Life In Color

Have you heard of CASA?

At the beginning of the year I heard about CASA through a foster parenting blog/podcast/article. I'd love to be a foster parent in the future so I'm always reading about policy and experiences of foster parents. Though I can't remember the exact source I remember thinking, "This is it! This is the perfect volunteer opportunity for me." I submitted a request for an application and after passing the screening interview I started training at the beginning of the summer. I finished last month and yesterday I was sworn in and am now a CASA! 

I didn't talk about it while I was going through the training process because I was worried I wouldn't make it. It is a pretty intense volunteer gig because CASAs (Court Appointed Special Advocates) are a party to the case and have access to records, people, and resources to help craft a report for the judge outlining what is in the best interest of the child. Our county is unique because our director is an attorney and we have been trained a lot on the law aspect of the cases.

This is a time intensive job with a big commitment (2 years, or the life of your case). I won't be able to discuss it at all because of confidentiality rules, but I'll be getting a case soon and I'm sure I'll be up to my eyeballs in paperwork. So if I'm MIA, you'll know why!

And if you'd like to read more about it our local paper wrote us up (we were on the front page!): here (I'm in that picture, in the middle) and here (I'm in that picture too, but you can't really tell :).

I'm so excited to be able to help kids in Marion county in this way. If you have the time and love foster kids but the time isn't right to be a foster parent now I encourage you to look into this. In Marion county alone we'd need 300 more volunteers to cover all children currently in the system. And of course there are lots of other great volunteer opportunities out there. I was inspired to look for a place to volunteer by Sciarrino who has been working with Children's Cancer Association since March of 2009.

Do you volunteer? I'd love to hear about it.

I can no longer slack on weekend posts...

Especially when I hang out with two other bloggers, I know they will dish on everything we do!

Kristen (oh I like your new header Kristen, awesome picture!), Sciarrino and I had a sewing day in my basement. Kristen and I are being our own paparazzi here because we both made camera strap covers (Sciarrino snapped this picture of us—ignor my never going to be finished triangle quilt please, I found other things to occupy my time).

We (very loosly) used this tutorial. But we just made wider strips that we folded in half. And we used interfacing I had on had, so it was the really thin stuff, not padded.

Then we "quilted" them onto our existing straps. If I ever want to change it I can pick out the stitching and pull it off. But I don't think I will I love it and wish I would have done it a lot sooner!

Kristen also made these:

She saw them somewhere, bought a couple, and realized she could do it herself (velvet + rice + real pumpkin stems).

I can't show you what Sciarrino worked on (top secret), but I did finish another outstanding project:

No specific plan for this pillow it just makes me happy, happy, happy!

The back. The exuberant toddler was more interested in this cute little bag I made her:

The print is from Christina (the Sometimes Crafter). When I saw it I knew I had to get it to make something for Tuesday.

I even put a little pocket in it:

With Sciarrino and Kristen's help it came together really quickly.

Oh ya, she loves it. The outfit? She's a toddler, what can I say?

It went with us everywhere today.

You love it don't you Tutu?

Oh and for all you Portland Modern Quilt Guild members, don't forget to fill up your baggie next time you sew. I stuffed mine to the max so the person who drew mine would have some options. For those of you not in our guild we are swapping baggies filled with favorite bits of fabric. Then we make something with them (using only one additional fabric plus batting, pillow forms, zippers, buttons, etc.) and give it back to the person who brought the fabric. Such a cool idea!

And thank you for all the kind words about starting up my photography business (for reals!). I am so excited!!!

Reclaiming my artistic self

First off, wow! Those were some comments, they totally made my day. I'm not going to lie, when Julie said my house was really clean it was extra welcome as Bj had just pointed out that my stuff was EVERYWHERE. :) I love that so many of you see me as creative, fun, green, and friendly, that's how I see myself too. And while I am trying to make an, "Art form out of mothering." as Nancy said, I'd like to get back to my roots (I received a fine arts degree from Oregon State) and make art in other ways. That's why I'm so excited to tell you that I'm opening up my lens to capture other families besides those I have daily contact with (namely mine!). I've had people ask me to shoot their families before, and I've done so, but I never fully set up the business. I'm in the process of doing that now (Sciarrino is designing me an awesome identity) and have a temporary blog: Life in Color (photo).

In the coming weeks I'll be putting up more information, but if you'd like to contact me regarding photography you can email me now at lifeincolorphoto@me.com. I'm going to focus on child and family photography in Salem, Oregon (and the surrounding Willamette Valley). I'd be happy to shoot in your home (yes dust bunnies and all!) or a location of your choosing.

Here are a few pictures from my shoot last weekend, click over to my new Life in Color photography blog for a few more.

How do YOU see me?

I am working on a very fun project/adventure that I hope to share with you at the end of this week. It's making me think a lot about how people see me on the web. I've had this blog for almost six years and have been lucky enough to meet several of you in person, but many of you I know only through the internet. I'm especially curious to know how YOU see me. PHD in Parenting recently asked her twitter followers the same question (well similar, what one word would they use to describe her) and she remarked that the answers were different than those around her daily might use. So I'd be so grateful to know what you think of me. There is no wrong answer, and it doesn't have to be positive. You can say I'm full of myself, after all I've written a blog about myself for almost six years, ha!

Photo by Sciarrino, taken last night on a sunset walk.

Mini him

Halloween was a little bit of a tough day for Tuesday. She got another cold, or maybe it's the same cold but different. I don't know, all I know is I'm not going out in public ever again! ha!

We went to deepwood estates here in Salem to do a free Halloween thing. Best part was seeing our favorite scarecrow. Worst part was the lines. So we just did the no line stuff:

Tuesday wasn't dressed up because she's in love with this sweater my mom knit. She freaks out when she sees it and must wear it and not take it off!!!!

I did get her to change eventually:

mini Bj!

She walks just like him :) I tried to put a stocking cap thing (old pantyhose) on her head to be a bald cap, but no hat was the mantra, so I put some wax stuff in her hair to slick it back.

Oh I love you little mister lady.

It would have been nice if you napped that day.

who do you want to call? "NANA!!!!"

What? Do I need a shave?

Who said that?

Thanks to my neighbor for taking this shot. We hung around outside to say hi to our neighborhood peeps, but didn't actually trick or treat. I had my own Halloween fun a few days before (check it out on Kristen's blog). Despite pimping out my porch and having Bj more our tiki torches to the front for the night we only got three sets of trick or treaters. Donna said two blocks away there were fifty people on one block. I told Bj we might have to go insane crazy next year to lure them to us! We even had organic candy damn it!