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Friday, July 31, 2009

Secret Wishes

I took this with my phone so it is not a great shot. But I had to capture this moment -- the wishes they kept secret. Usually they throw the coins and call out to the universe. But today for some reason they both kept their wishes close with a quiet calm. In moments like this, when time slows just long enough to breathe in eternity, I wish for nothing. Instead I am overwhelmed with gratitude.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

What I found on my camera...

My kids borrowed my camera again. We live in a small house so I am always shocked to find things that I am not aware happened. Like this hairdo on my son. What exactly is the look he is going for? Dr. Evil meets Pippi Longstocking? Huh...

And how did I not hear the whistle? My defense is allergy-related exhausted fuzziness that has taken over my brain. Usually my allergies are all about itchiness, swelling and oozing. Since I haven't had that, I figured I was having an easy allergy year. I was wrong. Today I took some Clariton because I had an asthma attack last night and wanted to prevent any more. And boom! Cloudy head cleared, energy returned. I guess I can stop blaming my tiredness on the freelance project I've been doing. And the laundry. No, I am still blaming some of it on the laundry...

Next up, my daughter caught in a random kitchen dance party. Sort of blurry shots as my boy is not one for holding still. 

Step one: Grab the step stool and find the perfect song on the ipod.
Step two: The sassy look over the shoulder pose...
Step three: Whirling, twirling and kicks...
Step four: Sassy shoulder work...
Step five: Break it down!

Aaaarrgghhahh!!! This shot sort of defines my son. I don't really know what that means exactly. It just feels right to say it.
Maybe this little guy has a bit to do with how tired I have been lately... 

Oh, and the last one. You remember the scene in Lord of the Rings where Elrond battles the Orc and the Giant Ground Hog, right? No? Well, obviously my son does. Sadly, here it looks like even though Elrond defeated the fearsome orc, he fell before conquering the loathesome groundhog... Will he survive? Will Legolas come and flash that bewitching smile before saving the day? Will the groundhog see his shadow? Never mind me... I blame the Clariton for robbing my sanity. I also blame the laundry. 

They crack me up, those little people that live here. They certainly keep things interesting.

I have one more picture to share, but I took this one. We recently went to the local pioneer village, and though I only took a couple pictures, I was sure to snap one of my daughter on the world's smallest horse. For whatever reason the pony man put my tall daughter on the tiniest pony there. My daughter loved it, but I have my doubts about the pony's feelings about the whole situation.

Well, that is us right now. Freelance project, tiredness, allergies, unsupervised hair styling, break dancing in the kitchen, small ponies and well... laundry. Happy summer everyone!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Award, yay!









Doc tagged me with this award. I don't know if I am Queen of All Things material, but sometimes I do feel like the Queen of All Wild Things. With all of the roaring, and gnashing and claws around here. Not much of going to bed without dinner though. Wait... what? Oh, yes. Award.
I often ignore tags because I have blog tagging anxiety disorder. That's real, right? It should be. But hey, this award makes me a Queen of All Things Awe-summ. How can one ignore such honor? And to be awarded by Doc, is well, sort of like unexpectedly getting picked in the first round for gym class kickball. Both exciting and intimidating all at once. Hi, blog traffic! My shy little blog didn't know whether to primp or slink into the corner and wet its pants a little bit.
The steps to becoming a Queen are…
1. List Seven Things That Make You Awe-Summm!
2. Pass the award on to seven bloggers you read religiously.
3. Tag those seven bloggers. 
Seven things that make me awe-summm (At least in my own little world):
1. My family. We are a group of people that can rock a spontaneous kitchen dance party.
2. Kindness. Why not? I can't change the world, but I can change me. I actively champion kindness.
3. I have two webbed toes on each foot, as does my whole family. I secretly feel this makes us more highly evolved. Separate toes? Who needs them? (No, my husband and I are not related...)
4. I can tie a cherry stem with my tongue. My parents used to buy my sister and me jars of cherries. It kept us quiet for hours at a time. Now that I am grown, I have serious questions about their vision for my future after naming me Candy and supporting the cherry stem habit...
5. I am a mad doodler. Well now, doesn't that sound sort of dirty. Esp. after the cherry stem admission. But truly, I don't take notes - I doodle. Whether at meetings or classes or just talking to someone. It's a good thing I have a good auditory memory since I have no control. The meeting ends, I look down and my paper is covered in loops, swirls and pictures.
6. I dislike labels. Especially ones that are such strong definitions that people stop seeing each other for who they are and just see the label. It is silly, lazy and dangerous to our society. 
7. I am an insatiable 'jack of all trades, master of none'. But I choose to embrace it. Hey, life is short. Do stuff. Make stuff. 
Now, to pass it on to seven others. This is the hard part for me because of the previously mentioned blog tagging anxiety disorder. And there is the whole probably not hitting seven because I am a notorious blurker (blog lurker) and don't comment nearly enough. I know, I know... bad form. But hey, baby steps. So basically you know these women are very deserving to make my small list :)
Critter at Critter's Critters  (say that five times fast)... She deserves this for being my sister and for not taking pictures of me in my rollerblading gear. That is a bonus for us all, believe me.
Mrs. Q ... totally deserves this for making me laugh. I don't knit, I don't have cats (but only because of allergies), I homeschool - she's a public school teacher, I'm American and she's from one of those other countries... but rarely have I read anyone whose humor I 'get' so well.  Mrs. Q, your blog is better than coffee in the morning.
MiniKat... totally deserves this for her friendly, fun blog. She has gorgeous miniatures, lots of links to interesting blogs, fiber arts & sewing, and adorable bunnies all mixed with her life stories. MiniKat, your blog is always a joy to read.
Miss Melinda ... deserves this more for being my real life friend than blogging (since she doesn't do that near enough - but who am I to criticize, right?) Seriously though, Melinda embodies awesomeness. She just does. And she uses a picture of my daughter as her blog banner, so I think she probably deserves it for that alone.

Thank you Doc, for the award. You are the original Queen of All Things Awesome :)

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

My summer food...

Today I made salsa and hummus. I love having it on hand for quick meals. My jalapeño peppers were bad though, so I'll need to add those later. The little black pieces are black olives. I accidently grabbed chopped instead of sliced olives. BTW, if the above picture makes you feel sick than you are in the same league as my kids and husband. I am the only one who likes food like this in the house.


This was my first attempt at making hummus. I used garbanzo beans, tahini, olive oil, lots of lemon juice, garlic and salt and pepper. It turned out surprisingly good. I am so excited. The tahini was expensive but will pay for itself after I make this recipe about three times, since deli hummus is not cheap. And wow, straight up tahini is kind of like eating a big spoonful of soil, isn't it? I don't hate it, but I won't wake up in the middle of the night craving it. If I fed it to my husband I think he would see is as grounds for divorce. He thinks tea tastes like dirt, I can't imagine what his taste buds would do to tahini.

I've been making awesome sandwiches with this stuff lately. On those fancy wraps you buy in the deli, like sundried tomato or garden vegetable. I spread the wrap with hummus, cover it with lettuce and a bunch of my salsa. Top with some greek yogurt, salt and pepper and almost die from the glory of it all. I'll have to take a picture of one of the sandwiches next time I make one. They are gorgeous.

I love how summer makes me crave food like this. I love winter soups, chili and baking too. But this kind of food just makes me feel alive. And it serves as inspiration to my children. As in, please help me pick up this mess or we will have mama's salsa for dinner. They've been pitching in a lot more lately ;)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

It is just time...

Hand washing the new swimwear. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the fun bright colors against the white sink. Makes me almost believe it is summer.

Who cares if it is an average of 65º outside, right? It is way past time to break out the swimwear for summer. My little ones are about to rebel at the lack of water play this year. So I decided that filling up a kiddie pool would probably not induce hypothermia. I can't promise any beach trips, I just don't have the heart to sit on a freezing beach and watch my kids turn blue around the mouth after five minutes in the lake. But I no longer have it in me to deny them afternoons in the sprinkler. Kids are tough. Me, not so much.

I'll be the one in the jeans with the look on her face that will make anyone think twice about getting me with a squirt gun. I am not really one for extreme temperatures. So to be honest, for me this weird extended spring has been sort of nice. But the kids are craving bathing suits, popsicles melting in the sun, sun screen and bug repellant. And while I can't provide the heat, but we can work around the lack of it  within reason.

So last night I washed up the suits and today I will fill the kiddie pool. Who knows, maybe it will clue the weather into what it usually does around this time. The good news about a late summer? Insanely good deals on bathing suits. We may only get a couple months of use out of them, but it is easier to take if you only spend $12. So happy summer to everyone. I proclaim it officially here. (Got that weather?)

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Yay! Fireworks!

I love fireworks. They make me weepy though. Does anyone else cry at fireworks? Just me? Huh...

We had a BEAUTIFUL July 4th weekend here. The stars aligned, the angels sang, and the weekend unfolded in a strange sort of perfection that rarely actually happens. The weather, the parade, the fireworks,  the annual art fair, the crowd attitudes... All was just fun, exciting and made living the small town life seem ideal, if only for one perfect weekend.

We went to the art fair this morning. I love supporting artists and try to as much as possible, however, like everyone right now we are trying to conserve. But - I discovered an artist new to the fair, whose work spoke to my soul. At first I refrained from buying. I talked myself out of it and left the fair without going back to her booth.

But I sat at home and obsessed. Enough to get back into my 'being seen in public' clothing. Enough to get back into my sun baked car. Enough to go back into the now midday art fair crowd. And picked out some of her art with zero guilt. I had planned on one big picture, but came home with three medium sized. It sounds really overboard, but her prices were way too low. I wasn't going to barter backwards though, so I bought three. It made sense at the time.

But look... so pretty. You can click on the pics to make them larger.



























Can't beat folk art bought on the the Fourth, right? It is hard to take photos of framed pictures, but hopefully you can see some of the awesome detail in spite of the glare. She had such a variety, from mermaids, to Abraham Lincoln collage type paintings, to holiday, to a million other things. I had such a hard time deciding. Alas, she is not online which is such a bummer for my mad midnight art purchasing moments, but good for my wallet and that whole conserving the resources thing.

The art find was a big cherry on top of the perfectly sweet weekend. Now we are sitting around this evening in our cool house. We are all sun baked, feet weary from walking many miles, stomachs full of food from the grill and grateful for this time together. I hope everyone had a nice and safe weekend. It is always interesting getting back into the regular routine after a holiday weekend, isn't it?