just call me Hermit Britt

I've gone into hibernation mode. I don't want to answer the phone. I don't want to go out. I just want to hunker down and drink hot chocolate and watch some good flicks and watch it snow...and snow...and snow. It is January in New England, after all.

35 before 36

I've had this done for a while, but I've had a hard time getting the stuff done that I intend to get done so I hadn't posted it yet.  So even though it seems personal to me and kinda makes me feel vulnerable, I like the accountability it gives me when I post it here.

My birthday is right before Thanksgiving and it took me until after Christmas to finish this list!  After a while I figured out what the problem was.  I kept wanting to think big, because I know that things really happen when you put the intention out there. The problem is that I know what it takes to go for big, and just thinking about thinking big was exhausting because of the phase of life that I happen to be in.  So I changed my paradigm about how I want to make goals for myself and my family this year:  I choose balance.  I choose to find a way to rest/relax/de-escalate/breathe.  I choose to allow growth by releasing my expectations.  I choose to simplify.

So I started making goals to fit this new shift.  Goals that allow/force relaxation and fun.  Goals that help me get back to the basics.  Goals that help me keep a balance and allow me to strengthen myself for the long haul; to nourish myself so I have something to give.  You know what I mean?

Here's to the wisdom and beauty of aging.  Seriously, it really is awesome and I'm so happy that I can find beauty in it when it seems like so many can't.  It's like a little secret hidden treasure.

Cheers!

1.  Learn to felt
2.  get a family picture
3.  take a class
4.  practice more yoga
5.  ride a horse
6.  get a new dress that makes me feel pretty
7.  twenty paintings
8.  meet Norah (my new niece)
9.  teach a class
10.  finish painting the bathroom!
11.  visit a local attraction
12.  take the kids on a train
13.  go out to a movie (maybe a double feature!)
14.  be active..start running again..lift weights..
15.  read my scriptures (or listen)
16.  knit something
17.  take the kids on a hike
18.  clean out my closet
19.  do my visiting teaching
20.  jump in a lake
21.  read on the hammock
22.  represent in a gallery
23.  design fabric
24.  wander aimlessly
25.  finish that book
26.  be creative every day
27.  go to a yummy concert
28.  plan a trip and GO
29.  learn more about Noetic Science
30.  project 365
31.  sew something
32.  make a fairy house
33.  paint a mural
34.  figure out daily balance
35.  become a member of local art association
36.  send thank you cards

(yes, I realize I did one too many.  perhaps I felt guilty for taking it so easy on myself;)

creative juice and color-your-own valentines

I’ve had a lot of creative juice flowing lately. So much that I am annoyed with all the things getting in my way. Like sleeping and eating and bathing. Besides the fact that I have five children to take care of. I have been painting during nap time (any other time just doesn’t work—they all want to join in, and that just doesn’t work!), and in between all the rest of it, I’ve been carrying around yarn and hooks, cutting and ripping and sewing fabric (I have had a bunch of fabric set aside for at least five years thinking that I would like to make a quilt for our family room and I couldn’t wait any longer), drawing and journaling, making baby gifts for the next round of babies in my life, and I’m a little obsessed with the idea of “restyling”. I’ve always loved the idea of using what is available; non-consumerism, getting creative with decorations around the house, making what I can out of what I have, but the idea that it’s actually the trendy, “green” thing to do means that there are ideas flowing all over the place. Now that it’s hip and cool to re-use/up-cycle/alter/make-do/whatever you want to label it, the sky is the limit;) It also means that there are millions of ideas on the world wide web and it’s too much awesome-ness.

So of course I haven’t had time to do it all, but I’m bursting with readiness. And for every single thing I’ve started, I’ve had a bunch of inspirations. What’s a girl to do? How will there ever be enough time?

First things first: I have the first color-your-own valentines of the season for you. Click on it, print it out on card stock, have a color fest. I tried to keep them a bit more simple—last year they took forever to color in, but they were fun! They are still available here.




I have lots of ideas still, so we’ll see which ones make it onto paper and into the scanner.

Happy creating, people!

xo
B

winter storm: a picture story

This morning, waiting for the school bus:



Okay, I have about 20 things started, but I haven't finished any of them.  When I click "publish" I will be starting the finishing part of all these things.  Then I can go start more stuff! :)

XO
B

drumroll, please

I have something to tell you.


I have an article in the current issue of Somerset Life Magazine!



I was feeling like it wasn’t really going to happen. Like something would fall through. Like it wasn’t for real, maybe I just dreamt the whole thing. Why should I be in a magazine as beautiful as Somerset Life?

But I looked inside and there it was! My words and pictures in print!

I’ll even share my dweeb moment with you. While at Barnes & Noble I decided to buy the girls a little treat (they liked the looks of the m&m blondie) and a water along with my magazine and when I went to pay, the cashier was looking the magazine over while waiting for my card and I said, “I’m IN that!” She was like, “…oh, mmm hm.” So I went a step further and opened it up and held it up blocking her view from anything else and said, “See? That’s me!” (With a mouth wide open and eyes round as saucers to really geek her out completely.) She smiled and gave me a little, “wow,” as I took the ceramic mugs away from the girls who had grabbed them up from the display in front of the register and were about to drop them on the ground. Then I clumsily strolled my babies away, bumping that huge unruly stroller into a nearby table. But I didn’t care. I had just bought a pretty magazine with my own stuff in it. And my stuff added to the pretty. Oh, happy day.



So anyway, I’d now like to give you my thank-you speech: I’d like to thank all of the little people (you know who you are) for making me feel like a star. Now that I’m, like, almost as big as C Jane and stuff, I’m sure I’ll be speaking at lots of important blogging events in the near future. If any of my adoring fans are dying to witness my greatness in person, just be patient: there’s enough of me to go around. But just barely.

No, but really, part of what the article is about is how awesome this little bloggy tribe is. How I feel like I have really found a sense of community. I feel wrapped up in support here, and it’s a safe place for me to be myself. What a gift!  I love you guys!

Xo

Britt

Let’s talk about something that no one wants to talk about.

Becoming a nit picker.




nit 1 (nɪt)




— n


1. the egg of a louse, especially when adhering to human hair


2. the larva of a louse or similar insect



One day not so long ago the school nurse called my friend. Okay, just kidding, she called…me. To tell me that head lice was going around in the school and that one of my children had it. To be safe I should treat the whole family.

I immediately started scratching my head.

And then I ran to the pharmacy to get lice treatments. Everything on the schedule went out the window and I cleaned in a frantic frenzy.

I cleaned and scoured and put chemicals on my children. In order to clear our name and our heads, I did all the things that I was supposed to do according to the leading information out there. We were lice free.

Until the next week when we weren’t any more.

What?!?

Did you know that a louse can run up the shaft of a hair? Well it can, and super fast, too! Did you know that its’ eggs (nits) are glued to your hair shaft about a half-inch from your scalp? And they are very small and hard to see. And a person has a lot of hairs to look through. So in other words, when you become the nit picker, you spend HOURS looking through hair, and if you miss even ONE tiny egg hidden on ONE strand of hair, then you will be re-infested.

Now that I am a lice expert (ah-hem), I thought I should bestow some of my vast wisdom and knowledge to whomever may be out there, wandering the internet and wondering, “How in the world should I handle this lice situation?” Because let me tell you, by the fourth time that you are “lice free” and you see your kid across the room scratching her head with a comb like there’s no tomorrow, you do not have the same reaction as you did when the school nurse calls to break the news. You can’t run around like a crazed lunatic every day of your life.

So take a deep breath. You can do it. Slow and steady wins the race.

I learned that the kits at the pharmacy are not very effective. The reason they are not effective is because you are putting pesticides/chemicals on your head that kill the bugs, but do not kill the eggs. When the egg hatches, it crawls out into the chemical residue and becomes immune. So over time, lice have adapted, but they can’t make the chemicals any stronger because we are putting this right on our heads!

I learned that lice can hold their breath for a pretty long time. (Hey, I’m not a scientist here.) So my friend told me about the olive oil trick. I was skeptical, but willing to try anything and I liked the idea of using something natural. The idea is to smother the bugs. You douse the hair from root to tip in olive oil and put it in a swim cap or shower cap and leave it on for 2 hours. (You can leave it on longer if you want, but it seemed to be long enough.) The kids would be doing their homework or playing while the bugs were suffocating. (waa ha ha ha haaa!) And then after a shower to wash the olive oil out we would put on a movie for the kids to watch while the Mr. and I would nit pick. This takes hours!



Another friend told me about licekiller.com and I bought a kit (which was pricey!) out of desperation but I refused to expedite the shipping because I had already paid dearly. So in the week it took to get to me I kept on with the olive oil and we were lice free.



Until we weren’t. Again.



But this time it was a child that hadn’t been infected in over 2 months, so we figured out after extensive questioning that he had gotten it from his classroom. This time we had Lice Killer on our side. It was pretty much the same process as the olive oil treatment but with essential oils in it and a nit glue dissolver spray. I am still going back and forth about whether it was necessary or not. Although the comb was indispensible!!!!




Everyone wants a definitive answer: Are you lice free? Yes or no.



But it’s not that simple. We were lice free a lot. Until we weren’t. Every time I was sure we were done, we weren’t. Even now, I know that there are bugs out there. They are still walking around on people’s heads. Clean people’s heads! But I know that if any catch a ride home to our house again, I will never again buy lice treatment at the pharmacy.


Here are some interesting things you might not know about lice:



-Lice can’t jump

-They only live on human heads

-They don’t like dirty hair (At one point I was thinking that I might ban bathing in an attempt to scare them all away. Alas, I couldn’t hold out, so bathe we did.)

-The kits you get at the drug store are only 20% effective and they DON’T kill the nits

-Did you get that? 80% INEFFECTIVE. And they don’t kill the eggs!

-The lice have become immune to the pesticide since the egg hatches and the nit crawls out into chemical infested hair

-If you miss even one nit, you will get re-infested





Here are some tips that have helped us get rid of the little buggers:



-Use tea tree shampoo (lice don’t like the smell and will find a better smelling home)

-Blow dry your hair

-Wash and dry pillowcases, winter hats and anything that is in direct contact with the offending head frequently (like once a week, the same day as treatment)

-Put stuff in the dryer (lice can’t live in hot environsputting a pillow in the dryer will kill them)

-Vacuum a lot (you are trying to get rid of hairs that have may have shed with a nit attached.)

-Put brushes and combs through dishwasher or boil them

-Take stuffed animals and pillows and other things that could have been infected with lice but can’t be put through the washing machine into trash bags and put them in a garage or basement or somewhere away from the living area for 2 weeks

-Educate your children about how to avoid spreading or receiving lice (don’t share hats or brushes or hair accessories with your friends; keep long hair tied back or braided; avoid contact with an infected person’s head or pillow…)

-When you think you’re lice free, do another treatment that week anyway. And then another one the next week too. Because seriously—a lot of hairs + little tiny nits=re-infestation even when you’re clean and thorough.


Helpful links:

http://www.headliceinfo.com/20facts.htm
http://www.everydayhealth.com/skin-beauty-photos/11-things-to-know-about-head-lice.aspx
http://www.licekiller.com/


Good luck, my friends. (You’re gonna need it;)

My babies are turning two this month.

They are fraternal. They shared my womb. Except for 48 minutes when “baby B” took her moment to stretch out and do a little Irish jig in there. (It could have been 45 minutes. It’s all a little fuzzy.)

Some people can’t tell them apart.

I don’t think they look very much alike.

They teach each other all kinds of good things. And bad things too.

They are like yin and yang. Opposites but in a good way, balancing each other out. We have Art and Science represented through them. We have extrovert and introvert. We have intuition and intellectualism. And because we see the contrast, it makes it more obvious.


Having twins is really entertaining. All day long I hear, “Mom, come see what the babies are doing!” We’re constantly imitating them and their cuteness.

Having twins is really messy. They’re like a little team of chaos makers. Sometimes I feel like I’m on the edge of insanity.


And then I remember how blessed and lucky I am and how much I really, really love them and it practically makes my heart burst from love and joy.



The other day one of them looked at me and smiled such a bright and genuine smile and focused in on me so I felt like I was the only thing in the world that mattered and said, “I la loo, mommy.” (Which, in case you didn’t figure that one out means, “I love you, mommy.”) Hello, beautiful being. Hello, person who depends on me to teach you how to BE. Hello, meaning of life.

Motherhood is so full of ups and downs; black and white; joy and pain; so full of opposition, so you can really feel the highs and lows. It is so full of opportunities to grow and learn and improve that it is ridiculous. It kind of takes over and makes you put stuff aside until you know whatever that thing is that is SO IMPORTANT that you are willing to fight for it and not let it disappear into the abyss.




Having twins has been kind of like having a bucket of icy water dumped over my sleeping body. Shock! Okay, I’m awake! I’m moving! There is no room for down time when you’re the mom of twins. I feel like I’ve lost touch with everything outside of my bubble and I just keep hoping that it will all be there when the dust settles.

I will be forever grateful for the blessing these two are in my life.

Here's to two crazy wonderful years; Happy Birthday month, girls! 
(Now, will you please wake up happy tomorrow?  Please?)

happy new year: a picture story

We left the twins with our awesome babysitter and went out on the town...






my boy took lots of pictures...










resting happened.



she's hiding...


someone loves dresses...



...and I believe she will single-handedly bring back the poofy skirt.  Like big time.







the T got crouded. Crouded enough that the conductor had to tell people to get off and wait for the next train.  "please step away from the platform."  Incidentally, while we were riding said train, some of our friends boarded randomly right where we were riding.  That's just crazy.  On the same car?  In Boston?  On New Year's Eve?  So we caught up and wished each other a happy new year.


Haymarket



We celebrated with the Brits again this year.  (7:00 our time)  We made a lot of noise banging pots and pans and then made a toast with sparkling cider.  Then we ate a yummy dinner and lit candles in the cake to say goodbye to 2010 and make a wish for 2011.



Hello, 2011.  Nice to meetcha.