lady cordelia

weekend heart

Today was rain and sun.  A little jaunt downtown.  Then, making the tomato patch bigger.  Realizing I hadn't changed out of my one nice pair of jeans.  Whoops.  Oh well.  That's very me. 

Onto planting the starts I bought yesterday.  (Yes, I bought kale and lettuce starts because I really couldn't get mine going from seed very well and I really need daily homemade raw kale salads and green smoothies.  I need them soon. Impatience does have its place. Oh well, looks like my garden isn't ALL from seed. So sue me.)

Today was also watching my little girls get older.  Realizing that the magical age of four is almost past with my second girl.  On a brief jaunt downtown I saw a cute journal made especially for recording all the cute things your kids say.  My kids still say some cute things, especially the younger, but they are getting more and more sensical and so I realized my time to have bought that journal had passed.  It stung, just a little.  Marshmallows are not Meshmarlows anymore.  Helicopters are not Helioboppers.  You know.

They are not babies. I have two healthy and sweet little girls.  And on they will turn into beautiful, happy and wise women.  And you know what?  They will always be my babies.  I am so happy to have daughters.  I thought maybe I'd be lucky enough to have one.  But no, I was blessed with two.  I'm thinking they can go to college right down the way and I can still make their lunches and do their hair.  I have it all planned out.

Sometimes I think it would have been nice to have a boy too.  I would have named him Bruno.  That's my dad's middle name.  Sometimes I think about the Bruno I never had and I hold his little body in my mind.  I wonder if maybe the Brad's surgery will untie accidentally.  It could happen, right?  But, then again, who can hold a baby while selling quilts at the shore?  Who can sew for hours a day? Our lives are full to the max and my childbearing years are over. I think it's just that feeling of mortality, you know.  

C'est la vie, baby.

 

weekending with Habit Of Being

weekending towards the move

Not much news around here.  We are still packing and cleaning and trying to keep everyone fed while doing it.  And that is my life wholly.
Beginning next month, we will be in our new home-  painting the walls and ceilings a clean fresh white  and building a new coop for a new flock of chickens (our neighbor is taking our current flock and I am planning on taking the ducks with us.) 

The up-heaving of stuff.  It feels never ending.  Has anyone else packed a house with two small children underfoot? In 105 degrees?  Splitting atoms may be easier, me thinks. But, after you split an atom you don't get to move into a new house.  So, I'll stick with packing up. 

I did manage to stumble across making the world tastiest smoothie in this insane heat. I suggest you try it because it will make you giggle it tastes so yummy.  

Lady C's Sweet Smoothie For A Day In Which It Is 105 degrees And Everyone Is Tired Of Packing Boxes. 

Two handfuls frozen strawberries
1/2 large ripe avocado (or 1 small one)
Big handful pitted dates
1 frozen banana
Juice from 1 large orange
Cup vanilla yogurt
any supplements that you want... we did fish oil. 
(water as needed...depends on how thick you like it.)

enjoy!

weekend/move

But for now I'll keep it brief.

Yes, we are moving. S'all very good and we are very happy.  It seems sudden, but really -its not.

Yes, I will still have my little farm on a ever-so-slightly bigger (and better laid out) lot.  The house is rad. We can walk the girls to school.  We will be closer to family.  The Brad will be closer to the helm of his work.  We will be closer to the ocean. That's all the pluses. 

....No downsides! Except my missing the stellar, solid BFF's that I've made here. But, hell- it's just an hour down the road.  No biggie.

We have a lot of work to do in this house that we are selling.  It will be a busy time.  I will not forget about you.  I will take you with me on this journey.

Trying to keep things somewhat normal for the kids as I pull everything out of drawers (ew.)  And carefully pack up only what we really need or love (can you say big ass yard sale?)

xoxo

image from here.

through the center

This weekend was about seeing the center of it all. 

Green juice with sprouts.  Greasy diner hash browns.  ( Not at the same time of course.)   A little of this, a little of that.  Right through the center.

Read an article on how French children are better behaved than American kids.  Well.  Mine (4 and 6) seem pretty well behaved. They know how to clean up after themselves.  Are rarely rude.  Do not watch a lot of TV.  Can sit  in a car for three hours with nothing but an out-of-reception radio station.  (I would love to plug the ipod in, but our old car doesn't offer such amenities. And no, they can not play on our iphones the whole way!)  My kids also say poo and stinky-poo-butt-head at the dinner table from time to time and lick bowls of ice cream clean.  They run naked through the house screeching in joy, but only in between sips of green juice. See? A little of this, a little of that. Right through the center.

Also this weekend we mourned the loss of our kitty who disappeared three days ago.  She was the relaxed center of the household and without her around our hearts are heavy.  We have no trace of what could have happened, though she was out at night and we can only imagine the list of sad scenarios.  We hope she is still alive and well and eating at a quiter household or perhaps on her way back from a long adventure.  It is a possibility. 

My older girl is especially sad.  She cried so hard last night and there was that horrible parental feeling of not being able to take her pain away.   I so wanted to try and brush it away with...something.  The promise of another kitten or a cookie, perhaps?  But, no.  I let her cry and held her knowing all too well that that the experience of loss must be felt through the center so that when we come into our joy again, we know we've held nothing back to get there.

 

 

weekend at the farm(ish).

ok.  my home...it's not really a farm.  i know it.  you know it.  but it's a quarter acre of small farmy-ness. it's farm-ish
can we leave it at that?  excellent.  let's move on then.

this weekend there was the normal tending of gardens and animals, gathering eggs and figuring how many different things you can do with romaine lettuce.  i say: if you want to have a little farm, nothing to it.  all you gotta do is diddley do it.  but you will be stinky sometimes and if it's hot your hair will stick to your face along with some straw and maybe you'll get chicken poop on your shoes.  ya.  or duck poop.  still wanna do it?  thought not.  but you should.  it would be really good for you.  

also: the very normal visiting with my lovely sweet girlfriend and her daughter -as both our hubbys work a lot and so on weekends we get together and have lots of fun and eat yummy food that we make.  (i am featuring her home this coming Thrifty Thursday and it will ROCK YOUR SOCKS so you need to check in with me on thurs. K?  K.)

I made more strawberry compote and started another funky quilt for daughters new beds (see last weeks Thrifty Thursday.) 
 
there were also sweet comments from some of you on my music post from last friday. (thank you.) 

many hugs to you and I hope your week gets off to a dreamy, wonderful start. 

XO

weekending with Amanda.

 

hello weekend.

We took it easy this weekend.  Very warm weather.  The girls and I napped and went to bed early and woke up later than usual.  I made cornbread, strawberry compote and homemade laundry detergent (which works amazingly well.) At the farmers market, I bought the last bit of lettuce I can squeeze in the garden.  The Brad will look at me with "that" look cause he thinks there is no more room in the garden. (He is wrong. He does not tend the garden.  Love the guy, but he does not really know.)    

If you're interested, here is how to make your own detergent.  It's really quite simple and it's by far my favorite homemade cleaning supply.  Oh- by the way, Brad is really over the homemade vinegar cleansers.  He actually looked at me in a very serious way and said "Stop It" the last time I was spraying some on the stove. I continued on just to bother him.  But the smell is a little much for me too, truth be known.  The Brad is into the detergent because it works and smells good.  (Guys are so weird that way. They always need something to "work."  Whatever!) By the way, this recipe is all over the web and I'm probably the last blogging mom to get around to posting it.  I'm a late bloomer.

Homemade Laundry Powder
2 cups finely grated castile soap (I use Dr. Bronner's peppermint)
1 cup borax
1 cup baking soda
1 cup washing soda

Mix everything together, and store in a wide mouth Mason Jar.  I use 1/8 cup per load.  

Laundry comes out so clean and soft!  I am excited to do laundry now!  Ad that is saying something!  (Sidenote: I just love mason jars by the way.  I really love them.  I store everything in them and use one for water by my bedside.)

 A busy week ahead, I will be checking in as time permits and, if everything goes as planned, a really cool Thrifty Thursday in store. 

xoxox

tagging along for weekending with Amanda.

weekending in the garden

a few corners of our little 1/4 acre.
I have a slightly untidy gardening style, but it has character. 
I try to  learn more and do a better job each year.  This year in the veggie dept. we have tomatoes, cucumbers, starwberries, green beans, lettuce (3 varieties), numerous herbs, spinach, chard, onions (2 varieties) peppers, peas and melon.  We also have trees that are still young and may not give much for a few years: tangerine, orange, apple and persimmon.  And one blueberry bush which was torn up a bit by the chickens, I see some new buds on it now and I am highly protective of it.   Every corner of our place has something growing and/or living.  We even built raised boxes out in front of our fence, on the "street." 

The chicken you see me holding is a very bad chicken and always up to no good.   She's the blueberry plant uprooter, even though I put wire around the bush.  She doesn't particularly like when I do 70's dance moves with her, which is exactly why I do it.  I only do it for a second or two!  After the noise and the damage she's created, believe me, we're even.  Plus I am a wonderful dancer and she should be happy to be able to say she's danced with me.  The Brad will say to anyone who will listen that I am the flat-out worst dancer he's ever known.  Between him and this chicken, I really feel a lack of support for my moves.  Sad.  Back to the garden: 

Right now, with Summer coming, there is a lot of tending to be done on this little 1/4 acre of ours.  I see now, if we are ever to grow a dream and add goats to our chickens and ducks...well...I'm going to need more help here in the garden.  (And, for the record, we could not have goats here at this property, we would need more space.) 

So, we'll see if the girls like the "farm life" as they mature...and if they take to it like I do, maybe there will be a bigger farm experience someday.  For now, we're full. 

See how much you can pack into a tiny 1/4 acre!  It can be done!

weekending with A.

scenes from a nice weekend

a few things from my weekend...

roses from the garden.

my babies in my first try attempt at sewing skirts.
slightly potato-baggish, but they love them and are wearing them every single day.
I also made a dress, came out pretty cute.  Show ya later.
(thanks to rachel for the skirt pattern idea and amanda for the material!)
btw: I always wonder if I should show full face shots of my kids on the blog. so, i went halfway and just did a half face crop, exemplifying my confusion.

the unraveled hose is a sure sign it's real warm outside.
(if you look at the outside pic you are looking directly at our chicken/duck coop, you know...in case you ever you ever wanted to see it. ...it's the size of a small nyc apartment.)

oh, and do you like PCS's?  (pineapple-chard smoothies.) The Brad does not.  The girls enjoy them and so mama is happy. Do you have a immersion blender? Then just throw in...

a few big ol' chard leaves
frozen pineapple
few shakes of bee pollen
bit of coconut milk
voila! you are rockin' with a PCS!

my mama came and I got a little time to myself.  she took them to the park.  the house was EMPTY. this mama sure needed that.  also my fave thrifting friend asked me out garage sailing (yes we sailed thru the sales) on the spot on sat a.m. .  mega fun.  thanks friend! XO

Enjoy your upcoming week!

C.

  weekending with my lady A. she's on a roll with some extra-fabulous posts lately!

 

 

 

 

 

 

scenes from easter weekend

unorganic eggs.
easter dog.
trip to windy coast.
these muffins.
irritated 10 year old canine.

hope yours was fun too.

with amanda for weekending.

weekend brief

this weekend was mellow.  just like I like 'em.
in the yard with the menagerie.
and
watching the cat and pup (both female) have a massive flirtatious love affair.
pretty silly stuff.

hard to see but that blur in the last is the cat running away. what you don't see is her coming back for more in about 30 seconds. typical. 

oh, see my piano there?  I'm trying to teach myself several pieces by Chopin.
my ear is much better than my ability to actually read music 
so, it's slow going but
when those chords flow correctly now and then, boy do they sound good.
those are some full on killer tunes, Chopin!  Righty on!
I played the piano a lot today, that is, until I slammed my hand in the front door.
That hurt like a beach
As evening approached, the three year old made me a burger to go with a glass of wine.
That helped immensely. 
Have a great start to your week! 
xoxo 

weekending with Amanda.