loving with her. Sometimes when she’s freakin’ I use the “poor baby, bless your heart” phrase I learned from all you oscarsons and my own grandma and then I say, “you must need a hug” and she comes over and she gets some good long lovin’ from me and then all is well. {For a few minutes.}

Okay. G’nite.

oops

i totally missed it on my bday...
posting every day is harder than i thought!

digits

my view as I went running tonight

9-number of miles I ran this week. (hey, it’s better than last week…)
22-number of questions on Brooke’s Birthday quiz about ME
4-number of people asleep in my house
315-number of songs in “My Top Rated” playlist
85-average number of visitors to my blog per comment (I wonder why?)
32-how old I’m going to be tomorrow
245-number of posts on my blog
6-what time I’ll be awakened in the morning
687-how many kisses I’ve given my little family today
81-how many times I’ve craved chocolate today
2-how many times I've given in

every day???

are you sick of me yet? I'm sick of me. I don't know if I want to post every day...

although I had a wonderful day today, I'm too tired to post about it. I'm going to go get in bed.

see ya tomorrow.

maybe:)

*introducing* Sophie

She loves Paris in the springtime. You can’t beat a romance that takes place in a city so beautiful, oui? (Especially when the romance is with the city itself!) She went for a semester abroad and decided to make it her permanent residence. After all, how could she ever give up window shopping on the Champs-Élysées, Sunday walks to the Montemarte, and her daily dose of Madeleines at the neighborhood Boulangerie? Remember to tell her merci if you take her advice and pack the most feminine and flattering dress you own. {you know the one…}

click here for more details.

Be sure to visit here and meet Brooke, Zoe, and Noelle, too. There are lots more coming!

wordless wednesday

go wordless here

devil in pink

I just made this yesterday--trying to learn digital stuff and what not. What a difference a day makes! Where did my cute darling girl go and who is this devil child in her place? I think I'm going to blow a gasket if she screams any more or tells me she hates me again. Where does the meanie come from in a tiny person? Just being three?

The truth is I don't feel any different. I still love and adore her, of course. I just would much rather be around someone who is...nice. {pleas, honey, bring back the nice!}

Does anyone have any words of widsom for a mother of a three year old? (I shouldn't need any; she's my third child who has been three, but it's hard when you're in the thick of the three-ness.)

*shop announcment*

I have been making lotions for years and finally have what I consider to be the *perfect* recipe. I am going to put it up on my etsy shop to share. It comes in a stylin' aluminum 4 oz. bottle with black pump. I can't make up my mind with labels yet, so for now I'm labeling them with metal rimmed tags and a little ribbon. There are lots of yummy flavors, but right now all I have left is vanilla, plumeria and lavender. If you're interested in a particular scent, let me know and I'll see if I have it in my essential oil stock. I'm going to making more soon.

Here's what I love about this lotion:
-it is all natural
-it is handmade
-it soaks in quickly
-it is not greasy
-the smell is yummy but not overwhelming and slowly disappears
-it heals my dry skin and eczema
-it looks cute sitting by the kitchen sink

Sunday Scribblings {Left & Right}

Dear Left Brained Friend,

I wanted you to know that I appreciate you. You keep things going. Without you, things in this world would be much different. The only problem is, that you are so very organized and at the ready that you have been put in charge of the way things are run…like every time. So, I have to live in a left brained world. For most part, I have adjusted to your rules and regulations without complaint. I can see the usefulness and order. How can that be bad, I muse?

So I am writing to make a request of you. Please try to be more understanding of your right brained friends. We have many wonderful contributions, and if I were more like you, I would have a long and complete list of them right now to give you a thorough glimpse of our significant additions to society and every-day life. But I may just give you this list as an assignment since it would likely give you pleasure—perhaps if you alphabetize it, or color code it, or make a chart that categorizes the many improvements made to society by those of us who are right brained. I only suggest this at the thought that it would help you next time you’re expecting one of your right brained friends to be fully prepared, or to plan ahead, or to make a commitment. I realize that it gets on your nerves a bit that we have not adapted more absolutely to your way of living, but it does go two ways. I am merely here to gently persuade you to give back to your loyal friends: maybe to show us a little love you could do something spontaneous, or hold your tongue when you witness our messy desks. {Note: I’m not asking you to make a mess, which would be going to far, just merely to understand that our mess was not made to intentionally bother you.}

Thank you for your understanding,

Your Right Brained Friend

Oatmeal Bread 101

I just taught this class the other night so I thought I'd share it with all you lovelys. My sweet mother-in-law had a bread stand for 14 years and this is the recipe of her best selling bread with tips by yours truely.



1 cup “toasty warm” water
4 packages/4 Tbs dry yeast
pinch of sugar

8 cups boiling water
4 cups oats

2 cups molasses
6-8 tsp salt
4 Tbs shortening*

White flour

*I usually substitute olive oil for the shortening and it works perfectly.

Now, I’ll take you through it step by step…

Make the oatmeal

brittip: I always start with the oatmeal, because it takes a while to cool off enough to add the yeast—if it is too hot, it will kill the little yeasties. Mix it in a large pot—this recipe makes 6 loaves; it is too much dough for most mixers, so you’ll do the mixing in the pot and the kneading on the counter.

While the oatmeal is cooling down, add the salt, molasses and shortening* and start the yeast mixture, let “proof,” and add to the oatmeal mixture.

brittip: I usually add the warm water and yeast to the measuring cup that the molasses was in and stir it up well. That will be plenty of sweet stuff to get the yeast working. {It will get foamy—once it starts, it goes pretty fast, because it is a large yeast/water ratio, so watch it closely.} The oatmeal pot should be warm to the touch, but not burn you when you add the yeast mixture.

Add enough flour to make a soft dough, pour out on floured board and knead until smooth and elastic.

brittip: Add a bunch of flour to the pot and start stirring it in with a wooden spoon. (I’ve never measured, but say its 4-5 cups or so.) It will get harder to stir and make a soft dough. At this point, turn it out onto a counter that has been generously floured (say 5 cups or so) and start kneading. It is a very sticky dough. Keep adding flour until it is the right texture.

Cover in bowl and let rise for 1 ½ - 2 hours. Punch down and rise until double again, then shape into loaf pans. Let rise until double again, about 45 minutes.

Brittip: This part takes a long time, but most of the time you don’t have to do anything—it’s just sitting there rising! Go run some errands or clean the house or do something fun!

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Brittip: mine were turning out too dark, so I have been baking them at 375 for about 30 minutes and they have been turning out beautifully. When they are done, they have a hollow sound when you turn it out of the loaf pan and give it a tap. Place on cooling rack until cool enough to cut and devour.

photo friday:dangerous

see other kinds of danger here

I've had a loooong day, and I'm going to bed, but first I wanted to check in here and relate my compliment of the day. We had a 4 year old visitor, adorable Leyla, and she was quite the talker. She said "excuse me, ..." before she said anything to me. The whole time I was with her, it was, "excuse me, is she putting on her own seat belt?" "excuse me, is this your street?" "excuse me, how far have we gone?" While #3 was throwing a tantrum I looked at Leyla and gave her a knowing smile and rolled my eyes to communicate that we would just have to tolerate it together and it would be over soon enough, and she says, "excuse me." "Yes?" I replied (as usual). "You're pretty."

It was the last thing I was expecting to hear and it made me feel quite well. I said, "Well! Thank you! You're pretty too, you know." and fluffed my hair and batted my eyes for her.

Wordless Wednesday {Rosehips in November}

go wordless here

Self Portrait Challenge {What I Wear}

I'm a pretty casual kind of girl. Most of the time I dress for comfort. Like today. I wore my "green is good" t-shirt from Target and some jeans. (since I'm wearing that shirt, I'll tell you one thing I do to be "good:" I use Shaklee cleaning products in my home. Swear by them. Love them. And they're green.) I'm also wearing my beloved ipod and some of sarah's art.

Jeans and a t-shirt, yadda yadda yadda. I'm not so keen on this month's self portrait challenge, but I need to post today--I've joined ranks with the NaBloPoMo's (National Blog Posting Month-you're supposed to post every day in November). It will be a challenge, but I can handle a challenge.

Speaking of a challenge, Jake and I are starting training for a half marathon! Any advice????

Now, about the cat that has died...Mr. Cosmo was a very grumpy and mean old guy who never came inside and wouldn't really let you pet him, but when he did let you pet him he would pass gas. (yes, I know, I just sounded like my grandmother.) {The cat was a total farter. Is that more age appropriate?} I didn't think I was attached. My guess is that he got hit by a car or something, because his leg was badly broken and needed a very costly surgery, so we had him put down. (Please don't judge me.) Well, I cried like a baby. #3 was with me, but she just didn't get it. I broke the news to #1 and #2 after school, and slowly #3 started to understand from their reactions. It all happened very fast and unexpectedly and they were so sad. My sweet youngest wanted to see for herself so she stole a butter knife, snuck out to the garage (where I was keeping him until his funeral, which was very nice, by the way) and opened the box Cosmo's body was in. She came and got me and told me about finding him in the box and the rest was history. She was a broken hearted little tiny mess for the rest of the day. I answered a million questions about life and death that spanned from very simple to very complex and held her and soothed her all day and had to rock and sing her to sleep. She did a little better today, poor baby, bless her heart. (I guess I feel like sounding like my grandma.)

See ya tomorrow!

Ode to Cosmo

Black and white
grumpy old man
who never liked people much

You always liked the daddy.
(and rachel, too.)

Although you never came
when I called,
I appreciated your skills
at keeping the mice
population down.

You shared your domain
with other crazy cats
and a chicken
so you had a right
to complain, I suppose.
(but the hissing was a little much
I still must admit even though you’re gone.)

I didn’t expect to miss you
but I do.

Sunday Scribblings

Jake grew up in a lobster/clamming community with the best fried clams on the North Shore a mile down the street and lobster men selling lobster from their houses like pie stands on the side of the road. When he had earned a couple bucks, he would hop on his bike after school and ride down the street and buy himself a live lobster and ride home again and steam that baby up and have himself a nice after-school treat.



Here, you can see his technique is still the same. Less is more (my kind of man). Here we are with Brooke and David over the summer enjoying a late-night lobster treat around the kitchen table.

.Tagged.

I have been tagged a couple of times to do memes, so I’m catching up. I recently did one of these that is similar (but since I love me some Wendy, I’m fulfilling my tagging responsibilities), so if you’re tired of hearing about ME, me, me, then you have my full permission to move on to your next blog for the day.

7 Interesting (that’s debatable!) Things About Me

-I took English Horseback Riding lessons when I was younger. You know, with the black helmet and the riding pants and the boots to the knees. I learned to jump hurtles with the horse and only fell off once. When I landed I had a handful of the horse’s hair in my fist. Pobre cita.

-I can sing the melody to songs pretty naturally. I cannot for the life of me sing harmony. I have to learn it note by note and then concentrate very hard so that I don’t start singing the melody all over again.

-The last time I gave blood I passed out.

-While my mom was here, we were witnesses to a hit and run! While we were working in my friend’s field, some guy ran over a couple mailboxes and a huge rock and then went through someone’s fence where some horses were grazing. I called 9-1-1 immediately because I thought he was hurt. Then suddenly he looked around, started his car, and threw his {badly beaten up} car into reverse and rammed through the fence again and swerved into the street, hitting another mailbox and metal pole on the way. This all happened while I was on the phone! My mom ran for it, because she thought he was going to run over her. So I told them (9-1-1) that he was headed north on route ___ toward route ___ and that he couldn’t go too fast since he had two flat tires…and they caught him! Turns out that *allegedly* he has a long record of stuff like this and he was drunk…at 10:30 in the morning.

-I was in advanced anatomy and physiology in high school and dissected a cat throughout the year. I would bring him home in a plastic bag filled with my dead cat and a little formaldehyde and study tissues and muscles, etc.

-I’ve never had a Krispy Kreme donut. (is that how you spell it?)

-Ive pretty much given up TV. I don’t know how it started, but I have mostly lost my desire to watch junk and have become much pickier about what I expose myself to. But I do have one show that I have been watching online: Pushing Daisies. I love it! If you haven’t seen it, go here and push “launch player” and you can watch full episodes online for free. It’s bright (the colors and the costumes) and has a dark humor that I find hilarious and there is an interesting love story going on. It is ridiculous and crazy but somehow believable (in a storybook kind of way) and extremely entertaining. The characters grow on you, although I loved them immediately.



Sweet Mindy tagged me with this one:
5 things I want to be when I grow up…

I want to be a wise and happy woman who has an incredible marriage.

I want to be a writer/artist/photographer/designer/potter/metal smith….I want to know how to make anything and everything and fill books and imaginations.

I want to be a world traveler.

I want to be a humanitarian.

I want to be able to apparate.


I have tagged many people in the past who get annoyed, so if you're not the annoyed-by-being-tagged-type-of-blogger, consider yourself tagged by me. but please make sure to leave a comment so that that I can go read about you:) Seriously. TAG. You're it!