The Rowdy Pea

the field trip from hell

Poor Josh. He had been looking forward to chaperoning Ivo's preschool field trip to the local Nature Center ever since we first knew about it back in October.  I know he was also excited for Ivo to show off his chops as a wildlife buff.  If I can be perfectly honest, Ivo's not one of the more "advanced" kids in the preschool. He is, by all accounts, good-natured and nice to his classmates, but seems to have happily settled in with the underachievers who heckle the music and milk helpers and goof off in the bathroom. And he holds his pencil wrong, apparently.  You know your kid is one of the quirky ones when everyone in class is supposed to decorate a little house shape to resemble their home and he draws his house with flames shooting out the windows. (Is it an economic class issue--hello?? We don't live in a house! hmph). Having a chance to shine in his own element could have given his preschool reputation a much-deserved shot in the arm. Could have, I say. It didn't really work out that way . . .

It all started off well enough, a sunny day, a special breakfast, riding the bus with all the kids and Papa, but as soon as Ivo realized that there would be a procedure and an order to the visit to the nature center, complete with "stations" that were to be visited in a pre-determined succession, he lost it. LOST. IT.  The nature center is typically a free-for all with lots of animals and hands-on exhibits, and Ivo visits it regularly enough to have favorite furry (and scaly) friends and his own agenda for working the rooms. He must have thought the "stations" model of his preschool classroom was taking over the world.  Devastating. His first tactic was to advocate for his own ideas . . then he moved on toward your basic civil disobedience tactics. . . and when that proved fruitless, a one-man riot ensued. Complete with threats, including, "I'm going to cut all the trees down! I'm going to burn the forest! I'm going to put cigarettes at the nature center!" ("Cigarettes" being a new and fascinating vocabulary word, made powerful by it's relationship to fire and smoke. oy.) This lasted nearly an hour, during which Josh wished several times that the Nature Center would indeed burn down.

According to Josh, Ivo finally calmed down just in time to watch a video with his classmates about how they (the three- and four-year-old Minnesotans in the viewing audience) are personally accountible for saving the rain forest. Now Ivo's talking about "All the forest is going to be over". Great. Wonderful. It's such fun to talk a three year old out of the idea that global politics are his responsibility.

Yup, Field Trip from Hell, that's what it will be known as from here on out.  You know, sometimes all you can do is laugh.

unsupervised shopping . . .

    . . . At this fabulous quilt shop led to a very restrained purchase of three fat quarters.  Then since I was at the qulit shop alone I figured I might as well have a look at the antiques mall next door, just pop in you know, not looking to buy, window shopping, but lo and behold I found the cutest lamp ever, when a lamp was just what I needed. Have a look . . .

Other purchases of the day were a pair of hand sewn vintage potholders and a very interesting old wooden toy . . .

You know it's old when "G" is for gun.  I love the little owl, though. That's my favorite one. 

more fun in the kitchen

Here's a photo of this week's project from Mom Unplugged. The theme was toothpicks, and since Ivo likes to keep it simple, I just gave him a plate of banana slices and some toothpicks and he spent the next 15 minutes playing with them. A fun, easy idea that I wouldn't have thought to do without a little encouragement. So thanks Mom  Unplugged :)  To see more Unplugged Projects, and for low-tech family fun, visit her site here.  We are not always tv-free but I've found her website to be packed with great resources. 

The second kitchen project is one Ivo has been wanting to try for a long time. It's the pita pizzas from Deceptively Delicious. But without the spinach, because I wanted Ivo to make the pizza himself and I knew he would be suspicious of a layer of "green" under the sauce. This was so easy, and had very yummy results.  Ivo just spread pizza sauce on a pita, and sprinkled it with mozzarella cheese, then we baked it at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes and cut it into eight triangles with a pizza wheel.  Ivo called it his "Pizza Junior" and gobbled it all up, except for two slices that he shared with Josh and me.  It's such a wonderful thing to see him so pleased with his accomplishment, and to be able to share food that he's prepared with people he loves.  He told us, "I made the lunch today for everybody."

That feeling of satisfaction that comes from making tangible contributions to family life is something I hope he carries with him as he grows. Currently he enjoys cooking, mopping, carrying laundry to the laundry room, washing dishes, and many other everyday chores, too. His help often ends up increasing my workload, but as he grows up he is becoming more and more proficient at household tasks, and shows an eagerness for "real" work. Fingers crossed that this lasts as long as possible!!

some random chatter (and a heartwarming ending)

Thank you so much for all of your thoughtful replies to my last post. I knew I wasn't alone in my, shall we say lifestyle, but to hear that I am actually among the good company of so many amazing, creative (and I don't just mean crafty) and caring people really gave me a boost.  I knew there was more to life than file folders and label-makers, but it's so hard not to feel like a failure when that pro-organizing propaganda is so prevalent!

Today I am being a full-time nurse to my poor Ivo, who is lethargic with fever and a bad cough.  So I really don't have too much else on my mind besides helping him feel better. When he's sick he gets a very yummy special cocktail that shall remain nameless (but is completely legal, even for a three-year-old) so I can always count on keeping him hydrated. That's good. He also gets a couch-bed on the living room sofa, which is something my mom always made for me when I was sick as a child--even just a little bit sick!  And . . . a movie. Yeah, actually it's not a bad life is it? But still, he looks miserable.  I have a special order for my shop due tomorrow, that--incredibly--I finished two days early, so I can relax knowing that my work is done and I can be full-time mama. 

Before I sign off on this somewhat, maybe even completely, boring post, I will leave you with a little excitement of something amazing and blog-related that happened yesterday.  This is one reason I love blogging, imagine my surprise when I saw this yesterday, a comment from someone who knew Scout and my sister from NICU. (read all the way down to the last comment). What joy it brought to our whole family, especially my sister :) 

scatterbrain, know thy self

I've spent many hours over the past few weeks trying to re-organize my life to find room for new projects and plans.  I've made weekly schedules with rough outlines of studio time, writing time, parenting time, housework time, all sectioned out as though those tasks occur seperately and in succession --ha! The results look so organized on paper but have left me feeling completely frazzled.  Having it all go down in flames has been no big surprise-- I've always been drawn to the idea of being structured, organized, self-regimented, but the reality is that I've never lasted more than a week on any of my plans of action. The funny thing is that I love "getting organized" and find a huge satisfaction in creating systems and all that. I just don't maintain them. Ever. So here's how I'm learning to cope make peace with my inner scatterbrain:

1. I don't buy into the idea that being (or more accurately, looking) organized means greater productivity. It will only hurt my self-esteem and contribute to the tyrrany of the orderly (hee!). This is a neat book.

2. Here's my filing system: Two boxes. One is for important personal things, like snapshots or cards or keepsake items. One is for anything else that looks important.  They get sorted through every few months and papers are straightened and put into folders or recycled. If I'm looking for something important it might take awhile to find but I know it's in that ONE box.

3. I have come to accept that moving from order to chaos and back again is something that contributes to my well-being. Like meditation, or those little puzzles that ward off Alzheimer's. 

4. Clutter makes me crazy! If I use and/or cherish all of the things in my environment, it is way less stressful to live among them. Things that can be passed along to "bless" another household, are.

5. I like to have *most* of my life feel orderly *most* of the time. It helps a lot to accept the chaos if it is concentrated to one area of the house, or only certain aspects of my life. For example, my "anchors" at home are a clean and tidy kitchen, living room, and bathroom. And my morning and evening routines anchor my days and make a nice tidy sandwich out of whatever comes between.

6. When I'm really in the thick of it, I remember a little saying that the amazing mom of one of my best friends from childhood had hanging in her kitchen. It said, "The creative woman may have cobwebs in her corners, but never in her mind."  Amen to that!

So is anyone else learning to embrace their freewheeling, fancy-free ways? Or am I the only one who can call herself Franklin Covey's worst nightmare?

It actually would be really nice to not feel alone in this . . . just sayin' . . .

baking together

We love to bake together. And Ivo is really starting to learn his way around the kitchen. In fact, his participation in cooking activities is less like toddler "help" and more like actual help at this point. Yippppeeeee!! I knew it would come to this sooner or later. Here's what we whipped up this afternoon . . .

Chocolate Brownies

Ivo's job: Open the refrigerator and take out the butter and the eggs. Unwrap one stick of butter and put it in the big bowl. Break two eggs into the small bowl and stir them up with a fork.

My job: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 8x8 inch pan. Melt the butter in the microwave and measure the following ingredients into seperate cups: 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/3 cup cocoa powder.

Ivo's job: Stir the sugar, eggs, and vanilla into the butter.

My job: Stir fast while Ivo adds the rest of the dry ingredients one at a time. (We like to add the cocoa last for dramatic effect). Stir about fifty times. (I like to count out loud, also for effect).

Ivo's job: Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

My job: Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 25 minutes.

Our job together: Remind ourselves that eating raw batter can lead to tummyaches. Eat a little anyway. Then clean up the kitchen. Ivo does tables and floors, I do dishes and countertops.

Save room for the finished product:

Notice the *dainty* portions. mm-hmmm . . . we are indeed very models of moderation around here.  Actually we both had second helpings. hee.

We do love to bake together, and we never have any quarrels doing so. We're always at our best in the kitchen and I really hope it stays that way for years to come. I'll have to hone my skills if I don't want to be out-pastried by a five year old, but I figure we can learn together.

crafty coasters and barnyard friends

These coasters were inspired by the ones from Amy Karol's Bend-the-Rules Sewing.  The sewing is kind of wonky (stitching through so many layers of fabric) but they came out looking pretty cute.  They are a gift for someone very special who I know reads this blog, so it would probably be completely tacky to mention that they only took an hour to make from start to finish. Which means my hand embroidery is picking up speed. woo-hoo!

Ivo has a new favorite story, this little barnyard scene is a hint:

It's Charlotte's Web! We watched the movie (the 2006 version with Dakota Fanning as Fern) during our holiday travels and it really touched a place in Ivo's heart. We were able borrow the DVD from the library and we've seen it several times by now. To expand on his interest--and unglue him from the TV-- Josh bought him this barnyard playset by Schylling that just happened to include a Templeton rat.  An old Halloween spider is our Charlotte, but Ivo lost her somewhere in the house. So most of the storylines revolve around looking for her. And they are peppered with phrases culled from the movie and from all of our recent travelling, like, "Salutations!" "I drink their blood." "Enter your five digit code" and "Coming soon to DVD!" and my favorite, sung sweet and low, "It's not that unusual/when everything is beautiful/It's just another ordinary miracle today." That last one is sung in the closing credits by Sarah McLachlan, making Ivo positively *swoon*.

And the best part is that I have a new nickname around the house. Ivo likes to call me "Wilbur".  He says it's because I'm cute. hmph.

well hello there stranger

I didn't give up on my blog, just took a long vacation from the computer.  It was nice and I probably needed it. I hope you all had very happy holidays!  We had a lovely family Christmas celebration, with the highlights being Santa's visit and a big turkey dinner. Ivo asked Santa for a sewing machine like mine and I did not even have anything to do with him coming up with that idea. Santa filled his stocking and gave him a pink plastic battery powered sewing machine. He was so thrilled. He said, "Mom it's even real!"  Christmas was followed by a trip to Wisconsin to visit family and help Josh's mom move, and one other event that . . . hmmm. . . I just can't seem to remember what is was . . . oh that's right! I turned 30 on January 2. So I am officially a grown-up. Well howdy do.

Whenever I take a long blog break it takes me a little while to get back into the swing. So I'll just post a few pictures from the past week or so.

Here's what greeted Ivo on Christmas morning . . .   

Not very waldorf now, is it? LOL. So much fun, though. What a perfect choice for our carwash-loving kiddo. And it rolls back into a little suitcase for storage. Josh, Ivo and I have spent a lot of time in the carwash lately, where we read books or play games. It's like having a den.  Thanks Grandpa Mark :)

Ivo doing a happy dance . . .

And some new kids for the shop . . .

I'm still working on some new designs to hopefully be added this week.  I thought with Josh being home during the winter break that I would have all this time to work in my studio . . . what was I thinking?? It never seems to go that way! But we were busy doing happy, together things and catching up on family and home. Good priorities there, but I cannot wait to hole up in my own space and put the pedal to the metal again (and that would be my sewing machine pedal!)

Have a wonderful weekend!!