SO Grown UP

Here's my not so little anymore little bird petting Gunther gently.

Anton had the flu last week and then I had it Friday night and then Doug got it last night. It has been horrific. Glad I don't have any photos of THAT to share? Being sick is one thing, but taking care of 2 men at the same time is truly challenging. I wish I could recover by myself! How do other mothers do it?

Green Space

We got this stunning morsel of direct mail the other day. Doug and I nearly fell on the floor laughing. I gotta hand it to Tin, though. He knows all about "white space."

How to Pay a Bill When You're Pissed

Hi friends,

It's been a wonderful weekend of gardening and baking. For the past 2 weeks, I've been baking bread again. Three times a week! Feels great to know I can do this AND be a mommy to Anton. My favorite loaf is called Ciabatta. It's crisp and dark on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside with lots of holes for texture. I use it for everything from toast to sandwiches. And it's easy! There is very little shaping or proofing involved. You barley handle the dough at all.

I've just about memorized the recipe by now so have gotten over the psychological barrier of thinking I can't juggle breadmaking steps with everything else. If you make a schedule and make it habit - it's really easy.

So! I've also planted new flowers in our window boxes and got a couple of tomato plants in the ground. I'll post pictures soon.

Feeling the high of spring and the productivity it brings. Happy to be here. Happy to be alive.

Ciabatta

Starter:
1/2 t yeast
2/3 C water
3T milk
1/4 t sugar
1 C flour

In a bowl, sprinkle yeast onto surface of lukewarm water. After 5 minutes, add milk, sugar and flour. Stir to dissolve. Cover with a damp dishtowel and leave overnight or 12 hours.

The next morning, make the dough.

Dough:
1/2 t yeast
1 C water
1/2 T olive oil
2 1/2 C flour
1 1/2 t salt

In a bowl, sprinkle yeast onto surface of lukewarm water. After 5 minutes, add olive oil, salt and flour. Add this mixture to the starter you made last night. Cover with a damp dishtowel and leave for 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 425°. Sprinkle baking stone heavily (yes - it's terrific for bread and cookies and pizza and much better than a baking sheet) with cornmeal. Scrape out dough with a rubber spatula or bowl scraper onto the stone. It will be very wet and sticky. Try to make a rectangle. Scoop up the sides of the dough as if you're trying to fold it from underneath its surface. Do this on all sides. Let it sit for 20 minutes. Handle the dough carefully so you don't break the air bubbles.

Bake for 30 minutes at 425° and enjoy your beautiful and tasty ciabatta loaf!

Tastes Like Chicken

Doug's description of THE funniest bumper sticker he saw the other day.

Der Gessner pencil

This was a birthday gift from Glo and Peter. THE coolest pencil designed by the Swiss Naturalist Conrad Gessner in 1565. You can read a review of it here. It's pretty wonderful to write with. I'm thinking of painting mine, though. I love the natural cherry, but my hands are crying out for color.

Buttons on display at Knitch!

This is a new display of my polymer clay buttons at Knitch! I'm working on creating shawl closures next - which are much larger - giving me more surface area to play with. Exciting stuff!

Put on your type shoes!

These are amazing.

Suffering Artist

Well. It's been a beautiful day. Doug bought me donuts for breakfast, Mom and Dad came over first thing to give me my presents - one of which was a beautiful grandfather clock that's been in our family since my grandmother was 16 - a deep, deep family history - but that's a later post. This made me cry. The letter from Mom and her sweet sterling bell that HER grandmother gave her was also wonderful - as was Anton when he figured out how to make it ring. Doug got me a James Avery charm bracelet and Anton got me a charm that says Mommy.

Later at work, students bought me a cake and sang to me at PC. Then Doug took me out to dinner - oh, it was delish and luxurious.

This Saturday night we have a big party. I'll bake a cake and it'll be so much fun. I've got lots of things to celebrate and be thankful for.

The image you see here is Anton's big present to me. Mind you, this is a child whose gag reflex is very sensitive. The sandbox and yogurt just about do him in. So when Daddy sat him down to create this finger painting for me, it was not pretty. The painting turned out masterful, but I understand it was traumatic for him. Look at his chest and thighs! Oh, how the artist suffered!

Spring

Mom snapped this photo of Dad (Baba) and Anton (Hunny Bunny). Had a fabulous 5 days up in Rabun Gap. I got an incredible amount of work done last week up there and am flying high on the satisfying coast productivity provides. I finished 5 syllabi for Spring quarter at PC. Made a new batch of buttons for Knitch. Finished a calligraphy job. We've also weened Anton off of his daytime nap bottle. He can fall asleep without it just fine now. Tonight I got him to sleep in his crib and not in my arms (well, it was actually a mixture of both!) These developmental milestones are a wonder to watch and take part of. I have not mourned the changes yet, but instead celebrate the new skills learned.

I came home to Spring today. Dougie Fresh cleaned up the yard, trimmed around the fence, raked, mowed, mulched and swept. Since we got rain while I was gone, the lawn is actually green again. Dogwoods blooming. Hostas peeking out of the earth. Lilies growing tall. And all the stuff I planted last year from seed that I thought the drought had killed is coming back. It's thrilling!

This weekend I'll clean out the back porch and sew seeds I harvested from last year's annuals again for the warm season upon us.

I love spring. I love my life. I feel just like those hostas - peeking green life from within winter's bed of straw.

Walkin' Man

I've spent this week up in Rabun Gap with Mom and Anton. Dad and Doug joined us last night for the weekend. Doing a big calligraphy job up here and making buttons for Knitch. It's going to be busy! But I'm doing stuff I love. So I'm happy.

Here's Anton walking on the back deck. Wonderful to see him mobile and confident. Cute, isn't he?

Vote For My Mom

Ok friends. My mom's wonderful, faithful, funny, ageless and compassionate. I think she deserves this bag. I've been trying to get her to buy a seatbelt bag for herself for years now and she just won't spend the money on herself.

So.....Would you cast a vote for her? PLEASE?!

Click here.

Just copy and paste this in your message:
Anne's mom is wonderful, faithful, funny, ageless and compassionate.

Or write your own version.

And thank you!

This will bore you if you're a guy.

After a year's absence from beauty spree shopping, I treated myself to a trip to Ulta for a new nail color. My hands are the only part of my body I'm never critical of, so I spoil them and have been painting them once a week for the past 15 years. I bought a new neutral today called Moon Over Mumbai: "A romantic shade of soft, moonlit grey." It can be applied sheer (1-2 coats) or 3 coats for an opaque look. Really pretty on my hands.

Opi has a new brush inside their bottles. It's flat and wide (covers more of your nail with less strokes) and the bristles are stacked so they don't leave streaks (really useful if you're using a sheer polish.) Thank you OPI!

I am loving this whole girl thing.

On another note, I've decided I cut my hair better than anyone else. I've been cutting Doug's for the past 2 years and with the aid of thinning shears (I can reach the back of my head and cut really short around my neck), have been doing my own as well. I know. Call me Wonder Woman.

Lipstick

"You can try on all the makeup EXCEPT for the dark lipstick" was my mother's instructions to my niece Mia before she briefly left the room in which they were getting ready for Easter Sunday dinner. This is what she found when she returned. Sweet Mia with the dark lipstick on. Too cute to scold, she snapped these photos instead.

Inspiration

For all your creatives out there, Maria just sent me this link to a site "like ETSY, but better."

It's called "SUPERMARKET: Great design. Straight from designers."

So far I'm totally digging the cat graphic and fern graphic... and I haven't even clicked to the second page. I'm sure I'll be up all night. :)

Bookmaking Success!

So last weekend we had a bookmaking workshop at Binders. It went very well. Was SO much fun. Here's what we made: a coptic bound book with a telescoping box to hold it. The folks who took this workshop will be joining the next 6-week class from June 4 to July 9 at 6-8:30pm. The class fee is $140.00. Yay!

Daddy & Anton Play and Play

Hat & mittens for Mia

I knit these for my niece Mia.

Safe Baby Handling Tips

From a book by David and Kelly Sopp. I dare you not to laugh!

Powerful Solace

This is a poster by Christine Clayton that moved me beyond words this quarter. Completed in Creative Strokes, it wowed her critique panel and when she wrote to thank me for the assignment, I was moved to tears.

It is all too easy to look at such a controversial subject matter with an attitude of judgement. To prevent the unthinkable, I think our first task to to ask "why" with the ultimate goal of understanding.

Bravo Christine!