Advent
I wish someone had told me to keep present giving small right from the get go. I suppose I wouldn’t have listened as I was hell bent on mending what needed to be healed from my own childhood. i think my sister may have tried in the beginning of my nesting phase craze with Sawyer that the nursery need not be pottery barn, pretty or perfect. The baby wouldn’t know the difference. This seemed insane to me because I thought his very existence and sense of well being would depend on his feeling our intentions all around him. the crisp new paint, the beautiful crib and bumper set, the monkey rug he would all be imbued with our desire for him to be with us and our conviction to care for him. And so the path was laid.
Christmas and birthdays by my doing have been about the stuff. Not so much quanity as quality. We had two extra years of over the top. I think Sawyer received two play-mobile pirate ships, one from each grandmother and a crane and countless other things. Piper last year received the makings for a whole vanity set and beauty table. They have so much. plenty. They play with very little of it. I clean it all and put it away. I skim the surface from time to time with my trash bag playing the un Santa as I like to call it. I pull out the excess taking a hard look at my purchase mistakes, what could have been saved. I try to analyze their play habits to divine what the toy successes are.
Sawyer in curatorial. He collects and displays. He likes to bring people into his world by showing them his objects. He has many cool things but plays with little of it. He loves cards and puzzles and paper and writing and drawing supplies. He loves play-mobile. He like many children loves to acquire.
Piper loves collections of things, sets, she likes to put them in order, layer and devise a scenario around the objects and play that for a long time. She could be content with a piece of string, a stick and a plastic cow for a long time. She loves beautiful objects. Last Christmas I know she would have been happy with only half of what she received.
And now Opal. A fresh start. We can reshape the holidays, the presents and make the excess a little less and she will know nothing different. It is only Sawyer who will be scared by the retraction of over the top. He can add it to the list of what there was less of as a result of having two younger sisters.
And so we begin the season of greed. Thanksgiving with it’s bloated and literally stuffed bird trimmed out all the sides. Everyone patting their entitled bellies thinking about heading to the stores in the morning to begin the holiday shopping in style. Oh that’s mean. We did it, we ate the big bird, we had two kinds of pie, it was just me and Mark and the kids. Sawyer made himself sick from the eating. It is over the top.
On Monday December begins and so the Advent calender is started. I have been all over the place with these. we never had them as kids but our friends did and I always wanted it. When Sawyer was little we had a play-mobile one the was a scene you assembled. It was sweet with Santa and a snowy little moment of kids playing winter sports and a snowman. I think we did it two years in a row and then we moved on and the boxes for it are flattened in a zip loc at the back of a filing cabinet drawer. Two years ago I made beautiful covered matchboxes, lined with colorful roving. We did the 12 days of Christmas. Each box had a treasure or a bead and a crystal star or heart. It was beautiful. The challenge was finding very tiny bits for the presents. Last year I did nothing of that business because I had a very new baby.
This year.
I have actually found the time to sew an advent calender for each of the big kids. Michaels has great double sized stiff pieces of felt. I guess it has sizing in it. I layered two pieces together and then used some red to make the pockets. Somewhere along the trip I lost my brain and my math was tweaked and so I made only 16 pockets and since I couldn’t think of a way to make sense of the 16 days of Christmas I had to modify my design which may in the long run be better for keeping the presents in the tiny realm. Mark and I have come up with some good certificate ideas. We have been warming Sawyer up to the idea of receiving the gift of time and activities from each other or special days. Piper is excited and I think as Sawyer was coming up with his own he was getting into it too. He gave me a piece of paper that said “I will do the dishes. Love Sawyer.” I love it. I told him I would redeem it when he turns 16.
My favorite Mark came up with was picking any spot in the house to sleep.
we have a ride on the city bus.
An ice cream cone date.
Be the boss of mama.
Choice of any homemade dessert
free pass from helping with cleanup
$5 at the arcade with mama or papa
These are going to be good for the advent calendar as well as Christmas presents.
My other thought for the advent calendar was to use it for building the little Christmas village we usually put out on the table. It is a traditional little German wooden village. we had it when I was a kid. It feels like Christmas to me with the little houses and church and the silhouetted man and livestock. I also scored a few more pieces on ebay that I am thrilled about.
So They will open a village piece and add it to the scene every day. I also have some Japanese erasers. They are more like art then tools. Piper is going to love them. And then Silver Crow Creations where I could kill all the time eeked out to me proved to be a good place for tokens.
I think this will be good. I hoping that the making of the village, the lack of ownership will help give the season less me me me and more building the village.
Next year I will make another calendar for Opal and look forward to her in the middle that. Her little hands putting a house in its place. I try to hold all the reasons not to over do it in my head and at the same time give a sense of magic. A tricky balance.
December 12, 2008
October 09, 2008
How Princess Mononoke saved me from the need to deprogram my daughter.
As a child I never had disney except The Jungle Book. I knew who everyone was in terms of characters because the marketing was strong and it was Disney after all. We did not have disney merchandise. My mother had a different kind of taste and it was not mainstream. I wanted it. I wanted to be like my friends. I wanted to be normal in some way because we were so not normal.
But never mind about me. Fast forward thirty years and here I am with own three little sponges taking crazy tactics to protect them from Walt and his bevy of scantily clad ladies as well as his anxious boys worried always about being man enough.
From where I stand with big eyes peering over my shoulders the options for strong girl role models with limited marketing and messages about life that didn’t remain in the shallow waters of black and white were few and far between. I understand my mother keeping us from mainstream media. I respect it now. Thanks mom. I hope my guys thank me later.
I think Sawyer doesn’t feel as deprived as Piper. The marketing to little girls seems much more extreme then what is put upon boys. Although now that I am thinking about going to the grocery store and seeing Spiderman plastered on everything I might have to rethink that statement. It also helps that he goes to a school with kids who haven’t seen a lot of movies, probably have never seen commercials or cable television. We have television only for our own movies. He is also the kind of kid you can explain marketing and slave labor and sweat shops and he will take it to heart and weigh the information into his choices.
Piper never can shut off the dangling carrot. She wants it and now. She is trickier so we show her what we want her think is normal first. That is an ideal. I will admit she has seen snow white and peter pan and alice in wonderland. She thinks girls are warriors, she thinks girls are rough and wild and athletic and have strong voices and can execute their own ideas. Girls are brave, smart, clever and loving. They are whole in themselves. In a nutshell we hope this is who Piper is empowered to be and Opal as well and we desire this for sawyer in his feelings about women and himself.
With Sawyer our biggest challenge has been violence and how it is portrayed. I understand the necessity of violence, the desire to watch and explore that part of ourselves. I remembering having a child’s body, how good it felt to be in it and push it with running, spinning, leaping and wrestling. I remember the empowerment of standing behind an arm extending a stick and feeling the energy rush forward or cap guns. Oh cap guns. You really had something with one of those and the setting off of the caps with smashing of rocks long after the gun was lost or broken. And the construction of a story, the weaving of atmosphere with words and statements of intent. And pretending to be dead and the invention of funeral rituals, flower petals over the eyes. But now there is SO much violence. There is senseless nasty sad violence with lame non existent story lines or so much amped up special effects it is not possible to take in the truth on any level your kid can readily access and speak of.
So we shut it off and carefully choose what comes in. We try to pre screen, we have friends with similar values and limits we look to for recommendations. Sometimes we have stopped mid viewing and find something else to watch. I am sure we will hear all about those tactics when they are older. We are not striving for perfect, it is a process and if the kids have to see us change our minds it’s okay, it makes for conversation. I am not tooting any purest horn here. We have watched Indiana Jones which in hindsight was not a great choice or the classic star wars return of the Jedi scene Sawyer will forever be scarred from when Luke cuts off Darth Vader's head. The scene became embedded in Sawyer and it took a long time before he was over it. It prompted an anxiety attack in a department store when he realized all of the mannequins were headless. We had to leave. This is about sharing our mistakes, our intentions and giving thanks to Miyazaki for his movies.
This is about the Wolf Girl and the Masked Inferno.
or being wistful for a prince like Cinderella. I am so glad she This is thanks that Piper recites the fierce lines of the wolf girl instead of singing the praises of barbiewields a sword and stretches out her body into attack positions wanting to defend the forest.
This is thanks for Nausica which had her wearing goggles and zipping around on an imaginary glider for weeks.
And this is thanks for Avatar. Talf a well grounded earth bender and Kitara a lovely strong water bender and rich stories of tribes and being connected to the earth.
Sawyer informed me last night he wants to be a bat. Nice.
September 28, 2008
Terrariums: captured flora
We can all thank Sarah Burt for inciting another frenzy. I am crazy for terrariums. I have always been a lover of moss and lichen, all things that grow tiny. The microbe world. 
I love getting down eye level with the ground and seeing what is presenting itself. The moss clings and succeeds in impossible places. The lichen expands in even more impossible place. How can you not be fond of an organism that wraps itself around a rock and can live using hardly any resources. The answers to the universe are locked in the make up of these specimens. I am sure of this.
On with the show. 
Out of desperation I jumped on the terrarium idea. It had been floating out there for some time. An idea that was taken for granted, easily acted upon at any time but never fulfilled. A birthday present for the person who has it all as well as amazing aesthetic was the perfect excuse to make one.
I did a little research. There are a zillion web sites. Here are a few I found most helpful. The most simple and direct is my favorite, this one is bizzaro and then two more for a well rounded look. I picked the brain of the afore mentioned Sarah and then I went for it.
There wasn’t enough time for a walk to find the plants. I had two hours in which I had to procure the vessels to be used and all material to go in. After that I would have to get Piper and movement would be considerably slower.
I am sorry to say I went to Homegoods for the glass. They have a large selection of apothecary type jars and rose bowls and other containers I don’t know what to call. I know there are endless possibilities of what you could use. Flea markets and yard sales would be the places to go and keep the project cheap and interesting. I had two hours so it was homegoods. There are a lot of inspiring pictures on flikr of vessels and content.
The containers found I now had the challenge of finding filler. Add a cranky baby to the mix. She fell asleep and I drove around on the first day of fall, beautiful blue sky, puffa lump clouds, Neil young, sky roof open looking on the side of the road for moss. It’s a demented word problem. How slow do you need to drive to be able to see micro organisms from a station wagon. I found some growing on the northern facing rocky roadside. Parked the sleeping baby, hopped out, filled plastic bag with flora and scrambled back into town for Piper. I collected the rest of the kiddies, got home, made everyone a snack and I was going to do the project with them. But they got involved with their play and I became increasingly more attached and moved by what I was doing and I wanted to be alone with it. I was terrarium greedy.
I should have taken pictures but there wasn’t much time once I finished because every needed to be party dressed and gone before any lingering could be done.
They were lovely and I wanted to keep them. I will go and visit them this week to check the water.
I learned it takes ten days to know if your plantings are successful.
I know some people say to use a layer of fish tank charcoal to reduce risk of mold growth.
I didn’t.
Instead I used the dirt the specimens were growing in and some same and worm dirt.
I put in some layers of rocks and figured it’s not rocket science.
It is an experiment.
Here is the disclaimer. My fella can attest to the truth of this. I kill everything plant wise. It has to be VERY hardy to make it in my world. This is also why terrariums are appealing to me. I love the notion that once the balance has been achieved in terms of moisture you can have a perfect self sustaining eco system.
We will see.
I am hoping for longevity. They can survive for years unopened. Sounds like the ideal plant. I also think they make wonderful presents. I envision a roomful of various jars filled with little mini forests this fall, earnest beads of condensation trickle down the glass sides proof there is hard work being done and lives being fed.
And then once all the mosses had been established and balance struck I could give the babies as christmas presents. Wouldn’t it be such a joy to receive something alive and hopeful in winter. And did I mention how it is nice way to showcase a rock......
I went back to homegoods and bought a few more vessels and I took a long walk and collect and even more impressive array of specimens.
Today I included the kids and we all made terrariums.
Sawyer and Acacia liked it so much they made two each and then another they worked on together for Sawyer’s friend Nancy from school. 
Piper made one. She filled it with her Totoro figures. It is too funny. 
I don’t want to stop. When I close my eyes a bit I can see the Dr. Seuss cup topped funnel things some of the moss had growing.
This is worse then Bento mania.
I also found this great site when I was looking for tiny objects to place in the terrariums.
I can’t wait until next summer and I can make a hen and chick like the one I hound on flickr.
I would like to clear all of out surfaces and replace all of the crap with terrariums.
My pictures don’t do justice. I will try again for better shots. 
Here are a few last shots of the kids with their finished products. I guess they are never finished.
March 10, 2008
Easters Past
Being crafty and having a new baby is a lot like being a hobbled donkey looking at the greener grasses in the yonder field or having a scratch that can't be reached in the center of your back. I spend a lot of time nursing and tending and occasionally dreaming about things to make when thoughts can penetrate dustbunny obsessions. I have been haunted by wanting to make some pillow covers. I have yet to dip into the fabric stash. Mark convinced me to keep my sewing table in it's central location in our dining room. He encourages me that soon I will be able to put little Pixie down and make something when she sleeps. Thank you Mark. I try not to get discouraged but in the corner it sits with occasional glances tossed its way. I am constantly battling everyones (including my own) tendencies to dump stuff over there.
My kids eat very little sugar and if they do it comes in the cruel form of maple syrup, baking with bananas or apple sauce. They certainly don't get refined sugars. Poor Piper is always pretending pink marshmallows and lollipops and bubble gum. Poor little dear you don't know what pleasures you are missing. Easter posses an especially tricky challenge. I can't just dump the usual bag of jelly beans and soft bright yellow peeps and foil wrapped chocolate bunnies into the baskets.
ALTERNATIVES!!!
I have come up with a few over the years.... Tiny tokens I collected over a few months like metal pieces that said "believe" or "love" and tiny shells. We have used marbles and any little treasures that might fit in a plastic egg. My need to fill the baskets with an amount of objects that would equal the amount of candy lead to massive amounts of stuff (crap) I now struggle to thin out. Last year was better less treasure and we filled the plastic eggs with blueberries and raspberries. Stickers are a good candy replacer as well.
The Easter Craft.
When toddlers dying eggs and staining their hands and noses and clothes is not enough I like to add another layer of creativity.
The felted veggie basket was a good quick project. Pea pods with removable peas, green beans and carrots and a few strawberries made like the old pin cushions. This was not so appreciated by the kiddies but I love them. That year I also made felted eggs and pom pom bunnies and chicks.
Last year I made chocolate bunny and his sister. They are well loved by Sawyer and Piper both. They take the care of their stuffed animal friends very seriously. This year I can't compete and am in fact daunted by the need to have to make three of everything, wondering how much longer Sawyer will want what I make. There is also the desire to have less stuff making me think the berries will again be the way to go and perhaps I could gather up all the forgotten bunnies and chicks of Easters past and reuse them in the baskets...
Will they recover from mama's crafty negligence.
Perhaps I can pull something from my hat.
January 30, 2008
HEART FELT
These are felted heart pins. They are fast to make and finish with the sewn on pin back.
I want to submit the flying skull to the skull a day blog. It is an ambition of mine. Perhaps I will wait until I make something super skullalicious.
