the world changes

I mean, I know that right?  The only constant is change....  Well preping for sustainability class is always a big lump to swallow.  I remain hopeful, at least I try, but when reports of us exceeding our greenhouse gas emissions by more than was even predicted by the worst case scenario a few years ago, THEN chalking it up to an indicator of economic rebound just makes me ill (literally).  What do people think got us into an economic downturn in the first place... people spending money they didn't have.... so how is increased consumer spending (therefore increased ghg emissions) a sign of rebound?  Sounds to me like we just keep digging the same ditch and are cheerful about it to boot... we need to restructure our priorities, increased investment in our future, our communities, our education and services anyone?

I start surfing furiously for some hope, a beautiful vision of the future, but am coming up shy of satisfactory.  Of course as I am scrambling to update lecture and reading material, I get sucked into this rabbit hole of information and the soul sinks... further and further.  I read the comments on the AP article  and man, some people just stink... there are days that I have hope, days where I believe that more and more people are getting on board, but the incredibly ignorant and comments that support climate change (??) blow me away..I want to scream "What planet do you think you live on???".  I mean our planet is resilient, seriously so and it will go on with or without us, but how much do you think WE can take without paying the price?  Do we want to find out?  To lighten the mood I check a few of my favorite blogs and the subject of bucket lists comes up and discussion of  things that I have known that my children will never see and I start to think... a world for them without family members we have lost  (and even those just far away who we miss so much), where travel is environmentally prohibitive, without glaciers, without coffee, without chocolate (EEK!), without cloud forests, where our charismatic (and otherwise) species become increasingly threatened or extinct... a world without polar bears? These fears aren't even just for my kids' lifetime, but my lifetime, those predictions for far off times like 2012 or 2050 aren't really that far away.  Damn.  Maybe I need to take more to heart what I say in my classroom... that we MUST be hopeful because despair doesn't instigate change, there is no other choice.  It may seem dire, but politics and corporations and all of those ungainly, massive, nearly otherworldly concepts are really people, and we're people, my students, my children, are people that are entering that world, so we should be able to make those changes; we must make those changes.  I hope for, what I am sure many hope for, that my kids will see is a future they will want to live in, a future that we want for them, one at least as happy and at least as beautiful as ours has been, don't let our generation have the golden age of humanity, let it be theirs.  I want to see technologies and infrastructure in place that allow for the most efficient and the most responsible use of our limited resources, but more so I want to see an attitude shift, a human, a cultural change that values (emotionally and financially) our resources, our clean water, clean air, healthy oceans, atmosphere, our food supply, our education, our services, our communities, our selves and our future over consumption.  Don't those things seem infinitely more valuable than the newest gizmo or fashions?   Can I put that on my bucket list?

whale

 Whale ... right?

 

How could I not once Robyn pointed it out to me.  I enlarged the picture of the pattern pieces on powerpoint  to use, the instructions in pictures were great, I'm having a hard time sharing it with Owen.


Two more babies.  One with a matching dress for Grace,  The dress is the same pattern from that Japanese book I made Kaylee's from.

 the other for Lilly on her birthday.

I have to work on this though,

I keep bursting seams by over stuffing them, but I like them firm!
  I wanted a picture of G. with her baby and matching dress, but she was always a blurr, finally caught them after she crashed.



I am also sooo proud of Owen who selected the fabric then sewed them all himself, seriously! 
 I mean, I was hovering a lot, but the work was his own.  Gooooo Owen!

  The red one was for G's birthday, the green one for his own bed.

happy pshew... I've been so busy trying hard to get all of my summer bucket list done and cram in crafting before school starts back up and I'm just beat most of the time that ... I haven't had a chance to blog about it.

to list

Outfit for Alex's first birthday... hullo hammer pants

Lotion bar:  equal parts beeswax, coconut oil, sweet almond oil and coco butter.  Stored on my awesome FL black bear paw imprint that Randall gave me.  Perfect for after washing hands.  Scented in the molds with "relaxation" and sweet orange e.o.

Shirt for myself... simplicity!

For G's birthday:  dress and new baby doll

Pajama pants for Owen

Pillowcase!  Owen... did this on his own.  Seriously did a fantastic job.  He thought it was the best craft project ever because it was so dangerous it made his stomach hurt (really... he couldn't finish one of his favorite dinners... pesto, chicken, peas pasta).  He did it though and its awesome!  I hovered but the fabric selection, ironing, sewing... all him.  He's now working on one for G's birthday.

In the garden:  happy chickens, finally integrated after a LONG quarantine period for social issues.  Starting with the white egg going clockwise:  5-toes, summer, blue, talulah, barbara... Goldie, we believe has just totally stopped laying... she';s the  loudest too... hmmm.  

Triamble squash was attacked, one of my three successful fruits. I was sure it was some huge hideous creature, but B thinks its probably the chickens.   Two more on the vines and maybe this one will ripen on the window sill... so mad at those birds though. 

First Day

ever! of kindergarten, for Owen, first... day... ever. Well, we meet the teacher tomorrow, then he will start class on Friday. What to do what to do... Talked with him last night about starting, he is less than enthusiastic, notably nervous, as expected by the unanticipated, the new routine, the new ... stuff. "Friends"... with a nonchalant wave of the hand he explained "I'm good at making friends" I'm so glad that that is not really a worry. I think the learning stuff, having to focus on a lesson concerns him a little bit. I think reading feels really hard to him right now... of course, but it worries him, perhaps more than other things, basic math concepts he is pretty comfortable figuring out. It's probably just the newness. He won't be the oldest anymore like he was at the Y for a long time... the kid who has it all figured out... he'll be in the same boat as everyone, and I"m not sure he likes that position. He will do great, making friends... he is good at that.

my boy is 5 1/2

favorite color: orange or pink

super skills: riding his bike, making friends, being silly, building cool stuff.

favorite food

requested school lunch items: fruit (bananas, apples, oranges), cheese, well, I like peanut butter and jelly, but I am thinkin'... nah. carrot sticks... sticks, cut up long you know, cinnamon roll-ups, hard cooked eggs with salt in a separate little pouch that I can put on myself... not on it beforehand.

starting kindergarten. seriously.

War

on ants... yes I am totally crazed. My poor family, we came back from a camping trip to a seven lane freeway to the dogfood bowl that I left out. Odor ants, I think. O.M.G, and I do not use this vernacular lightly. Two days of pulling out appliances, looking up every reasonable (no spray) option, running all over town looking for solutions. Finally, I think I have them. I have caulked, I have "great stuff-ed" (probably over great stuff-ed, I took it to potential mouse holes outside too, man that stuff overexpands), put out grant's ant traps, homemade bait with sugar and borax, put up defenses around the houses and under the appliances with diatomaceous earth, cleaned like crazy, dumped out the pork-sung that was a secondary happy place for them and finally... FINALLY I think they are on the run. There goes two days of my life and high obsession.

Soap...

Soap: so, I've been making soap for a bit, I tried keeping a separate soap "log" but I can't find it anymore, darned paper books. What I've learned:

1. I love homemade soap, or expensive soap... seriously makes for a whole different and wonderful shower experience, and I think the homemade stuff is actually better.

2. I love citrus smells the best and I can't seem to make them stick. To make a scented soap you need A LOT of essential oils. Like 2 tablespoons or more. Even at this quantity, the citrus smells disperse... alas.

3. Coloring with clay is fun... but a little goes a long way!

4. Freeze set-up soaps to get them out of the molds... much better and a bit easier (though still requires some work) to get it out.

5. if you use oatmeal or any other additives, grind it up. I used some calendula petals and it made the surfaces look kinda yucky.

Okay... Most recent batch: Split one batch in half.

first half: colored with 2 tbs activated charchol and clary sage, I think I really like the smell of clary sage. soap result: black like coal.

second half: peppermint and red clay. I actually split this half in half with the intention of making peppermint like soaps, didn't exactly turn out like I thought it would, but not too bad all in all. About 2 tbs red clay for that quarter recipe and also, very dark. Oh well, in the future I could probably half the clay addition.

One more doll today. I used a stenciled t-shirt by Val and made a little boy for Owen and a brother stuffie for G's baby doll.

Though he worked with me on it, specifically asked for it, etc... shortly after it was finished he did his darndest to rip its arm off and did a pretty good job of it. Sigh...

Grace likes it though! Owen did also work on a stuffie of his own design... this is Fred Fred Freddy, also goes by Will.... he will only answer to those names though.

Update 9/8/2011 on soap. Next batch. Basic base that I use +1 tbs lavender e.o. about 20 drops bergamont e.o. and a tablespoon or so of ground lavender flowers from our garden. You can barely see the flowers, and I"m not sure about the smell, pretty flowery, but we'll see as it sets, usually the smell changes. I used three large soap molds, three small silicone flowers and 2 of the large tuperware molds for one full batch. about 3.75 lbs soap

Update 9/19/2011 on soap.  Okay, one more batch... Unscented but I added about 1/8c powdered buttermilk, 1oz honey and 1 oz sweet almond oil and a good sprinkle of ground almonds.  Made a pretty orangy soap.

Update 3/21/12

So made soap again, finally.  As a note I liked the charchol/clary sage one, nice, smells nice, fun to use black soap :)

Okay new batch split in two...
batch 3/21 a:  1/2 oz basil, 1/4 oz lime, 1/4 oz sweet orange and about a teaspoon of dried chlorophyl for a pretty minty green color.

batch 3/21b:  1/2 oz vanilla, 1 oz honey 1 oz sweet almond oil and 1/8 c crushed almonds. 
Actually this was much less than half because I can't eyeball things to save a hoot. I wish it was a bit more, smells lovely.

I wanted a rough estimate of what this costs.  so let's say:
12 oz coconut oil:  $6
12 oz olive oil pomace:  $2 (maybe)
20 oz palm oil (organic):  $5

6 oz lye:  maybe $1

E.O. :  this is tricky 'cause they range in price but for a whole batch you really need like 2 oz or two bottles if you want it to smell... I usually under scent by a lot.... but let's say on the outside $10. 

This last batch I made six large muffin heart shaped soaps, four ovals, six rectangles and two tuperware dishes so 18 pretty normal sized soaps.... so without too many bells and whistles and without particularly great prices on anything about $1.30 per bar.  Yes you could buy soap for less, but I really love the soap and use it for yummy gifts more often than not so probably a good deal all in all.
Um, I melted my molds a bit with the heat section on the washing machine.  I know, I know you're not supposed to put them in the dishwasher, but they get soo greasy and its just easier.  Solution.. well, partial solution... I'll say put them in the oven set at 200 for about 1 min 30 sec -- maybe a few seconds more.  reshape.

Dolls

I've been thinking about making a doll for G. for a while now, but didn't really have the guts. My neighbor does fantastic dolls and she suggested the bit of whimsy patterns and she was right! I got the Jo doll and made two, one for Alice's birthday and one for Grace. The undersea/mermaid fabric is perhaps my favorite of all time, I mean, I actually fell a little in love with the whole line it when I first saw it. It's a little hard to get your hands on it anymore, so I am excited to have Grace have it for her stuffie. They are really cute! Grace LOVES her baby in solid 30 min spurts (which is pretty good for a toy around here), particularly the legs which are longish and good for swinging and hanging around your arm, your neck, wherever and however you want to carry your baby. I did get a wool blend felt for hair and only got 1/8 or a yard, I'd get a bit more 'cause I like to wash it first, and it shrunk too much, well almost, I was able to stretch it back to size, but it took some work. ANYHOW... cute! Right? I also did some nested easy puppets for Nate and for G. before our vacation a la made by joel. The set we kept I accidentally made the "mom" the biggest, but got it right for nate's! The kids love these! Grace loves to wear the little girl around and talk with her.... crack-up.

Lazy days

I'm working on a quilt that has taken up a handful of evenings sewing, but am at a moment where I need to cut a bunch more fabric, so seemed like a good time for a bit of a break. I'm about half way done though with the top... which really is what, like a quarter or an eighth of the way done really. It'll be good though, I am still lovin it! Anyhow, made a few lazy days skirts. Quick and easy!

The pink one is for Kaylee, I managed to make a cute little back-pack with the extra material. My kids were so excited about the backpack that I got some sharp ticking and made them some pants and the skirt for Grace and the bags... shoot no pictures of the cute bags. Fun, maybe not the most practical though. I barely got the kids to try on the clothes over, and was pleased to have them throw 'em on over what they were already wearing (thus the weird tops and for owen, the life preserver, which apparently is helpful for climbing too) and the poor shots, as they immediately took off and couldn't hold still for more than a moment.The skirt for G. is a bit bulky, but I liked the Pants for Owen... D. sent me the link to a blog with a free pattern, e-a-s-y really! Boldly, I even drafted my own pattern since the one provided was too small. I didn't think I was good with Pants, but I kinda get-it now.

about

Have I mentioned here before, those anxiety ridden days, with lists, feeling like I need balance, time slipping away? Yep, that's what I'm about these days... I think summer in Oregon precipitates some of that... such a long, cool stretch then wham, summer and there is just so much outside time you want to cram as much as possible into before descending into the gray inside time again.

Lost: We lost Grandpa Emery this month, he had a wonderful, long, life. He went in his sleep, though not without a bit of a fight. He was a wonderful, impressive man, he perpetually had a positive attitude, a heart so full of love that he would get teary at the thought of it, and could talk his way into and out of about anything I"m pretty sure. Spent a few days with my cousins, folks and aunt taking down his house, going through... his life. You know what sticks... his pictures, the man had pictures going back a hundred years, more... literally. It is so amazing, so wonderful to be able to look at him and his little rascal-like gang, his basketball days, army days, his heyday at Kresgee/Kmart, oh the 70s, the plaid, the heavy framed glasses. I'm so glad he got to meet Owen and Grace, wish he could have seen them grow, but still, the love, the touch of family will always mark them.

Plans: so many summer plans, vacations to take, deferred chores to do around the house, at work, camping, having the kids home for a few months (excited and anxious), getting ready for kindergarten.

Grappling: with the fact that O. is indeed going to really really go to Kindergarten, that he is growing up so fast. We say farewell to his YMCA buddies, though G. will return there in the fall. Owen can be silly, profound, helpful, sweet... so very sweet, adventurous, brave, he hides his anxiety well, but it pops out unexpectedly, so I suspect that it drives some of his behaviors that I otherwise have a hard time understanding... I wonder how school will impact this boy, I just don't know. I mean I expect he will do well, but how will he change? What will his teachers, his new friends, his world be like? Will we be able to get him there on time every day???

Making: Uh, my list of things to make grows daily, damn pinterest, BUT i'm kinda stuck on this quilt. Though I did get a quick summer skirt and wee backpack together for Kaylee. That was fun, I think I need more of those short projects right now. Not quite half way done with the quilt squares for my topper. Want to make more skirts, O. wants a bag like Kaylees, some pants for boys, maybe even a top for myself (maybe, though not quite feeling that brave yet).

Must: clean out the darned house, feeling like its closing in a bit, just too much stuff everywhere and not enough space. Starting to wonder if we can make it as four adult sized people in our space. I LOVE a small house, so much more efficient, I know where everyone is, relatively easy to clean-up, no stairs, just don't like 'em. but dang... too much stuff, want some secret space of my own too instead of squatting in poor Grace's bedroom.

Oh, there is more to be sure, that big fun summer bucket list to do. That less fun, but necessary list of other things to do, ... berries to pick.

We'll get it together, always do.

mushrooms and a perfect evening.

Stepping out from swim lessons with Owen the last few weeks we have stopped to admire the mushrooms popping up under the pines, under the red currents, all around in our wet wet ground. Is this really June? Why are we still wearing our winter coats and keeping our toes covered in socks and heavy shoes? June? Hello? Mushrooms, yes, so we have been counting them each day until yesterday when there were just "So many that Mom couldn't wait in the rain for me to count them all" (as Owen reported to Brian). So many mushrooms of at least three different varieties; we stopped by the library on the way home and asked the librarian for all of her books on mushrooms and headed home with two (only 2 with good pictures and a handful of ed emberley books that I had on hold, so excited). Owen immediately set down and flipped through the field guide, figuring out potential matches to the mushrooms we saw and has been engrossed in it since.

Pasta night!

Family pasta party! Rings off, dough made, dinner loved. Also made a pretty cool, easy and inexpensive tent... I think $8 including the thrift-store sheets. After charging the battery for the drill maybe 10 minutes assembly (I didn't hem the sheets any more, just sewed some elastics on). Perfect inside and outdoors, super fun and the kids love it. I love it, I have spent as much time laying under it as they have :)

rocks and owl houses

I donno, the title kinda sums it up. I had a bit of a crafting spurt after spending most of my free time... sleeping, working, that other stuff. http://www.purlbee.com/little-urchin-crochet-covered/ I am not really sure what the rocks are for, but they were my first foray into decorative crochet...they were really pretty easy, forgiving (believe it or not I used pretty much the same pattern for all of them, but my interpretation I guess varied... s'alright though, 'cause they're just fun covered rocks.) . There is something metaphorically satisfying about them, a solid, earthy, heavy rock covered with light lacy stitches. They look a little like sea urchins, a little spiderweby, pretty on the outside, tough, solid on the inside... appropriate for many of the Mom's I know.The first one was the large white one. when I finished Owen said "that's beautiful Mommy... you'll have to give it to Great-grandma Mary 'cause its your first one, it turned out pretty and she's a really special lady" Really, how could I argue... I made the next two for Mom, dyed the purple one with cabbage juice that we have been using for pH indicator fun with O and G. I got a fun afternoon away with some friends and we got a great brunch and hit Crafty wonderland. I wish I could remember the vendor's name (update: shufu found it), but there was a woman who made these awesome Onion houses. I made a facsimile of them when I got home, it was pretty easy! she also had some log houses, which were shaped more like mail boxes with cushiony logs quilted for the top and sides. Finally though, something to do with my overly felted (really thick) sweaters and those pendelton blanket scraps that seemed so perfect but have been sitting in my stash for a long time. We use them for Owl houses! super fun, not too tough... the pink one's door is a touch big, but otherwise they are pretty fun!

fun with sculpey (polymer clay may be more generally correct, but sounds so stuffy)

Oooo, we had amassed a small, but useful stash of sculpty and during Grace's nap yesterday, Owen and I had a fine time making monsters, monster toys, buttons, cute little ring dishes. Sculpey and fimo (i'm sure there are other companies out there, but that's what at our craft store) have so many pretty, fun and bright colors as well as a more sophisticated palate... The little dishes are inspiration from a recent revisiting of some of my Etsy favs (http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtMind, http://www.etsy.com/shop/palomasnest) and a Sonoma friend's NY resol. of balance :). Just little pinched out dishes (have a pretty cream and grey both with just a bit of pearly sparkle to them) with our alphabet stamps... some with balls of polymer clay, some with holes for some embroidery thread to swoop through.

I have a lot of work to do this weekend, but while with the kids, we have indulged our creative side as well, only took an hour or so of QT with the big kid and we both had a really great time... see balance!

Actually, Grace had fun too, she wanted to eat the clay, but had a great time pinching playdough to little bits.

Such fun, so easy, such cute little dishes to make me smile (while writing midterms).

Brian also made a cool lino for Chinese New Year! Happy year of the rabbit!

We'll have to pull together some t-shirts for the kids... maybe combine CNY and valentines day... we'll see.