Monthly Archives: June 2011

the iris farm

Posted on by
Reply

Did I tell you we now have a two year old living with us, who sometimes turns into the Tasmanian Devil when tired/hungry/over-stimulated/doesn’t get what she wants? Oof. We really needed to get out of the house yesterday for a change of attitude and perspective. And a trip to the iris farm worked. For about an hour of the day, yesssss! She decided to leave her grumpy pants at home and we had a great time. She had another melt-down in the garage when we got home, but then promptly slept for two hours after that, so that but-I-WANT-to-drive-the-car-NOW, Mama!!! meltdown can be forgiven. But obviously not yet forgotten. Sigh.

 

Yesterday, I wished that I too could’ve been 35″ tall so I could wade through a forest of irises. Then sit and pull them toward me, letting the smell fill up my entire face.

What did you do this weekend, lovelies? This is the first official week of summer vacation here in northern Michigan and it’s a near-perfect day. Looking forward to playing at the park this afternoon with my little birdie. And eating a popsicle. Or two.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

{this moment} first beach day 2011

Posted on by
Reply

{this moment} inspired by Soule Mama. A moment to pause, savor and remember.

Earlier this week, we couldn’t take the mid-90s anymore and we headed to the beach for an evening swim. First beach day of 2011, woot woot! Hard to believe it even happened because–I kid you not–I am in wool, jeans and a scarf today. It dropped 45 degrees in about twelve hours after that steamy evening. Northern Michigan, you don’t fail to keep me on my toes.

Have a wonderful weekend, lovelies!

“but it’s only $5!”

Posted on by
Reply

Lovelies, are you like me? Do you often spend money on things that are “only $5!” ? Man, it adds up. If I did that every time I went into a store, which I often do, that would be about three times a week X 52 weeks. Geesh, that’s just about a plane ticket to get me the heck out of here in March. Ahem.

So I thought it would be fun to have a little reminder card to curb this kind of consumer spending. Remember that William Morris quote? “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” Do you agree?

I mostly agree with it, but it’s also this sentiment that is a problem right now: girl, you really don’t have the money to spend on even the “but it’s only $5 items!” And where will I put it or who will clean it and what happens to it when it’s not wanted in our nest anymore? So here goes…

I designed it so it’s a simple business card sized card and can easily fit in front of my credit cards and cash. I might even stick one to my debit card…

Could you use one of these too? Well, you’re in luck. I made a (free!) printable download for you in PDF format. Simply print a sheet (cover stock would be best, but whatever paper will certainly do) and trim down using the crop marks. There are ten on a page. Too many? Pass a few out to friends or leave a few at the Starbuck’s counter…

Click here to download the PDF file: DoIReallyNeedItCards

********************************************

This is my first crack at printable downloads. What else would you like to see in this format, lovelies? Thanks to my dear friend, Kristen, for the great idea and the encouragement from my Facebook friends. Cheers!

 

 

 

 

it’s a…

Posted on by
Reply

thumb-sucker! Sorry, lovelies, we didn’t find out the sex of the baby yesterday, although truth be told, this Mama kind of wanted to know this time around. But Chris wanted to wait so we agreed not to find out. Plus the tech said that the baby had its legs crossed anyway, so it would’ve been difficult to find out. It was just meant to be. The surprise at delivery IS fun too, isn’t it?

More importantly, however, the baby looks healthy. All is well. Keep on, keepin’ on.

rhubarb gelato

Posted on by
Reply

Wow, what a weekend: sunny & 70s, lots of outdoor fun and projects, time with our family, no commitments. Yessssss. One of the highlights of our kick-off to summer weekend was taking a trip to our farmer’s market and loading up on rhubarb. I think rhubarb is one of those love/hate foods. Me? Love. In many forms I like to consume it, but I’m always looking to try something new with it.

Strange side story: we had a rhubarb plant growing here at 605 and harvested some of it last year, but this year, it’s completely gone. And in its place? About 6-8 fern plants. It’s almost like someone came and dug up the rhubarb and replaced it with a mini forest of ferns. I love the ferns so I’m not really complaining, but where-oh-where did our rhubarb go? The ferns marched on over from our neighbor’s ferny corner, so no real mystery there. Did you take my rhubarb, lovelies?

OK, back to our regularly scheduled program…

So my Mom bequeathed us with her ice cream maker last weekend (thank you!) and I loaded up on four pounds of local rhubarb. Things were beginning to come together… I decided to embark on this simple recipe for rhubarb gelato. It sounded perfect – easy and refreshing. Do you like Sweet Tarts? Yeah, me too. You’ll probably really enjoy this one then.

We all did. The little birdie kept saying, “sour,” but she continued to eat most of her cone. It has such an intense flavor that it’s very satisfying. Enjoy!

How do you like to eat rhubarb? Do you have a good strawberry/rhubarb pie recipe and if so, will you share it with me?

Happy Monday!

A large heirloom tomato

Posted on by
Reply

So *they* say that little birdie #2 is now roughly the size of a large heirloom tomato. I found this old photo of Wren with one of last year’s tomatoes from our garden. I’m hoping she doesn’t bite the baby when it arrives, but I wouldn’t be completely surprised…

We’ve got our ultrasound today – please send lots of good karma out into the world that all will be well. Given our history, I’m a tad nervous. And no, sorry, we won’t be finding out whether it’s a boy or a girl. We love the surprise when the baby is born. You’ll just have to wait for about twenty more weeks like the rest of us.

 

 

click on

Posted on by
Reply
My Dad took this photo while in southern France recently. Birdie!
Happy Friday, lovelies. Can we somehow make every week a holiday week – wasn’t this a nice one?
Have a wonderful weekend. I plan to work in the garden, make something in the ice cream maker and hang up some more clothes… Any fun plans for you?

the new line

Posted on by
Reply

My sister-in-law, Emily, gave us an outdoor drying rack late last summer and we’ve finally found the perfect home for it. Confession! Although I really wanted one, I’ve never really used one so let’s just say I’m still learning. Further proof that I’m a complete dork: I actually Googled “how to hang clothes on a line” because there is probably a correct way to efficiently do it, right? Sure enough, 55,600,000 results popped up. This actually made me feel a bit better about my dork status. A bit.

Fun facts I ran across in Cyberspace about line drying:

  • According to the NYT, clotheslines are banned or restricted by many of the roughly 300,000 homeowners’ associations that set rules for some 60 million people. Yikes, Big Brother, yikes.
  • Most households can save more than $25 off their monthly electric bill. Nice!
  • You can reduce the full lifecycle climate change impact of your jeans by up to 50 percent by line drying and washing them in cold water.

More fun facts and reasons to line dry can be found here.

I think clothes on a line are just beautiful and I’d like to see more of it. But not your dirty old stained underwear, thank you very much. What are your thoughts on drying clothes on a line? Do you have a method or routine you follow? I’d like to know!

 

 

 

 

a little birdie turns 2

Posted on by
Reply

Lovelies, I realize that this is not an original thought, but here it comes anyway. Where does the time go and how could I already be living in a home with a two year old little girl? Just the other day Chris and I were musing about how exciting it will be when we get to hear the pitter-patter of a little person in the upstairs hallway. I remembered this today when I was gushing to myself about a just-out-of-the-oven loaf of coconut banana bread and I heard the sound of a little birdie running down the hallway. It’s times like these I’m grateful for wood floors without even a runner to buffer the sound of 23 ebullient pounds.

It seems a bit silly to attempt to show gratitude for the birdie’s presence in our lives by baking cookies and stringing up purple balloons because it doesn’t exactly equate, but such is life. What fun to try anyway! Was it crazy to invite a bunch of two year olds over to graze on a sugar-laden buffet easily within reach of their chubby hands? And was I completely exhausted by the end of the day? Yes and yes! But I’d do it again. It sure is fun to celebrate life, isn’t it?

The day was complete with only one real meltdown involving crocodile tears and a new plastic set of golf clubs, just a few raindrops, fun-loving friends and family, lots of bubbles, sugar, and the color purple. Wren is really into purple right now so we decided to celebrate her in a rainbow of purple. Here are a few more photos of her big day.

We made an easy-peasy balloon garland that we saw over on Design Mom recently. All purple, of course…

And then there were the cupcakes, for which I take no credit! Late last year I won a gift certificate from a local pastry chef and saved it for Wren’s party. I saw an idea for some lollipop flower cupcakes and had Sweet Ashley Marie Creations make them. Lucky us! They were beautiful and added the perfect punch of color and fun that we needed.

The cupcakes echoed the invites, which most people received despite the problems. A few never got theirs (sigh), but they still came and didn’t complain, yahoo! I love Wren’s friends.

Some say a party for preschoolers is really for the parents, but Wren is very social and she had an absolute blast with her buddies. By the end of the day, she too was pooped. Pooped and happy. And this Mamma was too.