Do you think this will work??

You may have seen some of the Halloween bunting that I made for my shop. I've been making a lot of bunting lately. The reason being that I am organizing a craft day for my church women's group. I have never really participated in these before.. mostly because they always choose some neutral color and I don't like neutral colors. However, I don't want to do all bright things and make the neutral people unhappy..

So.. the theme of my craft day is going to be, "I Gotta Be Me!!" you know the song? I want everyone to make something that will go in her own home. However, this is going to require that people bring a few things from home. I will have the patterns for the triangles (different sizes) and letter, but the ladies will have to bring mostly their own scrap fabric and ribbon.

... And actually some paint as well. Would that be too much trouble if it were you? I still have a day to change my mind about the whole thing.

The top picture is of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" bunting that I made for little c's room. And the bottom photo is one that I made to demo neutral.. it's black, white and cream.

Giveaway Day!!!

To celebrate Halloween and my one year blog anniversary I'm giving away one of these boxes (the winner gets to choose) with a bag of Halloween goodies including some spinning spiders. Enter your name just once one the comments below and I will draw a name Saturday Morning. Spread the word. :)

Ladybuggies...

These reminded me of some of you Ladybuggie fans out there. See them here.

Spinning Spider Tops...

I love spinning tops... I just got these from Oriental Trading. I felt lucky because they sell out every year and I came in just under the wire. They are tiny about the size of a penny, but good spinners as all spiders should be.

Evening...

Amazing talent in this film about relationships and regret. There's a scene in the film where the young mother played beautifully by Clare Danes lets the dinner burn while she sings to her children. Sometimes that's what you have to do. I'd turn the burner off first myself, but it's a sweet scene and shows how much the mother loves her girls.

Part of the film was about the constant battle women have trying to maintain some sense of self continuing to achieve personal goals and trying to be the best mother they can to their children.

Super-bat-spider-buzz

I know this Jake story comes on the tail of yesterday's Jake story but anyway... funny things happen when that kid is around. He's at that age where he can talk, but you have to be the mom to understand. I often feel like I'm speaking to a fast talking German (I took a little German in college) and I'm catching only every few words and all this makes Jake think I'm a complete idiot.

I went to my sister's yesterday because she wanted to show me the Christmas sweaters she bought for her cute boys. When I got there, I made Jake come and give me a hug and as I'm holding him he says, "buzz blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, spider, blah, blah blah..." I smile and say, "Awesome Jake!" and he rolls his eyes at me. So then I make the big mistake and I show him his new Christmas sweater. "NO! NO! Teef! blah, blah, Buzz blah, blah, blah, blah..." So I ask for a translation and my sister tells me that I have made the faux pa of missing a major holiday. Jake does not want a Christmas sweater, he wants to be Buzz Lightyear for Halloween. Oh, is that the only problem? Simple, "Jake the postman is bringing your costume in a few days and you can wear this nice sweater at Christmas. You can have both."

This is where I get into trouble because my sister leaves the room and now I'm stuck with a small angry person and no translator. Jake says, "No! No! Teef! Blah, blah, blah... Super...blah..." Oh dear. And, I am the idiot Jake thinks I am because I say, "Jake this is a very handsome sweater." Violent head shaking. "NO!! NO! NO!!! Teef (I'm Teef, if you were wondering) blah, blah, blah, bat, blah, blah, blah....." It's now that I have a light bulb moment and come out of my haze. Jake is very smart and I realize that he is trying to trade me the Christmas sweater for the Buzz Lightyear costume first, but he is willing to accept Superman next or Batman if that absolutely won't work. And I'm wishing that I had learned that baby sign language.... "Jake, in 3 moons, postman come, bring Buzz Costume ... to ... Jake."

I'm getting smarter so I try re-directing and I put Jake on my shoulders and fly him around the room. But Jake is not easily re-directed. He's very smart and he knows what I'm doing. So from over my head I hear, "Blah, blah, blah Spider, blah, blah....." I didn't know what to do at this point so I gave Jake a big hug. I completely understand where he's coming from even if we don't communicate well. Jake and I are a lot alike. Actually, I was having a completely frustrating day myself. Things were not turning out. Having this visit with Jake made me realize that atleast I can work on my stuff Jake is still wondering where the heck the dang mailman is with his Buzz costume and why his stupid relatives want to skip his favorite holiday.

The Girl with the Pearl...

There are some lovely new pearl earring designs available in ThE LoVE BoXeS ShoP.. the pearls are real, not the finest quality, but they are real and the findings are all sterling silver.

Mine... The Seagull Story...

The California Gull is the state bird of Utah. Go Figure. One comic said this proves we are a low self-esteem state (The Colorado Blue Spruce is our state tree... I know, it's pathetic). Anyway, since the California Gull is the state bird you can't shoot them. To me it's like saying the common garbage rat will now be our state vermin, so don't poison them.

With these thought in the back of your mind I'll tell you a story. I like to take my daughter and her cousins to the park. They have a lot of fun playing together and enjoy this park because they can scooter all over the place and I like it because I can sit on a hill in a chair and see almost all they places they scooter, except Jake. Jake is too small to scooter, which puts his usual bad mood into a worse mood (don't think I'm judging him.. he's the relative most like me) and at the time all these bad mood troubles were compounded by the fact he was two.

When I go to the park, especially with Jake in tow, I always remember to bring quite a few snacks. It's frightening to go with Jake unprepared. And yet, on this particular day, I found that I had but one granola bar in my purse. This was going to be trouble I knew so I waited to give Jake the granola bar until I could see the volcano of his unhappiness was about to erupt.

As I gave him the bar, there were several families there with loaves of wonder bread and the Sea gulls were swarming like bees (idiots!)! Can you just imagine the filth they leave all over the grass the same grass the kids are playing on? Plagues have come from less. Anyway, as Jake is contentedly eating his bar, one Seagull swoops out of the sky and tries to take his bar. Jake starts to scream, which makes me boil. So, in front of all the cute families feeding the lovely vermin, I take off my big wedge sandal and hurl it at the Seagull as he makes a second attempt at the granola bar. On my best day I can't hit the side of a barn, but for some reason in a puff of feathers, I nail the Seagull and he drops out of the air like a brick.

The happy vermin feeding families are mortified by me and jaws drop everywhere. Disgusted moms give me crusty looks. But, Jake loves me... Don't take my bar. Mine!

Cards...

So.. I got these new cards and the ones on the top were a bit of a disappointment because they just can't, as hard as they try to, make them as bright as I always need which makes me a little nuts (they couldn't make the design exactly like I wanted either.. computers still aren't magic). It's not just the card people either, it's the paint people.. both the paint for my boxes and for my house... brighter ... BRighter... BRIGHTER!!! When I paint a room in my house, I always go to this Benjamin Moore paint store. I have used lots of different paints and in my opinion there is nothing like the top of the line Benjamin Moore paint... if you're going to paint (which is a major pain) do it right. That's my motto anyway, but I have small rooms.. so. But anyway, I take this shirt in to him.. my favorite bright turquoise shirt and I tell him THIS is what I want.. and the cute guy (he's older and I know my feminist sensibilities should be offended, but he's so nice and gentlemanly that I just can't be) the guy says as he chews on his toothpick shaking his head, "Sweetheart.... they don't make paint this bright." WHAT!? Why in heavens not? He was so nice though, he figured out how to make a turquoise for me that was close enough and when I come home after dark, (I always forget to turn the light off in my studio) my house looks like it's winking at me with a turquoise eye... it makes me happy.

Boo to you!

Can you believe that I found pink mums this year. Someone is trying to make me happy.

This is the little shelf that I have to keep the off season boxes that are not being displayed in the higher traffic parts of my home. Although, I keep a little rememberance of every holiday up all the time because I think its fun to think about happy times.

Granny Chic item of the week...Cute Red Dress...

This dress is so cute.. Someone who can wear dresses well should wear this.

Bee Box...

This was sent on its way yesterday... but there are still a few Bee Boxes in

THE LOvE BoXes SHop

A Thousand Splendid Suns...

This book reminds me of a favorite quote from Les Miserables. "Teach the ignorant as much as you can, society is guilty in not providing universal education & it must answer for the night it produces. If the soul is left in darkness sins will be committed. The guilty is not merely he who commits the sin, but the one who causes the darkness."

Thirty years of war are chronicled in this book, wars that left at least one generation and possibly two or three without the opportunity to go to school.

Worst of all, it left the Taliban in power. Imagine what our hospitals would look like if one day our government sent every female home. My friend Niki is a nurse at a local hospital, when I asked her this question she told me that the hospital would have to shut down, "We don't have a male nurse on our staff," she said.

The school my daughter attends has 4 male staff members that I know of. Even if you sent all the girls home from school, which the Taliban did, you would have four men teaching 500 boys.

I wish that I could find the exact quote for you, but Benjamin Franklin once said that our wealth as a nation was not our gold or our natural resources, but in our collective industry and I would add to that, our people. Here in the United States, we are rich in people. True, we have a few duds here and there, but for the most part we are richly blessed in teachers, firefighters, religious leaders and all sorts of people whose efforts make up the comforts we enjoy. I have never been more grateful for all of those gifts than now after finishing this book.

This book, by the way, is beautifully written and has a very tender story in it. The brutality is very difficult to even imagine, but how I admire these Afghan women who have faced untold horror, but who hold their heads up and push forward in their efforts to create a better life for their families and their nation.

Victoria Magazine & A Room of One's Own..

Victoria is back! And look who is gracing page 84! I have been so excited about this and now it's here. Victoria will be on news stands in a week or two.

Bluebirds & Birthdays...

There must be a lot of birthdays in October because the recent orders from my shop have all been birthday gifts for friends. I love my friends and I know that you love yours so I try to make the packaging special always, but even more for birthdays. This is a pair of bluebird earrings that went out today. Happy Birthday!

Canadian Geese & Marching Bands...

I'm sorry these aren't very good pictures. I think I was in one of those moods yesterday where nothing was going to spoil my bliss. The story is that our local High School puts on a marching band competition every year. It's a big event. Somehow, although I just adore marching bands, I have never been to this before. It was fantastic! ... except for a couple of things #1 we were sadly under dressed for such an event. It was really cold. #2 not only was it cold the rain was pouring in sheets out of the sky (I felt so badly for the poor flag girls whose mascara was running and whose hair was stringing not to mention they were soaked and freezing cold) #3 a ginormous Canadian goose pooped on my coat. :(

Can I tell you that none of these things bothered me or little c and her cousins. We were out to have a good time and we were not about to let Satan and all his goose angels stop us. We had so much fun. I can't wait to go again next year. We had packed a really fun picnic of apple juice and donuts and turkey sandwiches (take that birdies). Thank heavens our picnic was long finished before the goose showed up. When he showed up, I just took that coat off (it's now been washed 3 times) and ran quickly home for more coats and fleece blankies. We only had to leave because it started raining so hard that our bums all got soaked too. But really what a great night. How about that last band right before we left... huge band... in purple uniforms all playing Ray Charles! I'm never missing this event again.

Love...

Love is a gift.

I hope you are surrounded by it today.

Halloween at my Mom's...

My Mom has always decorated really fun for Halloween and she always has a big party that night where all the grand kids... make a GRAND mess decorating cookies. Little c used to pile her pumpkin sugar cookies about an inch and more high with sanding sugar and then say, "Eat this mommy, I made it just for you!" It still makes my teeth rattle and rot a little just thinking about it. One year we had soup in little sugar pumpkins (that's the variety I think)...

Anyway, I love Halloween.. we get some pretty fun trick-or-treaters around here. One kid was very ambitious and he came around once dressed as I don't remember and then the next hour we saw him again standing on our porch with a pizza box in hand.. he said he was a pizza delivery guy. I reward creativity.. I thought that was hilarious. Then, we had this little girl who stood there and dug through all the full size chocolate bars to find a little pink dum dum at the very bottom..."tank ooo" with a big smile and that princess had stolen my heart... it was the cutest thing to see.

I need to remember to get some fun candy like that. It shocks me how many kids don't like chocolate. However, the most popular candy at our house on Halloween is just a plain chocolate Hershey Bar.. I'm going to get lots of those this year. What's the most popular trick-or-treater loot at your place?

Gardner Village...

We had a fun day visiting the witches at Gardner Village... but it was crowded!

October...

You ought to know that October is the first Spring month. - Karel Capek

That's how I feel too.

Pantry Woes...

Above is the before shot of my pantry before I cleaned it out the other night in desperation. I have to look at it so much that its total lack of order makes me feel like my life is out of control. I want all my closets to look like Real Simple magazine, but they never do... ever.
I like how I wrangled the paper and plastic supplies in these cool crome bins that I purchased at K-Mart. But the rest of it looks pretty much the same.
I guess we eat a lot of cereal and chips around here. Any suggestions, brilliant tips available on the pantry front?

Card Case...

So, do you carry around those little cards that you get from businesses everywhere (in Utah anyway). The ones that say things like stop by 5 times and the 6th item is free (Taco Time). I have tones of these cards floating around in a mess in my purse and along comes this brightly colored solution. This little purse fits all my cards perfectly. Another great Etsy purchase. See Danielle Bags here.

New York Calzone...

When I went to New York, I ate the most delicious calzone and I tried to recreate it when I got home. It was deceptively simple, just ricotta cheese and fresh spinach. I purchased those two ingredients at my local market and some (I'm embarrassed to say this) Rhodes bread dough. Ya, it didn't taste like the one in New York at all. I can fix a few of the things. For example, the cheese had a little salt. Oookay, that's about all I can fix. Did I mention the amazing marinara dipping sauce? Mine was from a bottle from Costco and not so fabulous. I know there's quite a few great cooks out there. I still want to make this, but it has to be really easy because I don't really cook all that much, but I also want it to taste a little better. Anyone have a great pizza dough recipe? Know of fabulous marinara in a bottle? Or any other tips?

Even considering what a disappointment this was, it was not the worst thing I've made for dinner.

Little Missmatched...

I bought these funny leg-warmers at FAO Schwartz when I was in NYC for littl c. They come in a package of three... funny. Little c thought they were hilarious and she loves to wear them. See the fun Little Missmatched site here.

By the way, FAO seemed to have been totally re-done since I was there last time. They seemed to have decided to be FAO again. I was even met at the door by a very cute, very large, very smiling toy soldier with pink cheeks.

Nikki's Cookies...

One of the highlights of the Sun Valley culinary experience this September was being introduced to these Ladybug cookies (no ladybugs were injured in the making of these cookies). They are so yummy. They would make a wonderful cheer up gift for a sad friend I think. I think Jenni gets the credit for these as well. Visit Nikki's site, the Halloween and Christmas things are adorable and you can ship them with an ice pack so that they will arrive in perfect condition.

Granny Chic Cute Item of the Week...

I haven't done a Granny Chic item for awhile, but I still love old-fashioned things which they have in abundance at Rubyjane.com see the apron here.

More Halloween...

Candy is my favorite decoration. I may not take this stuff down.

The Best Zucchini Bread Ever...

3 eggs

1/2C melted butter

1/2C applesauce
2C white sugar
3C grated zucchini
2t good mexican vanilla
3C unbleached all-purpose flour
3t ground cinnamon
1t baking soda
1/4t baking powder
1t sea salt
1/2 C chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8X4 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans. Divide batter into pre-pared pans. Bake for 60-70 min, or until done.

I found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and I was really impressed with it, but with a few alterations, I think C and I (it was a team effort) made it into something even better. It makes two loafs and so it only has 4 tablespoons of butter per loaf.. pretty good? And, it is just so yummy.. you must try it. Little c had one suggestion... CHOCOLATE CHIPS! She feels that chocolate chips would make it taste much better. :) Maybe.

Gavin de Becker...

If there were such a thing as required reading to be a woman, a mother or even an employer, I would put these two books on that list. I have read them both more than once and have found them to be real, informative, truly helpful and empowering.

It's probably about time to read them again.

The War by Ken Burns...

This is amazing. Did you see it? Are you watching it now late like me?

Ken Burns is amazing.

Autumn Leaves...

The morns are meeker than they were,The nuts are getting brown; The berry's cheek is plumper,The rose is out of town.The maple wears a gayer scarf, The field a scarlet gown. Lest I should be old-fashioned,I'll put a trinket on.- Emily Dickinson, Nature 27 - Autumn

I know this is the third appearance in a year of one of my favorite Emily Dickinson poems.. but someone could have missed it before. I took these shots this morning and doctored them up just a little in order to show how glorious these pear trees really are. I just love them. Hope you are having a beautiful autumn day where you are.