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From Humble Ingredients

OK, I'm going to stop beginning every post with "sorry I haven't been around much lately," because well, it is what it is.  I don't have a heck of a lot I can show you these days, but I'm hoping to fit in a little just for fun making, so I'll get back to ya.  This also is not my favorite time of year, with the gloomy gray skies.  It's hard for me to believe that places like Portland and Seattle could actually be gloomier than Michigan.  I don't know if I could take it.  Maybe I should get one of those lamps with the full spectrum light.  Ugh.

I started my crochet class this week and I am super excited.  I have to pick out an easy first project, but I want it to be something I like as well, so I checked Kid's Crochet from my library today, and now have my first four projects planned.  It's a really cute book, I highly recommend it.  The author, Kelli Ronci, is a former crafts editor at MSL, so the book has a similar aesthetic to MSKids.  And it's illustrated by Lena Corwin which is a huge bonus.  There is also great crochet inspiration on the Martha Stewart website, just do a quick search and you'll turn up some great stuff.

Speaking of Martha's website, I made some of her ribbon belts this week and they're super easy and cute.  Would be great Valentine's gifts.  You can also make bracelets with thinner ribbon.  Have you all seen Living Crafts?  We felted a heart today, check out Honeyflake, she shows the process beautifully.  It was fun and the results were pretty.  Of course, Elliot didn't have the attention span to finish it, so I sat there poking it with chopsticks until it was done.

We're expecting a boatload of snow, so we have been baking-- this zucchini bread (actually as muffins).  I froze a whole lot of zucchini last summer when we picked up some HUGE yellow zukes at the farmer's market.  It was sort of embarrassing actually, I saw the sign said 75 cents and I assumed that was per pound so I hogged up the biggest ones only to find out they were 75 cents each.  Oops.  People in line behind be probably thought I was a little greedy.   

I grew up in Indiana where you can hardly give zucchinis away (or "bimintis" as my great-grandfather called them, and green peppers were "mangos").  I'm always so shocked when people have never had zucchini bread or think they won't like it because it has a vegetable in it.  Hello, it's cake.  Anyway, this recipe is good, although I'd love to find a yummy one with less sugar if you all have one.  We use King Arthur's White Whole Wheat in almost everything.  You seriously can't tell it's whole grain.

The bear in the photo above is mine from childhood.  I used to collect them, but only have this one and a few tiny mohair (steiff and something else) ones left.  I love this bear, and of course the colors are very appropriate for this time of year, but what I really love is that it is made from just muslin.  No fancy prints here.  There are pretty pink buttons for eyes, a pink grosgrain ribbon tie, and little hearts stamped a few key places.  So simple, so pretty.  This is great inspiration this time of year when maybe you spent a little too much money in December.  You can still make something beautiful with even the humblest materials.  Those are my favorite, really.

Computer Malfunction

Sorry I've been MIA, my Macbook died last Saturday, and I've been out of sorts ever since.  The lucky part is that my husband bought the extended warranty-- I would have said a polite "no thank you" to that, but now I'll be getting a new, bigger hard drive- yay!  I'll take a little data loss for that.

I've been very busy crafting, but can't share any of it just yet.  The new issue of Wondertime came out with my favorite project of mine to date.  Check it out here with my photos as well as my "boy" version here.  Today while Lucie was napping I was reading the magazine and I was like-- "aw, look, there's Elliot's footprint and Lucie's ultrasound-- wait!  That's my uterus in a magazine!"  Who woulda thought:)

I loved the article "Confessions of a Mommy Blogger," and I'm sure many of you would relate to it as well.  I can so relate to composing posts in my mind constantly, and also wonder how reading my blog changes how people "in real life" view me. 

Also, I laughed so hard when I read the article about preschools, as they mentioned Waldorf Moms all wearing the same kind of clogs.  I'm definitely a clog-wearing Mama, so they have me pegged with that one.

OK, enough babbling.  I have a few smallish craft projects to show you soon, and my family room redecorating is making some progress, so I'll be back soon!

PS-  Check out the reader entry section near the front of Wondertime where you'll find comments by our very own Molly!

I Got My Sheep Farm!

I mentioned a while ago I wanted a sheep farm, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind...

It's bigger than it looks-- 24" x 14", and it has an open back for playing.  Found at Found.  (Which is also where I got my vintage flashcards for those who have asked, but I bought the whole box, so I don't know if they have any right now)

Giving + Receiving

OK, I know I am a little late to the party on this one, but I wanted to review a few of our holiday gifts for this year now that almost all of them have made it to their recipients.  I will be mailing the last two packages this week (that's you H. and M. & P.)  It's just that due to the snowstorm we had mid-December, I had to ship many more gifts than originally intended, and to me, shipping things is right up there with talking on the phone.  Don't much like it.  And because Elliot missed the week of school before the holidays, we just gave gifts to his friends and teachers today.  So basically, this goes down as the l-o-n-g-e-s-t gift giving season on record.

A while back I mentioned that I was giving many gift cards this season, and that I wanted to come up with a nice way to package them.  I was clicking from one blog to another one night and something reminded me of the Blueprint article showing wooden clogs as beautiful holiday "packaging."  It had just the simple rustic look I was going for.  So here's the plan.  This year I gave several gift recipients a pair of wooden clogs that I painted, filled with a few small goodies + a gift card, as well as the following letter from my kids:

Now, from here on out for these pairs of gift recipients (each person received just one shoe, but is married to another recipient, who has the other shoe), we will collect small goodies-- hopefully throughout the year-- and then send them each person's spouse who will fill the clog on behalf of St. Nicholas.  I thought it would be a challenge to come up with interesting small objects for the shoes for each person, and it would be fun to involve their spouse.  I hope that this is a process that they begin to look forward to.  The bonus?  My plan is to buy a pair of wool socks that I fill throughout the year, and then ship them in that form, so the wool socks can serve as useful gift wrap as well as shipping material.  And because the items are small, and will be a combination of handmade, consumable, and special items, hopefully they won't add too much clutter to the lives of others.

For Elliot's classmates, we took the advice of Amanda and purchased a bunch (100, I think) wooden acorns.  I sewed little felt bags from some hand-dyed wool that my stepmom gave me last year.  The beauty of these, is that I didn't have to trim the fabric at all, I just folded in half, sewed around three sides, trimmed the side seams with pinking shears, flipped right-side out, folded a few inches over, and placed a small red snap in the center.  A few gift tags by Natascha Rosenberg (I love Little Red Riding Hood!) and I was done.  Elliot picked which bag went to which child, which was fun to watch.

I made each of Elliot's teachers a gourd birdhouse (for those of you who don't know, Waldorf schools are big on natural and handmade items) painted Hummingbird green.  For these I used another gift tag by Natascha Rosenberg.  I accidentally printed these HUGE, but I loved them that way.  All of the gifts for school were well received, and we got several small treasures in return.  I love that Elliot sees the pleasure in giving and receiving little tokens like this.

The final idea I wanted to tell you all about is something that my husband and I came up with last year when we didn't want to spend a lot of money on each other, but still wanted to make the other person feel special.  The best thing about this idea is that it can be done for almost any budget, and really is not limited to Christmas at all-- really Valentine's Day would be perfect.  We try to give a gift for each of the five senses.  Now really, if you think too hard about this, every gift on the planet could fall into these categories, but don't overthink it.  We try and concentrate on ideas that are simple, useful, and consumable.  Sort of a way to show someone that you were really thinking about them, not just running out and spend X amount on something that will just sit on a shelf or something (but if the recipient would really enjoy a small something for a shelf, that's perfectly acceptable!)  Some things are free, some things cost very little, and some things can be a little more of a splurge.  I'll give you my list from this year just to give you an idea.  This is what he bought me.

Sound- burned CD's of 10 episodes of This American Life for me to listen to in the car.
Sight- this book
Smell- Kiehl's Original Musk
Taste- some loose tea
Touch- Icebreaker Sweater

We have a lot of fun with it.  My husband is a very good gift giver anyway, but since we started doing this, I always feel very pampered.  There is nothing better than knowing that a person was really thinking of you when they bought your gift.

Begin Again

We're slowly digging ourselves out from what seems like a long, lovely winter's nap.  Daddy had to "go back to work" yesterday, so that pushed us back into real life a bit.   But, we can still be found lounging in our pj's a bit longer than usual.

So, it is a new year, is it?  For me, last year was an amazing one-- full of incredible highs- the most important of which was having my sweet girl-- words can't express the love I feel for you, sweet Lucie.  You are just starting to say "Ma-ma-ma-ma-ma."  Even if you have know idea what it means, well, it really melts a Ma-ma's heart.

I found work that suits me well-- "What, you're going to pay me for this?"   I feel so privileged to be a part of such a quality publication.  As I read it from cover to cover I see myself in so many of the articles.  And my editor is a dream to work with.  (really, R.)

And I had my share of tough times too, particularly watching two of the most beloved people in my life have real struggles, at a time when I am the least able to help them.   There is nothing harder than standing by and watching people you love make destructive decisions.

But, I really learned a lot about myself this year.  As Elliot grows up and becomes his own person, I really view my own past differently.  My brother Drew and I have an age spread pretty close to my kids, and for the first time I wondered what all of our experiences must have been like for him.  That's the amazing thing about siblings.  You're the only two (or three or four- whatever) people who have had experiences so similar-- and yet, how it effects you and who you become is entirely different.  Drew was always the athletic and artistic one, I was the smart one.  I used to correct his grammar-- how obnoxious is that?  I didn't pursue art until adulthood because Drew was so naturally talented at it.  It probably could have saved both of us a lot of angst if we weren't so busy trying to be what the other wasn't.

And you kind people, I really feel like your support and enthusiasm have helped my clarify who I am- or as Elliot says--"who I want to be when I grow up."  Actually, he asked me that recently, and when I replied "A Mommy," he exclaimed-- "no, somebody that does something!!!"  Ha!

For the coming year I want to:
1) learn to crochet (registered for a 10 week class this morning- yay!)
2) carve out more time for my husband and myself
3) find more support for our family through scheduled childcare, reaching out to old friends, making new ones, getting more involved in building a community, etc.
4) be more realistic about what I can accomplish without making myself crazy
5) relax

Here's to a great one, people.  Now, back to doing nothing...