Tell me my names

"Tell me my names Mama," she says as I pull the quilt up around her. I recite the First, Middle, and Last names of the pajamaed pixie. "No, my other names, all of them." Well, let me think...

The day you were born, we saw the most perfect spiral swirl of hair on the back of your head, it looked just like the eye of a hurricane, so we called you 'Hurricane S!' When you started to live up to that name... we used it less.

"What else Mama?"

When you were just a tiny baby, you would make these little cries that sounded just like a hawk, so we called you 'Little Hawk.' You don't make those sounds anymore.

"Tell me more names!"

When you were a baby learning to eat new foods, your favorite food was green beans, so we called you 'Bean' or 'The Bean'. We still call you that sometimes.
Grandma calls you 'Princess', Papa calls you 'Bella', Mr. Music calls you 'Sweets', on my blog your name is Pony Girl...

"And what's my special name, what you call me?"

I call you 'Bunny'.

"Yeah, you call me that all the time. Why?"

Because you are my sweet lovey bunny.

"Oh yeah, that's right, he he, I almost forgot."

Sleep tight whatever your name is!

"I love you 'Mama', 'Alex', 'Silly'!"

...and I love you.

Hello Monday - Big Bag of Happy

Happy Monday all! This weekend brought the rain in buckets, and a chill in the bones. I was blindsided by an outrageous head cold that laid me up and knocked me out.
Still, there is a silver lining. Whilst snuffling on the couch I finally became reacquainted with hook and yarn. Not performing at full capacity I thought it best to pick up an unfinished project that began ages ago. It first started out as a seat cover for a stool. And then became a bed for the Buddha Cat.

Now it is finished and has turned into a big bag of happy to hold my yarn! Working with these vibrant colors certainly brightened my days. Countless cups of tea were drunk while I went round and round. I am thrilled with the results and so glad to have a place for my yarn lovelies. I am so pleased to be back at the hook again as well.

If you would like to make your very own Big Bag of Happy, Lucy from Attic 24 has the whole lovely pattern waiting for you!

Have a super day!

Today is Friday

and there is no school. The small one and I are picking the finally ripe tomatoes off the plants before the rain comes in earnest. We are discussing what delicious things we will make.

Speaking of tomatoes, Sherri from The Kitchen Calls, is having another fabulous contest giveaway, you should check it out!


Have a lovely weekend!

Dumb Stuff

The other day I decided to create a homework station for Pony girl. I found a great wooden box in the basement and carefully gathered up supplies. I re-purposed jars and cans to hold the rainbow of crayons, markers, pencils and sundry necessities. I printed up worksheets, made special notebooks and generally had a really good time putting it all together.

I just kept thinking about when I was 5, and how receiving this bright happy box of stuff would have made me over-the-moon happy. Obviously my love of school/office supplies began early in life. I smiled and hummed as I placed everything in the box, glue, scissors, construction paper...

O.k. I know she's in Kindergarten and there isn't a lot of homework but, it's never too early to start good habits. Also, all her art supplies for the daily coloring and drawing sessions are in one place. And, it looks awfully pretty in all it's bright and cheerful color.

On my way to pick her up from school that day I was feeling quite excited. Driving home, I told her that because she had been doing so well in school, I was very proud of her and that I had a surprise for her at home. "What is it Mama?" she demanded to know. "You'll see," I said with a big grin on my face.

She raced in the door and looked around wildly. I had my big "TA DA!" moment and presented her with the box. She gazed at it a minute and said, "No really, where's my prize?" I assured her that this was it and talked about how awesome it was, pointing out all the features. She looked crestfallen and told me, "Mama, that's just Dumb Stuff!" The passion for supplies has apparently skipped a generation so I answered, "Actually, that is Smart Stuff!" She wasn't falling for it in the slightest. "Alright," I said, "let's make play-dough." To which, there was a much more enthusiastic response.

That night, after Pony Girl was sound asleep, I took the box over to the table. I sat down and lost myself in colors and paper. I snipped, traced, colored, glued and lettered in bliss. Oh, she'll come around, I thought...how can she resist?

Scrap Iron

Someone gave me a bag of mostly vintage fabric scraps, how nice! They had been in their mother's damp basement for years and smelled so very musty, less nice. After two very sound washing/drying cycles with extra vinegar in the rinse, much better indeed. Now that they were fresh and clean, there was just the massive tangle of threads and wrinkled up balls to contend with.

I spent a very meditative evening with my steam iron and at least a hundred lovely scraps...

...all the time imagining their possibility.

Hello Monday - Notes from the underground

Hello, nice to be back from the underground...the basement that is. I have survived but, only just and the work is still not complete. Great strides were made though, and I have managed to add a bit of extra square footage to my creative space so - that is a victory indeed. I have also had a grand time re-discovering some items that have been packed away.

There was one unfortunate and harrowing experience; one day just before lunch, I ended up tripping over a wayward candlestick thus falling into an Everest of camping gear. Just as I was about to regain my balance and right myself, I noticed the mountain begin to wobble. The next thing I knew I was on the ground buried under a tent fly, 3 sleeping bags, an air mattress, and an LED lantern. Last week one of my lovely readers gave me some rather sound advice, concerning carrying with me a flask of tea, a reel of string, some sticky buns and a whistle. I took along a travel mug of coffee, a ball of yarn, and not having a whistle nor (sadly) any sticky buns on hand, I packed instead, some banana bread and a Kazoo.

As I lay there pinned under the debris, stomach growling from hunger, I looked longingly at the the banana bread and coffee quite out of reach on top of the washing machine. Reaching for the Kazoo to sound the alarm for help, I noticed it had been rather crushed in the avalanche and could only manage to get a slight wheezing noise from it. As the minutes ticked away my hunger grew intense. Being sometimes the clever sort, I grabbed for what was handy with my free arm, which happened to be a bellows and used it as a reaching tool. It took some doing but, I was able to roll a jar of year old apple butter into my grasp. Removing the lid took cunning and the breaking of a few laws of physics however, I did get it undone and my hunger was relieved.

Time passed and I wondered how I was going to make school pick up that afternoon. Fortunately for me, a friend had decided to stop by and after seeing the back door ajar, she came in to investigate. Following the trail of yarn, she found me. In short work I was extricated from under the pile... a little sore, a lot sticky and smelling vaguely of apples and cinnamon.

All is well that ends well but, I do think it wise to invest in a good loud whistle for next time.

Hello Monday - Neutrality

Hello lovelies. It's Monday again, and the week ahead looks to be made for diving in and tackling long overdue projects. I will be going deep down into the basement of chaos and turning the lot of it on it's ear. I will attempt to reach a Zen state and move through with efficiency and try not to panic. Aspiring to neutrality, I will temper my sentimentality and soften my harsh critic. Hopefully by weeks end, a tidy and much more serene basement will emerge. This will require complete immersion in the task at hand so, I bid you fair adieu until next week, may it be a fine one.

1. Linen lavender heart, 2. Pine Cones, 3. Knitster, 4. Setting the Table, 5. Untitled, 6. Untitled, 7. 255:365 Childhood Is a Short Season, 8. Lailah's Shimmery Poncho, 9. Linen Rickrack

Like moths to a grain

Fall has fallen - bringing gray skies, apples, coats, puddle jumpers and moths. It seems to be a particularly bad year for the moths here at the little green cottage, (well, perhaps good for the moths but, bad for us). They have been sneaking in, fluttering about, finding their way into our closets, nibbling on sweaters and nesting in linens. Oh just the wee ones, so quick and spazzy as they drunkenly flap around the place. Try as one might to capture them, they seem to multiply lickity split so that when one is caught, five more find hidey holes.

I made the heart sinking discovery the other day that they had infiltrated my kitchen cupboards en-mass. Oh yes, I had learned from previous battles waged, that certain foods must be stored in sealed tight containers, lids battened down and double checked. This year however, they have learned a few new tricks those pesky devils! A well sealed plastic container seems no match for their wiles, they have managed to make their way into the most imperceivable of crevices.

Surely not the raisins! Yes, the raisins, the banana chips, the pecans, and of course the corn meal. Oh it made me ill to have to chuck the stuff. So, this morning I set about moth proofing the pantry. I store most of my regularly used grains and beans in glass jars and they seem to fair much better against the invasion, my mission was to put everything in glass! Fortunately my grandmother left me well stocked in vintage canning jars so, I set to it. For the jars without proper rubber seals, I placed regular canning lids on top. There can't be the slightest whisper of space for the moths to wiggle through, for I have seen what they can do, these ninja moths.

And I must say, all these jars of food stuffs look kind of gorgeous to me. Take that ninja moths!