greenclogs

and a new season begins

I'm not sure how it happened so fast, but school begins today began 2 weeks ago (I tried to blog - really). This is our first back to school in a couple of years (we've homeschooled for the last two) and the rhythm of school days is slowly returning to my brain. It makes our life in Portland seem more real - it feels less like a very extended vacation (I'm sure that Jeff will assure you it's been no vacation with all the working he's been doing, however!) and more like we have truly settled in. Annika is still homeschooling, with the addition of 2 days of classes at a homeschool center, but G is headed to a wonderful new school. 

Last week I wrote: Last night he was wandering around, unable to settle down for the night. The poor guy is so nervous. I remember that feeling. I switched schools at about his age and was pretty convinced that I would make no friends and that it would be a disaster. Today they'll go over courses and get to know each other. Tomorrow classes begin and they can try things out until Monday when they settle into a final schedule. I love that he gets to make choices and craft an education that is driven by his goals. 

Now I can tell you that he LOVES his school. Loves it. He's taking interesting, challenging classes and has made tons of friends. He rides his bike 6.2 miles each way to school and back (we'll see how that goes when the weather turns). He leaves here in time to be an hour early for school. For real. I've never seen him be so happy. I'm grateful that we were able to find a school here that is both a great fit for him personally and for us philosophically. 

A chicken who needs to start earning her keep

The days are shorter. I watch the sun rise now, having beat it to the punch by 30 minutes or more. I'm cheering my tomatoes on toward ripeness, but I'm losing hope. I may be making lots of green tomato stuff. One chicken is laying. One. The others are apparently full of the lazy. They have until the end of the month before they get a stern talking to about their future. I'm planting the winter garden of greens and garlic, carrots, onions, and things. We'll see what works and what doesn't. I'm already planning more beds for spring. 

Our wedding dog. She came home 2 days after we got married. 

There was celebrating around here. We've been married 10 years. Luna dog has lived with us for 10 years. The oldest turned 21 and I couldn't be there, which made me sad. I miss her something fierce. She's become quite a young woman. I wish I could still just meet her for lunch when I feel like it. Instead we iChat, which is not the same. 

I got to spend time with a dear friend this week - one I met through the Land of the Blog. We had some good conversation about blogging and social networking and where it's all going. I'll have more to say on that this week. Pinky swear. 

Hope fall is treating all of you well, friends. 

 

our days

We've had some slow and quiet days around home this week. The last few boxes are being unpacked. That stack of books on the family room floor is slowly getting shorter and shorter. The upstairs landing is clear of stuff that hadn't found a home. We go for walks. We dig in the dirt. We bake bread. We do (a lot) of laundry. 

The garden is growing so fast that we can practically watch it in real time. Right now we're eating the lettuce and the mustard greens while dreaming of everything else that's coming along. Brussels sprouts are on the left and Swiss chard on the right. Chiogga beets and Atomic Red carrots in the distance. 

The Beer Friend edamame just sprouted, which has us quite excited. We also have a few new little yellow squash plants poking through. I love watching them push their way through the soil and stretch themselves toward the elusive sunshine.

My blueberry bushes are surprisingly full of blooms. I'm a little giddy about that. I didn't expect much from the first year - anything is a bonus, really. 

The little one would rather be outside in the garden than doing anything else at all other than discovering shortcuts on the computers that we didn't know existed. Of course, none of those shortcut discoveries are repeatable. 

I could sit there and observe her wandering the garden all day. As your kids grow up, you forget how involved toddlers are in wholly experiencing every moment of their days. I watch her study the intricacies of dirt clods or ask for the 43rd reading of "Are You My Mother?" and it brings me back to the toddler years of my other babies. To Lindsay digging and digging in the sand on the beach in Santa Monica. To walking with Gunnar around the block on my lunch break at toddler speed, stopping at every crack and examining what laid below the storm grates. To Annika's insistent exploration of the world above her by climbing anything that might possibly hold her weight and reading her favorite books from memory. They all explore and absorb their world with a gusto that I try and often fail to replicate myself. 

Today we made our bread for dinner and she clambered up onto the chair to help. She stirred the water into the flour with a wooden spoon. We turned the dough onto the counter and took turns kneading it until it was smooth and elastic. She cried when it was time to let it rise (I see some playdough making tomorrow - no pesky rising). We talked about the magic of yeast and rising dough. She won't remember this conversation, but I know she'll remember in the darkest recesses of her memory that we always made bread together and she'll know that yeast is magic. Because making bread is what we do. 

She'll remember the ritual of bringing the chair to the counter and mixing and stirring and kneading. She'll always smile when she picks her greens from her own garden or smells a carrot freshly pulled from the soil. She'll discover these treasured books in boxes that I give her someday and while she may not remember which were her favorites when, the familiar rhythms will wash over her as she reads them aloud. I know, because the rhythms do that to me. I've read some of these books for 20 years to 4 babies. Each has its tone, its hand signals, its rituals that are unique to us. That belong to our family. All these things she does and we do become a part of who we are. 

These days are very good indeed.  

lemon winner, some sewing and some sadness

Sorry for the slight delay in winner announcement, but I've been glued to the Interwebs regarding this tragedy. My heart breaks for the families of those who were killed, for our elected officials who will live in fear of the same happening to them and for the loss of civility in our society as a whole and this state in particular. I am more sad than I can possibly express. 

Part of who we are is carrying on in the face of sadness and tragedy and bringing light where we can. I'm sending a little bit of light (with the help of the Random Number Generator) in the form of lemons to Jen. While I wish I could afford to send lemons to all of you, I'm happy to see them go to someone who has brought plenty of light into the world through her beautiful art. If you're not familiar with her work, you should really click over and see what she does. Jen - I hope the lemons give you a great boost in those dark January days in Maine. 

Lastly, my girl has started on her first real sewing machine project. She's making the Evelyn Apron Skirt by our friend Jona. Check out her fabulous fabric choices and beautiful work. 

She needs to add the apron tonight and gather the skirt to attach to the waistband. We'll do elastic and hem in the morning and she's going to try it out at a birthday party tomorrow. I am so proud of her for setting aside her usual resistance to failure and learning through mistakes and really embracing the process. That girl of mine. I love her. 

I've also been playing with the fashion cams on my Rocketeer and am all giddy over the fancy stitches. 

I need to tighten up my stitch length a bit and we're golden. Grace kindly pointed out that berninagarcia has all those stitches and many many more, and I appreciate her wisdom. However, there's something fabulous about these stitches coming from plain old mechanical engineering and not from a computer. Plus, these just flat out look better. Maybe berninagarcia needs to be tuned up, but regardless, I'm over the moon with what that Rocketeer can do. I even started a little skirt for Kit that is intended to feature some fancy stitchin'. 

Happy weekend friends. Take the time to hug the ones you love. Say a prayer or send good thoughts into the universe for understanding and kindness and dialogue in the world. Reach out and be a positive force in the world. 

let's motivate

Okay, back to motivation. I don't know about you, but I find that my motivation goes through real ups and downs. Some days/weeks I'm on fire and I get all sorts of cool stuff done. Or I'll be motivated through half of a project and then it'll languish for months (or years) before I finally go back and finish it. Or don't. 

What I've learned about how motivation works around here and how to kick start it a bit:

• switch locations - If the kids are really dragging their heels on schoolwork, we'll pick it up and take it elsewhere. This works way better now that the weather has cooled off. We grab our books/knitting/drawing supplies and head to our favorite coffee place and hang out on the patio to do our work. There's something about not being at home that restarts us. Often, just moving out to the front patio or to a blanket on the grass will work. But the iced tea and muffins are way better at LGO. 
• mix it up - I have had to accept that I'm not a one project at a time kind of gal. I get the most done if I'm working on several different things. When I hit a snag on one, I work on another one. Some weeks it feels like all I'm doing is starting. Other weeks I do lots of finishing (these feel especially productive). The trick is to go back to the project with the snag, fix the problem, and get back on track. I have both a hat and a cowl that I need to do that with. Since knitting back lace is one of my least favorite things to do, this may take a while and that's okay. They just need to be done before Christmas. The same is true for the kids. If they're hitting a mental block in one thing, we take a break and do something else for a while, circling back around. They have weekly plans that we try to accomplish. If one day is really heavy on science and another one is all about their project work then that's totally okay. It all evens out. I need to remind myself of this fact from time to time. Like today. 
• challenge yourself - I love participating in challenges like Erin's pillow week (even though my pillows are half done. See above) or the Elsie Marley kids clothing week. Sewing or knitting or whatever along with other people who are also participating in the challenge keeps me interested in getting some things done that I might otherwise let sit. Sometimes life gets in the way (hello crawling baby and last week's mastitis) and that's okay. It's not a test and there are no grades. Being motivated to do things for their own sake is so much more important than any extrinsic reward. 
• use what you have - I think it's really important to have supplies at the ready. There's nothing that will stop a great idea in its tracks like a lack of materials. We certainly don't lack materials around here. We can do just about anything we want to do just by shopping in our own house. Sometimes I'll use this as a challenge in itself - completing projects that require no supplies that I don't already own. While shopping for the newest fun fabric is a favorite thing to do, the fact is that I can make so many beautiful things with what we have here. I love patchwork projects because they use what would otherwise be wasted and produce beautiful and unique results. I always have a good supply of notions around, like thread and needles, trims, buttons, elastic and interfacing for sewing and multiple needles in each size for knitting. I do semi-annual stock ups on art supplies. That's one of the "allowed" non-handmade gifts for Christmas so there are always supplies under the tree. Grandparents are also generous with gift cards to places like Blick Art Supplies because they know it's an appreciated and useful gift. The same holds true for school work. Tape, pencils, paper, books, binders, etc. need to be readily available. We really stress putting things back where we found them, although that is not always successful. Not being able to find what you need is a sure fire way to lose the motivation to get something done, especially for kids. Be well stocked and well organized, and leave yourself open to getting creative with what you have. 
• do something every day - just a little something. Even if it's just a few stitches, or a cleaned up work surface, it's something. It doesn't matter if it's not what you're supposed to do. Sometimes a new spark is just what you need. 
• cut yourself a break - not every day can be a productive and motivated day. We need downtime and we need to recharge. There are days when I think I've done nothing but dishes and laundry all day. A lot of those days. Some days, I end up being totally baby focused because she'll only take a nap in my lap, like today. The kids sometimes need a reading/playmobil/drawing/bike riding day in order to recharge. I sometimes have a hard time letting those days happen until I remind myself that motivation requires rest. It comes in cycles. If I step back and let them just be, then so much more happens on the following days. I need to put some kind of motto on the wall reminding myself of that. 
• love what you do - if you don't love the project, move on. You may love it later. There are exceptions to this rule like dishes, laundry and the like, as well as multiplication tables and proper grammar. It may not need to be done right now, but it needs to be done in a timely way. And if it's not one of those things, then let it go until it feels right. It may not feel right and that's okay. Rip out the yarn and use it for something else. Refashion that ugly skirt into something cute for the baby. Drop Greece for a while and look at the Aztecs. Find what sparks your interest and see where it takes you. 
• accept mistakes and love imperfection - part of what makes handmade special is its imperfection. The quirks are beautiful. Sure, I get all jazzed up when I make my corners match up perfectly, but I don't let a lack of perfection stop me. Then I'd get nothing done. Every project, every experience, every book you read is a learning opportunity. You will know more when you're done, even if you don't love the result. Take that learning forward for the next thing - let it motivate you to be better. The same is true for the kids - they have the time to work to mastery. Each mistake is an opportunity to learn more deeply and master their subject matter. 
• sometimes you just need to kick back and drink lemonade while reading a good book. 

The End. 

transitions

 

I think one of the hardest parts of raising children is transitioning from one stage to the next. It's so hard to know what will be important and what will be left behind - especially when it comes to their spaces and their belongings. When you have a family like mine, with several years between children, those transitions seem to happen a lot and are rarely in synch. 

Lindsay left for college 2 years ago but since she was only 100 miles away, we largely left her room alone to see how much she would be home. Fast forward 2 years, and we have a college girl who has transferred to another school and lives full time in LA, a room that is rapidly becoming a storage room, and a baby who is quickly outgrowing her tiny corner in our room. There's a boy who is coveting that bigger room with the built in bookshelves (and that is on the opposite side of the house from his little sister). There's a little girl who has outgrown the decor of her room and the very bright paint job that was on her walls when we moved in. Time for some change!

A while back, I picked up a couple of bedroom sets on Craig's List that needed a some love - one for each girl. After painting those sets - well, one dresser is not quite done - we finally had a good weekend for the Great Bedroom Shuffle 2010. We're still hanging pictures and getting our act together on sewing bedding and curtains, but here's a sneak peak at Annika's refurbished space. Kit's room and Gunnar's room will have their own posts, and then we'll show it all again once they are complete. Exciting, huh? Just nod your head. At least I'm posting for a change!

Here is Annika's room before the paint job, but after we shoveled it out. I wish I were kidding about that part. There is no way I was putting the real before shot out on the interwebs. That girl knows her some clutter. 

Fun, and done well for the previous little girl in that room. However, I have this funny idea about bedrooms being restful spaces, and that is so not restful. 

After the paint was dry and the furniture was moved in. 

That photo at the top of the post is her new bed. An unmade bed is an invitation for roughhousing around here. There's nothing that baby likes more than rolling around with her big brother. The bedroom set was a rather garish shade of yellow with bronze hardware (hence the cheap). Some paint in MSL "glass of milk" and nickel metallic spray paint for the hardware, and we were talking cute. The walls are MSL Stratosphere, which is the color of the Arizona sky. She loves this space, which is really gratifying. 

Lindsay is handling the loss of her room (the one G moved into) well - at least in front of me. She still has half of the large closet in G's room for her things and a bed in Kit's room and she knows that there's always a place for her. However, she turned 20 yesterday and her life isn't here anymore. She's never here for longer than 10 days at a time, and that only happens twice a year. We're trying to gracefully segue into an adult relationship with her. Transitioning her out of that space when it's needed for someone else is part of that process - one that is a little touchy for all of us. I'm proud of her for accepting the change and not feeling rejected, because that was so far from our intent. Families are organic and they change over time, as do their spaces. What doesn't change is the love or the willingness to make space for her again if she should need it. 

Next up is Gunnar's new man cave. Stay tuned!

progress... but not enough

There's a quilt top!

but no backing yet. I've been unsure of what to do for the back. The only fabric that I have enough of is the darker Amy Butler Honeycomb, but I don't want to use that. Last night it came to me - the back needs polka dots! I'll be looking for some pink and white polka dots today so I can get this baby done. 

On other fronts - baby is doing well. I'm at almost 37 weeks, and getting to very uncomfortable. She's trying hard to find all the space she can, and I'm getting a little beat up in the process. I long for taking deep breaths and for sleeping more than 90 minutes at a time. I honestly think I'll get better sleep once she's here. I found out at my doctor appointment today that due to my positive strep B test, I'm going to have a very monitored birth, and a required 48 hour stay in the hospital. I'm trying to put a positive spin on the whole thing, but I'm kind of disappointed. I was looking forward to just coming home and being with my family. 

The nesting urge has kicked into high gear this week. I want to purge everything. There's an irresistible urge to wipe down every door and door jamb in the house. Every stitch of clothing, towels and linens must be washed. Now I just have to find the energy to do all of those things. It'll come, right?

So, progress is being made. We're almost there....

looking back

January - a new time filled with hope

February - fun outdoor time, lemonade stands with friends

March - ladybugs and new growth all around

April - keeping up with the end of the lemon crop, enjoying spring bounty

May - San Diego sunshine, sandy bottoms, happy hearts

June - Cannon beach tide pools, long walks, clouds and cool temperatures, rain

July - visiting family, walking in the river, enjoying summer outside of Arizona

August - enjoying the offerings of our beloved chickens, enduring the heat

September - learning of a healthy new little one on the way

October - A first soccer season, maturing as a person and finding his place

November - new chick babies

December - Christmas as a family at home, lots of sparkles and love

And now we're looking forward to an exciting new year with a baby arriving in about 12 (!!) weeks, lots of adventures and projects and family learning time. Wishing for a happy, productive 2010 for all of us. I'm so happy that I'm sharing it with all of you 

 

no new hats

Ack! I should have had a new hat to show, but I have two of them in progress. Photos tomorrow. 

Today wasn't the best day. We went for a bike ride, which was great, but my bike was stuck in its highest gear and I was exhausted by the time we got home. My children could have been kinder to each other today. A lot kinder. Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow. 

On the plus side, I got a lot of snuggles from both kids. I think we all needed them. I heard the baby's heartbeat at the doctor's office and it was good and strong. Oh, and dinner was delicious. Roasted brussels sprouts, fingerling potatoes and golden beets served with polenta with cheese and ham. Yum. 

Friday the 13th

Can I just say that it was quite a day and leave it at that? I don't usually buy into the whole Friday the 13th thing, but man. Today kicked me in the rear end. I will say that it ended well. A dear friend from college came to town and she came with us to a birthday party (a 29th birthday party. I feel old) in oldtown Scottsdale. We listened to cool music and hung out with beautiful people and ate yummy sushi. And yes, my doctor says sushi is fine, as long as it's from somewhere reputable. I indulged mostly in unagi and spider rolls anyway because that's what sounded good. It put me in a better frame of mind for starting out well this weekend. I needed it. 

The best part? The bathroom of the place. It was kind of medieval Japanese dungeon meets high tech Japanese toilet. I mean really, how often do you run into an intentionally heated and multifunctional toilet in a nightclub? Me, not often. 

reunions

Okay, technically this is posted too late to be a Monday post, but I have a good excuse. At about 9:00 tonight, as I was settling in, I got an Facebook email from a high school friend (that I haven't seen since high school) that he was in Phoenix on business. Did I have time to see him on short notice? I thought about it for a few seconds, and got myself into the car and headed south to Chandler. And really, I'm so glad that I did.

I spent a lovely two hours getting to know someone again who was part of what seems in some ways a distant past, and in other ways like yesterday. I've seen a few people from high school this year, thanks to the magic of Facebook, and I am so grateful to know these people as adults and to like them even better than I did when we were teenagers. It is such a gift to sit and talk with someone who shares part of my history and who rounds out that experience. I'm very grateful to have these beautiful people back in my life.  It is so very good to look back and laugh and cringe and know that it really did all work out just fine. We turned out okay.