... and a few more.

drawer labels

I made a bunch of little picture labels for Elliott's bins this week.

the good news and the bad news

lime ice is so nice

My new favorite recipe is a lime ice that I saw on the food
network show with Rick Bayless. It is so yummy and fresh
and tart and absolutely creamy!! Also super quick & easy to make in
the thrift store ice cream maker we picked up last month.
I served it up after lunch today in these cute little flower bowls. Yum!!!

your summer is ready

36. draw yourself in a mirror if you haven't got any of 28 to 35.

I know I told you this one was coming a long time ago,

but I petered out on my summer project, now, didn't I?

This is my self-portrait inspired by Stacy Peterson.

It came out pretty line-heavy on the face because of the

markers I was using, but there it is.

tub time!

I've spent so much time next to this tub during
the past 7 years, overseeing baths.
When I was in 5th grade, somebody at my school
had a 2-year-old sibling who drowned in the tub
when her mom went to answer the phone. She was
only gone a couple of minutes. I didn't know the family,
but it left a lasting impression. It just felt so tragic.
So I am an avid bathing supervisor with my kids,
especially if they're five-and-under.
And also paranoid about swimming pools.
The fun thing about this is I get to watch them enjoy
playing in water, which is one of their favorite things,
whether bathing or swimming. I've always taken other
diversions in, like my guitar or a bag of makeup or a magazine,
so they've gotten used to playing by themselves. This means I get to
overhear all the two-sided conversations they invent
between bath toys. It's great fun.

schmoo

Inspired by Stacy Peterson today, I started experimenting with cartoon versions
of my people based roughly on the proportions she seems to use.
I love the idea of being able to simplify people down to very straightforward
lines and still have them be recognizable at some level as specific individuals.

my new favorite book

When I was sick last month, I got a bee in my bonnet about

growing my own produce and reserved a bunch of books from the library.

They've been coming in, and most of them were boring and totally over

my head. My gardening experience is nearly zilch, so all those charts and

graphs about soil pH and soil drainage just wouldn't stick to any brain cells.

Then along came Movable Harvests, which is all about container gardening.

It's absolutely fabulous! It includes specific, thorough instructions for growing all sorts

of fruits & vegetables, including how to make your own soil mixes and

simple directions for when & how to fertilize. Best of all, it has lots of pictures.

I can actually imagine being able to grow some veggies now.

My favorite part is not having to deal with a bunch of digging in the hard,

clay-bound Tucson soil. Also, the book has a section on indoor gardening

and addresses considerations for various climates, including the hot southwest

and the icy northern regions. Don't you just want to go start a container garden now?

breakfast for dinner

We had breakfast for dinner last night, and it was amazing!

The kids were so excited, you'd think Christmas had come early.
And, other than it being 100 degrees outside, it felt kind of like
Christmas. We had sweet rolls and coffee, orange juice and bacon,
eggs, sausage, and the most fabulous french toast. Yum!
On top of it all, a monsoon rolled in while we were cooking, bringing
heavy gray clouds, a nice little lightning storm, and huge drops of rain.

skyscraper adventures

Elliott saw a Bob the Builder video last month about skyscrapers, and since

then he's been asking lots of questions. Now, Tucson doesn't have a whole lot

of buildings that would qualify as skyscrapers. Maybe 4 or 5.

So today while Eric had jury duty, we went downtown and found us some skyscrapers.

In fact, we went way up the elevators in 3 of them looking for good birds-eye views.
Unfortunately, most of the window-side property in these buildings is behind locked doors

in offices & conference rooms. Finally we found a big window to stand next to and get

that scrumptious, squiggly feeling in our tummies just looking down so far.

i said goodbye

I have this theory that life & relationships are better if we grieve our losses along the way....

Today I got rid of Elliott's tiny toddler & baby socks, which I've been hanging onto all this time (although I did save a couple).
I feel sad to lose those little feet and my part in his life where I was the one who always got him dressed and took care of his little self.
I enjoy the independence that comes from his growing capabilities, but I recognize all the departures of his growing up as a little bit closer than they were before.

it's time for... another perfect system!!

This is my tiny sewing corner. It's in the main storage closet,
which is already quite full. So, not a lot of room to keep supplies.

I finally got fed up with having thread in several places and
particularly thread in the drawer tying every last thing together.

However, the wooden thread holder I came across yesterday was $14.99.
I recalled a wooden thread board my dad made for my mom years ago out
of nails and a piece of plywood, and then I noticed this nice 1x4 going
across the wall a couple of feet above the sewing machine.
So there it is: lovely thread organization using only the supplies at hand.
It's a perfect system!

35. draw your worst friend.

Or is that my own worst enemy? Yes, that would be myself.

I'm the one who gives myself guilt trips and has bizarre expectations

that no one else places on me, won't let myself rest,
chooses to blockade the things I care about the most, etc.
Of course, this is more true some days

than others, and it (fortunately) seems to be getting better as I get older,
which I'm convinced is directly related to how much and
how long I've listened to Jesus and been transformed by what he says.

i thought you might enjoy this...

Last week when I was drawing bath water for Elliott, I
walked into the bathroom to find him tossing powdered
foundation onto the water. "So I'll smell fresh and clean, Mom."
It had been in a little round container next to the jar of bath salts
on the counter. We went ahead and threw some of those in, too.

34. draw your best friend.

fun (er... mostly) with photos

Lately we've been having lots of fun taking jumping shots.

Unfortunately, these are sometimes prone to cause injury.
In the above picture, you can see that Elliott's already a little
confused re: what's about to happen.

Apparently, we didn't brief him well about the fact that he was going to be jumping.

So he got dragged down instead.

Oof! He really got the wind knocked out of him, poor little guy.

Fortunately, the daddy of comfort was near.

fun with playmobil

This was a little drawing session while Eric and the kids played with the playmobil castle today.