Happymaking Idea: "Notice"

I found this great idea HERE. It would have worked spankingly when I was living in San Francisco, but I'm thinking that if I try it in my current more rural neighborhood there will be an implied debt to accountability. Still, it may keep solicitors at bay!

For those of you who are blind as a bat, here's the full text of the notice:

Notice

While you are reading this there is a man in one of the windows high above you who is taking your photograph. He will then make a wee model of you and put it with other wee models of other people. Then he plays weird games with them.

If any of you try this, please be sure to post a comment and tell us all about it.

Holly Jahangiri's Morning Smoothie Recipe

Wait no further - I've got the goods right here for you! I wrestled them out of her Monday morning via a Facebook thread. Now you too can start your day off right, and get those neural symapses firing at optimal speed! Not to mention keep things *ahem* moving right along.

A clean colon is a happy colon! If that ain't Happymaking nothing is.


Holly Jahangiri's Morning Smoothie

Ingredients (per person):

• 1/3 c. Kellogg's All Bran Buds (ground separately in blender or food processor to consistency of flour and removed to be added later)

• 3/4 c. frozen fruit (any kind), slightly thawed

• 1/2 large banana

• 1/2 c. milk or yogurt

• 3/4 c. water (I use water to thaw the fruit in a measuring cup and just dump it all into the blender)

"Start by blending frozen fruit, water, and milk/yogurt. Slowly add All Bran Buds (preferably with blender running) and banana. Blend until mixture reaches desired consistency. Drink up!

My daughter thinks it's a bit like baby food with the All Bran, but it's a great way to get almost half your daily fiber intake in one tasty smoothie."

Check out more of Holly's Recipes on her SparkRecipes page! I had to set one up for myself as well. I keep starting with SparkPeople and not following through. This time I'm going to do better. I'm still nursing, though, and I'm terrified at the thought of my milk drying up if I drastically alter my way of eating.

On that note, you might also want to check out this Daily Spark post "Peek inside the fridge of a fitness expert". I'm going to use it to inspire me when I'm making out my next shopping list.

Have a great day!

Monday Morning Laundry Happymaking!

Monday morning is laundry morning at the compound. Hence, I initiated my usual death march towards the laundry basket (ode to death of joy)...



...then stopped myself. I'm supposed to be re-working my thinking, right? Making boring things like this fun and zippy and exciting? Or at least not so painfully repetitive and Godawful that I want to huddle in the corner of my shower under a steady flow of cold water whilst banging my head against the wall just to break up the monotony of it all?

I turn the clothing items inside out as I do laundry to get it over with, so I don't need to do it as I'm folding and putting the laundry away. So I started thinking. Hmm... How about "Monday Affirmation Laundry"? I decided that every time I turned a clothing item right side out, I would speak an affirmation - something good about myself.

Okay, here we go. *ahem* Dirty t-shirt inside out...



"I am witty." Oh, it hurt to say it and I wasn't entirely certain of the truthfulness of this affirmation, but I decided that this exercise would be good for me and so I went ahead with it. Turned a sock inside out, "I used to be pretty. Oops, I am pretty.". Then, after a while, as the wrongside-out items kept coming and coming and COMING, just to speed things up, I decided that I could intersperse affirmations with declarations that, "Elvis lives!". Turned some dirty boxer briefs inside out, "Elvis lives!". Another t-shirt, "My kids think I'm funny!". And on and on it went.

There you have it, folks, Affirmation/Elvis Lives Laundry Happymaking!
________________________________

Here are some Joe and Lily pictures for the day:

Joe showing off his San Francisco 49ers t-shirt from Grampy

Lily being silly with her Daddy last night

Have a wonderful day!

Easter is coming! And so are free Easter pattern links!

Easter is right around the corner. I sit here and smile as I recall last Easter and a 16 month old Joe Joe walking around our yard collecting plastic eggs in his little basket, filled with delight...



Oops, umm... filled with delight...



I can't wait to see Lily Rose this year in her very first Easter dress and bonnet.

Watching Joe color eggs for the very first time will be such a joy!

On that note, I've been exploring Easter patterns and am overjoyed with the cuteness of it all! Here are some finds I'd like to share with you. Enjoy!

KNIT:


Knitted Easter Egg Ornaments


Knitted Easter Peeps


Knit Easter Bunny Honey (photo by kristinroach Flickr)


Knit Mini Easter Toys


Knit Easter Egg Cosies


Knit Chocolate Easter Bunny

CROCHET:


Crocheted DROPS Easter egg and DROPS Easter basket


Egg Crochet Pattern


Chenille Stuffed Easter Bunny


Little Lamb

Hot Crocheter: Rachel Hunnicutt of Cornflower Blue Studio

Welcome to the first "Hot Crocheter" post at Happymaking. As the animation to the left says, this series will highlight artisans who are redefining what it means to be a crocheter.

To kick things off, let me introduce you to Rachel Hunnicutt of Cornflower Blue Studio. I found out about her through this post at the Crochet Liberation Front. After a little investigating, I was able to locate the Cornflower Blue Studio blog, and a post entitled, "...and then I realized it was just a dream." I said WOW.

What makes Rachel a Hot Crocheter? Innovation. This piece, inspired by the sea and entitled "Ghost Reef", just blew me away...

I couldn't help but check out her Etsy art shop: Cornflower Blue Studio: felicity shop. You will find Ghost Reef there available for purchase, among other treats for the eyes. You might also be interested to check out her Etsy craft shop: Cornflower Blue Studio.

Thank you Rachel for sharing your talents with us and for tickling our imaginations.

The Riverside County Fair!

Yesterday we got out of the house. There, that's good enough for me.

But there's more! We went to the Riverside County Fair/Indio Date Festival and had a heckuva time. Rousing family fun. Oodles of it! Seriously! Back in my twenties I used to go to things like this and enjoy myself, but secretly suspect that there were "cooler" places I should be. Not that I was cool mind you, but anything and everything embarrassed me, especially anyone related to me, but I won't go there. Aaaanyway, I was not prepared for the rush of electricity that ran through my veins at the sight of a giant nacho booth. The smell of cow and goat poop was just a bonus.

Look closely at the sign on the top left, the white one with the red letters. Then observe my husband Dennis' hand moving dangerously close to what appears to be a mad cow.

Lily was an absolute angel the entire day. She sat there in the front of the double stroller just sleeping and kicking her feet and cooing and observing. She even held her poop until we got home. Then she unleashed a shitstorm of grand proportions. Thrice in a row.

More of my demure princess.

Joe got to shake the hand of a monkey. For one measly dollar. You can't buy that kind of life-changing experience! Oops, wait... you can. For a dollar.

Joe went on his very first ride at two years and two months. He wasn't sure if he was having fun, then he knew he wasn't having fun, then he wanted to do it again! You should see the video. It's so precious. Every time he comes around you can see his face change. My brave, brave boy.

Joe really got a kick out of the train exhibit in one of the main buildings. He and Dennis had a fun time with that while I explored all the prize quilts and crochet items. Ahh... Heaven. A win-win situation.

It was good fun. Makes me think I might want to leave the house more often! At least ONCE a month! Sigh. How did it ever get like this? Being so much of a homebody? Oh yeah, kids, ants, and 3,000 degree desert heat. But we've got a good four months ahead of us for frolicking outside and I plan to take advantage of it!

Have a good one!

I figured out how to get Joe to eat vegetables!

I've been practicing baby led weaning with Lily, but seeing as how she's mostly been playing with the food and not actually consuming it, which is more or less okay at this age, I decided to buy some organic pureed veggies for her to try. (Yes I know I can make them myself, and I will give it a go next time around.) As a pleasant side effect of this process, I've discovered that Joe wants to eat anything and everything I try to feed Lily! He has been a typical toddler lately, not wanting anything except for yogurt, cheese, Cheerios, etc., and it's been worrying me to death. Now I see a light at the end of that tunnel! Next time around - green beans??

Is that carrot baby food in his hand?

Is that a baby spoon in my water glass?

Are those carrots on his face and *gasp* in his mouth?

And like 8 new baby spoons! Yay!

6 x 6 Tag!

Holly Jahangiri over at Do I Have to Spell it Out tagged me with a new meme. Okay, she actually tagged another blog of mine, How to be a Woman, but since I haven't been over at that blog in centuries, she said it was okay to respond to the tag here.

Rules: Choose the 6th image out of your 6th picture folder from your computer and blog it. Then tag 6 more people to do the same.

Oh my Heavens, this does put the fear in me. Okay, going for a look now.

BOY did I luck out. I mean really. Not that this is such a great photo mind you, buuut. Well. Never mind.

In any case, here's how it went...

I went to "My Pictures" and selected the 6th folder, "Coachella 2006".

Then I selected the 6th photo starting from the top, going right.

And here it is, folks! Me thinking I'm being funny by pointing to the word "Virgin" in the sign above me. Before you judge me, please think about it for a minute. Does this seem like the sort of juvenile frivolity that I would have hatched up? Or does it smell more like my husband Dennis aka man behind the camera? Thought so.

Here are the folks I'm tagging:

Connie's View

Cindy Crochets

Crochet Liberation Front

Every Day Crochet

I'm Living Proof that God has a Sense of Humor (Love the new look, Helene!)

Who's the Boss?

Have a wonderful day! :)

Joe loves our hat modeling sessions

Firstly, I'd like to take a moment of stunned silence to address the window coverings in the photos below. I did not pick them out. They were there when we arrived. I'm not good with windows - they scare me. And so they've stayed.

There. Now that we got that pesky business out of the way, I am compelled to let the world know what a wonderful boy my son Joseph is. Much to his father's chagrin, he simply loves our hat modeling sessions. Even when Lily is the model of the day, he likes to participate by grabbing whatever hat he can find and jumping into the shot.

Is that drool on his shirt? Yes, and that's okay. He's two for the love of God. Nice blowout flash on Lilyface, Heather.

If the hat doesn't fit, we must acquit! And thank goodness I learned after the previous flash fiasco.

This hat hasn't made it to Etsy yet. I've been trying to perfect my crocheted starfish. (It's going to be a beach hat.) But look how sweet Joe is - he's concerned that she might be falling forward in her Bumbo chair and is comforting her.

Here Lily, look at the flower Grandma gave Mom and Dad for their anniversary. You like?

Ahh, my baby boy. I love my little dumplings. Thank you sweet Jesus for plopping them into me belly!

Free crochet and knit patterns at Quamut!

Quamut, Barnes & Nobles' "How to" site, is offering up all of their crochet and knit patterns for FREE throughout the month of February! Scoot on over there and snag some!

CLICK HERE for crochet projects
CLICK HERE for knit projects