Big Saturday!

Hey hey!

So today was a gloriously warm, sunny springy day! :)

We had a lot of outdoor time today (finally planted some seeds!!), Ella's good friend over, and made another bold move in the sleeping arrangement situation: Ella's bed is now upstairs!

Check it out:

Look at all that sunlight streaming in through the window. That corner of the room is where her bed used to be.

Voila! Her bed is now in the playroom! :)

Ella and William also picked a lot of the tulips growing in our front yard. She made about four bouquets, I think.

A lovely addition to our kitchen table. Note the blinding sunlight in the background!

On the side table by our bed.

A mixture that includes roses from the Corvallis Newcomer Club luncheon this past Thursday

 Another recent addition to the playroom is a little wall hutch that I picked up off the curb the other week. It goes right above the play kitchen area to (I hope) keep the play food + utensils off the floor more.

I like it~

 Well, that is all for today.
It felt good to be back in the garden, and on the route to feeding ourselves from the garden again (even if only a little!)

I just put Ella Rose to sleep in her new quarters upstairs and so far, so good!
I hope she learns to enjoy being safe and happy in her own little bed...and room! Though I wonder what we'll do when one of the parents is out of the house for the bedtime hour... Hmmm.
Oh well, we will cross that bridge when we get there.

Until then, take care and here is one last little shot of the playroom with a funny-looking William in the frame.

He's really taken to screaming these days, so I think that is what he is doing here, too.

Have a great rest of your weekend and Happy Big Saturday!!

Blossoming

Hey all!

Man, another long absence...
Oh, well!
Back on the wagon, we go!

I just wanted to write to you about how glorious this past week has been in terms of things blossoming.
Both inside the house and out!

I'll start with outside.
The combo of rain, and sunny weather has made for a beautiful boom in all things green out in the neighborhood.
Here are some photos for you to enjoy, and for me to refer back to next winter when I am feeling hopeless that spring will ever come! :D

Our baby raspberry bushes outside our house! Courtesy of J.G. ♡

Some neighbor's beautiful blossoms.

My favorite tree around here. The beautiful 桜

As for inside the house, William has been blossoming in his speech something fierce!
Honestly, in the past week or so, he has started stringing three and sometimes four words together!
Some of my favorites have been:
Dada make pancakes.
Mama read train book.
More macaroni please.

I have tried to get all this newfound yapping on video, but it's hard to get him to "perform" in front of the camera because he automatically wants to grab it and film things himself. And when I try to work a candid camera on him, the video gets so long that I can't email myself the file to put up here. Phooie to technological inadequacies!

Oh well, I will try to get a video of him up soon, just like I did with Ella Rose when she was around his age.

Well, that is all for now.
I hope you have all been enjoying the burgeoning plantlife around here, and maybe digging into your gardens?
One last photo for you before I say adieu:

Ella Rose is a self-proclaimed "みみず protector" ♡

  Until next time, enjoy the lovely weather and Happy Blossoming!

Rainbows~

Hey everybody!

Okay, so I'm sure that by now you've been able to glean through various blog posts that I absolutely adore rainbows. There was the play dough, the belly-dancing bra, and of course the stool cover...not to mention Car-Free Day 2013 which featured lots of rainbows too! ;)

Being in the Northwest, we are lucky to have lots of rain, and therefore, lots of rainbows!!

This photo was taken last month. It's a crappy shot, but you can see it waaaaay off in the distance above the trees.

And when there aren't any rainbows around, I try to make them!

One place that most people would not think of seeing a rainbow in is those stretches of landscape pebble rocks that people sometimes line their properties with.

A rainbow of rocks

What look like a jumble, of mediocre rocks is actually an assortment of subtly hued rocks that can be lined up and turned into an instant rainbow!
If you have such rocks on/around your property, chances are that I will form a rainbow out of them next time I come to visit. And just leave it there. Just so you know. ;)

Another current rainbow in my life is actually in our home and made of fabric:

WIP!

That's right, I am working on a (subtly) rainbow quilt for Ella's upcoming 5th birthday!
Ssh, don't tell her!!!

Using only pieces from that stash MariAnna gave me, I hope to pull off a large enough quilt that it will fit her bed. Her bed is larger than a toddler bed, but smaller than a Twin...it's an IKEA Kritter bed, which means it's roughly 65" x 29".
Now, how to map out such a large quilt...I do not know and will definitely be consulting very knowledgeable friends for their help! m(_ _)m
I will let you know how it goes~

Well, that is all for now.
I hope you are all having a lovely week and are looking forward to the weekend.

Until next time, take care and Happy Rainbows~!

Productive/Sleepy Days

Yo yo~!

So I was away from the blog for another little while there, but now I'm back to bring everyone up-to-date.

The end of last week was a mixture of productivity and then swift and relentless sleepiness.
Thursday and Friday involved a lot of manual as well as computer work. I worked for the college and then did a bunch of translating for this manga project that Dash and I are on.

Have I mentioned it to you before?
It's the digital release of Japanese manga Harlequin titles.

Everyone's familiar with Harlequin, right? The romance novels written by women for women?
I've never read them myself, but they range from historical fiction to modern office environment with one common theme holding them together -- romance stories with strong female leads that inevitably end up with a handsome rich guy. Ha!

Anyway, Harlequin novels were adopted into the Japanese language, then subsequently into manga (comic) versions, which I now work on translating them back into their mother tongue of English, albeit in a very different format. Phew!
Dash and I are a real Husband & Wife Team on the project, as I do the translations and he lays out the English text onto the pages. I love it!!
We've done tag-team work like this before, but it was for yaoi which Dash was no muy excited about. It's nice to work together on something that, for the most part, we both really enjoy! No matter how ridiculous the story lines can sometimes be, there is also some gem in each title that we can both relish in together. God, I love my line of work!!! :)

Anyway, after a ton of work on that, along with a good amount of errand-running (while the kids were away at S.G.'s -- thanks!!) I felt completely exhausted on Saturday and slept in and napped for a couple of hours in the middle of the day. Phew! I felt like I had mono or something...I just couldn't keep my eyes open. -_-

But today was a better day in terms of balance.
We actually made it to church (for once!) and then had the sweet little Stalter kiddos over.
It was a swell time, and I also got this little (quick) project taken care of:

Our new living room gallery space :)

I wanted a way to get the kids' minds off the TV without downright removing the screen (Dash and I do like to watch things together on occasion).
Ever since that lice/snow crisis back in February, we'd fallen into a routine of Thomas and/or Daniel Tiger...every day! >_< And it felt like the kids were being less and less satisfied with just one episode and would beg and whine for more.
So I said enough is enough and I covered the TV with a big felt sheet that we are going to cover with our own entertainment -- drawings and stories made by our own hands and minds!

Simple tape on the back of the drawings works okay-ish, but I also attached velcro tape to some clips which is another way that we can easily cycle out old piece and cycle in new ones.

I think it's going to work just fine and hopefully I can wean the kids off all this regular TV-viewing and just save it for our weekly "Pizza & A Movie Night" on Fridays. :)
I will let you know how that goes~

Well, now to do more translating work.
Hope you guys had a good weekend and are looking forward to a good week!

Also, do you seek to reduce TV-watching in your homes too? What is your routine like and/or how do you deal with it?

Okay, that''s all for now.
Til next time, take care and Happy Productive/Sleepy Days! :)

Random Acts of Kindness

Hey hey!

Can I tell you all something that happened to me yesterday?

So, I was out shopping with the kids, and we were traveling by "bike trailer train". For those of you who live locally, you may recall how lovely and sunny it was, yeah? A good day to be out :)

Anyway, while I was buckling the kids in and unlocking the bike, this elderly old man was walking by, but then he stopped and commented on how nice it is to see a family out biking like that, how he admires bicyclists, etc etc.
He was so very nice and we talked a little about his own past of commuting to work via bicycle and whatnot, though now he is far too old to ride himself (he must've been in his late 70's~?). He seemed to have a real nostalgia thing going on, seeing the little ones and our funny wheeled set-up.

After a while, we bid each other goodbye and take care and went our own ways, and then I finally unlocked the bike and maneuvered the tricky train out to join traffic. But suddenly there was the old man again! I guess he'd hung around, or maybe turned around to come back. Either way, he says to me, "Excuse me, but there's just something I wanted you to have." And he pulls out his wallet, so I'm thinking "...Maybe some kind of bicycle-related coupon?" But then he opens his billfold, and pulls out three $20s and says to me, "Here. I want you to have this, because I just really admire what you are doing." @_@

Maybe I looked really destitute? Maybe he assumed that someone who hauls her family around on a bike must be hard-pressed for cash? Maybe that was his way of showing appreciation for something he feels strongly about.
Either I tried to turn him down over and over and asked if I'd heard him right, but he was just so adamant, that I eventually caved in an accepted this extremely random and generous gift. @_@
Though I don't know what I am going to put that $60 toward, I know that it is going to go to good use, and that I am going to be keeping up my bicycling and then some.

After a lot of thanking him and shaking his hand and blinking away the embarrassed/grateful tears, I swore to him that I'd pay it forward, and that is what I intend to do.

Man, random acts of kindness like this renew my faith in humanity so much! The important word here being "act" because a lot of us may think about kind things we could do or muse about things we could do for others, but actually taking the initiative to do the "act" is what makes all the difference.

So, like this fellow, I want to aim to let people know when I think what they are doing is great and to "keep up the good work"! Who knows what a few encouraging words can do for people, right?
Do you ever have a crummy day, but then someone tells you a nice compliment and it just turns your whole day around? Bravo to that someone who took the extra step to speak their kind thoughts aloud!

Compliments and kind words from friends and family are great, of course, but there's something about a complete stranger feeling inspired to tell you something nice they think about you that just feels so darn awesome.

I should start writing down these random encounters with compliment-giving strangers that I have, because they will be nice to refer to on gloomier days. So hereon out, you will be seeing writings of these encounters in the blog.

Have you had any remarkable random acts of kindness happen to you?
Have you taken the time to perform an act of kindness on another?
It could be as simple as picking up someone's newspaper off the sidewalk and placing it right by their door when you are out walking the dog in the early morning. Or paying a compliment to a stranger about how lovely their hair is or how you appreciate their happy gait.


Let's go forth and try to be kinder to our fellow man, shall we? :)
I'm labeling this post as "DIY" because to make the world a better place, you gotta Do It Yourself~!
I know I am going to try, for sure.

Until then, take care everybody and Happy Random Acts of Kindness!

Living in Art

Hey hey!

So this morning I was sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast, happily gazing at the walls.
What could I be looking at, you ask?
Why, the beautiful art nouveau prints we have hanging up!!
Specifically, all the Alphonse Mucha art.
This is what the view is like:

Some random product art he did and then The Seasons (alternative version) on the right

Alphonse Mucha 2014 calendar for the win! And our blackboard door :)

 I like to think of our kitchen as something of a "Mucha Shrine". Heh!
Truth be told, the other rooms don't really have that much (any) art hanging on the walls. But the fridge and any corkboard in the house is pretty covered with art from the kids...well, more like from Ella Rose. Hopefully, William will follow suit soon too :)

This afternoon, I was enjoying going over some of Ella's recent drawings as I updated her binder. We keep a binder in the office of her drawings, that we add to at the end of every week when it's time to tidy up her desk, trash the so-so drawings, and archive the better ones that show progress in one way or another. For example, since we've been reading Sailor Moon manga together, she's been duplicating the BESM (big eyes small mouth) style, which is funny to see. (Sorry I don't have any photo evidence but I will showcase some soon)

Oh!
Speaking of which, this coming weekend is the Howland Community Open Exhibition's call for art at the Art Center, where they will be showcasing any art brought in by local residents! Ella and I are already planning to contribute, maybe as a collaboration, maybe not. I will keep you updated. ;)

Speaking of which, I feel so blessed to be a part of the art community here in Corvallis.
From the very first day that we moved here, I made an effort to get in contact with the local scene because I just so very much love being a part of it, and being of aid to the many talented artists.

More recently, I've even been featured in a art show in the next town over!
The River Gallery in Independence, OR has been holding a "Wild Women" art exhibit this whole month of February that features a work of me! :)
It's only going to be up until Friday (or maybe the Friday following?) so stop by and check it out if you haven't already~!

The piece if titled "The Long Pose" by Doyle...Leek is the last name, I believe

I also try to take the children to art exhibits as often as I can.
Like I did with the Last Supper Exhibit and more recently at Mark Allison's exhibit in January with just me 'n' William :)

This is a piece I fell in love with called "Sweet September"...it might be living with us for a while too soon! :)

Other artistic events we enjoy include the Clothesline Art Sale and the Oregon Country Fair which is just chock-full of artistic expression. ♡♡♡

How do you make art a part of your and your children's lives?
Who is your favorite artist? :)

One last thing, before I let you go: a look at what breakfast I was eating while doing all this Mucha musing.

T>B: orange jice concentrate, chia seeds, frozen blue berries, bananas, whey

I've been getting mad into the smoothies these days!! :D

Anyway, until next time, take care and Happy Living in Art!!

Ice Skating!

Hey again!

So it dawned on me that in yesterday's post I didn't even mention another major thing that happened in February: the Sochi Winter Olympics!!

Not that we did anything more than watch some events on TV in the evening, but it's still nice to mark every 4 years with The Games. For the last Winter Olympics, we were still in the house on Grant Circle, and I got really into the Kim/Asada figure skating rivalry. As with last time, my favorite event was figure skating, though I did find myself forced to watch a lot of men's downhill skiing. Heh!

Once Dash got back from his trip away, it became our little ritual to plant ourselves on the sofas in the living room, turn on The Games, and watch from 9pm - 11pm (@_@), chatting, and playing a little handheld game tagteam style during the commercials. We'd also bust out some kind of sweet or salty snack accompanied with beer, too. Aaaw, yeaaaah~ :D

Though not that classy or anything, regular alone time like this does wonders for our relationship.
So now that the Olympics are officially over, I hope we can keep up some kind of activity that nourishes our relationship, no matter how white-trashy it may seem. Ha!

Anyway, another thing that the Olympics brought about was a fascination in Ella Rose with figure skating. Not that she stayed up that late to watch the performances with us (we tried to rouse her once because she'd asked us to, but she was quite resistant), but after watching a few clips off Youtube, she started saying things like "I want to take skating lessons."

Lessons? Well, I can't promise that but I thought it'd be nice to take her and William to a rink to dip her toes in! Which is precisely what we did this past Sunday.

Pardon the terrible angle. Ella assembled her outfit in the spirit of Elsa, the Snow Queen

The last time Ella was on the ice was just about two years ago, when she was 2.5 and we went to New Hartford to spend Christmas with my family before William was born. She was so unafraid and took to the ice smashingly, that I guess I assumed the same of her brother (even though he's a good year younger than she'd been, oops!)

So yeah, the nearest rink is in Eugene (gack!) and Public Session is only from 12:15 to 1:45 on Saturdays and Sundays. So I didn't have that much time to acclimate William who ended up in my arms the whole time.

Ella, on the other hand, was quite happy and trusting even when we left the wall.

They had some really nice skates at the facility!

But one unhappy child can make for a difficult outing, so the already-short skating time was further reduced because I couldn't put William down but I also couldn't hold him that long with those jabbing skates. Thanks for being so patient with your brother, Ella Rose!

I don't know if I will be doing this again soon, at least not without another adult in the name of Dash. Of maybe I'll leave the boys home and hit the ice, just me 'n' Ella. :)

Either way, it was enlightening to get on the ice and try to merely stay upright, after having watched those great Olympian skaters positively fly across the ice. Indeed, what they make look so easy is not at all! Kudos to all their hard work and for mesmerizing us with their performances.

That is all for now.
Have you guys ever gone to the Eugene Ice Center?
Would you be interested in joining us so Ella can have a friend to hold hands with? :)

Hope you having a great start to your week and until next time, take care and Happy Ice Skating!