Prickly

I'd love to have a ton of thistles growing in the yard. Here we have the typical purple version but there's also a magical scarlet thistle with silver foliage. I used to see the scarlet version when I was a runner on the trails and I always told myself I wanted to have my hair that color. One day I did end up with that hair color. This was way back when I used to go to a fabulously talented and kooky hairgirl and but that hair color...well, it made me cry when I got home. Good for thistles, not so good for Anis. I finally grew to love the wild clown red hair though because little kids used to point at me and whisper to their mothers "wow...!" But I digress, back to the thistle. I think they are a little too thorny and a little too short-lived to make it worth while for the yard. Besides, we have enough 'pointy ouch' plants in our possession.

Slowly working on my my first tiny guerilla art project. Can't talk to much about it yet. Hush, hush sweet Ani.

Haven't gotten much knitting time in as work has been dragging its ass home with me lately. I did bring it along with me today for when I go eat lunch at Carolina Kitchen BBQ. The catfish is fabulous.

Maybe it's time to think about hitting Pyramid Lake this weekend...hot weather, tawny desert and a turquoise jewel of a lake. Ahhh...

CSA June 27

csa062706
Originally uploaded by Pancakemama.

A good haul this week. Zukes, organic romaine and mixed greens, baby beet greens, wild looking peaches and nectarines, assorted radishes, snap peas and a whole pack of pale blue eggs. I cut up a zuke last night and just lightly sauteed it with garlic, salt and pepper. Topped it with a little reggiano and it was super yummy. Had a mixed green salad too that was crisp and lovely. Ruby ate all of her snap peas, pretty much the only thing I could get her to eat for dinner. Any hints for making a two-year old eat? Anyone? Anyone? At least she likes veggies.

Snappy Dresser

box o snaps
Originally uploaded by Pancakemama.

Now I am the proud(?) owner of a box of snap bits. If I can keep these out of Ruby's reach until I'm sure she won't eat them or put them up her nose, I may be able to use them for crafty projects. It's crazy how many of these are available; they were giving away huge shipping boxes full of these.

Aside from snaps, I've been thinking about guerilla goodies. I have some ideas up my sleeve (taken from Wish Jar Journal) but I best not reveal anything until I've got a few out of the way. Sometimes I just want to drop out of school so I can do more fun stuff. I'd love to get into the guerilla gardening scene. There's an old big brick planter/gate dealie at the entrance to our neighborhood that is long neglected, crumbling and full of weeds. I'd love to do some planting there. Maybe when I finish this class at the end of October (my estimated finishing/freedom date) I can get it cleaned up and throw some seeds in there for next season.

Stormy

I'm digging the crazy hot weather we are experiencing. Well, let me amend that. I like some of the effects that the crazy hot weather is causing such as the big evening storms and thunder. The other night there was a wild orange light emanating from the skies making everything glow. The red flowers were so vibrant and bright. I was wishing my poppies were still going strong so I could get a photo but all I had were the tattered roses. So instead you get a corner of my favorite tree (it's in our neighbor's yard) and some beautiful sky.

One thing I don't like is the fire danger that the stormy skies bring along with them. We live in the high desert and with this spring being so much wetter than usual, we have quite a bit of fire fodder. Lately I've been thinking I need to put all the important stuff in a central location so if we end up in the path of a fire, it will be easy to clear out quickly. Ok, I'm paranoid. But really! It's a possibility!

Sorry the posts are kind of weak right now. I'm just super tired with the extra work I've been putting in at the ol' job, trying to push through this dang class, not sleeping well, etc.. Once I get past my test and paper in the next few weeks, I think I'll take a break and do some stuff that I like to do for a change. Woot!

CSA June 20th

csa062006
Originally uploaded by Pancakemama.

No artful photo but a cute kid unpacking the veggie box. She was excited when I brought it home ("Veggie box! YAY!") and promptly started unpacking it. It was a nice week: mixed greens, stir fry greens, snap peas, baby zukes, radishes, peaches, strawberries and eggs. Ruby ate a strawberry right away and then her Nonna and I proceeded to have a big salad with the mixed greens and strawberries, plus parmesan and carrots with balsamic vinaigrette. Grilled garlic bread and cheap white wine topped it off.

We ate outside, as we have been doing ever since the weather warmed up. A gentle breeze blew through the yard and all was calm and good until Ruby stumbled in her pink Crocs and scraped her leg. Much wailing ensued.

Summertime, how I love you. Happy Jāņi everyone (that's happy solstice for the Latvians out there)!

Impromptu Project

After catching up on my Whip Up reading, I saw the "Knit a River" project. It is a petition calling for water and toilets for all. It was a good excuse for me to use this fantastic blue yarn that's been languishing ye olde crafte closet. I purchased the yarn several years ago right as I was learning to knit. I had it in my mind that I was going to design a bag with it. I bought one 50 gram ball. Hmmm, I don't think that is going to cut it. But I did try to make a small bag, carried it around for one day and the strap stretched to my knees and the bag stretched out to double its size. Frog on! It was terribly expensive yarn but I don't have enough to do much with it so at least it is going to a good cause. Find out more here.

And while I'm at it, I suppose one could consider this part of Andrea's color week. It ain't the most inspiring or purty picture, but it is very blue yarn.

Day of the Daddy

For the past three Father's Days I haven't had a blog but had considered hijacking rubydawn.com for the day to extol the virtues of Greg's daddying skills. However, my Dreamweaver skills are not so hot. Now I've got three Father's Days worth of stuff to talk about. Oh my. Maybe I'll just make this simple. In the beginning, he just jumped right in, waking up with me every night multiple times and changing all the diapers, all the while holding my hand as I was sobbing with hormone-driven angst. He selflessly quit school for a year to take care of Ruby when our daycare gave Ruby the boot. He is engaged and tender with that little kid. He has so many plans for future fun that include teach Ruby how to fish and trips out to look at the stars at night. I can't wait to see where we are headed. I am so proud of you, Greg. Happy Daddy's Day.




And to another Papa, I sure as hell miss you. You were a good one.

Sock it to me!

Found! The sock was found! Found in the linen closet, shoved behind the ugliest duvet cover on earth. I guess I would have found it in the fall, just in time to wear it, when I pulled out the big, warm winter blankies. And here it is in all it's glory, waiting for its mate...

I was afraid of socks but with the help of knittinghelp.com, I was able to tackle them with relative ease. The pattern is Knitting Pure and Simple Beginner's Lightweight Socks and the yarn is Filature di Crosa Multicolor (very fuzzy, good for hiding any anomolies in my knitting). Now I am feeling much more confident in my abilities and am looking forward to doing some lacework as soon as I have that ever-so-precious commodity, time. I'm finding if I just read the entire pattern once, promptly forget about the daunting bits and tackle them one row at a time, it's really not so tough. And here is picture of my last finished project, StarKitty. I love her, even if Ruby isn't that excited by her. Pattern, my own. Yarn, Rowan Baby Soft. I loved making this up and want to do more softies. I have a blue bunny in mind next. Along with about 21 other projects.

A Really Good Snack

Juicy pear, salty almonds and a glass of iced early grey with lavender tea.

CSA June 13th

csa061306
Originally uploaded by Pancakemama.

Ok, I promise next week the photo will be MUCH better. It's just hard when you get home with the 'veggie box' and the little kid wants to dive right in and check it out and eat one of your two peaches.

Each week there's a note enclosed with the veggies, giving ideas for what to do with your veggies as well as notes from the growers and organizers. I was really sad with the note this week because there apparently was much grumbling over the content of the boxes. C'mon folks, when you signed up, there was a huge disclaimer stating that the farmers could not control nature and that we might not even receive anything on some weeks. This is the first year for this CSA and I'm really excited and happy to be a part of it. I'm happy I received anything at all this early in the season. This week's greens are better than last week's batch, much more succulent and less bitter. The remaining peach needs another couple days before perfection. Can't wait to dive into the kiwi, but I will share that with hubby and Ruby. The eggs..can't say much more about the eggs but YUM.

bubblegirl

bubblegirl
Originally uploaded by Pancakemama.

Work is getting crazy hectic leaving me too tired to write today. So I leave you with...BUBBLEGIRL. Off to the knitting.

CSA June 6th

csa0606
Originally uploaded by Pancakemama.

"Veggie Box! Veggie Box!"

This was Ruby's rallying cry. She even made up a song. "Veggeeeeeeee BOX!!!! Veg-gee box..."

Yesterday was the first pick up from our CSA Group (Community Sponsored Agriculture). We drove to The River School, an old plant nursery turned hippie haven. Chicken coop, beautiful gardens, crazy dome built in to the side of a hill, massage studio, dance studio and gardening school--I want to live there. Anyway, we arrived at the appointed time, Ruby is about to burst with excitement and...the veggies have not arrived. "Where's veggies? WHERE'S VEGGIES?!" Tears well up in Ruby's eyes. I tell her we'll come back in a few minutes as I work just around the corner and I have work to finish up. Much fussing and crying, fifteen minutes and quick trip to work later...veggie box is ours.

Stir Fry mix, cilantro, strawberries, eggs, spinach, arugula, salad mix and radishes. The strawberries are little gems and the eggs...beautiful.

Double Knit

This weekend I finally decided that I would finish my fabulous first pair of socks and start number two. Well, I WAS halfway there, that is until I discovered sock number one has disappeared! What the heck?! It didn't ever even make it to the dryer so where could it be? I was furious since I was so proud of my first sock and it fit like a dream. I started sock number two (now number one?) in the hopes of sock number one will lope along home any time now.

Yes, knitting won out over photo doctoring so still no pics.

Tonight, homework will reign. Ugh. I must remember, the more I work on this class, the faster it will be done and I can do all the crafty stuff I want. Must. Read. Textbook.

Ruby Weekend

Up and down sort of weekend.

I had a great time sitting in the backyard with the wee one, blowing bubbles--one of my/our new favorite pastimes. I had some cool photos to post but alas, the weekend is now gone and we'll see if I have to time to doctor up the ones I took. But I digress.

We also had fun planting plants. I wish I could give the yard as much energy as it deserves but I have to choose my battles. At least I was able to mostly finish weeding the front yard so it looks a little less white trash. Just got to fix the front door and we'll almost look respectable. Anyway, I am super happy with the plants I got for the front entry barrel. I guess anything would look better than dead daffodil stems but my tropicalesque theme really came together nicely and I'm happy. Ruby was deft with the shovel and kindly allowed me to borrow her yellow sandpail shovel. I love working on projects with her, showing her little things that she can do to help. She always looks so proud. Even though the cute factor is huge at this point, I am really looking forward to the magic age when she'll really be helping out. Instead of only putting the sprinkles on the cupcakes, she'll be measuring flour and melting butter.

Now for the bad. That child won't listen to me! The dogs knew I was super super pissed off but Ruby gave me a sly smile and giggled. I shout, "No, slamming the rickety sliding glass door is BAD! It's going to break and hurt you!" SLAM! followed by RUBY saying "you need a time out." I don't think the time out thing is working. Not. At. All. Back to ye olde distraction techniques.

Maybe I'll forgo homework (yay!) and knitting (sigh) to put up a couple photos tonight.

Friday Dreaming

Last night, hubby started talking travel. My head spins with joy! Yay!

--Spanish immersion classes in Mexico
--Spain
--England

Ok, sure it'll be at least 3 years before we could realistically think about doing any of these things. Even though the wee one is learning about wee on the potty, I don't think she's ready for bodily elimination in foreign lands. Except maybe Disneyland. But that's another story.

I would LOVE to go to Mexico. I have vague dreams of retiring there in a cute little house washed in bright colors with a big porch for relaxing on with a big glass of sangria. I'd like to start taking Spanish classes now, but I guess I'd have to fit that in at about 3 a.m. and I really enjoy sleeping. It's on my list of things to do--somewhere below playing Half Life 2 and learning to play guitar.

England! Ahh, the yarn shops I'd investigate...oh wait, I mean all the pubs in which I'd have a pint...no...museums! Yes, museums!

And Spain, I've dreamt of going to Spain ever since I took flamenco classes. Poor hubby had to deal with my determined expression and stomping. I do miss the dancing and would love to see the real thing. I would have to suspend my veggie ways to partake of the amazing jamon. Tapas...mmm. Ok, I know it is lunchtime. Enough dreaming for now.