Balance

School started for us two days ago. This will be my sixth year teaching, I think it will be the most challenging and hopefully the most rewarding. I'm following a wonderful classical home school education outlined in the book The Well Trained Mind, this year we cycle through Ancient Civilizations again, my absolute favorite time period to cover. The girls are in 1st, 4th & 5th grade this year. I have not posted recently, I've spent the last few weeks trying to get organized and work out a schedule of sorts, I think I'm ready.

In the past few weeks, I've been contemplating how chaotic my life has become. Lately, I've been so busy juggling my clothing design business, running a household, teaching, attending church events, keeping in touch with friends and all the other things I cram my life with that it's getting tougher to juggle it all.

I want to balance ... I don't want to juggle. Not sure what to do about it, but while thinking and digging around the web, I came across this fascinating little vintage animation from 1990, it won the Oscar for Best Animated Short that year.

I'm definitely not a deep thinker, but this little movie has got me thinking. I suppose it's a commentary on our society. My thought is, if they stayed perfectly balanced forever and didn't move, that would be boring. It didn't get interesting until they started shaking things up. Hopefully you'll enjoy or be bothered by it, let me know what you think.

Real Beauty ...

I am very aware of the role the media plays in how we as women view ourselves. And since I am raising three young girls, I want to be "real" all the time, at least that's what I strive for. Hopefully I'm passing down that freedom to my girls.

I recently shared this awesome Dove video with my girls. They all came away with the main point very clearly ... you can't always believe what you see.

And while we're on the subject; here's some of my favorite quotes about beauty;

You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, she is beautiful because you love her. ~Author Unknown

That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful. ~Ninon de L'Enclos

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it. ~Confucius

Floral Dreams ...

I couldn't resist! I found two twin bedspreads at a local thrift store, the colors are just spectacular, and the pom pom trim is just so funky. These definately are circa 1970's.

I want to make tote bags & purses out of one of them, IF I can bring myself to cut it. Not too bad for $5 for the pair. I'll have some extra fabric, drop me a line and I can sell you a yard in my etsy store.

Bunny & Shelby

Natalie loves to craft. Here's a picture of a new bear she made last night. His name is Shelby, he's got movable arms and legs and she made him a crochet scarf to match his blue eyes (she learned how to make him from a book we got at the rummage sale on Saturday) AND check out this crochet bunny she made this morning, it's a Japanese art form using crochet and/or knitting called Amigurumi - she's figured it out from seeing the pictures on the web.

I'm so envious, I can't even fold a map. She sees things in 3D and can figure out how to make them from just looking at a picture. I'm sure that gene came from Daddy, lucky girl =)

Giraffe's Are Cute!

I made this little guy yesterday. He's so darn cute, BUT it's so hard to keep the stitches evenly spaced and straight, I wish I wasn't such a freak about quality control LOL!

I'm not sure I want to make any more of them, but it's too late to change my mind ... I've already listed it as a custom item on ebay, just click on the link to see the auction. For now, I'm definitely going to have to make 2 more, the girls each want their own.

I may go blind trying to make them =)

Making Salsa ...

Here's a picture of my daughter while helping me make salsa today. We listened to great "ranchero" Mexican music as we chopped away.

Making great salsa isn't that hard to do. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll share my "top secret" recipe with you =)

Start with (6) fresh red tomatoes, (1) small red onion (actually looks purple, but they are called red), (1) lime, (3) serano chiles (use jalapeño if you can't find serano), (3) yellow chiles, (1) tsp of salt, (1) bunch of fresh cilantro. Wash everything and pat dry with a paper towel. Cut the stems off the chiles and the bottom inch of the stems off the cilantro, use all the leaves. Chop everything and put together in one bowl. Squeeze the lime juice over your chopped ingredients, add the salt (if you want more than 1 tsp., taste it first, and season how you like it), give it a good stir and chill for at least 30 minutes to merge all the flavors. Serve with chips and a pitcher of margaritas ... and slow down and enjoy your family, friends and the rest of the summer!

ps. My husband insists I warn you that this may be too hot for most people ... make the margaritas first, so that you have something to cool off your mouth =)

Vintage Finds!

On my weekly trek to my favorite thrifts, I found these. They came from 3 different stores, but match so perfectly. The avon index box is my favorite. My kitchen loves them all!