Monarch Post

wish lists

   Whoa. Crazy busy week. Lots of elf work going on here... shopping, making, baking. But it's all good, and I'm doing my very best not to stress out and enjoy the season this year. In between everything; Mike had oral surgery yesterday, but he's doing really well today. He was a happy man yesterday--Percocet, the couch, and complete control of the remote...  We have a rule here, if you're sick, you get the remote and the tv. 

Anyhoo, this is what I'm excited to see if Santa brings this year. It's on the top of Sophey's list. Out of the Pottery Barn catalog. I LOVE that catalog. It's my very favorite. And I'm so glad there's one more year I get to order from it before my last child has outgrown it all.

 
Look at this ridiculously adorable cake and cupcake set... it may have made the email to Santa list too. We'll have to wait and see;)

Here's my  "Mom Christmas time reminder list" for you (and me)-- take care of yourself. Don't stress, it will all be okay. What gets done gets done. Relax, and enjoy the little things. Does that take care of it all?! Oh, and bundle up if you go out and play:)

What's at the top of your giving or getting list this year? xoxoKelly

sweethearts

Back from Palm Springs. We had the best time. It was a little chilly for the pool, so we spent our time eating, looking, shopping, eating... Did I mention eating already? We went to such a great restaurant Saturday for lunch, we headed right back over again for dinner. Then we went to Barnes and Noble for the rest of the evening. We had to get married; nerds need each other.

This is a shot from the Palm Springs Art Museum. Couldn't take any photos inside, but it was a wonderful place. Totally inspiring.

I think I want these in my backyard, right next to my imaginary pool:)

But cast in concrete or not, I've got all the love in the world... romantic getaway weekend planned by my sweet, sweet husband. I am the luckiest girl.

And a really lucky Mom too...

 
 
Corbyn babysit Jesse and Sophey Friday until Ainsley could get there. Before I left, I told Corbyn (the tormentor of siblings) to be nice to his brother and sister for the weekend. Apparently he got the message; he took the kids out for the evening to a brand new indoor amusement park. He said he thought that was a good present for me. Apart from that fainting spell, I thought so too;) And my girls baked up a homemade birthday cake. It was sitting on the table when I walked in the door. Ainsley said, "The frosting is from scratch Mom, and you know that means it was made with love!" I sure do. Thanks guys.

Creating a storm of homemade Christmas gifts for my kids today. Five projects down, several more to go... gotta keep spreadin' that sweet homemade LOVE! (I'll have to share the gift projects after the holidays.)

Take care! xoxoKelly

beauty is...

 
" Beauty is..." That was the title for our kids school-wide art contest this year. We're grateful for a school that still places a strong emphasis on art education. The "Reflections" contest had categories from A-Z. All forms of visual arts-- painting, photography, 3D art. You name it. Dance, film, poetry. It was fun to see all the kids stepping on stage, grinning, and receiving their purple ribbons.

Sophey and Jesse took home three ribbons between them. And Sophey won a district level award for her 3D hand sculpted pink papier mache piggy bank. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder-- pink pigs and soccer fields, it all depends on your perspective, doesn't it?

 
Pink skirts on the dog-- that's pretty beautiful to me too. Lots of giggling here lately. The kids seem to get more creative when the weather gets cold, and there's less to do outside. And Winston doesn't seem to mind at all; he's just happy to be part of playing time.

  And my own beautiful thing last week? A fabulous local childrens'/moms' book and gift store who saw my designs, bought a whole big load of my handcrafted items--ornaments, brooches, bracelets, scarves, AND sock monkey outfits! 

 
We started talking sock monkey making, and apparently, all her store sock monkeys needed clothing. They are now stylishly dressed in my new sock monkey couture;) Clothing certainly makes the monkey:O

I'm back in my studio today-- making more goodies. I worked like crazy right till Thanksgiving. So Thanksgiving was low key and relaxing for us this year. We skipped the turkey and grilled steaks-- yep, really. No shopping yesterday either-- I avoid Black Friday like the Black Plague... Monday will be a Christmas shopping day.

Hope you're all enjoying the long holiday weekend! xoxoKelly 
 

clucking and crowing

 
Look who I found on my walk this morning! Chickens in the 'burbs. Gotta love it. Now I want a cute little red chicken coop, and some nice (what are these, Bantam?) chickens. But I'm afraid Winston the dog would have eggs and chicken for breakfast-- once. 

I'll have to keep the chicken dream alive... There's a farm girl lurking inside me. She wants to bake rhubarb and custard pies all day, setting them later on the windowsill to cool; while she sews calico dresses... and gathers chicken eggs for dinner.

Then there's the city girl side of me. She wants to carry a smart gold clutch; while watching the symphony in a satin sapphire blue dress, dining later at a sleek and sexy restaurant. Oh, ya.. 

And so of course, I live in the burbs... I am obviously conflicted. But tomorrow night, it's a city night. Mike and I are heading out to dinner (alone!) to a favorite, sleek restaurant. Can't wait. Sybil-the-city-girl is winning :0

 
Still working on projects for the charity boutique this week... Lots of half-laid eggs so far. More show and tell to follow next week when I'm finished hatching projects (har, har).

Today, I'm satisfied to crow about this-- Our Corbyn just received his admission papers to the University of Utah!! Yay! He's planning on starting spring semester. We're so proud of you!

 
More graduation celebrating to follow in a few years.  Cluck, cluck. Crow, crow. Well, now that I've used every chicken euphemism I can think of, I'll stop tormenting you :) Do you need a license to keep chickens in the 'burbs? I need to find out.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend! xoxoKelly

Edit-- looks like they're called Barred Rock chickens. Nice name, for a chicken.

  

loving it

 
Like about Tuesday, I realized my kids were out of school this Thursday and Friday. My crafting plans shifted into low-priority gear, while having fun with kids shifted into high-priority gear. Fall is really here now, the temperatures are apple-crispy. So refreshing. Yesterday, all I wanted to do was play with kids, bake, and hand sew things-- exactly what I managed to do:) (Don't you love it when your day  becomes your to-do list?!) 

I was also the spectator for a tough "boys vs. dogs" soccer match. I don't know who had more fun, or who won :) But they were all in seventh heaven for the afternoon...

 

And so was Miss Sophey. Haunted house painting and fall baking with Mom-- this girls' seventh heaven. She learned to bake a pumpkin pie yesterday too.

 
The finished" Haunted Henderson House". Accessorized with homemade clay flower pots. Sophey said, "It just needed a litle something more." She kills me.

And being the apple that didn't fall far from the tree...

 
she decorated the inside with old dollhouse furniture.

We decorated these little numbers too. Oh my goodness, can you say rich? Hershey's Kisses are now in candy corn flavor! (I'll post the recipe at the end for you.)

And then we decorated our favorite, old kitchen sideboard with our new art.

 
  
 
In and around and between kids, I finished a couple of cats for Etsy, and started on projects for the charity boutique. I've made about thirty Red ribbon pins so far... more handmade show and tell to follow next week!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.  xoxo~Kelly

P.S. candy corn not included with cat-- who invented this stuff, and why do I like eating sugar-wax?

***HALLOWEEN KISSES COOKIES***

1/2 C butter, softened

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 C all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

Additional sugar

40 Hersheys candy corn kisses,unwrapped and then frozen. They melt too quickly if they're not frozen first.

In a bowl, cream butter and sugars. Beat in egg and extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture.Cover and chill for 1 hour or until easy to handle.

Roll into 1-inch balls, then roll in additional sugar. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 325 for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately press a kiss into the center of each cookie.

Press a kiss on a kid-- oh wait, that's my recipe ;)

she's really here?!

 

My big girl is here this week! Ainsley's Eiffel Tower photo from her French apartment window... She's travelling with best girlfriend, Blair and a crew of "older" (read that as my age) ladies. Ten days in Paris. Eight females. One bathroom. Can't wait to hear the stories.

I've been doing my best this week to KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON. When she told me of her plans to go to Paris last summer with this group, I was reassured knowing it would be more than just our two gorgeous,  young ladies travelling alone around Paris. Until today.

She called this morning... Blair and I are pretty much doing our own thing now... We've mastered the Metro system. We've seen Chartres Cathedral, The Moulin Rouge district, The Louvre, Notre Dame. 

  

Yikes! Oh my goodness. These two young things out and about in the The City of Love?! And I always thought it was hard sending my kids off to kindergarten.

 Have the time of your life Ainsley, and come back home soon... Safe and Sound. And hopefully, not engaged. xo Mom

P.S. My excitement for the day? I went to the Post Office.

 After mailing my package,the Postmaster said "I really don't want to embarrass you Kelly, but you might want to go home and change your jeans before you go anywhere else today." I reached around my jeans to discover a six-inch hole running down my bum. (Fortunately, I wear undies.) I felt my face burning, as I hurriedly explained that these were my painting jeans, while at the same time pulling my T-shirt down as far as I could get it to go. Which then caused me to again flash the postmaster, this time with boobs. He said, "You might need to get some new painting jeans!" Oh my gosh. Mortified. Who needs Paris for a peep show when I'm around? I'm home now. Whew. That was bad.

I'm, too sexy for my fur... too sexy for my fur...

 

We found a new dog groomer a couple weeks ago... Goodbye Ruffledales, HELLO Paw Spa... Introducing the Winston cut. (Look out Jennifer Aniston, you are so over ;-O) It's fun. It's carefree. It says sophisticated, yet still puppyish. We love our new haircut.

 

Winston recently learned that Honeybear (our neighborhood Airedale terrier), has modelled for Purina. Yes, it's true. Honeybear has been on the Purina dog food bag cover. Winston thinks he's better looking than Honeybear now. He says he could be a dog model too.

See disarmingly handsome profile photo above, he says.

 

See sexy, wistful, who's-that-lucky-dog-on-a-leash-outside-my-window photo above, he says.

 

See that svelte, full-length, perfectly-proportioned spots shot above, he says.

He's thinking about calling Purina himself to talk about a modelling career. Or at least to pitch their dogfood. Isn't that what every other celebrity does these days when they lose weight? Yes, the Purina healthy weight formula diet has been working... down five pounds. Slim and trim these days. Too hot for fur, he says. He, he.

 

Photo shoots can be soooo exhausting.

...I'm too sexy for my fur, too sexy for my fur... Oh, on the cat dogwalk,on the cat dogwalk, I'd like to shake my little tail on the dogwalk...

I need to stop now.

**Mike is halfway around the world on a business trip today. Last week he said there are more pictures of the dog in my files than of him. This is possible. Some days I get bored. Winston is right beside me while I blog, edit photos, etc.

 Mike just got a new haircut too. He looks really nice. But he's in Lithuania. Next time I'll show your haircut, honey. Don't worry. I love you the most. You're much more handsome than the dog...And you could be a model too. We could start with a Paw spa makeover-- Mike with a nice, sleek German shepard look. Isn't he going to love this post?

Hope your Labor Day is free of labor and full of FUN! xo Kelly

ugh, we've had bugs...

  

 and they weren't pretty bugs, like this one... I took this photo in Ohio. It seems butterflies really do like butterfly bushes. Handfuls of all sorts of butterflies hung out in those bushes every morning, like it was IHOP or something. I guess it is for butterflies, gotta get that morning shot of sugar nectar before flying off to do whatever butterflies do all day :)  

Anyways, last week (our last week before school started, wouldn't you know it?) my boys came down with a nasty virus, they gave it to me, and then our computer. I've been electronicless for awhile. Mike devirused the computer, but it's still running wonky and wierd-- and slow! I was planning on a couple more photos, but  this one took three minutes. So there ya go.

Life gets more normal every day here. And we're moving into new routines. But I was sad to send my kids back to school Monday; summer vacation is the shortest three months of the year... and June didn't count as summer here this year, with rain almost every day. And you know about my July.. but we managed some fun things in August, mostly the pool. My kids took private lessons this year, which helped them so much more. Between the lessons and lots of pool time, they are swimming pretty well now. I mostly laid around watching, and reading books. Lazy, I know, and I didn't care.

One wonderful book I've been rereading is, The Artist's Way. It's at Amazon, of course. (I'm not even going to try linking it today.) Don't let the title put you off; this is a book for ANYONE searching to live a more authentic, expansive, and creative life. It's my Bible for when I need to get creatively unstuck or move further along on the creative journey.

A few of Julia Cameron's suggestions for getting unblocked include:

* Daily morning walks.

* Writing morning pages-- three pages of writing anything.

* Not reading. (I know!) But it's helping.

* Instead of reading, Julia suggests any other right brain activity to get you out of your head. Cooking, gardening, driving, scrubbing floors, etc. Haven't been desperate enough to scrub floors yet, but I did bake the BEST apple bread Monday. I'll share that recipe soon. It's amazing. Had it for breakfast three mornings in a row, which probably makes the walking I've been doing pointless...but oh well :)

So I'm going to quit writing for now. Six paragraphs without a photo-- that's just too long, isn't it? I'm off to be creative today. Yesterday I got back to my studio, and actually had IDEAS and made THINGS. Thank the good Lord. I was starting to wonder if I'd ever have any desire to make anything again.

I hope to be here more often now, with more photos and goodness to share--  if my computer stays healthy until my hubby is back in town...

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope all's well with you.

xoKelly

there and back again

 

Just reread the last blog entry... be back in a week or so, definately an "or so" thing going on here...

What happens during those first few days home from a vacation? It's like the life you left behind just sort of finds you again and sucks you down the drain in a swirling vortex of-- what's the word I'm looking for? I don't know. Or is it just me that feels like that? Out of place and sorta depressed.  It takes me awhile to feel like I'm really home again. And then there's all that laundry that follows you home from that nice vacation life-- like about a hundred pounds of it. And then I found out my Dad was having surgery in a day (outpatient, and he's doing fine), and that threw me into  a bit of a tiz... all that to say sorry, I've been AWOL. 

But our vacation to Ohio and Virginia was so good. July was very cool and un-humid in Ohio. Mikes' parents' had a wonderful celebration for their fiftieth anniversary.

The anniversary cake was an exact replica of their wedding cake. Mikes' Aunt Jean made it. John and Jos' party was held in the school where they met, now a community center. Which was a really nice full-circle kinda thing, I thought. Their four children made a slideshow of their lives, and their parents' lives, which played throughout the party on a screen on the stage in the gym. Lots of misty eyes watching that big screen.

Mike's parents live in rural Ohio, in a log home his Dad built by hand about twenty years ago. It sits on top of a hill, surrounded by acres and acres of awesome woodland. They've made a wonderful home for themselves here.

Mikes' Dad and Mom are always busy working on their home and their gardens. John has built three fishing ponds over the years. And the bridges.

 

He doesn't feed the fish for a few days before grandkids arrive...

 

 

I really enjoyed seeing my kids with a fishing pole in their hands instead of a Wii remote.

 

John also built a playground and fort for grandkids. I don't think he was imagining adult grandkids (I use that term loosely), but what the heck.

 

One.

 

Two.

 

Three. How to launch your big sister and make her scream, "PUT ME DOWN!" And yes, that is an outhouse in the background; John (no pun intended) thinks of everything ;)

 

Fort Sassafras.

 

Complete with a zip line.

 

And a place for a campfire.

 

Mikes' Mom is a wonderful gardener. This is her garden behind their house.

 

 

I was so taken with the water lilies. I get Monet a little better now.

 

 

They raise and sell koi. And farm fresh chicken eggs. I forgot to take a photo of the new chicken coops. Did you know chickens will eat leftover salad? I didn't.

 

 

We spent one day at the Longaberger basket company. Shopping and well, taking our picture in front of the worlds' largest basket.

Don't Americans just love their worlds' largest stuff?

And then we were off; in a crowded minivan, with way too many "Are we there yets? Don't touch me. He touched me. Who did that? And rollll down the windows-- someone reeeks!" Twelve hours later we were there-- Virginia Beach and us. If we didn't need the beach before we started, we certainly needed it by the time we arrived.

Nirvana. Is there anything better than the beach and the ocean? I'm thinking not much...

 

 

If someone would invent the job of professional beach/kid photographer, I'm pretty sure I'd want that job. Of course, it would mean relocating. Oh well :)

 

I could have snapped away all day, in fact, I did.

 

 

  

My big kids told me, "No photos, and NO photos on your blog!" I almost listened :)

 

We loved you, Virginia Beach. Thanks for new happy memories. We booked our tickets in January, but it turned out to be a very well-timed vacation for us.

I'm still working through things here... during our trip I would think, "Oh, I'll have to tell Mom and Dad about this." And then I'd remember, she's gone. My heart feels like it's healing around the edges, but still raw in the middle, if that makes any sense at all. I don't know how to describe where I'm at emotionally, but I sure haven't got any creative mojo going on yet. Feeling like doing things now though, for awhile I didn't feel like doing a thing. We're making progress here, and I'll bet my Mom knows all about the beach.

Take care and don't give up on me completely... I'll be back fully one of these days, with something creative to share.

Love,

Kelly

 

My sweet Mom passed on to heaven Tuesday morning. Her funeral will be next Tuesday.

I love you Mom, and I know I have a new guardian angel today.