LIVESTRONG Challenge

I haven't been posting much lately (who knows if anyone is even reading this . . .) but I thought I'd let you know about a cause that's pretty important to me and that's the LIVESTRONG foundation.

My husband Mark is an avid cyclist and way back in our pre-marriage days we took a trip to France in 1999. We looked at some castles, drank a lot of wine, met some cool French peeps but mainly we watched cyclists whizzing by. That's right, we were lucky enough to follow the Tour the first year Lance won! It was pretty exciting. We started out in the mountain stages (which frankly were the best to watch because you can watch them coming up the hill for a while and not just whizzing by in a split second). The col du Tourmalet in the French Pyrenees was my absolute favorite. We camped out on a great spot overlooking some switchbacks. We got some good swag pre-race on that stage too. It was a really fun trip and really exciting to see the Lance momentum build as we followed along to Paris.

In 2005 (4 months before our son was born) Mark was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He was 44. Two weeks after I gave birth he had surgery to remove his prostate. Needless to say it was a stressful time for all of us. He's been fighting the disease ever since and on June 20th he will ride 100 miles in the LIVESTRONG Challenge (he did it last year too - don't worry, he was insane like that prior to the diagnosis). I will be attempting 45 miles - and if you know me that's a lot!

Last year Logan wore LIVESTRONG bracelets constantly - and insisted on calling them his rings. So this year we formed the team "Logan's Rings". It's not too late to join! If you're in Seattle consider doing the run or walk (no fundraising minimum) or heck, cycle with us ($250 minimum). Join us!

Food Revolution

Not sure if you've been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution but I am. I admit, it's a bit contrived since Jamie is always "biting off more than he can chew" and then amazingly gets it done by the end of each episode - but I don't care how they do it as long as it gets people talking about the state of food in our schools. My jaw DROPPED when I saw the head of the school lunch program have them bring out the fries because there weren't enough vegetables in the healthy stir fry Jamie was serving - what??

Anyhoo, I'll be watching to see what happens next and hoping for change in our own community. Sign the petition here to show your support of the revolution.

Paper Dragons

Everybody's talking about "How to Train Your Dragon" these days and I've been considering taking Monkey to see it (not in 3D) but am waiting for the full report from a friend. He's never been to a movie theatre (since the mom & me movies he slept through) so I'm a little apprehensive. But all that aside I saw these free printable dragons on HP's creative studio and thought I'd share. I haven't made them yet. I am working on making invites for my parent's 40th anniversary party - so I am surfing while waiting for my sloooow printer. But I wanted to share because frankly - by the time I make them I will forget to post! So if you do make them let me know how they turn out!

Right Now - Tail End of March

It's been so long since I've posted so I thought I'd at least jump on this meme I found over at Sycamore Stirrings. I had just about enough time to type it in before returning to the post-vaca laundry mountain.

Watching: Attempting to empty the DVR so I can finally watch "The Hurt Locker" on demand one of these nights.

Smelling: rosemary and sage - huge bushes that I grew from grocery store herbs that are in glorious bloom. I can't pass by without rubbing my hands over them.

Enjoying: Getting back to the daily routine after 10 days in California.

Reading: Michael Pollan's The Botany of Desire (just started it after finishing I Thought My Father Was God and Other True Tales from NPR's National Story Project).

Making: Just finished putting together the little treats Monkey will pass out at his half-birthday celebration at preschool tomorrow (recycling these cups and filling them with dinosaurs).

Wondering: If I will ever get through my backlog of email.

Hoping: Monkey will sleep in his own bed ALL NIGHT tonight.

Thinking: About my parent's upcoming anniversary and how I really need to get cracking!

Remembering: Fun times with family and friends in Cali.

Coveting: A real vacation - without Monkey!

Retro Recipes From Weight Watchers

I had to share this hilarious collection of Weight Watcher's recipe cards circa 1974. I am afraid of every single dish. I love the commentary - especially regarding the props in the photos. Check it out for yourself at candyboots.

Coffee Filter Butterflies

This isn't an original craft by any means but it was a lot of fun so I thought I'd share. It all started when I was scheduled to be the project parent for preschool a few weeks ago. Monkey had regaled us with stories of how one day he and his friends were butterflies at school and they "migrated" to the gym and back. He thought it was pretty cool so I decided we'd make butterflies on my day that week. Google never lets me down - so Phase I of the Coffee Filter Butterfly project was implemented. But one day of butterflies wasn't enough for Monkey. He decided he wanted a "whole bunch" and that we needed to hang them in his room. So I got some supplies and we set to work. This time it was serious. He was determined to make an entire "army" of butterflies.

Besides being a super cute end product the "getting there" portion of this craft is rife with learning possibilities (and just plain fun).

So here's what you'll need to make them the way we did at home (school was a different story):

1) Coffee filters

2) Food coloring (food coloring stains clothes and skin so be prepared for you and your kiddos to have colorful fingers for a few days). You could also do this project with liquid watercolor (less mess) but I didn't have any on hand.

3) Spray bottle with water (Tip: get a small one in the travel section so it's easy to handle for small hands - notice the behemoth bottle Monkey is using)

4) pipe cleaners

The cool thing about coffee filters is that they're absorbent so it's fun to see how the color bleeds. We experimented with wetting before and after the color was applied. Wetting the filter first and then dropping on the colors is the most spectacular so I'd save that for last. Here's how we did it.

(Wetting after)
1) Spread out a few coffee filters (you can do one at a time but we were making an "army" so ended up stacking about 5 at a time) - you'll need to thoroughly wet to get color on all the filters in the stack

2) Drip colors onto filters (we also experimented using daubers which was fun but not as dramatic or as satisfying as dripping the colors)

3) Spray with water and watch bleed (you'll need to wet through if you are making more than one at a time)

(Wetting first)
1) Spread out a few coffee filters

2) Spray filters with water - completely wet or partially wet to see how the color reacts differently

3) Drip colors onto filters


Monkey really liked wetting first and dripping after. It was definitely the most dramatic reaction as the colors bleed immediately and give a great batik effect. The natural progression of this project led to a discussion on how colors mix and a slight introduction to primary/secondary colors. I think you could really go crazy with that with an older child. Monkey really likes to make brown more than anything.

4) Set filters aside to dry. (We let them dry in their stacks and separated after they were dry so they wouldn't rip - Monkey loves the spray bottle so they were saturated).


5) Now you just need to twist a pipe cleaner around the center and create the antennae. You can either accordion-fold and twist the pipe cleaner in the middle or I found scrunching by hand was easier and faster. Then fluff the wings a bit. I was also informed that butterflies have FOUR wings so after that we made a bunch with four wings. All you need to do for that is stack two scrunched filters and tie together with the pipe cleaner. Then flatten out the wings.

We hung our finished butterflies with fishing line. Cheap and easy room decor - watch out Martha!

The Benefits of Lazy Gardening

I used to be so neat and tidy in the garden (at least in spurts). Now it's pretty much teensy spurts of work and long stretches of watching the weeds being fruitful and multiplying. But during the last spate of dry weather Monkey and I ventured out into the garden to bring order to chaos (me to weed and Monkey to jump around, dig, "help" and generally instill that there will always be chaos).

Usually, by this time of year, I would have cut down the dried stalks of windflower. But they're still there - standing tall and crackly and having completely gone to seed. They're pretty interesting really, tall stalks covered in cotton balls (which is originally why I'd kept them so long so Monkey could see how they change) but by now it was just because life had been marching on without a thought to the garden. That was all about to change. The sun was out, I was armed with clippers and a bucket and I was getting down to business. I need to cut them down before the tulips start pushing through and I can't get to them anymore without causing more harm than good.

But as I started to clip I heard a buzz and saw green in my peripheral vision. And there was an Anna's hummingbird collecting fuzz for its nest! I whispered to Logan to slowly come over and we got to watch as it hovered and collected a good sized ball. Wow! So the stalks remain. We were lucky enough to watch another collection today which is why I remembered that I wanted to share the benefits of lazy gardening with you. Unfortunately, I haven't had the camera nearby when the visitors buzz in so you'll have to make do with the pictures of the neglected (thank goodness) windflower stalks.