sweet thing(s)

show and tell

hey friends!

i am going to try to blog every day this month.  I have never before attempted this feat, but i realize i want to put some energy back into this space.  i missed the 1st, but here she goes....

my days this week:

listening to Sinead O'Connor's new album (it's fantastic)

reading

A Discovery of Witches

watching Treme - 2 seasons in two weeks!!

this show is has so much heart.  i just loved it- i can't wait for season 3.  to me (a transplanted American) it really captures the best and worst of the US and of Americans and the tension that exists in American culture and society.  it's horrible and joyous at the same time.   it actually makes me a bit homesick.

cooking Fresh restaurant's Thai Noodles

image via this blog 

here's a link to the recipe on Cookbook Cooks' blog- i always freeze half the sauce for another meal  

(btw, i think i have told you how fantastic the cookbook from Fresh restaurant  is but I'll tell you again- yummy vegan fare)

and finally

exploring the Sistine Chapel with the kids

 

have a great weekend!

my boy is 11

from this little guy

to this big one

faster than i would have thought possible

Lee:

you are growing into a fantastic young man.  Even though I can't take (too much!) credit for what a great kid you are, when I see you out in the world i feel we are doing something right.  i thought I would be sad as you left babyhood- but i love having an older child.  Dad and I are so lucky to have you, our eccentric roommate.  

 

PS--for Lee's birthday party with his friends, i couldn't resist making him something fun- I made these cake pops

i am embarrassed to tell you how long it took me, and how many batches of white chocolate i ruined trying to melt and dip them before giving up and dipping them in icing sugar frosting... hats off to those bakers who make those perfect looking cake pops!!  they are harder than they look!

{this moment}

(guest photographer: Lee)

inspired by Soulemama's 'blog-along' Friday ritual:

from Soulemama:  {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember

 

bleach prints

these were so fun to make!!!

i made them using freezer paper stencils and bleach.

this one, for our friend G for his birthday, was made using the postive space cut-out, and spraying bleach all around it.

for the next two items (both for Miss Maxine!) I used the negative space cut-outs, sprayed bleach, rinsed and damp dried, then ironed on the postive space cut-outs and did another round of bleach. 

the boys will make their own t-shirts in a workshop I'm teaching on Sunday-  I'll post their results when we get there...

 

adventures in needlefelted creatures

not too long ago i made some more needlefelted creatures.  i was trying to make them for christmas presents, but every one i made Asa or Maxine BEGGED if he/she could keep it.  so in the end, i only gave away 2- a white dove for my dad, and a pig for Asa's teacher.  (both were finished the night before I had to give or send them, so i have no photos!)

here's a fox (we had a fox or two on the Island last winter)

a penguin (in the habitat that Asa made for it, and with his friend penguin that Asa also made)

a mouse (Maxine claimed this one- the cat likes it too)

and an Angry Bird

please excuse the copyright infringement!!  this is not my usual style, but my little guy was desperate for and Angry Bird stuffy.  so i made one!  and thank goodness, he actually thinks it's cooler than the 'real' ones.  

I have said this before, but I feel so lucky my kids think homemade=the best!

 

inspiring teens

two Toronto teens sent the first Lego man to space

here is a little interview with them about their acheivement:

{this moment}

inspired by Soulemama's 'blog-along' Friday ritual:

from Soulemama:  {this moment} - A Friday weekly! ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember

 

monkey boy!! (or "some stuff i made part 2"- or "from the holidays part 3")

you might remember this monster suit from a few years ago?  (he looks so little!!) well, it's finally too small.

so I thought monkey boy needed a new under-the-radar costume (i.e. he can wear it to school without being "IN A COSTUME")  It even has a snap-on detachable tail!

(photo shoot at the St. Lawrence Market!) 

and I have to share this video- a perfect job for grown-up Asa!!!

it is really funny- it has one swear (the B word) in it but otherwise child friendly (well, if you don't mind hot half-naked men- but in a good way)  and the kids LOVE IT!!

the Island: community pebble mosaic project

the image in my new banner (look up!) is of houses and bikes and bike carts from our Island- showcased in an amazing pebble mosaic newly installed in front of our community clubhouse.  

the mosaic project was spearheaded by my neighbour, artist Kathleen Doody, who drew in lots of other community members for the creation and installation of this gorgeous work.  (the project and how-to's are documented here)  (kathleen instructed me in this method for our garden stones we made last year)

east view:

west view:

some stuff i made (Part 2: from the holidays)

we were feeding a neighbour's cats over the holidays- I had the brilliant idea (pat pat) to set up all my sewing stuff over there so I could work on my Christmas sewing.  It was so great!  I didn't have to worry about curious children or leaving a mess out- just work and then walk away leaving it all set up.  must be what it's like to have a spacious studio...

aside from the Christmas jammies and bathrobe, 

i made:

a dog coat for my mom's dog (Butterick 4885)

i learned that dogs are even harder to photograph than children

 

i also sewed matching dresses for Maxine and her new dolly

this (sort of dark) picture is the only one I have as Maxine tried it on only the once: unfortunately as a pattern for Maxine's dress I used one of her dresses that is basically too small and I hadn't realized it.  so that is a shame unless I can get some more fabric.  it was from Joann's and it's this super cute owl print corduroy:

:: hint hint to Auntie Mar who was going to look for some in Seattle for me! :)

Maxine's new dolly is a Canadian girl (well, they're actually Maplea Girls but the are the equivalent of the you know-who-dolls in the USA).  

she LOVES HER!!!!!  

her name is Saila and she is from Nunavit. (The girls are all from different provinces)  Max also got a bunch of clothes for 'her girl' (she calls her 'my girl'!) and spends hours daily dressing and undressing her, and making up stories about her.  I enjoy brushing her hair.  (someone else in the family also enjoys braiding her hair but he won't let me say who.)  and i have to say I'm looking forward to making more clothes.

someone asked me, under his breath, 'live vicariously much?' and this may be completely true, but who cares?

{this moment}

inspired by Soulemama's 'blog-along' Friday ritual:

from Soulemama:  {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember

 

the Island: winter beach days

{this moment}

inspired by Soulemama's 'blog-along' Friday ritual:

from Soulemama:  {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savour and remember

 

Happy New Year!

my lovely sister-in-law and new brother-in-law got married on New Year's Eve in a magical small ceremony at a wonderful downtown restaurant.  

best new year's ever!!

Part 1: from the holidays

we had our 3rd annual cookie exchange party-  6 friends each brought 5 dozen extra holiday cookies ready to share.  (so you end up bringing home 5 dozen different cookies than what you made)  

I brought sugar cookies with lots of icing and sprinkles for kids to decorate.  really fun! (and delicious)

merry christmas!

we had a fantastic day and hope you did too!

(the kids are wearing their Christmas jammies- Lee is such a big boy this year he got a bathrobe!)

xmas crafts will be posted soon....

sand candles

Lee is representing this year at the Island Christmas Boutique.  he made some "Ward's Island Beach Candles."  

Our neighbour gave us a bag of old half-used candles and we melted them down, added some crayons for colour, and poured them into our sand and rock molds.  (the wax has to be hotter than usual to stick to the sand a bit- this is not a bad tutorial)

When I was a kid (Lee's age actually) I went through a phase of being obsessed with candlemaking.  I remember making sand candles, ice cube candles (also fun!), using crayons to colour them, and setting a pan of wax on fire.  whoops!

These candles were a lot of fun-  I'd like to try to make some with beeswax.  

the season has begun

i love Christmas, but i love it to start about a week before the actual big day- no sooner.  

my one exception is advent calendars.  i find it helps kids who are WAITING so patiently for Christmas when they have a little tiny thing to open every day.  in the past we have always gotten the Playmobil or Lego ones.  This year we got Asa the  Lego Star Wars Advent Calendar - i couldn't resist.  He is such a fan.  I didn't see anything especially nice for Maxine, so Lee and I had fun wrapping a bunch of little prezzies and hanging them on ribbons.

the cat likes them too.

As Lee and I were working, he said, "Mama- I bet you have an advent calendar for me too.  You just want to surprise me!"  Ugg.  No I didn't!  At 10, he's at that in between age- too old for most toy presents, but young enough to care if he's not getting them.  A promise of a movie date with me or his dad before xmas solved the problem...

The Boy in the Moon

i'm reading this book (The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son) and it's so wonderful.  I know you Americans don't hear much about Canadian books so I thought I'd pass it along.  while it is so heartwrenching at points, it is so beautifully written.  I think we can all recognize ourselves and our struggles as parents (even of 'normal' children) in it.

SO!  my sister wrote to me and said "Occupy your blog!!"  (but she just wants to see the nephews and niece...)

I have been busy as I am sure you all are too.  We went to Vermont for American Thanksgiving last week (Happy Thanksgiving!!) and I am as always in the whirlwind of family obligations and homeschool etc.  And I'm trying to get ahead of my Xmas sewing so I don't have a stressful week lead up.

I taught a needlefelting workshop tonight and it was really fun.  I'll put up some pictures soon of the needlefelted figures I've been making.

I'm going to go back to reading my book on the couch now...

Occupy Wall Street

My man and I went on our first solo trip since before Lee was born (11 years!!!) to New York City for the weekend.  (It was a wonderful and much-needed get away!)  While we were there we checked out Occupy Wall Street.  On the way home I read this article in Vanity Fair.  It was about the bankruptcy of local governments but the last section seemed so pertinent to the issues that the Occupy protesters are trying to address.  

from Vanity Fair "California and Bust" by Michael Lewis 

...The richest society the world has ever seen has grown rich by devising better and better ways to give people what they want. The effect on the brain of lots of instant gratification is something like the effect on the right hand of cutting off the left: the more the lizard core is used the more dominant it becomes. “What we’re doing is minimizing the use of the part of the brain that lizards don’t have,” says Whybrow. “We’ve created physiological dysfunction. We have lost the ability to self-regulate, at all levels of the society. The $5 million you get paid at Goldman Sachs if you do whatever they ask you to do—that is the chocolate cake upgraded.”

Food for thought.

I've included the rest of the section after the break if you want to check it out.

recycled gift wrap idea

old calendars + tissue paper + dialogue bubble= quick and charming gift wrap

if you don't save your old calendars, you could use pictures cut out of magazines, etc.  

super cute and easy!

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair

I love this annual event!  

I've written about it here so many times, and it's really not very different from year-to-year, that i almost didn't write about it again.  BUT someone got a new iPod Touch (not me- Asa!  Can you believe?  my 7 y-o has fancier gadgets than his parents...) and I finally got to try Hipstamatic (i know- so 2009) so suddenly the Royal Winter Fair photos seemed different from the last 4 years of posts.  

(I love how the Hipstamatic app makes everything look so soft and painterly!)  

(Also, I had to laugh when i re-read one of the posts above that said we had cereal and fried eggs for dinner- guess what we had tonight?)

just a little bit more about Halloween

our Island community had a pumpkin carving party on Saturday

Lee and Asa made Jack-O-Lanterns 100% by themselves and I helped Maxine (she drew the design, I carved)

What was interesting to me was how completely each pumpkin said something about each child's personality:

Maxine's (far left) is all about the eyeballs.  People with defined eyeballs are what she loves to draw lately.  Plus her pumpkin is just really cute.

Lee's pumpkin (middle) is quirky just like him.

Asa's abstract Jack-O-Lantern (far right) is slightly perverse and different from everyone else's (notice the knife stuck in the side)

I don't want to put the children into little boxes by analyzing them this way-  I just love how each child shines through in his/her creative expression!

Happy Halloween!!

to you from my Steampunk Bandit, Zombie Princess (such an improvement on the typical 4 y.o. girl princess theme obsession, don't you think?) and Griffin (mythical half-lion and half-eagle).  as usual, ridiculous amounts of time were spent by both parents on costume making but, also as usual, it was worth it for the kids!  (i am especially pleased with the griffin mask fashioned out of plaster cast material and wire- you can click on the photo to see it bigger!) 

the Island: Toronto Island Tree Tour

if you live in Toronto or are visiting, this is an interesting, fun, and different way to get to know the Island.  Our wonderful Toronto Island Park supervisor organized a map showing the what and where of 57 different tree varieties on the Island.  Each tree is labelled with its common and Latin name, family and origin. 

Asa under a  European ash Fraxinus excelsior

Lee looking at a Big-leaf linden Tilia platyphyllos

you can download this map here

happy tree walking!