Drop Out

So some of y'all know that I am an art school drop out.

I'm okay with that.
So instead of going back for Art this Fall, I came up with my own syllabus.  It involved drawing and painting and new recipes and patience and letting things go and massive forgiveness of self and others. All good work, right?

Yessss, it definitely has been.  And I added a yoga class on Thursday nights at J. Darby Farm. So healing.

And I crochet with old ladies the fourth Tuesday of every month, and meet with those struggling with infertility the fourth Monday of every month, and meet with Ladies on the second Monday of every month to discuss Lady Issues, and every Wednesday a group of eclectic awesome women get together to laugh and talk about meaningful stuff. It is a full semester. I am grateful.

I still miss drawing with tragic 18 year olds, but maybe again soon.

For now I'll pull weeds and cook and care for kids and home and husband and grandparents and read and play and crochet and knit and paint and draw and sew and sort and dust and pull things out of the attic as I put things in the attic and then move them to the basement - is anyone else doing this too??

Sweet life, y'all.
I am grateful.

Gesso, The Doggie Boy

One morning, I went to the best place ever, America's Thrift Store, and found this dog.  

My friend Leah laughed at me. 

The dog called to me.  

So I bought him.

I covered him in gesso, so Leah and I named him Gesso.

Then Corinne loved him and named him Doggie Boy. She drags out the "y" in Boyyyyyyy.
She and Svea helped me paint him all sorts of colors, and then I went back with black acrylic paint and a small brush to add tattoos on the colors.

Then I added furniture pads on the bottom to soften his stance.

My neighbor Faith down the street wants to buy him.  I love him, but I can let him go.

I had no idea it was so fun to paint a dog!
So in the meantime, I have found and purchased a cat and a pig...good times, y'all, good times.

Divine Fractions

We went camping again, y'all.

And I enjoyed it.

I wish Corinne had...but she got up at 1:33 in the morning and wanted to paint fingernails. Then she wanted to ride her bike. Then she wanted to go potty, so at 2:00am we are in the bath house with the other nighttime critters, balancing on the potty. 

Good times. 

We went for a "hike" the next morning:

And Svea was Wonder Woman, of course.

We took the dog this time and I think she votes we camp every night.

While I was walking along with Svea, Henry had the dog and Brian had Corinne, Svea asked me about fractions. She wanted to know if I knew about them.
I told her that I knew a little about them, but that I wasn't very good at them.
She asked if I knew that the top number was PART of the whole, and the bottom number WAS the whole.
I told her I did.
So she said that that was just like her and God. She was the top number, just part of it all, and that God was the bottom, God as ALL of it.

I had to stop for a minute so my brain could catch up to agree with her.

While Corinne is not enjoying fractions yet, metaphorically or literally, she was enjoying using the flashlights, writing in her journal, walking with Daddy, and being near the camp fires.
And food. Of course, food.

Since Diary of a Wimpy Kid has experienced a resurgence in our house, I brought some old blank notebooks with our camping gear.  Turns out that the kids LOVE to journal by the moonlight.
Corinne kept pointing to the moon, then to her paper and saying, "Circle! circle!"as she scribbled circle after circle.

The next cold morning, we got ready for another hike. Guess who got a lollipop for the journey, and guess who refused to wear a jacket though his lips were blue, and guess who changed clothes 3 times before we left?

Sugar is not the right answer to the guesses...

I hope all of you get the equivalent joy that our 18 hours camping gave us!

Halloween 2012

Turns out...Halloween comes very naturally to Corinne, Svea and Henry.  

In that order.

Corinne was a witch with a pink pumpkin bucket and she was enthralled with all the free candy. She was NOT enthralled with her witch hat.

She even stole candy from our own bucket that was for the other Trunk or Treat-ers.

Here is Mr. Bones. Made out of PVC pipes. Ha.

Corinne with her fist full.
Just the way she likes it.

Here's our CREEPY trunk at Trunk or Treat, and Mr. Bones in his knee socks.

Handsome Henry as the Punisher (?!*&%$) and Bieber hair.

Here they are!  Svea as a rock star that is Hannah Montana-ish but the wig was not working so well, so it's more like Miley Cyrus-ish.  Corinne is the hatless witch.  Henry, the Punisher with no weapons allowed.

Happy Halloween, y'all!  Hope all of your candy is already gone and not lingering in your kitchen, dining room, bedroom, lunch box area or dog's bed!!

The "W"

On this eve of the presidential election, Svea is gearing up for her report to her class tomorrow.

She has been researching the president of the United States of her choosing for the past few days to present her findings to her class.



Get it?  She could choose ANY PRESIDENT.

So she chose George W. Bush.
In my shock and awe, I asked her why she chose him.

Her answer: he wears a tie and is cute.

She is not allowed to date until she is 39 and is currently moving out of my house.



So instead of dressing up like George W.,  she is taking sugar cookies with a "W" in icing she wrote on them. Remember, these cookies were imprinted with icing tonight and have to survive a bus ride tomorrow with a creative 2nd grader who often forgets her backpack [daily] and likes to shake the cookie container for effect only.

Sidebar: she asked me tonight if she was taking the bus tomorrow. I said, "Yes."
She almost fell off her stool and said "WHY WHY WHY????"
So I looked at her in surprise and she relaxed and said, "OOOOOOOHHHHHHH. I'm taking the bus because I take the bus EVERY morning!"

These "W" cookies are doomed.

I can't make any political comments or apologies or encouragements, so I am sending sugar and a copy of So You Want To Be The President in case they want to read that together during reading time.

God bless the USA, y'all.  Please vote tomorrow.

And then go buy yourself any awesome, beautiful cookie to your liking.

My Wish For You

I truly wish for you the equivalent of the day I have had.

I needed some time to BE so I asked my local farmer J. Darby if I could come out to the farm and:

1. No one talk to me.
2. Be given an Accomplishable Goal with a beginning and an end.
3. That this Accomplishable Goal would have immediate results.


Pretty much I was asking for the opposite of Parenting.
I showed up and J. Darby showed me this:



Which after hours and some sweat and a rake and some ant bites and sore fingers, I turned into this:



Now it is ready for Kyle to plant lettuce!  In the winter!


It was like starting with Svea's room:

And ending with Henry's room:

I was right at home. In many ways. Including the ant bites. Ha.

Seriously though, I so hope that you have equivalent wonderfulness and order and beginnings and ends like I did today.  It does wonders.

Saturday Message from Corinne

First, I was just playing with my shadow before Henry's soccer game:

Then I noticed that Henry and Svea were TWO FIELDS away playing near that white goal back there:

So I went to get tangled up in the net, of course.

Svea is my hero.
She can score against Henry even while kicking with her new glitter pink and silver wedge lace-up sneakers.
Perfect.

Then Henry scored the first goal in his game, which they went on to win 4-1! 

Sweet Saturday, y'all.  Hope it was for you too.

Love, 

Corinne

The Tragic Poetic Rapper

"Alabama first, LSU's the worst!
Alabama is tha best you better not rest when the games on my last name's Bond.
The game's always on, my sister sings a song
when it's wrong so it's origin dowhen [doin'] okay
Now they're worse when Green Bay so I like Sandy
Because she's on Sponge Bob I have a friend named Randy, kind of like Sandy."


Yessssss...watch out Homer!  Or Eminem? Somebody?