Thrift Stores Rock

I got this super great purse and a small wooden desk last week at the thrift store. The desk is great for Renata and was only 25 bucks. The purse is old but in great shape and has blue with white polka dots fabric lining it.

Our Favorite Meal

I'm making our favorite meal tonight. A chicken with a lemon in the cavity slow roasted for about 4 hours with olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, and fresh sage from my garden. Black beans and rice. Tomato salad with Vidalia onions soaked in water, salt, olive oil, rice vinegar and fresh basil...from my garden. I'm so excited to be using stuff from my garden already!

George's Hair Fixation

My son George has a weird hair fixation. When I hold him he plays with the hair at the bottom of my neck. When he is sucking his thumb he pulls at his own hair repeditively. Often when he is near his sister he ends up with a handful of her hair. And the other day in the car he could not resist the temptation to play with his brother's hair when he fell asleep and leaned his head toward George.

Tanzania

My very lively friend Lauren is going to Tanzania to work in an orphanage for 6 weeks. Her blog about the experience should be interesting to read.

Cuddly Germs

My friend Laurie got me looking at Blueprint's blog(Martha Stewart's magazine). They recently posted about using educational materials for decor and such. They included a link to large germ stuffed animals. They even have faces like the above picture of the e coli germ. Very Creepy! I also thought this post was kinda cute.

My Beautiful Compost Bin

This is my new compost bin that I am very very happy about. Some people compost because it cuts down on smelly trash, but that only makes me a little happy. I love to think of my compost turning into lovely plant food for my garden instead of yucky chemicals. (It is a bit sad to think of all the food I'm putting in the composter still having chemicals in it, but, hey, there is only so much a woman can do.) Even my neighbor is contributing. My mom always had a compost bin for her garden in Florida and, man, it would whip out humus in a week it seemed. All that sunshine. I'm so hyped.

I also found some artichoke seeds after searching forever. I love artichokes to eat and they are beautiful plants to paint. They are so expensive at the grocery that it makes me want to do a jig thinking of getting 10-20 for a buck fifty. We'll see how easy it is to grow them. Next year I'm going for some asparagus, another family favorite. Jen, you better start posting some yummy recipes for the stuff I'm growing.

My parents were here for a visit this past week. It was a lot of fun. My parents did not stop while they were here. I think they got done more home improvements than I have all year in a week. It was great having all the extra help. My mom bought me these pretty hanging baskets.

I Can Already Taste The Tomatoes

Yes Dad, the pinwheel is still up! The picture directly above is spinach. I'm very excited.

How To Peel An Onion

It's all in the family. Great blogging skills that is. Check out my sister-in-law's new food blog, How To Peel An Onion. Jen and her mom (my mother-in-law) are awesome at cooking food. She's already posted two great recipes. Check it out.

Beautiful Paintings

I found an artist on line who has a wonderful touch. Jeremy Lipking.
Man, he makes me want to paint a portrait asap. I even like his painting of a waterfall. I don't usually like paintings of waterfalls and they are tricky to paint.

Bread

If you haven't tried the No-Knead Bread that the NY Times published a recipe for a while back you should. It is so good. Thick and crusty on the outside and soft and light on the inside. Mmmmmm. It's only downfall is that I can't get it to rise well with more than a third whole wheat flour. You have to use white bread flour. Here is the recipe.

Hiatus

Well I took a short hiatus to visit with family. Joffre's sister and her family came and Joffre's grandmother. It was fun and tiring. Yesterday for Mother's Day all I wanted was a nap. Later in the evening I weeded my garden and planted some okra. It was heavenly.

Here are some pictures of my sister-in-law and her newish baby, Alex, and Great Grandma Hartford with the kids.

Who Knew It Was So Easy To Make Bath Salts?

I was reading this blog and found a simple recipe for making bath salts. I was intrigued and I'm not that interested in bath salts. I just never thought how easy it would be to make your own.

I was just thinking about Mother's Day which is also our anniversary this year. Lots of people to love. Presents need to be fun not work or they're wrong. I found an interesting site about making Christmas gifts. One idea was to read a book and record yourself as a" book on tape" present. Fun. My husband gave me an awesome gift for Christmas last year: two books and a coupon book of readings. He has to read something he wrote on the coupon like a chapter of the Bible or an essay of Wendell Berry's or a short story when I want it. It had some other fun coupons like "a sexy eyebrow waggle". He's great.

Amaryllis

I'm working on a painting of my amaryllis. I can't get a picture without a glare at the moment so this is the best I can do. It is coming out ok. I think I need to permanently ditch Max/Artisan oils. The color just isn't coming out right. My flower also died before I finished. Always a bummer.

We're So Good Lookin'

Sabbath

This post by Nancy Wilson about her daughter Bekah's Sabbath feasting is great. I teared up at the blessings part.

Illustrator Kathleen West

This illustrator, Kathleen West is really wonderful and she has some craftmanship integrity which makes her more admirable.

My Modest Garden

It's growing!

Kids Update

Here are the kiddos. Renata is looking so much older lately. She is so helpful now especially with George. Joffre Jr. is still cuddly which I hope continues for a while longer.I'm having a hard time wanting him to get olderand keeping his hair cut. It does these weird curl things. George is a cute little booger. He took his first bathtub bath with his brother the other night. I'm not a fan of those "Croc" shoes but my mom got him a pair and they are super cute on him.(Course I think almost everything looks cute on him.)