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Ox Year. Time to work hard. Also, time for patience and routine. Keep plodding along and don't lose hope. The color for the year is YELLOW. Awesome.
Chinese New Year Resolutions: more letting go, more organizing, more productivity, more savoring the sweetness.
well, we had a super fun monkey/banana party yesterday for Ryan. Today is actually his Birthday.
The man with the yellow hat answered the door!
Grandma made monkey cupcakes and we did a banana split bar.
there were balloons everywhere.
Dear Ryan: You are the sweetest, funniest, nicest boy anyone could hope for. You make us laugh and remind us to be easy going. Have fun being two! Play with trucks, run and jump, eat ice cream, scream loudly, share your toys and monkey around! We love you!
have you guys seen this stuff? I have been wanting a new handbag and these look so interesting. All she has are small ones right now in her Etsy shop. She is a one woman band. So, I guess I will have to wait. *sigh*
Today is nice. Cloudy, rain possible, grey -exactly what a Sacramento winter day should be. Lately it's been too blue and sunny and warm. I don' t like it and neither does the garden.
No one but Night, with tears on her dark face,
Watches beside me in this windy place.
~Edna St. Vincent Millay
between them and among all of us who are so glad for today? What an incredible day!
This is what I tell my kids: today is an important day. I know they don't understand, but years from now they will. I tell April every chance I can get that she can do whatever she wants to do with her life. She says she will be a princess/teacher/computer person. Fair enough. She also says Ryan will still be a garbage man. Okay.
when I had lunch at the school on Friday, one of the salad bar offerings, were these cups of pink fluff? I have no idea. I think they were labeled "sherbet" or something.
does this bring back memories for anyone? I never had school lunches, because I went to private school and they didn't have a cafeteria. I did dorm in college and eat that food for a semester - not good.
What is it with institutional food? I remember after giving birth to April, the food they brought me was awful. I couldn't eat it or smell it.
Foodie Wish List: Harney & Sons Paris Tea, organic dark chocolate bars, marshmallow fluff, hand blender and biscuit cutters, rib eye steaks, really good frozen pizza and excellent, delicious, organic fare for all school kids and mother's who have just gone through labor.
one of the best parts of being a writer is the ability to give yourself assignments - just for fun! A while back I was thinking about what Chef Ann Cooper said to me, when I interviewed her, she said "go eat an actual public school lunch."
Today I did just that. I had lunch with a room full of ramped up, rambunctious, totally entertaining 4th and 5th graders at Rock Creek Elementary school in Rocklin, CA. What an energy level! I totally forgot what grade school is like. So, I ate (some) of the lunch, called "brave" by one of the room monitors, chatted with the kids about what they like/don't like and met their very nice principal who selects 4 special kids every Friday to dine at her table with balloons and treats! She rocked.
I am not going to say too much about the food, since I am writing this up to (hopefully) sell to a magazine, but I will say this: I am glad I don't have to eat it every day. :-)
**Some things never change**
When I asked a table full of girls which they liked better, the regular or chocolate milk, they all screamed in unsion: CHOCOLATE!!!
we are working on a birthday party for our going-to-be 2 year old! Yes, I have officially gone bananas! Marc always calls him "monkey boy" so the theme was easy.
There's a lot of Curious George love in this family. The movie with Will Ferrell is so good.
Making kid party invitations makes me insanely happy. That said, I had to be shut down from taking it too far when I wanted to make return address labels that said "Chiquita Thibodeau".
Marc simply said, "honey, no."
I have learned that the way to accomplish anything with two wild toddlers around is to change your mindset. See this here plank of wood and future coffee table? No, this is a dance floor and kids want to dance, "skate" and march on it for a while, then you can proceed with cutting it into a circle.
Stuff like this, just ignore. Clean it up later.
Stuff like this, don't ignore! I went right over and got him down after snapping this photo. Please do not call child protective services.
Have salad or frozen pizza or waffles for dinner and save your precious time for projects. Also have wine.
ABOVE ALL: Accept that what use to take you 8 hours will now take you 8 months. Have another glass of pinot.
so...last summer on our vacation we visited Heath Ceramics and took their factory tour. I was able to visit their seconds room and fill a box with slightly imperfect Heath tile for $25.00! Total steal. This is so awesome, if you live anywhere near Sausalito you need to check this out. Finally, last weekend I began to assemble my future coffee table. Marc hooked me up with a big piece of wood and then nicely cut it into a circle (with the old pencil on a string trick) and then bolted "wonderboard" down to give it stability.
Then, the fun part! Laying down all this beautiful tile. Normally I do mosaics with plates, what the French call "pique assiette" so tile is a little new to me. I did not cut any of the pieces, except for the small edge ones to make it a circle.
This sucker is so heavy. Apparently wonderboard is basically concrete and now I am little afraid to grout it, because then I won't be able to lift it. But I must soldier on and finish the task.
**This is what a gal does when her husband tells her there is not budget for furniture and the gal does not have a coffee table. Plus, I love a good project.
***Today April donning a tiara and a wooden spoon and fluttering about the living room informed me she was "the princess of bacon".
Since we were talking about it yesterday, here's my inspiration board. That paper typewriter from Real Simple mag is killing me! The pacifier was my son's and as I was cleaning out a cupboard this week I saw it way in the back. Oh, the memories that followed. Marc had hid it "just in case" after we weaned it from him.
Seattle is our fave city right now. I am hoping to visit it soon (maybe in April for my 40th birthday!) It was supposed to be NYC, but then this whole economy thing changed our plans. The Space Needle has become my Eiffel Tower, until I can make it to see the real one.
Today is beautiful here in Sacramento, blue skies and clean air. We walked, went to the park, had fish tacos at Rudy's and now Marc (the constant gardener) is out in the backyard doing his thing. You won't catch me complaining!
