CookKnitSew

Creative::Perspective

 

To me, the beauty of photography is that it forces you to focus in on sites that would otherwise go unnoticed.  You can cut away the distractions and zero-in to what really matters, in a moment. Photography creates a framework to discipine your perspective.  

We had a similar approach to our vacation this year.

Money was/is tight, now that Brian is home with the kids.  At first, we chose a trip to TN for Spring Break as a consulation to a "real" vacation.  We would be gone for a couple of days, instead of seven. We would go to Chattanooga to cut down on the cost of gas, as it is really close to Atlanta.  We would eat the free breakfast at the hotel, bring snacks to cover a make-shift lunch, and pick a modest restaurant for dinner.  

We hoped the kids (and we) woudn't notice all the cutting out.  We hoped that we could somehow capture what really mattered for a vacation -- getting out of dodge, eating new food, seeing new sites, having TIME together as a group that wasn't dictated by a clock or somewhere to be. A pool.  

 

Before we even left town, it started off sour -- the minivan wouldn't crank despite a week "young" battery.  And, there was that lice discoverey (ugh).  

The trip was delayed by a day.  Hearts we sad.  But boy, it helped us get perspective real fast about how cool it was going to be to hang in a fresh town for several days.  

It was a wild success.  

Family participation in the picture taking helped also.  ;)

 

CookKnitSew:: Click

My desire to make something is strongest when I should be doing something else.  Like say, packing. The night before we were supposed to head off to Chattanooga for Spring Break,  when I was finally using some brain power to think about what to bring on the trip, I decided that my current camera straps didn't say "Spring Break " and needed to be addressed urgently.  This mama, who is always lamenting that I have no time to be creative, dropped everything she was doing and found the time to make camera straps.  

Thankfully, it was an easy project - you basically make a tube with right sides facing, turn the thing right side out and slip it over those factory branded straps.  Ideally, you measure the length of your camera straps (I eyeballed it), determine how much scrunch you are looking for (I determined incorrectly) and cut a length accordingly.  I did neither of these things and therefore had to go through the process twice, because my straps were too short.  

 

High action, low accuracy is how I roll.  

On the plus side, I was inspired to take nearly 500 pictures last week.  

Seriously.

 

 

Creative Play::Fleeting

She is ten days shy of touching done on year nine.  She has been slow to leave behind her younger years, but things are unfolding for her.  One small sign is that she is less and less interested in certain kinds of creative play.

So last week when she burst into my room, all excited to offer me a manicure, I didn't expect to find this...

I don't always want to slow down and participate in pretend.  It isn't my thing...

But the thought of it no longer being her thing,

the recognition that we are perhaps rounding third on her childhood,

prompted me to say "yes, I woud LOVE a manicure",

Because deep down, I have come to realize that these days are fleeting and

My opportunities to say "yes" may not come so fast now...

Quilt::Birthday Pirate

Admittedly, I have had to drag myself to the cutting table to get the ball rolling on his quilt.  I ordered the fabric way back on the day after Christmas, snatching up cuts of Sarah Jane's Out To Sea collection with glee, picturing my pirate-loving boy snuggled under his very own quilt.  

My plan was to make each of the children a quilt in 2012 (a goal this novice made with large quantities of niavete).  After I finished Lilly's quilt a month AFTER her birthday, I accepted that I wasn't going to successfully churn out a quilt every 3 months.  I thoughtlessly cut the 2 year old's quilt, assuming he wouldn't miss it at his 3rd birthday.  (Ah, such an amateur mistake from this seasoned mama).  

Needless to say, come mid-July this sweet boy of mine expects a birthday pirate quilt.

Handstitching: It takes time

Like many mommas in January, I optimistically listed out all the things I wanted to accomplish in 2013.  The list was long.  The delusion that I would magically have more time for creative pursuits this year stretched out even further.  

One of the items on that list was taking the Handstitched e-course from Stitched in Color.  I signed up for the class, I bought many of the supplies the class required, and I may have even introduced myself in the first blog posting.  And, that was IT.  Life took over.  Even when I had a bit of time on my hands (like, an hour around 9:30pm on a Thursday) I was too spent to sink into a new craft.  So, I didn't.  Occasionally I felt guilty for not participating but mostly, I did not force myself to push through fatigue and make the class another "to do" on my list.

Two weekends ago, I finally had the juice to embark on one of the first projects.  It turned out okay and I enjoyed the process.  More importantly, two little girls watched intently as I fumbled with thread and needle.  They wanted to know what I was doing, why I had a needle in my hand and if they could give it a try.

So, I set the class aside again and all that weekend, I set up hoops, showed them how to thread a needle, knotted a lot of thread and taught my (not so) littles the nearly nothing I knew about hand stitching.  

 

 It took time. 

 Of course, I made sure they thought I had all the time in the world.

Cook::Top 13 in 2013

I expose my husband and children to all kinds of culinary concoctions based on random inspiration found on the internet, a cookbook, magazine, CSA cast-off or stroll through an Asian supermarket.  I nearly never use a recipe.  I may use the framework of a recipe, but the ingredients change based on what I have on hand or what I am trying to use up.  I like to think it makes my children a little less picky when they sit down for dinner.  They rarely see that same dish, the exact same way twice.  

Of course, there are downsides to this kind of cooking.  If I am not feeling creative, I don't cook as well. Or, if I change a recipe too much my kids reverse their opinion about a previously loved dish.  Once or twice a year, I wander so far from my foundational recipes that I can't quite remember what our standard dishes were to begin with.  I was getting in that territory right after Christmas.

To kick off 2013 (a couple weeks late), I am going to try and reboot recipes that I know we liked but for one reason or another I never repeated them.  I would like to come up with 13 recipes that I know my family loves.

One::Chicken Stew with Rosemary-Scented Dumplings

Soulemama blogged about this recipe once.  I tried it and everyone loved it.  I made it this weekend to double check.  Lilly no longer liked the dumplings but everything else was a hit.  Eli was against anything that wasn't a chocolate brownie z-bar.  So, he refused to taste it.  Perhaps I should strike that sentence above about my kids not being picky... 

 

Anniversary::Take11

Saturday, Brian and I celebrated our eleven year wedding anniversary.  It went something like this:

• Brian went to replace his cellphone 
• Brian went to play basketball in our old neighborhood (about 30 minutes away, inside the perimeter)
• On his way home,  he bought me a new water bottle from Whole Foods as an anneversary gift (after I dropped mine at work on Friday and it exploded all over the CDC cafeteria floor, all glass and water)

Then,

• Our sweet friends popped by with the kiddos and while the children banged and squealed upstairs, our friends chastized us for not doing something a bit more substantive for our dinner date (the plan was to grab a burger at the corner) 
• They convinced us to rally, shower and spruce up 
• They even tried to snag us a last minute reservation at Cake and Ale (my fave restaurant in Atlanta that I have only been to twice since it opened 5 years ago), to no avail
• We decided to go to Cake and Ale even though we didn't have reservations, when we heard the bar offered the whole menu

The following texts capture the night perfectly:

8:17pm:: So we just got here - (it's) so far!  40 minute wait for the bar - two parties before us so at the bakery next door having coffee, salted caramel bites and almond chocolate bars.  Desserts firsts!!

9:02pm:: Still waiting for the bar - dude, there are a ton of waspy twenty something couples here.  When did we get middle aged?  Damn it.

9:11pm:: This is what I get for thinking like an old person and balking at a 9pm table.  My punishment is a 9 something bar stool.  Brian thinks 10 more minutes and we get fish and chips at The Brickstore Pub. :)

8:54 am next morning:: We had a fab night! By the time we got a table in the bar at 9:45pm, we had become best buds with the host William and he had champagne sent to us and a plate of desserts for the end of our meal.  We ended up chatting with him and our waiter throughout the whole night.  Got home at midnight - the most wonderful evening!!

 :)

 

Handmade Christmas::Pillows

Every Christmas I resolve to go handmade.  I envision quiet children unwrapping gift after gift that I made myself, sighing with contentment as they basque in the warmth of my momma-love.

Unfortunately, I can't recall any Christmas that I managed to make even a single gift for Christmas morning.  Last year, I raced to finish a Christmas quilt in time for unwrapping Christmas morning.  I don't recall the details exactly, but I believe I may have screamed at the children for bothering me and ultimately ripped out my first (botched) ragged quilting line down the middle of the sampler block pattern I adored.  I did not finish the quilt in time for Christmas morning.  (In fact, I have yet to circle back for the poor thing).

This year, I've grown a little.

I tamed my ambition.  (Oh, how that is a recurring theme in my life).

My goal was to make each child a throw pillow for their bed, matching their quilts.  Of course, I began the endeavor the night before Christmas Eve and I have never attempted to sew an envelop closured pillowcase.  It turns out pillows are a cinch!  The children were so thrilled, it appears that I could have promised them their very own pillowcase in 2012, rather than twin-sized quilt.

Hindsight is a bitch.

PS

Little Ms. Claire decided to get in on the pillow action a couple days after Christmas and made Lilly a heart shaped pillow.  (Okay, I made Lilly a heart shaped pillow and Claire picked out the fabric and got to stuff the pillow when it was all done; she quickly decided the scissors were a little too sharp for her and the sewing a bit too curvy. Ahem.)  

Mr. Eli pitched in when he came to see what we were doing.  Sweet little things.

Done::Claire's Quilt

Her birthday quilt is finished.  She reminded me (when I lamented to her about how the binding was really hard to do and I was making a ton of mistakes), "Mommy, it doesn't have to be perfect.  I love it and think it is the most beautiful quilt in the world. You are the best mommy."

Sweet, sweet girl.

I hope to remember that part of the conversation and not the interaction later that day, when I tried to show her all the crooked lines (honestly, in hopes of showing her that she shouldn't be so hard on herself when her sewing lines aren't perfect).   She literally backed away from me and said she had to go play with her dolls.  ;)

Oh, the irony that motherhood lays at our feet.....

Work::Once, and Again

I am back.  And let me tell you people, person, ME.  

Me, I am tired.  

All kinds of crazy has happened since last I visited this nook.  

I really have no intention of letting work cross into this space.  But sometimes, work runs wild and parades and tromps itself all across my life - crossing out soccer games, quilting time, dinner at the family table.  

All I can say is, it is good work that has impact (at times). 

I have so often in the last week stood elbow to elbow with my friends and colleagues, in awe of our little crew leaning forward in the face of DAUNTING.  

It came at a time where I was ready for an exit strategy, when I wondered if I had reached DONE.  

Maybe I am like a top - when still, I tilt toward the ground without splendor.  But, when spun hard, captured in a centrifugal force where I swirl and zip, my real purpose reveals itself.  

I wonder how long the zing will last before I wobble and tip over once and again.

 

*Note:  The bear is the bottom of the picture is from my daughter's school.  There was a class project that required parents to take the bear to work and take photos of the bear in the office.  That screen is giant.  I am holding the bear over my head in an attempt to get him in the shot with the outbreak map.