Where did that 6 weeks go?

Holy moly! I just finished up with 6 straight weekends of work and it by like nobody's business. I kept intending to update the blog because I had a heck of a lot to blog about, but most of the week was spent in recovery mode. I've also been on a giant book binge this past month, which has been wonderful!

So, what to share about? Avari has been signed up for her first dance class and I'm pretty excited. Being an alumni of 10 years of ballet, it's fun to imagine her following along. I'd much prefer her to be in a more lyrical emotional kind of dance, but that can be hard to find in a small town. So we have her teeny little ballet shoes, and leotard and they are hanging rather impatiently in the closet while we wait for September 8th to come around.

If you're interested to see what I have been up to this past couple of months visit http://mckinnonphoto.squarespace.com - chances are I've been present for the majority of those wedding photos!

I'm going to be talking a lot about preschool education in the next few weeks with the fall season upon us, as well as Nature Deficit Disorder, Waldorf education, getting ready for Christmas and a whole list more- I hope that you're ready!

So sorry

I know it's been over a week - but what a week it has been! I worked the 26th in Courtenay, went to vancouver the 28th/29th, and then worked August 1,2,3rd (Mt. Washington, Campbell River and Savary Island).

Needless to say, I'm exhausted and have to recover quickly before we start painting the house. Tomorrow morning.

Healthy Eating

That's me! I've been on a slide the last 6 weeks and my body has been paying for it. I've had a really hard time getting out of bed, feeling sluggish, and yucky. So, Karen and I made a pact for Health Week.

It started Tuesday, and so I'm on day 3. For some reason, today I feel pretty yucky, but I know it's my body getting rid of all of the built up toxins. I need to look up a good detox tea to make to help it all along.

So I'm doing no wheat, no dairy, no sugar (except for martini night in Vancouver next Monday...)

I'm excited because I've been wanting to get back on the health train and I really want to make it stick this time. I'm even trying to get away from eating as much meat as we do. It's not really necessary to eat it every night!

Poor Avari has had a few rough weeks, and I'm not entirely sure it's not because of my bad eating habits this past month - It's silly because I don't let her eat unhealthy food, and she gets almost no wheat except for playgroup crackers, so why do I think it's OK to pass all of the crud to her?

Healthy Week is upon us!!!

Here's a recipe to try.

1/2 cup of millet
1/4 cup buckwheat groats
1/4 cup quinoa
some fresh grated ginger
squeeze of lemon

Put all of the grain in 3 cups of water. Let it boil until the water has been absorbed and the grains are soft. Add the ginger and lemon (and some honey if you'd like) and enjoy! It's a great breakfast starter with piece of fruit, chock full of natural complete amino acids

Yum! So much better then old porriage

Outdoors-ly Challenged

That is I. I even had to create my own word in order to describe just how challenged I really am!

I live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Hiking, biking, canoing, kayaking, mountains,trails... you name it, you can do it here! Yet my repertoire right now consists of going to the main beach and most of the time we get stuck at the playground. Of course, I want Avari to have fun, but I want her to be able to know how to explore where we live and truly enjoy.

I'd like to set a good example! Right now, every evening I have the best of intentions about getting outdoors "tomorrow". Then I get intimidated, and lost and I have no idea what to do.

As I was reading the Saturday Globe and Mail this week there was an article about how to "Primp My Ride".
All of a sudden, I want to ride a bike. A cute pink cruiser with a bag, in my flats and a skirt and flowers in the basket. Never mind the fact that I hate my current bike (it is old and rusty and I think that it takes much to much effort to get up a hill). I think that I'd be more in to riding a bike if I looked like that. I even found toddler seats that can be mounted up front. Avari and I cruising downtown and back. Can I make up uphill on the way home? Is there anyway to test drive a bike to see if I could even make it without passing out?

I'm not sure, but I really want to!

Having Trouble Letting Go....

Now, I know that I tend to pack rat most of my things. I'm good about clearing the clutter a couple of times a year, but there's one thing that I just have too much trouble parting with.

My photos.

I've put over 6000 raw image files on my computer in the past year and this week I got the dreaded message "There is not enough memory on the computer to complete this task"

Yikes! So, my goal today is to go through and delete all of the unusable images - so that I have more room to add photos taken with my new lens! It arrived in the mail, and I'm really enjoying it so far and I can't wait to really give it a go!

I'll be back with some photos after clearing some clutter...

What to blog about

This week I've been amazed at just how much Avari has grown up in the three days i was away from her this weekend. She has started singing to herself, and she even can finish the sentences in her favourite book by memory (that floored me before our nap today). I know that very soon she's going to be a real little girl instead of a toddler and I haven't decided how that makes me feel yet. I've decided to start living life at her pace - I tend to be a really hustle bustle person by nature, and I like to run from one thing to another, and I think that was frustrating her. I wasn't letting her stop to smell the roses (literally) and let her enjoy and explore her environment.

As many of you know, I have decided that I would like to homeschool Avari, and I think that the teaching can start now. Not teaching in the school sense, but teaching in the sense of letting her learn to take in the environment around her. Teaching her good life habits in her food, in nature. I want her to know that as important as academics are, there is a whole world of knowledge that may be even a little bit more important that is forgotten in school. I want her to grow up grounded and connected to nature and I want her to know how to have fun! Of course, any help in doing this is greatly appreciated, because everything that I think is important for her to learn, are things that I need to learn myself (any good book recommendations anyone?). I think that by watching my little girl live her life, she's going to teach me the best way to live mine.

Karen posted some beautiful pictures of Avari on her blog that she took for Avari's birthday - it's a few posts back. http://mckinnonphoto.squarespace.com

Reading...

The library bug has officially bit me. I was very skeptical last week, and I'll admit that I tend to stop and pick from the new books bin (there are some really fabulous new books out there), but I am officially enveloped my life in books! I used to be a book a day super reader, but since having Avari, they just fell by the wayside. I would try and read, but I would forget what I read the day before, and couldn't keep the stories straight. Now that we're finally getting 5+ hours of consecutive sleep, my brain is starting to heal and I'm getting full enjoyment again.

On my hairdressing chair at home I now have a pile of 12 books, plus the 4 or 5 that I'm concurrently reading for my La Leche League training. So now I have to admit that I've become an iRead facebook stalker, so now I have a very hefty list built up of books I HAVE to read. Books about herbs, and farming, and making money so that you can farm... I'm very excited to be out of the "fluff book" phase!

I just worked my way through the Automatic Millionaire and although we have started using those principles on our own last month, there's a few more that we can adopt, and now I'm feeling a little guilty about my ever growing yarn stash, so I either need to start making use of that ASAP for our winter gear/Christmas gifts, or start parting with it skein by skein. I'm also reading I Love Dirt in the hopes of helping me learn to love the outdoors. (Not that I don't love outdoor activities, I've just never done them as a family event). Next up is The Vaccine Book by Dr. Sears, since Avari is now 2, and although I'm pretty confident that we are deciding against vaccinating, I want to make sure that there aren't a couple that we're just going to delay. I also have The Happy Hooker (crocheting) to help get me in to some easy projects for Christmas.

I know it's still 5.5 months away, but when you're a 12 project girl like myself, you have to get started early in order to get finished!

So, check out my facebook iRead, stalk it and find some great summer reads for yourself!

Weekend of work- or is it,...

I can't even begin to explain how much I love my job! I get to learn a ton, go to great weddings, eat awesome food, have sleep overs at Karen's house and have a little bit of me time. I think it's actually very therapeutic. I'm pretty exhausted from the day, and I REALLY looking forward to getting some undisturbed sleep in past 4:30 AM sleep.

This morning with Avari was pretty great. We had 2 hours to kill during Kevin's meeting, so we did downtown Courtenay at her pace. I think that I'm usually in such a rush to get places, that I forget how much fun it is for her to explore- and it's really great for me to slow down and enjoy all of the incredible things she is doing lately. Today, she actually understood that I was going to be away working. She wasn't sad, but she knows that i'm going to Karrot's house for 2 days. (Karrot is what she named her dolly after Karen.)

Here are a couple of pictures that I took from today, because I know I'm really going to miss her tomorrow!

I'm kind of on a super blown out high contrast kick right now...

Forgot to add...

The whole point of showing off my garden was to share the awesome website I found about gardening with children!

http://www.kidsgardening.com

Avari has taken to it as well as a just 2 year old would. She knows that she can pick the chives to eat, and the nasturtiums as well. I was really getting in to this site for ways to involve her for next year!

Gardening Update

I'm starting to feel more positive about my first gardening experience! I was a little frustrated last month because my zucchini, squash, corn, pumpkins and cukes were all disappearing at a rapid pace. Now that July has come about, things are flourishing!

We harvested, lettuce, peas, and some fava beans for tonight. I got some collards from the community garden yesterday and they are really tasty in salad (just soak quite a bit ahead of time to soften the prickles). Everything seems to be growing and Astrid found some information about succession planting which has me plotting about what I can start this week in the green house to have for fall.

Here are some pictures of what the garden looks like now- I'm pretty proud to compare them to the May and June photos.

Our fig tree is now a tree (not a stick)



Lettuce, garlic, kale

Romano pole beans
Celery and Broccoli

Romano Beans

Ive Been A-Sewing!

So, I decided to stop being afraid of my sewing machine and try and learn how to use it! I started browsing amazon, and came across my own personal sewing bible.

Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew

the motto is no pins and no patterns - ummmm..... I'm in love!!!

So, after browsing the chapters a few nights ago and armed with a great tutorial, I started sewing.... and sewing...

and here's what I came up with (please excuse the photos, my camera is in the shop)

These started out as an old pair of Kevin's corduroys and are in the process of being transformed into a pair of experimental orveralls. They are still lacking the overall bit, I'm trying to gather inspiration for something fun for that! The pockets are recycled and are actual pockets.

These are a pair of gauchos made from a scrap piece of upholstery fabric. (I did use a pattern for inspiration). I'm going to put 4 large buttons on them, add a clasp at the back and put a black cuff on the legs

Here's Avari testing out the size while having a snack- note my abandoned crochet project in the background and the trail of yarn (I did finish a good portion of it this evening). i'm hoping to make a hat out of the left-over fabric

Here is my first shirt!!! I'm really proud of this because it's from scratch- no pattern, I just used a shirt of Avari's for the size and made it a bit bigger. The shape looks funny because it's hanging on the back of the couch. It really does drape nicely!

So that is my week! If you've made it this far, then you'll get a sneak peek at my new secret project! I've only half finished coding it, and it still has a long way to go, but you can start posting your great finds and crafts - http://www.fromhandtoheart.com

Are you really in to yarn?

http://www.woolgirl.com/

Just something to tide you over, while I'm working on retrieving the password for my top secret project...

Something in the works....

So, after my last long blurb, I started getting one of my wild brainstorms. As a result, I've just added a new domain, working on setting up wordpress with fantastico (I love you fantastico), and I'm trying to keep the brainstorming going while I wait for the domain to actually become active. Sometimes if I can't keep the train rolling, it tends to die off!

Anyways, it's kind of a secret, totally great, and I'm really excited to unveil it sometime in hopefully the near future!

Something Important to Talk About

I've been involved with an online community called Hyenacart for almost 2 years now. It started with a moderate addiction to finding cute handmade cloth diapers for Avari, and has spiraled now to include a good percentage of my shopping. I am a huge advocate for Work At Home Moms (affectionately known in the community as WAHMS), and also for handmade items. I think it is so important for our economy and the world now to start thinking about what we are buying, and where it was made.

I used to be a huge consumer. Living in downtown Vancouver and Victoria, it's hard to get away from the constant stream of everything that is screaming at you to buy it. In Powell River, welll.... not so much! We don't have a very big shopping district, and there isn't the same type of fashion frenzy here. Even my beloved MAC makeup has fallen by the wayside. I'm still de-cluttering 4 years later from city life!!! Kevin and I now are pretty "poor" consumers - besides food, we don't purchase a heck of a lot. Kevin just buys books, I think we're at the rate of buying 4 or 5 pieces of clothing a year for ourselves, and I am a yarn and fabric hoarder. (I can justify this with the intention of creating very useful items of clothing for ourselves). Otherwise, we've learned to not need things. We're lucky to have wonderful parents that provide so much for Avari, or else she'd probably be living in the land of frugal with us!

OK- so where am I going with all of this right? We don't "need" to have all of the things that we think that we want. We don't need 4 bottles of expensive shampoo and a cabinet full of cosmetics (except the contact solution). We don't need to shop huge corporations! Trust me, we're living proof here. About the only thing we look at at Walmart are fabric sewing patterns. So why do we do it?

Have you ever sat down and thought about the carbon footprint for every piece of something that you buy? From the factories that build it, to the gas to get it to the store, to get it to your home- I'm sure it's huge! What about shopping close to home and getting back to how we used to do things?

We know that handmade items last longer, and are better for the earth. There is always the excuse that it costs more - of course it does! There are actual hands creating it for you, as opposed to a machine. Trying to be a WAHM in this day and age is pretty thankless. June of Rising Sun Earthworks (the most incredible pottery you've ever seen), estimates that she makes .25 cents an hour from doing her craft, because in order to stay mildly competitive, she has to lower her prices. Yet she does it for hours a day, because she loves her craft and loves to make things for people and the demand is there.

Think about this though. What if we got out of the habit of buying so much, and then buying just the items we need. It would be OK then, to spend more on one item - you'd still probably end up better off in the long run. The Waldorf Community has a wonderful philosophy for dolls A beautiful hand made, all natural 15" doll runs about $110 right now. (That makes your eyes want to pop out of your head right?). Think about it this way? How many cheap plastic, 20$ baby do this and thats are you buying your child in the first 3 years of their life? It probably ads up to more 6 doesn't it? Waldorf believes that a child should have a doll that they can bond to and cherish, that they don't need to have a whole closet full (which are stuffed in the closet because they can't fully appreciate them all). If we follow the Waldorf philosophy in life, things start to get a little clearer...


I'm rambling again because this is something that I'm getting really passionate about. If you're interested in making your life just a little bit more handmade and close to the heart, there is a pledge at http://www.buyhandmade.org/ . It was geared towards the Christmas Holidays, but there is a ton of information and links about the movement. There is a big discussion going on in the Hyenacart forums about a challenge that we can present to help get people moving on this issue- I'm of course running away with the idea, trying to come up with an idea to create a site and website banners and all of that...

keep you posted!

Favourite Books

Avari has a library that is starting to rival that of Kevin and I now, and I have to say that I am always searching for books that will be enjoyable for me as well as her. (We've had quite enough of Caillou One or Many.) So far, I have 2 favourites that tickle my funny bone everytime that I would like to share with everyone.

This first book, Woolbur, will probably only bring maximum amusement to people who are involved in the fibre arts, but the story and artwork is incredible on it's own!


Woolbur's list of Do's and Don'ts: DO express yourself creatively… DON'T worry if you weave your forelock into a pot holder! DO march to your own beat… DON'T worry when Maa and Paa tell you to stay with the herd! DO be bold and brave… DON'T be afraid to BE YOURSELF! Woolbur is not like other sheep. He hangs out with wild dogs, cards his own wool to avoid the shearing barn, and even dyes his wool blue. "Don't worry!" says Grandpaa when Maa and Paa fret that Woolbur is different. But when they tell their son to follow the flock, the opposite happens—the flock follows him! Soon everyone is copying his wild hairstyles and taking turns on the spinning wheel. Leave it to Woolbur to find a new way to step ahead of the herd. Spunky, funky, and refreshingly distinct, Woolbur will strike a chord with anyone who's ever felt different. And that's all of us!
(courtesy of google books)


The other is a book that I stumbled upon at the library last year and had to buy. I even has a sequel now that we will be picking up for Avari's Christmas present next year.



Mr. Pusskins doesn't want to play mouse games.He thinks snuggling is for the birds.Having his fur combed?Listening to cozy bedtime stories?Boring!Mr. Pusskins goes in search of adventure.But along the way he finds out how much love is waiting for him at home.

The illustrations in this book are hilarious!!! I think I laugh out loud every time!




What are your favourite children's books in your library?

The Library

I am working on embracing the library. I have to admit that I am a bit of a book snob- I really love to get new books and open up their crisp covers and smell the fresh now pages. I think it's half of the joy of reading! But alas, being on a budget is taking away all of that fun. When I was pregnant, I bought a huge stack of books from garage sales, and it's just been in this past few months that I have worked my way through them all.

I really feel that since I've been out of school, the amount of intelligent reading material that crosses my hands is well - pretty negligible. I was browsing old essays that I used to write in college and wow! I definitely would not be able to reproduce anything of that quality now. With the thought of school looming in the not so distant future, I feel like a need an intelligence makeover! So, off to the library for I.

I'm trying to make a habit of visiting once a week and make it a routine that Avari and I can enjoy. (and Kevin when he isn't working). I've decided that I'm going to take out 3 books a week but only interesting reference books that I can learn from.

This is my list for this week. (and yes, they don't include anything about rocket science- it has been about 6 years since school, so I don't want to have a brain meltdown!)

1. Care-free plants a guide to growing the 200 hardiest, low-maintenance, long-living beauties in Canada - This is kind of a cheater because I won't learn anything about gardening except how to cheat! But, I will learn about the easiest 200 plants out there to grow!


2.The automatic millionaire : a powerful one-step plan to live and finish rich -Because, well- who doesn't want to be an automatic millionaire! Kevin and I are really interested in how to build up our equity so we can start making our farm a reality.

3. Threads - This is a sewing magazine, so I guess this is kind of a cheater as well! I've been complaining that I don't know how to sew, and I would like to sew Avari's wardrobe for the fall, so I needed some inspiration to get me going.

I have a stack of books to be reading soon for my training as an LLL leader, so I'm going to become a super reader. If anyone has any idea how to add more reading time in to an already pretty full schedule with a waiting list of tasks, please let me know!

Embracing Creativity (and my first shared project ideas!)

So, in the mail this week arrived a package of incredible books from Amazon.ca - (recommendations compliment of Comox Valley Kids) It was perfect timing because I just finished one of my summer fluff reads the evening before.


I delved right in to "The Creative Family" and pretty much browsed the entire book before I went to bed. It is so inspiring! I know that creativity is something that needs to be nurtured, and I have difficulties fostering my creative abilities. Yes, I can knit and sew, but using a pattern isn't the same as drawing something from your heart.

I think I have a fear of personal expression!









This morning armed with a few basic ideas, I took Avari outside this morning with a bucket to do something creative with one of her favourite hobbies. "Picking Weeds" (I wasn't exactly sure how to turn her most favourite past time of throwing rocks in to an art project...any ideas?)

For Avari's birthday, we bought her an easel and a basket full of art supplies and we've been having fun painting, but beyond that our little art table and supplies have been neglected. What a perfect way to start!

Supplies Needed

-A bucket for collecting leaves, flowers and other outside bits of nature
-A piece of paper (let the LOs pick the colour)
-Glue (I used a glue stick but white glue might work better)
If you can find some mactac to preserve the project - that would work perfectly!
-Picture Frame if you'd like to hang it on the wall



She picked out a blue piece of paper which was surprising because normally she goes for orange, and we rolled up our sleeves and got started

I manned the glue stick, but let Avari decide where the glue was going to go on the paper.

I also lent a hand pressing the leaves and flowers where she wanted them to go since her little fingers couldn't cover as much area.

Basically, she just kept creating until she was ready to stop and....

VOILA!

Do you have any great, easy, fun art projects to share? Let us know!

There's life after 7?

Apparently it's true, the world keeps moving after 7PM! It's amazing after 2 years of being indoors once a little one goes to sleep, it's hard to imagine what the rest of the world does.

Yesterday was Canada Day, and we got the wonderful gift of a babysitter for the night! We ventured out at 8:00, wide eyed and wondering what to do with ourselves. There was a wonderful party happening down at the beach and it seemed like thousands of Powell Riverites were there for the fun. We even got to check out the scene at Local Locos and vowed to go back on our next quarter-yearly jaunt in to the night.

It's amazing what a night out can do to make you feel like your old self. Carefree, no worries. Heck, no tiptoeing around the house! (and did I mention sleeping in until 6:00 - wow!).

I think that kids "happen" to alot of relationships. Obviously kids are an incredible thing, but it is a sudden, complete change of life and it is easy for old habits to die hard and fast. A previous cozy marriage with routine and dates all of a sudden can be pushed aside. Add exhaustion in to the mix and you can come out with a tidy little mess.

I think I'm starting to realize that a weekly (OK weekly may be a bit optimistic) date is in order to have a permanent spot in the schedule.

So, what do you do to help retain your old self?

Thinking about 10 years...

10 years ago this week began my epic year. I think everyone must have one of those - the summer of memories that get shared forever, the year you long to go back and experience again. I feel like I would like to share with you what I remember from that year, before I start to forget details, things are still pretty vivid in my mind.

The Summer of 98 - Where it all began

It's hard to believe that 10 years have past. I had an easier time last year imagining that a was a decade older than high school, but somehow I can't quite wrap my head around this one.

It started the first week in July. I was training to go to Regionals with my horse Kosto (Who passed away this year at the ripe old age of 23). I was working on Driediger's Strawberry Farms, and I knew that I had to go away for competitions, so I sent my friend Roxanna in to take my shifts. Roxanna and I knew each other from Grade 9 French Immersion, and Hallway Lunches, Grad, and a fun summer of roller hockey and SNL. Our true connected friendship though, I believe didn't start until this past week 10 years ago.

Throughout that summer at Driedigers we connected over Matthew Good, bought our guitars and started dreaming of our own band, danced in the booth, did phone in radio concerts, envisioned funny things about the next door turf farm, stayed up really late watching SNL, and talked alot about life. I went to my first big concert- Edgefest 98 which was a truly a "moment" of my life. I met James and Jenny who Roxy met at UVIC and would later become friends of mine as well. When it was time for Roxy to go back to university in the fall I was heartbroken at being left behind at school here. I made plans to visit frequently, and I did.

I visited Victoria for the first time for Halloween Weekend. 18, wide eyed and unsure of what fun we would get up to, armed with visions of university parties and dorms. Well, it sure didn't disappoint. I remember getting off the bus in the dark, wandering with directions to find a dorm, and ended up calling Roxanna to come and meet me. She brought Liv with her (I think that I met Liv once before at a hotel previously and we went to the movies, but I can't totally remember- sorry Livy!). We went to the school movie theatre and watched Army of Darkness which is a pretty wild movie itself. Liv and Roxanna had a good start on some Malibu and Pineapple juice, and I think I tried some out a bit myself- that would have been my first drink. I slept on some couch cushions on the floor of the dorm. At 3 in the morning, there was a knock on the door, a vaguely remember sitting up groggily as Roxy opened the door and there was James and a friend at the door. Afterwards I asked Roxanna who the friend was - she told me and I stated. "I'm going to marry him".

Now of course, this would be an incredible story for future generations if that friend was Kevin, so I'm sorry to burst the bubble, but I didn't meet Kevin until about 3 years later. So, why did I mention the story? Well that first meeting began a pretty significant portion of my growing up life.

The next night, was Halloween. I was dressed as a a pink bunny. I had made some ears, and a fuzzy shirt and was wearing overalls. Roxanna took me to a house party, I think it was her friend Kate's house. It was on the bus on the way to the party that I got to see Jenny and James again, and met their friends Scott B(officially known at the time as Wacko) and Scott H. I remember Roxy being a princess, James being a slug (a truly epic costume complete with garbage bags and vasoline), Scott H being Shaggy and Wacko being James Brown. After the party, we went back to the basement of Margaret Newton and that's when I had my first taste of alcohol. I could lie and say it was a taste, but James was very generous in letting me try just about everything in his cabinet. Having no experience previously, I truly didn't understand the concept of limits. There was Lucky beer, coolers, Wildcat, White Russians, gosh there must have been more. The kicker was a shot of straight dark rum from a guy named Nick. After that things get understandably fuzzy.

Even having to ride a very rocky ferry the next day didn't deter me from visiting again and again - pretty much every month. I was developing friends and crushes and more of my real life was in Victoria than Vancouver. The kicker was the Huevos Rancheros concert in April, the first real true kiss, and knowing that my future was meant to be in Victoria. I had to go to school through the summer, but having a fall break - I jumped on the chance to move there for 4 months.

I have to say, that those 4 months didn't shape up to be as exciting as I would have hoped. I suppose that I imagined that I would be having as much fun every day as I did one weekend a month visiting, but I don't regret getting my first bit of true independence (and a toe ring ;) ) So in saying that, my epic year ended through the summer of 99.

I did end up moving to Victoria the fall of 2000. A lot of things had changed at that point and there were high points (weekly 80's nights that I still miss to this day every Wednesday) and low points (a broken, no scratch that, crushed heart and strained but mended friendships).

Things have changed so much since those years. I'm happier now on a whole than I ever was then as a young women struggling to find her way, but I still long sometimes to have it all back again - even for just a weekend. Try and live like we did with reckless abandonment, limited responsibilities and randomness. To sit in the shade and play our guitars, go out to all hours wandering and wondering. To be panicking about turning 20 not 30, imagine that!

So, I'm going to raise an imaginary toast to the summer of 1998, everyone in it and how it shaped my future. Cheers!

OK- On to Serious Business

I want to chat today about Balancing. Not on a beam, but balancing life- not necessarily a schedule, but even finding an emotional balance. It's something I've always struggled with because I like to take on a hundred different things at one time, but rarely can I get any satisfaction from them because I can't focus. (Hence the name of my blog...)

On the way home on the ferry yesterday, I had it all figured out. Get a big chalkboard, make a schedule and lists and stick to it. Then I came home to a house still looking like a birthday party, loads of laundry, unpacking, gardening work... and a teething toddler.

Flash forward to today - 30 degrees weather, a clingy toddler, and all of the above list to try and accomplish. Yikes! Well, I did manage to do the gardening and a load of laundry (although I couldn't bear to put the dryer on), but not much else because I became so overwhelmed I couldn't accomplish anything except a nice visit.

So, I want to know how you balance family and home life (and work as well). What do you do? What are your tips to getting it all done - or do you?

I think that it's going to start with an earlier bedtime, which is going to be a challenge - and getting back in to some great healthy food, then accomplishing more in the mornings will be easier, leaving the rest of the day open to fun activities for Avari, and more productive fun crafts for me in the evening.

Melllltttttinnnnnggggg!

Wow is it ever hot! This is day 3 of our true summer weather and it seems like we have stepped in to Arizona. I'm looking up ways to acclimatize myself because I haven't been known to adapt well to extremes! :P

This weekend went by in a blur - I'm very happy to say that Avari's mouth has healed up and she's nursing like a champ again, so no worries there. Of course, now I realize that is something that I'm going to have to start thinking about. I have no intentions to lead the process, I believe in child-led weaning, so I'll just have to realize that when her body decides it's time, it's time! I had a great time at the wedding on Saturday, the photos Karen took are going to be fantastic, and I am so truly thankful that she lets me crash at her house and get a good night sleep! John made us a fantastic breakfast, I borrowed a slow cooker cookbook, got to work on the sweater and really get in to the book I'm reading, and voila - now I'm home again!

Garden Check:
1/2 of the garden is doing incredible, 1/2 won't take.

Front Yard - The peas are a good 6-7 feet tall now, and there are peas starting to grow, the fava beans are getting large, the bean plants have finally started to wind themselves around the string and are taking off (I guess the soil just needed to warm up). My lilies have opened, the passiflora vine is ready to bloom, I'm waiting on the chamomile flowers to open so I can harvest them, the rose bushes aren't looking hot, but there are some beautiful roses coming in. Even the front rock garden is looking well kept!


Backyard- Well, first the positives. Lettuce is ready to start getting a mixed salad, the celery is beginning to look like celery, broccoli plants are standing tall, the garlic is growing. My back rock garden is starting to grow and fill in, I think it will be so beautiful next year! Slowly, plant by plant, I'm working on the area around the fruit trees. I have a cherry on our cherry tree!!!! Great first harvest. Both the cherry and the peach plum are really growing. We may even get a few raspberries this year on our baby bushes.

Negatives - The cucmbers, zucchini and squash all keep disappearing. I gave up on the carrots after replanting 5 times. This is frustrating me SO much! It seems like the yellow marigolds are doing their job, but the plants around the orange ones aren't making it.

Greenhouse! We have cherry tomatoes and Italian Peppers growing! The others should take off and even my tomatoes I planted last month from seed are getting big, they may even produce, I'm hoping I ddin't wait until too late!

Quite the Day

My mom and I are sitting out on the deck enjoying the beautiful weather, watching the sun sloooowwwly setting over the estuary. There are 2 eagles that have been flying over the farm behind us for the last 30 minutes. Except for the traffic noise, it's pretty peaceful!

Today was a go go go kind of day. Avari had a pretty awful sleep with her poor teeth cutting in and so we were up around 5, but I managed to keep her quite for the other guests until around 7 by finding some episodes of "In the Night Garden" on my computer.

I had my final official Chicks Who Click this morning and it was really fun. I got a better perspective about using space and background and metering. I can't share any photos, because my camera is in the shop getting a tune up, but I will next week when I pick them up. Karen and I also did some super fast shop browsing in Cumberland and I discovered a super yarn store that I have to visit as well as a few other great shops on the main drag -I will be going back!

Avari had her birthday photos this afternoon and Karen was able to get some super cute tutu shots, even through the teething. We also relied heavily on "throwing rocks" to get some happy faces out of the poor thing- but I can't wait to see them.

This evening, we enjoyed out on the deck. Avari still couldn't get more than some applesauce down, but she had fun playing with Dolly who is newly christened as "Carrot". Yes- that's right! She finally got her name. She also got to be Avari's partner for sleeping bunny and row row. I think it's going to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Here's my mommy worry of the day. Tonight, with her sore mouth and tongue, she couldn't latch on to breastfeed. She did today, but she'd pop off really quickly. I'm having a bit of a panic, because I'm afraid that she is going to lose the ability to latch and I'm really not ready for that part of our relationship to be over. Especially so suddenly. I truly wanted to be one of the mothers to show a good example and show that it is OK to extended breastfeed and that it isn't odd - since the world wide average is 4.2 years.

Of course, I could be completely over reacting, but she usually always needs that time before bed to unwind and get all sleepy. Well, tonight she tried, couldn't latch and then walked me over to her little travel bed, layed down and went to sleep. (With Carrot of course). She has even stirred once when a sea plane landed, and usually she gets up and wants "Noke". But I asked her if she wanted it, and she just rolled over and went back to sleep.

If this is it, I'm going to be completely devastated. I know that when she is ready to stop, that's when she is ready to move on, but I'm unprepared psychologically to lose that at this time! I guess I need to start some reading, but it's going to be a stressful couple of days while her teeth come in and her tongue heals and I wait to see if we're ever going to have that special bond again.

OK I'm on a Roll

I don't feel that I can relax tonight yet because I've been reading too much about "the number 350" . Everyone who knew me in the past will find this odd, because I used to be the complete opposite of an activist. In fact I was probably an anti-activist activist. I can't do that anymore. Maybe it is because I have grown up, or perhaps because I've created a next generation of my own, but all of this really means something to me now. Does that mean that I am going to go out an march for the Earth? Maybe? But there has to be more I can do everyday. I've looked up a top ten list of things someone can do to lower their carbon emissions and I'm really challenging everyone to read the link above, as well as the article in the post below and really thing about what you can do to help.

1. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

This is the one major chance that we have done in our family in the past 6 months. I never used to recycle. I would roll my eyes at the extra work. That is, until I moved to Powell River and was faced with having to go out and remember to buy garbage tags for each bag of garbage AND remember which day was garbage day AND pay $2 for every bag to be taken away. Previously in Victoria when we lived in an apartment, we could just throw the bags in the dumpster. Well, all of a sudden, sorting out recycling and doing a compost seemed much easier. We went from probably 3 green bags weekly to now we're lucky if we have one white kitchen bag. We don't buy very much packaged food anymore, we're keeping all of our glass jars to reuse, and we recycle/compost everything that can be.

By recycling half of your household waste, you can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

2. Use Less Heat and Air Conditioning

Air conditioning isn't a problem because we don't have it. Heat. Well... I like heat. I like being warm. I dislike being cold and our house is cold in the wintertime. I guess a major motivation for next winter will be the cost of heating, since natural gas costs are supposed to go up about $150 yearly for the average household. Sweaters, blankets, warm pajamas... I think a main issue is going to have to be making the house warmer. Our house leaks cold air from every crack. Most of the windows are just a single pane of glass set in a frame with no weather stripping at all. I was looking in to getting yards of wool interlock for the windows to hang to keep the heat in and the cold out. Weather Stripping is something that we should be spending our Climate $100 rebate on because in the long run, it would probably save us more than the $100 put in. This is going to be a huge priority this year.

Setting your thermostat just 2 degrees lower in winter and higher in summer could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide each year.

3. Change a Lightbulb

OK- this is something I have no excuse for not doing since my father owns a lighting store. He isn't sold on the idea though yet and apparently there are new LED ones coming out this year that are better so I'm holding out for them. My dad just told me a horrifying thought about our motion detector that probably uses up 30% of our total electricity bill. We'll be doing something about that for sure!

Replacing just one 60-watt incandescent light bulb with a CFL will save you $30 over the life of the bulb. CFLs also last 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs, use two-thirds less energy, and give off 70 percent less heat.

4. Drive Less and Drive Smart

Guilty as charged. Although my wonderful new Honda Element is good on gas for it's kind of vehicle, it's obviously not great on gas. Luckily for us, we live in a place that you can't drive more than 10 minutes a day on a typical day. I'd say that I probably on a normal day drive less than 20k (more likely 10k with one trip to town and back). It's just far enough with a toddler though, that we can't walk to get downtown and back without interfering with sleeptimes. This summer I'll be consuming more than usual with my jaunts over to the island. I wonder if ferry travel impacts my carbon footprint. Scary thought since I'll be making about 15 trips over and back.

5. Buy Energy-Efficient Products

We did do this this year! We got a new washer/dryer to replace the 20 year old ones that we have. Next on the list is the dishwasher, though for the amount it gets used...

But energy efficient products spread beyond home appliances. What about all the excess packaging that can't be recycled in home products? Can you avoid buying things packaged in styrofoam? Can you buy used things, or check out your local freecycle to get things second hand?

6. Use Less Hot Water

Right now we are very guilty of this. Avari's diapers get washed on super hot and I'd say they make up about 3 loads a week. Another reason to get very excited about potty training this year!

Set your water heater at 120 degrees to save energy, and wrap it in an insulating blanket if it is more than 5 years old. Buy low-flow showerheads to save hot water and about 350 pounds of carbon dioxide yearly.

7. Use the "Off" Switch

Dum Dum Dum.... OK - if I can make any lifestyle change this year. This will be it. I am very lazy when it comes to turning off switches. Well, not lazy - more like flighty. I just don't think about it. Posting a note at the back door would maybe do it? I have been unplugging my laptop at night, but I've been hearing so much about the amount of energy a turned off plugged in TV uses up. Pretty horrifying. I guess I could start with lights, TV unplugging and computer unplugging.

8. Plant a Tree

I did this!!!!!!!!! Finally something to feel proud about! This year we have planted 3 trees, 3 long life large vines and a whole ton of plants. My yard is breathing very well. Never mind the peach plums, cherries and figs it will provide us with.

A single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime.

9. Get a Report Card from your Utility Company

Although the blog that I got these ideas from says that you can get an energy audit for free, I believe that it costs $150 in BC, but that it opens you up to a huge amount of rebates for making changes in your home. I think that if we reno our house we will do this, but for the time being, we probably can't afford the changes it will take to make a difference.

10. Encourage Others to Conserve

well- that's what I'm doing right now, so I did my part! Don't forget to check out http://www.350.org and the banner on the left to see how you can help. Please share ideas of what you are doing/have done to make your home and life more energy efficient. Now I'm off to find out about the carbon footprint for the ferry...

Inspiration at 350

You've all seen the banner to the left - now here's the reason behind it all. This article explains the dire straights that it has come to to save our planet and his words make more sense than mine ever will. Please visit the link!

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080526/mckibben

Remember

“I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.” Edward Everett Hale - courtesy of the Crunchy Domestic Goddess Mom Blog

Gone and Away

Avari, my mom and I are enjoying a nice evening at the Estuary Bed and Breakfast in Comox tonight. I have my Chicks Who Click Course tomorrow morning with Karen, and then Avari's photos and then I work on Saturday. So Karen has to hang out with me for 2.5 days!

Bed and Breakfasts with kids are always a bit of a worry- especially with an early riser like Avari. It's hard to keep a wide eyed bouncy child quiet at 5AM, so I'm hoping that she has a little sleep in so she doesn't treat the other guests to a gorgeous impromptu sunrise experience.

We've spent 4 weekends at this B&B and it's great! Brenda makes a fabulous breakfast, the view is to die for (as long as you ignore the Walmart sign glowing across the estuary), and at the moment I can hear an eagle calling in the tree outside the window.

Kevin is in charge of my garden at home for the weekend, and everything was just starting to grow. The first peas appeared this morning and the most gorgeous orange and pink lilies are in bloom. Next week we'll be treating ourselves to our own lettuce!

Well, there's nothing like hanging out on a nice bright bed, so I'm going to grab my book and knitting and look for a show online to watch and enjoy the evening now that the monkey has gone to sleep.

Google Books- what have I been missing!

I was searching online for how to make an infusion with chamomile leaves since Avari is teething her eye teeth and the flowers haven't grown yet on my plant.

Well all of a sudden up on the screen came a book, in it's full glory that I could browse on books.google.ca - I felt slightly guilty browsing the book page by page, but then I started to think of it as an online library and all of a sudden my world opened up to new possibilities! Perhaps in my naive world I tend to believe what I read in a book more than what I can find on a website - so voila! The perfect compromise for a frugal person like myself.

Tapping in to creativity

I have discovered a series hole in my ability to be creative. Give me a pattern, a photo, or instructions and I'm all over it.

Stand me in front of bolts of fabric, or just give me an original challenge and I'm lost! Basically I'm a bit of a rip-off artist. Or perhaps I've never given myself the opportunity to be creative. I think there is probably a good psychological reason why I'm unable to create original material, but I haven't figured it out.

So, I've created yet another goal (which reminds me that I need to start tracking my goals on the side of my blog so that I can keep track of them). I'm going to be creative!

I'm scared!

I'm joining the Creativity 350 Campaign (banner link to your left). Basically you're supposed to create something crafty that is significant to the number 350.

???

I will figure it out! I hope.

I'm also struggling this month with my Chicks Who Click photo word. I'm not sure how to take a picture that represents the words. I've taken alot of great photos that I'm pleased with this month however they have nothing to do with Transition or Power . I just can't wrap my head around that one.

Considering that I have to send the photos to the developer by tomorrow afternoon, I'm really, really stuck. Grrrr

I'm growing things!!! FOR REAL!!!

I'm so excited! I just got back from a little walk through of the garden and things are actually producing food - yippee!!!!


There are teeny tiny little peppers growing on my purple italian drying pepper plant they are so cute!!! I also have some little cherry tomatoes, strawberries and fava beans!!! The peas are flowering and they are a towering 6 feet tall. The lettuce is ready to pick, one of the celery plants is growing something that resembles celery.

Wow, wow, wow!!! I have the most beautiful roses growing today as well- I'm in garden heaven and I can't wait to see what it will look like next year!

I'm off to see if I can find a sew along to make Avari clothes for the fall/winter...

Yesterday...

Poor Avari was having a tough day yesterday recovering from too much party junk food, and I'm having some serious mommy guilt about it. Why did I feel the need to supply the kind of food that she doesn't get daily and obviously threw off her internal system. Next year I'm going to do a super healthy but great party. In the meantime, we have enough food left in our house to feed an army- I'm sure Kevin and I will pay for it after the week in the pant button department, but it's sure good in the meanwhile!

On Sunday I baked Amish Friendship bread. Sabrina from the Family Place brought a starter by on June 11th and you let it sit and squish the dough everyday for 10 days only adding more ingredients on day 6. At the end of the 10 days, you split the starter in 4, keep one for next time, hand out the other 3 and then with the remaining, bake 2 loaves of awesome cinnamon bread. So... I have 3 starters here that I'll be trying to give away tomorrow.

I ordered a few books yesterday that were reviewed on the Comox Valley Kids website yesterday. They look incredible and I can't wait to get them (I also hid a little sewing book for myself in there as well sshhhhh...). I always feel very guilty about not buying books locally, but usually when I come across a book I like it is at night, online, and on sale. I really need to start carousing our book store more and gather inspiration from instore. The library I'm trying to embrace. Trying. I am truly a book snob. I don't like reading books that look well read. Of course that makes no sense, but I love new books! So, I tend to stick to the New Book Shelf when I go. I also am having a heck of a time logging in to the library's website, to order books that I want and when I get to the library I seem to have forgotten which books I was interested in, so the library tends to get treated second rate by us.

We got out Environment Rebate checks yesterday. What I want to do with it- Spend the entire $300 on a rocking garden! I'm dreaming Peonies for everywhere! But it will get put to an entirely inappropriate use. Tanks of gas. How does that even make sense??? But we really do want to go to Vancouver, and that will help finance the way.

The sun is on it's way out so it's time to go and do more weeding!

Adventuring....

This afternoon I decided that it would be fun to show Kevin and Avari where we went for our Herbal Nature walk a few weeks back. So, we packed all up to go to Craig Park. Craig park is north of town about 3/4 of the way to Lund. There is a big sign off of the highway and the turn off is the same for the Glenrosa Golf Course. They have a fabulous play area, tennis courts and a ball field. To get to our little adventure, we had to drive down an off road road. I wasn't sure exactly how to get there, so it took 2 tries, but we made it!

I have to admit that I need to take a course on adventuring. I would love to do more, but growing up in the city has left me with no natural sense of naturing. I was leading them down a trail but all of the alarm bells were going off in my mind! Are we on the right trail? What if we aren't? What if we run in to a bear? Or a cougar? How old are those bear tracks? Yikes! I also learned that the just 2 set aren't quite ready to go adventuring on those kind of trails! Avari just wanted down the whole time and we were a bit nervous.

So, this evening, we're going in search of some "break in" trails to help get our feet wet and introduce us to a foreign idea!

Birthday Party Recovery

What a perfect day yesterday! The weather was incredible, and it seemed like the kids all had a blast at the party. I had a book exchange so I got everyone to bring a book with them, the kids decorated their goodie bags and at the end of the night they all got a book to take home with them.

We also did the most fabulous thing for cupcakes. This might be old news for you, but I'd never heard of it before! You bake cupcakes right in ice cream cones, and then it's really easy for the kids to handle. I even stole a few ideas from the Today Party that was run a few months ago at Karen's photo study with Comox Valley Kids. We took extra icing from the birthday cake and divvied it up in to little dixie cups and let the kids decorate their own cupcakes. I also stole the idea of putting out a big roll of paper for the kiddos to decorate and they made a wonderful banner for Avari that I think I'm going to get laminated for her (Kevin says that it will cost 100$ so we have a little bet about that going on). Between that, the balloons, the pinata (which was a huge success). My parents know how to throw one heck of a party - I'm not sure what a party would look like without their help!

We are so lucky to have met so many wonderful families since we have moved here. It's a big adjustment to move from college life right into starting a family in a new town but it seems to be going really well. I don't know what I'd do without all of these great kids (and their moms and dads) that we get to spend time with every week! At 2, Avari has more than a dozen friends that she asks for by name on a daily basis, and I think that is so incredible and I can't wait for her to grow up with them. I think that is the greatest thing about a small town like Powell River. There isn't a heck of a lot going on, so chances are you'll get to see everyone at least every week!

Here are some birthday pictures




Craig and Avari in the sandbox





























For all of the photos, you can check out my flickr set
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11254172@N04/sets/72157605741996322/

Looking across the ocean....

those cirrus clouds are not looking promising! They usually only move in before a low pressure system. Hmmmmmmm. The weather report is still saying 19C and cloudy with no precipitation expected for the next 24 hours. I won't go into what Environment Canada says because- hey, they don't have a TV station, how good could it be right? Right?

The cake is making it's way in to the oven as we speak - The cupcakes. Well half of them made it in to the oven alive! Good thing I had planned to make about triple the amount we needed so we ended up in good shape. I definitely need to get an honourary recipe reader.

I'm also fighting what I believe to be a winning battle with this cold. It really has no chance to take hold with the ammunition I'm using. Here's the list of what I'm taking repeatedly over the day.

Oil of Oregano - every hour. I live for this stuff!
Colloidal Silver - a teaspoon 5X a day and a nose spray
Cold FX- I finished off the bottle last night
Oscillococcinum - I only had one dose left so I took it
Thymuline - Not sure if it will help, but it can't hurt
Dr. Rahim's Immune Booster - 3X daily
Some Sinus Homeopathic stuff - as a preventative
Drosera - as a preventative for the cough
Some Amino Acid thing for sinuses
My mom has also lent me a couple of other stuff she has to take

So really, how could the cold take hold? So far I feel nothing but a little aching in my upper back and a really slightly stuffy nose. I mean serious business here!

Off to make some dips for crackers. Please keep praying for the rain to stay away!

Weather is the name of the game.

We've got the food ideas, the cake ingredients, party favours, birthday dress, the weather...

Wait a minute. The weather!

Now, right now the forecast is almost perfect- 18 and cloudy. Partly Cloudy would be the most desirable, but I definitely won't be picky! Especially with the flooding in the US Midwest, and the tornados and hail they are having, and the droughts in Texas. I'll take mild without rain any day!

With the weather not being very pleasing today, I'm enjoying a bit of a couch break while Avari is napping. What I should be doing is scrubbing up the downstairs, just in case the party has to move inside, but I'm optimistic! Rain isn't allowed on the first day of summer is it? The other thing I should be doing is knitting a little camisole for Avari's dress, just in case it is as cold as it is today. I've been in a bit of a needle funk lately though - I get frustrated because all of the projects I want to spontaneously begin seem to need a needle size that I don't have.



The other thing I'm trying to do is will away all of the sick germs that have been floating through the house all week. I'm usually the first one to come down with something, but I have the feeling since Avari got it and I didn't, she didn't get any immunity from nursing so most likely it's just waiting to appear. The only good thing is that it seems to be just an annoyance kind of cold if anything, neither Kevin or Avari seemed very sick - so hopefully I can fight it off silently over the next couple of days and then be all perky for the big party!!!






here's the birthday dress!

T-3 Days

We're in party mode around here!!!! Praying for good weather, and getting together the goodies. It seems like it would be pretty simple to throw a party, but when you're trying to be healthy and environmentally responsible- apparently that is pretty difficult.

Fun, healthy food for the party as well as some goodies. Making a cake and realizing about food dye in the icing. Icky plastic beach balls for the kids. Even picking up a new propane tank for the barbeque makes me feel a bit self conscious. I think this is going to take me a few years to perfect- not a good project to undertake in 3 days - so I'll make it a future goal to make an awesome, fun, healthy, sustainable party. Maybe in time for birthday # 3.

Oh hooray- our fence is finished! We won't have to worry about little munchkins taking a nosedive off of the edge of a yard (it is a 3-6 foot mini cliff). The fence is the cutest, most wonderful picket fence in the world and I'm already planning on next year's plants to put there. It completes the yard so wonderful. Actually, the entire yard will be so wonderful next year. Raspberries, Cherries, Peach-Plums, Strawberries. I think that I will be sad to leave it when we build our hypothetical farm. (Did I mention that I have picked out a plan?)

It's time to put my baby girl to bed for one of the last times before she's a little girl

Looking ahead to the big 0-2!

We're T-4 days until Avari's 2nd birthday. My baby is going to be an official toddler! It's funny because 2 and a half years ago, I was assuming that I would probably be ready to burst with baby number 2 by now.

Funny how things change! Other than regret for my other favourite unused baby names, I'm pretty content with our three person family. Luckily Kevin feels the same way. Since we're still going through nights of interrupted sleep with the occasional break, it's hard to imagine going back there again for another 2+ years.

Right now we have dreams of our own little farm. A place for us to grow our own food, raise meat and pets. Have a spot for Avari to run wild all day in between schooling sessions. Our own orchard, grape vines.... doesn't that sound incredible! The world is getting to a very scary place as far as food sustainability and availability, and I'd love to create our own little niche in the planet. Granted, we know nothing about farming (and considering that the only thing thriving from my newly planted garden is one zucchini plant and some peas), we have alot to learn! We were very lucky to have gotten in the market at a good time, and we've secured good equity in our house. I'm hoping that the equity we have will be enough to buy us a few acres of land and then we can build a house with the cost of our existing mortgage. The best thing yet is that Kevin agrees with me! *

(* Those who know me know of my weekly new dream/scheme and it's up to Kevin to bring me back to earth)

So, it seems like this might actually be a really down to earth smart idea and we've set a time line of 3.5 years and here's to hoping that the dreams can come to fruition!

Some photos to share

I forgot to add this on my last post- working for Karen also has an even bigger perk- I'm learning so much about how to take better photos. Here are some to share from this month





look at how in focus her eyes are at 2.8f !





























CATCHLIGHTS!!!!!!!!






I went on a nature walk last month and it was wonderful!



























Beautiful morning window light!

I was so proud at how even lighting I got this photo




























Avari wants to wear her tutu everywhere!

Reinventing the Blog

So, it's been 2 months since i've posted- bad on me again! I've been trying to muster up something interesting to write, since I subscribe to a heck of a lot of good blogs. I want to be able to reciprocate with something equally enjoyable, and it just felt like everything was pretty blah di blah.

I think I'm becoming inspired to write not only about my daily life, but to issues that really matter for me. As you can see from my last post in April, I was looking to become a more responsible citizen, and voila - it's been working! My compost is baking away and starting to resemble some gorgeous rich earth and my garden is flourishing (with the exception of the plants I keep having to replace from the beetles and slugs). I should be able to start harvesting some lettuce leaves next week, and the first blossom has appeared on my 5 foot tall pea plants. Even though I don't like to eat tomatoes, I have 24 plants in the greenhouse which will hopefully provide us with tomato sauce and salsa for the winter.

This year's garden is technically a trial run for me, because I've never in my life gardened before. I have been learning a ton, and am ready to stockpile seeds and plan out a good companion garden for next year. I stumbled upon companion gardening this month as I replanted cucumber and corn seedlings for the 3rd time as they were being completely sheared off at the base. Obviously not a fan of pesticides, but desperate to be able to make pickles I went searching for answers.

Companion Gardening! - The act of planting certain plants together that are beneficial and deter bugs. So far, my cucumbers and corn have survived 3 days with the help of marigolds and nasturtiums. Nasturtiums truly have become my own best companion - they have beautiful foliage and you can eat the flowers and they deter bugs from eating the veggies- what can be better than that!

Enough about the garden for now. It's Avari's birthday coming up on the solstice. She is such a doll! I asked her today how old she will be

2! *

(*OK - there may have been a teensy little bit of conditioning there...)

But, what I didn't condition her to do is pick out the letter B on a page and tell me what it was. I fluke I thought, so I have asked her a few more times since and she was bang on each time. So, she knows the letter B - and she's started to sing some of the songs we do at toddler time/

I've been in a bit of a panic this week, because we do many fun things every week, and one by one they are closing down for the summer. The Family Place does stay open though which is a lifesaver for the pair of us!

On the work front. I am having so much fun working for Karen this summer assisting for weddings. Besides being an incredible photographer, she is the most awesome positive person in the world and so much fun to be around! I look forward to the weekends that I get to take the ferry over the island. I wish that we post lived on the same side of the water so that I could work for her permanently! ( I would definitely have better taste in music if we hung out more ).

So, I'm going to promise to blog something very insightful everyday all summer - I promise!!!! I'll share more photos, and hopefully I'll have more crafty stuff to share!

Being a Responsible Citizen

My goal this summer is to become more sustainable. I've been working on this for a LONG time, but it doesn't seem to be progressing at a pace that makes me happy.

Since we get our produce and dry goods in a weekly bin and our meat in a monthy box, that saves us on a huge amount of crappy plastic bags. Somehow, my kitchen and laundry room and STILL becoming overrun with them. I am however recycling all of those extra bags so that makes me somewhat feel better. My goal though is to bring in NO plastic bags to the house. I have a market bag and 2 reusable grocery bags as well as a couple of canvas bags but they don't end up coming with me in the car. Need to make a plan to help this!

Reducing the amount of waste that goes out. Recycle, recycle, recycle. I'm doing a ton better and now that I have built our compost- that's saving us about a plastic grocery bag a week of waste. My goal is to only have 1 bag a week of garbage leaving the house. (and that will make it more enticing to purchase biodegradable expensive waste bags). There really is no excuse to having even a full bag of garbage going out of the house considering you can recycle so much, and compost. What is getting thrown out? I have to figure this out.

I need more ideas...

Great Soup

I have to post this recipe before I forget!

-Make a rue from coconut oil, onions and garlic
-Add can of coconut milk, 2 tbsp curry powder and simmer
-brown a lb of ground beef in a frying pan
-When the coconut milk has simmered and thickened fill the pot with water and chopped veggies
(I added broccoli, baby bok choy, bean sprouts,mushrooms and celery)
-Add the ground beef and juices, and a cup of pearl barley
-If you want it a bit thicker then add a cup of milk
- I added some different spices, salt and pepper to taste

YUMMY!

Oops- I've done it again!

OK- I need to start a new rule. Blog everyday, or else I'll lose my readers (do I have any?)

Everything gearing up for spring is getting even busier. I've been finished work for a month now, and the days have been even more full if that is possible!

I'm determined to have a garden, I've been tilling up a storm. Avari's little garden area is almost finished, just waiting for the bizarre weather to be over so we can plant some little seeds for her. She's been helping fill it up with worms! I've constructed a compost and it's filling up quite quickly as we do the yard work. I'd say that the front yard is about 80% done. Just needs a couple more hours of tilling and weeding and some gorgeous new soil, some edging and presto!

We've also been keeping our weekends busy constructing and making things. Besides the compost, I've dyed some playsilks with kool-aid, made a wooden spindle and a birdhouse. We're planning on making Avari a set of playstands in may that have some shelves for her to play with and then a playsilk can be draped over for shade.


She already loves her little table set we created for her out of some old stumps that were left in our backyard




All in all, I suspect that I will have the front yard done by April 15th, then it will be the construction of the backyard garden and seed planting for May 1st. Yea me!

My crafting has been lacking due to lots of tax stuff, and doing my new advertising job- that has to be done in the evenings, and it's alot of set up work. April 13th I start my photography assistant job and I'm SOOOOOOOO stoked about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, after quitting work, I now have 3 jobs and a fulltime mom slot all wrapped up in to a day, and I LOVE it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm also catching up on technology. I'm getting a cell phone- a blackberry and it's PINK! yippee! I can now check email all day, any time of the day, and do MSN stuff all day. I'm not going to get in to web surfing, but it has an organizer, so instead of having a zillion little pieces of paper getting lost in my pocket - they will now be engrained in my new beloved toy. Can you tell i'm excited and it's not even here yet!

I got a wonderful little gift in the mail today. I'm so fortunate to be a part of a great group of mommas online and we're doing a mother's day swap. Today I got a little note in hte mail with 3 beautiful handmade gift cards that are getting put in a frame as soon as I can get back to the store to get one. Thanks so much secret sister!!!!!!

OK- back to do a few rows of my spring cardigan before naptime is over

Where do I begin

I'm ashamed to even admit how long it has been since I have blogged. 3 weeks? Last month just went by in a blur! I didn't realize until I was on Ravelry this evening and saw the date of the last posting. So, what have I been up to?

Well, let's just start with the fabulous trip at the end of February! I'm taking a photography course called Chicks Who Click with Karen in Courtenay and it was our first class. I'm finally learning the technical aspects of my camera, and things seem to be making alot more sense as opposed to flying by the sheet of the wind. Yea!!! Our first project is to shoot "Touch" . Well this is where my creativity is lacking. I can imagine the obvious way to shoot touch. But I really want to grow here and I know that people are going to come up with some fabulous ideas, and I have trouble with coming up with interesting ideas. Think brain, think! Or stop thinking so hard about it... ha ha-

After the class my mom and I went on the Great Yarn and Toy Search - we hit up every shop from Campbell River to Duncan including an alpaca farm. I was hoping to get my hands on some gorgeous alpaca roving, but had to settle for the softest yarn there ever was. I can't wait for my dye to arrive! We managed to resist and only buy 3 giant bags full....

I learned today that there is a new yarn store opening up South of Town- this is very good news! I also have made a connection to the Spinner and Weavers guild and I'm so excited to see where that could lead.

I feel like I've been crafting lately, but getting nowhere - that could be the sheer volume of projects I have on hand! I've started a sweater and knit jacket for myself, and Avari's birthday dress and I'm working on a little hat for Marshall tonight. I'm blocking a scarflet tonight to add buttons too, and I have to frog 82 rows of a dress knit with sock yarn because I didn't realize that I had twisted the project on the first row when I joined my circular needle. (cry)

I really, really, really want to sew more, but I've gotten a little intimidated by it lately. I know what I want to sew, but I just can't get started-

Busy, busy, busy

My typical day is getting very full now! I'm going through lots of life changes and my horoscope is affirming this (usually it's very off). I'm going to be joining a photo class with Karen that starts next week (once a month for 5 months). Next Monday is my last day at Mitchells- I'm going to be starting a new chapter.

I had a fun day today! Avari and I went to Family Place for Toddler Time. She's getting so much fun to watch! I made Chili and baked a loaf of Banana Bread during her nap. Then we went for a walk up to Mitchells for lunch, came back and played.

There's so much more to write! My brain hasn't been in to blogging and I've been starting a few projects but I'm not getting too far.

Proud owner of a Dehydrator!

Gotta Love Freecycle! I know have a dehydrator- I'm very excited- my kitchen is about 85% organized- all spices have spice jars, all flours have bins, all odd and end lids are GONE. I even learned that my oven is self cleaning, which is very wicked in itself!!!

I'm a new Auntie today!!! Marshall Robert was born at 8:30 this morning at 8lbs 14oz- I can't wait to see Rhonda tomorrow- what an amazing momma! Love you guys!

I'll write more tonight- I know I've been neglectful again

Great Recipe Source

So, my goal is to try and incorporate raw foods into 2/3rds of our diet- I have that awesome cookbook, and now I've found a good website with recipes

http://www.rawfoods.com/recipes/

I really need a dehydrator- maybe that's something I can get with tax return money- yippee!

Changes

I'm about to start a new fun chapter beginning in March - can't spill the details yet.

and yes.

there may be some extreme knitting :)

Seriously though, I'm going to be taking the Chicks who Click course to help with my photography, and meet some fun new people! It's once a month for 5 months- and a little road trip to boot. I'm also gearing up for a really fun summer- yes I know that it is far away still, but it feels like it's right around the corner!

OK - so how much fun will this be!

Through a little hyenacart research, I learned that you can dye protein fibers (wool and silk) with unsweetened Kool-Aid. (I'll never drink the stuff again!). Now, I couldn't find the unsweetened here in town, and an awesome Mama offered to find me some in the States and send it to me.

Anna from A Mother's Nature bought me a whole bunch of different colours and is shipping it to me next week! I'm so excited, because I was a little intimidated by the Dharma Dyes that I have on order, so this will be a great step in!

So now, as if I didn't have a whole whack of different crafts to do, I'm going to be a yarn dyer!!!! I have some Roving, and some Cestari Bulky and some playsilk blanks on the way, so I imagine by spring, I'll by creating my own beautiful yarn- yippee!

Matt's Hat got finished this afternoon, just in time for his trip so that's awesome. I'm really going to make a run at finishing my Ice Queen Cowl tonight, since it's the last of the month, I want to start a new monthly project on time and this one has been lagging me for awhile- but it's so pretty!

I also want to do a papercraft mural for Avari this week- she can help me glue things on it. Thank goodness for Dollarama (while hanging my head in shame...) Once I'm a rich designer, I'll shop responsibly!

Here it is...

I give this recipe 5 gold stars














I ordered some figs this week from Sunshine Organics and was looking for a recipe that used them. The glaze has to be one of the best things I've ever made. Since we're trying to cut out the "bad" stuff, I ordered some raw blue agave syrup as a sweetener to use instead of brown sugar. I was also just informed that agave is what is used to make tequila, so that makes it even more interesting! Roasted Sweet Potatoes rounded up the meal very nicely!

Here's the recipe:

Fig and Lemon Chicken

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 50 Minutes

Ready In: 1 Hour Yields: 12 servings

"Sweet figs provide a rich contrast to tart lemon in this citrus-glazed composition."

INGREDIENTS:

1 lemon, juiced 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup white vinegar 1/4 cup water 1 1/2 pounds dried figs

1 lemon, sliced 12 chicken thighs salt to taste 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley 1 teaspoon dried parsley

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2.	In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, brown sugar, vinegar and water; set aside.
3.	Place figs and lemon slices in the bottom of an 11x16 inch baking/roasting dish. Arrange chicken thighs on top, then pour vinegar mixture over chicken. Finally, sprinkle with salt and dried parsley to taste.
4.	Bake/roast at 400 degrees F (200 degrees C) for 50 minutes, basting frequently (turn figs if they begin to brown).
5.	With a slotted spoon, remove chicken, figs and lemon slices from baking dish and place on a warm platter. Skim fat from cooking juices, then pour over chicken as sauce. Garnish with fresh parsley and serve.

and that's that- try it out!! Tomorrow morning I have a new "pancake" recipe on the list. I've heard if you scramble one egg with one banana and fry it in a pan, it makes some great pancakes- so we'll see!

Woo hoo- it's Wednesday!!!

Wednesday is treat night- I adore it! I don't have an idea of what the treat is yet, but I did get my little "monthly spoil me" in the mail today- it's a beautiful headband - I'll share fund pictures tonight. I'm off to make a Moroccan Chicken for dinner- yumm

Some New Projects

I've had to put my personal knitting and sewing aside this week because I've had so many fun projects for people!

This is part of the fun secret project I was working on last week- I'm still waiting for some little goodies in the mail to put in it to be sent away- crossed fingers they get here by Friday!











































Today at the Mom's Cafe, it is Finger Puppet Day- I was asked if I could make some finger puppet forms so the moms and kids could decorate them, so here they are!













I made Pigs, Bees, Bears, Frogs, Bunnies, Birds and Ladybugs- sounds like fun! I'll bring the camera so I can get some action shots of the decorating