collecting

It is always amazing to me how children need to collect and keep. What is it about things, little items, they find so appealing? Why is the number of objects important? Why is their origin not as important. I am sure there is a child psychologist who would be more than glad to shed some light on this topic for me. But for not having met that authority yet, I'll have to settle in wonderment.



We were out enjoying the warm air in late January with light jackets and sneakers. The lake out back affords lots of nature exploration, if you are keen on finding it. We ventured down the path and the kids started collecting rocks. Small ones, larger ones, dark ones, shiny ones, pink ones, clear ones, and everything in between. Pockets were used. These little harden bits came home with us. (In the interest of land preservation, we'll return them to their natural habitat soon.)

Upon stepping through the door, delighted, the kids yelled to daddy, who was in bed feeling ill, "look what we found!" I smiled at the fact that they thought their "finds" were incredibly novel. Gardeners and those donning summer sandals among others I imagine might believe rocks are an impediment, rather than a treasure to behold.



Later, I found some rocks in their beds...These little inanimate bits of nature need to go back to their natural resting places. Very soon.

Paper Roses

I remember seeing this Martha Stewart Show segment years ago. Sitting in my living room, with a baby and crafting fingers just itching to create...I said to myself, "I could do that." And so I did. Some years later. Learning all the way.

Making these beauties is a labor of love. Tracing, cutting, arranging, taping, painting, drying, painting again, curling, and shaping...all turns into a lovely product.

A little knowledge about paper crafts and water color painting is very helpful. My later specimens are much better than the earlier ones.

Not having the cash at this juncture to spend on fresh flowers for Little Miss' fairy garden tea party, this was the time investment that will have to do.

Oh, the craft tutorial is here.

half birthdays

This time of the year is proving to be a birthday celebration time. In addition to Little Miss' birthday, and Mike's birthday, it is also Mini Mister's half birthday. Mini Mister's school celebrates half birthdays for those who were born during the summer months. It really is quite a wonderful and very special celebration at school.

Parents and siblings are invited into the classroom. We created a poster displaying photos for each year, and one extra at birth. For each year, parents describe to the class what Mini Mister was like. He was a very active baby, always deconstructing his environment. He picked the scholarly pencil at his Tol, traditional Korean first birthday. He liked to play with cars when he was two and started pre-school when he was three years old. At four years old he started to play with friends, read books, and he got a new baby brother when he turned five.

After each year, the birthday child takes the planet earth and walks once around the sun, symbolizing all the days he has been alive. At the end we light the candle in the sun, sing happy birthday and he blows out the candle. Then he gets to pick two friends to share his birthday snack with and his little sister got to share too.

After a late-night cupcake making session, a middle-of-the-night baby waking, and an early rise, I was still able to enjoy the celebration, even if a bit still asleep.

Fairy Tea Party!

If you are four years old, or are going to be four, you might want a tea-party! Fashioned by this mama, it means, vintage linens, tiny tea-cups small enough for those dainty four-year-old fingers, fairy-wings and wands, and an extra special sweet menu.

If you are a mama out there with car-pooling issues, school activities, summer-camp director duties, and three other family birthdays to worry about all in the same week...you might ask, how? Take is slow. And start planning before Santa even thinks about venturing south of his polar abode.

A couple peeks. Here and more later. So that I can remember what I am planning since my "can't-think-because-7-month-old-is-teething-and-waking-during-the-night" brain isn't working well at the moment.

If you love it, if designing, creating, baking, and crafting is your passion, there is always time in the day, in the busy schedule to sneak in a bit of creativity.

Gluten-Free Linzer Cookies!

Finally, some headway in this gluten-free kitchen!

This linzer cookie recipe is adapted to be gluten-free. (It also is nut free as linzer heart cookies typically have almond flour in them and these do not.) These cookies are crisp and they stay crisp. The dough is super floppy and needs to be very well chilled before rolling out and cutting. But for someone who can never again eat the real thing, these are pretty good. 

I like mine with tea.

Gluten Free Linzer Cookies

Whisk together:

2 1/2 C gluten-free flour mix (recipe below.)

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t xanthan gum

1/4 t salt

Beat on medium speed in stand mixer with paddle attachment until well blended:

6 T unsalted butter, softened

3/4 C packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

Add and beat until well combined:

1/2 C light corn syrup

2 t vanilla extract

Gradually stir in the dry ingredients until well blended and smooth. Dough will be rather stiff. Divide the dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic and chill for 1 hour or more. 

Preheat oven 350 degrees F. 

Lightly dust parchment paper cut to size of cookie tray, or a silapad with gluten-free flour mix and roll out chilled dough to 1/4". Cut with cutters, and cut smaller window shapes in half of the cookies. Peel away the surrounding dough to leave the cut outs remain on the paper or pad. Slide paper or pad onto cookie tray and bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. Slide paper or pad off tray and let cookies cool on paper or pad on a wire rack.  Roll out and cut remaining dough, dusting lightly with gluten-free flour to prevent sticking and returning dough to the refrigerator as needed if the mixture becomes too soft for cutting.

Assemble cookies when they are completely cooled. 

1/4 C strawberry jelly

10x sugar (optional)

Warm strawberry jelly in microwave for 10 seconds or until just warm. Mix with spoon or spatula until all lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. Apply to large round cookie and top with "window" cookie so that the jam peeks through. Dust lightly with 10x sugar (powdered sugar) if desired. 

Makes...don't know...about 2 doz or so...depends on how large you make them. Store in air tight container for up to three days at room temperature.

Flour mixture is from Living Without:
Whisk together:
2 1/4 C brown rice flour
1/4 C potato starch
2/3 C tapioca starch
3/4 C sweet rice flour
1/3 C cornstarch

Keep floating to the top

Letting go is all that I seem to do these days. Let go of perfection. Let go of deadlines, and cleanliness. Let go of nerves, let go of dinner, and let go of me-time. Let go of self, let go of sleep. Power on, power in, and power up.

It is a balance I tell you. A balance, I hope to keep a journal of here. For me. And a bit for you. I am inspired by so much. I am turned off by even more. Perhaps in an ideal world that will turn around. I have so many dreams, wishes and desires. And I also have so many fears, anxieties, and feelings of doubt.

Maybe mulling them over. Keeping track of the good ones here on this blog is a good idea. You know, the ones that keep rising to the top of the pot, like pasta done cooking. I think those are bound to be the ones to keep close. To remember. To reflect upon. To tweak, and to make my own. That is life. Letting go. Examining closely. Picking carefully. And sometimes, not so carefully. And keeping the ones that keep floating to the top. Go with those and hopefully, we'll all get to that place we were always meant to be.

forgetting stress

Some how...some where...we'll find a new way of living...

I feel like I am swishing away in a washing machine agitating cold molasses. I travel around and around, slowly, bumping into things here and there. Never going straight, never going anywhere. All the while moving very slowly with the kind of effort it takes to roll a Lazy Boy upstairs. This is what extreme sleep deprivation does? This is what stress does?

NPR ran a story today about working mothers, multi-tasking, and some other stuff I forget. The gist of the article was about just that. Forgetting. Multi-tasking, which is ever more prevalent among working mothers, than among working fathers, stresses the body. Humans are meant to concentrate on one thing at a time. Not three. Stress, interferes with the frontal lobe of the brain which works the short-term memory. A light clicked on in my very slow sleepy brain. That light was like one of those energy saving bulbs. You flip the switch and it takes seven long minutes to warm up and illuminate the space in which you can see what it is you forgot right in front of you. 

Maybe multi-tasking is why I can't seem to remember anything these days. I didn't remember Little Miss' preschool tuition check for December. I didn't remember that it was picture day each of the three days the kids had school pictures taken. (Yes, even forgot the day of re-takes.) Sweats suits work right? I forget whose socks are whose and end up wearing my son's socks all day. I forget what is in that five ingredient chicken recipe I am making for dinner plans on Saturday. I forget what day it is today. And I almost forget the point of this blog entry.

Since it is multi-tasking that is robbing my memory, I need to find a way to single-task a bit more. A friend just reminded me today that you can just say "no." She reminded me to be pro-active and push something off my plate and let it just lay there, untouched, on the nice tablecloth you use for dinner company. And she reminded me to not worry about it. Don't worry about wasting it. Don't worry about it staining the cloth. And don't worry that your dinner guests will look at you with that question on their faces, "aren't you going to put that back on your plate?"

So what do I shove off this season? Cutting out the taxi service to and from school probably wouldn't be a great idea. Buying presents instead of making them, well that can be debated. Sometimes craft-therapy is the only thing that keeps me sane. (In fact, these knitting fingers are kind of itching to do some right now.)
Holiday cards...now that might be a possibility. A big family holiday meal? That just might drop off my to-do list any day now. Laundry...probably not getting done with frequency, except the diapers that is. Oh, maybe some more thought on this might just make my stress level subside a bit. And maybe I'll eventually find a way out of the molasses merry-go-round, and regain my memory once more.