whenever I feel blue

Whenever I feel blue and don’t know what to do; whenever I feel the dreams inside of me dying, I look at these and remember the way it made me feel to be there… and it’s like being there all over again – the smell of the tropical sea air, the feeling of calm and peace and aloneness – everything.  It all comes back in vivid bursts and I am so grateful.  Thank heavens for beautiful memories, for without them, I don’t know where I’d be today.  Perhaps sitting by the window and staring out into nothingness like yesterday.  This memory has been my lifeline this morning and has taken a bit of the blue away…

Thank heavens for Hawaii…  I wish I had the money to go there right now.  I still want to live there one day.

1 buck and HOURS of fun: whoopie cushions

For girls and boys alike, this one dollar is a dollar worth spending.  The jokes and pranks and laughter associated with this otherwise benign piece of rubber, lit up the home with happy faces, wicked mischievousness, loud distorted ‘flarps’ and giggles upon giggles.  It brought me so much joy to observe – you know that big bubbly joy inside?  So much joy from a whoopie cushion you ask?  And I have to answer yes!

“It’s my turn to fluff Isis.”  ”Okay Phoenix,  here you go – pfffffft!”  giggle giggle giggle….

“Hey daddy, why don’t you come sit next to me… pfffft!!!” giggle giggle giggle…

“Oh dear, I pooped my pants…. pffft!!!”  giggle giggle giggle…

(hee hee hee)

I love cheap fun.

xox

the colors of summer

Don’t you love how the new updated facebook photo album layouts let you see all of your thumbnails at once?  (Not that I’ve been on fb much lately given that it’s an evil time-waster and all that – me and fb have an intense love/hate relationship, just like me and my emails ;)

This has been such a rich and colorful summer…  Some of the colors have muted since saving this for web, but I wanted to remember this, so I am posting…  One day I am sure that I will get my whole blog printed into a hard cover keep-sake and I want this summer to be in it.

all for me mee MEE-HE-HEEEEEE!!!!!!

MmmmmMMMMmmmm, this week I’ve been making pretty stuff just for me :)

The colors I’m into at the moment kindof remind me of this yummy plate by French Bull I was drooling over yesterday…  (Thanks a lot Meg!  Like I needed something new and gorgeous to get obsessed with ;)

I love my new red earrings.  I feel fabulous wearing them :)  And they’re so massive, they kind of hide my double chin hahahaha, bonus!!

family heirloom

Behold!  My rubber collection!!  Thats what I called it when I was little, then all of a sudden at a certain conscientious age, the kids at school started to giggle in hushed tones whenever someone said “can I borrow ya rubber please mate?” instead of “can I please borrow your e-ra-ser?”

No matter the double meaning of the word, this will always be my rubber collection.  Started by me as a wee nipper and continued on now through my children.  I tell you, the rubbers you can get these days, are waaaaay cuter!!  I can’t resist whenever I see them in the store – I.HAVE.TO.BUY.

So as a result, my children now collect rubbers too!  Whether they wanted to or not!  Woohoo, just another way I vicariously live through my children :)Oh but they don’t mind.  They love them.  Phoenix in particular loves the money erasers at the moment – all those old Australian bills that no longer exist and there is even a US one dollar eraser collected from somewhere.  A few weeks ago, she was all about the icecream erasers, pretending to eat them all the time.  I love how she says eraserrrRrrs like a little American.I caught Isis trying to sneakily rub-out with these special fancy-pancy erasers the other day – I DON’T THINK SO BUDDY!  Use your scabby old rubbers for that!!!  Or that cool squishy art one that I bought for you!!  (I tried that too when I was little, and the light bulb eraser still has the dirty smudge to prove it.)

*grin*

I love my rubbers ;)

back to the daily grind

I think we’re all pretty happy about the return of school.  According to Isis, third grade is waaaay better than second, and Phoenix loves her special needs kindy and her nice bus drivers :)  Isis can get dressed fast enough now (and pretty much all by himself too!  woohoo!) that he can rush out and say goodbye to his little sister in the mornings.  They love it.  They love each other so much it melts my heart.  (Here’s for hoping that Isis’ teeth finally push through his gums this year!  Soon I will have to start calling him Shark Boy with all those layers of teeth in there!)

This time last year:Aww she’s grown so much since then and thriving in so many ways thanks to this wonderful school.

Also this time last year, Little Miss Ballerina Princess:Oh I love my camera.  I’m so glad I have these little memories, hopefully forever.

Note to self: Must scrap more.

xox

It’s always fun when Granma comes!

Now Granma B. is the QUEEN of fun activities under a dollar – check this out for a fun activity to do with your kids or your classroom!

1.  Eyes and Mouth Stickers from Joanne’s Fabric (using a 40% off coupon to make them even cheaper)

2.  Scraps of paper cut into random but specific shapes by the children (great for scissor practice and shape recognition)

3.  Bits and bobs (any scrap foam pieces or such that you may have laying around to add to the variety of the little shape people)

And about a dollar later, you have two solid hours of educational, imaginary fun!  Phoenix told me all their names this morning – the name that impressed me the most was Mr Hexagon!!  She now knows what a hexagon is!  Go granma!!!

xox

9:30pm in logan

I can’t help but wonder how much of Mother Natures beauty we miss by being such an indoors culture, particularly in the evenings.  Walking home from a little book party last night, I rounded the corner to our house and witnessed the moon rising over the misty mountains.  What a breath-taking sight with the clouds lit up all throughout the massive night sky.

I often wonder how much of life’s beauty and peace I am missing out on because of our hectic modern culture.  Each time I have to wake up super-early to work on a film and start driving at an hour when the whole world is still asleep, I love seeing that beautiful stranger, Sunrise.  It always takes my breath away, guaranteed, and the sad thing is that I see it so rarely that it feels brand new each time.  And yet it happens every morning, sunrise, while I am sleeping off my usual late night bed-time.  If we lived in an older place in time, I would be up collecting eggs or something at that time, awoken by the cock crowing, spending much more of my life outdoors, more ‘at one’ with nature and the peace and slower-pace that nature brings.

Right now, I am ‘at one’ with my computer and that’s about it, which is totally sad and reflective of this cuckoo alien world we live in :)

Last night I got to see this, and it reminded me (as nature usually does), to slow down and savor a bit more of the life happening around me…

To take more deep breaths and all that :)

1 buck and HOURS of fun: googely eyes

Meet Mr and Mrs Mitten.

Googely eyes that were one dollar from the craft store turned into hours of fun yesterday afternoon.

The mittens were found in a box of long forgotten foam scraps.

Combined, this made for a really fun afternoon of explorative creating, using up random scraps (always a good thing), role playing with said creations and the using of little imaginations in a very cute way.

For some reason, there is almost nothing more satisfying to me (other than when I see the children eating and enjoying it), than when I see Isis pause his math homework to help his little sister use the glue, and seeing her four-year-old-mind in invention-mode come up with gorgeous little characters from scratch, giving them names even and then bringing them to life by making them talk to each other ever so politely – “Oh hello Mr Blue Mitton, how are you today?”  ”Oh hello Mrs Pink Mitten, I am so very good thank you!”

*melts my heart*

And all for one dollar.

Well worth it.

happy kiss and make up day today!

(Jasmine and Nick circa 2001, out the front of mum’s house, pregnant with Isis, looking very very young :)

…and happy Women’s Equality Day tomorrow and Global Forgiveness Day on Friday.

May your week be full of positive wonderfullness.

What a great week!  And what a great excuse to put that grudge behind you, to forgive, to open up to love, to move on, to be happy.