Making.

Burlap is:
*cheap
*beach
*chic
*easy
*fun
*forgiving
*awesome for new curtains.

Last night I sewed four new curtains to be hung with curtain rings and clips after much burlap inspiration from Lorien and her posse. It felt good to actually do a project around here, I've felt rather unmotivated since we moved in. Window coverings are a good start and now I can go about collecting all of the burlap love droppings on the floor because I also learned last night that burlap: sheds.

A date alone.

Monday afternoon. 4 pm until 8 pm. A babysitter came to watch the kids.

I packed a picnic, grabbed my chair, my journal, a book and towel. I escaped to the beach until it started to gently drizzle. Being alone equalled absolute enjoyment of internal quiet, gusting wind, and the high tide waves. Going to the beach without kids felt like such an escape and a novelty.

Afterwards I did a bit of shopping and wrote a letter at a coffee shop. Nothing fancy, just a break from the regular routine of dinner, bath and bed. The 4-8 time frame excused me from all of those duties and gave me something to look forward to all day long.

Naturalist training.

One day a man was walking along a beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and throwing it gently into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, "What are you doing?"

The youth replied, "Throwing the starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them back, they will all die."

"Son," the man said, "don't you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can't make a difference!"

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he smiled and said,..."
I made a difference for that one."

(Original story by Loren Eisley)

So we aren't talking about starfish. She's chosen to rescue jellyfish, but our walk on the beach was essentially the same yesterday afternoon. Except we had the added drama of watching tons of tourists watch in absolute horror from the pier as I let our little girl scoop up the jellyfish in her bare hands and hurl them back in the water.
Clare: the jellyfish rescuer. Age 5.

Company's coming.

Out Cold.

I was making dinner.
I turned around.
Wesley was sound asleep.
He stayed asleep on the floor until I scooped him up and carried him into the living room.
There we snuggled, played Words with Friends, and listened to Pandora until Mario came home.
The boy needed to rest.
I welcomed his rest and made his rest my own.

Kaboom.

The tree people came back today. Rather, are back today. We have two trees being removed in the yard to avoid future damage. Both trees are dead and pose threats to our house or other structures so we decided to go ahead and take them down.

Like before the process fascinates the kids and myself. They opted not to go to the wildlife program at the library so they could watch the trees and I'm using the opportunity to just have yet another mellow day at home. I don't know how I produced such housebound children but they are very content to play and relax within the confines of this house.

So just in case you were wondering what we were up to: we are watching the trees kaboom around us. And I'm about to take some regular strength headache something or other because I'm kind of over the whole chainsaw thing as background music.

Flashback: Organizing Junkie Laura

The after picture is so much prettier so I am starting with that first.

Essentially when we moved here we combined a lot of stuff. Stuff poorly moved from our townhouse here, stuff we evacuated from our house in Columbia to put it on the market ASAP, and stuff I moved in a stupor and denial to get us here in late May. Translated: a moving nightmare.

I organized nothing. I sorted nothing. I purged very little. Everything got dumped right here in this house. Two complete houses of stuff.

That would include two complete pantries. Two complete spice cabinets. Two complete cleaning closets. Two complete laundry rooms. Two complete nasty under the sink areas. Plus the people who sold us the house left some stuff too. You get the picture? If not? See below.
And then Laura arrived.

And then I gave her a glass of wine.

And then she asked for a sharpie and a roll of masking tape.

And then I did whatever she told me to do.

Two days later my pantry had little rows labeled telling me where things belonged, my laundry area had labeled bins and the front entry way had order! AND apparently people even organize their refrigerators (this was news to me!) but we didn't get to that project.

Roughly here's the process I internalized:
1. take everything out
2. sort stuff
3. label things
4. put it back in appropriate containers

*bonus points for friends to talk to while organizing.

*necessary supplies=sharpies, labels, bins, Ziploc bags.

Knowing what we have, knowing where stuff is, and being in an organized space makes our house so much nicer to enjoy. There is still a ton of work to do but Laura inspired me to do more. A new set of fun sharpies and labels might help to actually get the job started!

Flashback: Crab Races.

Fiddler crabs are attacking our house! They are climbing up the sides, crawling in our shoes left outside, and running through the yard. The kids each captured a crab for a fiddler crab race in the driveway and chaos began.

See that giant claw! Fiddlers have one giant claw. If it breaks off in a fight the claw will regenerate on the other side. Fiddlers are also sometimes used for bait. Whatever the case they are providing great entertainment around our house, but I know our garage is going to stink stink sink when they start to die in there. The fiddlers are EVERYWHERE. Laura got the kids lined up in their lanes with crabs. Each kid got a stick to help the crabs along. A few escaped before the actual race started but I'm pretty sure they didn't know that they were actually in a race. It was our first attempt at a crab race so the next time we do this we know to have taller cups to hold our contestants.

Clare did a great job coaching her crab along the course! In the end either her crab or Wesley's won. We weren't sure exactly because they got mixed up somewhere in the lanes. Again, it was the process people. And the end result was a lot of fun and a lot of Internet research on fiddler crabs by the mamas involved after the kids went to bed that night.

Art Project Inspiration

Ernest Lee must know fiddler crabs too!

This painting above our fireplace inspired the mini wooden sharpie fiddler crab drawings by the kids (and grown ups) after our races.

Flashback: Friends

Last week our friends came to visit! Mine and theirs.

Sure we miss some things about Columbia that we can't find here like the State Farmer's Market, a few favorite dining places, Blenheim Ginger ale, shopping, and other stuff. Mostly we miss people. Backyards. Friends. Play dates. Stopping by. Kitchen table chats. Swimming pools. Driveways.

So Laura and her girls made the drive to spend four wonderful days digging out our pantry and laundry room. (More on her organizing junkie skills later.) In between we spent a lot of time talking, managing kids, sitting in chairs at the beach, and googling island creatures.

The kids loved actually having other kids to play with. Clare and Emily Kate rigged up this crab like pose for the disc swing. We may need to get another one of these once Wesley figures out how much fun the disc swing is to use.

Father's Day 2011.

Mario's Father's Day List

1. Kayak ride in the creek.

2. Sleep in.

3. Sex.

4. Picnic at Epworth by the Sea.

5. Complete one house project.

6. Trip to ACE hardware with kids.

7. Make iced tea.

I think we can make these things happen today. I love knowing exactly what he wants to do and what would make him happy on his day.

Timber.

70 MPH winds + lots of trees = potential great tree surgeon business. I didn't even notice that there was a giant limb laying on top of our house until I was getting in the car to go somewhere on Thursday with the kids. But then I looked up and viola! Tree on house.

I called Mario because we were busy doing kid stuff plus we had our friends from Columbia in town. He figured out who to call and our new helpful tree friends came to the rescue. Watching the tree folks figure out how to take the limb down without having it swing back into the house and potentially bust windows below fascinated me. I spent most of rest time outside watching the process from the driveway.

Want to take a guess on how much it cost to take down that branch? Keep scrolling.

$250

Date Night

Island concert series.
Lighthouse.
Babysitter.
Picnic by Mario.
A Garage Band.
Neighbors kind enough to invite us to sit with them.
Talking. Talking. Talking.
Neighborhood stories.
High tide.
Strong ocean breezes.
Passing ships.
Beverages.
Ginger beer.
Lawn chairs.
Picnic blankets.

Folly Beach toes.

Sunday rocked my world.

I got to see one of my favorite people on this planet.

We cruised in a golf cart on Folly Island until it died and we had to be rescued.

We talked on the beach while looking at this lighthouse.

We drank pineapple margaritas and ate guacamole.

We understood each other.

Hoot!

Clare found these owl beauties when we went yard sale shopping together on Saturday morning. Those kids can spot an owl a mile away. I love it. Sometimes we go on owl hunts together through shops or thrift stores.

Home Favorites

penny's anthro style arrangement
to sit and coffee and journal

to look at and smile

to stare at

Demoted

This turtle swimmer just got demoted to a lower level. He's still a turtle but I made the decision to drop him down a class so that his classmates might actually have some instruction time too. It felt odd to pull him out but then I remembered that I was the one that put him there based on class time convenience not his actual swimming level.

This afternoon we are planning some time at the pool to practice everything from the week (my weak excuse about already going to the pool wore off). Maybe a picnic dinner would make it even better and would get me off of the hook for preparing an actual meal? I'm all for finger foods.

Late nite snack.

I have to think that the burst of baking is a direct result of the new working and accessible kitchen after Penny's visit last week.

Sunday's project: whole wheat bread. Yup.

The best part: Wesley can eat it! He likes it! AND it's easy to make.

There's a local hostel turned Eco lab educational hostel that I am enamoured with and had a list of recipes that they use in their vegetarian kitchen. Our first overnight babysitter = date night here. Or my first 'mama needs a big ol' break' or a girls retreat with someone groovy who's game = I'm going here. I tried their recipe for Hostel Bread. It's a keeper in our house. I'm going to try one of the variations for fun, but the plain whole wheat is awesome for sandwiches, pb and j, and regular bread use.

Wesley happened to be out of bed when it was cool enough to taste so he pulled up a seat for some fresh out of the oven bread and soy free/dairy free butter. Good stuff and making stuff makes me feel good.

(Recipe 1/2 way down on recipe page here.)

Swimming.

Sharks start lessons at 8:30 AM. Turtles swim at 9:30 AM.

Translation: We are at the pool from 8:25 until 10 AM each morning for the next two weeks hanging out working on our swimming skills. While the shark swims (Clare) the turtle waits and vice versa. We have a 1/2 hour in between to snack and chill where I remind myself that I am lucky that swim lessons are here right by the lighthouse and the ocean. (See the lady in yellow in the above photo? That's the spot I try and claim each morning. Pool and ocean view plus snackin' table.)

The kids love the lessons. They have the same teacher. We are all starting to recognize people who show up over and over again. I'm hoping to strike up some conversations soon with the mama group in Clare's shark class. It's kind of scary but I'm hoping they don't bite.

Where are the grown up swim lessons? The class we get thrown into where we get to sit on the steps and are forced to talk where everyone else takes a turn? Sign me up. I'd even take the 7:30 AM session.

Muffins with Mama.

Mario is going out of town this week so I made an intentional list of things I wanted to do this weekend before he left.

• Beach walk alone.


• Bike ride.


• Find rear bike storage rack.


• Spend alone time with each kid.


• Visit natural food store.


• Go to farmer's market in Brunswick.


• Drop off prescriptions.


• Shop for birthday gifts.

Just a few basic things, some we did as a family and some I did alone. This morning Clare and I made Whole Wheat Banana Berry Muffins from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooking for Health cookbook that I checked out of the library yesterday. We used the blueberries we bought at the farmer's market and she stood on a stool we found at a garage sale awhile back. Now that our kitchen has order thanks to an amazing kind and patient friend, cooking is possible and fun again.

Friday evening simple.

2 chairs
shovels
1 cooler
2 parents
post dinner
happy kids
2 towels
a few sand toys