A-Musings from an Awkward Mind

WiNteR WoNdeRlaNd

2010-02-27T03:34:00.000-08:00

The girls are still asleep after an amazing snow storm. Snowflakes as big as cotton balls slowly making it down to cover the world. I relish the quiet of this morning, the gentle hiss as another log burns in the fireplace, the aroma of a fresh pot of coffee.

The sun is coming up over the through the trees on the east side of the property. The sky is the most delicate wash of blueberries and cream, with the faintest blush. This has always been one of my favorite views, one of hope and for a fresh beginnning, a new day. As I step outside to take a picture I hear birds singing, letting me know they survived the harsh beauty of nature.

Ahhhh...still quiet. They're gift to me this morning. As I type I hear little footsteps upstairs, and there is the second set. My day has begun.

Kendall's fieldtrip to the Butterfly Botanical in Bloomingburg

2009-06-07T05:10:00.000-07:00

Kendall's preschool took a trip to the Butterfly Botanical's in Bloomingburg. Its on Petticoate Lane. It really is lovely and quaint there. They sell all kinds plants and their prices are comparable to the bigger stores. I had already purchased our plants plus we tried doing the seed thing this year, I guess it was okay but we really should have started much much sooner. Each year we learn something new and become just a little more sustainable. We are now SELLING our eggs, so the chickens kinda pay for themselves. The past few years we just gave them away, and Dan suggested thinning the flock to keep feed prices down. I told him to go ahead, do what you have to do, well...he couldn't do it except for the aggressive roosters whiched once they attacked the girls he had no problem shipping them off to Uncle Russell's.

This year we are doing a pretty big pumpkin patch. The plants are coming up like crazy. I planted the seeds from my 3 little friends I kept in the basement. It really was time for them to leave the nest and make babies of their own. (start the "Circle of Life", from the Lion King)I will always remember you Larry, Moe and Curly, watching you grow big and round and beautiful, your color changing slowly from that striped green into the most perfect shades of peach and browns and rusty orange. I would spend hours polishing and buffing you until you were luminous, the most perfect field specimans ever, My only regret, not showing you off to the world, maybe this year one of your prize offsping will make it into the county fair and bring us home the prized Blue Ribbon.

Enough about vegetation... look at my baby! She's 4 1/2 now and next fall she starts the 4 year old program at Little Lambs...even more shocking to us is our little Addison will be starting preschool as well. But this week is K's moving up day and Dan signed me up for cupcakes...so you know this is what will be taking up my week. So much to do. Dan is getting her a corsage and I bought her a pretty little white dress, then usually there is a fair going around and we take her to that, hehehehe she thinks we brought it in for her special day, we'll let her think that afterall we already will her head with Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, what's her moving up fair gonna hurt.

Here's our little Addie sitting next to her sister, hard to believe they'll only be one year apart in school. That's good for us because they'll be close enough to rat each other out! haha

Small Works of Love

2009-05-27T09:09:00.000-07:00

I found this great bag of vintage jewelry last week, and then I went to the Earth Angels Spring Soiree wher I got to meet Jo Packham, Jen O'Connor, and all the rest of the Earth Angels. Inspiring, Fulfilling and Emotional are the only words I can use to describe that day. I still can't believe I actually got to meet Jo and Thank her through tears on all that she did for me.

Her book "Where Women Create" was the only book I had that survived the fire, for some reason I had it on me and it was not in the house when it burned down. When we where living in the shed and we were rebuilding, I would look through the pages of her book and get excited about all my dreams coming true as my studio was getting finished. How lucky am I? I totally know. The most important things were not in the house and for some reason that book was with me. This is what Karma and the Universe does. I am so blessed!!!!! I swear I was walking on cloud nine all week, which would explain the next pieces of work I have been doing.

I finally feel like I'm getting my groove back. These little mixed media pieces are 3 1/2 X 4 1/2 mounted on recycled foam board scraps. They are edged in ribbon and wired for hanging. The hearts are cut from actual love letters I wrote to my husband and they are on vintage sheet music or vintage french book pages. There is a silver sheen I added to them which explains the glary effect. I had a great couple of days creating these, which would expain why I haven't been updating my posts. Oh yeah and these are available to purchase $20 your choiceBelieve

Forever

True

eternal
Sweet DreamsSacredsoulmate

paper crowns 3 1/2 X 41/2

the party 4 X 4 1/2

Paris 4 1/2 x 6

Onward and Upward

2009-05-08T04:36:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for the comments on the Sloatsburg Post. The universe does have a way of leading you down the path you should go. I should know better than to constantly go against what feels right because in the end I end up back at the origin looking at the same crossroads.

So here I am, back at the beginning, with only a dream and a paint brush ready to hit the road running. I'm bringing a friend to share this journey because together we can combat the nasties of self doubt and inner criticism and turn a little space at the edge of the woods into our wildess dreams.

Teacher Appreciation Week

2009-05-07T04:54:00.000-07:00

This week is Teacher Appreciation week. Hooray for teachers, not all teachers , but most teachers. Wait a second....Mother's get a day, teacher's and secretery's get a whole freakin' week? AHHH, whatever. I 'm over it.

Anyway, after finding a great tutorial from craft magazine to make this yoyo brooch, I made a few to give to the Kendall's teachers, whom by the way I LOVE. Thank you Miss Diane, Miss Jo and Miss Kelly, you all are awesome and I thank you , thank you, thank you for all that you do.
It takes a lot to be a teacher, someone really special, so for all the teacher's out there, I appreciate you!

Sloatsburg show coming up

2009-04-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

Here is the painting I am doing for the Sloatsburg Show in May with the Group of Nine. Each month we are painting a different town and showing in that towns Library, we give a percentage to the library from each sale. So far we have done Highland Falls which was a smashing success.

I think I am at a crossroads with my art right now. Although I love to paint en plein aire, and do these impressionistic works, I find myself wondering if it is really realistic to expect to dedicate so much time and materials into it. I paint for my soul and for relaxation but the pressure to produce and sell is getting to me. I have never found myself to do so well in a competitive athmosphere and the stress really gets to me, but that is in any aspect. My hubby says I'm an over achiever, is that such a bad thing? I like to do well at anything I try but its not life or death to excel. I think everyone tries to do their best when that do things.

Anyway... I am aiming for a drama free week. And for those of you who dont know I have added the task of repainting all of Pine Bushes windows this week for the Walk of Hope. People are taking down their aliens to be replaced with purple butterflies, each one carrying the name of someone who has been affected by cancer. If anyone would like to donate one in memory please contact me, the cost is $5 per butterfly, all goes to the American Cancer society.

Fairies vs. Aliens

2009-04-21T03:58:00.000-07:00

It was an extremely successful day across the board. Not that a whole lot of money was made but more importantly a whole lot of people were happy. That spells success to me!

Here's a picture of 3 of the 4 Ladies who made it happen, that's LynneAnne on the Left and Sue on my right, incredible, noble ladies they are. The 4th is Judy at the Stewart's shop in town, they generously donated all the yummy ice cream.

What was great was after the kids found their required Alfie's they continued looking for ALL the Alfies. That's how much fun they were having. And to top it all off people where saying things like "I've lived in this town 20 years and I've never even been in half these stores!" That is cool yah.

Even channel 6 news came out to record the event. The nicest reporter and believer Doug came out to interview us and the town folk. Then he and Lynne went to a cow field in an attempt to get Doug abducted. I gotta follow up on all that.

But my highlight was my visit from the good witch Sarah. There's a few people that you meet in your life that you know have made an impact. She and Lynee's daughter, Tyler are two of them . Tyler is holding theleft side of thebanner in the following picture. These really cements that I want to do work with the Make-a-Wish foundation. I have to fill their paper work tonight, Hubby meets with them Thursday maybe I can tag along then.

I would sincerely like to Thank all the people who participated in this event, all the children, the business owners, our pit crew and All the believer's who encouraged us, loved us and kicked us in the a** when things got a little hairy. You guys ROCK!

And a special Thanks to our promoter and president of our fan club Vicki who always was there to calm us down, make us tea and remind us to just breathe. If it wasnt for her I would have turned blue and passed out in front of the Clever Caterpillar, now that would have been a sight, I would have looked like Veruca Salt from Willie Wonka but in a rainbow tutu and stripey socks (oooh the visual)

Adventures in Face Painting

2009-04-15T04:36:00.000-07:00

Ahhh Adventures in face painting. So along with being Miss Pickles the Storytale Fairy, I have decided to add the Face Painting to my repetoire. The theatrical make up is bought and I almost...almost, bought the professional carrying case. It was quite , way , insanely expensive for what it was and there was no way I would be able to explain that purchase to the man so I improvised. I bought an old hard body suitcase at the thrift store and here is the result. I love it and I think I should do some more. I seen in a magazine how they turned one of these into a traveling kit for crafting supplies, something that might come in handy when I take the girls to the park this summer.

Here are my first attempts at face painting. Here's my little kitty, she looked in the mirror in awe and said "I'm a real cat" then pretended she was for hours,

ROAR!!!!!!!!!! This big lion is mid pounce. Its amazing how much fun we had face painting at night. Each girl would get their face painted twice before bed.

And here's the seal, She really enjoyed playing this character, especially at dinnertime when we had to pretend we where throwing her fish as she would do seal-like tricks on her chair. What did we have for dinner? Fish Sticks of course!

Middletown Thrall Fairy Display

2009-04-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

I finally have the Middletown Thrall Library display up and the pictures. I had so much fun creating this display since yo all know how much I love Fairies. This is the whole display. I painted the backdrop and added what else? Glitter, so it really sparkles inside the lighted display case.

I hung some silk cherry blossom branches across the display which I was able to suspend the fairies from to really give the whole thing some dimension.

The upper right of the diplay is a chandalier suspended from the top of the display. On it is some fairies and the cutest little birds nest.

On the bottom of the display has real wood and moss and mushrooms I gathered from the woods at my house. The girls and I had so much fun hunting through woods for special fairy stuff.

I'm doing a circus theme in July...are you suprised?

Wax on, Wax off

2009-03-29T04:53:00.000-07:00

Signs of Spring...for me its the amazing fiddleheads that emerge through the debris of autumn and winter. I've always had this fondness for ferns, growing up my mother would take us into the woods in spring to harvest these wonderful things. The smell of thawed earth and the crisp snap when we would break off the tender spirals that were luminesce with new life. Oh yes, I love fiddleheads.

We ate them, you know. I remember her cooking them then freezing them and we would have them all year. They're sorta portabella-y in that meaty way.

This painting started out with spirals of tissue paper mounted with white glue on plywood, it sat there for weeks and weeks before the image unfurled itself to me as my beloved fiddleheads. Its a mixed media piece using acrylics, tissue paper, beeswax, oil pastel, pearl-ex.

"Home is Where the Heart is" another mixed media piece. This one is in a private collection in Washinton DC. This photo fails to capture the luminosity of this piece. To the right are squares of joint compound I put on plywood, then engraved elemental images into them. This is one of my favorite pieces, I think because of the black and white parts. I really need to get back to doing some more of these.

These were pieces that I did from my heart right after the fire, they were my therapy, my escape from the reality of losing so much, not everything but so much. Hours I would spend on each one, becoming lost in the movement of melting wax and the blending of the oil pastels and your fingers control which way to bend the colors. These were really the first pieces that I did for me, not caring what they came out like, who would see them and if they might sell.

Lucretia's Good Fortune

2009-03-22T10:13:00.000-07:00

Meet Lucretia Nina's Crow. I made her for Nina with Happy Herbs Soap. She almost didn't get her, you know how I am with my Art BUT I did make Lucretia especially for her
so it just wouldn't seem right to keep her myself. Here she is in her new home at 2 Crows Cottage. She seems very happy there.

So What's up with the Good Fortune? We'll it wasn't really my Good Fortune as it was my Daughters' Good Fortune. As we were going to grop off Lucretia, Nina's neighbor was throwing out a whole bunch of toys, a play vanity and kitchen and a bunch of toys perfect for the sand box. Needless to say the girls are outside as I type, playing and setting up their playhouse. Thanks universe and Nina's neighbor!!!!!!

Pepe and Random Things about me.

2009-03-22T07:36:00.000-07:00

My Friend Carrie at the Accidental Artist blog painted Ocean Beach and her post was quite moving and poignant. I have this whole amusement park, carnival theme in my life...for instance it is true that for the last 20 years of my life I hear circus music in my head, not the creepy hurdy gurdy stuff, okay that sometimes but mostly the dut dut dut da dut da dut da dut da. You know the one? Also I hum elevator music and frequently sing the words to "Do you know the way to San Jose" but those are the only words I know to that one, which is then proceeded by dodododoodododoododo. Which drives my husband crazy.

Sometimes I sing like a west indian and I do this really mean rendition of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" as sung by Rabbi Filerowitz. Yep this ones for you Carrie.

MeEt MisS piCkLeZ

2009-03-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

Okay, so do you remember the post of daughter KeNdaLL's Fairy birthday? Well it just so happened to be the birthday of MiSS PicKleZ, the storytime Fairy. I did not know it then but I was soon to become quite the local literacy phenomenon in our area thanks to the help of Pine Bushes famous children's librarian Vicki and all the girls at Middletown Thrall.
So here I am in Pine Bush Children's library just before storytime, picking out the book of the day. And the picture below is Miss Picklez working on the frog craft after reading the story "Finklehopper Frog." Addie insisted her frog have 3 eyes, evolution , she's a genius what can I say? (a gherkin right out of my own jar!)I am really enjoying storytime, my girls love it too!!!! That makes me happy that I can give it to them. I'm sure soon enough they wont be caught dead with me dressed like that, until then there will be many more public outings throughout Orange County and then some.

My father gave me the gift of never taking myself seriously and to always be able to laugh at myself, THAT truly is the greatest gift I have ever received and I hope to give it to my daughters that as well.

2009-03-19T17:11:00.000-07:00

I have been quite busy this month.
Here are some dresses I made the girls. The first 2 are twirly dresses that you sew a skirt onto an exsisting shirt. They came out so cut and a good way to use up a shirt that has a stain or rip. The girls absolutely love them.

These flannel pajamas I made for the girls for winter, They lived in them, I made 3 for each girl. It was a futile attempt at pottytraining-housebreacking Addie. I guess when she's ready she'll go, I only hope its by summer. She starts school in the fall.

I have started and continuosly been working on the Middletown Thrall Library display coming out April 6th. Its a Fairy theme, which I have been having a ball with. I painted a huge backdrop which you will have to wait for but here is a teaser.... These are little dolls I made using...

popsicle sticks, paper clay, used but clean dixie cups, scraps of paper, q-tips for their hands, rhinestones and crepe paper streamers. The ultimate recycled fairy dolls. What fun I had today. The little gnome is named Simon, the rabbit is Pippa and...

her name is Princess FlufferNutter's Nightingale's Song. So for those of you who were curious as what all I have been up too lately there you go! Next Post I hope to introduce you to the infamous Miss Pickle's Pine Bushes Storytime Fairy!!! (Lynne, I hope you have stopped laughing, I could hear you all night!) Toodle Dooodle Mcnoodle.

Brrrrr it's cold in New York... in February

2009-02-25T04:38:00.000-08:00

Disney...ah what can I say? I am no longer a Disney hater. They do such a smashing job at making everything magical and their customer service is incredible. As much as I hate to say it, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and can say we had a successful vacation. No one was sick and a good time was had by all.

Here's the girls with Mickey who greeted us at the Orlando Airport.

There was a statue of Goofy steeping on gum which our little Addie actually

tried to taste, yep on her hands and knees licking fake gum stuck under someones foot.

I wish I had a picture of that!~

Here's Daddy and his girls sharing treats on the hammock. We stayed at Disney's Carribean resort which in my opinion is the one to stay at with kids this age.

The Beaches there where werethe girls loved to spend most of their time, and the pool, and Magic Kingdom, and....

Kendall never got over being frightened of all the characters but she did want to meet Ariel (who is smoking hot, look at her...where do they find these girls?)

Daddy waited over a 1/2 hour with Kendall, in the rain, just so our girl could meet her and Kendall glowed when she did. I think my favorite part was after when both the girls played with complete abandon in the rain in Ariel's grotto, the look on their faces was sheer bliss.

Funny thing is K has never watched the Little Mermaid and before this she didn't even know who Ariel was. Well she sure does now, she's her new best friend.

Addison, our little pirate, loved trying on all the hats and playing dress up.

She had no problem with any of the characters, gave 'em all hugs and kisses and hugs and kisses and...

Its a small world after all...

2009-02-15T11:14:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Maureen, Sandy and I went to the 1846 house to do a little shopping. We were pleasantly suprised when the great Denise Aumick showed up, (Check out her blog and see what that textile genius does sometime http://wildthreadstudio.blogspot.com/). It was Lynne Ann birthday this week which inspired me to create, as I do for people I enjoy and the moment strikes. Well I was so inspired by her hair I decided to make her a doll. My first attempt at a fabric stuffed doll.

The body I used a linen calendar from the 70's and it kinda gave her some cool tatoo-ey thingy going on. I laughed and laughed as I made her. SOOOO much fun she was. I hope Lynne loves her as much as I loved making her, As I was stuffing the doll's arm with filling, which I was using a paint brush, the brush fell off its ferrule and is now forever stuck in her arm. Tooo funny but all part of the charm.

Tomorrow we leave for Disney. I guess its the traveling part that has me freaked. The baby gets ridicuously motion sick, I have to benedryl her to drive 10 minutes into town (Dr. prescribed) so a flight has me a bit anxious. I'm sure once we get there it will be nice. The weather looks like it is going to be pretty good and we're staying right at Disney so it shouldn't be too bad, oh yeah, beside the fact that K. gets insanely scared by anything in costume, I do hope she gets over that fear while down there. Wow, Disney...I know RELAX....R-E-L-A-X. My insides are a turning all about.

Hello...Its the Universe calling....

2009-02-13T07:36:00.000-08:00

My Gosh what a busy and absolutely amazing week I have been having! After the Fairy Party I recieved an email saying our YMCA is looking for a Birthday Party Coordinator. All the while I was making things for the tea and fairy party I wished that this is what I could be doing for a living.

I found myself typing up my resume and printing out pictures and actually getting in the car to deliver it, which I did do.... but a funny thing happened on the way to the Y.

I figured on my way into town I would stop at the library to return the books I read at the party and to thank the librarian for recommending those books, Betsy was extremely helpful in helping me choose an age appropriate fairy story. She asked how the party went and I had her pull up the blog and from there I will be doing a fairy display at the Middletown Thrall library for the month of April, if you're in town please stop by and check it out. Whoo hoo, well it even gets better.

I then went downstairs to meet Monica, the head librarian, and discuss doing the summer reading program which includes reading a story and then leading in an activity. This years theme is be creative, uh Hello, could it be any more perfect for me? There is much work to do with this. I have to write up a proposal with all the details then I will submit it but Oh my Gosh, could you imagine, I can take the girls and everything.

I then contacted Vicki who is the Pine Bush Children's librarian and Altered Book Artist extraordinaire. I spoke to her about doing the same sort of thing at the P.B. library, well, needless to say I will be doing the preshool story hour at the library when I get back from vacation and possibly something with the summer reading program there and with the library's used book sale at the farmer's market every Saturday.

Yes... the Universe is calling and I am answering.

I BeLieVe in fAiRiEs

2009-02-10T03:47:00.000-08:00

A strange thing happened one cold February day... 11 fairies came to my house to celebrate a magical birthday. Fairy Kendall was so loved by all the other fairies that they decided to have a grand celebration and I am so blessed to have been able to see it with my very own eyes, because as you know not everyone is able to see fairies.

Here is the special Kendall fairy who is so thrilled that all her fairy friends were able to celebrate her special day!!!!

The Party Table was as bright as a festive rainbow, with each place setting set with the upmost care. Noise makers, umbrella straws and carefully crafted party hats of the finest materials, each as individual as each of these dazzling fairies.

There were fairies who danced atop of the table

and the dinosaurs and ducks wore their best party clothes, and had tea and cakes of their very own,

even the elusive unicorn stopped by awhile to wish the fairies a happy how-do.

There was such an assortment of fairy cakes galore,

from marzipan mushrooms,

cupcakes,

cookies and more.

The bubbles flew freely as each fairy chased

and little fairy Addison was delighted to be at this place

As Fairy Kristina drank all her punch,

Fairy Ashleigh was hungry so she picked out her lunch.

Fairy Courtney, Fairy Kailyn, Fairy Rei the littlest one,
all sat at the table and joined in the fun

Their bellies quite full as they sat on the floor, and waited awhile...

for fun, there was more.

A Beautiful swine showed up for the show,

dressed all in her finest, her cheeks were aglow.

A secret she carried, just waiting to share,

as each took a turn to swing in midair,

When the perfect swing was hit with such flourish and flair
she suddenly released what she was hiding in there.

Confetti and Glitter and Candies all fell ,

and all that was left was her empty shell.

And now it was time for the Queen to appear,

and the Fairies followed her to a place that was near.

Down cellar stairs their journey begun,

To a land of enchantment,

where they could jump, hide and run.

Two little fairies could not hide their glee

Fairy Katie rode a bike,

big bad wolves, there were 3.

As Fairy Lydia watched, she could not believe

What these little fairies had hid up their sleeves.

Fairy Rei shouted,

Fairy Courtney agreed,

And Fairy Juliana smiled

ever so slyly.

Then all the fairies sat again on the ground,

and formed a fairy circle that was perfectly round.

For all that was left were the gifts from the heart

that each fairy brought,that were thoughtfully smart.

Now fairies like glitter, art stuff and make-up

And sweet little piggies that fit in a cup.

But what they like best is to give back to others,

To give to the world, to sisters and brothers.

For not everyone out there is a fortunate as we,

And not everyone has seen the magic of a fairy.

I BeLieVe!!!!

We, the Filer Family, would like to Thank all the Fairies and their families for making our dreams come true and sharing in that special day full of magic. We will never forget the time we had.

the party favor basket

The Aftermath

2009-02-07T18:16:00.000-08:00

No pictures yet on this post, just want to get my feelings down to capture the moment of the day.

Today was Kendall's 4th birthday party, it was a fairy theme and it was weeks in the making. I am tired, exhausted to be exact but happy. I found myself sitting in the ruins of the party feeling the way I felt as a child when I experienced the best of my life, a day I swore I would never forget but somehow can no longer remember. Yes it was truly one of my best days. I cant explain the joy I felt seeing each of those beautiful little girls dressed as fairy princesses, waiting to begin the party. It literally brought tears to my eyes. I never want to forget the joy these girls felt. For them, for me it was magic and real.

Tomorrow will be a new day, I hope to get some of those great pictures Tabitha took and post them with the narrative. But now I will go to my bed and fold 3 baskets of laundry I have neglected this week.

The arty tea pARTy

2009-02-05T15:53:00.000-08:00

It Was a Fabulous Day With Fabulous Women!!!!

The arty tea pARTy, was a huge success. A great Big Hug and thank you to all who attended.

The food was good, the tea hot, the mimosas poured and through it all some of the greatest most heartfelt valentines made.

The day was filled with laughter, cheer and inspiration. It was a perfect christening for the studio and in 2 days it will happen again... Only these women will be replaced by 12 glorious 4 year old dressed as fairy princessses. It will be a scene between Tom Hanks "Big" and Tinklerbell. How awesome is that.

The menu included lemon crunchcake, cupcakes, mint brownies, cream puffs, assorted tea sandwiches, biscotti, apricot cookies, apple and pineapple cakes, chocolate chip cookies, sweet potato bread and seriously...who could forget Alicia's ridiculously good coconut macaroons. I am such a sucker for macaroons, I dont know what it is but I could eat mountains of them, alone, in the dark. It was all so yummy and delicious.

Here's Martha and Maureen hard at work. Maureen had quite the love affair playing with the beeswax. Its so warm and delicious
with the faint fragrance of sweet honey. mmmmm

Here's Lisa's Valentine to her daughter Jaime. She only came for the tea and ended up leaving with not 1 but 2 valentines and a valentine box.
NiceOne Lisa.

Alice was abit ambitious and made herself a valentines outfit. Her husband is a lucky man.

sweet sweet Sandy, Our first Lady of Shabby Chic.

She never fails to impress, She comes from a long line of amazing crafters. You really should see her house, its through and through a doll's house, so fitting for her.

Alicia had a great time and made a great card
she also made those killer macaroons...hail to my Queen

And here's our own Altered Princess Vicki, how works magic with all things paper. She has such a gift in making things look old and well loved.

Andrea worked on her book, I cant wait to see it when she's done. Andrea says she's a gardener, if her gardening is anything like her out it will have to be a must stop for me this summer. Perhaps she'll invite me to stay awhile and paint her garden. Lovely.

Nina here, in her best Superhero pose. Love that shirt, Girl. She's another must stop and paint garden on my list. Incredible! She grows all her own herbs and makes delicious herbal soaps. She is the Goddess who inpired the Arty tea pARTy.

And our Generous Lynne Ann. She gave each guest a 1/2 dozen eggs from her chickens and a bar of her wonderful Goat Soap. If your ever around the Walker Valley area, her shop is a have to stop. 1846 House. The best ever soy candles and come see all the artists she has there. Awesome Awesome Awesome

Awwww... the Mother and Daughter Duo. It was nice, there was 3 generations of crafty girls here. Not pictured here is 4 year Faith, she was keeping 2 year old Addison busy.

Yes all in all, I had a great couple of weeks preparing and it was all worth it. And I had a ball hosting. Now I have to go and make the cookies for Saturday. Ah my work here is not done.

2008-12-26T05:25:00.000-08:00

As a mother you try to make everything as wonderous and magical for the children, to keep on old traditions and develop new ones. My Grandparents always had a magical village under the tree with a train that seemed to get lost some where then appear again on the other side. I remember spending hours playing with the ice skaters who would glide across the mirrored pond, and all the little people who where frozen in time waiting for my sister and I to bring them back to life. As I watched my daughters playing with their new dinosaurs in the nativity set it took me back there, to the magical time that I had forgotten.

I cant remember any of the gifts really, just the anticipation, the loooong midnight mass and the inability to fall asleep, just spending hours lying there looking out the window, dreaming of what would be waiting for me under the tree. After finally falling asleep I would get up so early, Christmas eve was definately the longest and shortest night of the year.

My Studio

2008-12-23T07:21:00.000-08:00

Please be patient as I still learn the ins and outs of blogging and using pictures.

Well here is my new studio that we had built in the house. All for me and the girls too. A special place where we can create and make messes and glue and glitter like we girls love to do.

Alex, our builder suprised me with the 12" pine plank floor, he knew that was my dream floor. I wanted it throughout the house, but hubbie and Al said no its too soft so we put oak throughout, no carpet.

The sink is an vintage find pulled out of an old farmhouse here in NY. (Another great garage sale find), Luckily I showed it to Al while they were still framing because Al needed to put reinforcments in the frame to hold up the sink. The cabinet above was in the trash and was painted polyester pants lavender, so I repainted it.

The studio is still a work in progress. I know it will take years to get it to where I want it to be but its got great bones and right now there are other things we need, but I am so lucky to have a space that is mine. I am so lucky for everything in my life.

shhh...all is calm

2008-12-21T01:31:00.000-08:00

I Love quiet winter mornings. The girls are still sleeping and Dan is off to work and it is quiet and I have a good cup of coffee and oh did I mention the girls are still sleeping? Lovely way to start the day.

We have a foot of beautiful white snow blanketing our world, and they're is a bit of a chill to the house, which somehow I find comforting because that's the way it should be living in New York. Yesterday I took the girls sledding down the driveway, we have a huge hill we prepared for the girls but its to steep for them to walk up or should I say pull them up, so we will stick to the driveway. Its a perfect sledding hill for them, long and a little curvy with a gentle decline, plus its packed down from driving on so you can actually get some speed. Addison (2 years) was chanting awesome, awesome, awesome when we reached the bottom and Kendall (3 1/2 years) was keeping up walking back up toting her own sled. Very proud of my little snow bunnies.

Christmas is almost here, we have been trying to downplay the gifts for the girls, my friend said that they only give their kids 3 gifts because that's how many baby Jesus got and we tried to follow her example, its tough but I really want to teach the girls that Christmas is not about all the material stuff. Its hard battling materialism, I find that myself, I feel that I am battling a shopping addiction. I have had to go out and buy all that it takes to furnish a house. Thank you Craiglist. Well once you start shopping with you get into a zone of buying what you want and not what you really need. Then what we are spending on groceries each week is astounding.

This year we planted a huge garden and I spent most of the summer in our shed-cottage pickling and canning and preserving from our bounty. We actually had 40+ quarts of tomatos, 20 pints of salsa, endless pickles, hot peppers, chutneys, beets then we 1/2 filled our upright freezer with all our veggies. We put together a root celler to store potatoes, onions, squash, sweet potatoes. It really was awesome. We gave quite alot away and there is plenty left, but next year we're going to blow it up and really try to pack alot in the garden.

The fruit trees didnt do so well and we decided never ever EVER to order from Gurney's. And we are digging up the vineyard to replace the grapes with ones that are more beetle resistant. That's what I really need to be doing, making my own wine. I think that might be asking for trouble.

My lastest purchase has been a soy milk maker. LOVE IT. The girls drink so much soy milk I looked into getting one of these babies. One pound of soy beans (99 c/lb) makes almost 1 gallon of milk. I buy 1 quart of soy milk for $4 = $8 a gallon. Although its a bit beanier and the girls wouldn't drink it straight I mixed it 1/2 and 1/2 with the regular stuff to transition them in to it. Plus I can make my own tofu now. Whoo hoo. I will try that this week.

I went vegetarian a little over a month ago. I dont feel any different, just a bit fartier, and I havent lost any weight. Last time I checked in at 181. That was in November after trying 2 doctor prescribed weight loss pills. The Phetermine I lost 10 lbs in about 2 weeks, but it made me mean and I mean Real Mean. So I went off that and he gave me Meridia, nothing there, so I seem to be at a stand still with my weight. No more drugs.

I just finished Valerie Bertinelli's book " Losing It". Inspiring. I always liked her and of course Van Halen. She lost 40 lbs about what I need to and she looks fabulous. I just cant seem to get myself to pay for those Jenny Craig meals though.

I'm looking to get a treadmill for the basement. We set it up for the girls to run aroung and play, ride their bikes and a big bouncy house but the problem is there is nothing for us to do down there and I get wicked bored and end up going upstairs after 10 minutes. I dont want to put a tv down there so I thought if I put a treadmill down there I have something productive, the girls get to play and everyone wins.

And here I am...

2008-12-19T05:27:00.000-08:00

After learning to post (2X), wondering if I was divulging too much, wondering if it was any good, wondering and second guessing, I accidently deleted what took me about a month to get out there in one easy keystroke. Ahhh, story of my life. Anyhoo, lets get on with the next chapter.

So here I am, this is me and my family taking a nature walk on Thanksgiving morning after I put the turkey in the oven. Down at the frozen turtle pond we skidded sticks across the ice to see how far they would go. Besides the turkey being done 3 hours early dinner was a smashing success.

I can't believe its been a year almost since our house burned down... or should I say exploded. last year January 26, 2007 we had a propane explosion. Thankfully no one was in the house except our cat Wahoo, who we sadly miss. I can now truly appreciate what I do have and although this year has been tough my family is still here, safe and in tact and thats all I need to truly live. Plus we did end up getting our dream house.

We put in a geothermal as part of our trying to become more self-suffient. Mixed reviews on that. When it works its great but they have been here quite a bit (10x+) to fix the thing and I think they are now looking to replace the units. I understand that its all new but there's snow on the ground, as there ususally is in New York in December, and I dont want my babies being cold.

Hopefully this will all be resolved soon and they can fix this.