How About a Floranym? (and yes, I made that up)

Thanks to everyone who made a suggestion as to the name of my new dress form. I now know of a certainty that at least four of you read my blog on a somewhat occasional basis and all my hard work and cleverness is not for naught (snort, snicker). I highly value and respect the opinions of my three relatives who commented and I value the opinion of the one total stranger who commented more than I would value, say, a cheeseburger. However, after much deliberation and careful contemplation I have to decided to make up a word: Floranym, and name my sewing companion:

Bluebell Fancy-Bottom

(all Fancy-Bottom credit to Andrea)

By the way, did you know an astronym is a name derived from a star? An odonym from a street or road? Wow, what an educational and entertaining blog this is.

Love,

AM

They Are Just Things…

And I, as a homemaker, can make my home regardless of things. But they are kick-butt things, nonetheless. 🙂

I had a girlie thrift -store-spree- and-lunch date yesterday with one of my favorite people in the world, my dear friend S. If there were one gift I could give to everyone out there, it would be the gift of a friend who inspires you, who admires you (as you admire her),  and who understands you and your need for what I like to call The Thrill of the Thrift. Indeed, she too would possess such a need and would be happy to pay less than $20 for a day with you at anytime.

What think ye of my finds? I love the little ceramic box, which was marked with a boutique tag reading Vintage Flower Box $22, but for which I paid $2. And the tea kettle… I actually went looking for a thrifted tea kettle about a month ago, wanting it for a science experiment the kids and I were conducting, and couldn’t find one. But yesterday, when I wasn’t looking, of course I found no fewer than three. I bought the first one though, for its sunny color and simple design. The fabric stack I am very excited about and I think the vintage gray and white polka dot will be the first piece to grace the frame of…

my birthday gift! A lovely vintage dress form that I found on Ebay (thanks Mom and B!). I am so pleased with it. It shows a little wear, but it’s adjustable in more places than your standard dress form and, unlike the modern plastic versions, has a sturdy cast-iron stand and metal inner workings. I actually saw another vintage dress form at one of the shops we went to yesterday for twice what I paid for my baby. Oh yeah. The Thrill of the Thrift.

So, what to name her? Any suggestions?

Love, AM

Our Week Has Been…

Fulfilling:

We finished the family quilt and it has already served as the catalyst for much snuggling, fort building, and living room floor picnicking. I have to thank my dear friend for passing along those solid color fabric samples; they really aren’t my style (or hers) and I just thought I would end up letting the kids play with them, maybe make a game to help R learn his colors, that sort of thing. But when we laid them out on the floor in a kind of color order, lo and behold, they turned into something I hadn’t thought they could be: beautiful. So thanks, dear friend.

Now, when I say ‘we’ finished the quilt, what I actually mean is I finished the quilt, due to something else our week has been around here…

Galactic:

Yes, that is a 100 L size bin full of Star Wars toys that we got FOR FREE. I don’t know if people do this in other cities, but in Missoula, this is a common practice: If you have something you no longer want and either don’t want to or can’t sell, you put it on the curb in front of your house with a sign that says FREE. We have rid ourselves of many items in this way, we have gained many items in this way. Including, now, a Millennium Falcon, a Jabba-the-Hut, and a Rancor Monster, just to name a few.

So, R, do you want to help Mommy sew the quilt?

Nah, I want to play with my Shtar Wars Shtip (we’re working on enunciation).

How about you, L? Wanna sew?

Mom, check this out! There are two young Obe Wan Kanobes and two old Obe Wan Kanobes. I’m Obe Wan Kanobe. No, I’m Obe Wan Kanobe. Hey, let’s sing a song about being Obe Wan Kanobe.

Well, that’s alright. Mom sewed, kids played and all was well.

Our week has also been…

Sweet:

No, that is not wet cement on R’s face, it is black licorice ice cream from Big Dipper. L also ate ice cream, huckleberry in fact, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at her.

How does that happen? Is it her and her dainty personality, or is it all girls? Is R’s sticky 5 o’clock shadow the result of his boisterous-ness, or is that all boys? I wonder.

Books that have shaped our week:

Along with this movie:

That is to say, my week has been influenced by Sherlock Homes and Bright Star. Not the kids or B so much. But I loved this movie. It’s one of those picturesque British period pieces that I can’t help but love for the sake of the costuming and the accents (and, in this case, the poetry), even if the story is tragic and depressing.

And last, but not least, this week has brought, you may have noticed, my own inexplicable urge to blog more often. Huh. Weird.

How was your week?

Love, AM

Family Quilt, Grocery Haiku

Reading aloud to my children is one of my favorite things to do. On a typical day, the three of us will read together for an hour or more in the afternoon, plus another half hour or more at bedtime. I like to give them carte blanc at the library, to get them excited about their choices, and then to ask them questions about the story and what they think will happen before the next page turn. I am always amazed at the insightful answers they give. Even with L reading on her own now (chapter books!), reading aloud together is still a major harmonizer for this mamma and her babes.

But this past week, I’ve had a cold. And a sore throat. And my voice has been nearly gone. It’s not that I can’t read out loud so much as I just don’t feel like it. I hate not wanting to; it makes me sad. B will read to the kids when he’s home, but, as great as Daddy is at wrestling, hide-and-seek, and knowledge-of-all-things-Superman, he just doesn’t do stories like Mom (ie: he doesn’t do the voices).  I needed to find something the three of us could do together; a quiet, engaging project that would bring us as physically and mentally and spitirually close as our usual afternoon stories-and-snuggles sessions.  The solution? A family quilt.

L,R, and I designed it, cut it, laid it out, measured it, and have begun to sew it, using only fabric and materials that we already had on hand at home. Even Buzz Lightyear has pitched in. I think we will end up yarn-tying it rather than actually quilting, once we have it all pieced, just because that’s more on the kids’ skill level. It not even finished and I already have a special place in my heart for this nothing fancy, homemade, hand-made, love-made quilt that hasn’t cost a dime. It will be the perfect thing for snuggling up and reading stories once I’m feeling up to it again.  Now I know these pics aren’t much of a preview, but photos of the finished product will be coming soon.

To end things on a random note, I was putting away groceries earlier this evening when my sister-in-law, whose quick wit and ready vocabulary frequently inspire my green-eyed monster to rear her pretty little head (what? some monsters are pretty), challenged me to make up a haiku, based on what I was doing, on the spot. And here it is:

I opened the bag

It’s my fault, the grapes falling

Regret stains like grapes

BOOYAH. Deep, right? 🙂

Soar on,

AM

We Should All Turn Ourselves In Now…

Apparently, I have committed a felony on more than one occasion. And so has B. And so have you, and everyone else you know. Free Unsolicited Advice: Familiarize yourself with the laws in your state: http://www.divinecaroline.com/22323/99603-i-m-arrest-what-fifty-bizarre

Hey you- yeah, you in California. I see you with that Navel Cutie in one hand and your clarifying shampoo in the other. You can’t run from the long, weird arm of the law. I’m watching you.

A Poem for My Birthday

I’m 30 today

(it can’t be spelled out to soften its edge)

I found the city of  the bronze fish

swimming in the grass

that I dreamed of when I was eleven or twelve.

In the dream they carried me, the fish carried me

up a blue staircase

and into a shop with crystal doors where,

behind the gray-bottomed curtain in back,

I beat all the boys at pinball, again and again

(while bright white light – such a white light!- shone through the grimy window from the alley).

When I woke I found the city,

my city of rivers,

one dandelion,

and the bronze fish carried me again.

I loved it like my mother loved San Francisco

(maybe even more, only she can know).

Down the blue staircase have come husband

friends and children (were they the bright light?)

and flowing in the dandelion river have gone the years.

And I have left my bronze fish city

and come back again and again

(behind the gray-bottomed curtain, but the bright light still shines).

It lives in me, and I in it

still with room for more.

After all, it is only 30.

I am only half-formed.

Memorial Weekend 2010

I married into a family with traditions. Some of these traditions include frequently arguing about who was arguing with who at such and such point in the past and what they were arguing about, individual pumpkin pies (regular 9″  size) at Thanksgiving, and scaring the crud out of small children (not ours, other people’s) at Halloween. I love all these time-honored practices. Really. But the J family tradition that takes the cake is:

Glamorous, isn’t it?

My husband’s family has been coming to Mack’s Inn, Idaho for the opening day of fishing season (Memorial weekend) since B’s great-grandfather was three years old.  Which is why, as sarcastic as I may at times be concerning the, ummm…  aesthetics of this establishment, it means a great deal to him and it really has come to mean something special to me as well.

What it means:A weekend in close, pine-scented quarters with these people.

And these people.

Pretty much all of these people (best-looking family seen on far right).

And despite the inevitable drama that all families seem to have when thrown together and thrown out of their normal routines for a few days, it’s a good thing.

Other good things that happen at Mack’s:

Little boys become Yellowstone explorers.

Little girls catch their first fish.

Cousins get ‘Missouri boat rides’ from Grandpa.

Families build memories.

And nature knocks at our door.

So who needs glamor or pleasing aesthetics? We’ve got Mack’s.

Hope your kick-off-to-summer-weekend helped you and your family to soar.

Love,

AM

My faves of the moment:

Creaky Old House is a near-perfect description of my dream home tucked into the folds of a really fun story, Once Upon a Twice is a Lewis Carroll-esque, slightly spooky poetic fable, and Rapunzel’s Revenge is an action-packed graphic novel that, surprisingly, captivated both my little ones throughout its 100 or so comic-book style pages. I say surprisingly not because I expected less from Shannon Hale (big fan), but because I thought the format might be too busy -too complicated-  for a six year old and a three year old. ‘Twas not so. I put my officially official Stamp of Approval and Seal of Recommendation on all three tomes above.

Keep Soaring,

AM