a happiness project update...

This may be my favorite project of all time. :)  And I don't feel like I've been giving it enough of my time and attention. I'd really like to change that--but with no pressure. I'm going to try to have at least one item in my immediate sights at all times. I do actually have a small handful in the works, but I haven't been putting a lot of focus on them...need to change that.

Sooooo. This past week I was perusing my happiness project lists looking for inspiration to strike. And strike it did. When I was reading my sweet, sweet, sweet friend Heather's list of "fun/challenging/interesting things to do," I latched right onto #13: Finish one scrapbook album. As soon as I read that, I knew immediately what I wanted to do. Rich and I had taken a wonderful hike at one of our favorite places, Devil's Bathtub in Mendon Ponds on Tuesday afternoon, and I'd taken a ton of photos. I wanted to make a mini album just to document our wonderful afternoon.

One of the things I love, love, love about the album itself is that I made it largely from items I save from the recycle bin. I'm constantly saving things I think I can use eventually. This album has chipboard from the back of tablets, a piece of acetate from packaging, the little glossy inserts that come in packs of photo paper, the cardboard inserts that Amazon often uses, etc.

And yep, here's where I bombard you with way too many photos. (I apologize and sincerely encourage you to feel free to skip this post.) But I want to do it for me.

Heather dear, thank you so much. Rich and I love this album, and there's a very good chance I never would have made it without you. :D

good stuff...

(This edition has been written over the last few days.)

*This face:

*The sweet breeze wafting through the window this morning.

*It was in the wee hours of the morning and I still hadn't been able to fall asleep due to pain, and I was feeling frustrated, and yes, maybe a bit angry...but then I opened my eyes and the view out the window was so beautiful...what seemed like hundreds (though it probably wasn't nearly that many) of fireflies flashing throughout the trees and bushes. There's always fireflies out there in the summer, but I don't think I've seen them in such profusion since I was a kid. Glorious.

*A spontaneous trip to the antique mall with Rich, my favorite person to hang out with. Added bonus to the sheer fun of it--I managed to find a few small treasures that shall be Christmas presents for my Mom.

*Yellow bursts of sunshine popping up completely unexpectedly in the flower garden:

*Satisfaction in completing a project. Especially when it's for someone else. In this case, Craft Hope's latest project. The embellished flip flops that shall be mailed off today:

*Watching the first two episodes of Under the Dome last night with the whole gang. And being so excited about it that when I came upstairs I immediately went and pulled the book of the shelves to start reading it. ('Cause goodness knows I need to have yet another book going...silly me.)

*Anticipating this coming long weekend that has been set aside for pure pleasure. I'm a big fan of anticipation. :D

*The first couple ripe blueberries from our new bushes:

*Starting Ali Edward's Hello Story class today. Oh my gosh...already so inspired. Have filled an entire page filled with stories I want to tell using the first week's story structure.

And how about you--what's the good stuff of your life today?

lately...

~~~in the reading room~~~
Just finished up Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. Awesome, unique, YA fantasy. Loved it. Hoping to pick up her book Who Fears Death tonight at the library. Still working my way through Philip Pullman's Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm, and still enjoying it immensely. Lots of haphazard reading for school, as in reading chapters here and there for certain subjects/topics. Max and I are about three-quarters of the way through Burning for Revenge, the fifth book in the Tomorrow series. Major adrenaline pumping, I tell you. Note to self: Get sixth book soon! Gray and I are making slow progress through the first book of the Pendragon series, The Merchant of Death. Not really far enough to make a judgment yet, but we're both certainly enjoying it enough to continue. Super excited about Dewey's Read-a-Thon though I can't quite believe it's barely over a week away--April, where the hell have you gone?!!


~~~in the classroom~~~
School, obviously. :P Actually today Gray went to school with Rich, as its the day Rich takes his environmental science class to the wastewater treatment facility. Informative, if pungent, field trip for the young man. Mostly this week Gray has been finishing up a bunch of projects and assignments on his own for the third quarter. (Fourth quarter starts next Monday.) I've spent many, many hours preparing for our final quarter over the last couple weeks, and will spend many, many more before all is said and done. But my immediate future is reserved for writing up quarterly reports for the third quarter, which are due Monday. I've nearly finished Annie's, and will soon move on to Gray's. So don't like this particular task.


~~~in the yard and garden~~~
Okay, so there are no plants actually in the food gardens yet. But I've got seedlings galore started inside. And *really* need to get more going--poor neglected tomato seeds. Rich has made some progress in the preparations for putting in our new garden areas though. He tore apart an old rotting wooden playground piece, saving the bottom portion to become the fencing area of our soon-to-be strawberry patch. He got it moved into place, but hasn't prepared the soil or added the wire fencing to keep out the bunnies and groundhogs. I've been spending a few minutes every morning (while Max and I have our vehicle counting competition before the bus comes) dealing with the mess that is our flower garden. If I keep at it, maybe it will be ready by the time things start blooming. Yeah, probably not. :P


~~~in blogland~~~
I've given up stressing out about blogging. As in posting, that is. Period. But I am rather frustrated about reading blogs. After the announcement about google reader going away, I tried to figure out a few other readers, but gave up rather quickly. Decided to just give up google reader cold turkey and add a blogroll back on my blog. But *enormous sigh* it just doesn't feel like it's working. Not only is it a pain, but much worse I feel like I'm missing soooo many posts. I mean like even posts by people on my blogroll. *more sighs* I don't know--it's time I either try with another reader again or just learn to accept that I'm going to miss posts sometimes.

~~~in the craft room~~~
Project Life and I, well we just aren't getting on all too well these days. Honestly, it's not PL's fault; it's mine. I just haven't been in the mood. PL, I do still love you. I promise I do. But we just need a little time apart. One of these days though, if you'll still have me, we'll have a joyous reunion and hopefully I'll learn to treat you a little better from then on. And then there's Annie's birthday sweater. Hmmmm, Annie's birthday has come and gone...and said birthday sweater still isn't finished. If I finish it before month's end that should be good...I mean who doesn't love a surprise late birthday gift, right? The thing I've spent the most time on lately is my t-shirt rug, though even it has loooong way to go before it's finished.


~~~in the health arena~~~
Had routine bloodwork done recently. Got possibly good news. I'm still vitamin D deficient despite the daily supplements, and I'm still severely anemic despite the daily iron supplements. So mega-doses of vitamin D and up the iron supplements. Why this is good news is that both could potentially be reasons why I've been feeling so craptacular lately. Vitamin D deficiency can cause muscle pain and of course anemia causes fatigue...so it could be that my fibro is not actually worsening after all but just feels that way because of these other problems. Problems that *should* be remedied fairly easily. *fingers crossed*

~~~in the kitchen~~~
My bread machine's been getting a workout this week. And my crockpot was put to use to loading up the freezer with homemade veggie broth. Oooh, and I tried a delicious new recipe called Chewy Granola Bars. Big hit. Think they'll go into heavy rotation. In fact, I could see making a batch every week to have them around for breakfasts. Though honestly, they taste damn near desertlike. :)

tidbits and babblings...

*Boo. I do believe I'm getting sick. It could be that I'm just entering a flare with the fibro, the pain just started going crazy on my last evening and hasn't let up. But I've just got this inkling that there's more to it. Just please don't be the flu too.

*Yay! I started a new book for Once Upon a Time that I'm really loving! Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. It's early, but I am completely sucked in! In fact, I sort of wish I'd saved this book for Dewey's Read-a-Thon because it's the kind of book that just begs to be devoured in a single sitting.

*Boo. Work is going full tilt on the housing development that's being built behind us. So depressing. I can't wait for the trees to leaf out so I don't have to see it anymore. At the moment, it's hard to ignore as the spot where I generally work is at our bedroom window which faces right out towards it. I'm hoping the trees will help at least a bit with the noise as well. It's so damn noisy--construction vehicles from 7:30 to 5:00 Monday through Saturday. And how much more annoying will it be when it warms up and we want to have the windows open and are spending lots of time in the yard and garden. *sigh*

*Yay! Max heads off to middle school next year. While I'm not at all familiar with the school and how they do things, we have learned that the kids and teachers are divided into three different houses. The letters just went out about what houses the kids will be in. Max has made two really good friends since we've moved here--and all three of them will be in the same house!

*Boo. And Yay! Rich and I get to go to Max's soon-to-be middle school tonight. Not really an orientation, but more of an initial look around and meet the teachers for his particular house. This is a boo simply because I'm not feeling well and because I hate being in crowds of people. But really it's a Yay! I've never before even seen the outside of the building, let alone the inside, so it will be nice to get acquainted with the place that Maxidoodle is going to be spending much of the next three years. I sort of wish he got to come along, but this is a "for parents only" sort of thing...and there's plenty more opportunities for us all to get to know the school coming up in the future here.

*Yay! The mallard couple on the pond/swamp just makes me so happy. I love watching them. While I hate assuming that I can tell what other species think and feel, I just can't help but view this couple as so in love. Seriously, they are just so very sweet to watch.

*Boo. Well, it's happened. I've let myself get really far behind on Project Life. The one thing I didn't want to do with this project...because I know myself all too well, and this is usually the thing that causes me to fail. I'm not giving up, but I know it's going to take determination and perseverance to get caught back up. And you know, I'm just not feeling it right now.

*Yay! I did start a new crafty project that I'm really excited about! Yes, I did tell myself that I couldn't start any new crochet projects until I finished some. Apparently, I'm not a good listener. But I forgive myself...mostly because this is one of those projects that is coming out even better than I'd had it pictured in my mind. :) I decided to put all those old, outgrown, stained, and/or holey tees that I've been saving for a bajillion years and slowly turning into t-shirt yarn to use. See I decided to start the painting/building stuff/fixing up around this house. I've started with the little hallway--I know, talk about anti-climactic, huh? :P There's not much to be done. Mostly just painting-ish stuff. And maybe putting together a small gallery wall. And, getting/making some sort of runner to add some color to the area. And yep, that's where the t-shirt yarn comes in--I decided to crochet a runner for the space. I haven't gotten far yet, but I do so love how it's turning out:

*Yay! While I'm not generally as eager as most people to say goodbye to winter (good thing, as we're to have a bit of snow this morning, followed by freezing rain), I'm by no means upset by the arrival of spring. And there is just something magical about those first blooms, isn't there? The daffodils have oodles of buds, and while they aren't yet blooming, I suspect they will be soon. In the meantime though, we have coltsfoot and glory of the snow! :D  With last year's freakish weather, they bloomed extremely early so they had come and gone before me moved in last year...extra Yay! for happy surprises!

*Yay! It looks like there's a very good chance that we're going to have a special guest staying with us sometime in the next month or so. Probably not nice of me to tease by not saying who (it's someone most of you know), but it's one of those "not my place to talk about first" things. But it is a definite happy thing. :)

*Yay! Oh my gosh, speaking of happy things--Andi's post...massive happy tears! Not only am I obviously happy for Andi and her fiance--she sounds blissfully happy, but sheesh, the whole Andi and Heather are finally going to meet in person thing! I just feel like I could burst open with joy thinking about it! And it makes me all the more hopeful that I really, really, really will meet Ana in person one of these days...that would be a dream come true! That *will* be a dream come true!

Lots more Yays than Boos...life is good.

documenting our life #ProjectLife style...week 1...

YAY! Week 1 done! 1/52 of the way through the year, and I'm not behind yet! :P

As often seemed to be the case when I attempted Project Life in the past, I had more stuff to include than would fit in a single spread, (I'm apparently not as good as I'd like to think at weeding stuff out) but that's an easy problem to solve--just add inserts.

Week One:

A closer look at the first page:

Mostly deals with Gray being sick and Baker becoming a legal beagle, with a few other photos we like from the week thrown in as filler. Used the pharmacy bag as a base to hold Gray's prescription thingies. Stuck in Baker's proof that he's licensed. Wee bit of sewing. And yes, I'm a corner rounder.

First side of insert:

The pictures aren't fantastic or anything, but I wanted our little ice cream sundae party documented. I'm using the computer to do most of my journaling this time around. I don't despise my handwriting, but I don't really like it either. I'll be sure to include bits of all of our handwriting as we go throughout the year though. (I'm pretty sure you can read the journaling by clicking on the photos, just in case you're interested.)

The spread with the insert flipped:

And a closer look at the back of the insert:

Just printed an enlargement of a picture taken out our bedroom window, then cut it into pieces. And see, already a wee bit of my handwriting.












And the last page:

A couple pictures of Annie and her girlfriend, a picture of Annie after her haircut, a receipt from the kids trip to the dentist (ugh!), and a short round-up of our week. I find that keeping a little journal to very briefly jot down each day's happenings helps me immensely in writing up the round-up. I've found in the past if I didn't do this, I tended to forget lots of little things that actually make up our lives.

Okay, now do you believe me, Trish??? You can do this!!!! And I can't wait to see the results! :D

documenting our life PL style...title page...

Okay, so one of my "sort of" goals for this year is to restart Project Life. For the umpteenth time. And to actually stick with it. I'm trying to convince myself that by planning on posting each week's layout here on the blog on Wednesdays, it will keep me motivated to actually make those layouts on the Tuesday date-night I have planned with myself. (I've rewritten that last sentence four times now, and am still not sure it makes sense outside my own brain. Oh well.) I still don't have myself convinced, but I figure it's worth a try anyway.

Here's the title page. Nothing fancy, but then it wouldn't be me if it was. Honestly, I'm just loving the fact that we got a family picture of us (thank you Dani!)--it's sort of a rare beast around here thanks to the two uncooperative young men in our midst. :P

(Hey, Trish!!!! You know you really want to join me, right???? :D )

I pinned, and then I did...

I crafted...

*Made my sweetie a card, using blackout poetry. (Sorry for the crappy photo.) Yes, the example of blackout poetry that I pinned was far better, but guys, this is so much freakin' harder than it looks! Or maybe it's just me. Care to guess what book this page came from? (Btw, don't shoot me--I did not purposefully destroy a book; the pages of this were just falling out all over. Figured giving it new life was better than the recycle bin.)

*Here is the image I pinned. It's from a shop called Googly Eye Art. I fell in love, and knew immediately that I wanted to make something like this for Maxidoodle's ornament this year. Every year, the kiddos get a new ornament for their own personal little Christmas trees. Sometimes store bought, sometimes homemade. Obviously, this year I'm going with homemade.





*And on the happy side, I crafted up two other pins as well, but on the sad side, I can't share them because recipients might see this.

And I kitchened...

*Another crappy picture, sorry. But oh my heavens, is this delicious! Pinned from BH&G, it a rice pudding recipe made in the crock pot. (I've made rice pudding many a time in my day, but never in a crock pot before this.) Like I said, so yummy! I think it's the dried cranberries that really have me swooning on this one. And it made such a big batch that we not only had it for dessert, but I had it warmed back up with milk for breakfast several mornings.

*And I finally got around to making homemade vegetable broth from A Year of Slow Cooking. This is so freakin' awesome--I just can't believe I haven't done this before. I will certainly never buy vegetable broth again! So damn easy. And essentially free, except for the electricity used by the crock pot. It just used vegetable ends and peelings destined for the compost pile. And after you make the broth, they can go into the compost pile anyway. The house smelled so good all day when this was cooking! So good that Rich threatened to just drink the broth straight from the slow cooker--ha! this coming from the guy who doubted it would work to start with. :P I froze some of it, and used some of it in my final pin...

*Which was this incredible soup, pinned from here, yep, from none other than Amanda of Fig and Thistle. I changed it up just a bit (to make it work for us vegetarians in the family), by using the veggie broth from above pin instead of the water and chicken bouillon granules and by eliminating the bacon. And as I don't have an immersion blender and I like chunks in my soup anyway, I just put about half of it in the blender and then added it back with the unblended portion. SOOOOOO YUMMY! Even Rich, who isn't a fan of creamy type soups, loved it! Heck, even Max ate some--and he *never* eats soup. Thank you, Amanda!!!

So yes, I'm counting this a successful Pin It and Do It for me--seven pins did (though I could only share five). Thanks again to our lovely hostess, Trish! You are so adored, lady!

this past week...

...celebrating ten awesome years on Earth with this guy

...feeling the temperatures starting to occasionally dip into the 30s at night, and having the furnace starting to kick on from time to time even though we keep it set at 62 degrees

...getting a bit fatigued with all the canning, yet still keeping my fingers crossed that we can eek out a couple more weeks of produce before the weather calls an end to things

...finishing one crochet project (for Gray's birthday), abandoning another (just decided it wasn't the look I wanted), and starting a brand new one (which I have very high hopes for)

...staying immersed in the 1960s through both books and films with Annie's history class

...reviewing quickly all things fractional, slogging through the U.S. Constitution, diving into discussions of Something Wicked This Way Comes, tackling human reproduction, among many other things with Gray's homeschooling

...practicing patience with an internet connection that is out more often than it's in and an operating system that's "too old"

...giving Rich a few extra "my hero" points for fixing my glasses...as I couldn't see well enough to fix them myself, a fact that is somewhat disconcerting as I never even had to wear glasses until a few years ago

...spending far too much time stressing out over the ugliness of politics, and strongly considering simply deleting all emails without reading them from extended family members until after the election

...getting ridiculously excited about the return of "Christmas prep" weekends, one for each of the remaining months of the year...thank you so much for putting a dose of giddy in my outlook Chris :)

...swirling in a whole whopping pile of mixed emotions, including a nice share of happy, about Dewey's Read-a-Thon

...washing loads of fabric for upcoming sewing projects

...refusing to feel overwhelmed by google reader...sort of...well, okay, I'm trying

...being so very inspired by my dear friend Kara's journey towards balance and simplicity and happiness, and knowing I *need* to start down that road myself

...relishing the changing of the seasons, and feeling incredibly blessed this first autumn in our new home

new inspirations...

As overwhelmed as the old Google Reader already tends to make me feel, I can't help but feel a thrill over the discovery of a new-to-me blog. I'm sure you can relate. Yesterday I clicked through from a comment left on my dear friend Chris's blog. Here is the lovely blog I made my way to. And I was immediately drawn to it--it seems like such a comfortable place to visit. I love comfortable.

I'm so happy that I wisely made the choice to subscribe to Snowball's blog, for her post this morning was pure fun! I was introduced to two forms of poetry I'd never before heard of, Cento and Book Spine Cento/Book Spine Poetry. As much as I truly do love (some) poetry, my knowledge is quite limited. As is my ability to talk about it.

Anyway, I was positively intrigued by these forms. And Snowball posted some lovely examples. I would love to try my hand at Cento and shall start "collecting" lines, but that shall be an endeavor which requires much time. Especially since I truly am not well-read. But the Book Spine Poetry, well, that was something I could jump right on. And in fact, I did...immediately after reading Snowball's post!

I've decided that this is one of my new goals. Or perhaps "goal" isn't quite the right word. Whatever. Point being that I'm going to try ever so much harder to act on the things that inspire me. In the moment. Or at least as very soon as possible. I've become too adept at thinking, "I so want to try that someday!" or "Ooooh, that gives me an idea. I should write it down so I can give it whirl sometime." Thing is, someday and sometime never seem to arrive.

Okay, so here is my first attempt at Book Spine Poetry (if you click on the picture, you should be able to see it better):

The night of wishes
haunted
hunger
Can such things be?

The dead of the night
full dark,
no stars.
Fragile things
catching fire.

Everything is illuminated.

(The Night of Wishes by Michael Ende, Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk, Hunger by Lan Samantha Chang, Can Such Things Be? by Ambrose Bierce, The Dead of the Night by John Marsden, Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King, Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, and Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safron Foer)

Go ahead and laugh, I promise my feelings will not be hurt. :P I know it pretty much sucks...but see, that's perfectly okay! Coming up with an incredible poem was not my aim (though it would obviously have been a nice bonus); my aim was simply to create and have fun in the process. And that I did. :) Seriously, so much fun. In fact, I highly recommend trying it--and if you do, please share. Pretty pretty please. (Snowball shared one she did in her post--it's much more imaginative than mine.)

*****
And onto another font of inspiration, Living Out Loud: Activities to Fuel a Creative Life by Keri Smith.

LOVE. THIS. BOOK. I've read it in its entirety in the past. And I have often picked it up and just opened to a random page to read. I've decided to read it again from front to back...with a twist. This time, I must stop reading every time something inspires me. Even if I can't for some reason act on that inspiration in the moment, I have to set the book aside until I can. And yeah, this book is so damn inspiring that it may take me a lifetime to get through it this way. :P

First inspiration acted on: On page 9, Smith starts talking about allowing memories of childhood guide you to the things you might find very satisfying in your creative life today. She is all about the rewards of play as an adult.

Two memories just sort of leaped to mind as if they'd been right there waiting for an invitation. The first maybe isn't really being creative, but I was inspired by the memory nonetheless. Simply picking Queen Anne's lace and putting it in colored water. How many of you did that as a kid...or as an adult? Luckily my overwhelming desire to go do this again after close to 40 years was easily satisfied as we have Queen Anne's lace growing in the yard.

I'm not sure if it shows in the photos--the blue and green worked well, but not the purple. Oh well. I still find them quite lovely sitting in vases (glass jars with washi tape) on the mantle.

And for now I'm on hold in the book...until I can act on that second memory. Hopefully today. Hopefully with the kiddos. We'll see.

*****

What has inspired *you* lately?

*****
Projects progress:

50x50--#27. Write 50 poems and #29. Upcycle 50 things.

WIP weekly round-up...week 1...

Okay, so there's lot of different WIP Wednesdays and whatnot around the blog world--there are ones for knitting, and for quilting, and for, well probably for just about anything you could ever imagine. Now I could have just joined in the fun with one of those...if not for two simple facts: 1.) I can't shake the ridiculous "I'd be butting in because I don't know any of these people and therefore will just remain a lurker" thing, and 2.) I completely lack the focus to settle down to any one area of interest--I'm not a book blogger or a craft blogger or a mommy blogger or a...--in other words, I excel at nothing yet enjoy it all. :D

So anyway. Just for my own personal enjoyment (and as a really bad excuse for avoiding some school stuff I should be doing at the moment), I've decided to do a Work-in-Progress collection post each week. Okay, if we're being truthful here, due to that whole lacking focus issue combined with that whole lacking follow-through issue I have, this will likely only last for a week or two or three, and then will fall to the wayside along with all the other things I thought sounded like fun when I started them. :P

On the crafting front:

My current crocheted work-in-progress is an afghan that I started making for a friend. However, I'm having second thoughts as to whether said friend would really like it. So now I'm waffling, and it may just end up staying here in our family room. Who knows.

I also have a scrapbook project in progress, but as it will eventually count for a happiness project accomplishment, I'll just save it for another post instead of boring you twice with it.

Ditto a photography project in progress.

On the reading front:

These are the books I'm reading on a daily or nearly daily basis this week. This might be a slightly optimistic statement, but I think there's actually a chance that three of these will be finished and off the pile by next week. The Search for Wondla is the book I'm *still* reading with Max, but we're almost done...will be both happy and sad when that happens. I'm enjoying the heck out The Fifties, which I'm reading for Annie's history class. But it will remain on the pile for quite a while yet, as we are reading other things mixed in. Not to mention it's just plain long. Garbology was one of those books I picked up and started reading in the bookstore and then couldn't bear to leave the store without it. Great read, but mighty disturbing. Am almost done with Fables: The Good Prince...and will immediately start on the next one upon finishing. And finally, Life in Cold Blood, reading this one for Gray's science class and am almost done with it as well.

On the home front:

Outside, my main focus the past few days has been the front flower garden. Trying to get it weeded, plant some perennials, and do something with the window boxes. Not a terribly exciting picture, but I hope over the next few springs and summers, we really bring this area to life. I couldn't for the life of me decide what I wanted to do with the window boxes. Still haven't really. I did plant some strawberry plants in them, but I want to add some color as well...but I'm just so darn finicky when it comes to flowers.

Thought I would have an inside project as well, but really what I've been focusing on this past week is getting some of the boxes out of the "pantry" room that belong in various other rooms and unpacking them. Hoping this weekend, we can whip the pantry into shape.

So anyone else care to share pics of their works-in-progress? Anyone? You know, 'cause I'm nosy.