Inside the Fishbowl

Wheeeewwwwwwwwhhhhh.

Yes, I actually posted a picture of myself post taking off makeup, and in very unflattering light.  It just seemed appropriate.

That's me letting out a very deep breath. It was a long weekend.  Jeremy came through his surgery just fine, though he did have to be admitted to the hospital overnight because he was having trouble breathing without supplemental oxygen.  But the more I think about it, that was probably a good thing.  I would have been up all night watching Jeremy stop breathing momentarily and then jerk awake.  That way I got a good night sleep and I could be on my game for the weekend. 

In the meantime, I've been listening to the Genius playlist I created on iTunes using "Swallowed in the Sea" from Coldplay's X & Y CD.  It's my all time favorite mix (so far).  It's been my close friend this weekend, to be sure.  

Here's to hoping that this is a better week than last!

The Long Break

I know it's been a long time, and unfortunately I'm not returning with anything all that exciting.  I've been busy with the kids' schedules, and cleaning my house.  Really deep cleaning my house.  I haven't done that since I moved in (ahem) four years ago.  I thought it was time.  It's all a byproduct of the broken wrist, if you can believe it.  When I was sitting on my couch for a month, not able to do anything, the thing that bothered me the most was the state of my house.  I'm cleaning it slowly, washing every surface, and purging as I go.  Jeremy and I have decided to go on a buying freeze for the rest of the year.  Of course, there will be things that we need to buy, but we're trying to ween ourselves from feeling the need to buy "stuff."  You know what I mean, right?  Our particular weaknesses are books and DVDs, stuff for the kids (hello Target $ spot), stuff for the kitchen and hobby related items.  June will be spent doing the cleaning and quick purging.  Then in July, August and September we're planning on really going through our stuff with a fine tooth comb and figuring out what we really need.  What things are essential, make our life more pleasant or more meaningful?  If an item doesn't fit into either of those categories, or if it isnt' going to be used up in the near future it's gone.  I feel really good about this project.  Jeremy and I always talk about simplifying our lives, and now we're doing it.  I'll show you pictures of all my empty closets when I'm done!  ;)

One more thing.  I cannot listen to that song Jai Ho without crying.  You know, the one from Slumdog Millionaire?  I know, it's not even the version of the song from the movie.  And it's the Pussycat Dolls, for goodness sake.  But it does remind me of that movie so much.  What a crybaby I am.  Oh, and no, I will not be getting rid of my copy of Slumdog Millionaire!  

Robin Cam

I'm piggybacking my husband, Jeremy's blog post today because it's just too cool to not mention.  Jeremy has a robin's nest on the ledge outside his office at work and he got his IT guy, Joel to set up a webcam on it.  The live stream is on his blog.  I've been a little addicted to it today.  There are three beautiful little eggs in there!  I can't wait to see the babies when they hatch!  Check it out.

Signs of spring

At last, spring is starting to settle in.  This weekend it's even supposed to get into the 80s!  Oh, blessed warmth.

In other good news I got my cast off a week ago.  I've been wearing a brace this week, though, because my wrist still needed to be mostly immobile.  Today I took the brace off and I'm determined to go as long as possible without it.  It sounds cheesy to say this, but having the cast off has made it seem like spring to my soul.  It's nice knowing that I have some control over this situation.  The injury depression is gone. Now I can go about the business of strengthening my muscles and getting them to bend again!  It's almost over.

Today, in celebration of the warm weather and the evidence of spring that is all around, I went outside and took some photos.  Just a few pictures of what my yard is yielding with no help from me. Unfortunately, weeding is still not on the list, as the inside of my house is so sadly neglected that I'm spending all of my good arm time working on our living space.  The yard will have to wait for the TLC that it so desperately needs.  (Actually, I would be very ungrateful if I didn't express my undying gratitude to my neighbors across the street who are responsible for the beauty of my lawn and the fact that my bushes finally got cut back. Thanks Tak and Diana--you are the best neighbors anyone could hope for!)

This, I think, is a peony bush.  I planted some tubers last year and nothing happened.  They were old, and I didn't know what I was doing, so I wasn't too shocked or sad when my plants failed to grow.  But then, yesterday, I was outside with the kids and I saw this plant that didn't look like the weeds that are all too rapidly taking over the yard.  Could it be?  Time will tell.

I love the salvia plants in my front yard.  They are so colorful, and they bloom all summer long.  This is the fist of the three to blossom.  I can't wait until they're all full of color.

I saved the best for last.  Bird's nests!  As far as I can tell I have three nests in my yard.  This is the robin's nest that's in the tree right by my front porch, for the second year in a row.  Alex is constantly asking to see the red robin, which just melts me to the core--especially since I have no idea where he heard the term "red robin".  It's so adorable.  I also have two different sets of birds in the backyard nesting in the rain gutters.  One is a set of doves whose babies just started flying this week.  They like to sit next to each other on the fence in the evening.  I love staring out the window at them as they nestle close to one another.  The other set is a pair of yellow breasted chats.  I used to have a couple that nested in the front of the house.  They didn't rebuild their nest.  Maybe this is one of the offspring?

OK, just a little snippet of a funny conversation that I just overheard between Kaitlin and her friend, Nolan

"Kaitlin, are you going to marry me?"

"Well only if you don't scream in my ear again!"

If only that was the only criteria!  How easy life would be.  Happy weekend!

Little Gifts

I love walking around the house when the kids are gone or after they have gone to bed.  I never know what I might find.

Last week I was busy in the kitchen and Alex, as usual, was playing in the pantry.  (I think my little closet in the kitchen may just be his favorite "room" in the house.)  He started saying something about sugar in the cereal, but I wasn't really paying attention.  I brushed him off saying something like, "Yeah, you like sugar in your cereal, don't you?  Now come out of the pantry."  I didn't think anything of it until I came up from the basement late that night for a little bowl of cereal before bed.  I had just refilled the sugar pourer that day.  When I grabbed it I saw that it was empty.  Huh?  I retraced my steps, but I was sure that I'd filled it.  Then I remembered Alex telling me about sugar in the cereal. This is what I found

Alex had emptied the entire pourer into the Cheerios.  It's a good thing that he was asleep.  If he was awake I would have had to reprimand him.  Since he was asleep, I could simply laugh and appreciate that this is part of having a boy who loves to get into things.  Oh, how I love that about Alex.

On Monday I dropped Kaitlin off at school and came home to finish up my grocery list and get Alex ready to go.  I went into the living room to change Alex's diaper and came upon this artful arrangement.

What can I say but that this, to me, is a sign that Kaitlin is growing up.  Her creativity lately has exploded.  Her drawings are getting more and more imaginative, but they usually include self-portraits, butterflies and flowers in varying scenarios.  There is always a story.  I love this Barbie art because it shows me that she's starting to arrange things in her mind in ways that she finds pleasing. She's gaining her very own sense of aesthetics.  Of course this is not always charming.  That same morning she had a major meltdown because I didn't arrange the M&Ms on her preschool birthday cake the way she had envisioned.  (I sense years of conflict arising from differing visions.  I need to get her room decorated before I no longer have a say!)  But it's nice to know that she has an opinion.  Though it's hard at times, I'm glad that she has so much spunk.

So that's it.  Two little snippets from the last few days.  It's as close to domestic bliss as we get around here.  

Uninspired

I'm feeling rather uninspired, blogwise, lately, so you have to endure another list post from me.

1.  Jeremy and I had a date night in last Thursday.  We were going to go out, but then we couldn't find anything we wanted to do more than eat dinner.  So I put the kids to bed before he got home, and he brought us takeout from our favorite Chinese restaurant, Fortune Cookie.

I first went to Fortune Cookie last year with my friend Jenn.  She'd been with her family and simply raved about it.  Not one to pass up a fantastic Chinese restaurant ever, we went.  Her raving was no exaggeration.  I've been back twice, and have never been disappointed.  The best part is that Fortune Cookie is always packed!  Last time, when Jeremy and I ate the restaurant, we had to sit at the sushi bar.  I know, a Chinese restaurant with a sushi bar. Who would have guessed?  Sadly, I have never had sushi, so this won't include a review of that aspect of the restaurant.

My two favorite dishes so far are the two that we tried last week.  They are from the Chef's Specialies section of the menu, which can be viewed online.  The first is Orange Beef.  Don't worry, this is nothing like the Orange dishes that you will find at pseudo Chinese restaurants like Panda Express, where the orange is so overpowering as to be unpleasant.  Fortune Cookie's Orange chicken is subtle.  It's a little sweet, and a little bitter, thanks to the peppers that tone down what could be a sickly orangey taste. Add to that that the beef is a crunchy from a very unique breading method they use, and you have perfection on a plate.  

The second dish was Crispy Prawn with Walnut. (or Crispy Prawn with Walnuts in the American vernacular).  Why this dish isn't included in the dessert menu is beyond me.  The menu description is "Delicately seasoned jumbo shrimp lightly fried to a golden brown in the white creamy sauce."  (I love the English on Chinese menus!) What they fail to mention is that the white sauce is rich and very sweet, good enough to eat aprés meal.

Finally, we had the pork fried rice.  Jeremy and I love fried rice.  Love.  It.  We can't get enough of it. Just a small word of warning.  They offer fried rice as a side instead of steamed rice.  Don't get it. Now, don't get me wrong, it's good.  But the pork fried rice will knock your socks off!  The difference is astonishing.  And when you taste it, you won't mind spending the extra money.

Conclusion, if you ever have a hankering for some great Chinese food, head up to Riverton to sate your craving at Fortune Cookie.  You won't be disappointed.

2.  My favorite shop for patterns for felt food/toys is Bugga Bugs.  If you have any interest in buying patterns for felt food, you're going to want to stop here first.  I just cut out all of the pieces for the Fun Fruit pattern.  I'll post pictures when it's all sewn up.  Today she posted several new patterns, the coolest of which is an I Know and Old Woman pattern, that contains the old woman who swallowed a fly and all of the other animals that she swallowed.  So funny!  I also love her new cash register pattern.  Seriouslly, check it out!  You'll love it.

3.  I've given in to reading food blogs.  I can't help it.  They're just so beautiful.  And, as I attempt to abstain from foods that will not help me lose weight, it helps to see all of those foods and make plans for someday.  So far, some of my favorites are David Lebovitz (the entry from 2006 where he reviews Choxie chocolate from Target is incredibly funny!), Dorie Greenspan (mmm. . .baking, plus she's friends with Pierre Hermé), Chez Pim (Bay Area food blogger--San Francisco!!!) and, a local food blogger, Stephanie's Kitchen.  If you have room for a few more, you might want to try these out.

4.  One of my favorite CDs right now is Dar Williams's Promised Land.  It's so fun to sing along to.  All of the songs are really good (I don't skip any on my iPod) and, bonus, the Genius mix iTunes came up with for it is my absolute favorite.  Don't get me wrong, the soundtrack from Once is still my absolute favorite right now, but when I want something a little more uptempo, Promised Land is what I go to first.

 

Happy Things with photos

Here is my happy things list.

Primroses  For sale at Home Depot for $1.19 each.  Now they're planted in my happy green Ikea pots and sitting on my windowsill.  They smell nice, but without being too sweet.  Oh, how the combination of pink and green inspires me!

Cookbook storage  I've been wanting a large bookshelf to hold my collection of cookbooks.  It's ever growing, and the last set of shelves just wasn't cutting it anymore.  So on Saturday we went to Ikea. One of the reasons I love Ikea because they have odd sized furniture.  This was a strange little space, with a light switch, where a light switch isn't really necessary.  (I'd love to have a chat with whoever wired this house!)  Of course Ikea had exactly what I was looking for, and it looks even better than I thought it would!  And that cute apple up on top?  It's a find from Home Goods, my new favorite store! How did I ever forget about Home Goods?

New pillows  We bought new couches a while ago, but didn't get new pillows until just recently.  I spent almost four years with my old couches (now happily sitting atop the platform in the theater) hating the pillows.  They were ugly and they were really flat.  I finally bought new ones for the new couches and I love them.  Except that they're down/feather filled.  I need to buy new inserts for them, but after I do they'll be perfect.  Luckily, I got them at Home Goods so they were cheap enough to still be a good deal even with new inserts, especially if I sacrifice my 40% off Joann coupon for the next few ads.  Oh, I should check to see if Roberts carries pillow forms. . . .

Getting rid of junk  Sorry no photo of this one!  Jeremy and I spent the better part of Monday dejunking the basement.  We're still nowhere near done.  But we did drop off two huge loads at DI. They filled the back of my Ford Explorer.  It was very invigorating!  It's funny because Jeremy and I both were feeling the same things at Ikea on Saturday.  We both thought that it would be so nice to move into a smaller house.  This house feels overwhelming.  It's definitely too big for our family.  We basically have two bedrooms to ourself--each!  At Ikea there was a demo area with a 540 square foot apartment.  It felt so doable at the time.  Of course if I had to do it, I probably would run, trembling, from the prospect.  I do love my space, too.  I just hate to clean it!

Getting away with my family  We had the opportunity to get away for a quick trip to St. George for the weekend for my grandpa's 80th birthday.  While we were there we went hiking in Snow Canyon just outside of town.  It was beautiful.  The weather was perfect!  And we got to see the country club where HSM 2 was filmed.  But Kaitlin, sweet Kaitlin, was much more excited about playing on the sand dunes than High School Musical.  She's definitely her father's child.

Paper crafting  No pictures yet.  After this weekend, though I should have something to show for myself.  Jeremy and the kids are going to Idaho!!!  Anyway, my friend, Julie, keeps sending me links to her favorite paper blogs.  Oh, my!  It's not going to be difficult to use up my 100 sheets of paper!  In fact I may extend the diet to something more in the neighborhood of 200 sheets of patterned paper. Although, I have been looking forward to buying some new paper from Basic Grey.  Well, actually I want everything from this line. But especially this paper and these stamps.  Be still my heart!  I saw it all at Archivers today.  It's prettier in person!  But I resisted. See how determined I am?

Felt food I finally finished the Valentine's Day felt food gifts that I was working on for the kids.  They loved them.  Kaitlin spent the day yesterday in the playroom playing bakery.  I was feeling generous so I even gave her the adorable Fire King milk glass mixing bowl that I found at DI last week.  Maybe someday I'll get it back.  Or maybe I'll just get lucky enough to find another.  When I asked her what she would call her bakery if she could name it anything in the world she replied, (after first throwing out Cafe Rio) Lady Bug Bakery.  I love it!  I'm going to make her a sign with my Cricut.  She already has a set of lady bug napkins that match her daisy tablecloth that I made her two years ago.  

And can you believe it?  The best art of all of this is that I'm not writing this because I've been in the doldrums and I need to boost myself out!  I've been in a pretty good mood lately.  I think it's more of a storing up of happiness.  Saving it for later, in case I need it.  Jeremy leaves next week on a business trip to India.  He'll be living there for 6 weeks, with a brief visit home in the middle.  It's going to be hard and we are going to miss him so much!  I may have to refer back to this post to remind me of my positive state of mind when I'm having a bad day.  

Effective Immediately

That's it!  I declare to anyone who's reading that I am not allowed to buy any paper until I have used 100 sheets of patterned paper.  I am not allowed to buy any more fabric until I have finished all of the projects that are sitting unfinished on my sewing desk, all of the baby blankets that I have cut out, and two additional not yet started projects.  I am not even allowed to buy supplies to do said projects because I already have enough!  It's time to clear out some of the old stuff--if only it is to make room for new things!

I'm still firmly committed to this month's goals--they will be completed.  Just expect to see a rush of creative energy and tons of creative goals for March!  I can hardly wait!

Good thing I finally got my studio clean!  I've even cleaned the floors.  That hasn't been done for a long, long time!  It feels good.  It's nice to have gotten everything put into order.  I feel better already. I can feel the wheels in my head turning, planning.  I even (gasp!) feel a bit like scrapbooking.  I know. Shocking.  I think I may have said at one point that I didn't see myself scrapbooking ever again.  Maybe I owe it to the present I bought myself over the weekend.

It's a little hard to tell, but there is actually workspace here!  It's not totally clear because I have so many works in progress!  Shame on me!

In a week I plan on having shelves hung next to my desk (Jeremy, are you reading?), my Kelly Rae print and my Black Apple print framed and hung.  Oh, and the cute little dress forms I bought with some of my Christmas money decorated and hung.  Oh, and I may work on my inspiration board, which to this point has been decidedly uninspiring, except for the fact that it's covered with Amy Butler fabric.  The latest issue of Country Living has some ideas that I want to put up as candidates for my not yet started projects spoken of above.

OK.  I feel cleansed.  I feel refreshed.  I feel ready to go.  Bring on March.  (Yes, I realize I still have almost three weeks to go!  Bummer!)

6 Things

1. My New Best Friend

I am in love with weightwatchers.com.  Has anyone been to that site?  It's really good!  The tools for tracking points are fabulous.  I have been going crazy typing in recipes so that it can tell me how many points each serving contains.  Even better, there are substitution tools that can help you rewrite your favorite recipes to make them healthier.  I feel hopeful that this will work for me.  I've done Weight Watchers before with success (though not long term, obviously!).  Here's to starting off the year right!

2. The Cool Website My Sister Showed Me

For you recipe junkies out there who are also trying to eat better, my sister introduced me to a website called Eat Better America  that looks really promising.  The recipes are low fat, but tasty looking.  I'm particularly interested in the vegetarian chili recipe, and there are some really yummy dessert recipes to try.  Even though I'm working on losing weight, I'm not going to give up dessert entirely!

3. New Scarf

I bought myself some Debbi Bliss Cashmerino Aran yarn at La Droguerie in La Bon Marche in Paris with this ruffle scarf in mind.  I made it for myself last night while I watched August Rush.  I added an extra row because the yarn that I used is not as chunky as the yarn called for in the pattern.  But I love the result.  I might be spoiled for acrylic yarn forever.  Now I finally understand what people are talking about when they say how wonderful it is to work with natural fiber yarns.  I'll probably still use acrylic yarns (the Vanna's Choice yarns are very nice if you're not opposed to acrylic yarns) for things I make my kids.  But for myself, it's nice yarn all the way!

4. August Rush is Such a Sweet Movie!!

'Nuff said about that!

5.  Media Junkie

Lately I've been such a media junkie, madly watching and buying movies, buying music from iTunes and adding books to my "Save for Later" list for my Kindle.  Although this does reduce the size of my checking account, it does not add (much) to the volume of stuff that I have in my house.  I download books and music, I return movies to Netflix or delete them off of my DVR.  And I love that aspect of this digital age that we live in.  I can have things, without having things.  What can I sell without having to produce anything, stock anything, or ship anything?  Genius, I tell you.  Genius!

6.  New Musical Crush

Glen Hansard is my newest musical crush. I just saw the movie Once on Saturday night, and it and he just blew me away.  Though I don't recommend in to everyone--it has quite a few F-words, the movie is wonderful.  It is heartbreaking and real.  It's about a guy and a girl (the characters don't have names, they're simply Guy and Girl) who fall in love while making music together. It's an Irish movie--which should be enough right there.  Is it possible for a bad movie to come out of Ireland?  

For the romantics out there Hansard and his costar Marketa Irglova fell in love while making the movie. Isn't that a romantic movie poster? After buying the soundtrack to the movie, which is gorgeous, I checked out Hansard's band The Frames on iTunes and they're great too.  What I love about Glen Hansard's music is that it full of emotion. Don't you just love when a song elicits an emotional response? So much these days is bland, boring, uninteresting.  This is different.  In case you're interested, Hansard and Irglova won an Academy Award for the song "Falling Slowly" in 2007.  They tour under the name Swell Season.  Check them out!

Here's a couple youtube clips to watch:

Academy Awards speeches

Falling Slowly, performed on Letterman

Cozy

Last night were were throttled by a huge snow and wind storm.  I was up half the night listening to the wind whipping around my bedroom windows.  This morning I am grateful to be sitting by the fire knitting a nice warm scarf for my girl.  Even though she just informed me that the scarf I'm making for her is too big and I just pulled the entire thing out to make it half as wide.  Oh well. Chunky yarn and big needles make for quick knitting.  

Here are a few pictures of my neighborhood this morning.  Everything is plastered with snow as you can see.  I think I see some hot chocolate in my future.  What are you doing to keep warm?

This is the back of one of my neighbors' houses.  See how the side of the house is covered with snow and the how the fence that runs perpendicular to the house is also?  It was one crazy wind!

This snow covered Santa is one of our increasingly large, increasing gaudy light display in our front yard. I think it looks kind of cool covered in snow.  I have to admit, I'm surprised he's still standing. Jeremy did a fabulous job staking all of our ornamentation down this year.

The snow really did blow in every direction.  This is my backyard fence, which sits on a completely different angle from my neighbor's fence and house.

Somehow all the times I woke up don't seem so bad when I get to wake up to a fresh snow.  Oh, and cuddle with this little guy.

Do you think this will be the year that he'll sit still long enough for me to be able to take a photo of him without the top of his head missing?