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.

whale of a time

Just some presents... the shirt for Owen (and similar for Kellen) for Christmas. Brian, of course is the artist, did a pretty awesome job really on both the whale and squid. He did the whale again for Henry's birthday present.

Some cute Karate pants with a whale on the bum and fish on the legs... Modeled by G. I love the fabric, though haven't found a use for this... it goes perfectly on the pants :)

Great breakfasts

Great breakfasts.... these are great not because they are complicated, unusual or anything other than mine ... for long periods of time... breakfasts that I would start nearly every day with. I love breakfast, it is by far my favorite meal of the day. I would rather go out for breakfast than almost any other meal. My breakfast choices have been accused of being "boring"... though I like to think of myself as dedicated. I enjoy a hearty breakfast... make a good beginning. I like to know how my day will start, what I will savor and they are always full of flavor, warmth, love. I love breakfast.

In New York, and heck, it may have (and likely) started when I moved away from home and any college meal plan, I would start my day with an egg fried over medium (or with my Dad's method of steaming a fried egg... with a splash of water under a lid until the top is just set) in a tortilla with some cheese... salsa if I was feeling crazy! This staple lasted me a long long time.

I am trying to remember what I ate after we moved back to California, but can't remember exactly, maybe I just stuck with this awesome way to start the day, though in SD I had a year or so with fresh squeezed OJ after Ry got me an OJEX. I also converted to oatmeal with some sort of dried fruit for a while after visiting Brian's folks and Renee made a really great oatmeal with currents. I think I like dried apricots (in the boiling water for the oatmeal so they soften a bit) the best. Oatmeal definitely made a good, hearty stand for a few years...

Summers in Bodega and after we moved out there I would eat two slices of Wild Flour bread (crusty, flavorful, delish wheat bread) smeared with Bodega goat cheese... one slice with jam as well and a cuppa Taylor Maid coffee. I have used an at home "espresso" machine... a pretty good krups machine since college. After moving to Portland, I had to make my own bread... so used the 5 minutes a day bread for a good 2 years. After we got chickens my two slices turned into one slice with goat cheese (nothing as good as bodega goat.... miss it much) and a poached egg fresh from our coop... so good, nothing beats a fresh poached egg.... and one with goat cheese and homemade jam... Oregon is great for fresh berries and we have used them to make an abundance of jam... mmm. BUT... our chickens started... well, stopped laying eggs. We haven't changed them out yet so still only the very rare egg. What to do? I have made a dramatic switch the past year... Granola. I have never been a cold-breakfast kind of gal, but homemade granola, soy milk, frozen berries in the microwave for 1 min to warm it up on cold winter mornings... topped with a big dollop of plain whole-milk yogurt. My coffee has even changed... a pour-over for breakfast (Aeropress later in the day... also a great coffee).

I'll see about gathering pictures sometime, but was just pondering food (maybe it's all of the"gourmet diary of a foodie" episodes I've been watching or this appropo exhibit...http://www.jonhuck.com/breakfast/index.htm (what would your picture show??) via a perfect article by http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2008/04/on_hotel_breakfasts_and_how_not_to_have_them.php... ... not that I have to dodge hotel breakfasts much these days), wishing I had a cookie instead of the really lousy cupcakes I made for poor Owen's birthday.... I should stick to cakes or pies.