forcing spring

yes, it's spring. the sun is strong. the days are longer. i have even opened the windows a few times. and still we have a long way to go. there is mud still, nothing is green yet and the wind at the top of our hill is fierce. 

about a week ago, D brought in a bunch of clipping from our dogwood tree. today they started bursting open their buds, like popcorn. fast. this vase of sticks with green tips is my constant reminder that spring is here. spring is not going anywhere and it's only going to keep getting better. 

just half.

this past week has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. i have found myself throughout every day feeling the highs and lows, trying to find the silver lining in some not so shiny things.

yes it's true that D's work has cut his hours, of course amounting to less money in our pockets. this is sickening, could there be an upside? the times right now are so tough for so many, it's hard to not be gloomy about this. the positive? D will be home a bit more, which will be fun, D has a million plans hatched to hustle cash, we can see how charming really frugal living can be and at least he has a job!

little things have been getting me down. the canceled playdate that was meant to provide me with a nice diversion on a day when D was out of town. canceled at the last minute! i tried my hardest to make the best of the morning. so, henny and i made a cake! but guess what, the cake didn't want to come out of it's pan and it was in about 5 pieces. i pressed on and we ate every bite of that damn ugly cake. being positive!

yesterday my grandmother was admitted to a nursing home, where she will live for the rest of her life. she is ok with the decision, which is good, but it's just so sad. imagine you work all of your life, just to end up with shitty health, a roommate, cafeteria food and bingo, if you're lucky. to look on the bright side? she will have good care, which she needs and my parents will be able to finally breathe knowing that they are not responsible for every bite of food, pill and decision. still, it's kind of a wash.

that's the thing with this week. it's like all of the positives and the bright sides are just as pale and depressing as the actual downers. it's like the glass that is either half full or half empty, depending of your view, is really just half. nothing more.

fuzzy clips, an obsession

a few weeks ago i bought a sweater at salvation army. it ended up not fitting well, so i felted it. since then i have spent all of my crafting time cutting up that sweater to make endless projects. i have two softies that are nearly done and ready to be set aside for bee and henny for easter but the real fun has been making barrettes. 

i have been learning to love hand sewing simply for it's ability to be done on the couch, maybe even watching old episodes of 90210 on the computer. one weekend i whipped up five barrettes, using basically this technique, a blanket stitch around the outside and sewing old buttons on to decorate and hold everything in place.

but then i couldn't stop. 

now i have about two halves of sleeves left and i'm pretty sure that i'll keep making these until they're gone. i have no idea what to do with all of them! bee has already claimed a couple, but i guess i may just save them for the holidays. won't that be some amazing forethought. 

breaking the rules

bee has fallen for board games pretty hard, lately. she has actually gotten the hang of all of the learned aspects of game playing: rules, taking turns, staying on task. she is mostly a good sport. it is really quite fun and we usually play a game as a treat while henny is napping, a big kid activity.

bee has enjoyed most of the usual favorites: uno, checkers, candyland, chutes and ladders and chinese checkers. it is particularly fun to play uno with her because she has no idea about strategy. she uses her wild cards randomly, lays her cards in front of her and changes the game to a color that she doesn't even have. it's all part of the fun. 

this week bee and i were enjoying a game of chinese checkers while henny slept. i think that this particular game summed up everything i love about playing games with bee. she was determined to get her "guys" to the opposite side, but not in too big of a hurry. she narrated for the guys as they went around corners, determined that they were heading from hawaii to aruba, hopped over each other and took the scenic route. when both of our guys were getting pretty close to their new homes, bee whispered "let's break a rule!"

bee suggested that we each leave a guy in the old home, so that there would be someone to greet the new guys moving in. in the end, our completed game board looked silly, with one yellow surrounded by reds and one red surrounded by yellows, but our board told a story.

another great idea

another great idea, one that is not mine, but i am sharing here.

lately bee has been coloring and drawing like crazy. she has on several occasions asked to color in books that have simple illustrations. thankfully she asked first, because the answer is no. i'm not that cool. 

then bee had the bright idea that we photocopy the books to make coloring sheets. yes! i did a few copies at home with my printer, but it's pretty tough on the ink supply, so we decided to make more at the library.

this past weekend bee and i went through all of our books and found the best ones for coloring. we chose pages from harold and the purple crayon, make way for ducklings, blueberries for sal, ballerina and the giving tree. 

i made 2 copies of each. one for now and one to save to make more copies with later. we were very lucky because the nice librarian loved the idea and offered to bind the pages for bee, to make it more special. special it is, indeed. another great idea that i can't really take credit for.

vegan meaty meatballs

we had a snow day earlier this week. i was thrilled about the snow day, not the snow. i love having bee home for the day. i like having the schedule of school and the way that it shapes our week, but i really truly love having her around. actually, i have been thinking a lot about this recently, as i seem to be encountering more and more parents who complain about having their kids home for vacation, holidays and snow days. but that is a subject for another day.

meatballs!

i did a bunch of cooking for the week, during the snow day. i made a pot of mixed beans, rice and these meatballs that i had been dreaming up. i made this recipe up from what i scrounged in the cabinet and based on many other fake meat recipes that i have read. they came out pretty awesome. the texture was right on, not too tough (which gluten can be) but held together nicely. the flavor was good too and could be altered with different spices. i will definitely make these again.

vegan meatballs recipe

1 c. vital wheat gluten

1/4 c. nutritional yeast

1/2 c. textured vegetable protein (tvp)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. poultry spice

1 c. cold water

2 T oil

1/4 c. soy sauce

1 T liquid smoke

1 T minced fresh herbs (i used oregano, thyme, rosemary and sage)

get a steamer ready, but don't start it.

mix wet and dry ingredients together in separate bowls. combine wet into dry and mix. when it comes together as a dough, knead for a minute or so. too much kneading can make the tvp start to fall out of the dough. form dough into 1" balls and place them on a piece of foil in the steamer. start up the pot and steam the balls for about an hour.

you can fry them up now, or save them in the fridge until you're ready to eat them. you could probably throw them into a sauce, without frying, and that would be fine. but it's much better to crisp them up a bit first. 

makes a dozen (more or less)

project box: great gift

this idea is a total rip-off of a gift the bee received from our good friends at christmas. bee's box was lovingly decorated and full of all sorts of four year old style inspiration. 

when it came time to plan a gift for a classmate's birthday party bee was adamant, the only gift that would do was a project box.

this gift was really fun to put together and could be tailored to the tastes of any kid. i bought a few things and used a bunch of things that i found around the house. the total cost was around $10, but a few things i opened and broke up, so we got a few bonus supplies out of the deal.

in the box is 3 rolls of colored masking tape ($1 for all at the junk store!), 3 jars of treasures (beads & string, buttons and sequins), elmer's glue, tacky glue, a bunch of ribbons, a bunch of fabric scraps, 4 paper books (zipped out on the sewing machine with white copy paper inside and a piece of fun paper for a cover), a big piece of contact paper, some foam stickers, some feathers, a bunch of muffin foils and a stack of pink blank index cards.

bee decorated the cover and the inside of the cover. i didn't accompany bee to the party but D and bee both reported that everyone loved the box. who wouldn't! i want one for a kid my age!