Fortunes

You'd think I really like chinese food for as many fortune cookies that I quote, but I actually ALWAYS order that same thing (Steamed vegetables, no water chesnuts, brown sauce and add cashews).

My fortune is appropriate today and I'm using it as a springboard for and enlightening and unforgettable trip: "Sometimes travel to new places leads to great transformation".

I'll have lots of blog-fodder when I get back!

Cookies Made With LOVE

Let's face it, our work as Moms is not appreciated enough most of the time. I have tried to remedy this lacking by instituting the use of certain phrases that must be used in order to receive a desired item. The best example of this is when I make my chocolate chip cookies I need to hear: "Mom, can I have a cookie because they are made with love?" Call it a tradition, a request, a household run by a monarchy...whatever. It gets me what I need.

So here's the thing, I was making these cookies today ...I could make them in my sleep I have made them so many times, this household does not function well without them...I make them with brown eggs from my Dad's chickens and I swear it makes a difference....I digress....So my little one looks up and says with his little 4yr. old perfectly pouty mouth: "Mom, I think you are wrong about the love." Ok, there are two things here: 1). he knows that Moms can be wrong and 2). he doesn't think my cookies are made with love!. I am trying to not look hurt. And then he says:"I don't think the love is from you, I think it's from the kids." My heart melts like butter!

Do You Know Jack?

Well, apparently my husband doesn't.

This little fur ball is our new addition. Apparently there was not enough mess and chaos around here to suit everyone. What's a little cat? Seriously, what harm could be done? The kids will benefit. He's so cute.

Well, he is cute, and there is a reason that babies are cute...because they are so much work!

I am out-numbered, my choices are few. For the good of all, I will learn to like the little guy, after-all, he is so cute.

Art is What Makes You Happy

• It took me so long to figure this out. I guess I was looking at abstract modernism. I recently found these happy birds on swirly branches and they made me sing! I hung them above and around my bed.

Joy Beadworks New Mom Ring

I had a recent order for a New Mom ring. I started to think about how when you get engaged, you sit there all day at work and gaze at your engagement ring and intentionally twist it in the light so that it will sparkle when you answer the phone.

I thought that there should be something similar for when you find out that you are pregnant, or are just so excited about finding out that you are having a boy or a girl. I created a New Mom ring so that you can share the news or just as something for you as a constant reminder of the little one who will bring so much Joy.

I really liked this Mom's approach, in addition to the New Mom pink girl bead, she ordered Party It Up Purple! I admire her for her sense of optimism. What an adventure.

My Fabulous Friends and a Two-Fer a Day Early

1. 

It's a monday, two-fers are usually on Tuesdays!
Thanks to the will and tremendous organization of one of the friends, we were able to make a really cool bracelet. It's very simple, but lots of fun.





2. And, a really cozy terrarium! We collected moss, ferns and other woodland plants to create a lush little forest floor inside a beautiful glass world. The one in the upper right is the kid's and I made one in an apothecary jar ...I put it on the kitchen table so that at dinner we could all wonder at little fairy world before us.

Something New and Exciting: Iridescent Beads!

I'm so excited to add these NEW beads to my collection. These are the most amazing little works of art.....Each one is different and Oh So Eye-Catching. Pictures really do these no justice. They are each a world unto themselves, swirly and full of subtle color variations....some are metallic looking and other's have a striking iridescence. I am adding them to my shop at www.joybeadworks.etsy.com The beads are made specifically for my interchangeable bead ring and they are simply captivating.

Hay Day: A Rookie on the Baler

It is the middle of July...the hay is ready for the first cut. (You'll get two cuttings and maybe 3 if the weather holds through the fall, but the first is always best). Watch the weather forcast, look for a span of about 4 days of heat, no rain. And it's as if the starting whistle blew at the farm...it's all action. The hay is cut, then raked a few times to fluff it up and turn it over to dry the other side: Wet hay makes for a bad meal for the cows and a dangerous situation in the barn as the fermenting process can cause enough heat to ignite.

Then the hay is baled, picked-up, and stacked in the barn. Here's where I come in: The hay needed baled. Everyone else was busy. Put the rookie on the baler. Even though I grew up on this farm, my brothers enjoyed the running of tractors more than I did, and they quickly passed me up on skill level so therefore, it was hard to make up any ground.

Here's what they tell you:
1.) Never turn the baler to the left! I don't care how you have to loop, always turn it to the right!
I'm not sure what would happen if I turned it the other way, but I got the impression that it was BAD.
2.) You'll note that this list is appallingly short.

Here's what they DON'T tell you:
1.) There's a well in the field surrounded by a deep ditch, don't get the tractor stuck in there.
2.) To engage the power take off you must push the clutch down all the way: stand on it.
3.) If you'd like to stop the tractor, you'd better do a quick calculation of topography, because gravity is going to have to come into play as the tractor's brakes are "not so great". (I found this out when the neighbor stopped by to chat with my Dad and they stood right in my path on a slight grade. I had to "shoo" them out of the way, there was no stopping.)
4.) The tractor/baler combo reacts like a wild snake when trying to back up on a grade with little brakes. My mental note for future: DON'T DO IT!
5.) If the hay gets stuck in the baler and it gets jammed, it's ok to try to force it through by rocking the power take off a little and revving the gas. But not too much or you might break something.
6.) Others who know what they are doing will get a good laugh at you. You are their entertainment for the day.

A note about the photo: I think there is a photo of my brothers and I just like this for every summer while we were growing up.

Wall-E

Has anyone else seen this movie? We took the kids recently and I found it sad and thought provoking. It is hardly about two cute robots who fall in love.

The social commentary was overwhelming. I found the fat people being constantly fed and entertained in their hover chairs particularly disturbing. The Earth left behind because it was full of trash also hit home.

I'm not sure where we are headed as a people, but my hope is that we all can learn something from this movie and possibly change our course.

Painting with Butterflies

While we were away, we visited the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory. The whole family was equally amazed at what we saw there. They had a lush conservatory filled with butterflies that you can't even imagine. Think about any color combination, and if you waited long enough, you could find it. The kids all stood still as statues so that the butterflies would land on them (and some did!). The butterflies are from all over the world.

There is an artist, and I believe founder of the conservatory, that gathers up all of their dead bodies (butterflies don't live that long) and mounts them in these beautiful arrangements. I could have stood there for hours taking them all in...everytime you thought you had seen them all, you'd see a new one.

Free Falling

Ok, so we are back from vacation. I swear, there' a week of stressful prep. beforehand. Then, a week of free fall after...trying to grab at the various components of our schedule and piece it together. I'm still looking for things that the kids can't locate. (important, expensive things, like and ipod....)
It didn't help that our flight home was delayed and we got in at 2am, the bags were not delivered until 1am the following day (come on, who delivers 5 bags at 1am on a monday morning?) I had a family member not feeling so great upon our return, and immediate company from out of town to entertain.
It may be August before I feel settled again!!! (Then school will kick in and my world will swirl again.)
Any good advice from any of my fabulous girlfriends would be appreciated!

Here's a Vacation Tradition

Every year we come to this beach which is full of such natural treasure. Every year we collect it all and clean it, and sort it into piles, and identify it all. We are very snobby shell collectors and will only stoop for a perfect shell, and even at that, the more common varieties get the blind eye. We go for the "hard to find" and "rare" shells on the chart.

Every year we end our trip with a little "shell art". I pick up something (usually from the dollar store) and encrust it with this trip's treasures. The family usually does this together, but I was the only one to complete the craft this year. Oh, they helped, with comments like "no, not that one, not there" or, "hey, I found that one".

So here's where the fun comes in. This little shell art is usually a contest. The members of the vacationing party decorate their object (one year it was a salt and pepper set)....and leave it at the rental house. You WIN when some other visitor thought your object was nice enough to slip into their bag on the way out.The winner(s) are determined when we return and find our things missing.

Here's to this one getting stolen!