I just sold a painting today – really fun. But I need to photograph it – I don’t have it recorded yet. It’s a Barn Swallow. I’ll show you soon. But these other 2 are up for grabs…..take a look:
Monthly Archives: March 2009
Paintings for Sale
Quick gourmet dessert
Did I ever show you this beautiful we-have-nothing-sweet-in-our-pantry-to-end-this-amazing-meal-with remedy? Give Rob 6 minutes in the kitchen and you get this: graham crackers with chocolate chips melted on top and crushed walnuts. He then froze them for a minute and sprinkled powdered sugar on top!
Bronchitis
I am eating more “raw” foods. I am sleeping on a good schedule. I see a chiropractor. I take vitamins. Why, oh why – do I get Bronchitis every year? Yes, yes, I know…once you’ve gotten it – you are much more susceptible for the rest of your life.
Boo.
But, on the bright side – Robby has been cracking me up today. Here’s his fun climbing game with daddy – but of course, in his diapers!
P.S. – still enjoying Love and Logic. We’ve made a small flow-chart for Robby’s discipline. We’ll see how it goes….
Love and Logic Magic!
Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood: Parenting from Birth to Six” By Jim Fay and Charles Fay, Ph.D.
I’m 60 pages in – with a toddler on my heels and I am LOVING it. This is a fantastic book. I kept trying to ask around and survey for a very practical book with very loving ways of operating in my home on a daily basis – this is great!
Some highlights:
We need to make 4 types of deposits into our children’s daily lives:
-Build the self-concept
-Share the control or decision-making
-Offer empathy, then consequences (it’s really substitute anger and frustration with empathy!!!)
-Share the thinking and the problem-solving
It’s entertaining, it’s quick, it’s helpful, it’s so practical for my life right now! From the first 10 pages - Rob came downstairs and asked what I was laughing out loud about. This book! I feel like an infomercial!
There are 2 rules to Love and Logic:
1. Take care of yourself by setting limits in a loving way.
2. Turn every mistake or misbehavior (starting at 9 months) into a learning opportunity.
Under the first rule of taking good care of yourself by setting limits in a loving way the author says:
Replace anger and frustration with empathy. (How can I get so easily angered and worked up in a matter of minutes with my toddler?).
Replace threats and warnings with simple actions.
Set limits you can enforce.
Give away the control you don’t need.
He goes on for a whole section of disciplining without frustration or anger. I am aware that I can be a hothead (with all affection – thanks, dad) and I notice Robby can easily push my limits. I am excited to try these suggested ideas – with all the right topics: Grocery story temper tantrums, bedtime battles, power struggles over eating, whining and saying “no”, fits in restaurants, potty training, getting them to brush their teeth…..
I think I am going to need to practice until this becomes habit – but I am very motivated. I will check in with you when I am further down the road – I am sure every page isn’t amazing and I may disagree with some things – but not yet!
Nostalgia
My dad used to let us drive when we were really little. That’s right. Hands on the wheel, people. His foot, however, was on the pedal. And our “driving” was from the driveway into the garage. We got to park.
Fondly, I’ve told Rob about that many times. These small but really silly routines my dad created so we could just be with him after a long day at work.
Rob came home yesterday and couldn’t get the car in the driveway because the jogging stroller blocked it. He scooped Robby up and with a twinkle in his eye toward me – said he was going to go let Robby drive the car into the garage. I laughed out loud and grabbed the camera…..
Grocery Man
Just had to show you this. I often find my Robby lookin’ all casual and cute, lounging with one arm up on something. Just kickin’ it. I turned around to scope out some salmon and I found him looking dapper. What a guy.
Freestyle Quilting
I’m not one for rules. Or lines. Or patterns. When I was growing up, my mom, an excellent and precise seamstress, would sew all of my dresses for dances, many of my clothes growing up, window treatments….you name it. She’s onto baby clothes, of course – and from patterns. Naturally, she would say.
Not so natural to me. I always wanted to take the sleeves from one pattern, the skirt from another pattern and the bodice from another pattern and put them together to make the perfect dress for the perfect occasion. Why not? What’s the big deal? (My mom is surely smiling right now.)
I’ve got a messier, not-so-precise approach. Unless I really want to be precise. But that’s not often.
Anyway – quilts. My sister-in-law loves fabric, as I do. She went through a quilting stage and made several beautiful, hip quilts. She shared with me the array of quilting philosophy out there: there are some with precise patterns, or no patterns, or the sew-patches-on-top-of-a-sheet idea, or just sew until you get a funky shape and finish it however you want – Freestyle. I had no idea! I virtually ignored the idea of quilting because I could only think of precision and tedious work – no thanks. We need organized mess.
So, I gathered my favorite leftovers and pieced them together. Have a look. What’s your quilting style?
May this free you up to quilt how your heart would quilt…..may your unlined-journaling- love spill out into interesting freestyle quilts…..may you not feel strangled by patterns ever again! And whaddya know, it turned out into a pretty close rectangle after all.
And may Amy Butler fabrics make you swoon.
The back is just a black and white patterned sheet.
One of my favorite parts: a piece of fabric given to me by a dear friend with the pattern on the fabric! Hilarious. And very Green.
Thank You, Pillows, and Lanterns
Thank You: Thank you to those of you who gave fabulous suggestions for things to do with a Toddler! I just now saw all the comments and am approving them. You guys are so creative!
Pillows: I recently gave a cheap update to our dreamy bedroom. I embellished some pillows with some hand sewn leaves. Made a few more pillows out of napkins…and bam! Beauty. I just crave it. More to show you this week.
Lanterns: I have had this stick that I picked up last Autumn during a walk with my son. I knew I wanted to hang it in the open space above our caddy-cornered bed with little sweet lanterns attached. Here’s the result. (not the best photos…phone shots…but they work)
73 degree vacation day
It’s Spring Break here for the BGSU crowd. Robby and I decided to go for a quick, 24 hour Cinci visit yesterday to see my sister. A little crazy. 6 hours in the car round trip. We’ve been traveling a lot. But, hey, my sister asked and we answered! My parents were already down there for the weekend so we came midday Saturday and left Sunday morning. Robby was a fabulous traveler and slept a good deal of the way.
The unbelievable part is that we had bare feet, green grass, sun on our face (I think I even got a little burnt) and sweat, just a bit. The kiddos were having a blast together and were really enjoying it all – but Robby was unsure about the squooshy grass on his toes. He got over it as they frolicked around. Keira – happy as a clam. We took them to the park down the street. We wore out the grandparents. We ate a fabulous meal. All in a day’s work.
It all seemed like a little dream that I had as I approached Bowling Green. As the rain poured and the temperature dropped I thought to myself, which I all too often think: why do we live here again? 
It’s gotta be about the people, because most everything is…..well…..lacking.
Notice those piggiess! Toes that are out and about!
The cousins are mesmerized by their grandpa’s silly antics.
Oh, so hungry!
Yes, we did! We wore them right out!
“Frog go dude?”
Robby’s language skills continue to explode. I feel so proud of my little boy and how he can communicate so well with us during the day.
He woke up a few mornings ago and wanted to bring his rubber frog from tub time into our bed with him. He was playing with it and then dropped it under our bed and was asking: “Frog, pease?” (please) over and over. But I couldn’t find it. So as I am searching I say: “Where’d your frog go, dude?” And the next thing I hear was:
“Frog go dude?”
Ha! Wow. He is our little parakeet.
