Life is in the Details

Getting ready to bloom true

These two works-in-progress have been in or around my easel for a few weeks now (the lotus flower - a few months) and today I'm clearing them off and putting them aside to make way for the painting class I'm starting tomorrow with Flora Bowley. I've been wanting to attend an art retreat with Flora but it's so challenging to travel far from home (I don't like flying - especially with art supplies - so much better to pack up the car and go, I don't want to be away from my family, and it's expensive). An e-course though? Perfect! I feel like its my birthday with this class starting tomorrow (though my actual birthday is only less than two months away. Mark your calendars! ;)).

I'm wait with great anticipation to break into another big canvas or two!

The painting on the easel is 30"x30". It's bright and colorful, drippy and free-flowing. But I didn't know where to go with it next. I turned it all around and there were parts that I loved and didn't want to alter and then there were places that I did want to change but thought that if I changed those the parts that I liked would be affected by the change too and so I backed off, did nothing, and got stuck in a big way. I'm hoping that this class will open things up and let me release myself from what's on the canvas. Let go more... Detach from it so that I can be more open to the unfolding of possibility.

Oh and here's a peak at where I've hidden/stored the large canvases... Basically I've put them where ever I can stuff them! Heeheee. Against the wall near a corner in our guest room and beneath my work surface in my studio. I tried putting them in the closet where I keep my other smaller canvases and painting surfaces (cardboard, wood, hardboard panels) to no avail. The shelving in there just wasn't meant to hold 48" canvases!

Unrelated, but I feel compelled to note on this Sunday... This is the first Sunday that I haven't been STS strength training at this very time. It feels weird. Like I'm missing something. Like something is off. Maybe I should go put on that Zumba intro DVD that my friend loaned me just to get moving and to spend time in my exercise space! Yes, I think I will go do just that!!

Happy (Superbowl) Sunday!! Go Giants (for you, Burt)!

(Though the Patriots do have two former Gators on their team. Just sayin'.)

Project: Magazine De-clutter

I have been saving hoarding past issues of Cooking Light that date back to March 1998. I stopped being a subscriber a couple of years ago and I don't have *all* the issues between then and now (I took a break for a year or two), but I I had close to two shelves of CL issues and with my daily decluttering project, the shelves were getting hard to overlook, especially given how much my eating habits have changed since I first started subscribing. 

 

They didn't all go straight into the recycling bin. I went through every issue and tore out things I wanted to make and put them into categories so they'd be easier to find when I need them.

I did this a little at a time over a week or two. Anywhere that I went that I knew I'd need to be sitting and waiting I brought a few magazines with me (waiting to pick the kids up in the car line, doctors appointments, the kids' after-school activities, etc.).

If I had a half-hour or hour to spare I set up and got to work.

 

I went through all the Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, & Feb issues from all of those years. Once spring nears I'll start going through the rest of them as I'll be more in the mindset of looking for recipes using asparagus, green beans, summer squash, peas, tomatoes, etc. 

fun handmade cloth napkins

I've been repurposing some cloth napkins with some fabric scraps and old clothes that the kids have grown out of. These bright colors and fabrics bring a smile to my face every time I see them.

All bread, all the time

All bread, all the time... or least it's going to look that way when you see what I've been baking up in the kitchen lately. The smell of freshly baked bread just makes me so happy.

I think we've found a good daily sandwich bread (or breakfast w/almond butter bread) based on how quickly the family finished THREE loaves!!! This was from two weeks ago and I made another batch today. I've tweaked this recipe to be mostly whole wheat. So far it has been a very forgiving recipe... as the first time I was feeling confident and replaced all of the honey with sugar and the bread still came out great. Today I used honey. We'll get the taste test results tomorrow.

And while this isn't daily bread, it's certainly some of our favorite weekly or monthly bread:

This gorgeous loaf is the Pane Integrale from Lahey's My Bread. Yes, it takes 2 days but is entirely worth it!!I cooked it in a Lodge cast iron pot with lid a la Chad Robertson's Tartine.

Here's how it started out (well this is after it sat out overnight and through the morning and early afternoon on the counter).

Look at those bubbles.

Everyone gets really excited when I make this (me included)!!

Then one night before bed I got a craving to work through some more recipes in HBI5MAD so the next morning I mixed up a batch of Whole Wheat Flaxseed bread dough (using flaxmeal, ground up flax seeds).

After 2-3 hours of sitting on the counter the dough had risen to meet the lid and then collapsed in on itself and it was time to stick it in the fridge (where it still lives until I'm ready to cook with it). That's the beauty of it... it's waiting for me when I need it. I will likely get to it tonight or tomorrow and I'll report back! 

On Sunday Jessi and I spent HOURS cooking in the kitchen together. We made delicious whole wheat cinnamon buns that made for an awesome afternoon snack for the four of us!! Lots of flour, water, and yeast being played with over here in our kitchen and we're having so much fun with it!! And all of this doesn't even include the HUGE success in finally finding a successful chana masala recipe (that I tweaked a bit)... AND cooking three seperate Indian dishes that created the most wonderful, authentically Indian meal for the first time ever! All the other things have, in my opinion, been Indian-style or Indian-inspired (even Madhur Jaffrey's Chana Masala recipe, which, sadly, I didn't like it at all.) I'll have to save the details for another post but Jessica and I are seriously so excited about the results of our Sunday lunch.

Strings Attached

This is Ryan's recent spontaneous art project which he started while Jessi was away at camp. When J got back home she added to what you see here so there are more dangly strings and decorated papers now. Mike doesn't approve of my 60s beaded curtain desire but he's seems to be okay with Ryan's hanging paper shapes. Hmm. I don't get it.

We're even getting used to walking a certain path to and from the kitchen to avoided getting paper cuts on our face and head.

This photo is a part of August Break. Read more and feel free to join in.

Monthly Family Four Photo

You may remember that back in March I started a photography project that's goal is to capture the four of us together in one photo. It's amazing how many photos I take each month and, prior to this project, how few actually contained all of us in the frame at the same time. This project seeks to remedy that. Here are the last three intallments.

Sometimes I find a flat surface (or get out the tripod if nothing flat is available) and use the self-timer; other times like when we are on vacation someone else offers to take a photo of us (or we kindly ask someone to). 

Getting photos of the four of us together is important to me so I make it happen.

July 2011

June 2011

May 2011

April 2011

But I also love this one below.... it transports me back to the exact moment when all of us were so tired from walking around all morning sightseeing that we just had to sit down outside the Franklin Science Institute in the shade to rest our aching feet.

4th of July cupcakes (a bit late, I know)

 

 

 

I forgot to post these on or around July 4th. Man, summer is flying by!! 

On our list of summer things to do is "bake and decorate cupcakes" (or something to that effect). Jessi wants to learn to pipe frosting and decorate cupcakes more fancifully than slathering the top with icing. We went to Borders to check out their book selection to help us along on that journey and Jessica picked out Martha Stewart Cupcakes (their photography was the best and most plentiful... she takes after me in her need for cookbooks to have GOOD photos and LOTS of them).

 So we made the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting and she had some fun with the decorating. I'm happy to report that these did not disappoint! The cake was moist, buttery, and flavorful. The buttercream frosting was decadent and not too sweet. I hate when you bite into cake and your teeth hurt from the cloying sweetness of it all. Ick!  I will never know if the buttercream yumminess was due to me forgetting to add a cup of sugar because, well, I lost count. It happens. People are always calling my name for something or other and I forget which number I just said.

It tasted good to me so I'll just have to remember to taste next time before adding that last cup of sugar in when making the frosting. 

Yesterday was a code orange air quality alert so I kept Ryan indoors (aside from walking from air-conditioned car to air-conditioned places we needed to run errands at). We got our allergy shots (and my right arm swelled up like a football players arm! Breathing is important. We can't mess around with him and his asthma. He did fine yesterday but I've needed to give him his rescue inhaler a few times today. His activity level *was* increased from yesterday and he's sleeping soundly now so all is good.

So while these aren't piped cupcakes as Jessica wants to practice doing... we DO need to leave some things for later in the summer to have something to look forward to, right <wink>.

TODAY: We took a bike ride to tennis camp (and to get milk for making THE MOST DELICIOUS ice cream ever  - and I even remembered to use the camera so look for those soon... need to upload them), then I MADE the best Vanilla Bean Cinnamon ice cream, I did an invigorating workout (Low Max - 70 min), cooked up a quick recipe from World Vegetarian for lunch that called for some things I needed to use or lose (sliced tomatoes in the fridge and tomato juice from making gazpacho), talked with Mike while eating it (love being able to do that), talked with my mom 3 times, daydreamed about something I can't remember, and more.

Ryan made his own checkers game with paper, markers, and wood pieces from a wood drawer in the art room and then asked if we could play it. Now how could I refuse?! I think he let me win too, which was rather sweet! He did his ritual 30 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of "think tank" work (stuff to do so there's no brain drain come school time) and he finished the First Grade Math Minutes workbook that I bought him. Um, hello, we still have 6 1/2 more weeks left of summer! I need to find him some more skills-type stuff to do... but in the meantime I'm going to suggest that he move on to all the logic books I bought from Mindware last summer (which are great!).

We also went to the pool for evening swim practice only to remember that the big kids have a meet tonight so all of the coaches are AT the meet and therefore there is no evening swim team practice... so Ryan asked if he could still go in and play around. Again, how could I refuse?! So I had the pleasure of watching him for 40 minutes as he had a great time diving under to touch the bottom of the pool, doing underwater handstands, making friends, and jumping in over and over again.

Today was a good day.

Latest declutter item - piped sugar flowers

While looking through my baking cabinet last week I came across some piped flowers that I had made a LONG time ago. I think I made these for my 30th (or 31st or 32nd) birthday cake. EEEWWWwww!! This past spring I just celebrated my 36th birthday. These can't be good. Out it goes!

TODAY: Since I did a ton of weeding in the garden yesterday... I don't have to do it today. How did it get so weedy so quickly?! I'm going to bring something fun to read and also my new watercolors with me to the pool so I have some fun stuff to do during the kids' swim practice this morning (since I can't swim in the empty lane. Boo!! That would have been so convenient.) I have camp clothes to label and travel toiletry bottles to fill (J goes to sleepaway camp soon), and we have a get-together planned with some friends later today. Oh, summer, how I love you so! Though I'm going to need to figure out a good time to workout now that the kids are home all the time or else I'm going to be cranky and sluggish. This week I have a new plan (waking up earlier than I want to on a summer day). We'll see how that pans out.

Summer Fun 2011 List

The kids have asked me to do Summer Bingo again and, to be honest, it was a bit more work for ME than I wanted. The kids were only doing things to mark it off and get a bingo instead of doing the things that I want us to do every day (or every week). So I plan on creating a little summertime family rhythm by having us do certain things each day like swim team practice (in the mornings), reading time, and "brain work" (to borrow the term from my friend Tiffany - Hi Tiff!) like logic puzzles, math/analogies/handwriting practice (depending on the child), etc. Then it'll up to us to decide what we want to do with the rest of the day. This is where the list comes in so that I remember all the things that we'd like to do. Is it only me that goes totally blank when trying to think of something fun to do when asked? That's why I LOVE LISTS! 

The kids have given me some of their ideas but they still have more to give me. I plan to go through last year's Summer Bingo list of activities and some of them here. This list is flexible and will evolve as more ideas roll in and others get crossed off (as some already have). I won't have to make bingo cards each week or think of prize ideas and we can simply go with the flow, yet still have plenty of things to do.

Summer Fun 2011 List

Away From Home

 Port Discovery & Science Museum - Baltimore

Torpedo Factory - Alexandria
Local hikes/nature walks
National Arboretum

Botanic Garden
Ida Lee Garden and picnic
Pick veggies/fruit @ farm
Letterboxing/Geocaching

Museums that are new-to-us (Asian Art, Textile, others)

Smithsonian Museum of National History
Smithsonian Museum of Art (West & East)

National Children's Museum http://ncm.museum

Sprinkler park

Other nearby parks

Bowling

Go the movies

Miniature golf

All of Us

Family game night

Family movie night

Minor league baseball game

See a summer concert

Build a sandcastle

Lasertag

Batting cages

At Home

Daily: Journal/Write Stories, Read, Brainwork

Jump rope

Cloud gazing

Dance to music or make up dance routine

Harvest in our garden/plant more seeds

Bike to our favorite Indian restaurant

Basketball out front

Tennis at the courts nearby

Bike to the lake or on the trail

Play in the sprinklers

Lemonade stand

Build a fort

Make an obstacle course

Swing on the hammock

Blow bubbles

Color scavenger hunt http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/holiday-seasonal-crafts/summer-crafts-backyard-activities/backyard-nature-crafts/world-of-color-892796/

Have a picnic in the sunroom

Play board games

Play card games

Go to library

Do a puzzle together

Learn more Italian (or Spanish)

In the Kitchen

Make: fruit leather, hot buttery pretzels, popsicles, ice cream

Different smoothies and find our favorite

Make frosted cupcakes

Make and deliver baked goods to friends, neighbors, family

Make bread

Plan a get-together with friends

Creativity

Create a movie using Flip and iMovie

Paint/draw/sculpt

Paint rocks

Watercolors outside

Try different journal/book bindings

Make and fly paper airplanes

Science experiments

Sewing

Sew bags with sewing machine

Paper Poppies - http://multiplesandmore.blogspot.com/2011/04/crafting-with-kids-mothers-day-art.html

Sun prints

Write music/songs (with guitar or keyboard)

Tape paintings - http://pinterest.com/pin/37465731/

Paint sticks - http://pinterest.com/pin/33044468/

Sidewalk chalk gallery

Design/paint/color/tie-dye t-shirts

Create collaborate work of art on big canvas (maybe with our handprints - a tree??)

 

How We Spend Our Days

We've been spending our mornings making paper airplanes. I'm becoming quite proficient at this. Today I made the best one yet. It had 6 pages of instructions but it glided like a dream. Ryan is off decorating it right now.

I've had the pleasure of going to lunch with two of my girlfriends this week on different days (both at my favorite Indian restaurant).

We've been spending our afternoons munching on peas from the garden (playing guess-how-many-are-in-this-pod) and at swim practice. I've even managed to swim a little during Ryan's swim practice (and before the lifeguards turn the last lap lane into a lane for the year-round swim team effectively bumping me from the water. Boo!) 

 

It had been a while since I checked on the seedlings that are still out on the deck but I was pleasantly surprised to see that the purslane is thriving. I didn't even know what purslane was but I saw it here and there in recipes that I had read (in books like Local Flavors and others of its ilk) so I thought I'd try to grow some in the garden. I am also growing salad burnet for the same reason. I haven't tried either of them yet but I hope to in the near future. The purslane is the tall one below. To the left is some Mrs. Burns lemon basil, and the teeny ones on the far left are Red Rubin basil which are more purple-y than red.

We will not be eating any tatsoi because someone else likes it too much... not sure what animal is eating it. All I have noticed is chewed off tops!

Today I'm going to make some toasted nori but I'm going to use olive oil instead of sesame so that Ryan can try it to see if he likes it.

I also have an eye doctor appointment to check my prescription (and likely to see if progressive lenses make sense at this point. I find myself holding things far away so that I can read them or taking my glasses off entirely to see things close up.) I also need more contact lenses if I'm going to try to swim this summer while the kids have their swim practice (and learn how to correctly do a flip turn).

One of the decluttering items of the week: my old eBook Reader (there were also a few summer bridge workbooks from last year, used spiral notebooks from when J was in 3rd grade, Hannah Montana pencils and erasers since those are frowned upon here now, and I made a new drawer for the kids' dry erase stuff since they weren't putting it away since they didn't know where to put it. We had an extra drawer so it made perfect sense.)

This weekend bring the elementary school end-of-year party, swimming time trials for the kids (where I am volunteering as a timer), the last t-ball game and the end-of-season party at Fuddrucker's, no babysitter (again), and then Sunday is an open day and we are hoping to chill out at home all morning and then head to the pool in the afternoon if the weather cooperates.