House Update

It looks as though our long journey to purchase the home of our dreams has final begun to come to an end! Finally!  Tomorrow morning at 8:30am, Will and I have an appointment with the title company to sign escrow docs.  Technically escrow is supposed to close tomorrow but everything probably won't be filed and finalized until the beginning of next week.  So, it might be a bit too early to celebrate but WHO CARES!!!  YIPPEE, WE MADE IT!  What an emotional roller coaster, boy let me tell you!  What a lesson in patience and understanding.  I don't know that I did too well with my lesson, but looking back helps with moving forward.  We are in the process of making plans for a Halloween party out at our new place so keep it in mind.  Everyone will be invited.  It's not officially on the books yet and we realize that there may be some who have plans but we still think it would be a fun time to celebrate and open our house to family and friends.  When I have more plans nailed down I will make another post.

Little Ballet

A few weeks ago I enrolled Molly in ballet.  The 3 year old class is only 1/2 hour and includes ballet and a little bit of tumbling.  I wanted to post something because I'm just so amazed at how quickly she (all the little girls in her class really) are learning.  In the first class the teacher, Miss Christy, laid down square foam puzzle pieces and asked the girls to get in line and one by one jump over them.  Molly anxiously awaited her turn and proceeded to hop over the squares somewhat like a little pink frog.  A few girls did kind of a half leap, half hop that looked like a confused little pink frog.  When all the girls had finished Miss Christy said, "Ok, I
saw two kind of jumps today: a one-legged jump, and a two-legged jump.  Now, what kind of jump do you think a ballerina does?  That's right, a one-legged jump (and she gracefully leapt over the square).  Now let's get in a line and do it again, this time like a ballerina."  The girls lined up and proceeded to half hop, half leap over the squares but this time with much more concentration.  The next class I expected the same thing, confused pink frogs.  But, no!  Almost every one of the girls leapt over the squares just like Miss Christy had shown them!  I was so impressed.  That was one example of how quickly these girls are learning.  I now have a little ballerina dancing around my house and showing me new moves every week.  Although I can't say whether Molly will stick with dancing for very long, I am so glad that I enrolled her just for the sake of learning how to use her body gracefully.  I think just watching someone move gracefully week after week is rubbing off on her.  Hopefully she will turn out to be less of a clutz than I am!

Dreaming of Lace

I know I just posted two entries yesterday (or was that today?), but I tend to get obsessive when I start to get into something.  One of the things I'm obsessed with right now is lace.  Crochet, knit, new, vintage, bowls, doilies, tablecloths, shawls, all of it!  I've noticed it more and more these days in magazines and such so I'm hoping it is making a comeback.  Although, it could have always been there and I just never noticed before my obsession began.  There are so many things that I could mention about lace but I think I will narrow it down on this entry.  

Photo taken by Laure Joliet

Photo taken by Laure Joliet

I just had to mention the most amazing artist that I found a few weeks ago while browsing the internet for lace crochet.  Her name is Kristen Wicklund.  She creates what she calls porcelain-lace.  After you visit her website you just have to look at her flickr photos here.  She crochets these beautiful lace doilies of all different shapes and sizes, dips them in liquid porcelain, lays them in bowls or drapes them to give them a little shape and then fires them.  During the firing process all of the crochet thread burns out of the porcelain leaving this amazingly delicate porcelain art.  She has posted pictures of her process on her flickr page.  I would love to have a big bowl to put fruit or flowers in on my counter or a collage on my wall.

Photo taken by Laure Joliet

I wonder if the same thing could be done with a stronger medium (like metal) so that you could make a fruit bowl or basket that would hold up to a lot of wear and tare.  I visited her photos right before I went to bed.  Not a good plan if I want a good dreamless nights sleep.  All night I tossed and turned dreaming of crochet lace and its endless possibilities.

Thank You, Towels

Thank you, towels for being so large and easy to fold.  I could only wish the same for your fellow laundry (especially the miniature socks of varying colors).  When I am tired and weak I search for you so that I may take a productive break from the tedious process of washing and folding the many small clothes of my children.  Don't ever change, dear towels.

A New Local

Technically I shouldn't be posting this blog yet but I just couldn't wait.  Here are some pictures of our new home (hopefully).  We are still waiting on the final word so if you find that this post has magically disappeared next week it means that something went wrong.  I should say something else went wrong.  Wrong enough that we don't get it.  We have had several problems along this path but amazingly everything has righted itself over time and nearly everything has worked out to our advantage.  Pretty cool.  So, these pictures were taken during our home inspection period when the kids and I would drive out there to play and water the nearly dead plants.  All of our work was probably in vain however since we haven't been up there in several weeks and the seller has not interest in keeping the trees alive.  Ahh, C'est la vie.  

The kids enjoying an ice cream from the local market

My little cuties just sat down here all by themselves.
They were eating their ice cream and having a
conversation about the scenery.  They crack me up!

The HUGE kitchen

So, our future plans include:

• Flattening out the land in front of the house (we will have a total of 8 acres but not all of it can be flattened)
• Digging the natural pond so that it is bigger and more centered on the property.  Will wants that to be our swimming pool but I'm not too keen on swimming around in murky waters with little (or big) fishes kissing my feet.  So, he has some cool ideas to build a pool kind of to the side of the pond with a little waterfall into the pond. 
• Planting some yummy fruit trees.  Maybe we will have a little citrus orchard too.  I don't know cause that isn't my main interest.  I think it would be fun to have a few fruit tress though so that kids could go pick them.  If we don't plant anything though I'm fine with buying food from our neighbors little fruit stand.  They have beautiful fruit laid out (including pluots and asian pears, YUM!) right by the road that is all on the honesty system.  They have a little slot in the table where you put in money and take the fruit that you paid for.  I've even seen a little bowl with fruit in it that says "Try One! (washed)".  It's crazy.  I can't imagine anyone steeling from them for the simple fact that having their fruit stand set up that way is basically saying to someone, "I trust you and have faith that you will do the right thing and pay for your food."  I mean, who could steel from someone who says that to you?  I guess I'm not the best judge for that though since I never understood how people could bring themselves to steel in the first place.  Anyhow, on with the future plans...
• We want to have several sheep (for the wool) and possibly a Llama or Alpaca to protect them.
• A dog or two (of coarse!!).  Will insists that his dog has to be named "Dog".  I'm working on at least using the name "Pup" instead.  Dog?  Really?  Come on!
• Maybe a couple of chickens (for the eggs).  Will insists that free range chickens don't smell like chickens in a coop because their poop gets spread all over the place.  Plus there is the added advantage of free fertilization.  Oh, gross!

That's all I could come up with now although I think there is plenty more.  As far as the inside of the house goes, everything is pretty much good.  I will be changing some light fixtures around but it's all going to be pretty minor stuff.  I think we will have the real fun outside.  Finally, I will have a yard to let the kids play in!!!  I'll let you all know when our big open house party will be so, stay tuned.

Molly's Mermaid Shawl

Every year my grandmother, "Grami" organizes an all girls camping trip.  We have done this for years bouncing around to different camping spots.  A few years ago we tried camping in San Simeon and have gone there ever since.  One of our favorite activities is spending a day shopping in Cambria.  This year we found an amazing yarn shop called "Ball and Skein".  As I walked in the door my jaw dropped to the floor and my lungs filled with air as I tried to take in all of the beautiful yarn strewn about.  There were baskets of balls and long hanks hanging from racks suspended from the ceiling.  In the corner were a couple of women knitting samples to drape on pretty chairs and cushions throughout the store.  I was drawn to the draping Blue Heron hand dyed yarn that seemed to be raining from the ceiling.  I loved every color but the one I chose was a blend of silk and silver named "Ocean".  Pictures of myrmaids with irrodescent tails and flowing locks of hair swam through my head.  I couldn't wait to make something beautiful for my precious Molly girl.  I took the yarn home and wound it in a ball (it took FOREVER!) and left it on my nightstand for weeks trying to decide what to make with it.  I finally found a patter for a circular blanket/shawl/doily thingy that could go as big or small as I needed.  The circular pattern made me think of waves so I pulled out my beautiful new crochet hooks (hand made Nom OC wood; b.day gift from my mom bought that same day!) and...presto!  Molly's mermaid shawl. 

Bundled up at the cabin

I barely had a chance to weave in the ends let alone block it (wet it and dry it out in the right shape so the edges don't curl up) because Molly was so excited to have it.  That made me feel so good!

Girls Night Out

Last night I had dinner, coffee, and a long chat on a park bench with my two dear friends, Candace and Chelsea.

Thank you girls so much for a wonderful evening. I think it would be so fun for us to get together for a whole weekend once a year. Don't you?

My favorite story from last night (I just can't stop laughing about it): Robby Boyd's maxi dress sewing escapades.

After our long conversation about Blogger and/vs. Facebook I have decided that I would like to be a better blogger. I re-read my mouse story and bum story was doubly inspired. I think I will give my blog a make-over and start to include things that are of interest to me such as my fiber arts. Well, not arts really because I don't make "art", but my fiber hobbies I guess I should say: crochet, quilting and sewing. Perhaps I will grow as a blogger from there. After reading over this blog I realize that it will be a long journey! Here goes!