Cowboy, take me away...

Fly this girl as high as you can
Into the wild blue
Set me free oh I pray
Closer to heaven above and
Closer to you
Closer to you

My husband was a HUGE Lone Ranger fan when he was growing up. He was obsessed the same way our little guy was obsessed with Disney's Cars.


A few years ago his mom came across his little collection of Lone Ranger action heroes from the 70's and passed them on to us. For a while they were mixed in with the chaos that is our toy room. Then one day I hunted them down and rescued them, deciding they deserved a little protection and respect for the history they represent. Besides, they are pretty cute, don't you think? And recognizably human, which is more than I can say about most of the boys' toys you see at the store these days. Now I keep them tucked away in my sewing room.


Last week while I was working on some projects I came across these little fellas.


It's been a while since they were able to stretch their bowed legs.


As they stood watch over me while I worked, I thought of my husband  - the hero around these parts. The past few months have been extra busy for him at work, and crazy for me at home - part of the being entrenched in real life I mentioned in my last post. I am grateful he works hard for our little family, but I missed him when he was working those long hours. Not just because there were less hands to help with homework, and housework and family life in general, but because it's just not the same when he's not here. The squirrely little natives missed him too.


But things are back to normal at last - YeeHaw!


Now I can't seem to get summer/travel plans off my brain. Enough with the cabin fever already - this mama is ready to hit the trail (remember...I suffer from chronic wanderlust).


Hi Ho Silver!

Hibernating

Winter can be beautiful, but it's a beauty I appreciate more the less I am exposed to it. Lately all I want to do is curl up in velour sweat pants, with my favorite micro-mink throw (George Costanza would understand both these choices) in front of a roaring fire, nose in a book. Although sometimes sitting over a heater vent works just as well.


Went to the library a few days ago and came home with a stack of books and a handful of DVDs - the delicious kind that you'll never find at RedBox like the never before seen by me, Monarch of the Glen Season 7 (yep, still a geek).

Wednesday I read this...

Very pleased with it - until I discovered the other book by the same author, which is on reserve for me, is the PRE-quel. Reading them out of order drives me NUTS.

Spent Thursday putting the house back together so I could spend all day today reading this one...

Also really good. Love this series. I've never been a leisurely reader. I wolf them down, and then I want more.

What were my little peeps doing while I was feasting on the written word?

Whipping up some eggs. Seriously, this rockin' little man played with Play-Doh for hours. Played until what started out as 20 new colorful containers morphed into one big brown blob on the center of the kitchen island, with rainbow Play-Doh confetti blanketing the kitchen floor. What a MESS! But I was able to read a novel, in its entirety.

And, because I don't know how to read on an empty stomach, I took a break to make this.


Three loaves of 10 grams of fat per slice, pumpkin perfection. Thank goodness my foodie resolution was in regards to caffeinated soda and not dessert. Sure, the recipe read Pumpkin Bread, but I'm no fool - it was dessert.

Well I'm off - have a hot date with some micro-mink and a Scottish Laird.

Hope January is treating you well.

Dangerous (in a mental sort of way) Beauty

Pardon me for a moment while I go off on one of my favorite tangents. Farm houses, and their aesthetically similar suburban counterparts. I’ve talked about this before, so I’ll skip the overly long narrative this time, and just get to the good part. While checking out a few houses in the local Parade of Homes this week, we drove past this beauty. It was most definitely a “Honey, STOP the car!” moment. Isn’t it lovely?

It’s located in a humongous master planned community on the southwest corner of the valley. Nice, but I think I’d take it on country acreage, with a big red barn on the side. Nothing against master planned communities or city planners – I was a fledgling planner myself back in the day. I just like the idea of living away from sprawl and traffic and having space to breath.
Now I've got houses on the brain again. I knew checking out the Parade of Homes would be a BAD idea. Pretty houses are hazardous to my mental health.

Therapy (in need of)

I am feeling like such a slacker (blogging & otherwise), but I finally managed to put my rotary cutter to work - just had to dust the thing off before getting started. I can't seem to find enough time to finish the projects on my to-d0-list. Something about having a house full of kids (my own and usually a few strays) out of school for the summer...oozing nine months worth of pent up energy out their pores. I wish I was oozing energy. Even just a little bit of ooze - at least enough to keep up.
I know in my last post I conjured up relaxing images of us all lounging around by the pool and picking raspberries, but truthfully there has been more running around than lounging and those raspberry bushes caused my 4 year old's hands to swell up with hives for days on end until we finally solved the mystery. And he still doesn't have the will power to resist. I am sure there is an object lesson in there somewhere.
However, thanks to a few rare free hours this past weekend, I have a stack of pretty 60 degree triangles to play with when a free moment comes my way. I won't lie to you and say I will have this quilt finished this week, but hopefully soon. At least the top.

Here is another (the main) reason why it's so hard to get things done...

She is so busy discovering the world all I can do is chase after her and try to keep her from running into the road or playing in the toilet. She'll be 18 months old at the end of the month. I love how much she is learning and growing, but at the same time I miss the days when she took 2 naps instead of just 1.

There are good times on the horizon, but right now that also means more things to do.We had a dress rehearsal this past weekend for an upcoming vacation.

It involved searching for and digging out gear we haven't used in years. It's a miracle everything still works...

I am looking forward to relaxing and playing with family, but not sure a vacation like this, at least with our little peeps and a 6 hour drive, will bring much improvement to that overwhelmed mom feeling, but the scenery will be amazing!
And there's a beach. With sand, not just mud and rocks. Which = therapy for me. Maybe there is hope for that to-do-list after all.


*And, just to give you an update, spray paint totally rocks as shoe polish. Shoes held up great!

*Also, the pink flower (for those who asked) is called Jupiter's Beard - it's pretty when in bloom, but would take over the world if given the opportunity. If you know where I live, you are welcome to as many starts as you want. Quick... before we haul out the Round-Up.

Summer Job

Summer afternoon - summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language. ~Henry James
Summer has brought new blossoms...


And lazy days reading by the pool...the blow up kiddie pool in the backyard. This is my new summer job. Full time. Never enjoyed working so much.

I also am also supervisor over corn husking...

Can you see what his shirt says? He's the best little worker ever. I didn't have to lift a finger.

He's so good at his job he's also been promoted to raspberry harvesting...

Although nobody else ever sees any of the berries...

When we have time off from these grueling tasks, there have been glorious moments walking barefoot on the warm sandy beach...

OK, sandbox. A girl can dream...

And backyard smores courtesy of dad...

Some of us have acquired new skills. This means bike rides everyday. I had forgotten how good it feels to have the wind blowing through my hair while cruising down hill on two wheels. I am having more fun then him...

And another spray paint project...

These two decided it was totally uncool for the little guy to be riding around on a pink bike. So they took matters, meaning SPRAY PAINT, into their own hands. Without asking. This is the only spray paint project I've seen where the before was MUCH better than the after. Hmmm, wonder where they got this idea.

Hope you too are working really hard this summer!

Monsoon Magic

Brace yourselves for another exciting gardening post…

I was talking to my mom about blogging the other day (pretty silly) and I was telling her that some of my all time favorite blog posts are the ones I get the fewest comments on. I am totally cool with that – I kind of think it’s funny. This blog is supposed to be representative of the things that make me happy, and the truth is most of those things are not exactly exciting.

For the past couple of weeks, this is what I see when I look out the window...

Rain. Lots of rain. We have been experiencing a monsoon weather pattern with rain blowing in almost every afternoon. I love it. The air is cool and clean and everything green and lush...

When I am outside working in the yard, I feel alive. My head is clearer, breathing feels like a treat (especially after the rain) and all of my senses seem to be in better working order. I've noticed my kids are happier when they are outside as well. I love seeing their interest in nature grow. Love seeing them with potato bugs and worms in their hands. Love seeing them keeping tabs on certain plants or the baby robins who are just learning to fly. So not exactly exciting, but real.

*When blogger quits giving me fits I'll tell you the names of all the above plants

Wanderlust

Tonight I’ve been sorting through the slew of photos building up and bogging down our hard-drive, and I came across a few from our lake trip a couple of weekends ago. I have what my husband probably considers a really annoying habit - I make him pull over when we are on road trips so I can snap still pictures of the scenery when it is just too beautiful to pass by unacknowledged. And this time of year everything is just so green & pretty. Even this plain old field was simply stunning.

This mountain stream, beckoning.

The lake below, serene

And this tree, absolutely beautiful. Trees are my weakness. It was a long ride home for the kids.

Some days I just want to get in my car (ok, minivan) and drive, I don’t even care where.

The lure of open spaces, the sirens of vistas unseen and of roads less traveled call out to me, haunting me with possibility unrealized. There are so many things to see, and I just want to GO.
I especially wouldn't mind a road trip here...

(Oregon Coast found on Google Images)

Now why can't I get this excited about Disneyland?