Funky Finds Friday

Soccer season has started and that means sitting outside for long periods of time... and cheering and having fun, of course. Audrey is on a new team this year and in a new league. She's happy the league colors include her favorite color blue. So, naturally she needed a new hat to brave the sidelines when the weather gets chilly. I present Scoops to you.





I'm so glad I found this pattern. It's a cute, happy and fast knit. I went with a thicker yarn than suggested and smaller needles. This means I used fewer stitches as well. I like the way it turned out, but I do want to knit another hat with some thinner yarn. I used Plymouth Yarn's BAZINGA! in color 05 on size 9 circ needles.

Thankful Thursday

1. Possibilities of new friendships
2. Donuts
3. A hubby who surprises me by making the bed in the morning
4. A short break in my cleaning day to sit, have tea and update my blog
5. Cool IKEA desk
6. The sun peeking through for just 5 minutes on a cloudy day
7. My kids' laughter
8. Watching my cat, Max, sleep
9. Trusting that everything will be okay in the end because if it's not, then it's not the end.
10. This video meditation

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday

Blackberries are everywhere! Our new home has vast amounts of blackberry bushes growing in the front and back yards. And since there are so many a blackberry pie was only necessary.



For my crust I used Ruth's Grandma's Pie Crust recipe on AllRecipes.com and it is friggin' unbelievable. The dough is super easy to work with and it comes out ever so light and flaky and justright. It makes about 4 9inch pie crusts.

The berries took minimal work (well, aside from picking them, of course.). Just gather 4 cups of berries, 1/2 cup of flour and 3/4 cup sugar (less if your berries are super sweet). Mix together until all the white is gone and pour into your crust. Bake according to your crust recipe. YumYum!

A Mindful Monday

I love this picture my daughter took of Spirit Lake up near Mount St. Helens. It was a lake created from the eruption in 1980.The water is crystal clear and the area is beautiful. It's amazing what can come from destruction. It's a lesson learned and I'm taking heart.

I'm hoping to get my blog a little more organized by attempting daily themes. We'll see how that goes. I think it will make it easier for me to share what I'd like to share with you.

So, on Monday's I want to try and be mindful. What helps me do that? Well, since you asked (heehee)I'd like to let you know about Notes from the Universe. If you haven't already heard of these, then OH JOY!! These little notes are sent daily via e-mail and they will light you up when you open and read them. They are little reminders of the small things that make up our world. Here's an example:

"The best way to find "love," which, incidentally, is just as true for finding money, is to focus less on these by-products of a life well lived... and more on a life well lived.

Simple is as simple does.
The Universe

Dance life's dance, today, without preconditions."

I urge you explore the whole site at TUTs Adventurers Club. It's the yang to the yin (you know, those yucky days or moments when you think the world and all of its inhabitants just can't seem to make it work). Carpe Diem!

Black socks they never get dirty...

Maybe the reason I love black clothes so much is because they never look dirty. That's the thought on my mind today better known as Laundry Day. There isn't anything too special about laundry day. It's a tedious chore that has no beginning or end (at least in our household this seems to be the case).

Over the years I've been trying to move away from the chemicals found in dryer sheets and laundry detergent. There has been a lot of trial and error. A couple of years ago I tried Seventh Generation's detergent but it didn't seem to get our clothes clean enough. Mind you I was still hooked on the thought that fragrance (i.e. Tide) meant clean. A few weeks ago while reading The Kind Life blog I discovered Soap Nuts. Have you heard of these? I hadn't and so I had to try them. I ordered a sample from Green Virgin Products and the rest, as they say, is history. This is my third week using the nuts (After the sample size I went back and ordered the 1.1 pounds bag) and I really dig 'em.

They clean the clothes nicely without a bunch of smelly fragrance and they do a great job on my towels. My second week was a tad iffy, but I think it was because I put the bag of nuts at the bottom of the washer. For some reason it seems the clothes smell fresher when you drop the nuts at the top of the washer once you've put your load in. This week I'm using some drops of lavender oil on my dryer balls and now the clothes smell even fresher!

I'm still a Soap Nuts newbie so my review comes more from the excitement of finding something new rather than a solid history, but I do recommend giving them them a whirl.

Smart Girls know stuff!

I think Amy Poehler is the new Tina Fey, but 10xs better. If you don't know Amy Poehler (ohmygosh, you don't know Amy Poehler???!), she was on SNL, starred in Parks and Rec (super hilarious show. definitely netflix or hulu it if you want to laugh and laugh and laugh), and she created the cartoon and was the voice of The Mighty B!. Amy is simply the bee's knees when it comes to women comics.

And if she couldn't be more rad, she hosts the very cool Smart Girls At The Party webisodes. Amy interviews younger girls who are basically doing what young girls do; yoga-ing, gardening, writing, etc. Although it is geared to the younger girls, I still love watching them as much as my gal. Smart Girls At The Party aims to "change the world by being yourself". Isn't that wonderful?! If you are a girl (or even not because my son and husband enjoyed some of the webisodes too), do yourself a favor and watch one or two. You'll walk away with a smile and you'll want to join in on the Dance Party. Hey now!

Find more videos like this on the Smart Girls YouTube channel.

Tea is a cup of life

Making time for tea means you are making time to share, to breathe, to relax, to dream, to open yourself and to just be. Our time for tea started with croquet.

We've had a croquet set for years now but never used it at our old place because... because... well, now I don't know the real reason why. Our old place was dry (meaning the dirt was hard as stone) and our backyard was hilly and I was notorious for making up excuses to not do instead of just doing. But, that's changed.

So, out came the croquet set. And this particular day croquet needed to be paired with tea. I even made tiny tea sandwiches which included ham/cheese, cucumber and PBJ. Oh joy was had!!

We played a round of croquet and then had the most delightful tea party. It was so wonderful to just sit with my kids and truly enjoy eachother's company. There was no rushing about to finish as fast as we could in order to move on to the next project or scheme. We talked about upcoming school nerves and about possible weekend activities. And most of the time we just sat quietly, drank our tea, soaked in the sun and smiled.

What a Summer Morning looks like in our household

I guess I should rephrase that. It should (honestly) be What a Summer Morning looks like in our household when mom is on the computer.

WhooHoo! Let's grab all the towels from the garage, throw them in the utility cart and ZIP ZOOM around.

Were you wondering if anything besides towels was in the cart? If so, wonder no longer.

Epic crash on the lawn. My plan of action was (1. Turn away from the computer (2. Stare in bewilderment (3. Wait to see if anyone cries (4. No crying so proceed to laugh (5. Grab the camera and then blog about it ~ Oh, what a bad Summer Mommy.

Fancy Schmancy

I hardly ever get dolled up. It's no one's fault except my own. After the first kid was born it just seemed kind of pointless to get dressed up unless I was going into the office. And that, my friends, was hardly ever. I was pretty thankful to have a job that allowed me to work from home. My husband liked my stay-at-homeness (I don't think that's really a word), but did not like my stay-at-homeness look. Seeing your wife in the same clothes from out of bed to right before bed is not very becoming. Okay, honestly, it wasn't that bad... but, almost.

I've always wanted to have the motivation to dress fancy almost every day by adorning myself in a pretty dress, cute little shoes, a flawless face and an actual hairdo. I'd love to dress like Chuck from Pushing Daisies. Do you remember that show? That character? If not, here is Chuck rockin' her cute outfits.



I'm not even close to achieving fancy schmancy, but I'm getting there thanks to The Joy Up. One of our assignments was to get fancy... put on a dress, take time to do your hair or your makeup, or wear a piece of jewelry that makes you feel fancy. I coudn't do fancy alone so last night I got the whole family involved in this fancy deal. Why not?! We put on our nicest clothes, had dinner by candlelight on the good china, and had virgin margaritas. Yum! The kids were so excited that they had dressed themselves up 2 hours before dinner!! Even my hubby didn't complain when he put on a tie and some nice slacks. It was so much fun and I'm hoping to make it a custom. Life is definitely too short not to celebrate for no reason except to celebrate. We could easily celebrate in shorts and jeans and on the regular ol' dinnerware, but making it a wee bit more special really adds that little extra somethin' somethin'.

Gettin' fancy.

Ooooh, she's fancy!

I'd like the fancy look to stay. The older I get the more fancy I need. Heh. I may not be able to pull off cute shoes all the time though. Dresses look okay with clunky boots and/or tennis shoes, right?