Life In Color

Creating and Organizing

Ok so we had one sunny day and I freaked my freak out and didn't know what to do with myself. Totally neglecting the blog in the process. Don't be too worried though, it just started raining again. :) That sunny day I had a total burst of energy. Bj and I have been reading this and it really made me want to get organized and purge/rotate some of our things, including Tuesday's toys. I happened upon an antique mall while trying to get around Portland last weekend and found this little gem:

 

I'm sure who ever was selling it found it for much less than the $32 I paid for it, but I could not resist. I have been wanting to get something like this for Tuesday, and the book sealed the deal on my thinking that her toys should be out of the big bin and into something a little more organized. The top will hold a little tray for nature bits we find, when we venture out again. This is in our dining room:

 

That I cleaned up after this picture and managed to squeeze in space for a family art cabinet:

 

Tuesday was just a bit excited when I showed it to her the next morning (after staying up until 12:45 baking, cleaning, organizing, and doing laundry... I could not help myself!). Knowing she was going to want to explore the cabinet I had to dress her in this shirt made by her Aunt Sciarrino:

 

I bought her fancy fabric paints for Christmas and I am totally reaping the rewards, yeah! 

I love that Tuesday can pull what she wants out of here (the cabinet has a baby lock on it, so it's only open when she is supervised):

 

coloring, a favorite:

 

Mark on one page, then flip to the next! Notice the crayons...

 

She decided the paper on them was just too annoying. I'm thinking we're going to have to get a booster soon for one of the seats because having the arms come on to the table is the one draw back of her "high chair" (we got rid of the wooden one after she started trying to climb it).

A good start, but I've got lots more ideas for the house...
 

Playing anyway

DId you know it's raining here? Now it's nothing really more than an inconvenience for me, and I don't like to dwell on things. But good golly miss molly I"m getting sick of it! And I like rain, I love it! So I haven't let us stop us (that and the prospect of staying inside all day with a toddler, not fun).

 

Our yard is coming together, behind schedule because of the rain, of course. It's a nice big pit of sand and mud for Tuesday, and oh she loves it (these pictures are on a semi dry day... the ones I lost were truly messy, mud everywhere).

 

Don't let this picture fool you, she gets into it.

 

Tuesday the destroyer! Hehehe. It's really fun when halfway through she starts to sign hat and gets it all over her head. 

Today we opted for a little more clean fun, since we had our pal William and his mama over.

 

This was not my original idea. I either found it on a blog or read it in one of my toddler busy books. I just hacked up magazines and catalogs to get colorful shapes, then stuck contact paper on the wall backwards. After they had their fill I stuck them on the outside of the slider.

 

I know when it comes to toddler art you should not care at all about the results, but I love it! Later I remembered I thought maybe it was supposed to be done with tissue and maybe that was why I bought four packs when it was on sale at Old Navy.

 

Yes, it makes more sense this way because you can put the art on the INSIDE of the house.

Thinking about the future

Oh I kept meaning to blog and then I was feeling all tired and blah. 

Guess what? Today I got my period, that two year break was NOT LONG ENOUGH. Boo.

But enough about that. Let's talk about something even more depressing, the future of our food! :) Bj and I watched two documentaries this weekend: The Future of Food and Food Inc. (and then happened to read this). If you just watch one I would go with Food Inc, just for production value, but Future of Food delves into the Monsanto/GMO issue more. It's very interesting, and I admit I was really turing a blind eye to what I've been eating, know things were bad but eating it anyway. I took it more as a "bad for me" thing, and didn't really think about the earth/future generations. Even before I got pregnant we were trying to eat better, and I have slowly come around from my nearly 100% candy diet (I like candy way too much). But with summer close (so they say, you'd never know it if you came over to rainland) and the first CSA box picked up I'm getting into the kitchen and taking over! No more fast food, no more corn syrup, no more GMOs! Of course I don't think I'll be able to be perfect, just trying to do my best. And I'm not sure what do about that severe diet coke addiction....

Anyway I started my cooking off with an easy curry rice soup, and made a lot so I could freeze some portions for when I'm feeling overwhelmed and lazy. Last night I made some dough and today I baked this:

 

Oh yes, it is just as delicious as it looks. I am totally in love with my new book. And they are serious, 5 minutes a day really is all it takes! My mom asked me for the recipe, but I'm all, "It's a system mom, a system!" This is just the basic, you-must-learn-this-first bread, but there are so many yummy looking ones I can't wait to try. I had to make a little investment in the book, a pizza peel, and oven thermometer (we already had a stone and I'm using a big stockpot for storing dough for now), but besides that I think a loaf works out to be ridiculously cheap, like fifty cents. 

We also used up some of our produce from our CSA box. The bok choy and green garlic went into a simple vegetarian stir fry we did over rice for dinner. 

 

Tuesday was so excited about it she figured out how to use her spoon! She's been aiming at her mouth for a while, but at the last minute she'd tip it over and most would end up in her lap. Halfway through dinner she did get tired and started shoving things in with her left hand, maybe she'll be ambidextrous! 
 
Also:

 

Playing, but being distracted by:

 

The big machine tearing up our driveway. We were going to have grass by this weekend, but did I mention the rain WON'T STOP?

 

Our poor backyard looks so naked.

p.s. You may want to check out the picture of the day. Yesterday Tuesday and I got to watch a dance class... full of preschoolers.