Updates

Okay, so Cooper, mentioned in a previous blog, is a fabulous chocolate lab that I watched for my friend Melissa a few weeks ago. He is great and is apparently afraid of my camera. More to come on that subject. Also, the pleated beauty bag is going GREAT! I printed some birds on there and am going to embroider some kind of a sun....the colors I chose remind me of the beach.

Dinner was EXTRA yummy! Polenta is one of my new favorites! So I will definitely add Mexican Polenta Casserole to my repertoire (check out Kath Eats Real Food on the sidebar...I did not do her exact recipe but mine was really close). I have a feeling that it will be even better tomorrow for lunch.

No dreams about belching reticulated giraffes last night. I did have a dream that a skunk got into my house! In my dream, it was crawling around in my bedroom sniffing things. So I threw my down comforter on top of it (why the down comforter????) and ran like a bat out of you know where! My father in law told me that all you have to do to get a skunk to not spray you is to throw a sheet or blanket on top of it. He should know since he live traps a LOT of skunks in his yard and then takes them to a place far, far away from houses. It's good to know that even in my sleep I listened to his advice. Anyway, I shut the door behind me so that the skunk would not go anywhere else in the house and grabbed the boys from their beds. I do not know if I was successful at getting the skunk out of the house, because I woke up. I hope the skunk got out safely and does not return tonight, spraying everything with skunky nastiness. I would hate to have to clean and deodorize my house in my sleep. Or have to get rid of my down comforter in my sleep. Talk about a nightmare!

Food and Healthy Eating

I have been on a mission lately to eat better (which I have been doing) and exercising more (which I have not been doing). I just discovered this website, Kath Eats, that I am loving! A co-worker of mine, Cooper's mom, told me about it. Real good food that is really good for you, too. See you do not have to sacrifice taste in order to eat healthy! Tonight's menu will be the Mexican Polenta Casserole (with a twist) and, of course, avocados. Yum! I'll report back later as to how tasty it is.

FYI Giraffes Burp

On a side note, perhaps a bit of trivia for all of you people who dig useless information, giraffes burp! Or at least they make a sound that sounds an awful lot like a burp. It starts off low and really grumbly at the base of their neck. Then it makes that long journey upward and then up and out it comes along with their incredibly LLLLLLLOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNGGGGGG tongue! It sounds as if it were in stereo because you can hear it travel up their neck.

See I told you it was useless trivia, but so much fun. It makes me want to try to capture it on audio, just to attach to this post for you, dear blog reader(s). The boys, as well as the parents I have to be honest here, thought it was hilarious. It definitely made the $5 spent on giraffe biscuits totally worth it.

On that note I am off to bed this time. Hopefully my dreams tonight will not be full of belching reticulated giraffes. Then again, that would be a good blog post........

The Avocado, Again, And Other Miscellaneous Stuff

I know that my first post was received with mixed reviews, but that does not change my perspective on and love for the avocado. Ammon wanted to eat one tonight, a first for him. He loved it, too! I guess it is genetic as well as a love for chocolate chip cookies and drawing. THe boys and I acted out two Charlie and Lola books at dinner tonight. It was hysterical listening to my boys speak in British accents. Hilarious!

So I am off to bed, dear friends. I am afraid that I am out of steam. Hopefully I will be in a more blogging mood tomorrow night and have lots to write about. Here is a list of things I would like to do, amended or perhaps the second draft, in no particular order but none the less "necessary":

•BTRS swap pleated beauty bag (finish it and ship it off)
•Research homemade laundry detergent and fabric softener (where did I see this?)
•Origami fish mobile, just for fun
•Pirate quilts now that I have the backing fabric for both of them
(Ammon picked out red flannel and Eli picked out Robot flannel. Love it!)
•Resume and portfolio and all of those things that are necessary but not necessarily fun
•Cupcakes, because I just watched Throwdown with Bobby Flay and it was on cupcakes!

Good night. Don't let the bed bugs bite :)

Gotcha!

To all of you working moms out there whose children stay home with dad all day, I have found the answer to wondering what goes on when you are not home. Photo Booth. My boys LOVE photo booth and now I have proof that they take the blankets, pillows, etc. off of my bed to jump on it. 607 pictures to be exact. Now not all are incriminating pictures...some show the boys jumping on my bed, but most of them are of Ammon making the most HILARIOUS faces into the camera on my iMac. I seriously have to figure out how to create a slideshow of this. It is just too funny...even Eli knows how to use it. And with that, I must add, is the reason why I LOVE my Mac. My three year old can operate it.

I am off to start my pleated beauty bag for the BTRS swap. Later!

I forgot but then I remembered

I seriously had the greatest topic to blog about tonight. Somewhere between getting ready for bed, taking out the garbage and sitting down at the computer, I lost it. This is my desperate attempt at re-claiming it. Still nothing. Oh boy!

Well...perhaps if I retrace my steps I will remember. I made a sugar scrub, courtesy of angry chicken, which I am digging. I made mine lavender mint. I love the smell but the lavender buds stick like wet bugs. Kind of gross. I also made some DELICIOUS granola for breakfast tomorrow, chicken cacciatore and garlic parmesan monkey bread for dinner. Oh and some homemade salsa. I bet you can tell that I am totally digging the stay at home mom gig! I AM! I know...just when you thought monkey bread couldn't get any better, it goes savory! Oh guess what...I just remembered!

My boys are the sweetest boys in the world! Do you know what they did for me today? They picked a bouquet of dandelions for me. I can say that these special dandelion bouquets are my very favorite because they picked them and every mother who has received one would agree. Ammon picked exactly 10, Eli picked 3. With every flower they said, "I love you, mom!" I love my kids.

Giraffes and Mr. Incredible

So Binder Park Zoo opened for the season today. Eli and I were there at ten this morning, ready to feed those giraffes! Before leaving I asked Eli to get dressed in his best zoo clothes. He put on his Mr. Incredible costume. Excellent choice, I thought! So Mr. Incredible and I went to the zoo, fed the giraffes, made funny faces with the monkeys, and crowed like peacocks. It was great. My favorite part was the ride to the zoo and the walk to take the tram ride to Wild Africa. The whole time he kept singing, "Hey Eli, whatcha gonna do? I'm gonna feed the giraffes!" In addition I wore my very fabulous Ghost Busters t-shirt. It was funny...I got just as many compliments on my shirt as Eli did on his costume. No one said, "Aw how cute" to me though. Oh well ;)

We had such a great time that we drove to Ammon's school and got him out early just to go back to the zoo again! We fed more giraffes, made more funny faces at the monkeys and crowed like peacocks and brayed like donkeys. I really do not know how to spell "bray" in that context. If anyone knows, please notify me. I know my mother would know. She is a librarian and the world's unofficial grammar queen.

So now, dear friend(s), I must go to bed. I walked a LOT today and we played on the slide and some football in the backyard. I really do promise to post pictures soon and spruce up this blog. It is very minimalist, which I admit I am in to right now, but I feel it needs some color. Plus I am a graphic designer and, therefore, it is in my very nature to change often. Plus I took some really cool photos....ok now I am just rambling!

Aaaawwww

This is why I love my husband so very much. I truly believe that I have the best one out there...I know a few would think that there husband is better but I disagree. Here's why:

Today I met him to get Ammon (they had a dad and Ammon weekend). He needed to go back to work so I took Ammon home with me. Before leaving he says, "Honey I got you a present." Of course my eyes light up and I skipped a little bit in the parking lot of the Pilot gas station. What was my present? It is great. I bet you really want to know what it is, too. Okay, I'll tell you. It is a Ghost Busters t-shirt! FABULOUS! See I told you he is the BEST IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD. There are other reasons, too, but this is suppose to be PG blog ;)

I love the Ghost Busters. My favorite part is when they test the proton packs in the hotel on their first call as the Ghost Busters and light the maid's cart on fire. She replies, "What the HELL are you doin' ?" I also really love the part in the mayor's office, "...Lenny, you will have saved the lives of millions of registered voters." Makes me laugh every time!

See, Nathan just really knows me and all of my craziness and eccentricities, like a fresh jar of ink or going book shopping on amazon. I love him dearly and he is my best friend in the whole wide world. Aaaawwww!

Boys, Baseballs, Boxes, Books and Bubbles

We have been TOTALLY enjoying this great spring weather! Climbing trees, playing baseball, golfing in the backyard with bouncy balls, you name it. We even caught a spider, which did not change either of my boys into Spider-man (much to their dismay). It also amazes me at just how entertaining blowing bubbles can be...I really do think they are wonderful, and so does Eli. Gee I wonder where he gets THAT from? Also, I am happy yo report that I received all three books that I ordered from Amazon, Lotta Jansdotter "Prints" (which is FABULOUS), "The Creative Family" by Amanda Soule and (drumroll) Martha Stewart's "Cookies" (which is double FABULOUS)! Bonus time...I also received my mother's day gift "The Splendid Table's How to Eat Supper" early! I guess I was not suppose to open that one yet, but seriously it did not say that on the box :) That one is on my night stand and will require cover to cover reading. It is a beautifully designed book (then again so are all four of them)...I had to look through it once to satisfy the lust for eye candy that every graphic designer has and then read it for content :) All in all, life is good over here, not just because of the books but because I am getting to do what I love to do, take care of my family and make art. By the way I let Ammon decide which cookie to make first from the Cookie book. His pick, the soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie. Classic. Dependable. Delicious! I am off to go see where my Eli went...it is too quiet right now. Nathan (that's my wonderful hubby who bought me "How to Eat Supper") and Ammon are having a boy weekend, so Eli and I are hanging out together. I'll have to get some pictures up later once the little one is asleep. See you later!

Happiness is a new jar of ink and sweet and salty popcorn

You know how when you were a kid and you got to open that big box of Crayola crayons and smell that fabulous Crayola smell? And the tips were all pointy and the wax oh so shiny and tempting? I still get that feeling about Crayola crayons....and also about just about any new art medium or material. Right now, my love is for ink. Block printing ink, screen printing ink, whatever! Ink is fabulously gooey stuff! In fact, I just bought a new jar of white today to do some more screen printing on fabric for the BTRS pleated beauty bag. I decided that the fabric paint that I used on the pieces I cut was not opaque enough to suit me...so I did the only logical thing. I bought more fabric (linen...hooray!) and ink. I see fun times at the kitchen table in my near future!

Also, I made the BEST sweet and salty popcorn for the boys and me to snack on. Here's the recipe (based on the one from Alton Brown here):

• 1/3 cup good quality popcorn
• about 2 tablespoons olive oil
• a few shakes of salt, kosher if you have it (Alton would be so proud!)

Place all of these ingredients into a paper lunch bag and accordion fold the top down, just a few times. Microwave for two minutes and then pour into a large bowl....like you would any normal old microwave popcorn. To this add:

•melted butter (the more the merrier, right? I used about 2-3 tablespoons)
•a few more shakes of salt, again kosher if you have it (Alton is now teary eyed, I bet)
•about 1-2 tablespoons of turbinado sugar or regular granulated sugar

Toss to combine and enjoy! Seriously, this is the best since you can customize the sweet to salty ratio to fit your taste buds ( I bet you could guess that by my exact measurements listed above). I almost forgot the best part, eat while watching a great movie and make sure to have napkins handy. Also, an added bonus, popcorn is a whole grain and if you make it this way, there is no diacetyl! Hooray for healthy delicious snacks!

Toodles!

Day One

So today was the first day of part-time work! Yeah! Eli, my youngest son, and I had a great day just hanging out, going to Target, playing outside and eating cheeseburgers for lunch. I love days like today. We then went to pick up my oldest son, Ammon, from school. The three of us made DELICIOUS and extra cheesy pizzas for dinner. YUM! Each boy also got a present from Target. Eli picked them out. Eli got a t-shirt and some whales. Ammon got a jacket. Go figure. I figured we should celebrate the day in style. I think we did.

So I have been really motivated to create, sew, draw, photograph, etc. More to come on that....I must go break up splash-o-rama XXI in the bathtub. At least it is just water.......from the tub and not the toilet. That is the subject of another post.

Toulouse

So I FINALLY cut the pieces for the pleated beauty bag for the BTRS swap (there's one thing off my to-do list). I also decided to do a little block printing and screen-printing on some of the pieces. During all of this today, I had forgotten how much my cat, Toulouse, LOVES to craft and make art with me. He is fat and very fabulous and has a passion for fabric and paint just like I do. I think that is why we get along so great...similar interests. He keeps me company, and he is a pretty good critic, too. I often ask his opinion. If he has one, he answers with a sweet, "mrrrrow." That usually means, "stop what you are doing and give me a belly rub." At any rate, he was "helping" me cut the fabric by laying in the path of the scissors. To resolve this, I tied a bunch of scraps together and, VOILA!, great cat toy. Who needs expensive toys from big chain pet stores....my kitty just took the handmade pledge!

Spring Thing

I must confess...I love the spring! This morning I let my dog outside (he is the best black lab ever) and could hear birds chirping, woodpeckers pounding away at a tree and squirrels playing and climbing while the wind blew gently. The sun was shining and I swear I heard that song that always plays in movies when someone wakes up and stretches. No rooster crowing though. So poetic and a great way to wake up.

So next week I start the part time thing at work. That means more pictures to come, blogs to write and things to make. YEE-HAW!

Seriously though, I must go to bed. I feel that I may be rambling...which, I admit, could be entertaining..........ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

To Do List

Aahhh...the to-do list. It is, for me, the list of things to come, eventually. Here it is:

• drawing for my sister of feet
• pirate quilts
• origami fish mobile from design*sponge
• pleated beauty bag for the BTRS swap
• aprons, yes two, for summer apron swaps
• t-shirt designs for wasted earth
• anything else I might think of between now and the next time I post

I thought that this might be a great place to store these things...I just thought of another:

• paint my dining room chairs

See you soon! I am off to sew pirate quilts and cut out the fabric that I did not cut last night.

Sigh

Sometimes I wish I had a pause button...you know then the kids would not grow up so fast, lunch breaks at work could last longer and you could have more time to do artsy things or just breathe. We are going to be moving soon...my husband got a new job...which means I do not have to be the working mom anymore. HOORAY! I am SO excited about this and so is he, which is fabulous. He truly is a WONDERFUL man and I feel so blessed being married to him.

I am hoping this will give me more time to post pictures to my blog :) as well as make fun things for my boys, such as pirate quilts and stuffed aliens, and art for whoever (or is it whomever...I can never remember). The first thing I HAVE to get done is a drawing for my lovely sister...you'll hold me accountable to that, right?

Now I am off to cut pieces of fabric for the Pleated Beauty Bag for the Bend the Rules Sewing swap. Wish me luck. Remember, measure twice, cut once.

My Two Spider-men

I mentioned in my very first post that I am the mother of two wonderful boys. They are seven and three and are absolutely adorable and hilarious. I came home from work today and my oldest was in his Spider-man costume, which is pretty typical for him to be wearing. This is no ordinary costume...it is reversible. It has the regular Spider-man on one side and the other side is the black Spider-man. Very cool and useful because one may not want to be just Spider-man, or the black Spider-man for that matter. My youngest son was sleeping still, yes a VERY long nap today, and wearing his Spider-man costume, complete with padded, fake muscles. Again this, too, is typical behavior but he tends to mix up the costumes a bit more. He may be Spider-man or Superman or Batman or Mr. Incredible. My oldest use to mix it up when he was younger but now Spider-man is the clear favorite as far as superheroes are concerned. All in all I feel very well protected should the Green Goblin or Syndrome or the Joker break into my home. FYI I am quickly becoming well versed in all things Marvel and DC. :)

MIA....the new blogger

So I went MIA for awhile....but I am back now. I spent the weekend with my boys at my parents' house. We made a birdhouse, which is a very post-modern structure complete with an abstract expressionist paint job by my oldest son (he's seven and LOVES red). He and grandpa built it and I helped with the paint job. I was the can opener/closer and was allowed to use the yellow and black paint. I think it is fabulous. If I was a bird, I would definitely live in this house! I will post some pictures once it is hung on a tree so check back soon! He has some detailing to finish first.....

My First Blog...the mighty avocado

So I told my very dear friend, Rachel, that my first blog entry EVER would be about the avocado. Oh the avocado! I do love them so. They are yummy to eat and have a wonderful green color. You can mash them, slice them, make them into guacamole and even avocado ice cream, which I have not tried but am seriously considering it. I also have a recipe for avocado muffins....perhaps I will bake them and write about it soon.

Seriously though, I am an artist, wife and mother to two wonderful boys. I LOVE (in no particular order) to laugh, sew, cook, bake, dye fabric, take photos, draw, print, paint, make paper and books and I just discovered needle felting. My next goal...knitting!