2009 Year of Pleasures #14

April 7, 2009

Bear had a super important thing today that involved being away from home until about 9 o’clock tonight, so he suggested dropping the baby off at Grandma’s so I could have a day to get caught up around the house.

I hemmed and hawed – the thought of not having my baby or my guy around at all today did not sound like tons of fun, but I’m at that point I frequently dig myself into where I have about five projects going at once, the house is a mess, I’ve got deadlines creeping up on me and I need to start crossing some things off my to-do list before I stress myself right out. So I let them go and now I have a whole day to myself.

I’ve got a present I *need* to finish for Atti’s physical therapist that we’ll be losing soon, my little garden experiment is going toes up unless I can get out there and address some issues, I’ve been working on one house project that has been strewn throughout the living room for weeks now, and I haven’t lifted a broom since we got back from our weekend away.

I’m not sure that I’ll end up being very productive. I think this is one of those things that sound like a good idea in theory, but will find me pacing around the house unsure of what to do with myself. Maybe I’ll throw my to-do list away and just go knit in the sunshine for awhile.

Filed Under: The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

Atti’s Playlists

April 2, 2009

Last week when I posted that video about Atti’s obsession with music, I got a couple questions about what he listens to, so I thought I’d share our favorites and hopefully hear about a few of yours.

His go to music that never fails is anything by Elizabeth Mitchell. She’s amazing. She can turn anything – folk songs, punk, reggae, – into music for babies by her simple guitar and clear voice. So far she’s released You Are My Little Bird, You Are My Flower, and You Are My Sunshine, and I’m waiting with baited breath hoping she’ll release something else soon. I think Atti likes her the best because she sounds like a mama singing.

We’ve started listening to a lot of classical music and opera – especially when I need a peaceful moment – and we listen to a lot of world music, but especially Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Bear lived in South Africa for a couple of years and came back totally hooked. It didn’t take me long to become infected as well. I’d play Shosholoza to my belly and feel Atti start wiggling around to the music. You can’t be sad when this comes on.

I also really love Kites are Fun by The Free Design. I have no idea what the story is on these guys. They kind of sound like the people who sang that song Afternoon Delight, but instead of singing about nookie they’re singing about bubbles and kites and running through the grass. I don’t know if it was intended as music for kids or what, I only found out about them because one of my favorite podcasts uses the music for their intro, but it is thoroughly delightful.

They Might Be Giants is also crazy awesome for kids now, and while I don’t have their ABC or 123 collections, I have been a subscriber to their podcast where they share the songs and animated clips. Atti just stares at the computer screen transfixed whenever I put them on.

I kind of have an aversion to a lot of music that’s made for kids, so I’m always looking for music he likes, but that I can listen to without wanting to jump off a cliff. We listen to a lot of bluegrass together – he really loves Gillian Welch, but what really made my life easier was when I ended up making a bunch of playlists for Atti that are made up of normal adult music, that also happens to be appropriate for him. He’s got a Beatles playlist, an Elvis playlist, a Motown playlist (every kid should know Marvin Gaye’s Pride and Joy), but my favorite is the playlist I put together of lullabies.

Lullaby – Dixie Chicks
Close to You – the Carpenters
Danny’s Song – Loggins and Messina
Alright for Now – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (closest version I could find)
Like a Star – Corrine Bailey Rae
Morning Has Broken – Cat Williams
Shower the People – James Taylor
I’ll Take Care of You – Dixie Chicks (the video to this one is hilarious, but the music is what I was looking for)
Somewhere Over the Rainbow – Israel Kamakawiwo’ole
You’ve Got a Friend – James Taylor and Carole King
To Make You Feel My Love – Bob Dylan (this is a cover by Adele – who I love – but I also really love Dylan’s original version on Time Out of Mind)
New Soul – Yael Naim
The One Who Knows – Dar Williams

That last song is OUR song. That’s the one I sang to Atti every day in the hospital. That’s the one I whisper to him when he’s at his most distressed. That’s the one that I can never get through without welling up. Gosh it’s beautiful.

Do you guys have any good recommendations?

Filed Under: baby news, mama musings, The Good Life

2009 Year of Pleasures #13

April 1, 2009

Mirror on the ceiling

We stopped for the night in Las Vegas and spent the night at the Tropicana. We thought that a major hotel right there in the heart of the strip would be a sure bet. It was stunningly scuzzy. I think I can tell you all you need to know by showing you this picture and then telling you that we were actually in one of the upgraded rooms.

I can now officially say I’ve stayed in a hotel room with mirrors on the ceiling. I think they must be more fun when you share your bed with a baby. He spent hours blowing raspberries at the baby in the mirror.

Filed Under: baby news, mama musings, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

On our way

March 27, 2009

We’re already an hour late getting on the road, and we’re still debating whether or not to bring the pack and play. The trip is off to a great start.

In happier news, I was able to actually finish off that quilt I started three years ago in my quilting class, and since it’s not really my taste and I don’t have a little girl of my own, it’s going to my Sisterfriend Schelle for her two youngest to fight over. I’m sure that cool Aunt Tresa will find herself making another one very soon.

First Try Quilt

This was my first try at stippling, and it’s so very much easier than I ever realized. Like everything in crafting, it’s all about having the right tool for the job and once I got myself that darning foot, the rest was easy as pie (if you don’t look too close). This little girl has quite a thing for butterflies, so in each corner I freehanded a butterfly, and then did a little wavy flight path as the border quilting.

First Try Quilt

Happily, once the quilt was washed and got all those glorious rumples and bumples, it really helped to hide any squashy quilting loops, or backing that got folded over and sewn that way. Not that I would ever do that, of course, I’m just saying.

When next I see you guys I’ll be dealing with this shop update. I’m sure I’m way more excited about it than anyone, you’ll all probably be thrilled when I stop talking about it, but it’s a big deal for me. It’s hard for me to face the rejection of actually putting things up for sale. But more about that on another day. Bear literally has the car halfway out of the garage and is threatening to leave me behind. If I didn’t love this cousin so much, I’d be half tempted to let him. Four days of a house to myself! A girl can dream.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Filed Under: Stuff I Make, The Good Life

Fruits of my labors

March 25, 2009

In my moping about over the weekend (and then some) I drowned my sorrows by driving to the nearest nursery and buying myself a bunch of vegetables to plant. I had been toying around with the idea of a vegetable garden, but I kind of moved that into the ‘Next Year’ column in the grand to-do list of my mind. Until Atti’s monster teething just happened to coincide with an absolutely glorious Spring San Diego weekend. I am not made of stone. I couldn’t resist.

If I had been thinking clearly at the time, I would have remembered that we have a trip planned from tomorrow until late Sunday night and my schedule was packed solid already. I still don’t have a thing to wear to the wedding (why does no one make clothes to fit post-pregnancy boobs?), I’m actually toying around with the idea of sewing myself something to wear, I have a quilt to finish to take up with me for one of my dearest friends, I still have that shop update and the weather is not making pictures very easy, and now I have to squeeze in some major yard work. Clearly, I am insane, y’all.

Seedlings
On Monday I put a bunch of seeds out to start. There’s three different types of lettuce (I couldn’t find Arugula, but I’m still on the case), carrots, spinach, and dill to make up for what got killed off in a sprinkler explosion last year.

Raised Beds
Then I spent all day yesterday weeding and weeding and hoeing. My inner thighs are so pissed off at me today. Bear had to yank me out of bed this morning and be a spotter for me as I staggered down the stairs like Frankenstein. How can I just now be 30 and already my back and knees are pretty close to worthless. One of the many injustices in life.

I think this little plot is about 12′ x 8′, and once I got everything all prepped, I realized that I’m going to need a lot more than three little tomato seedlings, 1 pepper, 1 pea, and whatever makes it out of those little seedling pots. Time to go back to the nursery.

Persimmon Tree
I planted this little persimmon tree at the end of last summer, and it ended up staying in it’s little pot for several weeks before I could get it in the ground. I was sure I killed it, but I planted it anyway just to see what it would do. A few weeks ago I saw little buds popping out and it seemed like such a miracle. Hopefully I’ll get to start eating persimmons come October.

Poppy Seedlings take over the world
In flower news, that pack of poppy seeds I threw out into the yard is now taking over everything. I don’t think I’ll have time to thin everything out before we have to leave, and I’m a little worried about what I’m going to come back to. As I was weeding yesterday, I realized that a lot of what I was pulling up looked pretty darn familiar. I think some of those seeds must have made their way over the wall and onto the ground next door. And it means that they managed to grow while underneath a table that used to live there. These poppies seem to like it here.

Filed Under: My Dreamhouse in Progress, Stuff I Grow, The Good Life

2009 Year of Pleasures #12

March 24, 2009

Dippin Dots

The ice cream of the future. It’s regular ice cream, frozen below zero, and it makes these little beads of frozen goodness.

We had a branch of this place in the nearest mall growing up. I don’t know what it is I love so much about this stuff. The texture’s really interesting, and then when it melts it becomes more like ice milk than ice cream, which is a really good thing to me. I love that light taste.

There are a few franchises around here, but none that are super convenient, and you can’t keep it in your home freezer, so when I go I usually buy two or occasionally three flavors and power through them as a once in a great while, out of control splurge.

Filed Under: The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

The Music Man

March 19, 2009

I spent part of today finally downloading every video we’ve ever taken of Atti’s whole life off of the video camera, and onto the computer.

So in honor of my massive feat of organization, I give you my favorite video ever:

Atticus listens to music.

I wish I could say it worked that well every time, but still, it’s the most powerful trick I have in my arsenal.

Netflix just sent us Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and the whole time we were watching it I just kept thinking I was watching Atticus all grown up. A sweet, sensitive, music obsessed, quirky kid. I hope so.

Filed Under: baby news, mama musings, The Good Life

2009 Year of Pleasures #11

March 17, 2009

A little something green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day

Dahlias breaking through

I planted a whole bunch of bulbs in the yard in late January, terrified that I’d missed the winter planting window, which is pretty darn short in San Diego.

But it looks like some of them are making it just fine. I have Dahlias along the back brick wall, Anemones around the magnolia tree, and along the long planter I’ve planted Ranunculus. I’ve also spread a ton of poppy seeds out in the bed with the Anemones and they’re taking off like gang busters. It will be time to thin and spread them around soon.

In a few weeks I’ll go shopping for roses to plant among the Ranunculus, and Hydrangeas to line along the house. I’m also toying with the idea of some Sweet Pea along the fence behind the roses. Then maybe come summer I’ll get to fill my house with fresh arrangements.

Filed Under: Stuff I Grow, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

Spring has Sprung!

March 16, 2009

The weather here today is absolutely glorious. This is the best time of year to live in San Diego. It hasn’t entered the part where it’s so hot that I have to shut the house up and away from any blistering sunlight, but the relative gloom of the winter has blown away. Now we get bright sunny days with a sweet crisp breeze blowing through. It’s still just a touch chilly for it, but we are days away from leaving all the doors open all day and letting that breeze play through the house.

In celebration we spent as much time as possible outdoors this weekend, playing in the garden, letting the kitties pretend they were outdoor cats, and firing up the old grill.
Steak and Chimichurri Sauce

When we lived in Orange County, I used to love to go to this Aztec restaurant where they served simple grilled or panfried meats with rice and fresh sauces. This weekend we tried a version of that here at home. I found this recipe from Martha that was pretty close. It’s basically a pesto made from parsley, and since my parsley and cilantro are growing so abundantly they’re threatening to choke out anything else, I used a whole mess of herbs from the backyard. The sauce I remembered was a little creamier, so I think next time I might toss in an egg to make it a little more mayonnaise-y.

Then Bear, bouncing back from his KIDNEY STONES of last weekend (I threatened to take a picture of the offending stone to share on the blog, but he vetoed that idea. It was a horrible ordeal, but he’s feeling much better now.), decided to have a little fun with his baking book and whip up a little dessert.

Lemon Meringue Pie

His crust was perfection, and so was the lemon filling. The meringue was a little on the weepy side, but it’s not considered one of the hardest desserts to make for nothing. I think we need to spend a little more time whipping it next time.

The flowers I’ve planted so far are springing up fabulously, I’ll be sure and share pictures of that soon. I still have quite a lot of work to do out there, but now it’s just the fun stuff, the planning and shopping and planting, the dreaming of new possibilities that spring brings.

Filed Under: Stuff I Cook, The Good Life

2009 Year of Pleasures #10

March 10, 2009

Scented Candles

If you come to my house, chances are you’ll find a candle burning somewhere. The more fragrant the better. I especially love fresh, clean, citrus-y scents. Lately my favorites are the White Barn Candle Company’s Mango Mandarin and Pink Grapefruit, but I’d love tips on smaller companies I might be missing out on.

Filed Under: The Good Life, Year of Pleasures
« Previous Page
Next Page »

To the Top