A problem

My family, we have a problem, a serious problem.

Well, we live in a small house, which is not a problem... I can do a 15 min clean-up including a cursory vacuuming job and be pretty happy with the state of things, I always know where folks are (no matter how much they try to hide)... and really it doesn't live very small, I don't often feel cramped... until I do.

You know what makes it a crazy place?  Horizontal surfaces.  If there is a horizontal surface, we will put crap on it.  No surface is safe, any height,size, any frequency of use... someone will put something on it.  It is to the point that Brian and I think... wouldn't it be nice to have a little table behind the couch for some plants, or a side table to set down a drink, but we won't.  It would look nice but it's too risky,  because we know it will be doomed.

It's to that point again, where I look around and feel like we have near complete coverage and that twitching freak-out is coming on... but we have full evenings tonight, tomorrow night, and Friday when I usually clean is also getting full.  oh dear.

Books

Okay, how about a list to keep of my favorite books so good I may insist my kids read them at some point.  More or less in no particular order except as they pop into my head, except Les Miserables, that's my favorite.

Les Miserables by Hugo
The Cannon by Angier
Farewell to Manzanar
The Jungle by Sinclair
The Game of Thrones series by Martin
Man's Search for Meaning by Frankel
Any of the Jeeves stories by PG Wodehouse
or the books by Gerard Durrell
Sea of Cortez by Steinbeck & Ricketts
Between Pacific Tides by Ricketts
The Bone People by Hulme
The Art of Eating by MFK Fisher
A Little Princess
The Secret Garden
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Adams
Me Talk Pretty Oneday by Sedaris
Various mysteries by Tony Hillerman
Dirk Pitt stories by Cussler
The Smartest Kids in the World and how they got that way :  Ripley
Happiness Project Rubin

Maybe I"ll update as I think of more, It's good to remember the books that made an impression on you right?

vests

 So... Grace finally wore the furry vest I made her,

 and for four year old Henry... a fun reversible vest!  Blue corduroy, and blue zig-zag.  It was pretty fun!  I didn't have the hardware for the little belt in the back and the pickets gave me such a problem last time around that I kept it simple.

but I think it looks good still!  Fun.  Plus Henry is one of a subset of little guys who would appreciate a vest!

Christmas Crafting

 Fuzzy vest for Grace... alas... not the right color pink... seriously, and the pomppom tutu that is super cute also... not pink.  I'll have to take a picture, but it is stuffed in a drawer somewhere, neither  to be worn yet.

 For the kids around town... some hankies.  the hemming took forever, but I liked the stamps and plaid.

 personalized with a little letter for each kid's name.

 Homemade orange and homemade winter's bitters.

Some cowls for my gal friends.

There were some others (previously posted too)... our soap in short was the homebrew, stumptown, shea and a basic bar.

I made all these messenger bags for the cousins but took not a single picture.... but they were pretty fun, I got super hero fabric and put some books inside...

From now on....

I will run a little all the time

I will have a better attitude

I will be open to new academic and work-related adventures

I will be open to all adventures!!

I will make a point to declutter... how about Friday morning, I will declutter one part of the house, every week.

I will be patient ... with my family, with my computer, with myself


hello there 2014

Doin' stuff

Well, we are, but we're not really doing a lot right now for Christmas.  I don't know, I've been in a bit of a funk that I am trying to pull out-of, but there is a lot to be done on the homefront, a lot to do at work (with people breathing down my neck... not the most effective way to motivate me, I tend to dig in my heels).  BUT these pictures have been sitting here in this blog for a little bit so here we are.

ANOTHER (yes, I haven't stopped yet!) messenger bag!

MORE stamping:  we got some towels together with stamps this year instead of prints.  I think because it requires a lot less set-up, but in the end are a ton more work.  However, this is something I can do when the kids go to sleep for a bit.

The mushrooms are mostly Owen's design, a few he even carved.

An inspired by Jess Brown and various ETSY sellers but there is no way we are putting out $80 for those cuties rag-doll.  Grace goes in different directions between loving and torturing it.  She either carries it around with her, and sets her up for all sorts of lovely parties and she gets to wear clothes (or all the clothes) OR she doesn't get any clothes and get's all tied up in knots because she is weird.  I made the arms and legs a little too skinny, next time, maybe doubled, but the body size etc... all work for me, I love that she is big and huggy, and can be carried around well enough.  Plus after some pretty sack like clothes, I figured out how to put together a respectable dress.

WE DID IT!  Okay, more accurately:  BRIAN, DAD and RYAN (and a little bit of me) DID IT!  Over Thanksgiving, after all the turkey was eaten and the dishes cleaned up and Mom and I took the kids out for a little excursion, the cabinets were raised to the ceiling and we put in a shelf underneath for added storage, removal of dust trap and a little more counter space (shelves are high enough that the kitchen-aid can actually fit underneath!).  We used some "deco" shelf brackets underneath after endless going back and forth.  They aren't my favorite solution, but the solution that both Brian and I could work with.  They are a little bouncy though.  WE still need some caulking and some paint and a little bit of quarter round around the top that is not likely to get done before Christmas, but VOILA!!!

aaaand more stamps and some pendelton wool to make some trivets / mediocre in terms of insulation pot-holders (sorry).

Okay, and that is my procrastination for the day.

mushrooms!

 Val and I went to Opal Creek for a pretty amazing mushroom workshop.  It was a blast!  Opal Creek is the highest diversity of some pretty awesome coral mushrooms that were popping up all over the place!  It was a pretty busy weekend, jam packed with all sorts of new mushroom knowledge!  My brain is totally happily full of waaay more than I thought I would ever know about mushrooms.  Owen is so jealous.

 It was a gorgeous weekend full of sunshine, waterfalls, mushrooms, friendly people, and great food.

 Plates and plates of golden chanterelles

 Val and I found some pretty awesome dyer's polypores that we used later in the weekend to dye scarves bright yellow.

 huge Russulas (gilled, white spores, stem breaks like chalk)

 Many Boletes (Pored mushroom)

 Cortinarious (rust spores, can often see remnants of a spiderwebby veil)  and above our chanterelles l-r black, white, gold.

 Emerging gomphus... pigs ear... see the white spores on the ground around it!

 Bloletus

Hygrocibe witch's cap

 and beautiful Opal Creek!

 Dyeing scarves with mushrooms!  The beautiful gold was from the Dyers polypore!  Mushrooms were just chunked up, and simmered for at least an hour.

Myra added alum (1-2 tsp per gallon) to them (I think)  The above are polypore, but we also tried wooly chanterelles, which were a very pale tan at best, but there was a pretty pink (that she had in her stash), and shoot I forget which other ones... Anyhow you rinse out your fabric (must be a protein based fabric... silk or wool, cotton doesn't seem to work well) in warm water, and then simply soak it in the dye!  When you are happy with the color (up to 5 min) rinse it out with cool water and voila, don't need to heat set or anything.

and fun mushroom gals!  Sally, Val,