terrible twos....

    ya know i guess i just never really realized how much time a two year old takes up! he is so thirsty for knowledge and experiences that i barely have a moment to call my own these days...or for any of the days this summer... or fall for that matter.

    after my success early this year with overcoming my self doubt & just seizing the day i was ready and willing to go forward in a hurry. i had so many plans for things i was going to get accomplished and really got caught up in trying to get it done. i felt that after years (...and years, if i'm honest) of my close people telling me to go for it, i finally did and it was wonderful! i had found the outlet & the desire & the gumption i had always been lacking. and then... i found myself feeling so much frustration at having found all of those long sought things and then dealing with the demands of a two year old.  in desperation i instituted a tradition of walks at our local state park, which is luckily only a few miles south of town.  initially these walks were to wear him out so he would nap for me so i could get things done.

 but in the course of going on these outings with my little guy, who loves to wear his own backpack and run most of the way, i discovered that the walks were healing my frustrations.

 i saw the trails through his eyes. 

the fascinating colors of fall, the sounds of the birds, the mystery of the wind in the trees and the prairie grasses...that little gasp and then, "wissen!" he says with his little hand up to his ear.

 the occasional snake, buzzing bee or prairiedog whose paths we crossed,

 the flowers & plants he pointed out to me.

 his interest in the trail signs and informational markers..."wat say mimi?" he asks at every one.

my admiration of his boy-ness when he bites the dust and gets a skinned knee but doesn't care

& of his bravery when he conquers his fears and jumps off the end of the bench at the council ring. 

 his absolute delight the day we saw the garbage truck driving through the park from the far side of the lake and he ran all the way up the hill calling "garbage truck?!" and was rewarded on the other side by getting to see the big, grumbly truck drop its fork arms and lift the big dumpster over its cab and dump! into the hopper. in all these things i realized that my aspirations had time to come to fruition but this time... this tiny span of time in my life when i get to experience this amazing thing, is just that. a tiny span of time, a window into the wondrous nature of life at two years old.

 it'll be over before i know it & it'll never happen again. my knitting and sewing and all those things can wait but this won't. it's challenging to remember that when he's screamin his head off acting like a banshee but i'm gonna give it my all!  three cheers for the "terrible" twos!!!!

on dealing with some people...

while washing up the last of the dishes today i realized i had forgotten to wash the knives. after a pause, i ran an inch or so of nice hot water into the sink with a tiny squirt of soap and put all the knives in to soak.  now, i NEVER put my knives in the sink...while they are dirty they are on the counter behind the sink and when i wash them i do so one at a time. i'm a bit of a clutz and it's just safer for me that way. but there were alot of them and they were sticky so i did it. point is, for me, it was an out of the ordinary thing to do and they say that doing out of your ordinary things helps build neural pathways in your brain. so... as i was standing there, giving the hot, soapy water some time to do its work before i started scrubbing, my mind began to wander a bit and  i considered just leaving the knives to wash when i got back from running my daughter over to her friends house. then my brain gave me some wonderful examples of why it was a bad idea, most of which involved some unsuspecting (or clutzy) person reaching in and drawing back a bloody hand.  now of course, intellectually, i know that i would probably remember the knives were in there and that if something heinous did happen on my 10 minute trip to drop off my daughter, and someone else was left to deal with the knives, the water would at that point no longer be soapy thereby resulting in them being able to see the fact that there were knives in the sink and disaster would be averted.  ( i know, i know... but this is how my brain works so bear with me) so anyways, i decide to just stay and wash them and while i'm standing there looking at the bubbles i have an epiphany....  dealing with some people is like reaching blindly into a soapy sink full of knives.  you can be careful and most of the time you'll emerge unscathed but there's always gonna be that once. that one time you reach in and get cut. and you have to wonder (or i do anyway) is it worth it? why would i NOT do what i know is good for me and just not even go there... to the metaphorical sink full of dangerous sharp edges hidden amongst the innocuous mounds of rainbow tinged bubbles?  hmmmmmmm.

summer always goes so fast!

and it was no exception this year... albeit it's not quite over but we're getting really close. i have noticed the early signs..... you know? the trees that look a little yellow (maybe we just didn't get enough rain this year) that subtle crispness behind the breeze at dusk... the cool mornings.  not to mention the back to school sales at every store. technically we still have 2 1/2 weeks left... school starts on the 7th this year but i feel the inevitability of the end of summer. not that i really have any amount of love for the heat & fuss of summer. and not that it hasn't been a great season....i have actually had a very exciting summer.  after i posted my last post on 23 june i turned my things in to the art gallery, entered a photo contest, took first place in one category of the photo contest, was written up in the local paper for winning said contest, got accepted as a galleried artist at the PRCA, found a friendship that i didn't know i had, started actually losing weight after years of feeling stuck this way, sold four of my pieces at the gallery, had a breakthrough in my relationship with my 16 year old daughter, pulled off two birthday parties & a brunch {at which i made cream puffs & chocolate pudding from scratch & josh's grandma from france said i did a good job! talk about swelling my head lol}  & i enjoyed watching my 2 year old son experience his world & develop his personality.  whew!   but it all boils down to this one moment back in june, sitting in front of the computer feeling anxious about my life & my path & my self.... i ran across a quote that struck me and  i took it into my heart & it settled down into that place where your "certain something" sprouts from... and boy did it ever blossom for me!  and so i leave you with these words that have so affected me...

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
                      Boldness has Genius, Power, and Magic in it.
 Begin it now."   
                                                - johann wolfgang von goethe

ready?

ok....

today's the day.
after two weeks of preparation.
                          
a representative collection of my work?  
- check.
freshly designed tags & labeling scheme? 
- check.
photos taken & descriptions written?   
- check.
website up, running & ready to go?
- check.
guts?
-...
uuuuum, guts?  {oh, there you are! get out here, let's go!}

{ready? ok.}

now...
guts?
- check.

just dropping in....

*my little grubby one

well.

i've been super busy with work & family & other work & creating & gardening & just living life.  

i've been meaning to blog...really i have. buuuuut. i haven't.

today however, i do have a few little tidbits to share:

*i have made a new page here on my blog to house all my links to cool stuff. you can find the link to your right, listed under pages as "worth checking out". i think that says it all! :)

*i have been making stuff...

*i have been gardening...{and photographing!}

*this one was taken 06.01

oh yeah, and sometime in the next two weeks i will be submitting some of my work to a local artists co-op/gallery for admission.

i'm terrified. but in a good way.

three cheers for spring!

got busy yesterday setting up seed trays with my new-found paper pot making knowledge.


i decided to do a tray of the can method & a tray of the origami method to see which ones perform better.
the origami ones feel nice & sturdy and fit better into the tray but the rolled ones made with the can are much faster & easier to make. so we'll see! :)






















some of my irises that finally bloomed this year. there are lots to come! for the last couple years i only got a bloom or two so i am really excited this year to see so many buds coming up. these particular ones are some my mom sent me years ago from washington state.











a little fledgling robin just learning to fly, taking a rest in the warm grass by the fountain outside my window. he let me get so close. i {heart} spring!

sustanable origami....lol

so i ran across something on the internet & thought it was rather interesting. it was a picture of some very happy little seedlings in a sunny window safely ensconced in happy little pots made of what appeared to be newspaper.....   hmmm.
so off i went to see what i could find.

there's this method.... which requires a little tool.  cool.

there's this method...which just uses a can. sweet!       cool *and* easy.

and then there's this method... which *i* personally think is the way to go. one video was labeled "sustainable origami pots"...i love it!

but then i am an origami lover. actual origami where you sit down with a piece of paper & create something by making all those folds. they say that if you fold a thousand paper cranes you will be granted a wish. now i don't know about that, unless your wish is for resolve & tranquility, but i do know that it is therapeutic...really it is. and it's a wonderful resource... this last winter i "origami-ed" a replacement envelope for a bill with a piece of junk mail from my car. and voila! my check was safely tucked in with no danger of becoming separated from the bill it was meant to pay whilst floating around in the nether regions of the payment dropbox. (now *that* is peace of mind!) and it's handy. i learned how to fold a box with dividers & a lid & i make them now for all kinds of things. storage & drawer dividers & gift boxes. oh my!  children (and some adults) are thoroughly fascinated when, at a restaurant, you turn your placemat into something for them to play with...a paper balloon perhaps? how bout a jumping frog? a crown...or maybe just the old stand-by, the paper crane. you could get really fancy too like this rose . ...or this lotus.  
the list could go on & on....lol

and... it's pretty to look at once you've done all the work of folding it.

i turned some origami cranes, some 3D cutwork & a handful of german paper stars (some of which i made of overhead transparency sheets) into a wonderful mobile for my baby nursery.

so anyways, to sum it all up....origami is cool and practical and fun!

go learn some here ---->  go.foldsomething.com <----

well.... go fold something!!!
go on....shoo!  :)