Wednesday, October 15, 2008

I'm Finally Taking a Glass-Fusing Class

Tonight. And the next three Wednesdays after tonight. I will learn how to make jewelry using glass-fusing techniques.

I am very excited/anxious/nervous about it. I mean, what if I have zero ability to do this? But on the flip side I could be awesome. Let's just hope for somewhere in the middle.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Our New Family Tradition? (Monkey Pancake!)

Last weekend Mike surprised Joshy with a pancake custom made just for him:
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Josh loved it, but doesn't like how the picture of him turned out so I won't post it.

So, we get up, I mix up the batter and Mikey makes the fantastically fun designs. I got a flower this time. Kaya hates real maple syrup but I can't bring myself to buy the Aunt Jemima High Fructose Corn Syrup version so I made my mom's version and Kaya was happy! I like when we can reach great compromises.

Then we all went for a hike in the woods and this was my favorite moment because Josh finally let us get a picture taken together:

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Baby steps. Maybe someday he'll just smile. Then again, he does take after his dad in so many ways... it's actually kind of scary. That's how I know they are really related. Those kids are carbon copies of their papa. It's a good thing I like him so much!

Friday, October 10, 2008

The Choice About Wind

When Hayley and Dan came out to visit last summer it was an unbelievably windy week. At least that's how my memory recorded the circumstances. This is unfortunate, because truth be told I hate it here when it's overly windy. So, I don't think they got to experience the true beauty of Humboldt as I love it. In my experience, there are far many more "unwindy" weeks here than windy ones. I can honestly say if it were windy ALL THE TIME I would hate it here.

Yesterday the wind came in full force. The sun shone and it deceived me, repeatedly, into walking outside in an attempt to walk down the street. And every time I did that, the wind pushed me, quite literally, back into the house. I grumbled that "Mother Nature" was working against my goals and progress. I never did make it down the street ... well Mike walked with me to the post office which is quite literally at the end of the street, and I had a scarf wrapped around my neck and a hat on my head to deal with the "pain." You might have thought it was winter in Wisconsin.

Today, the wind is still here, and it's either not as intense as yesterday; or probably more realistically I have adjusted to it, resilient as we humans are.

So, I put on my windbreaker and walked down the street armed with my eBay packages. In the line at the post office, an old man who was dressed as if we were in the middle of a massive snowstorm griped to the smiling young woman behind him about how she "must be new in town to be in such a good mood when we live in such a terrible climate."

I smiled to myself because I had the good perspective today. (Of course, that man's attitude and mine YESTERDAY were basically as interchangeable as our "winter" attire, but that's not the point I'm trying to make here.)

Finished at the post office, I continued my walk down the street, determined to not let the weather deter me two days in a row. As I walked I was serenaded by the most beautiful music of wind chimes, everywhere. I decided my good neighbors have the right idea about the wind, and that we all have choices to make. Maybe I am speaking too soon and when I get to that old man's place in life I will bitch and moan about the wind too, but my current, possibly presumptuous, opinion is that he has a choice: to move away to a "better climate," or hang some wind chimes on his porch.

This slightly lame attempt at making a "lemons = make sour face or make lemonade" analogy is my personal lesson for the day, one I'm simply sharing with you. We all have choices every day. If you don't like what you are doing, either find a way to like it, or do something else. I believe life is really that simple.

Of course, perhaps this man is making sacrifices for the people he loves in his life, and I'm sure it's quite easy for me to pass quick judgment on him and others. I mean to do no such thing. I am sure he has good reason to be here, and maybe tomorrow he will have a better perspective too.

There's a good chance that tomorrow I will be sighing about the blasted wind again. But for today I'm happy to hear the wind chimes.

My next-door neighbor just had surgery yesterday and was supposed to be home by now. But they are keeping him in the hospital a bit longer so I'm out the door and on my way to go visit him there. I'm bringing him a tiny orange pumpkin, because they are on sale at the store right now, and because it seems more manageable for him to bring home with him than flowers, and should last longer as well. And, well, because orange things seem to brighten people's days I think. Isn't that why we seem to crave the sun so much?

"You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one"


... This post is brought to you in part from my MP3 player randomly playing this song. It always gets to me, every single time.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

The Dream of Homeowning, Tree House Style

Some day Mike and I are going to live in a place like this:

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If we have anything to say about it.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

When Having an Artist for a Dad Really Pays Off (aka Puppy Pancake!)

This morning we made pancakes for breakfast. Kaya asked her dad to make her a puppy pancake. This was just too darn cute not to share:

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(Kaya wishing she could eat her pancake already!)

Tonight I'm filling in at the gallery while Mike and the kids watch movies at home. Wish I were there with them!

It's fall here in Humboldt, which means rain and chilly air that calls for having warm snuggly knits on hand!

Oh, and speaking of pancakes and puppies, when pancakes are had Baby has apparently always gotten one. This three-year tradition left Baby hanging off the back of the couch drooling and licking her chops while we ate pancakes. We set one aside for her to let it cool off, and when I got up and picked up that pancake to take it outside, Baby started dancing on her hind legs like I have never seen before. Mike told me to make her at least jump through the hoop once before I gave it to her, and when I held up that old tire she jumped OVER the whole thing, as if to SHOW ME just how much she wanted that pancake. Well, she got it. And I don't think she even tasted it, it was gone so fast.

Friday, October 3, 2008

It's a Slug Party and You're Invited

I'd be lying if I said last night there were hundreds of slugs right outside our front door. It would be far more accurate to say dozens, so for the sake of honesty I'll say dozens. DOZENS OF SLUGS. Outside our door. That is still a lot of slugs. All just hanging out on the pavement, glad for the rain so that they could come out of their hiding spots and grace us with their gooey presence.

I didn't think to take a picture last night and this morning when I opened the door they were gone. I guess they had a late night and have crashed by now. Or, you know, it's damper at night, scientifically speaking.

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In other slug-related news (I can honestly say I never thought I would have multiple stories at once related to slugs) Josh and I went to the zoo last Sunday (yes, it was awesome) and there is a Banana Slug Exhibit. A Banana Slug Exhibit. At the Zoo.

The question I have is how often do they have to change the exhibit since I am pretty sure slugs have a fairly short lifespan. So far nobody has cared enough to even entertain this question. In all fairness I must just like to ask the question because if I really cared I could have Googled it by now. But I haven't.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Fantastically Capricious

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(I believe the maker of this refrigerator poem is Mike.)

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(This lion is by the artist whose work influenced Mike's glass lion.)

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(I keep my marbles in egg cartons.)

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(Food Yum is the name for this picture, and with good reason. This was dinner one night made from whatever I could find in the fridge - not too shabby.)

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(The girl is small, but not that small. The cards are GIANT.)

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(Yes, that is a smile on her face. She unabashedly loves all attention.)

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(Weird things staring at me when I go into the bathroom - gosh it's fun having little people in the house.)