Fab Friday 24 April 2009

I had such fun creating this mosaic! Sorry about the distorted image. Just click on the picture for a better view.

1. Jumbleberry crumble , in a tea cup, 2. Hot Chocolate, 3. Giant Abraham Lincoln, 4. Orange (365/340), 5. Benny ….., 6. Rockfords 2005 Basket Press Shiraz, 7. Wildlife Paradise, 8. Opera Cake, 9. Librarians After Dark, 10. Jama’ El Fna by Night, 11. Crazy Quilt 1, 12. Glass Bead Game III

Here’s how to play along (thanks Carin at My Sacred Home!!)…

Flickr mosaic game

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into a mosaic maker.

1. Your blog name?
2. What is your favourite food?
3. Where were you born?
4. What is your favourite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favourite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favourite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up/old?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Favourite novel?

Please let me know if you make a mosaic. I’d love to see it!!

Have a great weekend.

January Blooms 4 January 2009

Today, I learned that I am a Lily…

Your artistic expression tends to show up in flamboyant bursts. When you are feeling creative, it consumes your every thought and action. But just as quickly as the muse shows up, it leaves you and you are back to your relatively normal self.

Yep.  What about you?  Take the quiz here to find out.

Thankful Thursday 27 November 2008

Lots of Thanks to be Giving this Day for…

shelter

warmth

water

fire

food

love

laughter

books

nature

crafts

kittens

cuddles

Even if this isn’t a thanksgiving holiday for you, what are you grateful for?

Time is running out! 25 November 2008

I’ve given myself until 1 December to come up with a theme for this blog. I’m getting closer,

81/27 This Day in Mid-November 18 November 2008

81F or 27C.  THAT is today’s temperature (and feels like 95 in the sun which is nearly impossible to escape).  I am not pleased.  Winter here is very long.  But summer is interminable. I know I should be grateful for these on-going opportunities to run JumbleSon around outside.  However, since I refuse to subject myself to such conditions, that will not happen until dusk (when the temperatures will radically drop to 40C/4C and feel like 32F/0C).  So what good does it do me?

I’m sure that it’s in my best interest (and that of you, dear readers) to focus on the positive.  But I’m just so in shock.  I’ve lived here since August of 2006.  If I live here until August of 2060, I don’t think I’ll ever make peace with the climate and terrain.

I feel so exposed here.  And not just because I live on the edge of the open prairie.  The sky is so vast and high.  The blanket of clouds that kept me so snuggly in the Maritime Northwest rarely covers me.  If I lived under a  canopy of leafy trees, that would be a comfort.  Alas!  I do not.  South-facing Sun exposure without a single blessed tree.

While our plans are to move back to Seattle as soon as our lease is up next July, I admit to fantasizing about places that get even MORE rain like Ketchikan.  If it weren’t for the predominantly right-leaning political climate of Alaska and the limiting size of the city, I’d plan a scouting trip immediately.  Portland is an excellent second choice as it gets more rain, has lots of crunchie edges and the added bonus of being the vegan capitol of America.  However, there isn’t any salt water touching it’s shores.

Abroad, we could easily choose Melbourne, Australia, but for a serious lack of hills/mountains to nestle in, not to mention the problem of the Holiday Season being in the middle of Summer – can you imagine anything less cozy??  I’ve heard there are spots in Scandinavian countries with moist, mild climates.  Immigration would be nearly impossible, though.  I have a friend in Ireland who is doing a fine job of tempting us that way and I think we’d love Scotland.  But short term, I suspect we’ll just stay in the country.

Now if I can drag myself away from these fantasies, I must go make birthday cake for a certain little cutie.

ABBA Therapy 12 November 2008

I need more of this in my life.

Damn! They’re cute.  And how could I still have a crush on Bjorn & Benny?  They’re as old as my DAD!!!

Vegan Meal Plan Monday 10 November 2008

Cristy who’s in a garden…somewhere has been sponsoring vegan meal plan Mondays inspired by Organized Junkie.  Since food is such a huge part of my life, thought I’d join in the fun.

Sadly, my vegan gourmet days passed with M’s birth.  However, I still strive for 5-star freshness and flavor even in the most humble of meals.  I don’t do salads because it’s so vegan cliche.  And, rarely do I plan side dishes because it’s too much of a hassle right now.   If I wasn’t still battling severe sleep deprivation/exhaustion and my son ate as well as Vegan Linda’s, I’d be far more dedicated to our overall nutrition than these menues reveal, but for now I’m just trying to keep us all fed (oh, and allow time for my baking addiction .  So, to further simplify my life, I’ll be following Half Pint Pixie’s brilliant strategy of designating each week night to a particular type of food.  The order will probably change once Farmer’s Market season rolls around again, but for now this will do.

Mondays will be SOUPS. Tuesdays will be BURGERS. Wednesdays will be PIZZA. Thursdays will be CARRY OUT.  Fridays will be TIME CONSUMING MEALS.  Saturdays will be LEFTOVERS. Sundays will be INSTANT MEALS.

I won’t be posting about breakfasts or lunchs exept on special occasions as they don’t really change that much.  But, for the inquiring minds, here’s a brief summary of our standard breakfasts & lunches:

BREAKFASTS: Vegan Dad’s incredible Mom’s Scrambled Tofu (light on the nutritional yeast + spinach), vegemite toast, sugar-free homemade muffins, steel cut oats with apples, walnuts and cinnamon, Whole Soy lemon yogurt, fruits, Cascadia Farms’ Purely O’s with rice or almond milk, peanut butter and jam on toast, and when I feel like trying to get M to appreciate them again, protein & nutrient-packed fruit & veggie smoothies

LUNCHES:  Leftovers or bagels with the topping of the week (tofutti cream cheese, my sun-dried tomato pesto, hummus, or tofu eggless salad) and a carrot or two for me (I’m not a big lunch person).  Noodles with nutritional yeast, rice and collard greens, and an uninspiring variation on Muffin Tin Monday for M, the Supreme Grazer

SNAX: all of thee above

So, without further ado…

SOUP MONDAY: Golden Potato Mushroom Soup (variation on a VegWeb recipe I found years ago)

BURGER TUESDAY:  Vegan Planet’s Ultimate Veggie Burger with trimmings

PIZZA WEDNESDAY:  Tempeh Veggie Pizza

CARRY OUT THURSDAY

TIME-CONSUMING FRIDAY:  Shepherd’s Pie topped with Garlic Mashers

LEFTOVER SATURDAY

INSTANT SUNDAY:  Spaghetti with WF Mushroom Sauce, Spinach and Nate’s Meatless Meatballs

Makes Me Happy 7 November 2008

In no particular order…

Vegan Etsy

Office of the U.S. President-Elect

Vienna Vegetable Orchestra

International Babywearing Week, 12-18 November 2008

Family Sticker Maker

I think this will be at least one post you can expect to find here each week – a round up of things that make me happy.  Certainly something worth sharing

And what about your lovely self?  What made you happy this week?

Focus 7 November 2008

Days pass and I’m still no closer to coming up with a focused theme for this jumble blog.  What have I to offer?  What do I need this space to do?

Well, short term, I need it to help me clear my head and lift my spirits.  But, what can I offer?  Details.

I’m a detail freak.  You know the sort – the one who completely misses the point to an article, discussion, book, etc. because they stop paying attention before allowing the big picture to form.  The one who gets hung up on some tiny detail that no one else notices or even cares about, and brings progress to a grinding hault while grappling with it.

Don’t get me wrong, though.  I’m not a neat, organized detail freak.  Oh no!  I’m forever drowning in a sea of clutter, dirt, laundry, dishes, unpaid bills and over due library books.

So what good is it, I ask you, to be a lazy, unorganized detail freak?

Well, I can dream – dreams filled with glorious minutia … of all I’d do “if” and “when” … of all I’d like to be, see and experience … of the holiday swag I’ll make for my front gate out of items foraged from the garden and condo grounds before the last frosty wind takes them away.

Yes!  The hollyhock seed pods from the fence row.  The little red berries and speckled leaves on the mystery bush by the parking lot.  Pine cones and acorns from the park.  And wouldn’t it be lovely if the pine cones were heavily scented with cinnamon so everyone that enters could get a whiff of that delicious spice?

Stay tuned for details on my progress (in the event that I don’t get hung up – so to speak – on the details)!

An Invitation 3 November 2008

Why do I feel the need to blog?

It’s been nearly two years since Jumbleberry Son was born.

I’ve loved my life right in to him, but now I barely recognize myself.  Everywhere I look on the blogsphere there are amazing, creative, inspiring, competent women (particularly Mamas), who seem to be thriving.  I admire them so (and will add links to their blogs soon).

By putting my hopes, fears, joys, concerns and intentions “out here”, I somehow hope to reconnect with my Self.

But why not just keep a personal journal?

For one, it’s not as clean and tidy as this space.  And, if I’ve ever needed a clear space, it’s now.  Also, I love linking my thoughts to others’.  Harder to do with a paper journal.  Feedback (hopefully, of the kind, constructive type) would be non-existent under lock and key.  Then there’s the fun of embedding audio/visuals.

Perhaps, more important than my own selfish needs, there is also a desire to share with others.  I’ve kept a friend waiting for details on vegan family life (cooking, specifically) far too long.  I’d like to talk about books I’m reading or would like to read.  Then there’s my academic interests which may, or may not, go beyond the lay-person’s level of study.  Following my Bliss.  Long-dormant activism and all manner of domestic stuff, too.

Attachment Parenting, Breastfeeding, Enjoying Parenting, Gentle Discipline, Child-led Learning, Raising a Spirited Child and all the other Mama stuff I care so much about is covered over at MDC.  While I can’t help but touch on it from time to time, I don’t think it will be my main focus here.  It’s my Bumbling Parent identity that has taken over my life, and this is about getting some of the rest of me back.

Won’t you join me?