penny carnival

So hip it hurts

There are so many thoughts and project ideas whirring around my head these days, and absolutely no time to do anything about it. Work has me so busy that I'm finding the time I do get to spend with the girls is best spent doing simple things. Today that meant a taking a walk, cutting lettuce from the garden and making a salad out of it (which Bo then refused to eat) and painting polka-dotted toenails.

A wonderful old friend of mine is coming to town with her daughter tomorrow and as I tidied up the basement, i.e., the craft disaster room, I just kept thinking of things I would have liked to do to the house before she arrived. We yanked out the shrubbery in the front yard several weeks ago with the intent of planting something nicer, but that hasn't happened. There are walls in the living room desperately in need of artwork. And I haven't picked up the dog's poop from the yard all week. (I'll definitely take care of the latter before you arrive, Nis.)

She and I talked on the phone today and she confirmed what I already knew: good friends don't care. In fact, she said it would be flattering to her to arrive to a little madness because it would mean we were so close I didn't feel the need to impress her.

So for now, I'm going to dream a little bit about what my craft room could look like--maybe--one day--with the photos below of craft rooms owned by people who've got their lives in order way better than me these days.

I've also been meaning to share some thoughts from a fellow Spokanite I interviewed recently for a craft-related article I'm writing. Cherie Killilea, of StudioCherie on Etsy, has taken the whole craft movement further than most of us, having some of her ideas manufactured in China (she was never happy with the quality, though) and having met with executives at Disney who loved some of her creations (but then wanted millions of dollars from her so she could use the Disney license). She has found a home on Etsy because of the immediacy of it. Instead of designing something and then waiting two years to see it on store shelves, she designs, sells right away and moves on to the next idea before she can become bored by the old one. Cherie also talked about how only two or three years ago, everyone wanted a Louis Vuitton bag. Today people want something truly unique and fresh instead, so they turn to Etsy and buy things that might have been sewn within days or hours of being posted. It makes me wonder how conventional designers and fashion magazines are keeping up these days.

It was a great conversation and I wished I'd recorded it ala CraftSanity. It helped confirm what I've mostly unsuccessfully been trying to convince loved ones of: if nothing else, this whole handmade thing is hip, dammit.

In 2000, I wrote an article about the Voluntary Simplicity Movement. Back then the people who were advocating living with less and--heaven forbid--giving handmade Christmas gifts, were not part of the mainstream.

It's amazing how quickly things change. Not that crafters and advocates for simplicity have taken over. Yet. I see plenty of evidence of the opposite every day and I don't think my schedule these days has been the model of simple living.

But it's a trend I love. Now if I could just find some time to join the fun.

(The craft rooms below were found here, here and here.)

Parks and pasta

Just a quick note tonight and a recipe.

We took a walk today through Finch Arboretum, one of Spokane's many lovely parks. I'm ashamed to say it was my first time there, even though I've lived here for 7 years now. (We were supposed to attend a wedding there a few years ago, but we couldn't make it. Neither could the pastor who was supposed to officiate the wedding. He was a no show! Can you believe that? I'd never heard of that happening before.)

It was gorgeous, and it made us vow to visit all the Spokane parks we've never been to by the end of summer. After we got home and looked up how many parks Spokane actually has (more than 100!), we revised the goal: visit as many as possible. Simple enough.

I thought Bo might be upset when she realized today's park didn't have a playground, but the infestation of marmots there provided plenty of entertainment. It is pretty comical to see them popping up from holes in the ground and then disappearing again. J and I did our best to channel a little Caddyshack ("doodie! doodie!").

The only other thing to share from our very quiet day here is this fantastic recipe I found by googling "mustard greens recipes." Given the overabundance of the leafy stuff in our garden right now, we'll probably be revisiting this one again soon. I made some adjustments--omitted the red pepper flakes, added parmesan cheese and replaced penne with orzo--but the anchovies are a must. Here's the original version:

Pasta with Dark Greens

2 pounds broccoli raab, turnip, mustard or dandelion greens
Kosher salt
1 pound orechiette, penne or other pasta
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 anchovy filets in oil, drained and finely chopped
Pinch dried red pepper flakes, or to taste
Freshly ground pepper and salt

In a large pot, bring 2 to 3 quarts of water to a boil.
While the water heats, trim the greens and wash them well. Cut the greens crosswise into 1-inch pieces or strips.
When the water comes to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of salt. Toss the greens into the boiling water; cook until they are almost tender but still bright green, 8 to 10 minutes. (The time will vary somewhat depending on what kind of greens you use. Testing them is the best way to know when they are done.) With a slotted spoon, remove greens from the pot and toss into a large bowl of cold water.
Add the pasta to the pot of water in which the greens were cooked. While the pasta cooks, squeeze the greens to remove as much water as possible. Fluff the greens to separate them, then set aside.
In a large, heavy skillet or a wok, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, just until the garlic begins to color. (Take care not to let it burn or the dish will taste bitter.) Add the anchovies, pressing them so they "melt" into the oil. Add the pepper flakes. When the pasta is almost done, 10 to 12 minutes, add the drained greens to the pan and cook together for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove pan from the heat.
Drain the pasta, leaving a bit of water clinging to it. Add the pasta to the cooked greens; toss well. Season to taste with pepper and salt. Serve immediately with a loaf of the thick-crusted, whole-grain bread.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Jiggity jig

Home again.

Our marathon vacation has come to a close. After three weeks in Rhode Island, we came home Wednesday evening to a full garden, a happy dog and an empty fridge (the freezer filled quickly, though! We recently bought 1/4 of a grass-fed Oregon cow. More on that another day). It's always hard to say goodbye to my family back east, but it's also good to get settled at home again.

I apologize for neglecting the blog as much as I have. I have a flood of work deadlines to slog through but promise to be back in regular crafty action after that.

It's amazing how much a garden can grow in three weeks, by the way. There's so much that needs to either be eaten or frozen, and there's no shortage of weeds that need pulling. The photos below include a shot of a young sunflower and a hollyhock making its way through our fence from our neighbor's yard (don't you love when that happens?).

We also came home to a huge stack of mail, of course, including the book "How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way," by Tim Selden, which I won from Amber over at Kids Craft Weekly. She holds a monthly contest for anyone who submits photos of their kids creating one of her crafts. I'm not sure if it's a random drawing or if she just chooses a photo she likes, but I was excited to hear that my shot of Bo doing pantry art won. Thanks, Amber!

I haven't had a chance to dig in, but the book looks great so far. I've read a more detailed book about raising your kids in the Montessori way. This seems to be a good refresher/quick reference/easy-to-find activities sort of thing.

So tonight was a little rough. Bo has been begging to take a ballet class ever since she saw her cousin MH dancing last spring. I finally signed her up, we read a book today about ballerinas, she put on her tu-tu, and we drove to the 6:30 p.m. class only to learn that it'd been changed to 3 p.m. Um, how am I supposed to explain that to my 3 year old? Crocodile tears ensued. I attempted to dry them with a trip to the ice cream shop--is that horrible? Am I teaching her to numb her emotions with food already?
My heart really broke for her, which worries me because this is only ballet class. What happens when life gets more complicated?

Back to books, though. I need to come up with a better system for displaying the girls' books. For a long time I thought the more books the better, but Bo seems really overwhelmed when she goes to her bookshelf to pick out something for us to read. Plus she has a hard time recognizing books when she just sees the spine.
Some of the books I have are crap-o-la, too, since a lot of them came from a book sale in which you could stuff a big box full of books for just $5. I hardly looked at the titles, let alone the plots. Sometimes she'll pick out a book and as I'm reading it all I can think about is how in the world it ever got published and how can I make up a new ending so she isn't emotionally scarred forever.

Anyhow, I ordered a few books online last night--The Seashore Book, by Charlotte Zolotow, Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney, The Carrot Seed by Ruth Kraus, and Feelings by Aliki. Those suggestions came from Sew Liberated (previously Montessori by Hand). I'd also love to start chipping away at Amanda Soule's picks.

Now I just need to come up with a better display system. Pasted below are some ideas: Martha Stewart, All Sorts and this way-too-expensive spinny number, respectively.

Anyone have an idea for displaying and storing books they'd care to share?

A rose by any other name

I shouldn't spill the beans until it comes out in the newspaper, but I can't hold back my enthusiasm for the subject of my next HomeMaker column in the Spokesman-Review. It's going to be a guest tutorial you won't want to miss.

Here's a sneak peak at the photo and a big hint here. Stay tuned. It runs Aug. 1, so I'll post the how-to here after that.

I'm about to discuss religion on a craft blog

My husband has what I consider to be a Very Hard Job. An Important, Stressful, Extremely Fulfilling job. He would never say this to me (unless he were joking or drinking too much), but the work I do now isn’t exactly change-the-world material.

I could have made a good argument for that before, when I was covering hard news for the newspaper and upholding the First Amendment and bringing to light Important Things and all. I’m still adhering to the same ethics and fighting for freedom of the press (without which you can kiss democracy and freedom and truth goodbye, by the way), but let’s face it. The journalism I’m doing now is about amazing architecture and trendy food and how to make chocolate Easter bunnies.

I love it. It’s fun. I’m lucky to be doing it. But nowhere in my current job description does it mention getting homeless children off the streets or helping an abused kid graduate from high school.

So what does this have to do with crafting?

I’m not going to say I think crafting can change the world (I’m not going to say it can’t, though), but I do believe that sewing and making and painting and beading are larger than the sum of their parts.

Creating art and crafts slows us down. It connects us with our ancestors. It stirs up pride when we use our own hands to create, rather than mindlessly buy, buy, buy.

I was reminded of this while listening to a great episode of Craftsanity the other day. I downloaded it just before going for a jog and ended up running a lot farther than I’d planned to just so I could hear the whole thing. (And now I’m sore. Thanks, Craftsanity.)

Host Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood (a journalist herself) interviewed Kimberly Winston (also a journalist. We’re multiplying like bunnies. Look out), who wrote a book called “Bead One, Pray Too: A Guide to Making and Using Prayer Beads.” Winston also has a blog.
I think I’d heard of her book before, but it definitely wasn’t on my short list of craft books I wanted to buy.

Let’s get something out in the air here. I was raised Catholic. This might sound silly, but I still consider myself Catholic, even though I disagree with a lot of the things the church teaches. Really fundamental things. In fact, there are probably non-Catholics out there who are better aligned with the Catholic church than I am. In a nutshell, I just don't think there's ONE right answer.

These days, I fall into what most people would call the “spiritual but not conventionally religious” camp. I talk to my daughters about all religions and about God. When an ambulance goes by, we say a prayer for whoever may be in pain and for the people who love that person. At the end of the day, we talk about all the blessings in our lives.

I don’t go to church often, but when I do it’s to a Catholic one. It’s where I feel most comfortable. I think a big reason for that is the consistency of the mass. A lot of visitors to Catholic churches feel uncomfortable with all the up and down and recited prayer, but to me the sameness is meditative. Just like saying the Rosary is meditative. It brings you into a peaceful state. I really should do it more often.

Enter Winston’s book.

She writes about the history of various religions’ prayer beads and gives instructions for making them. Here are her directions for making a basic Anglican rosary, via Craftsanity.

She suggests that prayer beads can be for anyone, regardless of whether your faith has a name or not. If people aren’t comfortable with a crucifix on the end of a strand, replace it with a tree or other nonreligious symbol, she says.

No doubt the very thought of that will offend folks. But c’mon. What’s the big picture here? If beads can help people pray and praying helps slow people down and slowing down makes us more peaceful and being more peaceful makes the world better for everyone, does the symbol really matter?

Winston and Ackerman-Haywood discuss it more eloquently than I can here, but I walked away (limped, really) from the podcast enlightened—and wanting to get my hands on that book.

(The Rosary bracelet below is from www.gracemary.com.)

Lovely lazy days

As our vacation in Rhode Island winds down, we've spent some quiet days closer to home. Our biggest outing this week has been to the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence where Bo was captivated by the 10 a.m. bath time of Ginny, Katie, and Allison, the zoo's three elephants.

It seemed like we got to stand so close to the animals at this zoo, closer than we can when we visit the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. My Aunt Betty joked that that's because Rhode Island is so small--there's not enough land to put much distance between the people and the critters.

Our "crafting" here has been pretty simple--coloring and building sandcastles, mostly. Today we made seashell birdhouses. I bought the basic houses at a craft store, and we've been collecting shells every time we go to the beach. We're just using Tacky Glue to stick them on. Seems to be working so far. I'm hoping we'll be able to cover the whole house in shells (and pasta--what's a craft project without pasta?) by the time we leave Wednesday.

Let's see, what else have we been up to? Walks and runs on the bike path. An extremely fattening trip to Vienna Bakery in Warren, R.I. An equally fattening plate of seafood linguine. And snapping green beans from the garden with Auntie Peggy on the couch. In short, pure bliss.

More soon on an excellent discussion I heard on craftsanity recently and on an interesting interview I just had with Cherie Killilea about selling crafts on Etsy. I'm writing an article on that topic soon for the new Spokane Metro magazine.

'No talka to me, Mom! I said-a no talka to me!'

Bo is in meltdown mode. We’re almost two weeks into our three-week vacation, and she’s falling apart. I’d love to get some advice from all y’all supermoms out there.

We’re big on routine in our family. We generally have all the meals at the same time each day, naptime comes after lunch (Bo naps for 2-3 hours; Magpie takes two 1-2 hour naps). We always read books before naptime and bedtime. Etc. Etc.

We’ve stuck pretty close to our normal schedule while on our trip, so we’re not sure what’s going on. There have been a couple of days when we’ve gone a bit Griswoldian, packing too much in (hello, we should have just ridden the train to Boston and back again instead of getting off of it and actually trying to visit a couple of places. Just the train ride would have been a thrill of a lifetime for them), but generally we’ve kept our outings pretty simple.

Since Monday morning she has been constantly testing the boundaries—running away from me at Target and in a parking lot, talking sassy, even hitting my aunt one time. At first I thought she was coming off a sugar high from our unusually sweet weekend (we normally really limit her sugar intake because she gets pretty looloo when she has too much), but the games continued today.

So, what do we do? We’re trying to just be consistent, giving her consequences when she pulls a shenanigan. Tonight that meant she stayed home with J instead of going to a farm to buy some fruits and veggies. We were all in the car ready to go, but she wouldn’t get in her car seat, so after a couple of warnings he picked her up and brought her back into the house. Tears and other such drama ensued. (Bo, not J.)

Should we set an even firmer schedule, where we do the exact same thing at the same time every day (i.e., wake at 6. Breakfast. Go for a walk at 6:45. Showers. Outing at 8:30. Etc.)?

I bought a few craft supplies tonight. Maybe she’s missing that creative outlet, that reminder of home?

Or is this how our vacations will go for the next several years?

All-purpose flowers

One of the regular stories I write for the Spokesman-Review is a monthly how-to floral arrangement. Don't ask me what qualifies me to do this except for the fact that I love looking at flowers.

I dream of having a greenhouse in the backyard one day and growing a cutting garden, but before then I will have to figure out how not to kill flowers. My vegetables go gangbusters, but growing flowers just doesn't work for me.

Our next door neighbor in our old house put us to shame with her flowers. To say she put us to shame really doesn't begin to explain how much more lovely her yard was than ours. When she moved into her house, she actually brought all the flowers from her old house with her. In hundreds of pots. Maybe thousands. She would try to give me some starts, but they would die in my care. By the way, did you know there's some rule where you're not supposed to say "thank you" when a neighbor gives you plants for your yard? You're supposed to say things like, "Well, isn't this lovely?" She told me "thank you" jinxes the plant so it won't grow. Maybe that was my problem.

Trimming stems and plopping an arrangement of flowers (grown by someone else) in a vase, though? I can handle that.

Here are some of my bouquets for the S-R articles, including the first one which I shot here in Rhode Island today. It's a farmer's market-style bouquet of zinnia, Marguerite daisies, dahlias, spirea, bachelor’s buttons and yarrow.

The carnations were my suggestion for Valentine's Day (channeling Carrie Bradshaw.)

The Easter basket came out kind of goofy.

The red, white and blue arrangement ran a week or so before the Fourth of July.