Pancakes.

“Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.” -Little Women Motion Picture, 1994

We’re having breakfast for dinner which is usually a good idea. Both kids will eat their weight in scrambled eggs when given the chance. And Truman will snarf down pancakes like nobody’s business.

But what do you do when you’ve mixed all the other ingredients and open the door to find out there is an empty jug of milk in the fridge? Get creative.

Juice, no. Powdered milk, nope out of that too. YOGURT? Yes!

A few cups of vanilla yogurt made the best tasting pancakes I’ve ever had. Really. A little tang, lots of vanilla… next time I’m adding a teaspoon of cinnamon and they’ll be out of this world.

They did make a much gloppier dough, so next time a little more water, but taste was divine!

Let me know if you try them!


*notice how I used non-words like snarf and gloppier... haha.

Eggs, Eggs and More Eggs

And here you have it our very first egg. All the lights and mess in my basement, all the building a coop, feeding, watering, and fighting with the city come down to this one little white event. This is indeed our first egg.

The egg came a few weeks ago since then two other hen's have been laying, among them one brown egg layer. So exciting!





The proud Mama's!



And the proud supper!

This was out of Giada De Laurentiis, Everyday Italian cookbook. So good!

Nie Nie Day

Across the Mommy-Blogging community, blogger's are coming together like never before to benefit one of their own.

Please check out the auctions and posts on designmom.com and participate in the auctions around the country and the world.

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Speech

You know I'm not political, but in the case of women. I am excited at any advancement that we make.

I thought I'd share Hillary's speech from the Democratic National Convention.

Monumental for so many reasons. My favorite part:

And after so many decades – 88 years ago on this very day – the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote would be forever enshrined in our Constitution.

My mother was born before women could vote. But in this election my daughter got to vote for her mother for President.

This is the story of America. Of women and men who defy the odds and never give up.

How do we give this country back to them?

By following the example of a brave New Yorker , a woman who risked her life to shepherd slaves along the Underground Railroad.

And on that path to freedom, Harriett Tubman had one piece of advice.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they're shouting after you, keep going.

Don't ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Read the whole thing

She thanked her backers, saying:

"To my supporters, my champions -- my sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits -- from the bottom of my heart: Thank you."

Another interesting mom/daughter article:

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/08/27/lw.help.im.turning.into.my.mom/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

The Cave and other ramblings...

My beautiful friend, Wendy, made this cave for her daughter. Part tent, part table and so super cute!


Isn't it amazing what some printed fabric, a few curtain rods and some imagination can come up with!?



A few housekeepings…



First off, thanks to my husband and our new schedule, Clutter Rehab is going well. Our room is laundry free for the first time in 6 months—and it is not hidden in all sorts of places. The drawers are cleaned out, the dresser’s flat surfaces are cleared too… I felt like we were staying a little retreat.

Now, I’m looking for ideas for corralling the toys and books.

Sadness

O friends, lots of little sad things happened this last week, which account for my blogging absence.

Among them, and most importantly: My beloved friend Don Theroux passed away. His presence and encouragement in my life will be sorely missed.

He and his sweet wife, Carol have aided me in every artist expression I’ve been apart of-- coaxing me to find a creative community and a creative space within my own life.


In his honor I’ve been listening to a beautiful ballad by Brandi Carlie, Downpour. (lyrics below)


To my kindred spirits one earthly present and one now bound for a better place, thank you.


Downpour

I'm like the rain in a downpour
I wash away what you long for
And I wave goodbye with the sun in my eyes
I wish I could be there tonight

I'm like the wind in the canyon
I'm there when I'm gone in a second
You're growing older in peace where you're at
I wish I could be there for that
But I've moved on
Like a rolling stone
In a crowded room
I'm alone

I'm like the rain in a downpour
I wash away what you long for
And I wave goodbye with the sun in my eyes
I wish I could be there tonight
Oh, oh, yeah

You're like the tide in the deep blue
Cause you're always there when I need you
And when you need someone to carry you through
I'm gonna be there for you
I'm gonna be there for you

[ Downpour Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

Grosgrain: Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain: Garden Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Great Grains

101 cookbooks is on my daily inspiration list. I found this lovely recipe for a grain hot cereal. I’m hoping that my kids will love this. If I have time, I’ll try it this weekend and let you know.

I am also going to give Amy Karol’s rice cooking recipe too. O to have rice ready for dinner and not have to buy it pre-packaged full of chemicals and salt.

Speaking of grains:

Thanks to designmom for this link to Grosgrain. She sews all of these adorable projects and then gives them away. Amazing, I want to be her friend. Idea generator!

Finally in the grains I was discussing bran muffins with my beloved friend, Ann this morning and thought I’d post farmgirlfare's beautiful idea to eat bran muffins everyday forever.

Show me your studio and I’ll show you mine…

I have been craving a creative, out of doors place to be and work and love. DesignMom had this up a few days ago. This little cottage garden shed studio is perfect! Don’t you just want to move in and start working?

I do have a relatively empty barn… ideas. I can see the question forming in my head now.

“Honey, can I have way too much money to redesign our leaky, floods in the winter barn in to a studio I can only use a few months of the year?”


I did find this lovely hemingway house teepee. O to have enough land on which to have my own teepee with a deck no less and two stories.

In looking for lovely little garden studios I found creative nook.

I’d love to see your working space… I’ll load mine in a few days. I’m in the process of moving it to another part of the house. When I get it done… I’ll let you see!

*******

In other news:

My very favorite artist Brandi Carlile had her song the story in a GM commercial. Check it out!

*****

Make your own lovely laundry booster (Color safe brightener).
I made mine lavender to smell ooo so delightful.

1 Cup Borax
1 Cup Washing Soda
3 Drops Essential Oil
Mix up and store in an air tight container.
Use a few tablespoons to a quarter cup depending on wash size.


This also makes a great carpet freshener sprinkle a couple tablespoons over carpet and vacuum up. It deodorizes and makes everything smell like a lavender field.

*********

Clutter Rehab Update
It’s not going super steller but my house is much more livable than it’s been in months. Eric’s job changes next week—which means he’ll be home more. Clutter rehab in full force then!

New Favorite Movie

Not only does it have a great plot and incredible art direction; it's also a carbon-neutral production.

Go rent it now!

Breads and Baked Goods

In finding new and delicious recipes, for the farmers market, I've come across so many good prospects.

Using seasonal and locally raised ingredients is a must. Here are a few yummy recipes that I love!

You know by now how much I love Amanda Blake Soule. Here is a link to her WHO bread recipe. I use the breadmaker version all the time. I do have to change the recipe slightly because the breadmaker overflows otherwise.

Note: I share joint custody of the breadmaker with friend, fellow crafter and the fabulous caretaker of my children, Aimeé. More she shares custody with me.

Zucchini is overflowing here in Iowa, friends and neighbors are offering these up by the armload. This is a lovely bread recipe that even my kids will eat.

Anadama bread is something I'd love to try to make I heard about it on a pod-cast of The Splendid Table. I subscribe to the pod-casts so I have something to look forward to on Mondays when I get to work.

I work designing eStores at the largest office supply retailer. Wish I could tell you where I work... but then this is considered press. I'm not even allowed to talk to myself about where I work...

Have a lovely week! Even though I have a severe case of the Mondays... this post during lunchtime made the day much more enjoyable!

Photo from sxc.hu

May Tibet Be Free

I am not a political person, nor do I care to be. I do, however, care about human beings and about social justice.

Tibet needs our prayers and our support not only during the Olympic season, but this is a good way to bring awareness to the human rights violations and oppression taking place there.

Please make a peaceful statement by placing a candle in your window at 9 p.m. every night during the Olympic games to show dissatisfaction with the Chinese government.



I encourage you to educate yourself on the situation in Tibet.
Photos by Melissa McLeish. Styling and layout by Mary Arteche

A sneak peek...

Here's a sneak peek of what's to come. Check my etsy store very soon!

A less cluttered life…

If you stepped into my house right now you would find all of the common rooms in the house in a liveable degree of disarray but the full scale clutter in which we used to live has been significantly reduced.
The reason? I take an extra few minutes of my day to pick up toys when I walk in the door in the evening. I clean up the bathroom while I’m in there. I clear off the kitchen table (and not just stuff the papers into some other cubby hole).

The kids art cupboard now has two accordion file folders from a big box store (one of which I’m remotely ashamed to say I still frequent). One file is for paper all the loose scratch paper, some loved coloring books, construction paper and those little pads of printed paper that show up. The other is for projects, paintings, pages colored and pulled from coloring books. I still have a closeline that I keep all their projects up with.

All of these little changes are for what I’m calling Clutter Rehab. 28 days to set a habit—lets get to it!

So join me! Let me know if you’ve cleaned out a drawer, a closet, or just like me kept the clutter at bay.

Thanks to Raider Blogs!

A special thanks to Northwestern College for the link to The Yellow Door Paperie on their Alumni Blog Roll!

Happy 30th Wedding Anniversary

To the people who taught me about life and the joy that it holds.

Happy Anniversary.

Sleeping Beauty

How long has it been since I’ve slept that good?

December maybe? Eric and I were away for the weekend… so it must have been December.

I went to sleep last night at 10:15 p.m. and awoke to my alarm at 6:30 a.m. There were no interruptions, no crying, no rocking, no milk, no children in bed with us… just peace and sleep.

O glorious sleep!

Books around our house

Here are some favorite books that have kept my attention lately.

SouleMama's, The Creative Family.

I can't say enough about it. It teaches parents how to create a culture of free flowing creativity within the lives of their children and for themselves too.
Lots of fun projects and lots to think about!



Amy Butler's, Midwest Modern.

Eye candy and a idea starter for all kinds of design and house projects.


Lotta Jansdotter, LOTTA PRINTS.

This lovely book has all the makings of timeless design inspiration. Lotta's eye is impeccable and her motifs simple but impactful. I want to be her.



Ellen Sandbeck, Organic Housekeeping.

This book reminds me how to have a schedule, what to clean and how to clean it. A super resource.

So there it is... the favorites of the hour.


Coffee break photo from sxc.hu