Home for the holidays...
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Next, I made two wreaths for my front door. I love them, but James complains that everytime he opens the door is snows glitter. I told him it is an added feature, sort of like those grocery store brooms that smell like cinnamon. That is a bad example though, because I hate those brooms. Their scent is so overwhelming I feel gorged like those poor little geese in France.
Last Thursday, I went in for arthroscopic surgery with the expectation of being up and walking in a few days. Unfortunately, there were a few surprises lurking in and around my knee cap so I am on strict orders not to put weight on my left knee for 6 weeks. I have crutches, but they sent a wheelchair once I explained my propensity to walk into walls and trip over air. After a few near misses accompanied by yelps, I told John not to worry if I scream unless he hears a subsequent crash.
Yesterday, I tried putting lights on our tree, lurching through pine needles and groping to find a plug, while at the same time clinging to the sliding glass door. After haphazardly flinging the last length of pink LED lights, I broke into an exhausted sweat, plopped down in my wheelchair, and rolled away not noticing half the lights exiting with me, the cord having snagged on the brake of the wheelchair. I hopped to the garage refrigerator to grab a couple of sodas, then careened back into the wheelchair. That is about all I got accomplished yesterday: lit half of our tree and shook up some soda cans, but at least I managed not to injure myself or anyone nearby.
Zuzu is completely baffled by the wheelchair as is Charlotte. Charlotte is an Australian Shepherd, ever on hand in case there is a job that needs to be done. She doesn't know what that job is or how to do it, but she is ready. Thus far she has been 100 % successful at keeping the wolves away. Zuzu, on the other hand, is a big baby and tries to climb in my lap, sending me wheeling backwards until I hit a wall. Chloe, the terrier, is non-plused about the whole business. I suspect she would like to perch a the pillow in the wheelchair and have me wheel her around.
Once I am a bit more on the mend I want to work at my jeweler's bench. My latest designs are moving in a fun direction and I am excited to play with some new ideas. I am juxtaposing (as I am wont to do) blingy swarovski crystal chain next to gun-metal links and pyrite. Danielle and I are going to design her bridesmaids earrings using faceted hexagonal crystals I ordered from China.
All of our children will be here for Christmas, Danielle from Baltimore and Heather coming in from Massachusetts. I am really looking forward to the chorus of laughter that only happens when everyone is home. It's like a good wine, with notes and layers to it that create a delicious whole. And with regard to the glitter shake down with all the comings and goings at the front door, I say: "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow."
Happy Thanksgiving! I'm thankful for you...
I can't believe Walgreen's has photobooks you can make and pick up the same day. I made one for Harriett Lake as a thank-you and will mail it to her today. (I couldn't resist buying one for myself too.) It felt really good to get the pictures organized and document the tree's story line. Here is a link to my book if you want to take a peek-a-loo. I'm really happy with how it turned out.
It was post-festival boxing day at the museum with everyone taking down their decorations. I retrieved my display materials and I let out a huge sigh of relief that I didn't have to dismantle the tree. If it hadn't sold I would have had to remove every last plastic bottle from the 12 ft tree returning it undamaged. 
James got us hooked on this new show called "Quirky" about a company by that name that takes inventions to market. Their web-site allows the public to vote on people's ideas, then one or two get chosen each week to be developed. I WANT THIS MOP! Why can't there be a mop with a loop of fabric like the old fashioned hand-towel dispensers in restrooms? You can vote for my idea at Quirky's web-site. You might enjoy surfing the crazy inventions people submit. Mine, however, is beyond sane. It is brilliant! (That is a powdered-sugar canister posing as a mop by the way.)
Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I have so much to be thankful for. When I finished up my silly photo book, I read it aloud to John and James in case I missed mistakes or it didn't make sense in some way. To my surprise, I got choked up, and blubbered "I just can't believe I did this." And I didn't do it alone. I did it in community with all of you who keep me motivated, who eagerly offer your help or welcome my requests, who pray for me and email me that my voice matters in the universe. I have a husband of 32 ( or is it 33?) years and I know it hasn't been easy. John considered starting a support group for "husbands with wacky wives" once, but he only has one friend with a wife as nutty as I am. I adore my four stellar children, my parents are still living and involved in our lives, I have a network of friends and family I can count on (and who collect innumerable bottles for me), and I get to do the work I love. If you are reading this, you are on my thank-you list. Happy Thanksgiving!
(Wreath I made for mom and dad)
Hugging the tree good-bye... Now what am I going to do?
Last night we went to 'The Holiday Romp' at the museum, one last hurrah for me before the festival ends. I had John took a picture of my traditional 'tree hugger farewell.' Here are the trees starting from 2008. Somehow I missed hugging last year's tree good-bye.
Charlotte the Wonder Dog, making tea, and the dog park...
My friend Oren is wont to say "When making tea make tea" attributing it to Lao Tsu, but my first flirt with Google yielded no hits for the quote, so now I am inclined to think he just made it up. I like the sentiment behind Oren's proverb, but it brings to mind a day when all the kids were young and I was home schooling. I was stirring a big pot of soup, and thought to myself 'You stand here and stir while I go use the restroom,' only to realize there was only one of me. The tea is very good and I am trying to break from multi-tasking to fully enjoy it: "When drinking tea, drink tea."
Saturday, we took the dogs to the dog park. You cannot say the words 'dog park' in our house. The phrase is Charlotte's undoing. Her ears point, she spins, and then turns her head toward you with this intense eye contact that brings to mind heat seeking missiles. We tested her and you also cannot say anything that rhymes with dog park. Pog dark? Log stark? We had to stop trying out the variations and permutations because it was just too cruel getting her so wound up. (I was afraid she might turn herself inside-out.)
John cleared out the back of the van, moving all my bottle making paraphernalia up to the seats. The last row of seats is out of the car, leaving the rest of the back for the dogs to occupy. As soon as he opened the hatch Zuzu clamored to one of the two passenger seats, getting herself wedged between them with bags full of bottles lodged under her belly. She was virtually immobilized. After we dug her out, we moved all the stuff back to the hatch area and she and Charlotte each settled into a seat. Charlotte whined and yipped the entire way to the park. Chloe sat at my feet and kept trying to venture over to the driver's side floor, and Zuzu sat with impeccable manners, calmly enjoying the view. Once we arrived, Charlotte showed off her Frisbee skills. Zuzu can't catch the Frisbee, but she loves to help Charlotte bring it back. Charlotte finds this so annoying she sometimes refuses to play. Meanwhile, Chloe chased after the two of them, barking and snarling, large and in charge and willing to take on any dog in the park, including a pitbull named "Killer."
Charlotte the Wonder Dog (note Zuzu's lack of attention span)
Today I worked with the Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade at Altamonte Christian School. As I was cleaning up the paint and glitter I worried they might decide to expel my daughter. Tomorrow their 3-5 grade students will pitch in, and on Wednesday the high school (including my Natalie if she hasn't been kicked out) will assemble the ornaments. I'm holding my breath for Friday when I work with 80 fifth grade students at Lake Orienta Elementary. There should be a Ripley's for that, right?
Third grade math, housekeeping, and the smell of lavender...
I was determined to clean yesterday. I usually have some kind of ritual to work up to the task. Years ago I would start with the hamster and bird cages, then give the all my kids haircuts. Now, my pattern is related to buying cleaning products. So I took a trip to the Dollar Tree and stocked up. When I got home I remembered that I had the supplies to make my own lavender lampe berge oil. I got all the supplies gathered on the kitchen counter and set to work. That took a while because I forgot where I put the 3 ingredients. They were they were in at least four places. I had to convert e-how recipe from ounces to teaspoons. The recipe calls for one quarter of a bottle of a 1/4 ounce bottle of oil, and 1/8 of an ounce of distilled water to be placed in 4 bottles of 90 % (not the 70% grocery store variety) isopropyl alcohol. Here's the link, don't trust my math.
Once I figured it out I decided to write it on the bottle so that I would have it handy for next time. I have made this recipe two or three times already and am weary of googling conversion charts. I kept getting mixed up so my isopropyl bottle looks more like a chalk board in a third grade classroom than a recipe. I got my fragrance made, switched out the wicks that I keep soaking in a plastic container (once I found it), and lit my lampes to create the right ambience for cleaning and cleaned the kitchen.
Today, I'm excited to be making recycled bottle ornaments with a group of special needs high school students. Next week I work with Altamonte Christian and the following week with a homeschool group. In between I am going to teach a fifth grade class at Lake Orienta Elementary school around the corner from my house which, while not entirely clean, smells lovely.
Straight A's, lentils, and fairy godmothers, or is it fairies godmother?
Basil babies waiting to put down roots...
True to form, I have wandered off with my camera battery, so until I put the pile of stuff on my dresser away, I guess I won't be posting pictures. I got some sour dough bread going this morning, and scanned through recipes for dinner. I kept coming up short one or two ingredients, then I heard from Natalie that she had made straight A's! I headed to the grocery store to pick up some flowers and a big red velvet cupcake. The flowers are fluorescent as are the leaves surrounding the blooms: spray paint. (What? Flowers don't come bright pink?) They are actually turning the water in the vase a lovely pink. I had the cupcake put in a smart little plastic take-out container, bagged seperately, but then decided to take all the groceries into the house at once. The cupcake tipped over, not unlike the fairy in my garden. I recollected an elderly relative who went to pick up pizza and tucked it under his arm vertically so that it sought its own level and became a calzone. Natalie still isn't home and doesn't know about the cupcake so....
One of her favorite casseroles awaits her and she doesn't have to know about the cupcake:
My friend Brenda's Rice Lentil Casserole
3/4 cups lentils (I really like the red ones best)
1/2 C brown rice
3 C chicken broth
1 onion chopped (which I did not have, thus the trip to the store)
1/2 tsp basil
1/4 tsp each garlic powder, thyme, oregano
3/4 C grated cheddar cheese
Place all but cheese in a casserole. Bake for 2 1/2 hours covered at 300 degrees. Top with cheddar.
Once I had the casserole in the oven, I had time to freak out and realized that the Festival of Trees is only 3 weeks away.I caught myself and reworded my train of thought: " I have a whole THREE WHOLE WEEKS to finish the ornaments for the tree!" Even if my garden fairy has her head in the dirt, I have friends who, like good fairies, keep dropping off bags full of bottles. Imagine my bliss when I opened a huge black trash bag to uncover dozens of 1 and 2 liter bottles. Yes Virginia, there is a fairy godmother. I spent the afternoon cutting bottles to "Cold Case" tv shows. It's better than when I was home sick from work for an extended period and resorted to Biography: The Life of Andre the Giant.