More Than a Thousand Words

Where were we? Oh yeah, so I went back to work regular-like in September and it's been interesting. Some weeks are better than others - field work wreaks havoc on our schedule. Weeks that I'm in the office or working at home are much easier to manage. But here's the thing. I can't do it all. That's the bottom line. I am still knitting and doing a little painting. Still cooking from scratch as much as possible, still taking care of the chickens (they're well). Still keeping up with physical therapy, ballet and other necessary appointments (Maia has been in much better health so far this cold season). One thing that has changed is that I have no time for this blog. Maybe we're still working out the kinks, maybe it'll still happen. I'm going to try. When I said to Chris recently that I'd all but given up on the blog, he said he wished I wouldn't - that it was a good journal to have. I agree. Moving on.
I love this photo. I love this photo because I love all the people in it and they all look so content but I really love this photo because it represents how so many things are different from just 2 and a half years ago.

We took our sweet time driving up to the Bay Area for an after Christmas rendez-vous with my family. We stopped at Oso Flaco Lake on the first day. It's funny, I just went back through my blog to see if I had mentioned this place before, and I hadn't. We went here back in summer of 2008, when we were headed up north for my cousin's wedding. We stopped for a night in Los Osos and someone told us about this place (Oso Flaco Lake) which is at the southern end of Pismo beach. It's about a mile walk from the parking lot through some trees, onto a board walk that goes over the lake, and then through the dunes to the beach. It is just beautiful.

At this time in 2008, we were struggling with Maia. We knew in our hearts and minds that her doctors were wrong about her diagnosis but we were getting nowhere with them. She had a terrible time doing this walk. She was in pain and Chris carried her quite a bit. We were beside ourselves. Didn't know what was going on. This time she did great. Granted she complained about a spot on her foot where her orthotic was rubbing but still, she ran, she skipped, she played. So much better now. I don't have any photos from our first visit because our camera was stolen out of our car after my cousin's wedding (several large errors on our part) - we lost some great photos from that trip, but as you can see, we replaced the camera and that great 50 mm lens and all is well with the photography in our family.

I have so much to share but drat! have to go - Ponchos for one. I knit furiously through December two ponchos for the girls. Love them. I'm knitting another sweater. I finished one Brougham painting and started another. I scaled back Christmas cards this year (boo!) but hopefully will get back to that Gocco some day soon. Happy New Year - hope to post more soon.

Some time alone

Not very often, we split on the weekend and do separate things. Chris took the girls to the Santa Barbara Zoo today and I stayed home to work on a painting and hopefully do some fix-it sewing (hemming and such).

I've made some good progress on this painting and I need to stare at it for a while. I'm going to break and switch gears to sewing, laundry, vacuuming and scone making. Nice to have a little time alone, if nothing else to crank up the music without anyone complaining.

10 Good Things About This Week...

1. We camped at Montana de Oro with some friends last weekend. Good times.
2. Rosie joined Tulip and laid some eggs. Yay!
3. I went to work for a regular 24 hours. Regular. Yesssss.
4. The chickens dismembered a lizard and ate it. Ok, maybe this one doesn't qualify as good, but we had a good laugh talking about lizard flavored eggs. Ewwww.
5. Sofia and Maia spent a couple afternoons with their "manny", Justin. All is well.
6. Chris' Swedish cousins arrived in California for a two-week tour. They stayed with us for two nights and will be back at the end of their trip. So nice to visit with them - their girls are 14 and 18, last time we saw them they were 1 and 5. We're hoping to take the girls to Sweden sometime - they've got horses.
7. We are having a heat wave. The good part is that maybe those million tomatoes and tomatillos I bragged about will actually ripen.
8. Chris and I went for a 6 mile hike on Friday in the heat. Good company, good exercise.
9. Sofia is making banana bread this morning, almost by herself. Yum, can't wait to try some.
10. We are having some friends over for wine this evening. More good times.

Hope you're having a good week, too.

Happy Birthday, Stephen!

The Helgren family welcomed their second baby boy in the wee hours of July 4th, yesterday. His name is Stephen Christopher and he comes just a week shy of his big brother Thomas's 3rd birthday. We are very excited to meet him this coming weekend.
Look Stephen, we made these decorations for you! Well, actually we made them for our 4th of July dessert and fireworks party, but how cool is it that you'll get fireworks on your birthday every year! Once again, we failed to take photos from the party but it was fun. Lots of kids, lots of dessert and the annual walk over to the open field to see the fireworks. This year I made fresh fruit tart, brownies, blueberry crumble, and peach cobbler. Chris made peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies. The peach cobbler was the biggest hit.

I decided to try batik dyeing silk play scarves for the 4th of July party this year. First, you might ask, who in their right mind tries batik dyeing for the first time and decides to make 17 silk scarves all at once the day before 40 people are coming over? Me. Ok, so it was a little ambitious. But I have a reputation to uphold. Every year we've done this party, I've given some sort of creative, homemade party favor to the kids.

I certainly have a new appreciation for batik dyeing. The results of my efforts were nice enough, but not at all what I intended. Partly the problem was that I had limited tools and it made painting the wax much more crude and messy. I had all these intricate patterns in my mind (I know, silly me). Also, I was under the impression that the blue I used would cover the red better so I really intended these to be red, blue and white - not red, white with a tiny bit of blue. I think I didn't use enough dye and maybe didn't use enough of the fixer.

So, I won't quit my day job to become a batik dyeing professional.
Lastly, here's a view of the birds from the kitchen window while we were getting ready for the party. I'm off to Oregon tomorrow for some soil and groundwater sampling. Then I'll rendezvous with Chris and the girls in the Bay Area to visit with our new nephew and his family. Have a great week!

School's Out, Chickens Are Out

The coop is done and the chickens are out. They have been out for 4 nights now and have learned to put themselves to bed and come down from the roost in the morning. They seem to be very content. I am very content to not have stinky birds in the house.
I'm not sure why it is that the last couple weeks of school have to be so busy with BBQs, plays, potlucks, and last minute field trips. It didn't help that Sofia had her ballet recital on Saturday, which involved some extra rehearsals. She was fantastic though. After watching her Shakespeare play at school and then her dance recital, we have confirmed that she is a natural performer. And I'm so happy Grandma and Grandpa Marc came to visit this weekend. Sofia felt very special that they were there to see her. More photos over at flickr.

Mommy, you know what's interesting about you?

Wouldn't that make your ears perk up? What? What does Sofia think is interesting about me? Wow, somebody thinks there is something interesting about me. I love the way she started the conversation. She's so interesting to me.

So, what she said was, "Well, you know how when I ask you what your favorite animal is...." and she went on to explain that I always say something about how it's hard to choose and I like cats and dogs and birds... "But," she said, "you are always coming home and talking about how you saw an owl or a hawk or something, and I think your favorite animals are birds." So there you go. The world according to Sofia.

Last weekend was pretty productive. I finished the announcements for baby nephew Sawyer. My sister has them now and she likes them. Yay! I love that gocco - have I told you that before? One thing that doesn't show up well in the photos is that I mixed up the green color with quite a bit of silver ink and so there's a hint of metallic sheen to the color. It's really pretty.

I had planned a Valentine present of pajamas for the whole family but hadn't had time to actually sew, so on Valentine's Day, that's what I did. The pajama bottoms were made using a pattern from Heather Ross' Weekend Sewing and some organic cotton flannel from NearSea Naturals. Good pattern, very simple. I decided for our pajamas to put elastic in the back only and use a cotton webbing drawstring for the front side. The flannel is nice and heavy and super soft. These are definitely cold weather pajamas. I bought thermals tops from Royal Apparel to go with the bottoms.
Here I am with the girls (Chris missed the photo shoot) and here's where the project would have benefited from a little better planning and research. I wanted to dye the pajamas somehow - I thought white was too boring and would get dirty and stained too easily (you know how messy Chris can be). I sort of copped out, got impatient and we tie dyed them - except Chris'. He didn't want them dyed. Hmmm. So, now the girls and I have tie dyed pajamas. They're fine. They're just tie dyed. It's not what I had in mind but the problem is that I wasn't sure what I had in mind. I'm sort of wishing I had waited a bit. At least they're just pajamas.

Happy Birthday, Maia!

We're off to the happiest place on earth tomorrow for the traditional 5 year old birthday visit. Maia's party was fun, although I was sweating for a few minutes when the little crafters were finished with their Valentine making about 40 minutes before I thought they'd be - and it was raining - so I couldn't send them outside. Nothing a little squealy-girl-freeze-dancing and some quickie coloring-page-printing couldn't fix. Maia requested Strawberry Cake and I made this one from an old Bon Appetit recipe. It turned out yummy. I'm about to have a piece right now and go to bed...

Almost 5?

My baby is almost 5? How could it be? Maia turns 5 on Monday. We have a birthday party planned for Saturday and a trip to the happiest place on earth on her actual birthday. For the party, I bought some shirts (Royal Apparel, organic cotton) thinking our activity would involve decorating the shirts somehow. I wasn't satisfied with any of the ideas that I tried, so I ended up doing a gocco print on them myself and we will give them as party favors.
Instead of the shirt idea, I'll set up a table so our guests can make Valentine's cards and I asked Sofia if she would treat us to a puppet show. There will be 5 little girls plus my two. Ought to be fun.

A little knitting, a little weather

We have some friends who just welcomed their second little girl so I knit them up a little something. The booties (aren't they sweet?) came from Saartje knits (a free pattern!), and the hat is just a little something I copied and modified from a hat Erin made for Maia.

This week promises to bring lots of rain, they say. So far, 1.3 inches. It annoys me to live in a place that a week of rain requires so much news and preparation but eh, at least I can enjoy some rain for a few days. Today we are celebrating the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by collecting gently used shoes to donate to Soles4Souls. I sent out emails to our local friends asking if they could spare some shoes. Since there is no school today, the girls and I will drive around to collect them from our friends. Sports Chalet is collecting the shoes at all its locations through January 31st. The donated shoes will be sent to Soles4Souls for distribution in Haiti.

In other news, Maia is recovering from another bout with bronchitis. We didn't bother waiting around to see if she could kick it on her own, straight to the antibiotics this time. It was a year ago this week that her scleroderma diagnosis was confirmed and we began treating her. Thankfully her leg has improved a great deal from where we were a year ago. The meds and PT are working, but it won't be a moment too soon when we can get her off these drugs and she can rebuild her immune system.

Lots to report

The latest news...Please welcome my nephew Sawyer Morgan, born yesterday December 28th, after about 36 hours of labor. My sister is a trooper and gave birth to this beautiful boy. He weighed 9 pounds 6 ounces and measured 22 inches long.
I met him briefly at the hospital, he is only a few hours old here. We will travel back up north this weekend so that the girls can meet him too.

Preparations for the holidays...
Here are Sofia and Maia in their ski clothes (well, the new stuff anyway). Neither had a suitable jacket or boots to wear in the snow so I had to go searching and found these at Lands' End at reasonable prices (if I had planned ahead a little better, I would have tried to find something on ebay). They had a great time sledding. Skiing wasn't as big a success this time due to bad weather on the day we went, but more on that later.
The annual xmas card production was so much fun. I did this card using Illustrator and then printed using the gocco printer.
And finally, some Christmas twirly skirts for my favorite little skirt wearers. They loved them. Some minor adjustments need to be made (Maia's is a little big around the waist), but overall they were fun and easy to make.

I'm going to get back to unpacking and laundry for now but hope to post soon about our journey up north to Truckee/Tahoe-Donner and the Bay Area. Happy New Year!

Weekending

Now that we're back from Encinitas and Rocky seems to have recovered from her mysterious ailment (tongue biting with possible bladder infection on the side?), I can laugh about our Thanksgiving trip. You see, Wednesday night Rocky was not well and to be honest I was pretty sure we would wake up Thanksgiving morning to find her passed away. That didn't happen and since we couldn't leave our sick cat home alone and we didn't want to cancel our trip down south to Encinitas, we took her with us. It all seemed too much like a scene from a Vacation movie and I was afraid we were going to have to transport a dead cat back home. *shudder* Rocky spent the whole way down on my lap or at my feet just resting while I pet her and again, since I thought we might lose her, it seemed like the right thing to do. Turns out it was. By Friday morning she was perking up and by Saturday she seemed mostly back to her 14 year old self. She rode home in her carrier and is doing well.
We celebrated Chris' 40th on Friday with the Hillmans and the Helgrens. He did a nice long ride that morning, we ate a nice brunch made by his dad, and then I served his requested quiche dinner and his favorite grasshopper pie, whipped up by his mom and I.
I made this little painting for him using an ink resist technique I learned a few years ago from an illustration class. Other than the masking tape not working out and the ink spilling out onto the frame, I'm pleased with it and Chris enjoyed it, too. The scene is from a mountain biking relay race Chris did in August in Simi Valley.
This is the original photo. I messed with the contrast of the picture to get the basic look, painted the scene with gouache (everything including white areas and excepting black areas), let it dry and then covered the whole thing with India ink. After the ink dried, I rinsed it and magically, the ink on top of the painted areas washes away, leaving the unpainted areas black. Last I went back in with gouache and a black ink pen and retouched some areas. Now we just need to matte it so you won't be able to see the awful ink spillage - et voila, fini.

Thankful

I've been working on some thankful thoughts for a while now. First, I will mention that our cat, Rocky, or Miss Cat as we sometimes call her, has not been well today and we're facing the possibility that she may have entered her last days. She has been with us for 14 years. I'm thankful for that. And if she goes on a few more days, weeks, months, years (?!), I'll be thankful for that too.

Babies! I'm thankful for babies. Erin and Tom are preparing to welcome their little Nova or Sawyer in December and we just learned this week that another niece or nephew is headed our way next summer. Yes, it's early on so I guess I'll leave it at that.

Good neighbors. There are good neighbors, like those who are mostly quiet, keep to themselves and don't seem to be bothered by any of our activities. And there are good neighbors, like the ones our kids want to invite to their birthday parties (even though they have no children), who invite us over for tea and dinner, who look out for us and call us when we've left the car door open in the driveway (yes, I've done that), and who think to send us a Thanksgiving card (yes, they did). Turns out we have both kinds. Good neighbors and good neighbors. I'm thankful for them.

Work. I seem to remember that a year ago I was thankful for the little bit of work that was coming my way. Not much has changed in the work department and considering how tough things are for some folks out there, I'm thankful for the work that I have. And I might as well be thankful for Chris' work too. I mean, really, that's what is keeping us afloat.

Projects. I have a few projects in the pipeline that I'm really excited about. It's great to be inspired with ideas. My only problem is finding time to do them all. Some vintage fabric came to me via a friend whose grandmother (in law) recently passed away. This fabric is gorgeous (the picture does not do it justice). It's pretty heavy and I'm pretty sure it's cotton. It apparently came from a dressmaker in Hawaii. I'm on the lookout for just the right dress or skirt to pattern after - thinking on the lines of a square neck, fitted a-line dress to the knee.

I'm still plugging away on the linen/wool sweater, there are booties (and now more booties!) to make, and there's that kitchen wall chalkboard frame I need to get back to.
Last, but certainly not least. I'm thankful for my friendship with Chris. Some time this year, Chris and I started to meet each other for lunch at our local Peet's coffee shop. It was probably around the time things had settled a bit with Maia's treatments and around the time work got reallllly slow for me. We always pack a lunch, order lattes and sit for an hour or so to talk. It's fun and good and nice. And I'm thankful for it.

On Friday, Chris turns 40. I'll be back around then to show you a little something I made for him. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Having a Thankful Day

But first, she sings! She really does sing! Of course we know Maia sings, we hear her all the time, but this time she sang at her school Thanksgiving Lunch. She knew all the words (of course she does), she sang so we could hear her, and she sang with a smile. So sweet. She sings - when she's good and ready to sing. And not a minute sooner. Little bugger.
After feasting at preschool, we're off to Sofia's school this evening for a Peace Feast. The Peace kids are preparing a Thanksgiving meal with the help of a mom/chef. I'm looking forward to it. This week has been difficult for Sofia. Her friend, "who I've know since I was 2", left her school to start at a different school. It all happened quickly (which is probably best) - he told her on Monday and his last day was Thursday. She's feels scared and sad and worried. I know this will pass and she'll make new friends, but it hurts to see her sad. Not to mention my carpool just disappeared. I knew it would end someday but I didn't expect it so soon. Oh well, that's ok. It does simplify things a bit - takes more of my time, sure - but I only have to worry about getting my two kids to and fro.

By the way, I brought this black bean salad to the lunch. Yummmmmy. The dressing is super tasty.

I have more to post - some cutie patootie little booties I've been working on for one special little baby coming to us in December. But must be off for now.

Trying Something New

I found this nifty little feature in Blogger that allows me to send email notifications when I write a post. If you are reading this you may have gotten such an email. I started blogging way back when as a way to keep in touch with family, post pics of the kids, and then later I added my creative endeavors. I've met a few people along the way and I have my favorites over there on the the right side, but I still like the idea of keeping in touch with family. It's sort of like reading my journal without all the really juicy details, not that there are any :)

If you'd rather not receive such an email, please let me know. Just send an email or post a comment. I promise not to be offended.

Speaking of my favorite bloggers, JCHandmade (also known as Jennifer) just posted that she was diagnosed with MS this week. The news brought me such sadness and I felt a little silly being so sad for someone I don't know in person. But I do know we have quite a few things in common. She's about my age, she has two little girls (hers are twins), she knits and sews and blogs (in fact she's somewhat of a creative blogging rockstar), she enjoys cooking good food for her family, she's a progressive thinker, and she plays in a rock band in her free time. Ok, well I don't play in a rock band. She said they caught it early and she is keeping a positive attitude but I'm guessing there may be some tough days ahead. I'll be thinking about her.

Yummiest Thing I've Ever Made

Grandma and Grandad came over for belated birthday celebration, on their way (further) up north. They promised a pizza dinner, and I made the belated chocolate mousse that Sofia had requested for her birthday. The mousse recipe called for Candied Orange Peel as an accompaniment. As has been my habit this week, (ahem) I failed to read the recipe thoroughly, and missed the part about soaking the peel in salted water for 4 hours.

Can't start the candied orange peel at 5 o'clock and expect it to be ready for the mousse at 7, now can you?

So anyway, it was done late, and Maia didn't taste it until this morning. But when she did, she said, "Mommy, this is the yummiest thing you've ever made". It is candy. Pure candy. So what if it's made from real organic orange peels, it's also soaked and cooked in sugar and then rolled in more sugar. I swear it tastes like Trix cereal. Not that I've tasted that for about 20 years but it brought back memories. So here's the recipe, it's from a Williams Sonoma cookbook.

Candied Orange Peel

2 oranges, preferably with thick skin
1 T sea salt
1 c sugar, plus extra for coating
1/2 c water
3 T light corn syrup

• Cut around circumference of each orange cutting only through the peel, then make a second cut perpendicular to the first through the stem and blossom end. Remove the peel in 4 segments (now you have 8 orange peel pieces).

• In a small bowl, soak the peel pieces in the salt and just enough water to cover for 4 hours.

• Drain the peel and place in a small saucepan. Add water to cover and bring to a boil over med-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes. Drain and repeat the process. (Why? I have no idea... ) Drain and set aside to cool. Cut into 1/4 inch strips.

• In a small saucepan, over med. heat, combine the 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, and 3T corn syrup. Heat, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil and the sugar is dissolved. Add the peel strips, reduce heat to low, and cook slowly until the peel is translucent and the syrup registers 230 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Do not allow to caramelize.

• Transfer peels to a wire rack to drain (better put something under it), without touching eachother. While still warm, roll the peels in sugar on a plate and then place on a piece of wax paper to finish cooling and drying. Store in a covered container in a cool place for up to several weeks.

Yeah, like it'll last that long around here.

A Very Happy 7th Birthday

Sofia invited a few friends over for her Kings and Queens Brunch. The crowns were lovely but I didn't expect the kids to wear them much. One friend wore hers the entire time and she was an adorable queen. The crowns were made using a process similar to that described at Bitterbetty's blog here.
The kids seemed to enjoy the restaurant-like party. I took their drink orders, brought them drinks, took their food orders and helped Chris briefly in the kitchen. Then we played a few rounds of 20 questions while waiting for their food. They were very polite (mostly) and I had fun being their server. Chris did an excellent job preparing the food. We served it all at once and most of the kids cleared their plates - those who didn't had eyes bigger than their stomachs ;)
After the party, she opened some presents. Part of Sofia's gift from us was her own knitting basket with a starter skein of red wool and size 8 needles. We also gave her three horse books. Her face says it all. She was very happy.
We spent the afternoon working on a puzzle and rounded the day off with a movie and bean and cheese burritos for dinner (Sofia's request).
I've heard 7 is about the right time to learn knitting. She has been asking for a couple years for me to teach her but I have held her off. We started a simple garter stitch scarf. I was a little nervous about teaching her to knit because I'm not the most patient teacher and she's not the most patient apprentice. That and I'm left handed and she is not, so I am learning to knit right handed along with her. She seems to be picking it up pretty well.

Happy Halloween!

We did our Halloween preview photoshoot this afternoon.
I may switch Maia to a long sleeve white shirt and leggings so that she won't be confused for a penguin angel - seriously, a passing neighbor said that (??) Anyway, they both love their costumes, and that is really all that matters.
Oh my goodness, you put a little lipstick on her and she looks 15. Yikes!

Meanwhile, after my last post, Regina gave me a tip to look at these crowns by Bitterbetty. I took one look and knew I had to make them for Sofia's party. I had been planning something less spectacular, like a couple steps up from a 1970s Burger King crown, but her tutorial seemed pretty simple, so I went for it. I ended up deviating from her process because I couldn't find the right gold leafing powder, but I ended up with something very similar. And again, Sofia loves them, so there you go.

Baby Shower

And they're off! Phew! I feel like I'm in the land of many unfinished projects. It feels good to get one done. It was a short and sweet print job. Only 30 invitations and only two screens. I'm pleased with the turnout. I did the drawing in Illustrator, separated the color, printed each in black and then burned the screens. The photo is a little goofy because I had to smudge so many things out. You know, privacy issues. This is the internet afterall. So this morning Sofia came to me with this heart and asked me to write down the names of the people I love. I was making lunches and running late (what else is new) and asked her to please put it on my desk so I could do it later. A few minutes later she came back with something written on the back and she read it to me.

Love is beauty
Love is kindness
Wonderful things happen to lovers
Love is kissing and hugging
and happiness
Love is snow and sparkles too
It is two people getting married when grown

I don't have to tell you how neat I think Sofia is and how wonderful an artist she is. Now she's a poet too.

Oooooo, ahhhh, camera stuff

We decided to replace our 50 mm lens that was stolen from our car over a year ago. I had volunteered to take some photos at Sofia's school and realized that it would definitely come in handy. We also took the plunge and bought a nice flash. We're calling them our early birthday presents, to the tune of a couple months early. That's ok, we'll still be enjoying them when our birthdays roll around (Chris and I have birthdays a week apart). So here are my first victims...

Look at this face... don't you want to squeeze it?

And this one... she wasn't cooperating, go figure. These were shot indoors in daylight, no flash.

Here is Miss Cat, with the flash bouncing off the ceiling, nighttime.

Here's another one of Miss Rocky, with flash to the face. I had to include it for obvious reasons.


And here I am with and without flash, daytime. Having fun.

Oh, and here's a funny. The other night in the shower, Maia looks at me longingly and says, "Mama, will I have long boobies when I grow up?" Yes, my dear, I'm afraid you will.

Painting on the Wall!

But first, Kid Art. I put some notes on the flickr site.
And next, I had to go to the office on Monday to help transition a project from a manager who is leaving to another manager. While I was there, my work status came up, as it does nearly every time I'm in the office. So, you're not ready to come back full time? In my mind, I was laughing hysterically and thinking, "no, it'll be about 14 more years before I want to come back full time". But I simply said, no, not yet. Then on Wednesday, I had another work meeting and this time, someone else says, "Are you coming back full time?" Uh, no, where did you hear that?

I've tried to write about all my thoughts about work a couple times, and it always sounds whiny and annoying. So, I scrapped it. Suffice it to say that all this is on my mind, my choices and priorities, and that same yucky feeling I've had since Sofia was born that I'm not giving work what they want.

Then, I found out today that the daughter of a principal at work has several autoimmune diseases. Her mother (my co-worker), wrote me to offer support in response to something I had said about Maia. It was very nice of her, and a little surprising since I haven't worked with her much. She mentioned that she and her daughter's doctors feel environmental triggers are causing a rise in the incidence of autoimmune diseases.

Even though our focus and Maia's doctors' focus has been on her treatment, I think and wonder a lot about the "why" of all this. What triggered her body's immune system to go haywire? What are we going to find out in 10, 20, 30 years from now that we didn't realize? Is it the non-stick cookware? The flame retardant bedding? Something in the water? Is it some random food allergy? Or a weird vaccine ingredient? All of the above? I wonder if anyone's researching this.

So anyway, about painting on the wall. I painted the chalkboard (big mess now cleaned up) and now I'm working on a faux gold frame around it. It's a little tongue in cheek but I like it so far. And painting on the wall is fun. But shhh, don't tell my kids, they might get some crazy ideas. I'm also practicing my chalkboard writing a la Trader Joe's. Hopefully it'll be done soon, so go ahead, hold your breath.
And finally, I'm having a little autumn envy. Many in the blogosphere are basking in their autumn wonderfulness. I used to love autumn, the cooler weather, the crisp air, putting on a sweater... granted, where I grew up, it was not the traditional northeast autumn and we had a spell of "Indian Summer" as it was called, but it was a different season for sure. But here? Autumn is all about blazing hot, dry, hills on fire. So I'm having a little autumn envy. I know, it's only the first week, quit complaining. Ok.