Life is in the Details

Paint and doodles to get things flowing

Loosening up by playing with paints and doodles in my art journal. I relocated a bunch of my art stuff up to the kids art room (also known as our dining room) because I needed to be able to hear the doorbell earlier in the week (we were expecting a few servicemen to fix the cable and replace a part on our HVAC unit). Apparently, I really am in my own little world when I'm down in my art studio corner down in the basement because I can't hear the doorbell AT ALL!

The added benefit of the new annex location is I'm on the main level now so I'm closer to the heart of the house, the kitchen, so I can be cooking and keeping an eye on stuff while still creating art... AND the kids and I do lots of art together when they get home from school. There's also SO MUCH natural light that comes in through the bay window. Oh, how I *adore* natural light!!

In this page, I mixed soft body artist paint with the kids' craft paints. And can I just say that I love my Uniball pen!? Yes, it smudges (nothing thy fellow lefties aren't used to) but it rolls on so smoothly and writes over the paints really well. When I was growing up my mom used to carry a Uniball pen in her purse and there was always one near our phone for messages. I never liked them back then, preferring Bics or Papermates for writing phone messages (likely because of the smear factor... My mom is right-handed), but I've since come around.

Oh, and before I forget... I have finally discovered Words with Friends. :D

Today: My PT appointment got cancelled which allowed me to spend time in my art journal. It feels good to get back to doing this after a couple of months of being away. Between volunteer commitments, life, herniating a disc in my back, PT, massage, and not being able to sit/stand/walk comfortably for the last 3 weeks my mojo kinda took a vacation. I'm back though! And I'm drinking lots of chai tea.

I'm taking the kids to a new dentist today: a *pediatric* one, after a traumatic tooth extraction for Jessica last week at our general family dentist. Not doing that again!! She needs another extraction done and Ryan needs two (his first teeth ever to be lose... I feel so bad about it too, but we've waited 4 weeks like the orthodontist suggested and even with all his wiggling it hasn't come out yet). Eeek, my poor little peeps! Oh, and allergy shots for R and me. Give me more tea, please!

Our current fascination: TEA #teavana #tea

There was a week with really warm temperatures, unusually so. But now we are back into it being in the 30s and 40s in the morning so every morning I've been making a big pot of tea for the kids and I to share. There was even an entire week where we'd come home straight from school letting out and after they put their backpacks away, we'd settle into an afternoon teatime ritual. It's was the sutff that warm's mama's hearts... sipping away on some delightful tea reconnecting after being apart for the day. Them retelling the day's events... friends, subjects, teachers. Really good stuff!

I wish you could smell the heady aromas of these teas. Lifting the lid off of these canister's are a  scrumptiously intoxicating undertaking.

I am only disappointed that I did not create Teavana myself. They make some seriously good teas!!! I'm not sure why it took me so long to buy some of their teas. Maybe I was overwhelmed by the variety but I am so glad that we went in the day that Mike was taking an iCloud class nearby at the Apple Store on his birthday because the kids and I had such a blast sampling teas and filling up canisters.

We bought these:

That one all the way to the right are a blend of two teas that taste really great together. We have loved all of these (and would gladly get them all again) but the one that we seem to go through the most is the White Ayurvedic Chai. Sadly, we are almost out of it. I love that the labels tell you what temperature to add to the tea leaves and how long to brew for. Wonderful!! And the color wall of teas when you walk in! Don't even get me started! It was love at first sight.

We even bought some of the rock sugar and it lends a great complex taste to the tea.

I'll have to share the cute teapot that I bought too, I LOVE IT!! Brewing three cups of loose-leaf tea with only one tea filter got old quick... the first person to get their tea was often finished before the third cup was finishing brewing.

Apple Strudel Bread

You can't help but laugh when you wake up and open your refrigerator to see this (a very happy, active brioche dough):

It started out as this:

And ended up as yummy cinnamon apple bread:

The same dough, from Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day, also became the base for some rugulah, though I do love Marcy Goldman's hotel rugelah ( the yeasted version) the best so far.

You can find the whole wheat brioche dough here.

You can find how to make the apple strudel bread here (I left the nuts and raisins out making this more of an apple cinnamon bread).