Radvent Day 13: Performing

Below is the prompt for today. I'm basically taking the word "performing" and using it as an excuse to share with you Lincoln's first Christmas program. ADORABLE.

The video is about 4 minutes long. I left all 4 songs in so that family could see it. If you'd rather not watch the whole thing, I recommend skipping ahead to 1:18....so cute.

Radvent Day 12: Creating

Things I create:

• FOOD. Mostly food. I could spend all day in the kitchen, gladly. I'm hoping to spend a day baking Christmas cookies this week. Lucas and I love trying new things for dinner, too. I admit, I do rely on ideas from cookbooks, blogs, or magazines, but I almost always alter them. I've also been dabbling in gardening the past few summers. The heat here can be brutal to plants, but I managed to have some good luck with my peppers this year.
• SEWING. I like sewing, but don't do a ton of it (mostly because it's hard to do with Bennett crawling underfoot). In the past couple years, though, I have managed to improve my sewing skills from "pillowcase" to "quilt," so that's something. Sewing clothes is still something I haven't really mastered, though. Maybe a goal for the new year?
• MISCELLANEOUS CRAFTS. Wooden growth charts, picture frames, holiday decorations, etc.
• MEMORIES FOR LINCOLN AND BENNETT. I'm hoping this blog serves as timeline they can look back on and remember their childhood.

Radvent Day 11: Resting

(image via princess lasertron)

I give myself permission to rest because I take care of 2 boys all day long who don't nap at the same time, therefore leaving me with no down time until lights out at night. I need rest because those boys wear me out!!!

Radvent Day 10: Writing

I like to write, but I don't make time for it. Writing these responses to the Radvent prompts is more writing than I have done in a long time. I haven't done ANY creative writing in years. Creative writing always feels like an excessive use of time for something that just I am going to see. I used to attempt to write short stories, but would never finish them. Although I like to write, I think I enjoy telling stories from real life better than the creative process involved in fiction. That's not to say I wouldn't LOVE to write a children's book someday (seems to be a popular dream, but why not?). For now, though, I'll probably stick to writing blogs posts about my kids, food, and life in general. It's pretty entertaining most days :)

Radvent Day 9: Influence

Moving on!

1. Sr. Jeanne O'Rourke. Sr. Jeanne was my high school cross country coach and campus ministry director. More than influencing my love for running (no, I haven't run in almost a year...but that is mostly baby related. Ok, and maybe climate related. Maybe mostly climate related...), she also instilled in me a love for service. I only hope I can pass that love along to Lincoln and Bennett.

2. My husband. Lucas has influenced my humor, my musical tastes, the books I have read, and the movies I've watched. He makes sure I am caught up on current events and I owe every single shred of political knowledge I have (which isn't much...by no fault of his, just due to my brain's inability to care about politics) to him.

3. My brother. I always viewed my brother as about 100 times cooler and more fun than I could ever hope to be. He is outgoing, I am the very definition of introverted (please note: I am not shy. I was usually labeled as shy growing up, but I'm not. I AM introverted. There is a difference.). I use to worry that I wasn't "cool" enough to hang out with my own brother, but luckily he wasn't as insecure as me and made the effort to invite me to do stuff (thanks, brother!). Jeff, like Lucas, greatly influenced my musical taste. By inviting me into his circle of friends, I learned a lot about being myself in large groups (hard for us introverts!), not worrying about what others think, and how to have fun.

4. Sam Groom and Kari Niedermaier. I considered myself "semi-crunchy" even before we moved to Houston, but Sam and Kari pretty much cemented my way down the path of "granola-crunchy" parent. Sam invited me to watch a viewing of "The Business of Being Born" at her house before I was even pregnant, Kari was our amazing child birth instructor (if you're in Houston, hire her!). The fact that Bennett was born at home in our bedroom, and that I was even aware that was an option, is something I completely credit to Kari and Sam. So grateful!

5. My mom and grandmas. For letting me experiment in the kitchen. I can't really pinpoint who individually I would credit with my love for being in the kitchen, but I have memories of cooking with both grandmother's and of course with my mom. I'm just glad I was allowed to use the stove :)

Of course, this is a short list of my influences. I could keep going, but I'm already 6 days behind on these posts. Must. Keep. Moving. Forward...

Radvent Day 8: Comfort

Still playing catch-up....

My comfort zones:

•  Staying Home. More often than not, I will choose staying home rather than getting out and doing something. Lucas tries to get me to go out and spend an evening at a coffee house, but I usually end up spending the evening here instead. I'm better about getting out on the weekends, or even during the day with Lincoln and Bennett. Evenings are just hard for me to get motivated when my pajamas, the couch, and a mug of hot chocolate are calling (plus a poorly sleeping baby).
• No Background Noise. I love listening to music, but during the day I almost never turn in on in favor of a quiet background. I wish I would put the music on, though--Lincoln loves it, I love it, and it would be good to start exposing Bennett to our favorite dance grooves. I also usually forget to bring my iPod in my car and get stuck listening to the radio more often than not (although, NPR is always a good back-up)
• Working with kids. I love working with kids and can't imagine ever having a job where I don't. As a speech-language pathologist, I technically can work with both children and adults...but the thought of working with adults kind of makes me want to hyperventilate.
• Staying up late. It is rare that I go to bed before 11 or 12. I just CAN NOT make myself go to bed early. I know 11 or 12 isn't super late, but it is late enough that it makes waking up with the early rising children hard. If I were to go to bed early, I would pretty much lose any down time I currently have. Lucas and I have about 2 free hours each night after we finally get the boys down  (peppered with intermittent wakings by Mr. B). Should I try to go to bed early, I would lose any free time at all. Getting up earlier isn't currently an option (for me, anyway...Lucas is able to get up early for work, of course). Since we co-sleep with Bennett, when I get up, he gets up. So waking up early to try and have some "me" time would result in having some "me and Bennett" time, since he'd be waking up too.

Getting outside my comfort zones:

Since going to bed earlier isn't going to happen, I'd like to shoot for turning that music on during the day--especially now that it is Christmas music season! I'm already working on getting out more, so we'll leave it at those 2 challenges for now.

Radvent Day 7: Travel

I love this prompt because it gave me an excuse to pull out some of my old pictures and finally get them scanned in the computer!

I love to travel, and Lucas and I travelled quite a bit before Lincoln and Bennett were born. Currently, we mostly travel to visit family, but as the boys get older we plan to do a lot more exploring of new places.

One of my most memorable traveling experiences was after my sophomore year of college. I spent 6 weeks in Breton (Brittany), France through the International Volunteer Program (which apparently is no longer in existence...). (Fun Fact: I minored in French in college. Also, I speak French with an awful accent. Seriously. I was told on a regular basis in France how difficult I was to understand. That was cool.) In order to be accepted into the volunteer program, I had to do a phone interview in french. In French! I hate talking on the phone in English, so that interview made me want to puke. Somehow, despite my horrible accent, I managed to get into the program AND graduate with that French minor. Amazing.

I was assigned to work at a residential home for adults with cerebral palsy about 10 kilometers from Rennes (Vern sur Seiche). Myself and one other volunteer shared an apartment and walked to the home every day where we assisted the residents with daily tasks (meals, showers, dressing), accompanied them on outings (including one bizarre trip to an exhibit on the history of rats in France...), and just spent time with them.

The first day we got to France, we were taken to a town called Pipriac. Turns out the residential home also had a location there, and they were hosting there annual motorcycle ride for the residents (complete with sidecars). My roommate and I woke up in the morning, went outside, and were handed helmets. We were then pointed in the direction of a bike and told to get on. I don't even think my driver told me his name. My first day in France and I am riding on the back of a sidecar motorcycle as a part of a motorcycle parade through the French countryside. We rode about 2 hours. Whenever we went through a little town, all the people of the town lined the streets and waved and clapped as we rode past. It was a little surreal.

The picture on the bottom right in the above college is of some of the residents practicing for their performance of the musical Hair. It was awesome.

The residents were incredible. I learned so much from both them and the employees that worked there. Our lunches everyday were events...not in that we ate gourmet, but that they lasted at least 2 hours and were served in courses. I loved it--the pace was so relaxed, everyone took their time, and we ended every meal with bread and cheese (fresh from the bakery). LOVE. All the residents were so happy to help me improve my French, and they loved learning English from me and my roommate. I was also privileged to work a bit with the speech-language pathologist that worked with the residents. Since this was my major, I was really grateful to be able to assist her. We did some work with augmentative communication devices, which I found fascinating.

Two of the residents I met were working on trying to increase handicap accessibility throughout Brittany. They were very interested in how accessibility worked in America and took many notes on what we told them. Their biggest struggle was that doorways were often too narrow for the wheelchairs to fit through. They told us how difficult it was to find an apartment in Rennes that was wheelchair accessible, and on one outing I saw how disappointed two of the residents became when they discovered their wheelchairs would not fit between the rows of slot machines at a beachside casino.

The director of the residence arranged for outings or special visitors for the residents at least once a week (while we were there, anyway...). One day when I got to work, the residents were really excited and wanted to show me the "race car." They took me outside and there were these 2 super fancy sport cars (I know nothing about cars, but the one I am sitting in above is a Lotus. I felt like I was riding about 2 inches off the ground) and I was told to get in one of them. Off we went, at an alarmingly fast pace, through the french countryside!

Only related to the previous story in that it involves cars, but funny enough, the next morning when we arrived to work, we found everyone getting ready to load onto the bus for an outing. All the residents kept telling us it was going to be like the Indy 500. I remember being super excited because they all seemed so pumped to be going. You can imagine the letdown when we pulled up to the racetrack and I saw the "racecars"--go carts. Yep. They really did have uniformed drivers racing them, and the residents got to take their picture with the winner. Crazy stuff.

The people we worked with were so generous with us. We had offers almost every weekend to come stay with one of them at their home, or the home of one of the day residents (the residence hosted several adults with cerebral palsy during the day that went home to their own homes at night). Dominic (above left) was kind enough to host us at his apartment in Rennes. He took us to his favorite pub, and his assistant (helped him around the house, cooked, etc.) made us an unforgettable dinner (escargot, and a ham sandwich that he fried in mayonnaise....yeah, not all our meals were memorable for being good!). Not pictures, but one of the traditional drinks of Brittany that was offered at many of our meals and was always a go-to at the pubs is cidre--bascially alcoholic apple cider. Pretty tasty!

One of our assignments while there was to put together a program to teach the residents a little about American customs. We enlisted their help to make a puppet show telling American tall tales (Paul Bunyon and Johnny Appleseed), played BINGO, put together a lunch consisting of sandwiches, fruit and veggie trays, and apple crisp, and painted American flags.

I LOVED the city of Rennes. It was beautiful and full of such character. I loved getting to experience from the point of view of the locals that we stayed with on the weekends. In addition to staying in Rennes, we also met up with my roommates former penpal (Juliette), who invited us to her family's summer home on the Ile aux Moines. The Ile aux Moines is an island on the Moriban gulf that is only about 6K long. Juliette's family home (more of a compound...it was amazing! Three separate homes right on the water at the tip of the island) was gorgeous. Juliette and her father picked us up by boat from the bus station in Vannes. On the island, the family had a jeep to get around, but mostly we just rode bicycles. I loved loved loved the Ile aux Moines. It (and Brittany in general) has a Celtic history. While French of course is the dominant language, we also heard people speaking and saw many signs printed in both French and the Celtic language of Breton. Breizh is the Breton word for Brittany, and it was printed all around, including on bumper stickers. The Celtic influence was also evident in the Breton flag and the triskell (triple spiral) that was prominent everywhere. One of my favorite souvenirs was a triskell necklace I bought on Mount St. Michel. We attended a little festival on the Ile aux Moines where we learned a traditional Celtic dance complete with traditional musicians. The picture on the right above is my roommate and I seated on an ancient dolman--Lucas and I also saw these when we visited Ireland a few years ago.

We also met two local guys from Vern that invited us on a weekend excursion. We went back and forth on whether or not to go with them (I mean, we had just met them and they were inviting us to drive several hours with them to a place we had never been...), but I'm so glad we did. We visited the beautiful Mont Saint Michel (in Normandy) and the walled city of Saint Malo. Amazing.

We ended our trip in Paris. I had been once before (in high school), but my roommate had never been. We only had a day, so we tried to hit up as much as possible in that day. We stayed across from Montmartre, ate dinner there, got up the next day and took the subway to the Arc de Triomphe. From there we walked down the Champs Elysees all the way to the Louvre (that's a lot farther than it looks, just FYI. Just looked it up and it is 3 miles. No wonder it felt so long!), soaked our feet in the fountain in front of the Louvre, took the subway to Notre Dame, toured Notre Dame, took the subway to the Eiffel Tower, and ended the day back at Montmartre for our last dinner in Paris.

I would love to go back to Brittany someday. The experience of spending those 6 weeks there, pretty much on my own, has shaped the way I want to travel in the future. Experience the culture from a local's perspective. Find the traditional experiences. Learn how the culture works. Lucas and I would love to take the boys on an extended vacation or even live for an entire year in Europe at some point. Who knows when or where, but I can't wait!

Radvent Day 6: Starting

I am still behind on the Radvent prompts. Lincoln's birthday party is this Saturday (ack! 3 years old! Must resist urge to go wake him up and rock him like a baby...), so after that I will have my evenings back again. Well, sort of...back as much as Bennett will allow, I suppose :P

Lucas and I aren't big spenders (and with that, Hey, Big Spender will be stuck in my head for at least the next 2 days...). We don't have much debt (just the house and Lucas' student loan), we don't go out much, we pay our bills on time, etc. We have a savings account. But, even with all that, we don't really track our money very well. We have always had the basic outline of a budget, but we very rarely check to see that we stay in those lines. I got good at checking it for awhile, and then once I saw that I was blowing our grocery budget out of the water every month, I just stopped checking (to be fair, I had set our budget pretty low...and hadn't adjusted any for when Lincoln began eating normal sized portions, nor when Bennett started solids...I was trying to feed 3.5 people on a budget for 2--and I DON'T coupon). It wasn't like it was draining our bank account--we weren't using the entertainment budget, I had waaaaay too much budgeted for baby expenses, and other categories were likewise not getting used, so the grocery over spending never really mattered. But, it would be nice to have a better grip on those funds. There is college to save for, vacations we'd like to plan, and retirement to fund since social security will probably not be available by the time we need it...

So. My goal:
Plan out and stick to a monthly budget
-Categorize all expenses
-Redo budget amounts for categories in which we always over/under spend
-Create savings accounts for both kids
-Create an account to save for future traveling
-Discuss purchasing giftcards with a set amount for each week's grocery shopping trip to curb overspending.

Radvent Day 5: Drawing

I am behind a day on the Radvent posts. Hopefully I can play catch-up tomorrow, but for now, here is yesterdays prompt:

I always keep a small, unlined journal by my bed. I use it to jot ideas down, make lists (mostly make lists), or write down things that happen during the day that I want to remember (e.g., funny things Lincoln says). I am a big list maker--love to see those items crossed off as they get done/bought/packed, etc. In college, I used my day planner in the same way. All my assignments, or meetings, or activities got put in the planner, and crossed off as I completed them. Success! I finished something!

Here is a brief glance into the world of my "journal." Since I've already mentioned I have the artistic ability of a preschooler, I will not be apologizing for the quality of my drawings :)

 This was my original plan for our backyard garden. We went as far as digging out the grass and defining the shape using that black garden edging. We never did plant any flowers because that magnolia tree drops leaves like a layer of carpet everywhere I have drawn a flower in the above picture. Year round. Our backup plan was to simply mulch the whole thing and put planters on top of the mulch. It has taken us one year to get half of it mulched. Yay for procrastination?

 This is a sketch of our bedroom when we were trying to figure out how to get Bennett moved in with us. It pretty much turned out exactly as this sketch shows, except the crib is not really as enormous as my drawing might have you believe.

 These are my current notes for Lincoln's upcoming birthday. It is an art themed birthday bash, and these are my ideas combined with stuff I've found on Pinterest. There are 6 pages of notes for the birthday (food lists, guests coming, art ideas, etc...). I'll probably use about half of it :)

This was a do-to list I had going before Christmas last year. We went to Omaha, so a lot of it was done in preparation for our trip. Check marks mean done, line through the item means I didn't do it. My method for marking things off changes by the page...

Radvent Day 4: Caring

This year, I am focusing on a couple of things in the realm of "caring."

1. How my reactions to things affect my kids.
Lincoln absorbs everything. The other day, I dropped something and kind of flipped out about it. That night at dinner, Lincoln dropped a container of Bennett's little puffs onto the floor and they all spilled. Lincoln also flipped out--big time. I wonder if I had reacted in a calm manner to dropping my item earlier if he would have imitated that reaction instead. I am now choosing to put some careful thought into how I react to things. Dropping something on the floor doesn't warrant flipping out--we should save that kind of reaction for when we can't find any chocolate in the house or discovering Community is being placed on hiatus (kidding).

I have been modeling calm reactions to minor injuries (say, stubbed toes or a tiny scrape). Lincoln tends to cry and cry when he gets any type of minor injury, and then asks us for ice whenever he remembers said injury, up to a week later at times. He also likes to point out his injuries to everyone we run into (example: walking into mother's day out, we pass the music and exercise teacher. Lincoln: "Look! I got an owie on my finger. I got it at Winton's house." repeat each time we see them for the next 2 weeks.) I have been trying to model calmly saying, "Ow!! I got an owie. Oh, but it looks really small. I think I can still keep (doing whatever I am doing at the time). Yay!"

2. Taking care of myself so that I am a happier person around my family.
I've already mentioned this a few times, but I really do feel like a better and happier person when I make time to do things by myself. Problem is, I rarely remember that. Lucas is always telling me to go to a coffee shop or something, but I feel bad leaving the house since Mr. B is such a bad sleeper. But, I have been trying to improve on this area during the past year. Definitely a work in progress.

Radvent Day 3: Fascination

(FUN SIDE NOTE: This is my 400th blog post! Kind of exciting, eh?)

I think it is easy to take this prompt and answer the question in terms of others (that person is so fascinating! I wish I knew more about her!), but incredibly hard to apply to yourself. It is hard for me to imagine what someone would find fascinating about me without resorting to self-deprecation ("who is that fascinating woman pushing that shopping cart? did she actually come to the store with half her nursing bra unhooked? scandalous! her life must be wrought with excitement!"). 

In truth, I actually have been making more of an effort to dress better (meaning, I have put away the jersey skirts and t-shirts...at least until the real Houston heat returns. You're welcome, Lucas.). I recently bought 2 pairs of pants that actually fit me--both in the waist and length (sidenote--I have been walking on the hems of my pants for years because I have always hated the way petite pants fit...until I discovered the petite section at Ann Taylor Loft. They fit amazingly, and have the bonus feature of not making me feel like I'm wearing high-waisted, ankle skimming pants). (second sidenote--yes, I realize I could have been hemming my pants. I offer you laziness and a sewing machine that can't handle denim as my excuses). I cleared out my closet of clothes that I haven't worn in ages and have been trying new ways to wear the things I have left (e.g., wearing a dress as a blouse with a skirt). It's actually kind of fun...

Dressing nice might not in itself make a person fascinating...but I think it does show that I am learning to care for myself a bit more. 

Because I really want to make an effort to write a meaningful response, I am going to try and come up with at least 2 interview questions....

Q1. Cooking seems to be a passion of yours. How do you find time to cook and bake for your family?

 A1. I make time because it is something I love. We try a lot of new recipes for our dinners, and yes, sometimes I misjudge the time involved and we end up eating 2 hours later than usual, but the result is almost always worth it. Lincoln and I love baking during the day, too. It is pretty difficult to tackle any big meal or baking endeavor while Bennett is awake, or if Lucas isn't home, simply because he is ridiculously mobile and will almost certainly end up on top of the kitchen stool or stuck between a chair and the wall while I am covered in flour and need to wash my hands before grabbing him as he lays there, stuck and crying. 

Q2. You seem to come up with lots of fun ideas to do with your toddler. Where do you find them all?

A2. I don't happen to be artistic at all, but I do seem to be able to come up with lots of toddler and preschooler friendly art projects and activities (perhaps that is an indication to you of just where my artistic abilities lie...). I credit all my time working with my preschool speech students (my favorite age!). Having to come up with games and therapy ideas at a moment's notice (when I had a caseload of 77, therapy lesson plans could sometimes be a bit "skeletal"--meaning I'd pick a goal to address, and fill in the game/materials when I got there!*) started to be second nature. Granted, we don't have the plethora of toys available in a preschool classroom at our home, but we manage :)

*unnecessary disclaimer*: no kids were short-changed therapy due to lack of planning. I actually think it is better to use the materials and activities already happening in the classroom/home/wherever therapy is taking place! The children are already familiar with it and therapy can be more effective than if you have to introduce a new toy or game. *secondary unnecessary disclaimer*: unless your goals have to do with adapting to new environments/changes/etc., of course.

(I'm done now. I could *disclaimer* myself all day, here....)

Radvent Day 2: Balancing

How do I do it all? Pretty simply, the answer to this question is a firm I DON'T. Not even close. But, I really like to think I can (don't we all?). I have a chronic case of "list overkill." On a typical weekend, I will think the following is an achievable list of tasks to accomplish: 1) Clean the kitchen, 2) Sort through our closet and pull out things we don't wear anymore, 3) Have a garage sale, 4) Make eight, 6-foot tall wooden growth charts by burning the lines and numbers on with a $10 wood burning tool from Wal-Mart, 5) Grocery shop, 6) Take Lincoln to the park, 7) If there is time, pull out weeds from our back garden and re-mulch it.

My list overkill usually leads to me being way disappointed when I only accomplish one --or maybe two, if I'm really on a roll--items from the list. Lucas tries to talk me down from my massive to-do lists, but I just can't stop.

Last January, I made this chore chart to help me keep the house in better order. And it worked! I only tackled one or two chores per day, and at the end of the week I got to see all the little magnets moved below the line. After Bennett was born, the chore chart may have taken a little hiatus, but I am pleased to announce that it went back into rotation this week! I found that if I tackle the two jobs right after breakfast and before Bennett's first nap, I have a higher likelihood of actually getting them done. No one is fussy yet, we usually don't have anywhere to be...it's just a good time of day for getting things done.


I am going to keep my to-do list for this weekend at a manageable level. Here goes:

1) Clean the living room.
2) Put out the Christmas decorations.
3) List items on Craig's List.

(It is pretty hard to stop at three. I won't lie.)

Radvent Day 1: Challenging

I just wrote a long blog post about the poor sleeping habits of Mr. B. Then, I deleted it. When I was rereading it, it just felt like one big, long whine fest. Yes, lack of sleep is challenging, but I am tired of complaining about it (ha! "tired"--get it? pun!).

Instead, I am just going to leave the "why I am grateful" part. Bennett is already 7 months. 7 months!! Before I know it, he's going to be one. Then 2. Then, old enough that he isn't going to want me to put him to sleep (sniff, sniff!). I am grateful for the chance to snuggle with my baby. Grateful for the fact he does sleep when we go to bed all the way until morning (usually...). Grateful for the sweet baby sounds when he is waking up in the morning. Grateful for these baby years, even thought I'm tired.

And now, time to post this. Mr. B will be up soon!

Reading (Radvent Day #14)

I have fallen a bit behind on the Radvent project...

I might try and make up the missed posts...but, I am not holding myself to it--especially since Christmas is 10 days away!

On to today's prompt:

while doing your christmas shopping, buy a few copies of your favorite children's book: One for you to re-read, and the others to gift to your loved ones.

Did you like to read as a child? Do you read more or less now?

I read aaaallllll the time as a child. I loved books--and I had a TON of them! My favorite reading spot was this pink wing backed chair in my parent's living room...although, I'm not sure why, as it really isn't the most comfortable chair in the world. I really didn't stick to any particular genre, either. Some of my favorites from when I was little:

• The Secret Garden
• A Wrinkle in Time
• The Westing Game
• The Babysitter's Club series
• The Giver
• Mrs. Piggle Wiggle books
• A Light in the Attic
• The Berenstein Bears series
• Amelia Bedelia
• Judy Blume: Fudge, Super Fudge, Sheila the Great...

Books were always on my birthday and Christmas list--and I loved book orders and book fairs at school! I have a really hard time letting go of books, even if I know I won't read them again--which is why our bookshelf here is overflowing with not only textbooks from college, but also almost all my old Babysitter's Club books (which no, I don't plan to read again...but I still have to keep them!).

Since college, I haven't read nearly as much as I would have liked to. This year, Lucas had a goal to read one book a month...I kind of mooched off his goal and attempted it myself. I think I did pretty well, but will admit that I read at least 4 of those books in the past 2 months (Lincoln has recently taken to napping in the car...so I spend a lot of time sitting in the front seat and reading to ensure he actually takes a nap!!). Some newer favorites:

• Ishmael, My Ishmael, and The Story of B
• Real Food
• Kite Runner
• The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
• The Atlas of Love
• The Creative Family

Lately, I have been reading a (to remain unnamed) guilty pleasure vampire series (no, not Twilight...haven't gone there yet!). They are quick reads and awfully addicting, but I do feel like I need to read a biography or historical fiction or something to make up for the mindless, easy reading (which actually, I think has been good for me because it has made me read more and want to keep on reading!). I guess every so often, your brain just needs to be entertained!!

The other part of this prompt was to buy 2 copies of a favorite childhood book and share one with someone you love. Since I am all shopped out at the moment, I thought I'd share an idea instead.

A couple years ago, Lucas and I asked each family member to get us a copy of their favorite book for Christmas. The only stipulation was that was wanted a hand written note telling us why the book was important to them to accompany the gift. I am so grateful everyone played along--it is awesome to have those notes, and we have enjoyed reading a wide variety of books--spanning from children's picture books to the classics to memoirs. If you are looking for ideas for last minute Christmas gifts, maybe consider gifting a copy of your favorite book--and don't forget the hand written note!

Receiving (Radvent Day #14)

Playing catch up a little bit...

The prompt was:

List some things you received today. Did you consciously accept these gifts?

Lincoln and I have been cooped up in the house for almost a week now as he has been a bit under the weather. So, we haven't had a lot of contact with people in general, let alone people giving us things. But, in thinking a bit outside the box, I came up with the following:

• A big laugh from this little guy--walked into the kitchen wearing 2 of my shoes, with one pant leg hiked up to his knee, bed head, and a big grin (which I missed in the picture).

• E-mails from a friend (always grateful to receive a note or non-junk e-mail!)
• Two Christmas cards in the mail! You people are on top of things. I think we'll be sending President's Day cards this year...
• Dinner out with Lucas and Lincoln (we are at the start of birthday weekend celebration around here...Lincoln on Sunday and Lucas on Monday. Started the party off with some BBQ tonight!)
• Cooler weather. It was near 80 here yesterday, so the 50s felt good today!
• Lincoln is feeling better--very thankful for that!

Procrastinating (Radvent Day #12)

I suppose the theme for today couldn't get any more appropriate...

What are you putting off? What bad things would happen if you stopped making excuses and tackled something today?
(Would you do it wrong? Would you fail to meet expectations? Would you have to do it even better next time?)

I feel like I am constantly putting things off. I work well under pressure. In college, I always felt like I couldn't start a paper or project until it was close to due because it wouldn't turn out as good as if I waited until I had the pressure to finish it. These days, things I am procrastinating doing include:

*The books for my store (blech).

*Sewing 3 Christmas presents-even though I realize sewing always takes me 10 times longer than I think it will and Christmas is only 8 days away. Aaaaand, we leave town in 5 days. Yikes.

*Planting our garden in the backyard.

*Painting Lincoln's bathroom (I started this project almost 2 years ago...the walls still have the test paint on them :s)

*Taking the huge piles of clothes and toys in our bedroom to Goodwill or consignment stores.

*Packing for our trip.

*Painting my sewing desk.

*Sorting through all my back issues of Bon Appetit and Food & Wine.

That probably grazes the surface of my forever to-do list. The hardest part for me is picking a starting point. Having a huge list like that is so overwhelming that it is easy to just say "forget it!" and do something else instead (why hello there four batches of cupcakes and a pan of blueberry muffins in one week...). Lucas will tell you that my list making gets out of control. When he asks me what I want to get done on any given weekend, you can usually count on me to list at least 5 projects that could easily take 2 days a piece. He's pretty good about talking me down from doing too much...

I recently made myself a chore chart to help with my procrastination against cleaning the house. It has been in effect for two weeks now, and I have to say, I LOVE it. Rather than a huge list of things to accomplish during the week, I have 2-3 chores a day that I do. For example, on Fridays I wash the towels and sweep and vacuum the floors. That's it. Sure, there are things that do have to get done daily (dishes, cooking, etc.), but by having the lists with only 2-3 things daily I don't get overwhelmed by the "where do I start? should I clean our room? the bathroom? the kitchen? maybe i'll just make some cookies...".

This weekend I am going to tackle the sewing. That is my only goal. I think it is pretty good attempt at not overdoing it, but we'll see. There ARE three projects, after all...

Playing (Radvent Day #7)

Today's prompt:

What were your favorite games as a child? What did you like to do with your classmates or the neighborhood kids? How did that affect the person you grew to become?

First of all, I want to comment on how shocked I am that I have actually kept up with these prompts! Shocked, and really glad, because I have been needing some structure in my writing and blogging, and this has helped a lot. Plus, I am really enjoying the themes so far!

Second, I am a fan of lists. Thus, I am making a list of my favorite childhood games as my response to this prompt. Have you played any of them??

Hot Peppers at my aunt and uncle's house

1. Ghosts in the Graveyard. LOVED this game. The neighborhood where I grew up has no fences between the yards, so we had TONS of room to run and hide. If you are unfamiliar, this game has to take place after dark. One person is the ghost, and they had to go hide somewhere in the yard. Everyone else stared off at base. We all had to count together...it went "one o'clock, two o'clock, 3 o'clock rock! and up to 11 o'clock rock, then you said, "Midnight! Hope we don't see a ghost tonight!" Everyone who was "it" went off in search of the ghost. If you found the ghost, you shouted "Ghost in the graveyard, 1-2-3!!!" and ran as fast as you could back to base. If the ghost tagged anyone before they could get back to base, that person then joined the ghost in hiding next time, so there were 2 ghosts (or more!). So. Fun. All the neighborhood kids used to get in on this on summer nights. Sometimes we used flashlights, sometimes just house lights. I hope Lincoln gets to play this someday!

2. Board and Card Games. We played a lot of games as a family growing up. We used to have a family game night once a weekly; my brother and I got to take turns picking the game. Some favorites: Flash Match, Clue, Crazy 8s, Spoons, Pictionary, Pitch, and Trivia Pursuit. There were 2 games that were always off limits--Hero Quest and LIFE. My parents claimed it was because they took forever...

Dress up with my neighbor Nicole, me in the middle, and friend Sara.

3. Pretend. I remember playing a lot of "pretend" with my brother and our neighbor, Nicole. We used to set up a vet clinic for our stuffed animals, turn our swing-set into a pirate ship, set up a restaurant on the patio with our sandbox, play school with my mom's old teaching supplies, etc. We had a big box of dress-up clothes and would put on shows and dance recitals.

4. Basement. Couldn't think of a good category name, so I decided basement would do to lump together all the toys I think about that we played with in our basement. My Little Ponies, He-Man and She-Ra, Barbie, Dollhouse, Moondreamers, Strawberry Shortcake, Pound Puppies, GI Joes...most of these toys are still stored in my parent's basement!

5. Nintendo. We got our Nintendo when I was in second grade. It was the original, 64-bit, gray box. Even my dad got into it--he beat the Legend of Zelda and went out and bought the Legend of Zelda 2! I thought it was so cool when we (and by we, I mean Jeff) would discover things like the secret passage way on Super Mario Brother--it was like I was in on a secret, even thought everyone who owned a Nintendo knew about it :)

My Grandpa made this Barbie house-I think this picture was taken on Christmas, the day I received it!

I still play a lot--although, most of the playing I do is with trucks and farm animals, and chirping penguins that repeatedly go up the moving stairs and down the ramp again...and again...and again (looking at you, Lindsay!!). Lucas and I are huge board game fans, still. These days we are more apt to play games like Taboo, Scattergories, Settler's of Catan, or Balderdash...but I'd still join in a game of Clue or LIFE if offered :) I think the pretend play I did as a child has definitely benefited me in my work (when I am working, I'm a speech-language pathologist...in case I haven't mentioned that and you don't know me in person). I love coming up with new ways to incorporate therapy into play--play is natural to kids, therapy isn't. I'm glad we had so many opportunites to use our imaginations as kids--as well as chances to run and play outside. I hope to encourage Lincoln (and future baby) to do the same!

(quick note about the pictures...I don't have a lot of my pictures from when I was a kid with me here--most are at my parent's house. Obviously missing from any photos are my brother, who was my best and usual playmate...I'll try to scan some in when we are visiting for Christmas!)

Adventuring (Radvent Day #6)

Today's prompt (click to see source):

Abandon your to-do list and go somewhere else. Somewhere new. Somewhere you have wanted to explore. Bring a camera and take a picture to celebrate the moment when you abandoned anxiety and insecurity, embraced imagination and opportunity, and let life unfold.

Lincoln and I had committed to a day of staying home in our PJs, so I had to think outside the box a little for this one. Instead of actually going anywhere, we took on a new task-one that I have been meaning to try forEVER, but am sad to admit never have.

WE BAKED BREAD--FROM SCRATCH!!

Not just quick bread--actual yeast bread!

I know that many people do this everyday, but I have never worked myself up to jumping on that bandwagon. So, recipe in hand, Lincoln and I headed to the kitchen for a baking adventure.

Lincoln thought the dough was awesome. He especially liked to "mash" it (knead).

While I was putting the dough on the counter to rise, Lincoln was doing some inventive cooking of his own. I walked back to the table to find a near empty pepper shaker. He had even gotten out a saucer and loaded that with pepper as well. Big Smile! The picture on the right is Lincoln punching down the dough after it had risen. He thought that was hilarious.

The finished product! The pictures don't really do it justice. Mmmmm...can't wait to make this again!

We started this adventure at 4:15 and were eating the bread by 6:30, so this was by no means an all day project. In fact, hands on time was probably no more than 25 minutes. If you want to try it for yourself, here's the recipe!

French Bread

printed in Taste of Home, Feb/Mar 2010

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp. active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (110-115 F)

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

4.5-5 cups bread flour

1 tsp cornmeal

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the salt, sugar, and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth.

2. Stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough.

3. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.

4. Place into a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour.

5. Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape into 12" long loaves.

6. Place seam side down on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Sprinkle with cornmeal.

7. With a sharp knife, make 4 shallow slashed across the top of each loaf. Bake at 450F for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Enjoyed this--it was yummy, and we had a lot of fun!

Rocking Out (Radvent Day #5)

Today's prompt (click to go to the source):

Create the soundtrack of your year. Share it with someone you love.

Fun!

1. MIKA-Lollipop.

Lincoln loves this, so it is on a frequent loop here some days...good thing I like it, too!!

2. Weezer--Keep Fishin'

Another of Lincoln's favorites...can't get enough "Weezus"

3. Bright Eyes-Bowl of Oranges One of my favorite songs. Plus, the video is awesome.

4. Katy Perry-"California Gurls"

(I know). But seriously, we heard this song more than any other song this year. This playlist wouldn't be accurate if I left it out! Once, when we were driving home from Galveston, we managed to listen to this song at least 5 time in a row, simply by changing the radio station when the song ended. It was always on! A big disclaimer: DO NOT watch this with your children present. Totally inappropriate. :)

5. The Mynabirds-"Numbers Don't Lie"

My brother introduced us to this band (and many of the other bands we listen too...). This album was on heavy rotation for awhile around here. If you haven't heard them, this song is a great intro!

6. Postal Service-"Nothing Better"

There is a group of 3 albums that can instantly transport me back to Colorado. I kept them in my car and can actually picture myself driving to and from work, yoga, the apartment, etc. to the songs on those albums. So, when I am missing Colorado, I like to listen to them. The Postal Service-"Give Up" is one of them...and this song is my favorite :) This video clip is a live version, and features Jenny Lewis (another favorite)!

(for the curious: the other 2 albums are The New Pornographers-"Twin Cinema" and The Decemberists-"Picaresque"

7. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros-"Home"

Lucas discovered this song and shared it with me. Enjoy!

8. The Beatles-"Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da"

The White Album had a place in our kitchen CD player for much of the year. I chose this song to represent it because it is Lincoln's favorite dancing tune :)

9. Sleigh Bells-"Rill Rill"

A new band to us this year.

10. Loreena McKinnett-"Snow"

We love the "Maybe This Christmas" albums during the holidays. This Loreena McKinnett song is beautiful. Listen to it in front of your tree with a cup of hot chocolate, and it will feel like Christmas even if it happens to be 80 degrees outside...

Forgiveness (Radvent Day #4)

Today's prompt (click to read more at Princess Lasertron):

Who or what are you ready to let go of resentment toward?

As you can see, I put this one off an extra day. Hard stuff to think about--much less share. Rather than sharing names or specific incidents, I will say that I have come up with a list of things I was still holding a grudge about in the past. I think I honestly thought I had let go of them--forgiven and forgotten--but, truthfully, I haven't. There are some that I am ready to really let go of--and for some of them, it will have to be one sided, since I would have no idea how to contact some of the people, let alone would I want to or feel comfortable doing so. Other things...I might need some more time.

I really like this quote Megan shared:

I forgive myself.

I forgive everyone.

I am totally free.

-Sark