Around Here

We've been having fun and getting life done around here.

We took a meandering drive to northern California and Redwoods National Park for spring break, stopping to see friends and family along the way. We hiked a few awe-inspiring trails and dabbled next to the Pacific Ocean with sun on our faces, exactly the getaway this family needed.

Our garden is blooming.

 I planted this poppy last year and it is rewarding me with its beauty this year.

The artichokes and onions are planted, the strawberries are flowering, and the geraniums I overwintered are out on the deck. I'd say summertime is on its way.

This is how Ben feels about me taking pictures these days.

He's away at 5th grade camp this week and I am literally missing his face.

Two of my favorite people.

This girl is catching up on sleep since playing laser tag all night in Spokane with the PHS band. 

That was their choice of activity, along with dining Ethiopian and attending the symphony, for an end-of-the-year celebration trip. She is so ready for summer.

Mark is working hard and gardening even harder; we are going to have a kick-ass pond very soon. He's also away at 5th grade camp this week and I'm missing him too.

 

I've been playing chicken mama.

Here I am holding Harper, the chirper, who unfortunately never grew and died on mother's day.

(I have to admit I chewed on that little coincidence a little longer than necessary!)

I still have three hens who are happily growing and exploring their new coop in the backyard.

I really love having chickens again.

My friend Karen and I are slowly evolving two new business ventures,

Paper Pals Online and Art Maven Studio.

Through these venues we will be teaching classes and hosting events,

as well as pursuing our own artwork.

I was recently awarded a license from WSU which will allow me to sell my handmade books using their logo, so I will be very busy this summer getting ready for the fall craft fair in October.

And last, but by no means least, is my fabulous job at MaryJanesFarm Magazine.

Our current issue just hit the stands and I am delighted with the work inside.

Go grab yourself a copy!

Creative Color

I love yarn bombing.

 Can you imagine the dedication involved in bombing this tree?

Or what about an entire bus?

Also known as guerilla knitting or kniffiti, yarn bombing is a fairly recent phenomenon of street art that is believed to have originated in the U.S. in Texas as a creative way to give leftover fiber and unwanted projects new life.

How sweet are these little mushrooms happily growing on the back of a wooden bench?

This rancher dyed the wool before it was even sheared. Love it!

Can you imagine your delight were you to stumble upon this barnyard on a lazy afternoon drive?

Here's to color and whimsy. -Kristi

Mail Art

Mail Art is defined simply as sending small scale art works through the postal service. It took root as an artistic movement in the 1960’s and it is still enjoying a quiet fame today. Mail Art is such a great way to foster personal communication and creative expression between artistic friends.

This lovely hand-drawn envelope with card recently graced my mailbox. I can't tell you how much it made me smile to open the mailbox and see such beauty inside, and I would think it made everyone along its path to me smile as well.

Here's some envelopes that recently went out from me. I quickly used ink sprays and stamps to embellish a padded envelope for some gifts I was mailing. Decorating the outside of your envelopes is such a simple and beautiful way to share your artistic energy with the world and give yourself a quick dose of creativity.

This is a piece of mail art I found online that caught my eye. Wouldn't it be great if all our mail came adorned in such a manner?

Inspired by Pinterest

I love Pinterest.

 I can pin and pin all day long then never make a thing.

 Sound familiar?

 Well, today I changed it up.

 I was recently inspired by this pin:

Recycling the envelopes you get in the mail.

 When you pull them apart, they're really quite pretty inside.

 So I busted out some trash and my washi tape and got busy.

 Here's my result:

Love these!

 I think I am going to return a couple of my bills in them.

They're bound to make someone smile!

Happy New Year

We are happy.

We are healthy.

We are ready for a great 2014.

Cheers!

Beginning Again

Two years.

Whew.

No apologies, no regrets.

Sometimes life directs your energies elsewhere.

This guy turned eleven and is no longer our "little" Ben,

 measuring 5"2" last week. 

He's been playing a lot of Minecraft this summer.

  And he's working on a sharp sense of humor.

The cute girl sporting this new pixie cut is our very own Claire,

now fourteen and starting high school this week.

I think I saw her twice this summer! LOL

She's mostly in her room talking to friends or playing Sims.

 

 

 Here's my guy, on top of a mountain on the island of Crete.

(You know I couldn't resist an adventurous Mark picture).

Science can take you to some amazing places.

 

 We made it to the beach this year,

to the beautiful Oregon coast.

I'm so happy when I'm there.

I'm pretty happy when I'm here too.

Trust and Respect

It's our parenting mantra. Trust the children to make the right choices and respect their decisions. I'm not always successful at it, but it is certainly the way I aspire to raise my kids. And I really love it when I get to see glimpses of my success.

I'm a huge fan of music of most kinds, as are Claire and Ben. I encourage them to listen to and appreciate music, whose lyrics I rarely censor because I don't believe in censorship. An artist puts lyrics to music in a way that describes what is meaningful to him or her, and I like to choose for myself whether or not they are appropriate. When a song comes on the radio that has a "bad" word in it, Claire just doesn't sing that part. Her choice.

With that in mind, HBO recently aired Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Concert, and neither the kids nor I had ever seen her perform. I prefaced the watching by telling them I did not know what the show would be like, but considering her provocative nature, we might have to turn it off. As the show progressed there were a lot of "wows" and "she's so weird, but I love her music" comments being passed around. I have to admit her whole sexual persona was a little embarrassing, in the way in which, at age 12, your DAD takes you to see Saturday Night Fever because you begged and begged and then you have to sit next to him during the sexy parts. Things were edgy but fairly appropriate until Lady Gaga came out wearing a see-through mini plastic dress, complete with bikini underwear and taped nipples, with a plastic nun's habit on her head. Ben looked at me and said "Okay, that's enough for me" and left the room. Claire and I almost made it through that song too, until we were overcome by gyrating pelvises and decided to shut her down.

Looks like I've been fighting the good fight. Good job Mama. For those of you who question my choice to let them watch Lady Gaga in the first place, just suck it :)

Hello Monday

And hello May.
And hello 400th blog post!
And hello to my dad, who recently shared with me that he's been missing my blog.
In addition to my regular Mama/Fabulous Wife/House Goddess/Crafting Queen duties, I've been in the job "dressing room" trying on a few and figuring out which one fits me best.
So, a fond farewell to the greenhouses and hello to Paper Pals, where I'll be working and teaching again. It feels good, like a warm comfy glove when your hands are cold.

I've also been spending some time getting to know my iPad. "Someone" (children) broke the hinge on my laptop and Mark convinced me this was the very best replacement. He was so right. However, having never worked with Apple products before, my learning curve has been a little steep. But it is really FABULOUS! We had a little fun playing on Face Time last night, getting versed before Mark heads off to Sweden later this week. Oh yes, you heard right, SWEDEN! FOR TEN DAYS! Lucky, lucky boy. He'll be meeting up with his science cohorts for a pow-wow and a little sightseeing. (You better bring me back something good :)

We're trying to get outside whenever the sun shines, which hasn't been much lately. Sounds like it's a wacky spring all across the states. We're very much looking forward to enjoying some heat next month, when the kids and I will meet my family in Tennessee for a little R and R. Ben has been working hard on his swimming in preparation; he's out of turtles and into frogs!

My awesome book group.
These ladies are a very bright spot in my schedule each month.

An Artist Trading Card I recently made.
I am really feeling the love for butterflies right now.

Of A Friday Afternoon

Gotta love the first bare feet of spring.

Tales from the Greenhouse

Chapter 2: Beauty

There's always something blooming at the greenhouses, so I took my camera to work with me last weekend for a photo safari.

Anise

Peperomia


Aristolochia

Tomatoes

Datura

Henbane

A bouquet of petunia, basil and mint

Message In A Bottle

Mark and his friend were floating boats last weekend and they found this mason jar washed up in some grass. He kindly brought it home for me.

These are the contents: a rolled up poem, a sticky pad with a note, a tiny pen. Turns out this jam jar is part of an English project at our college. A group of students sent jars floating around our area. If you find one you're encouraged to contribute and send it out again.

HOW COOL IS THAT?

'Round Here

Despite our recent illnesses (knock on wood, I'm the only one who hasn't gotten sick), we've been having a little bit of fun.

Mark and buddy Jon have been spending some time oaring on our small, local rivers. Early spring runoff is about the only time there's enough water to actually float on them.

Here's me and my girl before she headed out to play the flute in her Spring concert. I wasn't able to attend, but I saw the video footage and they sounded fabulous.

After recovering from a lengthy illness, Ben rallied on Friday to take home a 2nd place ribbon in his school's first-ever chess tournament. It was also crazy hat/hair day, so he's sporting his favorite zombie cap.

One more week until Spring Break. We don't have plans, but I'm itching to get out and take a long walk somewhere warm. It may be time for a photo safari to spot buttercups and grass widows in the coulee country.

A Little Change

Turning 45 propelled me to get a haircut and and add a little "spring" to the blog.

I Hate This Part

Welcome to the germ-laden Wildung house, specifically this green chair in our living room where poor sick Ben has been camped out since Thursday afternoon fighting a relentless fever, sore throat, congestion, and head and body aches.

I hate this part about being a mom. I hate the constant worst-case-scenario visions in my head, but as the days go by they increase in volume. There's been a confirmed case of H1N1 in a nearby town that led to the shutdown of their school district.

I know he will be fine. But if that fever doesn't break tonight...

"Mom"oirs

This kid, he's a funny one.

Claire and Ben and I were shooting the breeze one day after school last week. Claire was telling me that some kids have recently been getting hurt in PE because they've been doing more rigorous activities. I told her that I wasn't surprised by that, that sometimes middle-schoolers challenge themselves too much while their bodies are still clumsy and awkward and they end up getting hurt. To which Ben responded "I have a feeling Claire will get drunk in college." Hmmm.

Tales from the Greenhouse

Chapter 1: Things Pertaining to Assholes

This is one of our mint varieties, M. candicans.
Such a pretty name, you'd think it would be sweet.
Such a feathery flower, you'd think it would tickle your senses.
You would be wrong.
The flowers on this mint plant smells like dog shit.
The first couple of times I worked near it, I kept checking my shoes to make sure I hadn't stepped in anything.

This is beautiful anise, an herb that smells of licorice and is commonly used in the flavor industry.
One would pronounce anise like "ann-iss".
Except one of our secretaries. She pronounces anise like "anus".
I recently received a phone call from her, stressing to me the importance of letting my boss know that her "anus" seed had been delivered.
So when she returned I did just that.
"Your anus is now available in the office".
Or when we walk into the room where the anise is grown someone is bound to say "Sure smells like anus in here".

Art Share

February Artist Trading Cards for my swap tonight.

A page from my art journal playing with masks, copic markers, watercolors, and a black gel pen.

"Mom"oirs

I had an upset tummy after a lunch out with my co-workers yesterday, so I decided to sit upon the potty when I got home and read my Art Journaling magazine. I'd been in the bathroom mere moments when there was a knocking on the door.

Claire: Can we take the dog for a walk?
Me: Yes.

Another minute goes by and another knock.

Claire: Where is the leash?
Me: Hanging in the hall closet.

And then her voice through the door.
"Did you know that discombobulated is really a word?"
Are you KIDDING me?

Winter

These are the days I hate in the Northwest.
Gray and brown. Not a drop of sunshine.
Everyone bundled against the bone-chilling cold.
Temperature right at freezing with fog in the air that I know will make slick driving later on.

So we go to the mall and put $2.00 in a machine so the boy can withstand the winds of a hurricane, as if we're not even tired of the weather.
It's warm in the mall and there's gluten-free pizza to eat.
But thinking of hurricanes makes me homesick.
Yes, we had to criss-cross masking tape on the windows in case the wind got out of hand, but at least we knew the eye was coming and more often than not a wave of beautiful weather when the storm cleared.
I wonder if Ben has the South in his DNA.