While Dinner Cooks

Most nights, around 5ish, Zach gets off of work ( he now works at home 4 days a week from our bedroom/home office) he comes out and practically takes over in a good way. He usually takes Hazel and our pup Bella out in the yard for some serious run around time. Meanwhile, I can get dinner on then we get to sit down
t o g e t h e r. Which really means so much to me and to Hazel
(I think). For 2 years of Hazel's life her papa hussled it down into the city and didn't get home till almost bath time... so now I feel spoiled and grateful and just plain lucky to be blessed with the job Zach has. I hope he feels that way too.
An older post- never posted, I wanted to share this because I am still so grateful..only now I have a baby boy to add to my gratefulness. I feel very lucky indeed.

1001 Uses For a Fishnet

Way back when I didn't wear random, comfy pregnant t-shirts under my regular clothes I had a very nice collection of fancy tights and such. Fishnets as wide as the eye could see- in large holes, smaller and teeny. Blue, purple, red, yellow and traditional black (if you can call a fishnet traditional). 

Today I am trying to get dinner together as I do most days at 4pm, with a baby strapped to my back and a 4 year old going through a random mismatched basket of my fishnet socks(they came out of an old suitcase we got down from the attic to put other random things in) and stockings she yells out at least 15 different games she is playing with the stockings. " Look mama, I'm tying the sock to my boot and I caught a boot!" Look mama, I caught a stuffed animal in your fishnets! or look mama, I tied my legs together with your stockings and I am walking funny, aren't I?"!  

Hilarious. Sometimes when Tuesdays really feel like Mondays and the baby will only STOP crying if you are carrying or wearing him and the dog wants to be let out 9 million times so she can bark and the neighbors again today, we have to be reminded by someone- anyone- or that special 4 year old to just breathe because material items are nothing.. everything moves so fast. One day you're wearing fancy stockings to the office or out on a date with the man you are going to marry and now your child is playing with those tights in your living room. It's all so fleeting and wonderful and silly and children just make things hysterical, don't they? xo

Since I last wrote, we've been working on all of our little house issues- but it still is an upward battle. But, we are trying to fall in love with our little place- regardless of all trouble it has given us. Adding little touches that make things feel good. A small shelf for our coffee mugs and some hooks to hold the extras. A small cabinet ( which use to hold the mugs) has now grown into a lovely little baking cabinet (much thanks to taking the Whole Food kitchen class with Heather Bruggerman). By the way if anyone from my class ( fall 2012) is reading- I wondered if they would be so kind to send me modules 5-7! I've lost them before getting a chance to print them!
Back to the house, Hazel said today, "mama I love our house" and zach replied with we're glad we do too! Sometimes when you are down or upset we forget our children can sense that and you don't want to let on too much so that their feelings of safety or anything regarding their home makes them uncomfortable... so we try not to discuss too too much. We want the kids to walk in and think ahhh... there's no place like home.
This weekend we have not a plan in site! I'm so excited to try and get things done! We decided to use a group of mismatched hardware on the top cabinets in the kitchen. The walls and cabinets are white- I'm think of painting the hardware a bright red or green to unify. I'd like to put a rug down under the rocking chir in our bedroom to cushion the squeak and maybe muffle it. The rocking chair was given to us on freecycle, by a very nice woman who had used it for 40 years and 4 children! Wow! Aside from recovering the cushions and putting a handmade padding on the tips of the rocker's landing ( what is the real word?) it is the same as when she handed it over.
Today I boiled a chicken- which may sound eewish, but I need the bone broth. I've started back on a gluten free diet. So far it has not been very difficult because I am still supplementing wit Udi's and Quinoa pasta. But the broth is to make some soup and try to transition back to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. We'll see how it goes... I might be able to give up chocolate, but I have developed a hot cocoa habit... however in the summer, who knows what will happen! Well just a quick update and hello.

A picture explanation: in 2008, when I was pregnant with Hazel and we were moving. I was making sure the tub was the right size!

Making Do and Mending
When we purchased our house in June of 2010 we had no idea what we were in for. Have you ever seen The Money Pit? Well let me tell you we are very close to that it seems. Problems- you name it! Well and water bacteria, heating issues and of course the lack of funds. There is only so much you can get new and fix before you are deep in debt. I'm not writing all this for sympathy- I don't even know who/how many people would even read this- it is more to just get it out.I haven't been journaling lately.. so I guess this is how I make sense of it.

What exactly does my title have to do with this post? Well similar to the Make Do and Mend campaign of the 1940's we too have to try and use what we have and fix it if it breaks. That means sometimes dressing my little baby boy in something that might obviously have been his sisters(think pink and flower long Johns!)- if his "boy clothes" are all dirty. Not running to the store to buy the latest cute stuff and just trying to use my sewing abilities to bring joy to our family.We are lucky that I have many items stored away for Guthrie and for Hazel, that we get things sent from her wonderful aunts and cousins. It means making the coffee at home,the chai, the hot cocoa, the green tea all of these delicious yum yums- to save money need to be made at home. Which most of the time I am fine with. I get to use my own organic ingredients and know that things like natural flavor is not, thankyouverymuch in my drink! But it is really hard to not fall into old habits..REALLY HARD! Especially when your 4 year old also has a habit with you- " mama can we go to the coffee shop to get me a chocolate milk?" to say no to that breaks my heart because my habit has become hers and who wants to say no to their child?! But this becomes a learning moment where we can break the habit together and just go home and make it better! Rough! It means trying to be resourceful and using all the food in the frig and freezer before running to the store. Things we try to do- but now are really important because every little penny needs to go to bills and fixing this house. Sometimes it can be daunting, sometimes I'm just happy we have a safe,dry, happy environment to raise our kids- regardless of the problems we are having. xo



 I've been trying to ride my exercise bike every night- but sometimes it isn't as easy as I thought it would be. Running around with two little ones, can exhaust you. So last night I forced myself to ride for a mere 16 minutes. It was enough, I was riding next to a blazing fire and sweating to death. Tonight I will make myself do it again.

You Can Always Go Home

At least that is how I feel about my childhood home, luckily. This past week, Z was at ToyFair- so that means this year was 9 years give or take of being a ToyFair widow as many call it. But in the previous years I didn't have 2 children and a dog. I worked in the city or a bookstore, we were dating or it was when we weren't married yet.

When a partner goes away for more than an overnight trip it can really screw up your schedule. It especially sucks if one of you r e a l l y does not like to be alone at night. It complicates things-thankfully my parents have an open door policy. The 2 kids, the dog, a bouncy chair, a laptop bring it a l l. Plus it helps that there is fresh brewed coffee 2-3 times daily and prime cable channels. It's kinda like being on vacation!  Along with my mother's patience and parenting wisdom. I'm so appreciative that both my parent's and my in-laws are always welcoming us. We are very lucky.

Bringing it All Back Home

I'm sitting at the kitchen table a cup of warm tea by my side and I am staring at our grateful bowl. Our grateful bowl is a coconut -like shell bowl filled with trinkets,seashells, tiny pine cones, rocks and special buttons. Each night or before any meal we try to pick one special item from the bowl and share what we are thankful for. I have so much to be thankful for in this new year. I'm thankful for this new little person we call Guthrie Jackson. Born in July,what a big, silly, boy he is becoming. He delights us all- it is especially wonderful to watch his big 4 year old sister, Hazel tend to him. Making him laugh, dancing, singing, feeding him she is doing great at being a mama's best helper!

I'm also grateful for our view. Since our house is just a wee little cottage, I can see the beautiful, frozen lake from my kitchen table. Mostly frozen you can see the occasional swan making it's way through. A beautiful winter sight.

The holidays came and left so quickly this year. I think I am still in a fog- daily I am getting headaches, not exactly sure why but I have a sneaky suspicion that my sugar intake as of the last year has something to do with it. I have started to make small changes- in my coffee ( which I don't really drink a lot of) I use honey as the sweetener of choice. The same goes for making hot cocoa (which I have at least 1 cup a day). I didn't make any real, hardy resolutions, but in my head there are a few mantras I have yet to put on paper.

This holiday season, our little shop Hobocamp Crafts was busy enough, but I have not put much new in the shop. However I have things in my shop I made before I even had children and luckily they are not food-based so they sit in my shop waiting for the right owner to scoop them up! 

Lately I have been sewing for my family.Something I usually feel guilty doing. I guess I think that if I am sewing for the house or myself- I could be sewing something to make and sell and bring in money... it's kind of a curse doing something you love sometimes. But ANYHOW- For Christmas I made a bunch of pillows (Joann's was selling beautiful upholstery samples) that I made use of by making sweet, little pillows for my mother and mother-in-law. I made Hazel a crayon roll and all of the girls got cute little pillows made from recycled t-shirts. This is really one of the easiest and aesthetically pleasing, quick gifts to make. It also is super eco-friendly. Saving your favorite t-shirt and cutting it into a square, rectangle or even the perimeter of the design. You can use a machine or by hand. Add little tags of ribbon peeking out of the edge- use crazy buttons to accentuate the design (eyes perhaps?!). Either way it ends up being adorable, kids love it and you can reuse and open up an old pillow for stuffing, use sewing scraps and wool or put anything soft and pillow-like inside... maybe even add some dried herbs like lavender. I also made our new addition, Guthrie a tag blanket and some other things that my brain-fogged memory is forgetting.

Since Hazel is now 4! We thought for a brief moment she might get to go to Kindergarten in September, but the cut off date is Dec 1st. She was born Dec 2nd-- how lame, can you even believe that! But honestly, when this all came to a head the other day I felt anxious that a year- our last year together- would have been taken so quickly. I've vowed to myself that although she'll be in preschool 3 days a week- I'd like to try and home school her the rest of the time. Look into an actual curriculum otherwise I worry she will be very bored in the 3rd year of preschool.

So basically, not a whole lot has changed since I last blogged here. I want to try to sneak away and share a little bit each day even if it is just a paragraph. I'm off Facebook at the moment (well because anyone who uses FB knows there is a time a a place for taking a hiatus) and frankly right before the new year was my time and it feels really great!

Hope your new year is shaping up too!

Irene Goodnight

Autumnal Wee Pennant, originally uploaded by hobocampcrafts.

I had to use this title. On the way home from the pharmacy tonight, I saw it written on at least 3 of the churches I passed. Since my mother, my daughter and I all have such a connection to this song and all weathered the storm- it made sense.
I won't lie, I was very scared for the storm. I didn't know what to expect and as the weather changes for the new season we are taking the blows as homeowners. Before when it rained or snowed or we had a bad storm- as long as we were out of the weather we were OK. Now there is a little bit more at stake, like our livelihood and the roof of this little cottage. Thankfully all the trees huddled close and the root cellar soaked up what water did leak in. Sunday night, Zach tore off the tape I had put up on one of the windows and we breathed a sigh of relief. We were very fortunate. Many of our friends are still out of electric and water etc. Everyone is working as hard as can be.

Next week Hazel starts school. This week we went to their Clean Up Day to familiarize her with the kids and toys.

Today I stitched this pennant. More soon!