Indigo Luna

Before and After

 

For Mother's Day I decided it would be fun to finally put some flowers in the old planter bed under the deck.  It's something I have been planning to do for many years now but it just keeps getting shoved down to the bottom of the list.  The flowerbed is right outside the window when I sit at the computer and I'm excited about having a prettier view!

Here's the before pictures:

Maddy loves to work in the garden so she was quite happy to get her grubbies on and dig in the dirt.  It didn't take us too long to dig out all the weeds and get the bed ready for planting.  Then came the fun part - picking out plants!  We all trooped down the farm store and wandered through looking at all the amazing flowers.  It was hard to narrow down our choices!  We decided to pick out some plants for my mother-in-law, too so she could have her own little flower bed.

 

The girls had great fun planting all the flowers.  I'm glad I have kids who like to dig in the dirt.  My mother is an amazing gardener with a stunning yard and her mother also loved flowers and working outside.  I love sharing that with my girls and I love having a Mother's Day gift that will brighten my day every time I look out the window for years to come.

What Happened to April??

Life seems to be flying by at an incredible pace lately.  My "to do" list just keeps getting longer and longer and the house grows more slovenly by the minute.  I've neglected this blog and my Etsy shops terribly lately.  It's all I can do to keep my head above water.  I am counting the days until Summer!

Even though things seem crazy, we are settling into a rhythm.  Suddenly having a two parent working family requires some major schedule juggling and more organization then we really are used to.  We tend to be pretty lackadaisacal about most things and it is coming back to bite us in the ass.  We've had to get serious about getting the kids on a schedule and asking them to be more responsible for taking care of themselves.  I can't spend all my time searching for homework, socks and shoes and nagging them to brush their teeth and get to bed at a reasonable hour.  They haven't been exactly thrilled but they've adjusted better than I thought they would.

Maddy turned 11 last month which is sort of blowing my mind.  She is such a tween now it's not even funny.  She was in a play at school which meant I had to curl her hair and do her makeup.  The first time I got her ready I was just stunned by how grown up and gorgeous she looked!  I turned to Gabe and said, "Oh my God!  She's going to be stunning!  We're going to have to beat the boys off with a stick soon!"  Yikes. 

She was amazing in the play.  I couldn't believe how confident and expressive she was up there.   She sang and danced and acted and I just kept thinking, "That's my daughter!  Wow!"  She has grown and changed so much in the last couple of years.

We had a slumber party here for Maddy's birthday with four girls spending the night in the playroom which we decorated with an undersea theme.   The following weekend the girls went to a slumber party at a friend's house and we had our very first night at home without either of the girls.  They are growing up so fast!

I am really looking forward to the summer although it will be strange having Gabe gone at work during the week.  Hopefully, we'll be able to keep ourselves busy enough that we won't drive each other crazy.  As usual, I have oodles of plans and lists of things I want to get done.  I need to come up with a schedule and stick to it.  I have such a hard time being self-disciplined in the face of so much free time.  I will definitely have to limit my computer time.  I get sucked in so easily and suddenly the whole day disappears.  I think I'll get a big sheet of butcher paper and the girls and I can brainstorm things to do over the summer.  That way, when the inevitable complaints of boredom begin, we can go find something on the list to do.

OK, I can cross "update the damned blog!" off of my to do list for today.  Only 40 or 50 more things on the list....

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I keep glancing at the clock trying to will it to move a little more slowly on this, the final day of Spring Vacation, but time keeps marching forward at its usual pace. In fact, I think it jumps ahead when I turn my back.

I barely left the house during this week of vacation and it has been lovely. I enjoy not working. I automatically revert to my preferred night owl schedule of staying up long past midnight and getting up after 9:00. I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, a morning person. I am perfectly content to just stay home and putter about - a little surfing, a little laundry, bake some cookies, make some art. Ah, that is the life. I long to be a kept woman.

But time marches forward and tomorrow we go back to work and school. Sigh. Life has gotten very busy lately. Gabe got a job and for the first time ever we are both working at the same time. It has been an adjustment, to say the least. I'm not sure how people do this! Our calendar is suddenly color coded and covered with appointments and cryptic little notations. Juggling picking up the kids, orthodontic appointments to adjust Maddy's new braces, play rehearsals, playdates, and errands suddenly became a full-time job! I have to say that I am looking forward to that second paycheck though.

After something of an artistic slump, I've been creating again. I have been drawing small pictures with Sharpies and watercolor pencils and making them into pendants. I like working so small. If I don't like one, I just throw it out. It forces me to keep things simple - to just think about line and composition and color.

I've starting using Diamond Glaze to adhere and seal the pictures to the pendants and I am really loving it. It sticks to your fingers like crazy but it gives a nice glassy finish and those puppies are STUCK ON. I posted them for sale in my BlessedaretheGeek shop.

Lots of change lately. New jobs, new braces, birthdays. As I write this, one of our gerbils is slowly waning. She has lasted far longer than anyone imagined she would. For days she has stumbled around her cage in wobbly circles. Occasionally, she tips over onto her back and waves her legs in the air like a furry beetle. Right now she is sleeping in her food bowl - mostly because she doesn't really have the strength or coordination to climb back out and I suppose the smell of sunflower seeds is comforting to a gerbil. She and her sister have been surprisingly good pets and it will sadden me to see her go. I know there will be tears from the kids but they are also already making plans for the bigger, better, new and improved pets to come. Maddy wants a ferret or a bunny or perhaps a moose but she would settle for a duck - if we could keep it in the house and perhaps let it swim about in the tub. I told her not to hold her breath.

Change is inevitable, of course. Everyone says so. I wish I were one of those flexible people who just goes with the flow and sees changes as opportunities and adventures but I mostly see them as something to be suffered through and probably complained about. I am trying to see change as a doorway to a new room instead of a bump in the road or a pothole or some other metaphor for something that trips you up, slows you down or twists your ankle so you limp about for days. I'll let you know how it goes.

Wearing of the Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone!  The Catholic church decided to move St. Patrick's day to March 15th this year but I'm ignoring them.  How can you have St. Paddy's day on the Ides of March?  Or on a Friday for that matter?  If you're Catholic you can't eat meat on Friday!  Are they granting special dispensations to everyone so they can indulge in corned beef and cabbage??  Mmmmmm....corned beef and cabbage.  I must remember to go buy some today since it will probably be on sale now.

Maddy was all decked out this morning in every green piece of clothing she could find.  She had a lot to choose from since green is her favorite color.  I don't think anyone will be pinching her today!  Even her new braces are green!  Isn't she just too cute?

If it's St. Patrick's day (and my brother's birthday), that must mean I am one year older as of yesterday.  37 years old.  Wow.  That is suspiciously close to 40.    Of course, all of my friends who are a year older than me are kicking me under the metaphorical table right now.  I just keep thinking of that scene in When Harry Met Sally where she is on the phone with him sobbing and she wails, "I'm gonna be 40!"  He says, "When?"  and she replies, "Someday!"  It seems stranger to me that my little brother is 35 today!   

I just don't feel that old.  In my head I feel exactly the same as I did 10 years ago.  It's strange how other people's perceptions of you shift as you get older even though you feel the same on the inside.  Most of the high school kids I work with act like I am completely invisible or at least some other species of creature entirely. 

I hate seeing photos of myself recently.  I just don't look like I think I should.  I no longer match the image in my mind.  I don't mind the image I see when I look in the mirror (most days) but photos just make me look old and tired.  I don't feel old and tired (most days). 

St. Patrick's Day means Spring is coming.  Daffodils are blooming, grass is growing and everywhere new life springs up.  Time for new growth and change.  Time to clean out the old and get ready for the new.  Lots of changes are taking place in our life right now and I am engaged in the familiar struggle between acceptance and resistance, between embracing and denying, between grumpy and grateful.  Gratitude is winning out today.  It might have something to do with that leftover birthday cake I ate for breakfast.

7 Random Things Meme

I’ve been tagged by Greenfingers Here are the rules:

Rules are:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Hmmm....can I think of 7 random things that I haven't already written about on this blog??

1. I cannot stand to even consider the idea of putting paper towels or napkins in my mouth.  Seriously, I am shuddering just typing the words.  Ack.  It makes my teeth itch just mentioning it.
2. The other day I made a playlist for my iPod of all the songs on there that have playing times in the triple digits (i.e., 1:11, 2:22, etc.)  There were 30 of them.  Why did I do this??  Not sure.  I am a little obsessed with triple digits right now.
3. I want llamas.  And pygmy goats.  I have no clue what one would do with pygmy goats but they are so darned CUTE!
4. Every once in a while I think it would be really, really nice to live a very simple existence where we grew most of our own food, had wood heat, built things ourselves, lived out in the country, etc.  It is satisfying to do those practical tasks for daily living.  You know, chop wood and carry water.  But I really, really love my broadband internet.
5. I keep waiting to feel like a responsible grown up.  Hasn't happened yet.
6. I love the smell of a wood shop.  My parents were carpenters for a time when I was growing up and I have happy memories associated with the smell of sawdust.
7. My least favorite four word sentence?  "We need to talk."  *shudder*

Another little fact about me - I don't like to follow the rules.  So, anyone who wants to can jump on this meme!  Consider yourself tagged.

Jonesing for Ink

When people see my tattoo, the first thing they often say is, "Wow, it's big!".  The second thing is often, "Did it hurt?"  To which I reply, "Not a bit!  It was like a 6 hour massage!"  Ha.  It hurt like Hell.  It felt like someone poking me repeatedly - and often in the same spot - with needles.  And yet, as soon as my beautiful bird was completed, I was planning the next bit of ink to adorn my body.

I actually have at least four more tattoos planned.  If I won the lottery, I would have so much ink!!  Gabe and I are planning to get matching ink on our hips of the blue feather from the cover of the book Illusions - the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.  A talented illustrator on my Etsy street team has agreed to design an ankle bracelet tattoo for me of Rowan branches with berries intertwined with Indigo flowers to represent the girls.  I want a phoenix on my left hip and thigh.  But the one I am really jonesing for right now, is a large lotus blossom with a spiral root and wings behind in that will go between my shoulder blades.  Eventually I think it would be amazing to have my whole back covered.  I'm thinking about putting a harvest moon behind the raven.

So, I have been researching artists and styles and drooling over tattoos for the last couple of days.  I am seriously considering making the trek to Seattle so I can have my tattoo done by Madame Lazonga.  Her color work is just so incredibly lush and gorgeous.  She is quite famous in the tattoo world so I'm sure it would be expensive but I don't think permanent body art is really something one should bargain hunt for.

I was looking at tattoos on Flickr and found this utterly amazing piece.  It doesn't even look real!  I can only imagine the incredible amount of hours in the chair that went into this tattoo!  Stunning!

Photo by Max Dolberg

So, I am plotting and planning and saving images and money.  If not over Spring Break, then definitely this summer I will be further decorating my canvas.  Maybe we'll have to get our matching feathers soon just to tide me over.  Why is ink so addictive??

I am also seriously considering getting my nose pierced - a fact which completely appalls my children (and I'm sure my mother wouldn't be too excited about it either).  They're not all that thrilled about the future tattoos either but at least most of those aren't readily visible.  How did my kids get to be so conservative?  Ha!  Please tell me they aren't going to grow up and be nice little preppy Republicans just to drive me completely out of my mind!  And they'll be embarrassed to bring home their nice churchgoing, NRA cardcarrying boyfriends to meet their tattoo covered, piereced, Doc Marten wearing mom.  Oy vey!  Isn't this supposed to be the other way around??

And the Winner is....

Today is the day that we announce the lucky winners for the One World, One Heart Giveaway!  I have really had a lot of fun with this project.  I have found a lot of very cool blogs and signed up for so many amazing goodies that generous creative souls are giving away.  It has reenergized my blogging and inspired me in so many ways.  On to the winners!

For the fiber art postcard, the winning name drawn is Angelina of Angelina's Trinkets!

And for the glass pendant I added as a second giveaway, the winning name is Devi of glasfaden.etsy.com!

Congratulations, ladies and thanks so much to everyone who came by to visit and to all who left such nice comments!  I hope you come back soon.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Birthday Wishes...I've Been Really, Really Good (REALLY)

I know what I want for my birthday and since it's a little pricey, I thought I would give everyone plenty of warning so they have time to save up.  I want - no, I NEED a print Gocco machine.  I cannot even begin to describe how many very, very cool and awesome things I could do if I only had a print Gocco.  It will change my life, I swear.  Here's a picture of it and here's the link to where you can buy it for me because you know if you did I would love you forever and ever and ever.

What is this mysterious looking mechanism, you ask?  It is rather like a portable screenprinter without the chemicals.  You can print on just about any surface including cloth.  I have amazingly wonderful ideas for t-shirts - a whole line of "Blessed are the Geek" t-shirts and another with a magpie that says "Distracted by Shiny Objects".  Not to mention cards, prints and all kinds of other goodies.  Can't you see why it is my destiny to own a print Gocco??  It will be mine.  Oh yes, it will be mine. (Picture me rubbing my hands together and cackling maniacally).

Artists are making some really wonderful prints with these fun little devices.  Like this cool print from the amazingly talented Wondercabinet.

And I absolutely ADORE everything, everything, everything in Ouou's Etsy Shop.  I want it all!!  SO cute!

If you would like to my my life a better place, I am accepting donations towards my new print Gocco.  My Paypal address is rachelk@rachelkitterman.com. ;-D  Did I mention that, with shipping, it costs about $420?  Eep.  Still, I know it is my destiny so I'm sure the Universe is sending extra funds my way as I write this.  And it is my birthday next month....Did I mention I've been good?

Fun With Felting

I just went back to work today for half a day after being sick for a week with this horrid stomach virus that seems to be raging through the entire state.  I still feel awful and at this point, I'm starting to despair that I will ever feel well again.  If I just lie about, it's not too bad so I have read a lot of books and watched a lot of DVDs.  I have cruised through several discs of Lost, Torchwood and Dexter (Just a small digression here to ask is to totally wrong to think Dexter is hot??  I mean, he is a sociopathic serial killer....but likeable.)

I certainly haven't felt much like going out to my studio to work but one thing I can do whilst lying about on the couch is crochet.  I got some lovely wool yarn in various colors from Craft Warehouse and I have been wanting to experiment with felting crocheted items.  I crocheted a little bowl from this pretty cerulean blue yarn and then wet felted it.  I hadn't wet felted anything in a very long time but it is quite a simple process.  Basically you throw the finished item in a tub with extremely hot water and lots of dishsoap and then rub the heck out of it.  When the bowl was sufficiently felted, I shaped it and let it dry.  It seemed to need a little more oomph so I needlefelted some vines and leaves around the outside of it.  I liked that but it still needed more so I added little clusters of blueberries, too.

I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.  I love creating 3-dimensional, sculptural objects and I love the tactile quality of the felted yarn.  The single crochet stitch gave it a nice thick texture.  It just fits in the palm of my hand and I think it would be lovely on an altar or tabletop.

It is listed in my Etsy shop if you would like to bring it home to live at your house.  I am planning on making more in different colors for different seasons and elements.  I really enjoy spiral crochet.  I find it to be very meditative and I love how simply adding and subtracting stitches changes the shape I am creating.  It flows very organically and intuitively.  Also, it can be done without getting up off of the couch.

Just the Highlights

I realize I have been neglecting this poor blog terribly.  Events have occurred and they have just gone by without any recognition at all.  Shocking! 

I think part of the issue is that I spend so much time chatting on Etsy and posting pictures on my Flickr account.  Chatting and linking to Flickr are so instant gratification - and you know how I feel about that!  They have been largely satisfying my need to connect and share my daily happenings and new creations.  So this blog has been languishing unloved.

But really, blogging scratches a different itch.  It's not about the instant gratification but about the process.  The process of mulling, imagining, composing and writing down my thoughts, daydreams, ideas, aggravations, loves and losses is ultimately very satisfying.  It must be or I wouldn't have kept in up for almost 2.5 years and 350 posts!  Sometimes I just forget how good it feels.

So, playing a little catch up here and then back to our regularly scheduled blogging.

We had snow!  OK, not what anyone on the East coast would consider snow  or even anyone in Eastern Oregon but still, it's exciting for us valley dwellers who hardly ever get a chance to see the strange white stuff falling from the sky. 

Gabe took the girls up to Silver Falls the next day where they had real snow and they had a big snowball fight with their friends.

On February 2nd, my baby turned 8 years old!  How the heck did that happen?!  Rowan had her two best buddies from school over for sundaes and presents.  She got Heelies from us which made her deleriously happy.  She told me every day for a week prior to her birthday that her birthday just "wouldn't be the same" if she didn't get Heelies.  She skated so much that day that she could barely get out of bed on Sunday!

We also celebrated my niece's birthday which is on the same day as Rowan's.  She is pretty darned funny at the age of three.  My favorite thing she says right now has got to be, "That's fascinating!"

And last but not least, I opened another Esty shop!  Because I am not even a little bit insane and have oodles of free time.  Uh-huh.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I decided that my geeky alter-ego needed her own shop.  She kept demanding to come out and play and make all sorts of odd and quirky things that just didn't seem to fit in my Indigo Luna store.  Plus, I could not resist the name I picked out.  Hence, Blessed Are the Geek was born!  Stop by and see what my nerdy side is making these days.