Sunday, February 28, 2010

Thursday, February 18, 2010

february funk

yes, the february doldrums continue. you know you are in a bad state of mind when you are brought to tears because there is no coffee in the house and the cupcakes stuck to the pan.



i think i might try to finish out the february blog with photo entries. this will get me over the hump of not finding the words, and will help me to focus on the smaller moments. it may also inspire me to tidy a surface or rearrange a corner. nothing like renewal to boost your attitude.

for now, i leave you with a brief bit of adorable.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

olympic challenge

i have to admit, after being snowed in the last two weekends, it is a relief to arise this saturday with no exceptional weather events on the horizon. aside from the towering mounds of snow everywhere, things are pretty much normal.



i am experiencing the february doldrums a bit. this comes in the form of lack-of-drive. the possibility of creative projects spread before me like a colorful hand of tarot cards, but the motivation to move forward falters. i look at crafty blogs with fascination and a hefty side of envy. parts of our home need to be deep cleaned. some things need to be made for tristan's impending first birthday. but i really just want to curl up in front of the olympics and stare at all the activity, motionless.



last time we immersed ourselves in the winter olympics we worked on collages. this helped to alleviate the guilt of being sucked into the tv for several hours a day, and helped to keep our eyes on something other than commercials. i piled stacks of magazines in the living room. scattered across our coffee table were glue sticks, scissors, exact-o knives and works-in-progress.

as an olympic challenge, i am considering unraveling a half completed scarf and re-learning knitting. there are also many possibilities in embroidery. of course, with a wiggly baby boy to attend to, it is sometimes easiest to surrender and do nothing much but baby acrobatics.

for now, i think i will clean off that coffee table, since we will be spending a lot of time sitting around it. also because tristan has taken a great interest in everything at arms reach. soon hopefully there will be some new works-in-progress gracing the table's surface, with scissors safely stowed somewhere high!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

a new day. . . maybe



i am now ready for spring. i love me some dramatic weather. the snow is awesome. but the record for largest cumulative snowfall in virginia is now broken, and it's time to move on. power outages have their romantic side, but after another six hours of it yesterday, i found myself quite ready to be romantic with the lights on and the water running.

all of this is said knowing that our problems are like a grain of sand compared to the problems in haiti, and really we've got it good, so incredibly good.

have i mentioned how much i love our woodstove? i don't think i will ever be able to live without a woodstove again.

banana cupcakes, baked using dan's grandma's recipe, are also nice to have around, especially when you've managed to bake them between outages.



the new issues of the day are a car that won't start, we're guessing due to a failing alternator. and my back, which suddenly has decided to act as if it is having its 100th birthday. do you think the mechanics can fix that too?

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

snow power no power



we had fair warning of an impending storm and were well stocked with food, water and emergency candles. friday morning i bustled around inside while dan chopped wood for hours outside. i cooked a huge vat of stew, baked two loaves of bread, cleaned out all the candle holders, lined up the lanterns, washed and dried four loads of laundry, ground a pound of coffee, bathed, and filled the tub with utility water. we thought the power would make it to saturday at least, but by 6pm friday it was out, and along with telephone and water, remained out until late monday afternoon.

here are some scenes from our snowy, chilly, cozy, tasty, tiring, inspiring weekend.













































how was your weekend?

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

things to do on a snow day

fold laundry while the baby hangs out on the bed playing with this and that



pull the baby around on a banket



and then wrap him up like a bug



give the baby cottage cheese for the first time, and let him play with it





then set a fine example of good table manners







give the baby a bath to wash off the cottage cheese, then dress him up in a little man shirt



take lots of photos, because he's so handsome





in the mean time the big sister is cranking tunes and cleaning up her bedroom. how awesome is that?