n o d d y b o o m

kid's carving :::

some of the wood carving the kids did over the weekend.  each piece has a name, but i can't remember what any of them are, except i think the second from the right is called "cow" and that one on the left is actually a doll with yarn hair glued on and everything.  both kids have their own carving knives and have been collecting sticks over the past several weeks and for whatever reason, sunday was a day of maniacal wood carving, which carried over into today.  wood chips are everywhere.  

6 days until marley's birthday and i'm beginning to wonder if i'm really going to get the sweater done in time (eep!).

happy monday (night)!

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39 things to be grateful for (on my 39th birthday) :::

today i am 39 and i thought i would put together a small gratitude list to mark the day:

 

1.    i am grateful for the love of my children + husband + family.

2.    i am in love with that amazing paper gnome hat griffin drew for me on a piece of cardboard.

3.    i am glad i have yoga in my life.

4.    i am grateful that i live in a neighborhood filled with trees.  i am grateful for trees and i am grateful that i am grateful for trees and that i stop and watch and notice.

5.    i am happy to be finding time to re-discover watercolor paint and to be taking it outside and especially to watch the kids lost in their own watercolor world, while the breeze licks their hair and moves the trees about in a sort of wonderful dance.

6.    i am glad the state park hasn't closed down.  yet.

7.    i am grateful for mexican food.

8.    i am grateful my kids tell jokes at the dinner table, and especially that they're usually the same jokes every night, told as if for the first time.

9.    i am grateful for things that make your cheeks rosy and your eyes all lit up and sparkly.  

10.   i am happy i know how to sew and knit and pray and sit quietly.  i am happy my kids are learning how to do so.

11.  i am grateful for music.

12.   i am grateful for the story of kuma kuma, the little creature who lives in the woods very far away who makes clouds in his coffee with cream and sits quietly every night watching for the exact moment the sky becomes completely dark.

13.  i am so glad to be letting go and getting rid of needless things and realizing that i don't need them and that it's just "stuff" and that there are much more important things in life.

14.  i am grateful that i get to go to squam this year and play at art for a few days with like-minded friends and especially this friend.

15.  i am grateful that i always have room in my life for new friends + i am grateful for the friends i have had for years who know me and love me just as i am + i love them.

16.  i am beyond grateful that my mother has a nose for smoke and smelled an electrical fire that was burning in the walls of her bedroom before it got out of hand and called the fire department who couldn't find the fire for hours but finally did and had to break through the walls to find it, but they found it and put it out and everyone is okay.   thank god (i literally just found this out).

17.  i am grateful for firefighters!

18.  i am grateful that my children still believe in fairies.

19.  i love long, long walks, even when it's raining.  especially when it's raining.  as long as i don't get too cold and there's a chance of a warm fire somewhere at the end or a snuggle under a cozy quilt.

20.  i am grateful for quilts.

21.  i am happy there are sometimes movies that are particularly inspiring (like "the king's speech") and happy when i get the opportunity to see them.

22.  i am grateful for my love of books and that i never get tired of books and that my kids love books + libraries + small, unique bookstores and that we all love reading together, especially at night or on rainy days, all snuggled into a pile.  i love that. 

23.  i love that we have so many talented storytellers in the world.  thank you, storytellers.

24.  i am grateful that on saturdays we celebrate + play games and that it connects us in a different way than other things do.

25.  i am grateful for the smell of freshly baked bread.

26.  i look forward to the long road trips we take up north to visit the places my husband grew up and stand beneath the same redwood trees we visit every year and gaze with awe.

27.  i am grateful for hot chocolate + microbreweries + double cream cheese.  and the brownies my sister made for me on friday.

28.  i am grateful for spring camping and watching the kids hunt for frogs at night in the little creek with their headlamps on while we play boggle by the light of the fire and several candles.

29.  i am grateful for petticoats + lace slips

30.  + crowns.

31.  i am glad i know how to see things differently, when i need to.

32.  i am happy for all the things in my life that are helping me to stay present a lot more than i used to.

33.  i am grateful for foot-rubs + grateful that my kids love foot-rubs and that they'll lie still for a few minutes and let me put lavender oil on them sometimes before they go to bed.

34.  i am glad there are cameras in the world, all kinds of cameras, + grateful for photos of all shapes and forms + grateful for the people who take pictures and share them + grateful that i get to as well.

35.  i am grateful for refrigeration + dishwashers + washing machines, when i have access to them.

36.  i am glad that i have been waking up earlier and watching the moon slowly sink and the sun blink its eyes open, lighting up the sky.

37.  i am grateful for that tall, lazy palm tree that i can see from my bathroom window.

38.  i am so grateful we found waldorf education + so glad for all the friends i have made there + for all we have learned through waldorf education, as a family + grateful that it exists in the world to help other people learn and grow.  

39.  i am grateful there is so much creativity in the world.

+

i am grateful that i am grateful.

 

happy sunday! :::

take your water colors outside :::

sunday is our outdoor activity day.  it usually involves a family walk to the local bakery and sometimes also includes time spent in the woods or on the beach or at a park or local farm/farmer's market or just gardening in our own yard, etc.  this time we re-visited will rogers, a local state park with huge sprawling lawns and a polo field (!) and miles of trails.  we camped out on the lawn with the many other families who had the same great idea, spread out our picnic + dove into the set of watercolor paints we brought with us (we are starting to work our way through the projects in this book).  so fun.

the paintings attracted the attention of many of the kids in the families picnicking around us and i think next time it might serve us well to bring extra paper and brushes so they can join in.  or perhaps next time we'll see other families with their own watercolor supplies, inspired to take in the sun + open sky while settling into a calming art project.

:::

it's supposed to rain all week.  i love the the gray skies and misty air.  it feels very cozy around here.  hot tea weather.  maybe i'll make some potato curry soup to celebrate the cooler temperatures.

have a beautiful day!

:)

molten chocolate (tahini) cake :::

 

made the cake.  it was so good.  i need a little practice taking the cake out soon enough for it to actually be "molten" but it was still pretty awesome, even without a completely melted center.  

enjoy your day!

:)

flavonoid + vitamin c "mocktail" :::

fighting a cold these days so it's all about catching up on rest + eating the right foods.  

this juice is filled with vitamin c, quercetin + bioflavonoids.  

vitamin c + quercetin when taken together help alleviate allergy symptoms.  additionally, they are anti-inflammatory and the quercetin enhances the vitamin c.

flavonoids have magical curative powers, but are mostly known for their enthusiastic antioxidant activity.

for the juice, you will need:

equal amounts of grapefruit, oranges + lemons.

cut off (most of) the rind and run them through the juicer.  you want a little of the white part on there, 'cause that's where a lot of the flavonoids are.  it makes the juice a tad bit bitter, but it's worth it (i suppose if it's too bitter you could try sweetening it with agave).

as a boost, you can also add one teaspoon of flaxseed oil or toss a 1-inch piece of ginger in the juicer or add echinacea + vitamin c crystals.

:::

viper room // sunset :::

 

:::

darn it

this is exactly the kind of thing i don't need happening in my day:

rotten elastic.  after scouring the city for the appropriate summery spring colored "indian skirt" required for m's cello recital and finding nothing in her size, i went for a white sale rack women's size skirt and dyed it green, intending to sew a little elastic around the waist to make it small enough to fit.  

happily, i pulled out a pack of what i thought was going to be the perfect solution:  "stitch + stretch + instant elastic pleating"! 

alas, after sewing through all 4 stitching lines and getting everything just so, i started pulling on the elastic threads to achieve my instantly pleated and now smaller elastic waist only to discover that the elastic was all disolving...  yikes!  in other words, it didn't work.  at.  all.  it was NOT instant.  it is SOOO not instant and in fact now i have maybe an hour of popping out stitches to remove all of those 4 lines of stitching before i can even begin to proceed with plan b, which i have yet to figure out!! 

sigh.

last week of school.  last flurry of recitals.  summer, i am ready.

:::

community + art :::

last weekend we participated in making props/costumes out of recycled newspapers, aluminum cans, plastic bags and other objects for an upcoming opera (more info here on the opera and workshop info here for any local l.a. peeps).  it was so inspiring.  i have been rather reclusive lately and just wanting to stay home/do a little late spring cleaning/spin yarn, etc. but the kids really needed to get out (and so do i, every once in a while), so we went and did this (thank you maud for inviting us) and boy, am i glad.  what an amazing project this is to participate in.  so inspiring, the story and  all the people involved in making it happen.  the show takes place in an abandoned warehouse and you have to travel from room to room to view the different scenes of the opera.  it's going to be so cool.  the ultimate plan is to travel "songs and dances of imaginary lands" (that's the name of the opera) from one shut-down-company to another in different cities.  "this is brand-x" did a lovely article here.  anyway, we are definitely planning to go back.

here is a bit of the knitting from newspaper that's been rolled into rope:

 

strips of paper, ready to be rolled:

 

crochet work from plastic grocery bags, cut into strips and tied into "rope" or "yarn":

 

knitted plastic grocery bags:

 

aluminum cans with their tops and bottoms cut off, ready to be made into flowers:

 

some of the aluminum can flowers:

 

this is a weaving made from old socks that will ultimately become a curtain, i think:

 
there are free workshops every weekend until july 20th.  you can register here.  so fun.  can't recommend it enough.  the kids were so inspired, they are both working on their own weavings and ropes at home out of whatever they can get their hands on and are begging to go back, which we will, as i said.  hope to see you there.

take care :::

random shots from daily adventures :::

inspired today by:  paper-mache magazine.

i hope you are having nice adventures as well. 

:::

spinning again...

it's been gray and drizzly outside, all morning.  perfect for tea and warm sweaters and making things.  but now i think the sun  might be peeking for a moment.

really enjoying this blog and the lovely things she makes and her home here.

have a lovely day.

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