Mom's turn: View from "aloft"

Okay – so here’s where we’ve been playing…shooting this out before I run to Hobby Lobby to help finish up for the weekend.

Teeny worked real hard this past week putting the finishing touches on her Japanese themed loft. Her daddy helped her tape off the accent areas so she could paint it red.
She spread the drip cloth out to try and keep the paint off of the rug this time…still didn’t work. She managed to get it everywhere, including down the stairs and on the blinds in her room????
Then we set the room back up in a sort of feng shui (yes, we are aware that is Chinese and not Japanese) way…trying to make the room more appealing and relaxing. She has collected several authentic Japanese figurines over the past few years...so now trying to arrange them.

While still avoiding the large hole in the floor that daddy is working on a way to fix it. We are also working on a corner section of the loft…thinking of expanding the floor area and changing the banister up – but will fill with various stuffed animals in the mean time.
Off to Hobby Lobby today in the search for:
· Large pillow forms to be covered in red & gold print material from grandma
· Lamp shade, in a red or gold tone – for floral lamp
· Small table, hopefully of some sort of bamboo or other natural wood – for red paper lamp, Japanese vase, & radio
· Frames for the rice paper calligraphy to hang on the wall around the window.
Then, the super prize for the hard work, a mango wood (for any one who doesn’t know, that is her ALL TIME favorite fruit) bench from Thailand to place the TV on. It has wonderful shelves underneath that will hide, uh hold, the gaming system messes, games, and DVD’s. It’s been ordered and should be here in 7 days or so.

And finally…a nicer bedroom set, from Wake Up Frankie, that she has patiently waited for since we moved from Riverscape almost two years ago!!! It will be in her trademark colors of lime green, bright purple (to match the curtains we’re in the process of making), and lagoon blue with a purple canopy to keep it funky…no disco ball, zebra print, or purple wavy walls, though!

Mom's Turn: Mother's Day

I can't even begin to describe how I feel as a mother. It's times like this when I wish I were more versed in fancy words like Keats instead of plodding along on the typewriter attempting to tell the world just how blessed I am. However my DD deserves my most modest attempt at bragging...so here it goes:

It started with a phenominal gift - a painting done by a male elephant at the Thia conservation center.

Which Ibrought to be framed and matted and cannot wait to post more about it when it finds it's "perfect spot" on the wall.

And continued with pampering to make mom feel beautiful with fancy fingers and feet.

Nothing feels better than when someone else bends over to do your toes!

Then waking to the most wonderful snuggles and smiles...knowing that if the world ended today, I had it ALL!!! My "priceless" moment - my teenage daughter still adores me (sometimes).

On to IHOP for my favorite, Swedish pancakes of course, and then to church to be sweetly reminded to find joy in my every day life as a stay-at-home-mom...even when my toes aren't done and my hair is a mess and I'm drowning in laundry - I am blessed.

And back home to relax the rest of the day...I couldn't have asked for anything better! Thank you for making me a Mom!!!!!

Mom's Turn:Good Student

Today I decided to venture out and take a cooking class. It was put on by Beth, who also does other fitness training, at Whole Food's Market. She cooked several yummy and healthy things and we got to participate and taste test everything as we went along...I was in charge of mincing garlic! But the Sangria made it worth it!! She also brought the odd ingredients in their original packages and told us where they were located in the store. I thought this was a fantastic help, as that's one of the most daunting things about new recipes for me! Afterwards she gave us all of the recipes printed out and a neat little fact sheet about the healthy benefits of several ingredients. It was fun and sent me home with motivation to write a grocery list and attempt some of my new found recipes.

Whole Food's has a wonderful kitchen area upstairs

ahhh, remembering what school was like - all those notes!

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo

For Cino de Mayo we WERE going to go to Superior Grill to eat Mexican food, but since the wait was 2 and a half hours we decided maybe Mexican wasn't the greatest idea. Instead we went to Arzi’s which serves Greek & Lebanese food. Close enough right? It ended up being pretty fun. My parents' friend came over too!

The holiday of Cinco de Mayo is primarily a regional holiday in Mexico, celebrated in the state of Puebla. There is some limited recognition of the holiday in other parts of the country. For the most part the celebrations combines food, music and dancing.

Mom's turn: Ginger surprises

My yard has been full of delightful surprises...the treat of moving into an older house with an already established landscape. First came the shampoo ginger, or zingiber zerumbet, in the back yard, and now we have shell ginger, or alpinia zerumbet, in the front yard. Not only does it have a delightful waterfall of flowers that hang right outside of my window, it seems as if I could use it for several ailment cures as well:

HERBAL PROPERTIES AND ACTIONS

· lowers blood pressure
· relieves pain
· kills bacteria
· kills insects
· kills fungi
· relieves spasms
· kills candida
· reduces pain
· reduces pain
· antioxidant

* http://www.rain-tree.com/shell-flower.htm

I’ll keep that in mind, but I’m hoping that I don’t need first hand knowledge of them.

Mom's turn: Garden Delights

FINALLY – the reward that we’ve been working so hard for…the perfect summer lunch: smothered fresh squash from the garden in butter with onions and pine nuts,

paired with tahini, tofu, mustard & cumin marinated pork roast, red seedless grapes, and tea with a sprig of fresh mint from the garden as well. Hard work pays off with a full tummy!

Fun Beading!

Beading has been my one of my hobbies for a few years now. My mom signed me up for some beading classes a few weeks ago at The Bead Company. I have been to two classes, and I missed the one last weekend. The one 2 weeks ago was a seed beading class. We learned how to do bead stiching. It was a lot of fun. I learned 2 different kinds of stitches. Tonight was a wire working class. I enjoyed it a lot too. Thanks mom!!

The best mommy of the year award

Well – my family has definitely outdone themselves this year! For Mother’s Day they got me the most fantastic and unique “elephant gift” possible…a painting done by an elephant in Thailand, Sri-Siam.

This will be my most treasured gift in my elephant collection for sure; not only is it beautiful, but part of the proceeds go to help the elephants at the conservation center. The best win-win situation in my heart! Elephant art became more famous recently with the video on YouTube and National Geographic of Hong painting her “Elephant Self Portrait”, but I have been watching these animals paint and had a desire for some of their art work for years. I’m glad the world knows a little bit more about it now. Perhaps more people will be intrigued with it as I was and be able to help these gentle giants.

Mom's turn: Leaky Pipes

Hmmm – the commercial says it happens when you get older, and now I know where that simile comes from first hand!! Most of our underground plumbing is probably as old as our house, which we’ve estimated to be around 75 years. SOOOO – the pipes have sprung some leaks. PERFECT. Travis replaced some himself when he started the garden beds; that was a matter of making things more convenient and stopping a potential problem, as we had no leaks then. The newest trouble started when he was trying to pull the massive roots out of our yard. Apparently some were tangled with the ancient, rusting, unforgiving pipes and when they were tugged – the pipes cracked! No plumber will repair them because of the awful state they are in and the inability to guarantee the work from future leaks; we’ll have to REPLACE THEM ALL. Well – that certainly wasn’t what we had planned for our summer vacation money, but water is essential so that takes top priority. In the meantime, Travis has once again come to the rescue by temporarily rerouting the pipes around the main leak or we would perhaps still be without water waiting on the plumbers. There is still a small leak on the other side that was discovered as he dug to uncover the lines. No telling how many other small ones are under there just waiting to be found ::sigh:: And while we wait for the plumbers to return our calls with the estimate for the work we are developing our own personal moat in the back yard! I’ve always wanted to go to the Renaissance Festival but have never had the desire to be a part of the show myself! Contractors, hmph!

Mom's turn: It's all in the name

My new summer color is definitely ele-FANTASTIC!! I love it and I'm sure I couldn't have done better than by trusting in something named in honor of an elephant!

Mom's turn: Jambalaya anyone?

Today I found my first magnolia bloom!!! I was so excited I plucked it and brought it inside so the aroma could fill the house. To me the magnolia blossom is not only our state flower but also the essence of southern living. Mine seems to have bloomed later than most trees that I’ve seen in the neighborhood, though. I’ve been watching the buds swell and wondering what keeps happening to them. My tree is by far the most mature – standing well over 60’…so what is the problem!?!?!?! AH-HA, there is the culprit. He looks so innocent, huh? Don’t let him fool you…I caught him on the run after he ate one of my buds!! So I told Travis he needs to get the BB gun out and get some of those pests…I’m in the mood for some squirrel jambalaya anyway!