3 things that made me smile...

Gen: "Mom, there's a fly in here..."
Mom: "Oh yeah?  What do you think about that?"
Gen: "It really hurts my feelings."

*******

Mom: "Girl, you need a bath!"
Gen: "Yeah, I tooted lasterday!" (Last night + yesterday = lasterday)

*******

This morning little man was chewing on a brazil nut and he started to choke on the pieces a little bit and was trying to cough them out.  When I got over to him, little girl had already put her hand under his mouth to help him out and he was OK while she had a pile of slobber covered nuts in her hand!  You can imagine the look on her face!

A rare, quiet morning...

With my birthday week behind me, and my odometer perched on a fresh age ending in a zero (that's enough information...) I begin part II of summer.  When I was young (oh no...not THAT expression) I felt that once July 4th and my birthday were done for the year...the summer took a downhill slide from there toward the inevitable new school year, and at high speed.

Sometimes I still get anxiety over it, even though I've been out of high school since rooster tail bangs were still cool.  Aqua Net plus a good hair dryer...oh, how lucky I was to not turn that combo into a flame thrower aimed directly at my face!  It's funny how sounds, temperature, even the quality of the sunlight...can transport you back into time for a moment.  The cicadas will be howling soon...and then the crickets take over in the still, humid mornings...and just when I don't think I can stand it anymore...the trees change, the rains come, and then one morning I wake up and it's already Christmas!

This morning is a very odd one...I'm the only one awake?  I've done dishes, I've sprayed down my garden...I made chai...I'm sitting here reading blogs...and I'm STILL alone.  Maybe this is why I'm sitting here thinking deep, non-truncated thoughts?  No one's trying to steal my ice water.  I'm not hearing "Ring Around the Rosie" for the 35th time.  My personal cafeteria has no customers!  :)

Now, as I hear little feet stomping around above my head, I realize this time is coming to an end...but I wanted to pass on a couple of cool blogs I found this morning.  I love good design, and beautiful illustration...and really love amazing handmade things.

Mielie - Recycled bags made in South Africa
Orange You Lucky - Colorful illustrations

Art and Cake...

I just love my baby's art...it's amazing how much of their personality shines through in the style.  So expressive!

First of all, I'm really not sure what's going on with the rest of my blog...the pictures are just, gone.  It probably has something to do with me going back and deleting every picture of my kiddos because I got tired of worrying about the iphone/location mapping issue.  Even though I have it turned off, I don't trust it.  Nor do I trust "the web"...or any other entity involved with the whole mess.  But without going too conspiracy theory on you...I'll just say that I've said enough already.

Back to the art.  Since I did attend an art school for a while, and have always been in artistic circles, professions, hobbies and the like...I would say that I've got a certain amount of  love/hate for the whole idea of "what is art?"  And naturally, being a mom...this IS high art!  My offspring did this with his own hand...while also happily drawing on his face, neck and legs.  He was really into it.  I say...this is ART.  But I also say...this could pass for art world mumbo jumbo too.  My favorite line that I use often when I see something (for example) like a toilet paper tube glued to the side of a tire...I say, "Hey...you could get into art school with that piece!"

I'll never forget this "dude" (for he was no man, boy or even guy) that was in a foundations year printmaking class with me...he decided that he was going to work..."like the masters" and paint for two hours, sleep for two hours...paint for two hours, sleep for two hours.  You get the pattern.  Early one morning we were all corralled for a critique where he was explaining his "method"...and while someone was droning on about his "piece", undeservedly praising him and trying to make meaning where there was just ink...he fell asleep.  The other person stopped talking, and we all watched him...sleep!  This is the kind of rubbish one has to wade through in art school.  Similar to the "real world" except no one is forced to sit around and look at your art!  We were his captive audience for sure.

Alas, no more talk of art school...it's over and paid off, what's a girl to do?  

Tonight I was baking my own birthday cake.  What?!  It's true.  Not only did I make salted caramel ice cream earlier in the day...but I also whipped up a batch of goat cheese ice cream to go with it, in addition to this two layer einkorn cake using Jovial's Birthday Cake recipe, you know...because I soak, sprout, dry and grind my own flour now!!  The Mr. took the kiddos birthday shopping and I was all alone.  The icing on the birthday cake was that I was hurrying to get the dishes done because I wanted to clean the downstairs toilet!!!   Wow...making my own cake and hoping for extra time to sterilize the WC.  Holy mackerel what HAS become of me?!  ;)

Tomorrow is July 4th, which is my traditional day of birthday observance, has been for years!  I plan to start the day with a delicious pour over coffee from the Quay (one of the two places I will drink coffee from...not even from home will I drink it!!!) then a barbecue with the family and oh, maybe I'll dig around and find something to blow up?  Speaking of conspiracy theories, my dad always told me to lock away a small amount of fireworks because "some day they're going to outlaw them...and you'll have some".  Well, they haven't outlawed them YET....but I do still have some, probably should sell them...they've got to be vintage!  Dad was right, once again!

Colonies and Rookeries and Waddles...Penguinville

In the midst of the house being painted, the roofing extravaganza, family birthdays and my darling dear working out of town in my favorite place in the world...I made time for a unique project that not only taught me a lot about penguins, but also schooled me in painting on polyester!  How did I reach this "ripening" age without the experience of painting on poly?  I'm used to the qualities and response of cotton muslin...even silk.  But enough talk, let's get to the pictures.

This was a white tux that I believe was a rental.  It had stains that looked like chocolate or red wine or balsamic vinegar!
 

I sketched out the suit and circled the main stains, then strategically placed 4 breeds of penguins...gentoo, king, rockhopper and humboldt, to best cover the stains.

It was a deciding factor for the design...I flipped them different directions, made them smaller or larger...and added in rocks and such.

The next challenge came when I started trying to watercolor onto the polyester.  It bled, in two directions like a cross.  The paint crept along the threads of the suit...and they kept growing long after I thought they had stopped.  I would come back to something I had painted and it would be an inch wide spot.  Back to the drawing board.

Originally, I'd wanted to do Japanese style painting on the suit...it's a favorite style and I thought it would keep the suit soft and flexible.  It didn't take long to realize that I would have to block in areas of color with solid paint and do the art from there.  After that, it was smooth sailing in penguinville.

For the pants I decided to go big or go home.  But that's just how I am...wait until you see the back.  And since I love to paint rocks...I perched a few gentoo's on some rock nests and placed a penguin "gaurd" at the top.

This baby king penguin popping out of the pocket is probably the cutest thing I've seen in a long time.  Researching penguins put a big smile on my face...fuzzy babies, hundreds of penguins running with their flippers up, rockhoppers with eyebrows blowing in the breeze!

 For the sleeves, king penguins on icebergs...

...with lanternfish lunch swimming up above.

My lovely assistant models the jacket...

It was my hope to merge mild with wild, and leave enough neutral space around the details so they wouldn't blend and get lost.  From the back, side and front...you have three distinct views.

And the back gives new meaning to "eyes in the back of your head"...or "Watch your back!!"  This larger-than-life rockhopper means business.  The funny thing is, they are a relatively small penguin standing at around 20" tall.  But if you're standing behind this one, watch your calamari plate...

The roof over our heads...

6:45 this morning...I was about to head out to the market when a flock of men showed up and started ripping the roof off of our house!  It was supposed to happen this week, but due to some "issues", it was rescheduled for today and we found out...yesterday.  It was a bit tricky getting out and back into the house...I would listen, then run away from the house!  I even went through my neighbor's backyard and around to my car so I wouldn't get hit with flying debris.

There are shingles, wood, and dust everywhere...it's even on TOP of their cars, they don't care.  I saw one of them walk around the back of the house...he's black.  And he wasn't that color when he got here!  He's got decades worth of filth all over him.  I bet his wife makes him "hose off" before he even steps inside the house!

Our roof was SO old...it didn't even have decking...just two layers of shingles over rotten wood shakes.  When they pulled it all off, all that remained was wood "rafters", and now sunlight is streaming through the roof.  It's been patched many times...when it rained last week, I woke up to the sensation of water flicking across my face as it dripped out of the ceiling and bounced off my nightstand.

It's now 4 pm...and there's a man raking up debris...a man carrying whole sheets of plywood up a ladder...men stitching down shingles with pneumatic air nailers...air compressors, circular saws...and a lot of Spanish that I don't understand!  That's what I get for taking 3 years of French in High School...a whole lotta good that did me.  The only thing I'm really confused about right now is...how in the world are my kids both sleeping through this roofing war zone?  A testament to their healthy eating habits and good consciences!

A new twist on an old favorite...

While running through the particulars of "This little piggy went to market...", we had a slip of the tongue that shows that our daily life works it's way into everything.  Miso decided that the first little piggy didn't go to the market or to home....but rather...

"This little piggy went to Home Depot...."

Too bad I started laughing, she might have said the next little piggy went to Costco! And the next little piggy probably had liver and bacon!  (When in fact we did have "Woast Beeeeefff!!" this week.)

Lovely orchids...

My love celebrated his golden birthday this past week and I thought he deserved the most incredibly scrumptious flower known to man, in my humble opinion. And since I'm not able to pick a single color of anything (e.g. our house, inside and out), I chose two orchids with opposite yet complimentary colorings.

God willing, we'll keep them alive this time. Our last orchid bit the dust and I inherited a handful of wee dark green hair clips!

Draw Something...

Am I losing my mind?   I posted the same meat picture twice in a row...I must have REALLY liked it!  Or, I've been doing so much I can't even remember what I did yesterday...I think that's more true.

Well, I won't dwell on my apparent meat-headedness...I know for a fact I've never shown you these.  Some of my "Draw Something" jewels.  As you can see from the blue and white numbers at the top left corner, a friend and I have quite a streak going. 

In honor of this strange spring we're having, I give you..."Tornado".  This was a tricky one to draw with a finger...usually when I draw a tornado (which is my second most drawn object next to a tree) I add a little house flying around next to it...I decided that would be too much.

And one of my great loves, the "Desert".  The only thing missing is a little stick figure walking toward the sunset...she's wearing a long skirt and totes a bandana full of snacks tied onto a stick across her back...that would be me.

Do you know what kind of sister this is?  If you guessed Franciscan, you win!

 

Uh oh...I actually felt a little weird just drawing this one...I had no one in particular in mind, really!

 Pink can with white lines...can you say Aquanet?!  I can't help thinking of Ricky Lake in "Hairspray"! Love that two-toned red and orange art school issue hair-do!

Well that's all for now...I decided not to show you the "Madonna" drawing, yep...I drew the cone bra.  And I also opted to not show "sewer"...it was just wrong. 

They said WHAT about me?!

Random Tellulahness: Have you ever been standing there looking in the fridge for something and after rifling through every shelf in vain you realize the thing you seek has been in your hand the whole time?  I do.

Now for a story: Last Sunday, at a benefit auction, unbeknownst to me, several women were talking about my "physique" and one said that I was, "Too skinny..."  Seriously?!  That's the first time anyone's ever said THAT about me.  I'm trying to figure out whether the comment itself bothers me, or the fact that people were talking about me and don't have the glands to say things to my face?

Unfortunately, I know who this woman is (really wish I didn't)...and I would never wag my tongue at other women and say about her, "Gee...she sure is TOO FAT".  That would be rude, right?  Why is it OK to talk to others about "skinny folk"?  She could of at least told ME that directly so I could have had a chance to go on and on about how much BBB I eat...Butter, Beef liver and BACON.  Why am I so skinny if I eat all that fat? I wouldn't want to forget raw heavy cream, nuts, coconut oil and avocado either.  Oh, now I'm just bragging!

The only food that's ever made me put weight back on is grain/starch.  The ironic bit about someone saying I'm too skinny NOW is that I'd packed a few extra pounds on this last week...WHY?  Two reasons.  1.) I "discovered" Mary's gluten-free organic seed crackers and proceeded to not only eat the whole box, but made several dips along the way since I finally had something hard and flat to scoop it up with!  2.) Undercooked skin-on potatoes.  Some vegetables must be thoroughly cooked, potato is one of them.  I always make mashed potatoes with loads of butter, or bake the life out of them in the form of french fries. In the last few weeks I had two helpings of undercooked potatoes while I was out and about. Potatoes and non-sprouted seed crackers have given my digestion something to fight, and it's made me feel sick and tired.  Done with those!

I'm also giving coffee the cold shoulder too.  I'm going back to my theory that coffee is best left to professionals and in a "dessert" kind of way.  Not the daily dessert that the SAD (Standard American Diet) demands, but a true treating...a special thing in moderation...a "French Women Don't Get Fat" mentality for it was Mireille Guiliano's inspiration that started me down the road to health.  I didn't set out to be SKINNY.  

And now I've grown weary of talking about this whole topic, it just struck me because of all the gossip that's ever set sail in my honor, this by far takes the cake.  Har har...bad joke, I don't eat cake!

Maybe this is a bad transitional topic, but the farmer I buy from at the City Market said he's got someone working on a website for him, but the guy wanted pictures of cuts of beef.  Are you kidding?  I take pics of his cows cut up and grilled a couple times per week!  This was flank steak that we marinated and grilled.  I hope he'll allow me to bomb him with gratuitous meat pictures for him to use...and now I must go, for the site of beef makes me salivate.

M is for Meat...

Just a quick note to brag about my husband's grilling skills...and my farmer's meat raising skills...and my meat eating skills!  This morning, his "sageness" said, "Who knew you were such a meat hound?" This was after I declared that maybe my favorite food wasn't lobster tail drenched in butter...but steak.  Then I decided that the ultimate meal would be surf and turf, with a kale salad...and then maybe skip the salad...just give me the meat.  Yep, I'm a meat hound.

Flank steak marinated in wheat-free tamari, garlic and red pepper...grilled hot and fast...it was juicy, delicious...I had to make myself stop eating it so we would have some for lunch today!  What time is it?  Darn...only 8 am.  Steak and eggs?!