Candyland Lessons

In September of 1997, when I was 23 years old (woah...), I started my first Child Life Internship on the Neuroscience Unit at Boston Children's Hospital.  To begin, my job was to simply see what it was like to be a child in the hospital.  Meet the kids, play with them, get a feel for their experience...

I remember spending a morning with one child playing Candyland.  Opening the box.  Setting up the game.  "What are these picture cards?"  "This game has changed since I was a kid..."  "No", their mother told me.  "They have always been part of the game..."  Hmmm.

I went home that night and called my mom.  "When I was little and we played Candyland," - for I do remember playing Candyland. a lot. - "were there picture cards that jumped you forward and backward on the board?"

My mom was quiet for a moment.  And then laughed.  Yes, there were evidently picture card even way back in the seventies.  My mother took them out of our game and hid them.  They made the game last way too long, she told me.  As an early twenty-something, I was a little appalled. 

Fast forward fifteen years or so.  Ollie has finally discovered (and loves) Candyland.  It is out on our living room floor more often than not.  And those picture cards drive me nuts.  You see, my almost six year old is not a gracious loser.  And those picture cards?  They incite crying, whining, and board clearing swipes.  We don't even make it to the end to see who wins.  Just the anticipation of losing brings on the tears.  Oh dear, I drew Princess Frostina again.  I'm sorry!

So, I have recently thought about taking the picture cards out of our deck.  Ollie has even asked me to do so - at least he is self-aware, right?  But we keep them in.  Because there are lessons being learned here, right?  Instead, we talk about being a gracious loser.  And how Candyland is a game of chance.  And how you really don't know who is going to win until the very end.  And we take deep breaths.  And draw another card.  And hope that really that game of chance won't let me win for a third time in a row...

A Quilt

I am so happy to be back in the Studio right now - or more accurately on the living room floor...

Ollie's Kindergarten class has been studying fabric in Science - with the unit culminating in a class quilt.  Each child (and teacher) brought in an old T-Shirt from home and decorated a white quilt square.  I get to put them together into a quilt that will travel home with each kid for a night or two and be journaled about.  I love the meaning behind the fabric passing through my hands and under my iron right now.

The quilt is bigger than I have done before and has me motivated to do more after this.  Especially since my scrap pile is about three feet high.  The T-Shirts weren't as difficult to stitch as I thought they would be, thanks to Johanna at Cloth and Bobbin who reminded me that they each needed to be interfaced!  Exactly why I prefer to buy my fabric at a local shop...

So the quilt has been pieced and embroidered.  Next up, I need to make the back and then sandwich the quilt.  The quilting I have planned is a little non-traditional, I think.  Each of the white squares the kids used actually came from a kit made for tying the squares together instead of stitching them.  This means that all four corners of each square have holes cut into them.  My plan is to applique little squares over each intersection, quilting the quilt and covering the holes at the same time.  Let's hope the quilt will all fit through my machine!

Is It Really February Already?

So, somehow, January flew.  And now at the beginning of February, we are having Spring-like weather and everyone is a little confused.

But, my bedroom is coming along!  And there are some new projects coming down the pike.  While I had hoped that my room would be finished at this point, I underestimated how long the painting would really take.  Back before we had kids, I remember painting a room in a weekend.  But this room?  Oh, my, the woodwork.  Previously painted a darker color than I realized.  Three hours per coat.  One coat of primer (that should have been two) and then three coats of white paint (I told you there should have been 2 coats of primer).  But I love the look of it.

It's interesting - all of the natural light in the room actually makes it very difficult to photograph mid-day.  The color is actually this, Benjamin Moore's Serenata.

There just a little touch up to be done (I've learned to sand out the drips in between coats next time) and another coat of paint needed on the radiator cover and then I will be able to clear out all of the painting paraphernalia. 

Today I head out looking for curtains and curtain rods.  The big debate - Single rods with a heavier curtain?  Or double rods with drapes and shears.  It's that darn streetlight that shines right onto The Dad's face when we are sleeping...

January Goal #1

There are some big home improvement plans going on around here right now.  With a big push to finish them all over the next 6 months - the goal being that everything is done by the time the kids get out of school so we can just enjoy the summer without any of that hanging over our heads.

As I type, I listen to the now-less-disconcerting sound of the roofers up above.  Doing a total tear-off and installation of a new roof plus with skylights.  After the first one went in in the den, The Dad stopped for a moment and said "Really, why shouldn't we put in two (instead of one) in the office."  They really are a bit transforming...

But for January, taking no active role in the roofwork myself, my goal #1 is our bedroom re-do.  We replaced all of the windows longer ago than I can count, yet they still haven't been sanded and finished.  We installed built in bookcases even longer ago than that... Yet they still sit unfinished as well.

So, the sanding is done.  The wiping down comes next.  Then priming the whole room in prep for painting.  Oh yeah, we still have to pick just which green we want, too.  I keep coming back to this one but it may turn out just a bit too dark.  We'll decide this weekend and start splashing the color on next week.  There's also a plan for a photo wall...  And did I mention that one of the things needing to be painted in there is a fireplace?  With a detailed wood mantle?  Yes, let's hope the learning curve for painting woodwork isn't that steep...

Belated Happy New Year

We had such a nice break.  This was the first winter break in a long time that we didn't travel, and it was just so much simpler.  Some good hikes, a couple field trips, lots of time just playing at home, and the most perfect Christmas morning.  Simple.  The goal and the word that just keeps coming to mind.

And now somehow it is already January 9th, 2012.  2012!

 December was good.  And, looking back at that list of goals, pretty successful.  I cleared a bunch of extraneous crap stuff out of the house. Not all of it yet, but it just feels so much cleaner already.  The 100% plant-based diet kind of flew out the window mid-month, but it did make a big difference in how I felt so I haven't given up on that.  It may not be sustainable, but it is worth the effort.

I did sew a present or two for each of the kids.  Ollie's sheep pajamas and a Shirley (giant sheep) stuffed animal/cushion that is actually with him in school today for 'S' Share Day.  I made Ella a little bedding set for her doll bed and got most of the way through a silk velvet-y skirt (with one for her doll to match) before we realized that I had made the waistband too small.  That one needs to be revisited and finally finished.

And eieio?  Besides a couple custom orders last month I haven't even touched it.  But I've thought a lot about it and am getting ready to move forward again.  The first thing I need to do is some kind of lighting setup.  Soon...

And the goals for January?  They are already in full swing.  The house is getting picked up and cleaned on a more regular (even daily!) basis and I am getting ready to go downstairs to empty out my bedroom in preparation for painting.  There's more that I'll put into a list before the month is over.  I promise.

A Productive Day

It's funny what constitutes a productive day around here.  Something crossed off my to-do list.  A small corner of the house cleaned up and organized.  A sewing project finished.  I've actually had a couple productive days around here lately.

And while getting car in to be serviced this morning (oil change, sunroof and wiper blade recall) let me check something off my to-do list, I was even more excited to finish my first sewing project for Christmas.  Yes, 10 days before Christmas and I am just starting those sewing projects.  But that's how it works around here.  And they are all relatively small projects.  And none of them are necessary - except for the giant sheep cushion which I will start tonight.

Back for Ollie's birthday, I started a pair of sheep pajamas.  They weren't finished in time.  The bottoms were ready so I paired them with an appliqued T and he was happy.  He has been waiting, though, for the complete set.  I finally made the top.  Now I just need to sneak the bottoms out of his closet (they have jumped into his regular pants rotation) and wrap them up for Christmas Eve.  Check Handmade Gift #1 off my list.

** I actually made the top and bottom from two different Oliver + S Patterns.  The bottoms are from the older Bedtime Story Pajamas pattern and the top is from the newer Sleepover Pajamas pattern.  Love them both - and still learn something new everytime I sew with one.  Understitching?  Who new?!

Moving Forward

The sun has been missing around here for a while. It's been grey and pretty gloomy.  But I have been plodding along.  Feeling like I am getting things accomplished but at a slower rate than I would like.  I will focus on the 'getting things accomplished'.  Including multiple trips to get things out of the house.  So while I don't feel like I'm checking things off my list, I do feel like I am moving forward.  And for that, right now, I am happy.

Here are some of the things happening around here this week:

On my kindle: Buddha in the Attic  This is not a book I would have ever picked up on my own, but I am loving it.  It is heartbreaking and fascinating at the same time, told in a style I couldn't imagine a whole book in that somehow works.  Now I want to go learn more about this whole wave of Japanese mailorder brides.

In my kitchen: Super Natural Every Day  I made the two cookie recipes last weekend.  The carnival cookies (with peanuts, chocolate chips, and popcorn!) were healthy and fabulously yummy.  The Dad is already asking when I am going to make the Ginger Cookies again.  Yum.

In the shop: Posting is going slowly since we are so short on great light.  I did manage to get the velveteen and voile scarves posted.  And a great sheep dress that I had actually made for Art Star.  When I packed up for the show, I couldn't figure out why I was short a 12 mo. dress.  It drove me crazy trying to figure out where I miscounted.  When the show was over and I returned home on the third evening, Ollie took me by the hand up to the office.  He wanted to 'show me something'.  He pulled the missing dress, this sheep dress, out from under the bed.  He loved the fabric too much and didn't want me to sell it.  "Ollie, you can't wear this dress."  "I know, but you can cut it up and make me something."  Um, No.  This boy loves sheep.  Wait 'til he sees what Santa is bringing him.

Conversations about Santa: Ollie is convinced that Santa is going to bring him a machine that makes stuffed sheep.  One with a pedal that you push.  That screws to the wall.  I tried explaining that Santa probably couldn't bring that for him.  In tears, he cried "But Mama, Santa can make anything.  And he has his elves to help him."  The Dad is convinced that we can come up with something...  We still have two and a half weeks.

A Yummy, Treaty Recipe

Last night we were all wanting something "treaty" after dinner.

This has become my go-to, ready-in-a-moment treat over the last couple months.

Adapted from the Happy Herbivore's Instant Cookie Dough recipe, it is just that perfect combination:

1 cup rolled oats
2 T cocoa powder
2 T almond butter (or any other nut butter)
2 T maple syrup (even better with the dark Grade B)
1 cup frozen berries (blueberries or raspberries are our favorites - the photos are of a batch with crushed up
 raspberries)

Mix the oats, cocoa, almond butter, and maple syrup together until fully blended.  Then stir in the frozen berries.  Great both right away and later after sitting in the fridge.  The kids like it as a treat in their lunchboxes, too.

Yum.

December 1

Tomorrow is December 1st.

The Dad reminds me, on a somewhat regular basis, that it has been scientifically proven that writing down your goals increases your chances of accomplishing them.

I don't think he means the multitude of To-Do Lists that I create, scatter, replicate, and misplace every day.

Tomorrow I am beginning a 6-month experiment project. I am thinking of it as 6 months of homemaking.  Of domestication.  But really?  6 months of trying to make the life that I really want to be living.  A lot of it has to do with the state of our house, but it also is about how I spend my time, how I feed my family, and how I create the home that I really want to be raising my children in.

For my own sake, I am breaking it into monthly chunks.  With goals for each month. And writing those goals down here - since that make me more likely to accomplish them, right?

1. Go room by room through our house and get rid of anything that is extraneous - the clutter, the things we don't use or need anymore (and maybe never did).  For this I am inspired by William Morris - "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." and Kim John Payne's Simplicity Parenting.  The organizing and decorating will come later - for starters I just need to purge.

2. Eat a 100% plant-based diet for 30 days.  After reading some great books like this and this, I have been eating this way 80-90% of the time for the last eight months.  I'd like to go all the way for the next 30 days and see if it is something that is truly sustainable (and helpful) for me.

3. Sew at least one thing for Ella and Ollie for Christmas.  I spent September through mid-November cramming for the Art Star Craft Bazaar.  I am really looking forward to doing some sewing for my family.  I've got a gazillion patterns I want to try.  And a request for a giant (!) stuffed sheep pillow from the little boy who thinks I can make anything.

4. Spend at least one hour every day doing something for eieio. It could be sewing. It could be photographing or posting in my shop.  I have the habit of just feeling burnt out after a big show, letting my shop fall to the wayside and not capitalizing on the momentum and publicity.  I don't want to let that happen again.

I think that's enough.  Wish me luck!

Recovering

I think we are all recovering from the last couple days right now.

Art Star was a great success and a really fun weekend.  I met some cool people, purchased a fabulous set of prints, saw some repeat customers, and was reminded repeatedly why I do this.  And then I got home to face the aftermath.  Hmmm... 

Next up, Thanksgiving.  And my 20th (Eek!) High School Reunion.  And lots of thought and discussion about balance and benefit.  While I will keep sewing, I will also be starting on a new project when we return home: Six Months of Homemaking.

One of the things I love about reading some of the crafty/family/lifestyle blogs out there is the inspiration.  They help me clarify how I really want to be living my life.  I've been doing a lot of soul searching (while sewing, mostly) since the kids went back to school and I've found some focus lately.  And some motivation.

About eight months ago, I totally changed the way I eat.  Cold Turkey.  And it has had amazing effects on all of us.  Monday, I am changing the way I spend my days.  And I am hoping it will have an even greater effect.  There are multiple pieces to the equation.  I'm guessing they will be factored in slowly.  But it will happen.  And life will change.  And really, I'm so excited.

I figure the more I write about it here, the more likely I am to stick with it.  Some come visit!  Leave a comment!  Suggestions, questions, all are welcome.  I'm diving in.