love

I love this bag. It's a little big though. . . I'd like it a bit smaller. . . and a bit less expensive.

 

Seriously though, it's as big as the model. 

4 years

Kyle and I have been married for just about 4 years. In those four years we have lived in the same house and Kyle has always acted surprised when he sees whole grain bread, instead of white bread.

Change is coming.

We are moving this week. I am so excited about moving that I can hardly stand it. I lie awake at night and think about how great it is going to be to move from our current place and into another. I have probably lost 10 hours of sleep over the last two weeks just thinking about moving. I try to think about other things - but nothing helps.

I know it sounds cheesy, but, one thing I have learned over the last four years is that marriage is all about compromise. Kyle and I. Hate. Compromise. We are both very strong willed and believe that we are always right - needless to say this has lead to one or more arguments. I made a run to Lowes two nights ago to get some boxes for moving, and then stopped at Fresh and Easy to pick up some OJ. That's when I saw this. . .

















Whole grain white bread. And no high fructose corn syrup. Now, in truth it is only made with some white whole wheat flour - but that is the first ingredient, so I'll settle.  I feel like this is the first compromise that I've made in my life that is actually the best of both worlds. I know it's a little thing, but it made me smile.


Moving on (no pun intended of course). I have slowly been packing up the kitchen this last week, and am just about done. I have been trying to use up all of the perishable foods so that I don't have to throw anything away. This has left us with strange things in the fridge. . . mostly condiments, frozen meatballs and frozen chicken.

I used to think that I did not like chicken. I do like chicken, but, I like it to be dressed up. Today I made the most delicious chicken salad sandwich in the world. It was so good that I got shivers as I ate it. My toes felt tingly. Really, it was like being kissed. The best part about this sandwich was that I was able to use up the rest of the chicken, mustard, olives and onion in the fridge. No, I take that back. The best part was that I had packed up ALL of my spices, but accidentally left the paprika out. The other great thing is that I now have something to eat for lunch the rest of this week. . . which is good, because I packed up the peanut butter yesterday.

Here's how I made it:

Broil some chicken in butter - sprinkle with salt. Allow to cool for a bit and then shred into little bits.
Cut up some celery
Cut up some green olives
Cut up some onion

Put all of this in a big bowl along with some mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt & paprika. Stir it up. No need to measure anything, just add what looks and tastes right.

Place between two delicious slices of whole grain white bread and eat.

Feel Kissed that your life is so blessed.

Grace. . .

Last night as I was driving home from work at 11:30, I did as I often do, and thought about my precious baby boy the whole way home. He makes me smile and makes the class I just taught seem less frustrating (not one student brought their supplies to class, despite being told every day for the last 3 weeks that they would need fabric to cut out their jacket on the 13th. . . ).

As I neared home my thoughts suddenly went from happy, to painfully terrifying. I find the best thing to do when you start crying because you've just imagined your child dying in your arms is to pray. So I prayed, and put a little more pressure on the gas pedal. Then I realized that there is really precious little that I can do to protect my son. Yes, there are the obvious things, I can sweep the floor, feed him good food, watch him closely and make sure he gets plenty of rest. But there is nothing that I can do to keep Gods plan, whatever it may be, from happening. I can't understand those plans either.

So I slowed down and trusted that God was going to keep my family safe, and believed that His will, whatever it is, is perfect.

When I got home Jonathan was fine. He and Kyle were in his room getting ready for bed - they had just got done eating some peas and brown rice (which, is disgusting by the way). I went over to look at him on the changing table. I saw something that was not right, and reached into his mouth. I pulled out a piece of plastic wrapping, that if it had been swallowed would probably have ended his life, or caused me to die of a heart attack. The plastic was clear and very hard to see, it looked more like spit bubbles inside his mouth than anything else.

We have no idea how the plastic got in his mouth. He'd gone from being in his highchair to Kyle holding him. So he must have had it in his mouth the entire time he was eating dinner - so, lots of swallowing, it just never went down.

I'm so glad that it's not just Kyle and I looking out for our family, God knows we'd fail - which is why I believe He stepped in.

Wooden Garden Planters

We are in the process of moving out of our home. We are doing a short sale, which means we have really no idea when we are moving. We are planning on moving into a two (maybe three if we find a deal) bedroom apartment. We currently have 3 bedrooms and a den. So, we are going to downsize - which I am completely fine with. I've been studying the rooms in my house lately. The biggest rooms are the rooms we spend the least amount of time in - our living room for example, followed by our family room/eating spot in the kitchen. These spaces would be great for something like a workroom, but who wants a work room to be the focal point of their home? The two rooms that I spend the most time in (or what seems to be the most time) are the laundry room (smallest room in the house) and my studio (second smallest room in the house, sans the bathrooms). I also spend a lot of time in the kitchen and the size of that space is perfect. Ideally, my home would have a huge walkout basement with a very open floor plan - there would be office, bathroom and studio, also a place for Jonathan's toys. The floors would be heated, dyed, cement with drains in them. The other structure in the space besides the bathroom, would be tons of closets. Actually, in an ideal situation all of that would be separate from my home, would have an apartment space upstairs, a garage and a greenhouse off to the side. . . That kind of ideal is a really long ways off though, so I'll just try to convince myself that the first option is my ideal.

I'm not sure what the point of all of this is, except to say that I'm not a fan of the traditional living room that people have to show off their nice furniture, television and decorative objects. I like spaces that can be lived in. . . and lived in hard. In an ideal world I would not sit on the sofa and watch television and the type of people I would entertain are the type who like the get their hands dirty and get glue on their clothes.

But, that is not happening anytime soon. . . and I can't have everything I want, and if I did have everything I wanted, I'm sure I would be very miserable. So we are downsizing and I am saying goodbye to my backyard. I love my backyard and I will miss it. I wanted to take part of it with me and had planned on digging up all my trees and putting them in gigantic containers. . . but gigantic containers are muy muy expensive. As it turns out, planters of any type are quite expensive, especially if you want something other than plastic. Pot are also generally round, which on the small rectangular shaped patio that I am likely to get in an apartment, are just not going to work very well. So, I made my own.

Each of these planters cost about $10 . Perfect. Here's what you need and  how I did it. . .
(For one planter)

Circular saw
Pen
Ruler
3 - 2x6x8 pine boards
2 - 12 x 12 ceramic tiles
~ 40 wood screws
Wood putty
Stain
Optional:
Roofing paper
Tar
Cheap roller brush

Mark line 1" from edge of board.

Use circular saw (or router if you have one) to cut along line. Make sure you adjust the height of the blade so that it only cuts about 1/2" into the board.

After you make one cut the length of the board, make another right next to it.

Use a flat head screwdriver to remove the wood between the two cuts.

Cut the boards. You will cut all three boards, but only one board will have the cutout for the tiles. I don't remember exactly what they measured. The important thing is that they are cut so that your tiles can snugly inside of your cut out. Approx 27" and 11 3/4".

Pre-drill and counter sink your screws. 3 on each side of board.

Join board together at corners, making sure that you cut out lines up.

Complete three sides of container and slide tile down into grove.

Put the other tile in. They don't have to lay in there perfectly, they just need to be snug so they don't fall out.

 Close off end by inserting the final board.

Build two more boxes (without grove for tiles), and stack one on top of the other. Screw some wood screws in at an angle so that the box is nice and sturdy.

Optional: Paint the inside with tar.

Optional: Cover tar with roofing paper.

Use putty to fill screw holes. Sand entire box.

Put on some gloves and apply stain with a rag. Let the box dry overnight.

 Then fill with dirt and your favorite flowers. I salvaged what flowers did not die in the freeze over Christmas, but had to buy some new ones too. . . :)

I think my favorite thing about these boxes is that there are so many different ways to arrange them and they take up minimal space in a corner. When we move I will form them into an "L" shape

Weeding

I once told Kyle that I loved weeding. I do love weeding (However, that did not mean that I wouldn't like help every once in a while.) I was weeding the front yard this morning, having tons of fun like I do. I had almost finished the yard when I looked up and saw the most gigantic weed of all. It was huge. It was dead. It made me think of this commercial I saw awhile back where a Ford or Ram truck backs up to this gigantic tree and pulls it out. The tree literally "pops" out of the ground. Wow, now that's power!

So, I looked at the weed or former bush if you will and thought, "Hey, I have a V8, I can do that. OOOOOOooo, and I also have some rope!"

So, I got the rope, wrapped it around the base of the dead plant, and hooked the other end to the back axle of my car. I took the baby inside (best idea I had all morning). Came outside, got in the car, turned the car on and slowly accelerated. Felt the rope go taunt and tighten around the base of the plant. Then. . .

The rope broke and busted my tail light cover. I think I need some chain. And a tractor. Or just a chain saw.

Identity Crisis

Cute, right? Dockers. Wait, woah, what? That's what I thought anyway when I saw this cute line of Dockers for little guys, that were shown at the Platform show in Las Vegas. Here's my question though, if these were shown last August for this Spring, why can't I find them anywhere! They are adorable. I especially love the pair with the shoe laces screen printed onto them.

Dreaming of Narnia

This post is inspired by my friend April over at A Kitchen Table for Two. She asked the question, "Do you have a place you dream of living?" Yes, yes I do. That place is Narnia. There are so many wonderful places to go in Narnia. If you ever find yourself tethering on the edge of a picture frame and the spray of the sea is hitting your face, I encourage you to hold your breath, kick your shoes off and jump right on in! After a moment or two in the water you'll likely find yourself being pulled upon a lovely boat by a young prince or handsome boat captain. You'll be at sea for awhile on this:

Eventually you'll spot land and go ashore. Immediately you'll realize that kicking your shoes off was not the smartest decision you ever made, and you'll be wishing you were wearing these:

Your Manolo gladiator sandals.
You'll want to wear something breezy, I suggest something like this asymmetrical dress by All Saints:

Pair it with a cute scarf like this one from Marc:

Of course you'll also want to carry around a nice satchel, kind of like this one by Gucci:

Now, as for what you should carry with you, I've got that covered as well. I have a theory that the sun in Narnia isn't in the habit of burning people like our sun is, so you shouldn't need to take along sunblock. Now, this doesn't mean that the sun isn't bright, so you will need your some sunglasses. I personally like these ones by Dior:

The following product is good to have, but really hard to come by. It is also very expensive, but if you can find some, well then, you better take it along:

Just one drop will cure any ailment.

Now, I mentioned that the above product will cure any ailment, and indeed it will. Remember though that I also mentioned that it was extremely hard to come by and also pricey (you have to get it on the black market, unless Father Christmas gives it to you). So, say you have a stomach ache or a bit of sea sickness - I wouldn't waste a drop of this on that, instead, bring along some Ginger Chews, by the Ginger People:

I don't know what it is about Narnia, but I always get SO thirsty there! I love drinking rose water while I'm Narnia, it is so refreshing and sweet without being overbearing. The best comes from The Edge of the World, they bottle it locally right at the source!

Now, you may ask of Narnia and the surrounding countries, "is it safe?" to which I would say, "Safe! Course it isn't safe!" You should definitely bring along a bow. I really like this one, it makes a great "twang" sound when you release your arrow, plus, these arrows fly really straight:

As far as what to eat while you're there, I suggest tea cakes with lemon curd, you can get this at many of the local restaurants and inns.  My suggestion, however, is to stay away from The Witch. Yes, it's true, you can get almost anything there (including what I hear is the best lemon curd ever), but, there is a steep price to pay and you'll probably regret it later.

Now, there is ever so much more to traveling and living in Narnia. Stay tuned for more helpful suggestions. In the meantime, if you find yourself at a twilight dance party with some wood nymphs, I suggest the following pair of shoes to help you blend in. From McQueen: