Pretty Cute Stuff

I can't resist another post. Jon has been posting the cutest family videos on his blog lately. There are some pretty classic moments.

D.Y.I.N.G.

Steph just sent me this picture from her recent trip to France. Flan from Poilane...You would not believe the divinity that is this pastry. I don't even like flan (Spanish that is) but I can still remember the spot on the street where we stopped and I had my first bite of this beauty. It was warm and positively heavenly.

PS I'm not really returning to blogging, I just wanted a new picture at the top! :)

A Little Eye Candy While I'm Gone

My sister-in-law just turned me on to this amazing blog. I spent way too much time catching up on all of their posts. And their home reno? Um, gorgeous. They've got an eye those two...

Have fun browsing!!!

Blog Vacay

Hey ya'll...I'm going to take another blog vacay. I've got a few extra jobs on my plate so I can earn some money for a trip to San Diego and I'm going to concentrate on that for a bit.

Be back soon!

xoxo

Accessories Always Love You

I have a great love for accessories like handbags and shoes. They always love you no matter what size you are and they can really make an outfit. Here are a few that I'm *sighing* over right now:

Cole Haan Zippered bag...Love the hardware and the buttery leather could make it heirloom quality.

Grey gorgeousness, check out the lining! I'm in love with this one for sure.

I would love a cross body bag. I'm past the diaper bag stage and sometimes I just need enough room for a wallet, makeup bag and keys. I also get tired of bags constantly sliding off my shoulder and the color of this one is lovely.

Ice Age Cave Art

picture via

The kids are studying the Last Ice Age for history and we've done some great art projects for this unit! First we went to a local park and picked up sticks and moss and rocks to make a replica of an hunter-gatherer village. Yesterday we made our version of cave art - similiar to the art they've seen pictures of in books. When I take them to France to stay in Steph's house we definitely plan on making a day trip to Lascaux to see some of the first cave art that we know of!

Here are our tools: watercolor paints in the darling paint holder I found at Carrefour in Paris...used it for the first time!

Kiddos working on their art - no, Will is not sticking the brush up his nose I promise, it's just in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

Noah gets to do all the fun stuff but none of the work! Lucky guy.

The final product!

Christmas Fave #5

I "encouraged" Jon to get me this pendant for Christmas. I've always wanted something personalized with the kids names on it but without it being silly. I love the silver and gold combo of the pendant and it's a unique take on the typical and sometimes cheesy personalized jewelry. The necklace was supposed to come on a chain but I'm very particular about the length of my necklaces so I opted to just get the pendant and find a chain on my own. Luck would have it that I found the chain in the photo while perusing Value Village again. Total score for $.99! It's a solid beaded gold necklace on a real gold chain. I think they might have mispriced it...Yay! I also found a longer gold chain and a silver beaded necklace so I can switch it around depending on what length I want. All for a whopping total of $6.

Can you tell I love a good deal? Thrifting is economical, environmentally sound, a total thrill when I find the perfect thing for the perfect price...I could go on and on.

Sweet Citrus

I found a lovely container of Meyer Lemons at Costco the other day for $6.99! They were not on my list but they beckoned to me...They smelled so good. And the color! I should have put a regular lemon right beside them so you could see the contrast. There's no comparison!

Now, what to do with them? Should I make my favorite lemon bar recipe? Steph's lemon curd? They are just sitting my console, waiting to be used but I'm paralyzed by the decision. Does anyone else do that? I don't want to waste them in some dumb recipe so I just let them sit until I can't any longer...

What should I do?

My Husband Is Uh-Mazing

I direct him to the blog post on my sidebar issues, tell him a few of my friends had some suggestions and left him to it. 30 minutes later, fixed. I find this incredibly sexy, especially since he's not a tech nerd. Hmm....what else needs fixing?

This is actually Jon, Cher's husband, but this is what she would have posted when she gets home, so I figured I'd go ahead and do it for her.

I Need Your Blogger Expertise

Anybody notice something weird about my sidebar stuff? For some reason it is at the bottom of my page but if you click on an individual post it's right where is should be. I've checked my layout and everything is normal.

Any ideas? I thought I'd ask you first before I go through the trouble of contacting blogger...

Hook me up!!!

Ella's Room Take 3

A few weeks ago we sold Ella's bed on Craigslist. If you remember we made a loft bed for our imaginative daughter, thinking she would love the extra space underneath for play and craftiness. The space ended up being her junkyard (she is a packrat!!!) and the bane of my existence whenever I caught a glimpse of her room. She also recently took up sleeping on the floor so we decided the big, bulky bed could go the way of Craigslist if she promised to always remember that her parents built her a bed. She pinky swore and the next day her bed was up on Craigslist. A day later and we were a $120 richer- and had my exact budget for redoing her room. Oh how I love a challenge!

First we decided what she really needed; a bookshelf, a desk and a bed. With the big bed gone there was also a lot of wallspace that we didn't have before so we needed to fill that somehow. All this for a $120. I did it! With only going a little over...Just a little!

And here it is...

My first find was this amazing desk at Value Village. It's on my way to work so I stop in often to check out the goods. I was on my way out when I spotted this beauty- solid wood, mid-century goodness for $35. Aww, yeahhhh. I wiped a little stain and wipe on poly on it and it looks fabulous. The red acrylic chair is from Hold Everything (R.I.P.) and was in our garage until it could be put to use.

Next I found this Jenny Lind style bed on Craigslist for $50. I just saw the exact same bed at an antique store for $215!! Again, it was solid wood so it was a keeper. It was a maple/amber stained wood and I painted it white with leftover paint and sprayed polyurethene on it. I love how it turned out. We used her same bedding and color scheme to keep the costs down of course.

Last, but not least I found a bookshelf at D.I. for $8. It was a garish red so I spray painted it white. I wanted all of the furniture and walls to remain neutral so they were timeless AND because my darling daughter can let things get a little out of hand...it helps to have things pretty stark so her messes/creativity seem less disturbing (?!) to me. The bedside lamp is from Ikea ($5).

To fill up the now empty walls I found a few prints on Etsy. This one from Persimmon & Pink and this from LuckyBluebirdArt. They are perfect reminders for the unique, sensitive soul that she is...

Lastly, we started a picture collage on her biggest wall. I looked through our photo files and sent a bunch to my local Costco to pick up. I printed some of our house and friends from back east, Ella with family and as a little girl, etc. She loves looking at them all and the collage can just grow with time. I used 3M poster strips to attach them to the wall so rearranging is a breeze.

I also found a frame at D.I. for $5 and spray painted it aqua. I had a custom mat made for it at my local framing shop ($10) and put one of my all time favorite pictures of her in it...Can you see those curls in the picture?

Part of the budget went to 2 packs of clear, plastic shoe containers (set of 14 for $15 at Costco) for storage in her closet. We sorted through all of her stuff and ended up filling 20 some bins with her various collections and treasures. They are all labeled and stacked neatly (most of the time!) in her closet. We moved one of her Malm dressers into her closet and one into the boys' closet (it also got a makeover...it was taken over by Christmas legos and playmobil items).

She loves her room and does a much better job at keeping it neat. Eventually I'd like to add FLOR tiles to both of the kids' rooms to warm the floors up a bit. Hopefully this makeover will last a while longer! We've redone her room 3 times in the past 2.5 years...

PS So sorry for the horrible, grainy photos. I need help in that department...

My Darling Clementine

WARNING! NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART (OR STOMACH!)

When we decided to raise chickens I did a lot of research on the care and whatnot of them. I was not, however, prepared for the chicken drama and dare I say heartache of these past few weeks. We have four chickens, four different breeds and therefore four different sizes. Little did I know that this would be a major problem. My chicken, Clementine, is the smallest one. She was constantly being picked on by the others and was definitely at the bottom of the pecking order. The others had gotten her a few times, even drawing blood here and there but nothing out the ordinary.

A week and a half ago we went to get the eggs and Clementine literally came staggering to me through the nesting box with one of the chickens at her heels, pecking at her backside. I picked her up and to our horror her entire backside was pecked to a pulp. I won't go into more detail than that so I don't get any dry heaves! The poor thing was being cannibalized, something I NEVER read about in all my research but is actually quite common among chickens but usually in larger flocks.

We made Clementine a makeshift bed of straw in a container in the laundry room and didn't think she'd make it the first night. I wouldn't have minded if she didn't because she was suffering so. She stood in the same spot for 2 days straight while we tried to nurse to back to health. I had a friend ask her dad (a vet in MO) what we should do and he said that even if she did heal, we could never reintroduce her to the flock because they would just go after her again.

So I decided to put an ad up on Craigslist to see if someone would take her...Hoping we wouldn't have to take more drastic measures.

Thank heavens we live in Seattle where people love their pets so much (more than kids!). I was inundated with emails from people genuinely offering to take her into their flocks. One email in particular stood out to me- a wonderful lady that usually takes in birds and bunnies through the humane society that have been abused or neglected. She offered to take her to a vet and get her healed. The kids and I met her down south that next morning and passed Clementine onto her. She has kindly kept us informed of her condition since then. Clementine was in really bad shape but seems to be on the mend. She's on antibiotics and gets iodine baths twice a day. She even sleeps inside with her new owner and will for a few more weeks. She's a tough cookie that one!

And then there were three... :(

Update: Clementine passed away last Wednesday night. The wonderful person that took her in notified us and we picked her up today and buried her in our backyard. They gave us a pot of primrose and we put that on top of her grave. I had no idea how attached I would get to her, I literally lost it when Rene was explaining to me how she died! Clementine really was the sweetest thing and just had such a rough go of it.

Luckily the remaining three have been getting along famously and it looks as though the pattern won't continue. If it ever happens again we will know what to do this time.

New Year, New Learning

Next week we start a new semester at the Edmonds Homeschool Resource Center and I'm really excited. We are switching from a Tuesday/Thursday schedule to a Monday/Wednesday schedule to change things up a bit and get different classes.

Ella is taking Journalism (she's going to be contributing to the school newspaper!), Children Around the World (grab your passports and go!), Spanish Conversations, Art, and Musical Theater.

Will is taking Writing Strategies, Physical Science, Art and P.E.

At home we finished up with the American Revolution for now and will start studying the Ice Age and going from there. We will continue to do math, copy work, spelling, Ella does science at home, grammar and reading. I'm reading Conrad Richter's The Light In The Forest to them and really enjoying it. Sometimes we save the reading for right before bedtime and we snuggle up in our bed and read chapter after chapter. One of the fondest memories I have of my childhood is when my mom would take us to the library and we would pick out a book for her to read to us. We'd climb into my parent's waterbed (awww yeah) at night and she would read to us.

And yes, I know it's not "hardcore" homeschooling where it's just me and the kids 24/7 because of the resource center. We feel really blessed to have such a great place nearby that gives the kids a school experience with wonderful teachers that we can choose ourselves. They are all great there, otherwise none of the parents would choose their classes! In truth we call it part-time homeschooling but it works for us and we love it.

Hatch Girl Number 4

It's my darling, creative, clever, thoughtful sister's birthday today (although I have another sister that fits the same description!). The big 27!

Happy Birthday to you, mashed potatoes and stew... (wink, wink).

She's the one in the middle!

Kitchen Update

Our kitchen is teeny tiny, 150 square feet to be exact. I guess housewives in the 60's didn't need much room to cook in, they were too busy with the novelty of McDonald's and TV dinners! It's a small box of a thing but it's evolved over time to work just fine for us. After refinishing the cabinets and replacing the counters, sink, lighting, appliances and flooring we called it good for a while. On one side of the kitchen we had a counter-height table that housed out printer and computer (Macs look good anywhere, no?), but I decided it was taking up way too much of my precious floor space. And after my vow to be on the computer less we moved the iMac downstairs to house all of our movies, stream hulu, etc.

We still needed a little something for more storage and a bit of counter space, so I found this dresser on Craigslist for $40. It was a little worse for wear with a broken drawer that we still haven't fixed and some parts of the veneer that had come off, but the lines were great and it fit perfectly in the spot. With a few coats of Behr's Dolphin Fin in hi-gloss and some new hardware from Rejuvenation we have the perfect place for our junk drawers (Jon and I each have one, don't you?) and extra space for baking and cooking supplies. It also has room on top for my new love and Christmas Fave #3, my iTouch with dock/speakers. I now have music for the kitchen, one of my very favorite things to have going while I cook and do the morning routine.

Happiness Project

I saw the author of this book on The Today Show the other day (caught it while riding the bike at the gym, multi-tasking!) and was reminded that happiness is 100% a choice and I need to choose it more often. I'm thinking of embarking on my own happiness project to add a nice jolt of joy to my life. Sounds better than New Year's Resolutions to me.

P.S. On a bitter note (see how much I need a happiness project?) I've decided that everyone but me is brilliant. What a lovely, original thought to start a Happiness Project and then write a book about your experience! I'm still waiting for my million dollar idea to come to me...take that Stephanie Meyer!

Treasure Hunting

I'm a thrifter. My penchant for second-hand things goes way back to my high school years in the 90's when grunge was where it was at. Ralph Lauren and Gap were also big but I hung out with the other crowd, if you know what I mean. I love scouring racks and finding those few great things that someone else felt the need to pass on. Pure bliss. I do turn my nose up to some things (underthings, no thank you!) and I always douse myself in Purell when I leave but there is nothing like turning one person's trash into my very own treasure.

On my way to work the other night I stopped at Value Village in the Ballard/Greenwood neighborhood. Score. I walked out with an original painting to add to my vintage florals wall in the dining room and a desk for Ella's room redo (more on that later!). The colors are vivid and all it needed was a little wipe of some stain (Minwax's Early American) on the frame and it was shipshape. 7 bucks!!

What's your best thrifstore find?

Hollywood Hair

I recently read in a magazine that the celebrity's trick to amazing hair is dry shampoo. It's like a fancy, scented corn starch that soaks up the greasies and makes your hair smell yummy! On the days that I workout in the afternoon I don't want to shower twice (not great for color treated hair!) but my hair is not looking pretty.

After shopping around a little at Ulta I found this, Ojan dry shampoo. It sprays on clear then dries a little lighter so I just brush it in and voila! Greasies are gone! If you love to go a few days in between hair washings but don't want the dirty hair smell, give one of these a try.

Pirates in Paris

I love that my Paris in a bag from Muji is getting so much use! Who knew pirates love the Eiffel Tower?

If I Lived In Colonial Times...

image via

After my recent posts on American food culture you might be wondering why and how we should change. Let me just say that this food thing has been a process, one that has taken months for us to even make the first move.

Now, let's start with the why. Why does it even matter how much meat we eat? Well, I'm a moderation kind of gal. I believe I can eat anything I want in moderation, and I do! But here's the thing, it all goes back to our responsibility to God, nature and each other. We are responsible for taking care of the earth and all of it's goodness and if we turn a blind eye to how our food gets to our table we are abdicating that responsibility to strangers in industry. We are telling the food industry and our government that we don't care where our food comes from, as long as we can get it on the table by 6pm, cheap, hot and medium rare. We are saying that it's okay that our beef comes from CAFO's in the middle of Iowa where they lie around in their own feces and have to get shots of antibiotics just so they can tolerate a corn diet.

How can we change? By pretending we live in colonial times. Granted, we have access to so much more variety than they did but it doesn't mean that is an advantage. In fact, so many choices are the exact reasons we have this food conundrum in the first place. Colonists ate locally (duh), seasonally (they ate what they could grow, when they could grow it) and organically (no pesticides invented yet! They fought pests naturally!!). When we let go of the idea of eating whatever we want, when we want it we can move forward in our journey towards clean eating. We can simplify our eating, enjoy the food in it's purest form enhanced by the simple flavors of salt (not too much!) and butter (organic!). Shut out the noise of our food culture and simplify your menu. Get back to the basics and focus on real, whole foods.

For instance, we might have homemade biscuits and eggs for dinner one night. Or organic brown rice (we just tried a new one from costco, it's amazing!) with roasted winter vegetables. The other day I used meat as a condiment instead of a main dish by cooking ground beef (again, organic grassfed meat from costco, are you tired of reading the word organic?) with some of my "special italiane" seasoning from the Sarlat spice lady and added that to the roast veggies and brown rice. It was amazing and a total hit with the kids.

So next time you are shopping for food, ask yourself- would a pilgrim recognize this and how closely to my home was this food grown? Those two questions alone will clean up any diet...Think of all of the yucky chemicals, dyes, and xenoestrogens you won't be eating and you will feel better already!

I've Lost You Already

I'm still coming out of the holiday daze and had to hit the ground sprinting (figuratively of course, I wish I could really run!). My oldest is in her first Musical Theater play tonight and tomorrow (It's called Twinderella and she's in the ensemble cast) and she's had three 3 hour long dress rehearsals this week, not to mention activity days at church, SCC choir rehearsals and normal school stuff. She's exhausted, we're exhausted.

So hang in there with me. I have much to catch up on! I'm loving Steph's post today, make sure you check it out (I'm sure you have been there before you've been here!). It's been fun discussing food/menu changes and having a support system in all of this! Also, head over to Trainer Momma, she's got lots of motivation for hitting those health goals this year!!!

I'll be back after this weekend!

Christmas Favorites (#2)

On Jon's side of the family we rotate family names for gifting each Christmas. My darling sister-in-law wrote this little ditty to clue us in on our gift...I just had to share it!

The holidays are here
It's time to share gifts
With loved ones like you
Our spirits it does lift

Your dad is an adventure
Always up for new things
Hardworking and strong
And maybe some grey on those wings

Your brains are all huge
With that homeschoolin' mom
You really are lucky
She is kind of da bomb

Ella is so creative
And witty and sweet
Loves her comfies and treasures
And her bedroom retreat

Will with piano skills
And homeruns galore
Always sweet to the kids
He is never a bore

Noah all boy
He is never a bother
Loves vader and twinkie (preschool guinea pig)
Luke I am your fatha

We wanted to give you something
That could last you all year
Family memories and fun
Now give a big cheer

Seattle's so cool
To our delight
Now off you all go
To the Museum of Flight!

Enjoy a year on us
And learn new things
We love you so much
Now go earn your wings!

She's got skillz!

Christmas Favorites (#1)

I asked Mr. Claus for an expanded Stegner library this year...He delivered with West, a collection of stories and essays. I've read 3 or 4 so far and I'm even more enamored with Stegner, if that's possible! If you haven't read any of his works you must. Start with Crossing To Safety (my all-time favorite book) and go on from there. I promise you won't be disappointed.

Surprise, Surprise!

I had a few surprises up my sleeve for Jon's birthday this year. I can never surprise that guy so it felt good to pull a few on him this year. After all, he did turn 35! First I surprised him with one of these puppies, which was a family gift from my side. Second while we were out to lunch here (my mom watched the kiddies for me, thanks mom!) I surprised him with a t-shirt I got screen printed with a message for him. He thought it was pretty cute!!

Later that day we picked him up from work and headed to Bellevue to see lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens. We're trying to come up with new Christmas traditions since we moved to Seattle. When we lived in Baltimore we spent a weekend in December in Hershey, PA so we could go to Hershey's Chocolate World and see their Christmas light displays. We miss it! This was nothing like those lights but it was still charming and beautiful.

Mom, Ella and I at the Botanical Gardens.

One of my surprises for Jon!

Food, Inc.

Jon and I recently watched the movie Food, Inc on Neflix instant. It was so heavy (i.e. informative, disturbing in a good way) that I had to start watching Confessions of a Shopaholic so I could sleep that night!

I've also just finished Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food so we've been making some changes in the way we eat around here. I highly recommend EVERYONE watching Food, Inc. and reading Pollan's books. I think the movie should be shown in high schools and be mandatory for everyone so that we can change the way the next generations of Americans eat. We can't change culture and industry without everyone being informed!

Here are the changes we have made in the past few months:

We eat meat once or twice a week instead of every night. When we do eat meat it is wild caught fish or organic, pastured chicken and beef. No more factory raised/slaughtered meat. Blech. When we can afford to buy meat all at once we will visit local farms and find naturally raised, pastured meat. I pretty much want to find a version of Joel Salatin's farm. To find out where you can find a farm like this, go here.

We eat as many organic, local fruits and veggies as possible. Luckily, we have a PCC nearby. It's a lovely grocery store that sells local and organic produce, meat, etc. Also, the kids get to pick out a fruit when we arrive (mine always go for the raspberries or blueberries!) and the produce people wash it and put it in a cup for the kids to munch on while I shop. Seriously!

We are spending LESS on food, even though what I buy is more expensive. By trading out eating so much meat and buying boxed food for produce, brown rice, etc. we are saving money. I can get by on roughly $600 a month for groceries for a family of 5.

If a food claims it is healthy, nutricious or enriched it's most likely not! That includes protein bars, slimfast shakes, vegetarian frozen pizza...Things like produce and things that aren't packaged don't make these claims but they are the most healthy for us. My only downfall in this category is cereal. My kids really love Trader Joe's honey O's. And I really love the convenience. We don't, however, buy goldfish and other packaged things to eat.

Have you read these books and/or seen this movie? What are your thoughts and what changes have you made?

PS I just noticed a kids' version of The Omnivore's Dilemma! I think this will be a great science/health unit for my kiddies.