Tweedlepox

SNOWMEN- A Family Movie Review

2011-10-19T16:28:00.006-06:00

A while back I signed up for a homeschoolers product testing group, then promptly forgot about it. Well, they just reminded my by sending me a free movie. Today I give you my review.

(*Warning, if you absolutely hate spoilers then you may not want to go on. While I try not to give everything away, I happen to like spoilers as they better help me to decide if it's something for me and my family.)

The movie "Snowmen", which is slated for limited release on Friday October 21, 2011, is of the quintessential feel-good family movie fair. It stars Bobby Coleman (of Martian Child) as Billy Kirkfield a young, enthusiastic, and charismatic youth who wants to do something 'big'. He wants to be remembered, not as a 'loser', but as someone who did something. And he has cancer. He tells us right from the beginning that he is dying, so it shouldn't be a surprise, but I will tell you that it takes and unexpected turn in the feel-good-movie sort of way.

At the beginning of the movie a bit of trauma strikes the kids as the body of an elderly gentleman is found in the snow after the previous weeks storm. When Billy and his friends, the ever endearing Lucas, and the tough, but slightly out of place cuz he's from Jamaica and stuck in a frozen waste land, Howard decide to go to the old man's funeral and find no one there, Billy becomes obsessed with doing something that will get him remembered. Just like every family film, there are warm parts, and parts that make you get a bit misty eyed, there is the bully and the girl and the misunderstanding that comes with being a tween that's trying to do something that is bigger than himself. There's even Christopher Lloyd with a bit of sage wisdom.

(*spoilers*) What I didn't like about this movie was that I wasn't given any spoilers beforehand (I happen to like spoilers, it never ruins it for me, it just gets me excited about it) in order to determine who this movie was best for. Primarily concerning the death. While neither the body of the older man or our beloved Billy was intensely graphic, knowing about Billy's 'death scene'** may have prompted me to watch it when my 3 year old was down for nap. Because, of course, that's now what he remembers the most. I wont say it was traumatic for him to watch, but I may have not had him watch at any rate, or at least covered his eyes for that scene. For myself and the girls it was defiantly a tear jerking, how-can-this-be? sort of scene. I'm not the type to completely shelter my children from death but I like to know ahead of time so I decide if it's too much or not.

(**Billy drowns in an accident when he falls through the ice. He is speaking to us the whole time as narrator during this and is quite calm and reassuring about the whole event, but we are shown that he is unable to hold his breath any longer after being trapped under the ice, and when he is pulled up his is not breathing and is quite blue.)

What I liked was that every person got his moment, or even moments to shine. Lucas and Howard had nothing in this deal but to help out a buddy, but they both put themselves out there to do it. Tender Lucas stood up to the bully, Jason, and won, and he did probably one of the most heroic things ever in saving Billy.

Howard showed moxie and skill right from the beginning, as well as loyalty. He could have easily been one of those kids that meets the dorky kid first, then after realizing it quickly detaches himself from said dork and establishes himself with the cool kids. But he didn't, and I respect that. (Maybe cuz I was the dorky kid...)

Even Jason-the-bully comes into his own. He shows his own tenderness and shoulders the burden, literally, when Billy and Lucas need him the most.

And then there's Billy. So bright and determined to do something big, so sure of the way things are that he can't see the other possibilities. ("It's funny how clear everything is when it's too late.") But aren't we all like that sometimes? In the quiet time that Billy and his friends spend with Lloyd's character they learn something that we really all know but just tend to forget. Something truly "profound". Lloyd says "It's not about what people do, but how they do it. Maybe being a good person is a purpose all by it's self."

In all, this was a good, feel-good (yes, even after the drama it's 'feel good') movie that we enjoyed watching. My13year old said that 'while at 1st she was not impressed by the title, Snowmen, she really did enjoy it and it had a lot of funny quotes that can be used in a round of 'movie quote game'. My 10year old said it was 'sad in parts, but cool', even she got a bit misty eyed but it was funny and she liked the outcome. My 7year old gave it 2 thumbs up. She liked that the bully becomes a friend and even helps them in the end. And my 3year old was a bit entranced by the accident. (He said "Billy fell.") But maybe that will deter him from trying to walk on the ice.

If your family is looking for a "humorous and heartfelt coming-of-age story about three unlikely heroes and the winter that changed their lives forever" type of family movie, then this may be the one for you.

The Nanny

2010-09-17T15:16:00.016-06:00

This is Locutis. Of Cat.

(You can read his story here.) He's a pretty good boy most of the time, he's an old boy too. He just turned 14 this year. He usually looks like this:

But he thinks he looks like this:

I guess I can see a bit of a resemblance...

He's my buddy. He hangs out with me all the time. He tries to help me with my work (he's crashed out on my notebook as I type, he seems to think it's helpful to lay directly on top of my papers), he feels very dejected if I don't let him sleep on the bed at night (and he will go down and pester the kids if he can't get in the room) and he likes (to think he can share my) tea,

and he thinks he's a good baby sitter.

He's very tolerant and has only ever given a nip when it was really deserved. He's actually a bit of a 'fraidy cat and he got beat up by a hamster. But he asked me not to tell you about that. He's very lovey and often shows concern for those who are hurt or upset. Well, for me or very small people anyway, maybe not so much for the man. But whenever I or the baby is very upset he will come running to check on us and make sure we are ok. He's very compassionate like that.

Today Locutis felt that I was slacking off in my parental duties. I thought he was just butting in.

You see I had a headache this morning. I had gotten up with every intention of getting a bit of exercise and being fully productive today. I was going to go for a brisk walk in the morning sun and get some fresh air on this lovely fall day, I was going to clean up the kitchen a bit and maybe do some more preserving. (I am just learning how to can foods and I had veggies from one end of my kitchen floor to the other. The pile has slowly gotten smaller but there's still a bit to do and I really want my kitchen back.) I was even going to balance the checkbook (bleh) and take the kids to the library.

But then I got up. My morning consisted of me getting the children up to start on their chores (and their school work, but they managed to avoid that today) and going right back to bed. Locutis followed me to the room and took up his usual spot at the end of the bed. I never fell asleep, (how could I with 4 children arguing and "cleaning" and having run of the house?) so I could hear everything that was going on. Baby Boy has been 'a bit of a pill' recently some might say. (I say he was being a brat) He is the 1st child I've had that has had bonafide 'terrible twos'. And his fits usually have to do with food. That boy can eat.

Well, he was pitching a fit about something or other and the girls were trying to get him to chill out, and I was ignoring it because I knew it would blow over in a minute and he would find something else to occupy himself. But Locutis was certain that something was really wrong and not only came to get my attention, but stood on top of me and yowled in my face. As if to say, "hey, the baby is really upset, you'd better go check it out." I tried to assure him that Boy was just fussing but he continued to yell at me. I explained that I had no intention of getting up and dealing with it right now because I knew Boy was just having a fit and I had a headache and didn't feel like bothering with giving him any attention for said fit.

Locutis was rather annoyed with me, but as Boy has stopped screaming, he laid back down.

Then Boy started screaming again. (Apparently sister had something he wanted so he bit her. This is new to me as none of my girls were biters, but sister just scolded him and put him the corner for right now since I was currently unavailable for toddler training sessions.) He yelled a good one and a few seconds into it Locutis was in my face again frantically yowling and swatting at my face to get me up. Again I said 'No! He's just being a brat right now.' but Locutis would have none of it. He yowled and swatted at me and when I rolled over and refused to listen he left to check for himself. By this time Boy had stopped hollerin' and found something else to eat so there was really nothing to see. But when Loc came back he gave me a dirty look anyway. As if he just knows that I'm somehow being neglectful. Never mind that there are 3 other people and I was still awake and listening. Never mind that if there was a real problem they would have said and would be out there in a heartbeat (and my house is tiny so it really isn't far).

Never mind that you're just a cat.

I'm just the mom, so what do I know? Sheesh.

Back to School Book Week- Fiction

2010-09-01T14:24:00.004-06:00

i used to read tons, devouring one book after another at times. sometimes taking a break in between. before i had kids. now i rarely find the time to read. when i hit the library i get a nice big stack of books that look so good and then i find that i don't have the time to finish them. usually when i do it's the middle of the night after the children and the man have gone to bed. i stay up horribly late, 2 or 3am some nights, partly because I'm enjoying the story and partly because i know i wont be able to pick it up again for a while.

and in the meantime my daughters, especially the oldest who is now 12, devour their books. reading one after another, (including most of the books that i picked up from the library that i haven't gotten to) thick books being finished in a day or two. some times i'm a little jealous.

i generally stay in the youth and young adults (although, unfortunately, sometimes even these are iffy. do 13yr olds really need to read about having sex?) book section only rarely venturing to the 'adult' section. i don't like smut books, i don't want to read horrible, graphic details about some tragic event or some crazed weirdo, and i don't want to expose myself to an excess of vile language because the characters (or author) couldn't come up with more intelligent words. (as mike wazowski says 'if you're going to insult me, do it properly' or something like that.) (if you're interested, you can find some really great insults on the Elizabethan insults page. classic stuff)

but as for all time favorites, we have a few. there's the old and modern classics like peter pan, ann of green gables, enders game, and ruby hollar.

for younger children i love the gossie book by olivier dunrea . the text is pretty simple but i just love the artwork. soft painted water colors and bright little sketches.

i also love the books by peter h. reynolds, especially 'the dot' and 'ish'.

again, the paintings are simple but beautiful (and i love how he uses tea for one of his mediums!) and the stories are essential for anyone who wants to teach art to children (or even adults). never say 'i cant make art' or 'i cant draw' because anyone can draw anything and it is all art.

(even if it's only art-ish) i also used these books to remind the children that art is in the eye of the beholder, so just because they wouldn't have done it that way, or they don't think it's a good job, doesn't give them the right to insult each other or their own work for that matter. 'ish' is good enough, just look at Picasso.

and lastly i have my small but expanding collection of 'alice in wonderland' books. there's the color book, the annotated book, the old book, the sticker book, and 2 awesome pop ups.

in fact i had to replace one of them because the kids played with too much and it didn't want to pop anymore.

my daughter would like me to also mention the book 'Mimus' by Lilli Thal, one of the few that i actually got to read before she took it from me. it is a tale of adventure and betrayal, of understanding peoples and understanding yourself, and of jesters.

Cook Book and the Zoo

2010-08-31T19:29:00.013-06:00

Today we spent the day at the zoo. we got there at 10:30, the earliest i think i've ever been, and the parking lot was still packed. but at least i didn't have to park at the city park a block away.

today for 'Back to School Book Week' we are sharing our favorite cook books. of course i have the old standby, the red and white checked Better Homes and Gardens cook book. i have several healthy low fat cook books like Eat Up, Slim Down, with some great fast dinner recipes, and Sugar Solutions, that has a favorite scone recipe, both are from the Rodale publishers.

but by far my favorite cook book is this little number that i picked up at costco for 5 bucks.

HEALTHY INDIAN COOKING! by Shehzad Husain and Manisha Kanani and the dishes are delicious! they have reduced the amount of fat normally used in these recipes with water, broth, or most often fat free yogurt. which makes the dishes nice and creamy. mmmm. mmmm.

with all of the spices used in these dishes you definitely don't lose any of the flavor. i love how every recipe has full colored photos of not only the finished product but also the various steps.

each step is numbered boldly and shows the cook (her hands really) effortlessly preparing these amazing dishes. i prepare a meal from this book at least once a week, often more, and i've already gone through the book and marked different recipes for their prep time so i know what i can whip together when i'm short on time. and there are plenty. sooooo good!

i am still perfecting my low-fat gluten free naan recipe. it is quite tasty but being lower in fat, not as puffy as the naan in the restaurants. and it's pretty easy when you use the bread machine to make the dough. maybe i'll have to get around to sharing sometime.

in the meantime, here are some pictures of our latest trip to the zoo.

Back To School Book Week- Craft Books

2010-08-30T11:08:00.020-06:00

i ran across this idea from the vintage chica while checking out some new blogs and decided i had to play along. my kids home school and this year we are making our own schedule, so while most of their friends have already gone back to school, mine have another week of lazy days. but it's close enough.

Monday is craft book(s) day and I'm not sure i can share just one. i suppose my collection is small compared to most out there, but still filled with some great stuff. i have jewelry books, stamping books, altered art books, sewing books and a sizable collection of various somerset magazines. but my new favorite is the book, Enchanted Adornments by Cynthia Thornton the creator of green girl studios.

i wasn't sure that i needed or wanted another jewelry book but when i sat down to look at it at borders one day i knew i needed it in my collection. in it she shares various techniques using metal clay, wire wrapping, resin, and all sorts of fancy bits. her explanation of each technique is thorough and easy to look at.

in the projects section she has a story for each piece, showing how they are unique to each character and offers alternative designs as well. and the entire book is saturated with sketches and paintings and wonderful tea-colored swirls to match the stories and the projects.

another favorite is Artist Trading Card Workshop by Bernie Berlin. i think i love it for some of the same reasons. she has very doable ideas with very easy to understand techniques and step by step pictures for each. and she has dozens and dozens of examples, which is always a plus with me.

the last new fav I'll share is Keeping A Nature Journal by Clare Walker Leslie and Charles E. Roth.

this is such a great book for beginners as it doesn't just say 'hey these journals are great and every great artist keeps one' and follow it by telling you how you have to set it up and what you have to draw. that would annoy me. no, the authors give a nice explanation of nature journaling and really keep everything on a low key level so that you feel as if anyone can do it.

they even share ideas of how to have a nature journal in any sort of weather or without even leaving your house. there are many many pages of simple sketches and paintings, exercises to try and some ideas on how to annotate. these ideas are presented in such an easy going manner that it really just makes you want to give it a try. i haven't even read half of the book through yet, i just love looking at all the sample pages and tips and ideas. there is also a section on teaching nature journaling, drawing techniques and journaling for children.

the kids and i will be making our own journals very soon and we are all excited about the possibilities. i just love the idea of taking some quiet time each week to really observe my environment and be a part of it. i think this will really help to improve drawing skills and the journals will make wonderful keepsakes as well.

2010-08-26T13:59:00.021-06:00

sorry i haven't written in so long...here, i baked you a pie.

homemade punkin pie with a gluten-free crust

so i've been experimenting with flour blends. i've been baking wheat free/low gluten for a long time but not necessarily entirely gluten free. i'm trying to see if its practical or necessary for me to eliminate gluten all together. here is the flour mix i used for the crust. feel free to experiment yourself and tweak it as needed. : )

2 1/2 c oat flour (if you need completely gluten free be sure to get certified gluten free oats. oats are naturally gluten free but are often processed on the same machinery as wheat and can pick it up in the processing)
2 1/2 c brown rice flour
2 1/2 c sorghum flour
1 1/2 c buckwheat
1 c potato flour
1/2 c arrowroot starch
1 1/2 T xanthan gum

this makes about 10 1/2 c of flour mix so you'll have a bit for later.

pastry crust recipe:

1 1/4 c flour (high altitude add about 1/4c more)
1/4 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1/3 c butter or coconut oil
4-6 T cold water

stir together the flour and salt, cut in the fat (with a pastry blender, fork, or clean, dry hands) until the pieces are about the size of a pea. sprinkle 1 T of water over the mix and toss with a fork. repeat until moistened.

(I often find that with flours like oat or rice, they seem to like more moist as opposed to less so experiment with this to find what works for your flours and climate. you don't want to add so much water that the dough becomes sticky but you do want it to be able to form into a ball fairly easily. I think this time around i may have added too much butter as the dough was a bit crumbly-i tried to guess instead of measuring- while the crust was still fabulous it wouldn't hold together for me to transfer to the pie plate. i ended up piecing most of it together in the plate. was this from the butter or the flour blend? no matter. still tasty.)

this crust looks a little bit darker than you may be used to because of the buckwheat.

on a floured surface, roll the dough out from the center trying to make it circle-ish. place in pie plate either by wrapping it onto your pin or piecing it together : ) trim edges and flute.

punkin pie filling:

now i used homemade filling made from a pumpkin we had picked from our trip to the farm. making your own filling is slightly more time consuming but it sooo much more delicious than canned words can't describe it. it is totally worth it! to get your filling cut open your li'l punkins and scoop out the innards. (the seeds can be dried for planting next yr or baked with a spritz of olive oil and salt on a cookie sheet 'til golden for a healthy snack) bake your punkin halves or quarters at 350 until they are soft (probably close to an hour) cool a bit then scoop out all the smooshy goodness. this can be run through a processor to make it more pureed or used as is. i processed mine in an old fashioned hand processor then separated the batch into 1c baggies to freeze and use later.

2c (or 16oz) pumpkin
2/3 c turbinado or raw sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 t ginger
1 t nutmeg
1 t cardamom
1 whole egg
2 egg whites (save those yokes for your homemade lemon curd! I'll share that recipe soon :)
1 1/3 c coconut milk

combine pumpkin with sugar and spices, add eggs and milk and mix well. pour this mixture into your unbaked pie crust.

cover the edges of the crust with foil to prevent burning. bake at 375 for about 25 minutes.

remove the foil and add any little decorations (like the hearts or leaves made with extra crust) and cook for about 25 minutes more. the pie is done if a knife inserted in the middle comes out fairly clean.

makes 8-12 servings, store leftovers in the fridge.

we had this fabulous pie for dinner the other night. yes, dinner. punkin pie and a cuppa tea. i was very popular around here that night. : )

let me know how yours turns out. did your crust give you any problems? did you change the blend? i loved how the coconut milk made the punkin so extra creamy and delicious, what do you think?

even after using the extra crust to make little hearts for the top i still had a bit of dough left over. i just hate wasting good crust so i cut out a few more hearts, spritzed them with oil and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. cooked for about 10 minutes or so they made great little "cookies". (very low in sugar compared to normal cookies but the kids loved them just the same)

The Great Family Camping Adventure...pt2 (finally)

2009-11-19T13:59:00.006-07:00

It's the moment you've all been waiting for! (maybe) (I have been anyway).

As you may have noticed I've been gone for a while. I'm easily distracted. And I don't really like to type. But I do like to yabber incessantly to no one in particular and blogging makes that sooo easy. I suppose it would be easier if I could just let everyone hear the ramblings in my head. Then I wouldn't forget them by the time I got to paper and I wouldn't have to type. Of course, then I may be sedated and locked away somewhere, or else have no friends at all, because I'm a nutter. So maybe it's best that I just improve my typing skills.... moving on....

In case you have forgotten, our story left off with me, the non-camper, insisting that we will be camping, we will do it in our own front yard, and we will like it too, dag nabbit! (Here is part one, in case you need a refresher.)

the tiny white and black speck is my 'dog' Poppy

Was I totally mad!? I hate tent camping. I haven't gone in 12 years, we have no airbed to make the ground more bearable and the mosquitoes in our yard will pick you up and carry you back to feed their horrible little bloodsucking babies like some tiny Jurassic vampiric monsters. After drenching ourselves in bug spray and still being eaten I was seriously considering calling it quits. Or investing in something with lots of DEET. (I restrained myself on both accounts.)

We begin setting up camp in the meadow (aka "front yard"), the 2 older children helping Papa set up the tents while the 2 younger ones entertained themselves. I think I just milled around and took pictures for the most part. I don't remember being at all helpful. I do remember being obsessed with the horrible little bugs.

We brought much of the camp gear to our site and got set up for the night. All of the children were in the large tent with us the 1st night (it had started to rain at one point so we just threw all the junk in the little tent before we got to finish organizing it.) It was a little crowded and a little annoying with all the giggling going on on the other side of the tent.

After we set up our tiny little patio fire pit in the meadow and lit our campfire. We cooked a traditional cruddy family camping dinner of hot dogs and s'mores over our little fire and by the end of the 1st night the girls were smiling and enjoying their treats. And as a bonus, I get to pee in a real toilet, in a clean, familiar bathroom. We did not, however, shower until we 'got home' from our trip. We also didn't let the kids stay inside the house. Oh, they tried to convince a couple of times to let them watch a DVD,

"No, we're camping. We don't have TV."

"No, you can't use the laptop, we're camping an we didn't bring it."

This resulted in lots of tree climbing. Surprisingly, the baby went to sleep easily and even the girls didn't stay awake all night fighting.

Early in the morning (like 3am early) I awoke and was again filled with appreciation for the 'stay' part of our camping 'staycation'. It was just so nice not to have to stumble down an unfamiliar, most likely booby trapped, little path in the dark dead of night trying to find the nasty latrine. That horribly unpleasant place where, by this time of night, I'd probably have to wait my turn. I'd be right after the gargantuan hairy spider that's using the seat first.

The local coyotes have quieted down, the neighbors chickens are still asleep, but somewhere down the road, presumably on the outskirts of our little town, someone has a cow. This cow is hollerin' at 3 o'clock in the morning. What's up with that? As I drift back to sleep on the uncomfortable ground (despite the huge pile of cushions Gabe has found for me) the cow is still mooing. And at 5am when the chickens wake, the cow is still mooing.

Day 2
Our first camp breakfast is pancakes cooked on the little camp stove. We realize that we didn't pack a bowl to mix them in and lucky us!, we don't have to try to borrow one or buy one somewhere. 'Cause we're in our front yard. Awesome.

Breakfast was delicious. Gabe has packed a library book about tying knots, and a bit of rope. Despite my concerns he taught the girls a few of the knots that he's learned. Thankfully, he refrained from teaching them the hangman's knot. Even though they pleaded. (Twisted little monkeys)

I have been talking about a cute little garden canopy that I hoped Gabe would build for me for a couple of years. It's a simple thing, just a pretty bit of fabric and some poles. While I don't have the fabric yet, we do have the poles and an old sheet. Gabe wants to practice some knots he's learned so he finally agrees to build one for me. Just for practice. The poles come from some of the trees that we cleared from the yard, a fraction of the number that need to be cleared. But it's a start.

He had piled them up near an old crate in our garden area and when he began to move them this is what he found...

A hornets nest the size of a dodge ball. And he kinda annoyed them. Thankfully, we have a friend in pest control who offered to take care of it for us. (It was kinda funny watching him . We were safe in the house while he slowly, ever so gently, placed his applicator under the nest, gave it a quick pump of the poison and ran like the blazes to his truck and took off. He did get hit a couple times but I guess he's used to it.) A couple days later Gabe was able to remove the nest and all that was left was a sad little pile of perished pests.

Gabe spent the next couple of hours setting up the canopy. Perfecting the position, adjusting the knots, anchoring the poles and keeping the girls from falling off his ladder. Other than the brief moments on the ground to eat or help with the canopy, the girls spent most of their time in the trees. They talked Gabe into cutting off bits of his rope for them to practice with too and eventually they had a rope swing in one of the bigger trees.

The weather was calm and warm. It had sprinkled off and on since the night before which helped to discourage the mosquitoes from coming out for most of the weekend. That was a lovely bonus as well.

I had packed a bag with paper, pencils, paint and favorite magazines. I had joined a group of artists in a mail art project making 30 unique postcards to send out, and (hopefully) getting as many in return. (I've received about 21 so far.) I had hoped to be inspired by living out in the woods with the bugs and nature and stuff. After the canopy was up I moved my little table over and pulled out my pencils and chalk. Here is the 1st card I made, while sitting outside in 'the woods' enjoying nature...

For our 2nd nights dinner we made soup on the stove. I have to admit it was lacking something. That doesn't happen very often though. Camp food I guess. We finished off the rest of the homemade graham crackers for our s'mores and retired to bed. It's so much easier to go to bed at a decent hour when you're not tied to electricity. This time the girls were in the little tent. Much better.

Day 3
No one had even mentioned South Dakota. The girls were in the trees again and the oldest was smiling and playing instead of being all serious and moody. We opted for pancakes again, instead of eggs, and I snuck some zucchini in them for good measure. The kids gobbled them up and ran for the trees. Gabe lowered the canopy a bit so the shade wasn't so far from the base.

After lunch we cleaned up and started to break camp. We took down the big tent and packed up most of the gear, leaving the canopy and our small tent for the girls to continue using. It stayed up for another month and a half. By 5pm we were mostly cleaned up and a friend had come over with dinner to share so we didn't' have to cook after an 'extremely exhausting' weekend of camping. (Yes, he knew we stayed home. He offered anyway, who am I to argue?)

We were showered (finally), fed (generously), and had had a wonderful family weekend without distraction. Just us. Together.

Day Off?

2009-10-21T19:47:00.004-06:00

I'm having one of those days.

The ones where I don't want to be the mom.

I have a headache, I'm tired and soar in bits, my to do list has barely been touched and my brain has been disengaged all day.

Can someone else please be the mom for a while?

Can someone else please make the dinner? (From scratch of course) Can someone else clean the kitchen and nurse the baby and organize the bulk buys and take care of the dogs at the same time!? I don't feel like vacuuming or paying bills and balancing the check book. I don't feel like dealing with the dirty looks and eye rolls and heavy sighs when I ask for help. (from the kids either) Can someone else "reason" with the kids about why they need to finish their school work or do chores or eat their veggies or not beat each other up? I just don't feel like it right now.

What I really want to do is take a nice hot shower (by myself) to get these knots out. I want to sit on my bum and have a cup of tea (without having 4 little people whining that they want some too, or that it's not fair, or trashing my kitchen when I'm not looking and draining all of my energy.) I want to have the energy and motivation to work in my studio (you know I usually make stuff for you anyway.) And by 'work in my studio' I mean, actually in there. by myself. without a bunch of kids going through my stuff and asking to use it, and asking to see it, and undoing all the organizing I did.

Can I please just not be the mom for a little while. Without feeling guilty about it?

GROSS!! (This Post Makes Me Wanna Puke)

2009-10-11T15:10:00.007-06:00

So we had some cruddy cheese sauce stuff in the fridge and decided we could have some nachos for lunch today. Not the most healthy meal but its fast and the kids dig it. All we needed were some chips. Gabe asked if I wanted him to buy a can of refried beans too since he was going and I said we could have the meal with out beans. We have so many dried pinto beans its ridiculous and I hate to buy more. I should really just cook a big batch and keep it in the freezer for quick(er) meals.

Well Gabe decided to go ahead and buy a can of beans anyway. This can to be specific.

(ugh! I'm getting sick just thinking about it.)

So Gabe opened this can of beans. You know how it is. The beans schlopped out of the can with a little slurping noise and landed in the pot in a perfect can-shaped blob of congealed beanstuffs. That's gross enough as it is. (Can you tell I prefer mine to be made from scratch?)

Then he wandered off and left the can shaped beanish sitting there. So I noticed this and got a nice big spoon out and began smashing the can shape down into some thing more heatable. Once the beanish was all squished down I began to turn it over, you know to stir it up a bit in the heating process. This is what I found hiding in the middle of it:

(insert vomitous gagging noises here)

Now I'm not so squeamish when "they" tell me that packaged food has a certain number of bug parts in it. But that's parts. And I don't have to see them. Oh. My. Gosh. I'm gonna hurl.

Then, Gabe says that we get bugs when we harvest the veggies from our garden. First of all, I wash them off, so they are not in the middle of my meal. And second of all, they aren't flies. Flies are vile poop eating pests. As if I didn't hate them enough already, (just ask my family, I will not rest if there is one in the house. They disgust me) now it's in my food. Or foodish. Another reason to avoid processed food.

Another reason to hate being "poor" and getting half of our groceries from WIC and the food bank. Granted, this was from the general store but we get so much canned, boxed, bagged, processed stuff from them and I just hate it.

I try to be grateful but its hard. I hate this sub-food. We never used to get this stuff. I made all our own cereal and now they think they are being helpful by giving us crappy boxed stuff. It'd be more helpful if they provided oats. Its cheaper and you get more, but they seem to prefer spending more on the junk. They say they want to provide healthy options because we have children then they give us a million cans of "vegetables", canned, powdered, and boxed "milk" and any number of processed wheat stuffs in the form of white bread and a million boxes of mac n cheese and ramen noodles. We are wheat intolerant. Thanks.

Gabe doesn't like 'wasting food' but I stopped using this stuff and asked him to stop picking it up. I will use the dry beans, and the rare bit of fresh produce they offer. Yes, I can find a use for a barrel of apples. Homemade applesauce is much better than the canned stuff they give us. (I didn't even know applesauce came in cans before.) I can use the rice but I don't want want the large cans of "meat" that I wouldn't even feed to my dog, and stop giving me boxes and bags and packages of 3 day old cakes and cookies and brownies. They are over sugared, wheat filled, belly bombs and we don't need them. No, you are not doing my poor children a favor by giving me this. I make the best HOMEMADE, FRESH, FROM SCRATCH, & WHEAT FREE brownies this side of the Rocky Mountains. Ask anyone who's had them. (Most of them don't even know they are wheat free). And my children will always choose them over your week old doughnuts so 'lovingly' donated from Safeway (after no one else wanted them).

And I have officially banned canned beans from my house.

What's Really Important?

2009-10-09T09:00:00.001-06:00

I have been extremely distracted of late with many things of little real importance. Well, I suppose schooling the kids is important, but since they are in a virtual school and the older 2 girls are mostly self-led, I really don't spend a lot of time on school everyday. And we have all been sick. As with any family, it starts with 1 person and slowly cycles through the rest, but it takes a bit longer with a larger family. (Can you imagine those families with 10 kids? They must be sick for months at a time!)

But mostly my distraction has been with the computer. (So, if I'm on the computer, why aren't I finishing my story? I don't know.) I read stuff about homeschooling and homesteading and homemaking. Stuff about crafts and art and recipes for all sorts of cool things. I go to google 1 little thing and I could be stuck there for hours. ( I researched cloth diapers for weeks before the baby was born.)

I so want to find and happy medium. Because the girls school is virtual 3/4 of it is online. Then there's email and Etsy and the mediums to promote it. (Which I'm not very good at by the way. I have officially sold 1 piece, and while I went to great lengths to make her experience in my store pleasurable, a cute handmade box all wrapped in tissues and tags like a special little present just for her, and I even gave her a one of a kind artist trading card as a bonus gift, she never even left me feedback. I know if I listed things more often I would get a little more traffic and I'm sure there are other ways to promote as well. Maybe it'll pick up someday. Maybe not.)

So I do have some reason to be on the computer, but not that much, and some days I feel like its too much. It's like a horrible addiction. You want to stop, you know it s bad for you, and you know you don't feel good afterward, not really, and yet you can't seem to help yourself. You don't even realize you're doing it sometimes, and sometimes you're just plain selfish and you don't care.

"Hi, my name is Melissa and I'm a googlaholic." (This is the part where you say "Hi Melissa.")

I have started to make a new kind of 'to do' list because I'm finding that normal 'to do' lists are too easy to ignore. 'Oh yea, gotta do that thing. Sometime....................................'
Instead, I am starting to write a 'what I really want to do' list. This list consists of the things that are really the most important.

For instance, it's not too difficult to make excuses or ignore my 'to do' list when it says 'exercise'. 'Oh, I got up late' or 'I don't feel good' or 'I'll do it later' (which, of course, I don't).

But when I put on my ' what I really want to do' list 'walk around the lake with my family' it's easier to tell myself, yes, that's really what I want. A nice brisk walk, even if it's just me and the baby because everyone else is asleep. And then I did it.

Now I only just started this experiment so I will have to keep you posted as to how well I actually do with it, but I definitely feel better about things when they are 'what I really want to do'. All the other drivel can be tended to later or just plain dropped because I'm busy doing what I really want, what's really important.

For Your Viewing Pleasure

2009-10-04T19:24:00.016-06:00

I've been gone of a while, you may have noticed. I've been distracted with many things. (I never realized before just how easily I am distracted. I blame technology. And children.)

For the last 2 weeks we have been sick. It started as a simple cold one child got somewhere and shared with the baby, who shared with Gabe. Then shared with me. The kids didn't seem to have it that badly, except for maybe the baby. It's difficult to say if his was all sick or if some of it was from teething as well. Maybe the kids were just too busy to complain much.

For my part it started as a normal cold with sneezing and runny nose but quickly turned to headaches, backaches, general body aches, a raspy terrible cough, chills and hot flashes, and lightheadedness. This was all on one day, which happened to be my 14th anniversary. Nice way to celebrate, eh? No fever though. Weird. The cough lingers as does baby's stuffy nose so we have avoided our friends so as not to contaminate them. I'm happy to report that I had no less than 4 of them contact me today to enquire of my missingness. It only took 2 weeks. But at least it proves that I do have a couple friends.

I have also been distracted by a "mail art" project which is finally finished and I promise I will show you what I worked on for it soon. In the meantime though I also visited the Denver Art Museum during a little known free day event and would like to share some pictures from it with you.

construction on the outside

"Orion" by Deborah Butterfield

"The American Indian" by Andy Worhol

"Fox Games" by Sandy Skoglund

The Great Family Camping Adventure...pt1

2009-09-12T12:56:00.001-06:00

...happened about a month ago. And it did not go at all as planned.

Several months ago my friend K went to South Dakota to visit my friend S.

Crazy Horse in South Dakota

I admit I was a bit jealous because I would have liked to visit too. I've known S since high school after all, when K was only 3 years old. And now my friend is being friends with my other friend and I cant go!? (Actually, I probably could have gone but I didn't make arrangements because I didn't think I could and I really shouldn't be so petty anyway. Its a good thing that my friends like each other, right?)

A few weeks before camping S's sister said her family and K's were going up to go camping with S's family in South Dakota and would we like to go? Yes, we would like to go but we only have 2 sleeping bags and 1 small 2-man tent which we haven't used in 12 years. So no, probably not.

But I really wanted to spend some time with my friends and the kids have never been camping. It's only for 2 days after all, so yes, I guess we will go.

Wait? Where are we gonna sleep? We called around and were able to borrow a large 2 room tent, more sleeping bags, coolers, lanterns, camp stove, the works. Great!

Wait? Who will watch the dogs while we're gone? OK. That's covered.

Wait? How much does it cost? I assume we have to pay for the site or something. Between $2-3 a person we were told. So for 2 nights that's about $30 give or take. I guess we can manage that. (Gabe's business is still quite slow mind you, and we are still living off of savings, which is dwindling rapidly.)

So now, about a week before the trip we are good to go. (All this time and for a long time before I've been mentioning to Gabe that the car is acting up and we need to get it looked at. I mean, I'm just a dumb girl with no knowledge of cars at all but it seems like the transmission is a little wacky. But what do I know? Gabe agrees that it probably need to be looked at but neglects to do anything about it...)

Then Gabe talks to J, S's husband. J informs us that actually the camp sites are 8 persons per site (so we pretty nearly fill that up) and they are $30 per night. Twice as much. Plus we have forgotten that it'll probably take 2 tanks of gas just to get to South Dakota from here. Another $120.

Oh. Deflate. (This is why I tend to avoid telling the kids our plans until we are actually there. The whine and waterworks times 4 is grating to say the least. However, Gabe tends to spill the beans earlier.)

We inform J that because of finances we don't think we can make it. Thanks for thinking of us, we miss you guys. J calls backs a few minutes later and offers to pay the campsite fees for us. Really? Wow! Thank you so much! After discussing it we are back on go with only 2 days til take off.

The girls and I spend parts of 2 days packing and baking cookies and bread and graham crackers for s'mores. Gabe picks up all the camp equipment that we are borrowing and comes home with more than we planned for. ( We have such generous friends!)

Friday morning we have breakfast, pack our last minute items and get the dogs ready for their house guest. Gabe spends an hour or 2 packing up the van and deciding what must go and what need to stay for lack of room. (We need to learn to use the luggage rack on top, the girls could barley breath and it's a 5-6 hour drive.)

Everyone's in the car now except me. I'm giving the kitchen the last once over and grabbing my iced chai for the road. Gabe comes in and says the car wont start. Oh. He tried in vain to jump the van with his dinky little car. No go.

We called S and J to say that although we were ready to go our car was not. Gabe was still hopeful that we could get it moving but I was not so sure.

Two hours later the mechanic has said that we have a faulty battery which cost $100 to replace. And he said that the transmission is going out and ought to be fixed very soon. (The transmission! Hmmmm. Imagine that!) He said that while he couldn't guarantee that we could make it the 800 miles, he was pretty sure it would be OK. Pretty sure.

We've already spent $100 more than we planned and there will be over $100 more for gas just to be 'pretty sure' we wont break down somewhere in the middle of the great vast nothingness that is Wyoming.

Somewhere in Wyoming

(We had a previous car who's transmission went out and was repaired. Twice. We then went on a road trip to California. We broke down in Nevada. Another wide empty space. Thankfully we had just pulled into a little town, but we were only an hour or so from our planned destination for the weekend. We were forced to stay in a hotel for the weekend instead. And we bought a car over the phone and left that one there.)

Deflate again. The car is still packed full and the girls are still hopeful, but we cannot, in good judgement, travel so far with 4 young children in a van so jam packed that even the smallest can't shift her bum 2 inches to the left, when we only maybe will be able to take the 800 miles in 1 weekend with out breaking down.

Now, despite the fact that I am the least likely candidate to even suggest camping in the first place, I am also the most positive of the bunch. I had been going back and forth in my head as to whether or not there is a reasonably priced place nearby that we could camp. Nothing came to mind so I had planned to check the Internet. Until Gabe said we needed to avoid driving the van as much as possible. Nix the driving all over the Colorado mountains idea.

Colorado mountains (a bit hazy)

So we'll pitch camp in the yard.

*Moans* *Pouts* and *Whines* "I really wanted to go to South Dakotaaaa."

"Yes I know. We all did, but unfortunately that didn't work out."

Even Gabe seemed skeptical and showed signs of rebellion.

"No," says I, "we are pitching camp in the yard and were going camping this weekend as planned. We'll still have fun. You'll see."

...to be continued.

Meliss

Still Avoiding Typing=Lots of Pictures

2009-08-29T19:37:00.017-06:00

What have I been doing (besides not typing out my "adventures in camping post")?

I've been making stuff. I think I'm getting a better feel for my sewing machine, and a better understanding of how it works. (I don't get bobbin thread bound up nearly as much or break needles as often. I guess that's progress.)

I have slowly been adding to my cloth diaper stash, I have enough fabric to make 30 more but so far I've only made 8. And I have been wanting to make a few aprons for various things. I have finally made 2. They are so cute I can't hardly stand it. I'm not sure if I should really be using them to work in.

Last weekend Gabe finally built me my clothesline.

We had all the wood already so he only had to buy some brackets for it. He also finished painting and hung my pantry door which has been sitting for 8 months, and he straightened the garage in preparation of a good cleaning and organized his workbench. He's trying to impress me. Next month is our 14th anniversary and I know he has something up his sleeve for that too. I think it has something to do with him sculpting something but of course he's not telling and I wont know until the 29th so stay tuned!

Gabe just loves his ugly, floppy hat.

I would also like to point out that despite my tiny work conditions, I have made some headway in my studio. Just look at the neat little piles on my fabric shelf! Lovely.

Lazy Bum

2009-08-21T23:03:00.005-06:00

I updated my Etsy shop. Finally. I only took the pictures over 2 weeks ago. I should probably take some more pictures. Of other stuff.

Also, I have a rather long, possibly 2 parter totally fabulous post that you certainly can't wait to read. But you'll have to, because I haven't typed it out yet. 'Cause I'm a lazy bum.

Where I Create...(hopefully these will be 'before' photos)

2009-08-12T23:27:00.015-06:00

I just read the new edition of 'Where Women Create', they have such beautiful studios. All filled with glitter and billowy fabric and soooo many lovely little storage containers. To store things. I like keeping things neat and orderly. I like having my sock drawer organized and it is very vexing when someone (named Gabe)(who does the laundry)('cause laundry is a boys job, so there) puts the short sleeved shirts in the same pile as the long sleeved shirts. Yes. Vexing. However, as you may have guessed, I am grossly outnumbered (5-1) in the 'lets keep things neat and orderly' department. And despite my efforts to do so, things are not kept as neat and orderly as I would like. Even when I label them with little pictures on them like this:

I also suffer from a sever lack of neat little totes. (And I probably have more than the 'normal' person) But that's my excuse. Because while I'd love for my studio to look like that:

images from 'Where women Create' fall '09

(and by studio, I mean the tiny space that used to be a small portion of the family room but now houses all of my crafts, plus the kids school, plus Gabe's home business) sadly, it looks like this:

And this is on a good day. I even cleaned up a little. Note Gabe's space in the background. Surprisingly, mine looks worse at the moment. Don't know how that happened.

Here are some of my plans to improve my studio (apart from building above the garage where I would have a studio with a kitchenette and a balcony overlooking my tea garden-which is really a weed garden right now, but that's another story).

My desk is far too small for me and Gabe's is too small for him, we also have a tiny house (before we finished the basement we had 860 square feet) with a tiny bedroom so I plan to remove the closet doors and replace them with either bi-folds or a pretty curtain. That way I can use 1 or both doors as a nice big desk. Then Gabe can have mine. I also plan to move him so I can have this whole space to myself. I don't like sharing. (Last week Gabe said he was going to send me back to kindergarten so I can learn how to share) (I said stay away from my chocolate, buddy.)

I hope eventually to add some more shelves and of course paint and make a slipcover for my ugly chair. ( I have several ugly chairs of various sizes. I love their style but they really are ugly)
And I definitely need more neat little containers with labels. Definitely.

Please tell me I'm no the only one with desk issues...

Meliss

What Have I Been Doing?

2009-08-04T15:55:00.013-06:00

Well, I'm trying to get more items on my little Etsy shop. I have several finished pieces already, several almost finished as well. And of course plans for things that I really need to schedule if I am to actually get them done. I posted 2 new pieces today and have photos of several more that are just waiting to be posted as well.

I haven't yet started my #mailart postcard project but I was able to get better paper. I wasn't happy with the thickness of the paper found at normal craft stores so Gabe made a trip to Xpedex especially for me. I have some ideas for the pieces and not a lot of time so I had better get started.

And of course I've been cooking. With zucchini. I'm thinking I may need to make categories in my blog so they are easier to navigate. Art and recipes and mom stuff. Maybe?

Today's recipe was borrowed from a friend. Marilyn writes for the Denver Examiner and recently interviewed me on my fabulous frugalness. (Really she wrote some questions and I gave her like 8 pages of answers.) I hope to expand on the things I left out in the interview soon.

The recipe was for Mock Apple Pie. I altered it a bit, that's what I do. It called for a double crust but I only had 1 so we made a crumble top for it instead. Here is the original recipe:

4-5cups zucchini, peeled and thinly sliced (like apples) -FB
1 c sugar
1/4 c flour
1 can (2c) applesauce -FB
1-2 T cinnamon
2 pie crusts
mix ingredients and pour into bottom crust, add top crust and make slits, cook for 1 hour at 400F.

Now here are the changes I made and will make in the future:
We had 1 crust so we made a crumble top. Mix 1/2 cup flour, 1 cup oats, 1/3 c brown sugar, and 1/4 c oil til crumbly and sprinkle on top of the pie filling after its in the bottom crust. Bake as normal.

This pie was pretty good, but not totally appleish. Part of the problem, I think, was that Gabe used the apple corer so the zucchini was in big eatable sized slices instead of thin appley pie slices. The bits that were quite small did have the apple pie taste that they were supposed to so I think that was just us not doing it right. The big chunks were not bad, but we could tell that they were not apple pie. Slicing nice and thin is probably an important step in tricking the kids into thinking its apples. I also may add just a bit more sugar to the filling as it was not as sweet as pie. (But we had it for a lunch so less sugar is not a bad thing.) I think I may also add 1 apple next time so that the appley pieness is more appley. And I will probably stick with the crumble top. Its less healthy, but I think its more tasty.

Give it a try, tell me what you think.

Meliss

P.S. Here's a little sneak peek of new items I will post soon...

necklace detail

bracelet detail

a one of a kind ATC with tiny 1" painting by me, sent to customer as a free gift

Zucchini part 2

2009-07-28T13:30:00.001-06:00

I have a whole revamping of my etsy store planned. I finally got Gabe to show me how to take pictures with the computer so I can do it myself. My plan is to reassess, relist, and restart with a few new things and a better grounding.

I joined Mark Venema of @art_news on twitter in his 2nd #mailart challenge and I am newly inspired (partly by the deadline) to make more time to create. The #mailart challenge is pretty cool. As far as I understand it, we the artists commit to creating and sending at least 30 postcard/art pieces to the other artists in our group and of course we will receive art postcards from others in return. How cool is that?

Not that I'm not doing any creating. But most of it has been in the kitchen lately. I don't necessarily "love" cooking or baking, but I love the innumerable varieties of yummity goodness that can be made with just a few simple ingredients. And I enjoy sharing so many of them with you. Here are a few things I've played with recently...

Easy Chicken "Pie"-with Zucchini

Combine cooked chicken with a variety of cooked veggies (including zucchini) and 1 can of cream chicken soup and cooked rice. This warms up easily on the stove and is fast when you really don't want to cook.

Zucchini Banana Bread and Zucchini Chocolate Chip Scones

Pinto Bean Soup with Tomatoes and Zucchini

This soup is so easy, just soak and boil beans until soft, then add enough broth or water (or both) to cover about 1/2 inch above the beans. Add 1 can of diced tomatoes and chopped zucchini and simmer until tender. Add chili powder, cumin, and salt to taste. So simple and delicious with a bit of crusty bread on the side.

Saying Goodbye to Etain

2009-07-25T13:25:00.002-06:00

My sweet kitty Etain had been sick for months. She went from cuddling on my lap, sleeping by my pillow, and near constant headbutts, to sleeping under a small table in the living room. All. The. Time. So much that now that she's not here I still forget and expect to see her laying there when I sit next to it. She was 15, I think. She was already full grown when I got her and was estimated to be about 1, but I've had vets guess wrong before. She was quiet (usually), sweet (when not sneaking your pastries), and she will be missed.

Adventures with Zucchini...part 1

2009-07-23T20:40:00.009-06:00

I'm having an issue with zucchini. Just a small one, and I'm sure I'm not alone, it is the season. The bothersome bit is that it's not even my fault. I am not the greatest gardener and still have much to learn, but I learned years ago that very little zucchini plants are needed to produce many zucchinis. I planted just the right amount for my family of 6, but apparently my friend planted too much for hers because I somehow ended up with a ton from her garden, disguised as a paper grocery bag and stuffed under my chair. So now, despite my own precautions, I have too much zucchini.

I have many, many recipes that I thought I might like to try, but at the moment I have taken it upon myself to put (sneak) zucchini into everything I possible can. You may recall the Zucchini Cinnamon Chocolate Cupcakes (with Strawberry Chocolate Frosting) from my last post. Today I had 3 zucchini experiences. First I baked fresh Zucchini Chocolate Chip Scones for my brunch. Delicious. Then I had a bunch of bananas that were crying to be bread. Zucchini Banana Bread. Also good.

Zucchini Banana Bread & Zucchini Scones

Then the finale. Dinner was Spicy Peaches and Chicken (with zucchini), also a Food Bank friendly recipe. And here it is for you:
(Now, of course I would much prefer to use fresh peaches and fresh hormone-free chicken for this recipe, and if I had made it 2 years ago I probably would have, so feel free to do so if you are able. Also, when I originally made this recipe, I used apricots instead of peaches, which I prefer, but both are tasty. I will mark those items commonly received from the Food Bank with FB.)

Spicy Chicken with Peaches and Zucchini

1can peaches or apricots, drained & diced -FB
1 or 1 1/2cups zucchini, diced or shredded -FB or sneaky friend's garden
1 or 1 1/2c orange juice -FB or WIC
2-4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1-2T apple cider vinegar
2T sugar, brown preferred
1/2-2teas red pepper, I thought 1/2t was kinda lite, but 2 may be much for some
12 ounces of cooked skinless chicken, cubed. -FB 2 (6oz) cans cooked chicken
rice, cooked -FB

Combine all but chicken & rice in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10mins. Add chicken and simmer, making sure chicken gets cooked through, about 10 minutes. Serve chicken in sauce over cooked rice. Quinoa or couscous would be lovely too.

I tested this recipe on my children. The first couple times I made it I used apricots and no zucchini. Daughter #2 insists that she doesn't like zucchini, or indeed most anything green, yet she has devoured the last 5 things I've managed to sneak zucchini into with no complaints. It was she who said that she enjoyed this dish for it's mild sweetness. So, there you go.

Let Me Make it Up to You...

2009-07-20T09:39:00.001-06:00

I have neglected my blog for a month!? Wow.
I have had a 'busy' month, and by busy, I mean stuff happened and I didn't blog it.

Gabe's mom and stepdad just came for a visit. It's always stressful but usually turns out just fine. (Yes, this visit turned out just fine.) We went to a free day at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science followed by dinner at Cinzetti's, a big Italian buffet restaurant where kids eat free on Monday and Tuesday nights.

Gabe being eaten by a dinosaur. He doesn't seem too bothered by it.

The next day turned out to be their 30th anniversary. If it was us, Gabe and I would have thrown ourselves a big party (We had a formal tea party for #10) but instead we went to see Night at the Museum2 at the $3 theater and ate over salted popcorn.

Daughter #1 has been working up the strength to get to the top, this was her first time. You go!

On Wednesday we hung around until the girls had their wall climbing class, then on Thursday we went to an awesome park along the Big Thompson river. The river had flooded in '76 wiping out an electrical power plant (and a bunch of other stuff, I don't know, I was only 2) and the park was built around the remains. It was the highlight of everyone's week, free and beautiful.

Bits of the power plant are still there. We also saw bits and broken concrete along the river.

The girls hunting for cool river rocks.

And now the moment you've been waiting for... a delightful recipe from one of my baking experiments. If you follow me on twitter you may recall my recent (homemade) Cinnamon Zucchini Chocolate Cupcakes with (homemade) Strawberry Chocolate Frosting.

Twitpic" width="150" height="150">

Well, that's not the recipe I'm giving you. Sorry. Maybe next time. But I am giving something almost as fabulous. Pinto Bean Pie. Oh Yes.

You may recall from previous posts that my family receives help from our local food bank. Things are still tight and work is still slow and I have so many pinto beans its insane. I've been collecting and creating and altering various recipes and plan to compile them one day. I know our family is not the only one having hard times financially and I thought I would share a bit of how we are making due.

This pie is pretty amazing, even my daughter who hate beans loved it. You can't even tell its beans. It is very like a pecan pie with out the pecans. (Although I suppose you could add some if you like.) It has the rich sweetness of the filling in a pecan pie and just enough almonds to give it the nutty crunch it deserves. Give it a try, you'll love it. Especially if you have an over abundance of pinto beans.

For this pie I used a premade pie crust I had, but feel free to make a yummy fresh one.

Pinto Bean Pie

2/3 cup plain sugar
2/3c brown sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/3c butter
1 cup pinto beans, cooked and mashed
1/3-1/2c almonds
1 pie crust

preheat oven to 350degrees F (175 degrees C)
cream butter, sugars, and eggs. add beans and nuts, mix well. pour mixture into uncooked pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes. The lovely crust on the top is the pie itself.

So simple. So tasty. Let me know how you liked it.

Meliss

Real Artists Don't Skimp

2009-06-19T13:14:00.032-06:00

I always tell people when you go to the festival at least bring enough money for the food. Some of it is a bit pricey but it is sooo good. Every year I get chocolate covered strawberries and a big chunk of chocolate covered English toffee to bring home.

Visiting the renaissance festival each year is a tradition in my family. We all have costumes and go in full regalia, packing kids and accessories into the wagon. I once suggested that we might try visiting like normal people sometime, in normal clothes, but I was unanimously outvoted. So this year we once again spent all morning dressing and preparing for the day. So many layers and laces.

I usually really enjoy a day at the festival but this year was a bit of a disappointment. Oh, they still had the chocolate booth and we watched a show we hadn't seen before. (Arsene of Paris was a silly french man who didn't speak but let us in on a few magic trick 'secrets' and juggled fire. Gabe loves anything with fire juggling. He is not allowed to, he's still working on 4 ball.) But we didn't have much time to window shop. We only got to stop at a few shops between being 2 hours late and needing frequent stops for 1 person or other.

The window shopping is an integral part of visiting the faire,especially if you are an artist. There are well over 200 artists at the faire selling any number of things. I love being able to ask the artist personally about their work, being able to see demonstrations or learn about new (old) forms of art. Many craftsmen there take pride in working the same way as, or offering the same products as would have been available in the 1500's. For the artists like that I expect to pay them well for what they are worth as I appreciate the work and workmanship that went into their wares.

I have a pair of leather shoes from Renaissance Moccasins that I bought about 10 years ago that are still in fabulous condition. They are so comfy. The artist makes each shoe from 1 piece of leather and she gives them a lifetime guarantee. If they ever need fixed-which mine never have- just send them in. Now some have told me that these shoes are too expensive. Over $50. But these are HANDMADE LEATHER shoes. Hello? A pair of Nike's costs at least that much and they are ugly junk that I know wont last that long. And if they wear out can you send them to Nike to get them fixed? No. Nice try.

The problem that I have been seeing though, is that there are just as many artists there that have been 'cutting corners' to make a buck. There were a couple shops that we visited, that I have purchased from before, that I was deeply disappointed in. The materials that they are using now are cheaper, flimsy, not as pretty or fancy, and yet they are charging the same or even more for these lesser quality items. Now I understand trying to keep costs down or dealing with inflation, but to switch from a nice quality product to something obviously inferior just doesn't sit well with me. Part of the appeal of the faire was the artist/customer relationship that blossoms in that type of environment. I imagine its like walking the main street stalls in old time England visiting with the person who actually created the thing, and even bartering a little sometimes.

One of the shops we visited used to be a favorite. I bought my self and my eldest daughter bodices there when she was little. (both of her sisters has since worn it) I have since sewn my own bodice that I usually wear, but this year I wore my old one to better facilitate Baby Boy's nursing needs. It's a beautiful bodice with several types of fabric patch worked together and that was actually the inspiration for the bodice I made a couple years ago. I love it's green and brown tones, the velvet and the brocade. I love how adjustable it is with the lacing, it's just a really nice garment all around. That they don't make anymore. Not only do they not make bodices like this anymore, but they were rather snide about it when Gabe asked. And the young girl that was 'helping' run their booth knew nothing about the product or company. (Nor did she endeavor to play the part and speak with a proper English accent. Another pet peeve of mine that has permeated the kingdom these last few years.) The bodices they sell now are all plain, 1 fabric (not even pretty fabrics) with no character, no imagination, no customer service, and no business from me.

I know not all the artists there have given up on their art or its quality just to 'do their job', but there were too many that did for my tastes. I so want to go back, though I don't think finances will allow, to visit all the shops that we missed, which was a lot. To visit all the shops that are still run by true artists that don't skimp on quality, who are happy to take a few moments to visit with you, with your kids, who will give you mini lessons and demonstrations , who are there because they love their art and they love to share with you. I want to go back and see some real art from real artists. And maybe get a bit more chocolate.

Baby Boy in his festival cloak. Baby moccasins dangle next to him.

Daughter #3 on the climbing wall. Yes, she went all the way to the top!

Daughter #1 at the archery booth

Daughter #2 at the archery booth

~Meliss

Sew Much To Do...

2009-06-11T09:39:00.001-06:00

(Lilliput)

I'm totally distracted. I guess I'm always distracted though. I think I'm gonna get "stuff" done but there's always something. I finally got Gabe to show me how to set up the computer to take photos for my Etsy shop, but he set up on his computer so I don't have the pictures until he transfers them. I should probably have him show me how to do that too.

This weekend is the first weekend of our local renaissance festival, which we attend every year. It's a great place to visit for an artist of any level. There are jewelry artists, painters, sculptors, metal smiths, leather workers, costumers, musicians and instrument makers, henna artists, artists who make masks, hair sticks, shoes, feather art, and the list goes on and on. So many have been regulars for as long as I've been going (17 years!) and there are many, many whose work I admire and aspire to. I also go for the chocolate booth which is just a round the corner from the petting zoo.

Now I know some people don't like the festival because there are some "weirdies" that work there but come on, there are "weirdies" at the mall. And Walmart. And just about anywhere you go. And no, there is not a larger concentration of them at the festival either. If someone is providing a service, or a piece of art that disagrees with my moral standing or conscience I avoid it, whether I'm at the mall or some other place. It doesn't mean I don't go shopping. But that's just me.

(Gabe in a slightly upgraded costume-he started out as a peasant. This was bought.)

Shortly after I met Gabe I learned that not only had he been to the faire near his home, but that he had worked at it. He worked for a leather shop watering the dirt. Yes, watering the dirt. He was later upgraded to hawking wares. He therefore had his own costume, and I had mine. Not cuz I worked there, just cuz I'm a dweeb. After we had kids we started to get them their own costumes and even upgrade our own. I've sewn at least half of them myself. I am currently working on a cloak that was supposed to be for my oldest daughter, I may wear it first though. I'm having trouble getting motivated to sew. I just realized that I don't really like to sew. Which is kinda strange. I like to make things and I like seeing the outcome of what I've sewn but the actual process of sewing always puts me a bit on edge. Not sure why, it also frustrates me because no matter how hard I try, my sewing is not as beautiful and straight as the work of so many other amazing seamstresses. And that's just annoying.

(I made this coat to mimic the one on Geoffrey in 'A knights tale' and bought the amazing leather top hat at the festival. I also made the sash to match.)

I have two days to finish the cloak (and hopefully a mini one too) and I know I can finish it in one. The question is will I? Or will I let myself get distracted by things and be up at midnight trying to finish? Or will my machine poop out? That tends to happen a lot when I'm almost done too. I bet I would really love sewing if my machine cooperated more. And did all the work. (I guess its a good thing I don't have to make everyone's clothes by hand, what a whiner I am.)

(This is the fabric that will soon be a cloak. I'm about 1/3 of the way there.)

(Baby boy testing out his costume. This one was bought at the Cali faire.)

I'd better get to bed, I've got work to do tomorrow.

Meliss

No Apologies

2009-05-27T14:43:00.009-06:00

I was going to apologize or make excuses for why my blogging hasn't been as consistent as I'd like. I had hoped to write 2-3 times a week. I've seen some who share everyday, sometimes a couple times a day, but that's just not me. It's just that...well, maybe it's just that I'm not really following a schedule. I decided a few weeks ago that my writing time should be left for the evening (even though it's the afternoon right now) because I hate it when I'm on a roll and I get interrupted a million times and forget my thought. Which invariably happens when everyone is awake. (I guess I'm a glutton for punishment...)

But I've decided not to apologize for this. If you read my blog or follow me on twitter then you know that I have 4 children at home. I home teach 2, 3 next fall, and I have a co-sleeping, wearable, nursing, mama's boy. He alone is a time and energy drain some days. Plus he's cute. When I thought about it, I realized that I have no reason to apologize for this, that's just the way it is.
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On another note, I have no photos to share right now, (at least not of my art). I have been working on some stuff in the snippets of time that I can steal away from "the more important things" but no pictures of them yet. I am honing my schedule, and Gabe's too, so that more art time can be worked in. I was annoyed that the girl's virtual school did not offer any art classes (as were they) so my hope is to make up for it this summer by teaching them some of the things I know. I think it will be a fun way to draw them out and nurture their creativity at the same time. I will definitely be sharing pictures of that.

In the meantime, here are some pictures my second daughter drew. She is 8 and very little of a girly girl. She likes bugs and snakes, as well as ponies. She likes playing pirates and princess (though she is usually the princess' horse), and she is my most picky eater.

Here is a picture of a skeleton in a coffin that she drew. I have no idea why.

(click on the pictures to see a better view.)

The next one she drew the same day. It is a sarcophagus and a mummy (with a belly button).

Enjoy,
Meliss

Things I Want To Be Cool At

2009-05-11T09:00:00.001-06:00

I have a list that I wrote out about 3 years ago. Before my surprise son, before Gabe lost his job and we had to short sell our house. And before the renters destroyed our 1st house and stopped paying us so that we had to kick them out and move (for the 3rd time in a year) back in after gutting the place. (We even had to replace walls, it was so gross).

I called it my 'Things I want to be cool at' list and I saved it in my palm pilot (and forgot about it because I only use the palm for a glorified calculator and grocery list.) In looking at the list, I see that there are many things I wrote that I haven't really made any headway with, some that I started to but circumstances changed, many that I would still like to try and some that I think I've changed my mind about.

Here is a partial record of my list.

Exercise: do P90X, be stronger, strengthen core---
I actually did this, then I got lazy and didn't really exercise much, not consistently. Then I had a surprise pregnancy-he's 8 months old now-and I was sick for the first 4 months so my plan to keep exercising was altered and I craved nothing but nachos for the rest. So I currently can not do the X anymore. But I aspire to get there again.

Sports and Recreation:
archery--I'm still interested, and daughter #1 plans to take lessons this summer too.
croquet, juggling sticks,--I have a nice set of sticks and I was pretty good at first, better than Gabe even. But he is kinda obsessive over techniques and stuff so he ended up getting much better than me. Which annoyed me. I still like playing with them but I don't do anything real fancy.
hiking, surfing.--OK, first of all, I can't swim. And second the friend that tried to convince me that surfing is good and I don't need to know how to swim moved far, far away. Also, I live in Colorado. I've heard some very resourceful ones figured out how to surf here, but I'm still gonna fall back on the I don't swim excuse.

Parenting:
Be consistent with Love and Logic, Share my love and my time, do things with the girls-outings, cooking, enjoy their company. Commend their positives and be empathetic to their negatives.---

I have not been consistent. I have a drill sergent personality, I want it done and I want it done now! I also have a hard time being empathetic to stupidity-especially in adults-this is a hard one to break. My mom used to belittle me at times and I work really hard not to do that to my kids but I still need to be more empathetic I think.

I read a quote somewhere that said "children spell love T I M E" and I can totally see that. They don't need the fancy toys (they don't really play with them when they get them anyway, the stuff just gets lost or broken.) but they relish the time we spend. I instituted 'Mom and Me day' a few years back, (maybe when I first wrote this list, I don't remember) its a time where I spend the day with just one of them. We don't even do anything fancy, I run errands or we go for a walk or do some baking, but its just the 2 of us. All the the girls love it and ask when our next one will be. I wish I could do it more, I don't want to be one of those moms that thinks they know their kid when they really have no clue. These are each individual people and I want to know them all.

Jewelry:
necklaces, bracelets, earrings, anklets, ropes---these I've done many of.
pins, charms, hair sticks, pmc-these I sill want to try or do more.

Art:
painting, drawing, masks, (paper mache, resin...) collage, stamps, paper, clay, altered books, furniture (paint, cover, build)---
Many of these I've done but not nearly enough. I started a project as an anniversary gift for a friend about 3 years ago which is still not done. I wanted Gabe to sculpt part of it for me as that is his area of expertise, and he still has not finished, so neither have I.
I have not experimented with the masks yet but I still think they would be cool. I am in the middle of making covers for a few pieces of furniture, but I'm such a beginner when it comes to sewing that the stitch ripper is my best tool.

Playing:
bass--Gabe is a bass player. He's played since he was about 14, he doesn't play everyday so he claims he's not that good. He needs to stop comparing himself to Les Claypool. He is good and has written some great bass songs. And his fingers are abnormally long and stretchy because of it. However I have learned that I can't learn from him. Not well anyway. His teaching style is a complete opposite of my learning style and I get very annoyed when he takes over stuff. He's trying to get better at that, but maybe that's why he hasn't showed me a lot of stuff I asked him to show me. He used to teach bass in school and his students went on to perform but after 14 years I still don't know how to play. Maybe that's my fault? Nah.

Meliss

Tweedlepox in Denver's Frugal Examiner

2009-04-28T12:58:00.007-06:00

A friend of mine, Marilyn, has an examiner.com page, Denver Frugal Living, and recently featured some of my artwork that's on Etsy. I didn't even know it was there until I decided to see what new articles she had posted.

She concentrates on short simple ideas for living on a budget. As a mother of 5 (hers are all grown now) she's had a lot of experience stretching a dollar to care for a large family and many of her articles give tips on how to do that. She discusses growing your own produce and making your own pizza as well as other tips and local entertainments too.

She spoke of Etsy as one way stay home moms (like me :) can contribute monetarily to the household while being able to continue to stay and be the mom. As she mentioned, for those of us with a large family, the amount we'd make elsewhere doesn't even cover the cost of childcare. Etsy is a great place for any artist, full or part time, to market their wares as literally thousands of people shop Etsy everyday.

Marilyn even included a link to my Tweedlepox store so I guess I should get more stuff out there. I have been waiting for Gabe to teach me how to do the pictures on the computer but his schedule has been packed this month so it has gone undone. It was my intent to get new products up each week. Well, we all know that many good intentions get thwarted in life but that's no excuse to stop trying.

I think I'll work on it this weekend. And maybe we'll have some pizza too.

Meliss

Changes Afoot?

2009-04-27T18:39:00.013-06:00

I'm considering revamping my logo. I still like certain elements of it, namely the Tweedle "D" and the rattle "P", though Gabe says the "O" personifies the Tweedle and the pox. I even very briefly considered changing the name entirely.

While trying to think of names we decided that it needed to be something fanciful that caught your attention. We came up with many that were OK, but...then I said maybe it should be totally silly. Gabe said "Tweedpox" and I changed it to "Tweedlepox" as I am an Alice in Wonderland fan and that is the name we kept going back to.

I decided, for now, not to change the name because for one thing, its too much work and for another, I can't think of anything that would fit me. So I stick with Tweedlepox and its expression of fanciful, silly, whimsicalness while trying to be perfectly proper. But I consider changing the font or style of it.

This is what I doodled the other day and I rather like it. What do you think?

Paintings of a Friend

2009-04-27T16:46:00.012-06:00

A friend of mine married this weekend and as a gift I painted some pictures for her. I wasn't too sure how I felt about them but they did turn out OK. And she liked them too! That's quite a compliment since she's an accomplished artist herself. (Another friend made this beautiful, scrumptious cake. Art comes in all forms, I think.)

There were some challenges in making these pictures. When I went to take a photo of her (she didn't know why of course) I had forgotten my camera so I used my phone. I had only tiny pictures to look at, I may have been able to move them to my computer but I didn't have time to mess with it.

I tried to start on Monday and the wedding was on Saturday. I was not able to work on the paintings all of Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or half of Friday because of forgotten errands, pop-ins, a school function, a Drs appointment and more pop-ins. That turned my 5 1/2 days to work into 2, minus all the school and kids and nursing and nagging-that gave me about 3 hours to draw and paint 3 pictures and create a keepable wedding card to boot. (which I forgot to photograph)

My friend is quite a ham, so in all the pictures I had of her she was making faces. That's OK, it fits her perfectly.

I only have minimal, inexpensive equipment, which I am determined to make work for me. I believe great art can be made with modest tools, its not the fancy materials that makes it art.

This is the first time I've watercolored/painted skin. I have colored people with chalk and pencil but usually when I paint its nature not people. The paintings turned out pretty good despite my inexperience.

I've never really considered myself good at sketching, especially people, but I was happy to find that my pictures do basically look like my friend.

I tried something different with the color this time as I only have an eight pack of watercolors. I was wanting to find just the right mix of colors for my friends rich skin tone so I took my chalks and used them with the watercolors. I tried wetting the brush and touching the chalk but in most cases it was way too light. I also have a blender pen to give the chalk a watercolor look but I didn't want to pen such a large surface. So instead I used a file to grate the chalk, even combining the colors of chalk and the watercolor paint to get the right shade.

I used watercolor brushes(cheap) for some application but I also used a wetted Qtip dipped in the wet color. I really liked how the Qtip gave some of the softest lines. (I didn't think to use it until half way through the second picture) And I was able to blend the colors so much easier than with a brush.

I seem to do most of my best work as gifts for other people. Maybe art as a token of love is the best art a person can make. That's why it's important to only make what you love yourself.

Meliss

Secret Garden in a Local Greenhouse

2009-04-17T15:08:00.028-06:00

As promised, here are the pictures of the greenhouse I visited last Saturday. I find it all very inspirational in a couple of ways.

1. It makes me want to learn to garden (I am attempting my first square foot garden this summer, very excited to have fresh veggies this season..)

2. It makes me want to create. I could sit in there and paint what I see, I could use bits of nature to make anything from jewelry to home decorating and anything in between, draw, craft, and generally be inspired...

It's like a jungle in here.
The picture at the right smacks of an actual greenhouse with a long table filled with plants. But the plants have taken over.

All of the trees have decided to stay and burst out of their pots and into the ground.

Even pots of other plants have been left to their own devises.

There were so many more awesome pictures, too many to put in one post. This greenhouse has a sad story (because of the huge amount of money lost on these trees due to competition from the big money people) but it is such a beautiful, inspiring place and I will definitely be visiting again.

Meliss

My Studio Mascot

2009-04-15T14:36:00.004-06:00

I'm in the process of getting pictures of an awesome greenhouse I visited set up to share with you, but in the meantime I'd like to share this.

My fat old cat Locutis has had the honor of being included in the Your Studio Mascot blog by EC Stewart of ECStewart Designs, Inc.. She has some amazing calligraphy style artwork that I just love, and she is an animal lover. We are very excited to be included in her special blog for our special family members.
Check it out at the green YSM link above.

Meliss

Prelude

2009-04-08T23:50:00.003-06:00

(This tiny post is just a prelude to the real post which will be featured tomorrow. As it is much too late to be "featuring" anything right now)

I find that it takes so much time to create nowadays. I don't get down to my desk very often and when I do its a mad rush to make something in the few moments I have before the kids find out where I am. Then when I'm done, my desk looks like this..

That reminds me, I have a wedding card to make.

(To be continued....)

Continued..a short history through cards

2009-04-08T17:50:00.027-06:00

I find that it takes so much time to create nowadays. I don't get down to my desk very often and when I do its a mad rush to make something in the few moments I have before the kids find out where I am. Then when I'm done, my desk looks like this..

That reminds me, I have a wedding card to make.

I decided to share some of the cards I have created in the past. You will see how my skills have improved though the amount of time I have to do it in has reduced.

This is the first major card project I did, the birth announcement for my oldest daughter. I made about 40 of these, mostly at 2am.

As you can see, I was fairly new to the whole stamping thing and the stamps I had were pretty cheesy little foam backed things. The little blue flap on the front opens up to reveal the (handwritten) baby stats. This was 11 years ago.

The second time around, I wanted something simple (so it would be easy to repeat). A short time before this I had discovered Stampin' Up! stamps and became a demonstrator. I used their paper, ink, and stamp image for this card 8 years ago.

Just one stamp and a pretty ribbon.

Daughter #3's card was only slightly more complicated. I was no longer a Stampin' Up! demonstrator (5 years ago) due to lack of sales and mostly time, but I still like their products and used some for this card as well.

I used their papers and a cute baby feet stamp in Versamark ink to give a watermark look on each color block.

Now comes our 10 year anniversary. Gabe and I got married in a court house with just a few close friends and family. There was 12 of us crammed into a tiny office as the justice of the peace preformed our ceremony. We had a get together with more family a couple weeks later but it was not planned by us and not what we would have done.

We weren't really expecting anyone to do anything for us for the big 1-0 so we decided to throw it ourselves. We had a very small gathering with just about 20 people and we threw ourselves a fancy tea party. Gabe even rented a tux. We made most of the food ourselves, with a little help from friends, and bought 12 teapots for the tea. (Gabe got them on sale here, along with some wonderful tea blends). I made these invitations for the party.

This card had two Stampin' Up! images, one in Versamark and one stamped into paperclay.

The image was stamped in paperclay and dried. Then I painted it with acrylics and "aged" it with antiquing gel.

It was an accordion style card with collage images stamped on the pages and it included a quote, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love." by Mother Teresa.

At the tea we included cards at each table with instructions to help make it run more smoothly.

This image was a variation of the cupid picture we had on the windows during our wedding reception. Our only contribution to it, we felt it fit perfectly. I'm not sure where the image is from, but we made copies for these simple cards, backed with rust colored card stock and tied off with pretty ribbon.

And last but not least, the "announcements" for my son. We decide to call them "introductions" since he was announced 7 months ago and we still have about half of the cards to send out. (Sorry guys, at least I got them made before he could talk!) I had to make about 40. (By the way, I did start it before he was born, but we also moved 3 times, never mind your normal pregnant 30something tired.)

For these cards I didn't want the usual cutesy baby blue, or little cars, or footballs, or any other traditional boy thing. (If he's anything like his papa, he'll be more into juggling and hat tricks than sports and cars.)

I found a nice paisley that wasn't girly and had some blue in it (I'm not completely against it) and paired it with a nice brown with a subtle argyle pattern on it, then mounted them on cream card stock. Copper colored eyelets add a nice accent as opposed to the ribbon used for the girls.

I got my husband, who is a artist in his own right though he wont admit it (he did these when he was about 17 or 18), to sculpt the D for me. The background is paperclay stamped with a lace image and antiqued. Then Gabe sculpted a master D and made a mold out of it. All the D's were then "cast" in paperclay, painted in a blue to match the paper, and antiqued before mounting them to the lace. Then the whole thing was mounted to the card itself.

I think Gabe did a great job and I wish we could work together on projects more often. (I have lots of ideas that incorporate sculpted pieces but its by far not my best area, where he is great at it). I may be able to talk him into more, I just have to be patient as he is a last minute kinda guy.

I think my skills have improved, and I really enjoy making cards, maybe I should do it more often. What do you think?

Meliss

P.S. The site for Faces Past was also designed by Gabe (when he was still learning web design). It happens to be my mother-in-law, Michelle Mastel's, site. She is an accomplished porcelain doll sculptor. Her civil war bride is a beautiful piece of art and an all around favorite.

Toadily

2009-04-03T12:55:00.019-06:00

In the future I hope to get more organized with my posts. Though I have seen that I'm not the only one that's not. I have also seen others consistently share great stuff. I think I'm in between.

That said, I wanted to share some pictures of a piece I made a while ago. It has since been sold, so I'm afraid you wont be seeing it in Tweedlepox's Etsy store. (Which I opened pretty much on schedule. Amazing!)

Toadily Beautiful is a favorite that I created while working a booth at a craft fair.

The fabulous toad bead is by Green Girl Studios. He reminds me of the Frog and Toad stories that were my favorites when I was little.

Another item that is not for sale, and I did not make. (Maybe I made him fat.) I found this in my photo booth after taking a few shots.

Also, the dress that I spoke of is almost finished. It is taking far longer than I tend to think it should, but seeing as sewing is not my best skill, and my machine repeatedly binds up when I'm almost done, I should be happy that I have anything to show for it.

The skirt half is a white satiny material with a ribbon of toile along the bottom. Very cute.

I am so ridiculously close to being finished with the entire thing, that my sewing machine is sure to spontaneously combust. I'm sure i just need to get it tuned up, but unfortunately that will have to wait.

I haven't had any revelations recently (they come and go) so I'm afraid I don't have anything really fabulous to say. I can't be fabulous everyday. I have decided to be more proactive in my efforts to discipline (as in "to teach") my children as opposed to yelling. I discussed this with them this morning and they seemed to agree with the plan. We shall see if they continue to agree once I lay the empathy on them after they learn they wont be joining me for a movie later. If I keep a positive attitude about the whole thing, it promises to be amusing. For me.

Meliss

I Choose This

2009-04-01T00:09:00.006-06:00

So I just finished reading a great post by illustrator David Billings of Sparkyfirepants about being your own person (or bot) whoever that may be. I'm feeling frustrated because I've had a night of being mad at the kids and the messy house, and its really not the easiest thing to type and nurse a grouchy baby at the same time. And I'm not the greatest typist to begin with. (picture by artist David Billings)

But reflecting on his words make me think that I'm not being my own bot. Now he was talking about not being ashamed of who you are. If you love math or Legos or whatever, do your best at whatever you love and don't let those who don't understand your thing stop you from doing or enjoying your thing. I get that.

But then I wondered if I'm not being my own bot in another way. Here I am stuck in the middle of the life I chose and feeling like I really need a vacation. Like I'm severely under appreciated or maybe I somehow got gypped. But I chose this. I wanted to be a stay home mom with a house and a cat. I know there are a lot of moms out there that would love to stay home with the kids all day and can't for some reason, and there are a lot of women who would love to be moms but can't for some reason. In that sense I'm very blessed, so what exactly is it that I think I need a vacation from?

I have always enjoyed making art and have continued to try to do so even when I didn't get support because it wasn't "real" art or it wasn't a good money maker or any of the other reasons that so called, well meaning naysayers tend to give. But I didn't chose art as my career. I didn't go to art school or start off trying to make money for the things I made (though the idea is exciting). I chose to be a mom. That's what I do. I make lunch and clean house, I wipe noses and help with school work, and I think maybe I've been a little lax in my responsibilities. I don't always want to make lunch or change diapers or try to explain the math again. Maybe that's normal to get burned out on the things you like sometimes, or maybe I'm doing the under appreciating. I get so frustrated when I'm trying to do a few things that I've attached some deadline or goal to, and I get a million interruptions because 1 is hungry and 1 needs help with school and 1 is screaming for attention and 1 is just screaming.(Yes, I have 4) But I think I must have lost touch with myself somewhere. If I stop and just be the mom, not momish and 2 or 3 other things at the same time, everything runs more smoothly in the end.

My kids are good kids. They are some of the most polite, considerate, well behaved kids of any I know, and I don't say that just because I'm their mom. I've been told this many times. Yes, they push my buttons, that's their job. So whats my problem? When I think about, I don't really know. There's a part of me that really wants to create, and to feel good about what I've made and to share it with others. That part of me doesn't get much time because the mom part of me has priority right now. Maybe the artist part just feels like whining right now. But it knows it's time will come. The kids will grow up and rely on me less and less, maybe not at all at some point. Then the artist part will have tons of time on her hands and the mom part will whine because she feels like she was somehow gypped. Maybe they should both stop whining and be happy for what they have. (and maybe I should stop talking about myself in third person. people.)

Mr. Billings' blog also talked about when little kids do silly things just because it seems good to do at the time, and how as we grow older, we stop putting ourselves out there because we've been taught that it's not good to be weird or not fit in. It reminded me of a sort of revelation I had last week. My nearly 5 yr old daughter asked me what it means to be embarrassed. I did my best to explain in terms she would understand. I said stuff like 'it's like being ashamed when you do something, like foofing really loud during a prayer.' Then I realized that that would not embarrass my daughter, she would probably laugh hysterically. (I would be embarrassed) Then I realized that if she felt embarrassment (or shame ) for that it would probably be because she got scolded for it and told that it was inappropriate, or impolite. I imagine the twinkly smile on her face instantly dropping into a downcast look, mouth in a frown, avoiding eye contact, and maybe with a quavering voice apologizing for being wrong. And I realized that, by my definition anyway, embarrassment is closely related to shame, and it is learned.

I think I've seen my little girls (all three) make that very face. I think I probably caused it. Then I worry a little bit. Have I caused them to be wallflowers because I over reacted to something at some time. ( yes, in that incident, they do need to learn tact and self control, but there are many other incidents that people get embarrassed from) I think about the things that embarrass me, or in that I am the proverbial wallflower, that I feel terrified to jump out there and try, and that fear is tied to embarrassment. Is it shame too? What are we doing to our kids, to ourselves when we chastise or criticize things we don't agree with or don't understand. Do we hold ourselves back from doing great things because we are embarrassed? Ashamed or afraid to be criticized? And what great blessings are we missing out on, or potentially causing our children to miss out on, by instilling that shame in them. To be ashamed at true wrongdoing is one thing. I think that's healthy and a good sign that a person has a conscience, but to feel ashamed or embarrassed to so something good...that is a great disfavor to everyone involved.

So am I not being my own bot? Am I not putting myself fully in the role or roles that I've chosen for myself? That's another question. Can I really be in two major roles, or do I need to concentrate on doing one well? And what am I missing out on by being embarrassed or listening to that scolding that says I'm not supposed to do it that way? How do we ignore useless criticism and still have ears to listen to wise council? If these are all the things that a child must try to figure out in the first 5 years then no wonder they zone out and go on wild runs sometimes. While my artist side is very excited by recent accomplishments, she must be reasonable and remember that mom side has a lot more work to do. I will continue to create things like I always have, but I cannot spend 40+ hours a week in the studio. I'll be lucky if I get 2. And while that is much slower going than I would prefer, it's OK. I have the even more important job of helping 4 little ones find the right path and "be their own bots."

Meliss

I'm Pluggin Along

2009-03-30T14:11:00.011-06:00

I'm almost done setting up shop. I have posted my policies (just doing that was amazing in itself) and am now in the process of posting my first few pieces to my Tweedlepox Etsy store.

I haven't had much time to create new things, but, as a good friend is getting married soon, I was able to take some time to make a simple card for her bridal shower. When I first completed it I didn't like it. (It was 1 in the morning and I was very tired) However, when I saw it with new eyes the next day I decided it was pretty cute, the only thing it lacked was glitter. My friend it a bling kinda girl. Here is the out come.

I love the flowery background paper but it is very busy so I only let it peak out from behind the blue a tiny bit . As I said, the card is very simple, I would have liked to do something much more fancy but just didn't have time. I will have to save that for the wedding card!

The image is stamped on white paper then colored with chalks in coral, pink, dusty green, and baby blue using a blender pen. I then stamped the image again on vellum and overlaid the dress for a more subtle color. Glitter adds a bit of sparkle to the skirt. I cut the image out and formed a wire hanger in place of the stamped one. The tiny little hanger is probably my favorite part.

My youngest daughter also made a pretty dress for our friend. She's getting much better at her coloring. I like how she alternated the colors for the dress.

My hope is to have all of the pieces that I currently have pictures of listed by this evening, then I will continue to photograph and list more in the days to come.

I have the urge to offer some great words of wisdom or encouragement (for myself as much as anyone else who may read this) but unfortunately, I'm just not getting anything. Not anything new anyway. So I just need to keep pluggin along (I guess that goes for exercising too) and I'll get there eventually.

Meliss

Snow in Spring

2009-03-27T10:25:00.009-06:00

Yesterday was a spring snow day. All the more reason to enjoy a hot cuppa this morning.

It doesn't snow much in CO. but when it does, it's either gone in 2 hours or it snows for 2 days. This was the 2 day variety. I don't know what it is about snow days that make me want to laze around and do nothing, but that's what happened.

I had intended to finish up my policies page for my Etsy store (which is still under construction but due to open in a few days) but the snow seemed to have swallowed all good intentions.

I have to say that spring is not my favorite season. It promises to be rich with flower buds and honey bees, but it's a sneaky season with freak snowstorms and cold snaps and it's impossible to know when the last frost is so I can plant a garden. On the plus side though, spring snow is quite pretty when it's finished. Have a look.

The morning after

My garden tea table. This is a love/hate picture.
So pretty, but it means I can't take my tea outside.

Poor little beat up fence

Today will be more productive. Maybe I'll even get my pieces listed by this evening. (one can dream) I will be understanding of the kids not wanting to finish their schoolwork as the snowy hills call to them, and I will definitely be having more hot tea.

Meliss

Tweedlepox Etsy store welcome page

2009-03-25T20:17:00.003-06:00

I have officially opened a store on Etsy here. It is however, not stocked and running just yet. I am in the process of posting my policies and and getting everything in order. Soon. Very soon.

In the mean time, here is a copy of my profile page. I hope you enjoy it.

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Tweedlepox is a silly word. Maybe unique, or whimsical, or unusual. And a contagion. A pox, if you will, not of bad things, but good. Like an addiction to chocolate and afternoon tea. Tweedelpox is me and my art in whatever form it sees fit to erupt.

My name is Melissa and I love the art of crafting. (And the art of chocolate and the art of afternoon tea.) I took many art classes in school, but my teachers where never impressed. I didn't let that stop me though. As an adult I discovered a whole world of art that is not fenced in by the conventions of a high school art class. I love paper and beads and paint. And I love mixing them all together, like creating a new treat in the kitchen, which I often do as well.

Within Tweedlepox I began creating jewelry, though I've never intended that to be my only form of art. And while I do have some "serious" pieces, my favorites are those that are elegant and wondrous at the same time.

Some of the components I use in my designs include beads designed by other artists. I will always give credit where credit is due for these elements. If I use an artist's design in one of my OOAK pieces, it's because I love it and admire their artistry.

All of my pieces are one of a kind and I tend to gravitate toward the whimsical and unique. I make what I love and what I'd love to wear. I hope you'll love it too.

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Meliss

Sneak Peek

2009-03-25T16:31:00.009-06:00

I suppose I should plan these things better. I often have "great" ideas for a blog, but I forget them by the time I sit down to write. (I say 'write' because I'm old fashioned-I deny liking computers at all- and I'm stubborn) I really should carry a notebook with me to jot things down. (come to think of it, Husband has equipped me with a palm pilot that I could take notes in, but again, I'm old fashioned and stubborn. I hate taking notes on the thing. I use it for my grocery list and the calculator.)

In the scheme of things in general, I don't know that I'm being uninhibited or making great strides and working great plans. But I am moving forward, so I guess that's something. Maybe I'm just impatient or expecting to much in too little a time. I can see where I want to be and it's frustrating that I'm not there yet. I think we all have that problem and that's what gets us down. We get discouraged and slow or maybe even give up and stop altogether because we focus on what we don't have or what we're not accomplishing.

Instead, we, I, should focus on how far I have gotten, what I have accomplished, and what I do have. (Kinda goes along with what I was saying in my last post. Even though I'm not where I would like to be, and it sometimes seems like times are bad, I still have many things to be thankful for and I still have what I need.)

So what have I accomplished? (Here's the part where I want to be really negative and spout off all the things that didn't work or I didn't get to or I did wrong-but I wont.)
Well, after many months (over a year actually) I have finally convinced Gabe to help me to open a store on Etsy. I have written and refined (and will refine a bit more) the policies for my shop, as well as the bio and shipping info. (scary stuff, but I think I'll figure it out)

And just this week, Gabe has helped me to take pictures of the first few items that I will be listing on my Tweedlepox Etsy store. Here is a sneak peek of what is to come.

Grace's Garden

Silver Bali earrings

I will be listing these as well as five other pieces in just a few days, with more to come soon after. I'm listing a few at a time to stagger it a bit and give me time to set things up, figure out how they work, and have time to create new pieces as well.

I'm still very nervous about the whole thing. Will I remember everything? Will I do it right? Will shipping be hard? Or accepting PayPal? Or keeping track or things? I've done just about every bit of research that I can to try to get an understanding of how things work and what to expect so there's really nothing left but to go for it.

So I'm goin' for it!

Meliss

Have you ever fought off the negative brain chatter and accomplished something really great? Let me know.

A Thwarting of Plans

2009-03-20T16:44:00.009-06:00

I'm trying to think of something great and inspiring to say but nothings coming to me. I'm feeling frustrated and far from uninhibited.

My intentions have been thwarted starting last night. I was making an outfit for my second daughter, a pretty white dress to wear for a special occasion, when my machine jammed. Now in reality the first thing to go wrong was that I could not find the brand new needles that I had bought for my machine a month or so ago. I know they were there a few weeks ago but they seem to have vanished. I decided to continue with the general size needle that was in the machine and everything was going great until the last bit. All I needed to do was finish sewing a bit of ribbon round the end, but the machine is far more finicky and stubborn than me and refused to comply. Oh, I cleaned it (at least 5 times), reinserted the bobbin, rethreaded the machine and did various other tricks to get it to go, but alas, it has denied me my last few stitches.

It's done this before and from all my research and questioning of seasoned seamstresses, as near as I can tell, it needs a different needle for this fabric. Of course, my needles have disappeared. (When my youngest daughter was 2, she was quite a little pilferer. Absconding with computer cords and wedding rings and such, and hiding them in places like an old sock in the back of the closet or something. Her favorite spot was a cabinet in the kitchen filled with large pots and a slow cooker. Sometimes she would pop out of "her cabinet" when guests were over and give them a good jump. We always checked there first if something was missing. However, we no longer live in that house, and she has picked up new and exciting odd habits, like drawing bald princesses and stuff. So I'm sure it wasn't her. I think.)

Good intentions continued to be thwarted today. Since the dress is not done, I did not have a picture of my recent artistic endeavour to share with you. A bit of a bummer, since I tend to agree that the best blogs (especially art blogs) have pictures of the artist's work on them.

I did not get the sleep I had planned for and in turn woke late because baby boy has caught someones cold. Again. Poor little guy is all boogified and gross. I was tired and it was late and any number of other excuses I can think of, kept me from really exercising today. I have a 10minute workout that is designed to give you a good workout when you are short on time, and it really is a good work out. I did that one so I can at least say I did something. And I did try hard but, I'm so weak! Two years ago, a little before I became pregnant with baby, I could do jump training and a pretty decent amount of push ups for a mom that wasn't in perfect shape. Now I can barely get through normal aerobics and I couldn't do even 1 good push up (on my knees, no less) in the 10 minutes that I "worked out".

If that wasn't depressing enough, today was budget day. Ahh, budget day. Where checkbooks are balanced and bills are paid. Supposedly. This process can take me less than an hour. I know this because I've done it before. Once. I think I was the only one home that day. Under normal circumstances, (normal being 4 kids asking me to feed them, or help with math, or mend a sock, or feed them, or clean up a spill, or feed them), it takes 2-3 hours. (As I mentioned, Gabe lost a long standing job, making budget day a bit more discouraging. It wasn't the best job, but it covered our expenses allowing me to be a stay home mom to our, then, 3 children, with the tiniest bit left over to occasionally splurge or save up for something. About 2 months after Gabe was laid off, we had another surprise in the form of my pregnancy. Which turned out to be our boy, so now Gabe, while still hopelessly outnumbered, has some backup.)

I guess I should be thankful, though. When I work the numbers and look at the bank account we are not even covering expenses. We still make much less than we owe, despite the fact that we have whittled more than $1000 off our monthly outgo since last year. Yes, we've gotten help from resources like WIC and LEAP and the local food bank, but the numbers still don't work out. Yet for some reason, we still seem to have the money to pay the bills as they come.

I often think in terms of groceries (such n such bill equals so much groceries we cant afford to buy) and recently I've been very downhearted by the fact that we cant afford the luxury of fresh fruit or greens (which used to fill at least a third of the cart each week). But then again, the food bank sometimes has lovely fresh produce (even better than some stores). The food bank also gives me more pinto beans than is humanly possible to use. But I have many great recipes that call for pinto beans (and I could always make juggling balls with them. I have at least 12 pounds worth.) Also, just in the last 2 days, friends have given us bags of veggies and other small items that we could use.

We also plan to try our hand at gardening again this year (though neither one of us is stellar at it, I know how to grow zucchini! and I happen to like it too.) When I mentioned it to a friend, he offered us the raised beds he had built last year. I was thinking he might offer some advice on how to build them, but instead, he took them out and brought them over!

I had all these great ideas for what today's post should be about and I forgot all of them. They were going to be witty and inspired and full of general coolness. (Instead I'm quite frustrated by the constant interruptions. Then again, I think everyone else is frustrated by my insistence on silence.) (silence in a house with 4 kids and 4 pets and 1 Gabe? Is that an oxymoron?)

There was no being uninhibited today. There was no "bringin it". There wasn't even a finished skirt that only had 5 minutes worth of sewing left on it. But I do have (relative) quiet to write in, I have a husband who is (attempting to) make a delicious Indian dish with our many (many) onions and potatoes delivered by loving friends, along with some chicken graciously provided by our local food bank. I have a nice house to live in, (the "nice" part was also loving provide by friends, but that too, is another story). My kids are healthy (other than the boogies), we have a silly movie to enjoy together, and my goals are still within reach.

No, there was no being uninhibited (I find I'm not very good at it), but there is still tomorrow. And I'm sure along with it will be many more things to be thankful for, many more opportunities to step out of my comfort zone, and more time to work toward my goal of being uninhibited. What was it I said? "In art and family and spirituality"? Still sounds good.

Despite the very unproductive and "down" type of day that I've had, (did I mention that we also found a dead cat on our 1/2 acre property today? Just to add to the yuckness of the day, I suppose.) Despite that, I really have nothing to complain about.

Meliss

p.s. So how does one get any work done with 4 kids, 4 pets, and 1 "Gabe"around anyway?

First Post...

2009-03-18T16:37:00.007-06:00

...of many I hope. (technically I wrote this out a day ago. cheating? maybe.) My hope for the blog is to keep all of you, my friends and colleagues, up to date with the comings and goings of Tweedlepox.

Tweedlepox is, in essence, everything I do. My Etsy store is scheduled to open the end of March. That is my goal, though time is running out. (My husband, Gabe, said he'd help me get the store up as I am somewhat computer illiterate. However, Gabriel is a terrible procrastinator so I'm guessing it'll be down to the wire.)

The store will start with the jewelry I have made and eventually expand to include the products of my other endeavors. I have created art from fabric , watercolors, paper, stamps, flour and more. This blog and my store will both be works in progress as I learn the tools and tricks.

Because I am the mother of 4 and a homeschooling, cloth diapering, Work At Home Mom, my interests are many and my time is limited. Very limited. I hope to include in this blog other aspects of my Tweedle life. But mostly I want to share my art and stay accountable to my goals. Creative and otherwise.

What are my goals? You mean besides opening my store on etsy the end of this month. (a very cool handcrafted artists site that I heard about over a year ago. I wanted to get started on it over a year ago but had a few surprises, like Gabe losing his job of 15 years and a surprise baby-but that's another story. Needless to say, I was a little distracted. Having a kid n stuff.) So, what are my goals? That's a good question. I think I will have to ponder it more seriously.

I took a seminar once in which we went through an exercise that we had to define ourselves by who we were creating ourselves to be. (as opposed to who we feel like or the stories that we make up and live into) I wish I could remember my definition (it was 9 years ago) all I can remember is that it started with "uninhibited".(not in a gross way either) Something that, by nature, I generally am not. But just think of all the wonderfulness we could accomplish for our art/work/family/spirituality if we were uninhibited. I mean, just say the word. No, with feeling, man! UNINHIBITED! Isn't it just a great, inspiring, empowering way to be. It's more than just a mood, it's a way of being. I guess that's my first and maybe most important goal. To be uninhibited. Uninhibited in my love for my family, in my service to my God, in my art and artistic expressions. And in the business of my art. (cuz making art isn't scary, sharing it is).

So here I am, starting something exciting and a bit scary, I'm being uninhibited. Maybe not perfectly, maybe not always, but dang, it sure sounds good.

Meliss

so who are you being today?