valley girl has baby, goes crunchy.

hatched...

2011-10-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

funny, 21 days isn't really that long at all--a mere 3 weeks. but when you're waiting and wondering and hoping for something... 21 days can seem like just about forever. our 21 days ended early this week, with two chicks hatched one night, one hatched the next morning and four more hatched the following evening. a total of seven chicks--the 2 hens were sitting on 17 eggs, but there were a couple of different issues that i think led to a low hatch count.

anyhow, there are here and they are fluffy! the kids can't get enough--practically every sentence begins and ends with something regarding the baby chicks. lucy insists on wearing only items with pockets, in order to take the chicks on rides. we are visiting them out in their coop non-stop from dawn until dusk. fun times. once they get a little bit bigger, i may actually be able to get some things done around here. until then, it's all about the chicks, man.

this moment...

2011-09-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

our weekend is jam-packed, starting at 8 am tomorrow and not letting up until sunday evening. for now, i'm savoring the quiet, and finishing up the honey cake that the kids and i made a couple of days ago. it's quite good. especially when washed down with a glass of ~~milk~~ wine.

happy weekending!

we're expecting...

2011-09-30T20:44:00.000-07:00

no, it's not another valley baby. more like 2 hens (formerly tree chickens) sitting on somewhere in the neighborhood of 16 eggs. this is our first go-round of hatching, since our roosters (lucky duck and easter) have just come of age. i can't say that they have a way with the ladies--they seem more like a pair of bumbling teenagers--but they are in fact fertile. the proof is in the eggs--we can now hold them up to a flashlight in a darkened room and see chickie babies kicking within the shells. totally amazing, perhaps not so much as feeling my own babies kicking inside of myself when i was pregnant, but certainly close. especially since the whole shebang with chickens takes a mere 21 days, and roosters don't even have penises. yah. the term miracle comes to mind every time i see a rooster pop on and off of a hen. the whole encounter takes literally one second.

we are counting days over here, waiting and wondering and asking ourselves if it's really this easy, if nature is really so complex and so very simple, all at once. stay tuned to find out!

smile, hudson...

2011-09-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

yeah, we're working on it.

the friday flea...

2011-09-19T16:24:00.000-07:00

last friday we woke the kids super early for a trip to a not-so-local flea market to do a bit of shopping. lucy and hudson don't seem to mind an early wake-up call. i roused them at 5:05 and they were in the car by 5:10, still clad in jammies and snuggled in blankets. they no longer go back to sleep, as they used to, on the 2 hour drive. but they do stay pretty quiet until the sun begins to rise. from then on out, they jabber back and forth and eat a carseat breakfast. troopers, they are. all this secondhand shopping business runs in their blood.

we didn't get too many photos from the day--keeping up with the kids is more than enough work for jeremy and i together, especially when we're distracted by piles of good junk. by the end of the morning, though, our truck was loaded down with lots of good things for vintage resale, as well as some treats for ourselves.

the truck, precariously stacked, mid-load. the only thing not bought at the market is my mammoth stroller, which always seems to take up a lot of valuable room, but is well worth it to keep those with tiny legs in good spirits.

lucy has long been asking for a "baby carrier, with buckles." something akin to an infant car seat, i think. since we don't buy anything new, my kids are becoming pretty good at understanding the concept of keep your eyes open, you'll find it. a lot of patience required, no doubt. i have been looking for a certain kind of can opener for quite awhile, to no avil. patience, patience.

lucy's slight concern over not finding the baby carrier yet again was erased when we came across the 1950's wind-up baby swing. she's currently got it set up in her room, where it is taking up at least a third of the floor space. we'll probably resell it soon, but she's having lots of fun with it so far.

hudson's dream came true with the purchase of this push mower. jeremy was quick to remind me that it is not actually a lawn mower, but a lawn moo-er. ha. this was the one item that hudson has been looking for. whenever we're out around lots of plastic toys at the park and such, he's always one to find a play mower and push it around non-stop until we leave. no idea why. i'm not one to buy cheapy, plastic toys, but here and there i have to remind myself to balance my own aesthetic with what my kids enjoy. the mower was $1, a small price to pay for some huddie-happiness.

hudson fell fast asleep as jeremy secured the load, but this little girl was all smiles. she requested the camera in order to take a photo of jeremy and i, which turned out not in focus but i think she did a pretty good job! i like how you can see the puff of sleeping hudson's hair in them.

my steal of the day was 3 pairs of jeans--two pairs of 7 for all mankind, and a pair of joes for the rock-bottom price of $25 total. for this mama, not buying new can prove very difficult in the clothes department for myself. finding a trio of designer jeans in my size at this market was extremely unlikely--i could not believe my good luck. it does prove, however, that if you wait long enough, you will eventually find it. patience, patience. a very good reminder.

what are you looking for?

my splurge...

2011-09-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

it probably comes as no surprise that i have got a thing for vintage kitchenware. however, last weekend i stunned even myself by dropping $15 on a vintage hand mixer at an estate sale. truth be told, hand mixers are not such a hot item--especially priced so high. there's no doubt in my mind that i could have gone back the following day and gotten it for much cheaper, or even for free. but i was caught up in the moment--a vintage hand mixer! in aqua!! and it works!!! and into the box it went.

this post would be much cuter if i showed pictures of the kids and i mixing up some fresh cream, right? sadly i have no cream until farmers market tomorrow. i used it to help thin out some applesauce i had cooking on the stove, but i forgot to add lemon juice to the pot and the whole bunch of it turned a very unappetizing shade of baby-poo-brown-green as it cooked down. not good. definably not photo-worthy. and hardly even edible, actually.

here's to whipped cream, tomorrow.

they're growing...

2011-09-13T21:55:00.000-07:00

like all good babies, these turkeys seem to do nothing more than eat, drink and poo. i suppose they sleep as well, though we never see it because they're super skittish--the moment we are in the vicinity they pop up and appear on guard. perhaps they're just trying to make sense of us--the naked, shrieking toddler wielding sticks. the dog that stands on hind legs to sniff the coop, barking in earnest. the girl that dons rain boots brings with her a big cooking pot, which she overturns to make a comfortable seat mack-dab in the middle of the shavings-covered floor. yes, we are a lively bunch.

at any rate, they've grown and as such, have been awarded a new, bigger coop, complete with perch which they took to immediately. books state that they're ready to be let out into the world at this point, for short trips, to forage and explore.

yeah, i don't think so. maybe next week. i am not currently in the mood to climb trees.

made...

2011-09-12T21:58:00.000-07:00

nothing to terribly difficult, and nothing that's not been done many times before. but yesterday, late in the afternoon, while dinner cooked on the stove, i found myself making a small pile of hair clips. the difference, this time, is that little lucy helped--choosing and cutting the ribbons, picking out her favorite buttons--holding each up to the light and commenting on its merits. this one 'parkels!

we were fighting a loosing battle--there was only a tiny bit of glue left in the gun, enough for exactly five clips, just as i had so wisely predicted. otherwise she would have put to use the entire stash of buttons, as there wasn't a single one that she didn't love, for reasons was intent on listing.

crafting with my girl. accesory crafting with my girl, that is. just the start of many fun things ahead. and my boy? well, he busied himself with unfurling about 10,008 yards of ribbon. fun of a different kind, for sure.

a "someday" gift...

2011-09-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

last week at a garage sale a little dolly caught my eye. she had terrible bedhead and appeared to dressed kind of in tatters--i thought to myself, oh, lucy doesn't need another dolly, and prepared to leave, but just as i turned a little thing caught my eye. it was a little doll-sized washbucket, i think, and had the name ginny written across it. curious, i riffled through the box a bit more and came up with a handful of shoes and sweet teeny outfits. picking up the box, i asked how much, prepared to talk myself out of an expensive vintage dolly set, but the kind lady said $5, and that includes her little wardrobe box.

sold.

the wardrobe with the sweet vintage decals worth the five dollars, at least to me anyway. i consider the rest of the stuff just icing on the cake.

the insides of ginny's closet a bit on the disorganized side. never mind, we are about to fix that. first, we must find and extract baby ginny.

ah, there she is, with lovely open & shut eyes and hair that's just a bit wild. clothed in a bathrobe, an obvious complement to the well-mussed hair. ginny came with a nice wooden bed to sleep in, complete with mattress, pillow, coverlet and satin blanket. plus a chair to accompany. very plush.

an array of outfits for all seasons and occasions, including the tea party dress, the back-to-school dress, the band majorette dress, the riding outfit, the woolen winter dress and overcoat, the mexican fiesta dress, the swimming suit (modest, and complete with beach towel and cover-up) and my very favorite by far...

the wilderness outfit. to accompany this piece, a sleeping bag and washbucket. prepared for anything, little ginny.

of course, every outfit needs a hat.

and every outfit needs a pair of mary janes. 10 pairs should be enough, right? in every color, plus multiples in basic black and brown? but don't forget the other footwear...

if i had this much fun with baby ginny, just imagine what lucy will think. someday.

this moment...

2011-09-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

sharing is caring! i have got about 20 pounds of these apples to do something with. haven't decided what yet. i also haven't found my corer/peeler/slicer that makes preparing the apples so simple. it's in a missing box full of kitchen stuff--i'm about to put out a hefty reward if i don't find my can opener soon.

happy weekending!

super simple snacking...

2011-09-07T22:30:00.000-07:00

the kids have been going easy on me. first of all, they've been napping--napping well. secondly, every day, their after-nap snack request is as follows: fishing for oats! we want to go fishing for oats!!!

fishing for oats requires very little in the way of tools or preparedness (this is good because i am still missing a box of kitchen essentials). one must simply gather up a couple of spoons, a tub of peanut butter and a jar of uncooked oatmeal. stand back and let the kids have at it--a scoop of peanut butter on the spoon, dipped into the jar of oats. and all of a sudden, we're fishing.

it's simply amazing how little kids need to be truly content. and shame on me for trying to switch it up a bit--hudson and lucy both gave me the side-eye when i offered a dish of minced fruit. "uh, we fishing for oats, mommy. not bananas. not plums. and for sure not blueberries," a straightforward lucy informed me through a mouthful of peanut butter. "but you can give us some chocolate chips!"

go fish, kid.

*pb is listed as a common choking hazard. so watch the kiddos while they fish.

this moment...

2011-09-02T15:32:00.001-07:00

happy weekending!

gobble, gobble...

2011-09-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

we are finally in our new (old) house, unpacked and settling in further every day. the deal with moving, of course, is that it is both mentally and physically exhausting. we had the ability to move slowly, over an extended period of time, with a couple large truckloads of essentials at the tail end. not sure if this is actually a better way than throwing everything into boxes and trucks at once--it kind of extends the pain and the process. either way, we are home now. home, where we will be for a very long time. waking up here everyday is a little celebration. i am excited to show all of it in time.

the first step to really being home, of course, is to start living out all of the dreams that our old house and its location would not allow. please allow me to introduce the turkey poults, who joined us here on monday afternoon.
there were 7 in all, 3 got passed to very good friends who have aspirations similar to ours. the other 4 have taken up residence in an old chick-raising coop that was already on the property. we're hoping to get a pair to mate, but only time will tell on that. the rest will be dinner at some point--perhaps not thanksgiving as they are a bit young and a heritage variety slower to grow than the industry-standard broadbreasted white. truth be told, i'm more nervous about the ones that we'll raise to adulthood and keep than the ones that we are raising for food. a trip to the turkey ranch taught me two things: turkeys are big and turkeys are loud. the daddy of the babies we bought was taller than hudson and about 3 times as wide. he buried his head in my dress and mumbled things about going home now, mama. i felt a bit in over my head as we drove away from the ranch--lucy had begged and pleaded to hold one on the way home, and two blocks in on the drive, the little bugger kicked loose and went flying about the car. i pulled over, we collected ourselves and restarted for home, noting that three week old turkeys are a lot stronger physically than three week old chickens.

there are lots of lessons to learn. thankfully we have a wonderful place to learn them.

this moment...

2011-08-06T21:31:00.001-07:00

one day late... but better late than not.

making it work...

2011-08-06T15:04:00.001-07:00

we are making do in the final few weeks before our move. and occasionally finding ourselves missing things that have been packed up. one of these things is a rolling pin. why i packed the rolling pin is beyond me. thankfully a straight-walled cup comes in handy for rolling out dough, and we had enough to go around.

of course, it's worth noting how many things we haven't missed. so much of what we have in our kitchen is superfluous. it will be worth thinning out the non-essentials while we unpack. before we make room for them in the new kitchen.

on a side note, little lucy has become a pretty efficient helper in the kitchen. she can crack an egg, work a whisk, and roll out dough nearly as well as i can. all that time spent letting her "help" has paid off--she really is a helper now!

time flies...

2011-08-02T21:41:00.000-07:00

lucy, 9 days old

hudson, 12 days old

i've been going though photos in an attempt to clean up the computer. fighting baby fever as i look at those old images--though truth be told these two are a lot more fun now than they used to be. if only i had a scale big enough for them now--combined weight is 62 pounds!

a tiny little pot...

2011-08-01T22:12:00.000-07:00

of raspberry jam, made a few days ago, between getting the kids their lunch and putting them down for their naps. my jam-making history is short--since only last summer--and has always been full of big batches. usually 12 pints or more, a day full of stirring and pouring and processing. this tiny little pot was refreshingly simple, and dare i say, completely and totally enjoyable. bonus points for the fact that i was able to use up a a pint of too-soft raspberries (kids wouldn't touch them) instead of throwing the lot into the compost.
part of what made the processing so short was the fact that i didn't have to heat the huge canning pot full of water, which takes nearly an hour on our electric stove. instead, i used a regular-sized pot, and this sweet little vintage, single-sized canning rack. cute, no?

if you've never tried making jam, try your hand with just a couple of pints of berries. with such a small batch, you don't even have to process the jars to seal them--just make sure that you eat it up within a few weeks. your morning toast will thank you!

this moment...

2011-07-29T07:31:00.001-07:00

valleygirl: back from vacation and now completely obsolete!

2011-07-25T22:02:00.000-07:00

i have managed to lose both my cell phone and my camera cable within the past 4 days. add to that a very fussy laptop battery and you've got the recipe for total technical dysfunction. welcome to the valleygirl home. we have always been (comfortably) behind the times, but we're currently rivaling my grandparents for least technologically advanced. at least they have a t.v.!

the losses of the phone and cable were isolated incidents. not sure i can blame it on moving as we are currently in a holding pattern until jeremy finishes the kitchen remodel. with half our stuff at one place, and half our stuff at the other, there are a lot of items that have temporarily disappeared. i fear the cable and phone have met a different, more permanent type of fate. not sure if the kids had something to do with it or not, but i am keeping my eye on them. perhaps they have an underground storage facility which i am not yet aware of. i did just come across a ladle, a cookie sheet and a teapot half-buried in the sandbox, so i wouldn't put it past them.

we've taken a sort of oath to not buy anything new for a year. this began a couple of months ago. i say sort of oath because it's difficult to get around some things. especially home-remodel-related things. today we found ourselves at the hardware store buying paint, sandpaper, masking tape. all items which could eventually be found secondhand, but needed with a sort of immediacy in order to begin painting what will be lucy and hudson's new shared bedroom. photos of our progress to come, you know, sometime in the future. first i have to get my hands on a used camera cable. better yet, i have to get my hands on my old camera cable. keep your fingers crossed for my success, i've got loads of photos that i'm hoping to share very soon!

and we're off...

2011-07-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

off, in search of a real swimming hole. forget this old sink business!

today was a blur of planning, packing and cooking--peach jam, empanadas, easy beans, and the best cookies ever, among other things. i think i have given links to all of those recipes before, but they are standbys in our summer kitchen, and a must when we're taking the kitchen on the road. which we are--nearly a full week of camping at one of our very favorite places. our gear is piled high and ready to be loaded into the truck, the food is prepped and pretty much making me delirious with good smells. summer, you have officially arrived at the valleygirl home. no offense, but it took you long enough.

i had hoped to write a few posts and have them pop up spontaneously over the next week, but as usual my time management skills are lacking. better luck next time.

we shall return, with many photos and stories under our belts, i'm sure.

until then!

this moment...

2011-07-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

as always, inspired by soulemama.

make your own...

2011-07-07T23:31:00.000-07:00

making your own playdough is one of the simplest things you can do with your kids. seriously, it just takes a pot and a few ingredients that you've probably got on hand.

i remember making playdough myself as a kid, loads of time while i worked as a nanny and now with lucy and hudson. this go-round we used the natural food dye that you can find at whole foods--with all colorings coming from plant-based sources. truth be told i wasn't totally ecstatic with the way the colors turned out, and we had to use a lot of dye ($$$) to get bright color. but at least i know it's safer for them in the long run--especially since hudson has a tendency to sneak tastes of the dough despite the high salt content.

anyway, if you haven't done this already, you should do it soon! the homemade variety is much softer than the storebought, and it lasts much longer without getting hard. plus it doesn't smell funky--you can even add a few drops of essential oil to get all the senses working! there are recipes all over the internet, but here is the one that we use. happy playing!!!

you, i adore...

2011-07-06T22:58:00.001-07:00

we here at the valleygirl household are smack-dab in the middle of a move across town. as i'm sure many of you know, packing up an entire household is no small task. add to that all of the things we've got hanging around for our reselling business, and you've got stacks and stacks of boxes, piles of furniture, and genuine disorder pretty much everywhere you look. needless to say, acquiring more stuff has not been high on my list of things to do as of late. in a moment of optimism (weakness?) i found myself at the thrift store this afternoon. don't know why--it kind of just happened. the kids are always up for a trip--the sea of plastic, battery operated toys is absolutely enticing. like moths to a flame.

i browsed the aisles, noticing an alarmingly high rate of my old stuff. a general rule of thrift store thumb should be to not shop for at least a couple of weeks after you have taken carloads of your unwanted things for donation. but i digress. anyway, there i was, pawing through junk that looked eerily familiar, when i came across this vintage gallon jar. the decal did me in, people. it ended up in my cart, despite my best efforts not to add more stuff to my must-pack pile. for 69 cents i couldn't help myself. i have a weakness for burros. it's a good thing the new house comes with a whole lot of property. are you listening, jeremy???

this moment...

2011-07-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

have a fabulous holiday weekend!!!

easy cheese...

2011-06-30T22:42:00.000-07:00

i've been hoping to try my hand at making cheese for awhile (especially after finishing animal vegetable miracle by barbara kingsolver, in which she talks about how straight forward cheesemaking actually is). i took the plunge today after reading this post over at smitten kitchen. talk about simple. i actually even had all of the ingredients on hand, though i would have preferred local cream instead of horizon brand, which is ultra-pasteurized. exposure to high temperatures during ultra pasteurization kills off millions of good bacteria and enzymes in trade for a longer shelf life. this is the reason you cannot make yogurt with ultra pasteurized milk, and i expect it generally works the same way for cheese.
we generally drink strauss organic milk, which can still be had in lovely glass bottles. the flavor is excellent and i love that it is not homogonized--it's traditional cream top milk. just look at all that yummy fat floating around, ready to be made into cheese!
three cups of milk, plus a cup of cream, heated slowly to 190 degrees, making sure not to let the milk at the bottom of the pot get scorched. after reaching temperature, 3 tablespoons of lemon juice into the pot. a quick stir, a 5 minute rest. then into a colander lined with cheescloth to drain and set up.

the end result was somewhere between ricotta and mascarpone. thick and creamy and surprisingly effortless. i see a lot of this cheese in my future, as a summer staple on pizzas and in salads. and of course, spread across anything else that crosses the table. yum!

side note: i was left with just about 3 cups of whey from making the cheese. i read online that whey can be used in place of water for making breads and the like, so i stirred up a big batch of pizza dough, using most all of the liquid. we'll see how it turns out!

this moment...

2011-06-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

happy weekending!

a little thing...

2011-06-23T22:31:00.001-07:00

a heat wave earlier in the week sent the kids and i running to the thrift store in search of air conditioning. it was one of those days. those of you without a/c will surely understand. we hit the pool in the morning, came home, napped. the kids got up and we sat around sweltering. i watched the temperature in the house reach 90 degrees, and declared it a minor state of emergency. we evacuated. apparently we weren't the only ones with the idea--the thrift store was packed. i had to stalk someone to get a cart.

we elbowed our way through the crowd and managed to find a few things: a crocodile creek puzzle for hudson, an eeboo game for lucy. i got a brand new pair of jeans with tags still attached--had no idea that this particular thrift store has a premium denim section hidden in the back of the store. in the minds of lucy and hudson, however, the best find was a vintage fisher price school desk toy, complete with stencils, magnets and chalkboard.

a fresh coat of chalkboard paint, and this gem from 1972 is in near-perfect condition. i say near-perfect because as you can see, we are missing letter "w" from the alphabet set. those who know me best would be shocked that i bought something that is missing a peice, but the letters are standard size and i have high hopes that i'll come across one soon. until then, an upside down "m" can do in a pinch!

hanging around...

2011-06-22T22:11:00.000-07:00

if there are any of you long-time readers still hanging around, you might remember no dryer july, the month in 2008 that i line-dried our clothes exclusively, down to the last baby bootie. how far i have fallen. i must admit it hadn't even crossed my mind to me to hang out any laundry over the past few months... or year. ahem.

until i saw this post over at small notebook, one of the blogs i pop into time to time. the post, combined with some lovely photos, was just the inspiration i needed. and it just so happened i had a load of diapers in the washing machine ready to come out.

diapers, check. motivation, check. laundry line, gone. got stowed away for a party or something? maybe it broke? i don't know. a thorough search turned up nothing. so i went on the hunt for my wooden drying rack. couldn't find it (are you sensing a trend here?) but came across a metal rack--which was covered in rust from being left out through the winter(s). it was stowed ever-so-neatly under my potting table, which apparently did not provide proper cover.

okay, i was getting desperate. poking around the yard and jeremy's shop is not high on my list of fun things to do. by this time my diapers, if they'd been tossed into the dryer, would have been well on their way to getting dry. but i was committed, and i am at times somewhat makeshift-y, and so i rigged up what i like to call the laundry ladder from a 10-foot piece of picket fencing i found laying around. yes, treasures just pop up from all over the valley girl property.

it worked alright. i forgot how much i dislike hanging laundry--getting to that meditative place is a bit difficult when small people are running around dumping juice on each other (because sticky is so fun, mama!). of course, they were also very helpful in dragging the clean wipes around the deck, rendering them pretty filthy before hanging them up for me. gotta love those two for trying.

it's not the hanging of diapers themselves that i dislike, but the tedium of all the wipes. i must admit that, after shooing my little helpers away, i left a bunch of wipes at the bottom of the basket in crumples and they dried that way. perfection is not my strong suit.

i'd like to commit to at least hanging out all of the diapers (2 loads per week) through the summer. but only if i can get a proper laundry line back up. someone just about 3 feet tall took the term "laundry ladder" to heart. look at me, mommy!!! i would have got a photo, but i was too busy rescuing her from the top!

toy of the year...

2011-06-20T08:17:00.001-07:00

hands down, is still a baby chick or two. or three or four, or, you know, eight. lucy's most favorite pastime as of late is tucking them in, whispering sweet nothings, and sending them off to dreamland. the whole act is so convincing, i often have to make sure that they haven't been put to sleep, if you know what i mean. i'm not up for more mom-on-chicken mouth-to-mouth. fortunately a little poke in the side sends them popping up, peeping around and in good health. only to be captured and coerced into slumber once again. fun times!

finally...

2011-06-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

late spring/summer-ish weather returns. we are out of our sweatshirts and into big pots of sun-warmed hose water. well, that goes for the kids, anyway. i stood on the sidelines armed with towels.

today was a challenging day for me as a mama. lucy & hudson whined, cried and fought, pretty much nonstop, for the entire duration of the day. save, of course the 45 minutes they were running around whole foods like complete banshees, laughing hysterically at themselves. oh, and then there was the very end of the day when these photos were taken. a small snapshot of peace and bliss, squeezed ever-so-tightly in between the tantrums.

the moment jeremy walked though the door i headed (sprinted without looking back) out to the library to pickup a couple of books i had on hold. this summer's required reading list is all about urban farming: the quarter acre farm (how i kept the patio, lost the lawn and fed my family for a year); and farm city, the education of an urban farmer. have just finished animal vegetable miracle by barbara kingsolver and highly recommend it as a great and informative read. we are revisiting some ideas about self-sustainability around here. big changes are coming in our future.

as for this moment, i am drinking a bit of wine and ready to delve into the pages that lay before me. kids have been in bed since 6:30 and all is again well with the (my) world. cheers!

some things...

2011-06-07T21:08:00.000-07:00

here i am trying to play catch up again. while the rest of the blogging world carries on at pace, this little spot seems to fall upon silence a bit too often. truth be told, we have a lot going on, but then again, who doesn't? real truth be told? i got (kind of, sort of, grossly) addicted to past episodes of greys anatomy. you probably know that we don't own a t.v., but trust me, netflix can be just as dangerous. a total time suck--why we got rid of the tube in the first place. my nighttime ritual of tea, photo uploads, blogging and journaling for the kids was swiftly replaced with tea, greys and halfhearted laundry folding to make myself feel less guilty. rest assured i am now current and the world can (hopefully) carry on as normal.

hudson and i took a mini vacation--the annual women's retreat for the family. the sweet (19 month-old!) boy joined us girls on a 4 night cruise that sailed out of san francisco and ended up in vancouver. lots of food, some wine, some sightseeing. the weather was surprisingly decent and he & i were able to enjoy the pool and spas on the ship. hudson turned out to be a pretty agreeable traveler and not-so-fussy-roommate--even sleeping in past 7 which is practically unheard of around here now that it is so light outside. must have been the blackout curtains. this was the first time i'd left lucy for any chunk of time--she's had a few overnighters with grandma, but nothing more than that. she and jeremy got to spend some daddy-daughter quality time together. they marked off half-days on the calendar that i wrote out for her, and followed the ship's travels on the map. when we arrived home, she was all in one piece and happy, and that's the best that a mama can hope for. she and hudson had a cheerful reunion and pretty much have not left each others side since.

of course, it's not a perfect relationship. it's all fun and games until someone brings out the teeth, people. ouch.

our baby chicks grew and grew and grew until we decided they were ready to move out. all was well until tragedy struck--in the form of two troublesome dogs who forced open the coop when we were out and killed all seven of them. it was a definite halting moment for us--the small scale responsible urban farmers that we strive to be. in all truth lucy handled it best--we told her the simple truth of what had happened, she asked a few questions and moved on. the entire situation was completely out of her control, and i guess that's something that three year olds are used to. as adults, we aren't quite capable of that innocent three year-old mentality: we blame ourselves, question what we could have done differently, and think a lot about the circumstances that surrounded the entire situation. what if, if only. after all, one of the main reasons we keep chickens is to give them a good life. we can chalk those seven lives up to a learning experience, but it somehow seems cruel. though really, there is no other choice. next day we got four little fluffballs, and a few days later, four more. we're moving forward with a life lesson under our belts, and of course with fondness in our hearts for the little chickies that we lost.

of course, music remains lucy's favorite chicken of all time. she's teeny and grey and i think just a little bit slow due to a bad pecking when she first arrived. lucy has taken music under her wing, for lack of a better term. let's just say that the doll sling gets washed a LOT and lucy's babies now spend their days tucked comfortably into the cradle.

are you thinking we eat a lot of bananas? ha. we got an exciting shipment from the midwest a couple of weeks ago. more on that later.

my mom turned sixty in may, and i just celebrated my 31st birthday on sunday. there was a surprise party organized by jeremy. never in my life did i think i'd write such a sentence, but i was grateful and flattered and loved and most of all, surprised. shocked is a more relevant term. next time, honey, pretend we're going to a fancy restaurant so that i'm dressed appropriately. m'kay?

we have got a box of vintage straws and really, the kids think there's nothing better. they suck up water like it's going out of style and it makes me happy. that's it for the moment. i'm sure there will be more to come... unless anyone can recommend another highly addictive show.

(just kidding, please don't).

chicken tales (and a name change)...

2011-05-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

i gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a chicken today.

see this little ball o' fluff? i believe bagel is it's name, though this one may actually be cream cheese. only lucy knows for sure. poor little thing had quite a morning. lucy ran around with her this morning and evidently passed her off to hudson in search of another chick. bad idea. it's not that hudson can't hold the chicks, for the most part he's gentle. but 18-month old babies don't generally have very long attention spans, and i suppose after a minute or so he got bored and rushed off to do something else. with chicken in hand, of course. death grip around the neck grip, probably. i mean, he didn't want to drop her all together. just take her to the new and exciting activity he had planned.

i arrived on scene shortly after jeremy pried the unconscious chick out of hudson's hand. it's not good, said jeremy. clearly. poor thing was completely limp and not breathing. i had sincere doubts that anything could be done. but you know, it's always worth a shot and so that's how i found myself this morning, in the middle of my kitchen, administering teeny tiny breaths to cream cheese. or bagel. i didn't think of doing itty bitty chest compressions, but in walked my brother through the front door and he jumped right into the whole thing. talk about good timing.

really and truly, this happened. and wouldn't you know, that chick sprung (kind of slowly) back to life and is now fine. only time will tell about brain damage from lack of oxygen, but if you want my expert opinion, chickens aren't the brightest creatures on the farm.

i'm thinking that a name change is in order. sorry lucy, but from today on, the chicken formerly called bagel (or was it cream cheese?) shall very proudly carry the well-fitted name:

lucky.

little feathery things...

2011-05-07T22:08:00.000-07:00

hello there. i'm digging out from beneath a downy pile of chick fuzz to report that easter happened. the bunny was good to lucy and hudson (who have been extra good themseleves) and brought 2 baby chicks for easter day. they were such a hit, this mama decided to add three more to the mix. which brings the new total up to a whopping thirteen: 5 babies (muffin, easter, bagel, cream cheese and chocolate chip), 5 old friends (peach, prudence, penny, pippen and foghorn), and 3 wild tree chickens (music, freddie and flyer). wow. i'm impressed that i can keep all of that straight--especially with a three year old on the naming committee.

the chicks are well and they are definitely what one might call handraised. the term lap chickens might be more appropriate. we are hoping that the two easter chickens are not roosters, since the easter bunny waited until the last minute and had to settle for chickens not checked for sex. i have got sincere doubts about the blondie in the second photo. only time will tell.

came home from a camping trip to find that two of the tree chickens have been hiding eggs in hopes of hatching them. without a rooster this is impossible, so with lucy's delight we collected a grand total of 22 eggs between two birds. these are small bantam birds that lay tiny little eggs which are mostly yolk. very fun for teeny tiny egg breakfasts. now if we could only convince the birds to come to the (safe) coop to sleep, instead of the trees.

peep, peep!

this moment...

2011-04-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

a wee little addiction...

2011-04-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

tonight will be the FOURTH night in a row that we've had this on the dinner table. and no, we're not on night four of leftovers--i've been roasting up broccoli nightly. and may or may not have made two trips this week just to procure more broccoli. good thing it's in season.

monday night: made with broccolini, absolutely divine. breaded chicken legs on the side (hows that for a good reverse?)

tuesday night: made according to recipe, with regular broccoli. very good, and loads cheaper. more chicken legs.

wednesday night: made with the remaining broccoli and diced buttercream potatoes thrown in to roast alongside. did we have something else? oh yeah, it was pizza.

tonight: going to roast, then toss in with pasta, sundried tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts and ground sausage. can't wait.

tomorrow? just broccoli? will the kids disown me?

told you it was an addiction...

this moment...

2011-04-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

as always, inspired by soulemama....

happy weekend-ing! we're excited to be a part of the beach house style flea market in fairfax this sunday. if you're local, come & see us--we'll have lots of furniture (including a gorgeous 1940's PINK dresser that it pains me to part with) and many more garden-y things. all perfect for spring!

two new shoes...

2011-04-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

a craaaaaaazy estate sale two weekends ago yielded loads of stuff for schoolbus vintage (our reselling business). but of course, there were things picked up that are intended to stay with us, at least for a little while. many vintage books to fill a couple of easter baskets, a few toys and dolls, and lots of pretty china for an upcoming tea party--there's a little chickadee round these parts about to turn 3!

and wouldn't you know it, i was able to find something that i've been looking for these past few months--a pair of clogs to be worn to visit the chicken coop (and nowhere else). coop shoes! picking up eggs is a fun but kind of dirty business. raking out the coop is not at all fun and an especially dirty business. coop shoes are a must!

you may recall lucy's somewhat recent thrift store find of a pair of wooden clogs. i actually later found a pair of my own, but could hardly walk in them, so i left them on the shelf. that girl has some serious skills to not fall flat on her face! these jollys are much more forgiving, and after a few days of wearing them they already feel like my own.

in life before children, i was a copywriter for smith & hawken gardening company. i recall having to write some charming catalog copy for these shoes, and being horrified at how hideous they were (i was undoubtedly wearing very high heels at the time). it's funny how things change.

the find of these clogs was another reminder that if you are very patient, eventually what you are looking for will come and find you. (have i told you about my $25 dyson vacuum? my like-new, $65 ergo baby carrier?) this happens especially when you are not looking. i am sometimes tempted to just go buy it because i am tired of waiting to find it. jeremy is pretty good about talking me down from that edge. ha.

all of this has me thinking--it is possible to go one year without buying anything new? i am mulling this over, trying to decide if i can make such a commitment. at first glance it doesn't seem too terribly difficult, as we don't buy much new as it is and a year goes quickly (lucy. three. 'nuff said). but i'm sure it's the little things i'm not thinking of.

anyhow. that's a post for another day!

this moment...

2011-04-01T21:43:00.000-07:00

inspired by soulemama...

need 20 minutes?

2011-03-29T14:09:00.000-07:00

popping in for a long-overdue hello, and also to share one of our favorite activities around these parts. lucy & hudson are obsessed with water play--the two can spot a rain-filled bucket or pot from a mile away while we're out and about (an extra change of clothes is a must-have in my bag, no doubt!).

pretty sure i've shared this activity before, but it's worth repeating, especially now that we've adapted it to fit the little guy. cookie sheets or broiler pans are great to contain spills. a large container holds about a gallon of water, and the kids can scoop and pour from it to their hearts content, provided it stays put on the cookie sheet. lots of bowls and cups and spoons and, lucy's favorite, lidded jars. hudson appreciates things that cling & clang when banged together--with him participating we keep the breakables to a minimum. a beach towel on the floor beneath the kids feet keeps things from getting slippery. bonus points if they get it really wet--when they're running around like banshees and you're wiping up with the towel, you're working your way to a clean floor. score.

spring is officially here! we've endured 3 weeks of downpours and have emerged with a renewed appreciation for sunshine. a camping trip is in the works and i personally can't wait! we have new chickens to introduce and lots of vintage goodies to share. my spring resolution is to return to this space--hold me to it, kay?

xoxo,

erin

this table...

2011-02-23T21:32:00.000-08:00

have you played musical chairs lately? me neither. but musical tables is a whole 'nother story.

i'd estimate that about 15 kitchen tables have graced the valleygirl kitchen in the 7 years that we've owned this house--most of them having made a short appearance within the last 6 months. our decision to buy & resell antique furniture certainly plays a part in all of the recent movement--we find something we like and get to try it out before eventually finding it a good home. kind of like fostering kittens, only without the litterbox.

the kitchen table is an important piece of furniture in any home, no doubt. but here it's imperative that we adore our table since it also functions as our counter space. shortly after hudson was born, jeremy removed a whole wall in our house to open our space. that wall housed not only our fireplace, but also well over half of our counter surfaces. you'll notice that in many of our cooking photos, lucy (and now hudson, too) are seated on the table, helping out. fortunately they understand commands like "sit" and "stay" pretty well.

so, in our search for the perfect antique table we've come across a lot of imperfect tables. all nice in their own way, but not exactly the match for our space or needs (both kids are in highchairs without trays and i very much desire for the highchairs to push into the table when not in use, instead of just floating around my kitchen).

our most recent table was part of a haul of over 2 truckloads of vintage and antique goodies. we didn't really even see it before bringing it home and throwing it into the house to get it out of the rain. and oh my gosh, it is my favorite table yet. a scaled-down farmtable with a super rustic finish. i'm in love.

really and truly, it's what most people might call a hunk of junk. water damage to the feet, missing the pull-out drawer, old blue paint on the legs all but peeled off. it appears there was once tile or something similar adhered to the top of the table, which has since been taken of and left a splotchy residue of dried mortar. the table is too short (hudson's highchair is floating!) and i myself can hardly get my legs under it to sit comfortably. it can really only sit four. six would be a very tight squeeze. and in all reality it's too small to use as the counter space that it needs to be.

but i LOVE this table. there's something about a piece of furniture so prettily beat up--not falling apart all over the place, but genuinely rustic. it is such a lovely juxtaposition with my mix & match vintage china and i smile every time i set out the plates and bowls. this piece has a story which it is just itching to tell. sadly i don't speak table. i do believe it came to california after living in the midwest, but beyond that i can only guess.

there is some talk about making this table work for us. industrial casters to raise it up to accommodate the highchairs. putting in a new drawer, which would handily hold spatulas and things of the like. polishing up the top, sanding down the damage on the legs. perhaps even reworking it to accept a leaf.

or, sigh, we could pass it on to the people for whom this table will actually be perfect. and resume our search. decisions, decisions. there is a very sweet round table with pedestal base lurking in the depths of my garage. it winks at me from time to time while i am out doing laundry. so i guess we'll see.

i like this...

2011-02-21T22:34:00.000-08:00

wanted to quickly share some nice words i found today on the topic of less = more. especially pertinent to me at the moment since today i sold my extra large ikea dresser (for $200--thank you craigslist!) and purchased an amazing antique dresser to take its place (for $75--thank your craigslist!). photos to come, but the new dresser is significantly smaller, which means i'll have to do a bit of weeding through the piles of clothes (which are currently in baskets on my floor) in order to make it all work.

i don't usually find it difficult to purge my closets, but having just downsized from two dressers into one dresser a couple of months back, i am having to bite the bullet and really be firm with myself. curtailing new shopping hasn't been much of a problem for me--my outlook on brand-spankin-new-retail in general has changed significantly over time. getting rid of the old stuff--however unworn it may be--proves a bit more difficult. although i can rationalize that a non-stuffed dresser is easier to organize and keep organized, there's a nagging worry about all of a sudden having no proper clothes for a random specific occasion that will never arise.

you know?

pit stop on the waffle kick..

2011-02-21T22:08:00.000-08:00

is it really just a "kick" if it's twice a week for, um, years? probably not. anyhow, our go-to recipe always changes, but lately it's been these, without fail--a recipe that takes the perfect pairing of bacon and waffles to the next level. sweet & salty. good & just a little greasy. so very, very good.

making waffles from scratch used to seem daunting--that box of bisquick was just so much easier. now, after two or three years of nothing but scratch waffles, i can't imagine making them any other way. isn't it funny how perspectives change?

some things...

2011-02-17T21:55:00.000-08:00

thanks to those of you that emailed or commented with concern over just where we've got to in the last few weeks. your kindness is truly touching! i didn't mean to fall off the blogging train as much as it just happened--to say that we've been busy is a true understatement.

lots of our time has been devoted to buying & selling vintage & antique goodies. we're selling monthly at the alameda antiques fair and candlestick antiques fair, plus have just gotten a large space in a local shop. we're also selling at several different venues intermittently. all that chalks up to a large inventory--and lots of time dedicated to finding it, hauling it, storing it, fixing it, logging it, tagging it, packing it, hauling it, unpacking it, re-packing it. you get the idea. all with two (mostly cheerful) little ones in tow. i fall into bed every night completely exhausted. the upside is that i sleep very well.

not that we haven't had a little (lots of?) fun along the way, of course. things are always happening around this place, though i'm not as great at having my camera handy to capture these small moments as i used to be.

here are a few tidbits:

i managed to squeeze in a bit of sewing time, despite the fact that the once-all-mine backyard studio has been relegated to to-be-painted furniture storage, and i'm currently sewing in our office (which used to be a coat closet--and not the walk-in kind, either).

this simple banner replaced the fiber garland i had up at christmastime, and is made from a set of vintage quilt patches strung on a length of twine. the patches i found while cleaning out the aforementioned studio in order for it to become a storage space. sigh. such is life.

our low-key valentines day was marked only by a fun morning art project (and a bag of buffalo bleu kettle chips for jeremy--super romantic, i know!). this project consisted of a massive piece of brown paper and a single color of paint. we wanted glitter, but there was none to be found. the entire plan was to then cut up the paper into hundreds of hearts, and make hanging garlands to suspend from the ceiling. a little ambitious, no? (check out what eventually happened to our artwork in the next to last photograph in this post).

when regular painting starts to get old, break out a couple of matchbox cars to liven things up...

if the shoe fits, the two-year old should rock it. we stumbled across these genuine vintage-from-holland wooden clogs in the home decor section at the thrift shop. lucy squealed (after all, wynken blynken and nod one night sailed off in a wooden shoe). i said, "uh, i guess so. if they fit, of course."

like a glove, baby.

hudson has got himself a "new" tractor (and a hair clip--thanks, lucy!). as you can see, the tractor pulls an super rusty miniature wagon. talk about good times. until just recently the weather has been fabulously springlike--we're talking nearly three weeks of door-open-all-day, kids-running-around-half-clothed, bare-feet-in-the-sandbox type stuff. blossoms on the fruit trees, dafodills in the garden. a welcome break from winter, which has now returned full force with hailstorms and icy wind. trips out to ride the tractor are already being missed by our littlest guy!

posting in this space may remain intermittent for the next month or so, as we work to transition everything (like, um, life) and get settled into (onto?) our new path. plans are in the works for our very own webpage (complete with blog) but i (most usually a do-it-now kind of gal) am learning that all things take time. somewhere between the tortoise and the hare is what i'm aiming for. i think.

thanks much to all of you who are still hanging around.

our new (old) mixer...

2011-01-26T21:52:00.000-08:00

i'm not exaggerating when i say that, one by one, the household items we registered for and received as wedding gifts seven years ago are slowly being phased out, and replaced by old stuff that we're picking up along the way. we've had this mixer for a few months now, and while i'll never get rid of my kitchenaid stand mixer, this new friend in the kitchen is getting a lot of play. meet our 1950's sunbeam mixmaster.

not so great when it comes to making bread doughs, but can cream together butter and sugar like nobody's business. plus, no more fighting over who gets to lick the beater? this mama is sold.

we've been making these (with double the oatmeal and no chocolate chips) and these in their original form. and blueberry muffins, too. yes, it's a good thing this mixer was built to last--we're putting it to the test!

this is not spring...

2011-01-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

but it felt just a teeny bit springlike. okay, we might have had a picnic of soup and bread instead of cheese & crackers, and we may have been wearing sweatshirts instead of short sleeves. but the sun felt warm on our faces and our breath wasn't puffing out of our mouths. there were squirrels trying to raid our basket while we slid and swung and dug in the dirt, and if that's not a little bit hopeful and cheery and spring-ish, i don't know what is.

dear spring: thanks for the tease. xoxo, valleygirl & kiddos.

this moment...

2011-01-07T20:40:00.001-08:00

thanks to soulemama for the inspiration. happy friday!

are you cold???

2011-01-06T20:48:00.000-08:00

a little family outing today led us to this stack of goodness. nineteen quilts, to be specific. vintage, hand-stitched, beautiful, fluffy quilts. and not a stinky one in the bunch. we decided to buy up the lot. most are destined for the shop, though a couple will stay around these parts for awhile. jeremy has already claimed one; it's been washed and dried and is laid out on his side of the bed. (yes, he needs his own quilt. apparently the other 3 of us are blanket-theives!).

i guess there are more than enough to go around now. aren't they pretty? i'm personally having trouble picking a favorite!

a very vintage christmas...

2011-01-01T08:44:00.000-08:00

what better way to spend a lazy new years morning than sharing a bit of our christmas? we shifted our hodge-podge decor to have a bit more focus--on vintage, of course! picking up items throughout the month of december was especially fun for lucy. of course, it meant our decor was kind of in an undone state most of the month. that's okay. it matched our tree, with lights half-pulled off and ornaments only on the top half of the tree. don't let him fool you with his sweet face--our hudson is a troublemaker!

vintage candles make us smile...

sweet little tags found in a box of free gift wrap...

lucy's buddy, an old santa made from felt and stuffed with rice...
garland made from christmas cards that belonged to my great grandmother--most 60-70 years old!!!

a vintage rocking horse in front of the tree...

and a cute little baby to ride it...santa mugs that i have seriously fallen in love with. they just may stay out all year to hold sewing notions in my studio... have started packing up some of the decor and just can't bear to put these little dearies away!
the handmade puff wreath. have since scored another for next year! maybe start a collection???
garland made by me and two little girlies. old sheet music and scrap wool. originally planned to go around our tree, but that would have been a week-long project! so it found a cheery spot on the wall--and may stay up through the winter.

lucy's puffy chrismas tree. 69 cents and she adores it!

lots of tinsel, vintage birds, old shiny-brite ornaments displayed in gallon glass jars. it really is sad to start packing all of it up!
we're moving on to the new year 50 again. oh yes, it's that time of year. i made 2 massive donations to the local thrift shop (a couple hundred items) last week, so finding 50 things this week may be a bit of a challenge. but i'm up for it. i think.

happy 2011!

this moment...

2010-12-31T23:04:00.000-08:00

may you be blessed with lots of good, true love in the coming year! best wishes for a safe & happy 2011!!!

this christmas...

2010-12-29T22:00:00.000-08:00

we have pretty much officially dug ourselves out from under christmas. all original parts still in tact, i think. it was a lovely day stuffed full of family and food and thoughtful gifting--all which made us feel loved and lucky. such a full day, in fact, that i never managed to wrangle lucy and hudson into their christmas outfits. lucy's dress was thrifted--at $5.99 not such a big deal. but hudson's, oh hudson's. a vintage splurge i simply had to squeeze him into, for the simple fact that it probably won't fit next week, let alone next year.

so squeeze we did. the sun was setting on a regular monday afternoon, and i was in a mad dash to get the two of them dressed and happy and sitting still for a few moments. no small feat, i assure you. the end result was pretty far from perfect--just the way i've come to love it.

enjoy the photos. i have a couple more christmas posts planned--one to share our mostly vintage decor and one to share the loot that came from all that thoughtful giving ! the rest of the blogging world may be on to the new year and other winter delights, but we are keeping our feet firmly planted in the world of ol' st. nick for a little while longer. i mean really--have you had to explain to a 2 year-old why people are taking down their christmas lights and inflatable santas??? it's an emotional conversation to say the least!

knee-deep in christmas crafting...

2010-12-22T22:59:00.001-08:00

we're doing another christmas without wrapping paper or bags. well, store-bought wrapping paper and bags, that is. instead i've sewed a bunch of bags from scrap fabric. some, like the one above, were made from an old bedsheet. i let lucy have fun decorating this morning--we broke out a box of paints and she pretty much did her own thing with only a bit of guidance from me. i was on cleanup patrol and trust me, it wasn't pretty. after the handprint wreath, i let her get into the cookie cutters and she did some snowflake stamping. these were long strips of sheeting that i'll probably use wrapping paper-style instead of sewing into bags.

let me tell you, lucy took a very serious approach to her task or making wrapping paper. it was quite the experience to sit on the couch and let her have at it, deciding just exactly perfectly where to place each cookie cutter. too cute.

are you wrapping creatively this year???

the dangers of shopping online...

2010-12-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

ouch. poor hudson's christmas duckies took a beating as they made their way to the valleygirl home, it seems. this boy is obsessed with duck and geese and birds, and i didn't want to disappoint him with a duck-less holiday. luckily these vintage beauties were made fine with a bit of crazyglue, and are now waiting to be re-broken by the duck aficionado himself!

a timely find...

2010-12-18T22:52:00.000-08:00

i stumbled across this set of vintage tom and jerry mugs at the thrift store this week and had to bring them home. i'm not much in the way of switching out dishes for christmas, but for these cuties i couldn't resist. the best part is that the tag told me they'd been there since mid-february. this is a thrift store that i visit pretty much weekly--how is it that they'd been hiding from me for so long? seven mugs for $2.50. not too shabby, i say! now somebody pass the eggnog.

this moment...

2010-12-17T13:06:00.000-08:00

inspired by soulemama, of course.

little things...

2010-12-16T21:58:00.001-08:00

a mountain of hair clips have been made for a (kinda) good little girl. i say "kinda" since she is not so good at keeping track of her hair clips! well, would any two-year old excel in that area? probably not. anyway, once again these clips are super simple to make--just a little ribbon and hot glue covering an alligator clip. it's fun to find all kinds of buttons--the buttons in photos 1 and 3 are from aimoobaroo on etsy. the buttons in the middle photo were pulled off of a vintage seat cushion. i'm currently swooning over a bunch of vintage buttons on etsy. like these and these and this. and not to mention these.

and of course, if you know me at all, you already know that i had a little elf sneak a few clips into her stocking as an early gift. this vintage rhinestone was just begging to be used!

old junk, made better...

2010-12-07T21:08:00.000-08:00

we recently sorted through our crayons, picked out the broken ones and tossed them into muffin tins to get re-melted. of course, lucy had SO much fun breaking the already-broken crayons down into smaller pieces, that she totally ended up breaking crayons that were in perfect shape. eh, what can you do? i'd actually rather have 12 big crayons instead of 50,000 small ones. or, at least it feels like 50,000 when i'm the one picking them up. i'm sure you other mamas understand.

this was a super simple project, and only involved throwing the crayons into the oven (set at 350 degrees) for about 10 minutes. the finished product (which i didn't happen to get a photo of, yet) are pretty with swirls of color on the backsides. my only complaint would be that a layer of wax rose to the top, and that edge is non-writable. i did have some luck shaving it off with a sharp knife. next on the list is making a new set of crayons using beeswax, castile soap and natural colorings. the regular crayons got awfully stinky in the oven. oops--i guess that's two complaints!

the more natural beeswax crayons are slated to be one of the few stocking stuffers that santa brings to lucy and hudson. beeswax lip balm for lucy, some oranges and an organic twisted fruit or two (just lucy on that). a couple of toothbrushes and i'm calling it good. hows that for keeping it simple?

and on to the apples...

2010-12-02T22:20:00.000-08:00

at the farmer's market last week i picked up 20 pounds of organic apples. the cosmetically challenged sort--$1/pound. i had grand plans of turning out pint after pint of applesauce and apple butter, but the reality was that 20 pounds of apples sure isn't all that much. total yield was something in the neighborhood of 8 pints of applesauce. 1 apple crisp. no apple butter. i guess you've got to count the few that the kids pilfered from the pile while the apples waited for a couple of days to meet their destiny. plus a couple in our morning oatmeal. and that's the way that 20 pounds of apples shook out.

still, it was nice to put up some applesauce, even if it was less that i expected. i used the recipe from food in jars, omitting all of the spices except for cinnamon, since my kids like a really plain flavor when it comes to applesauce. i was surprised at just how sweet the flavor was without any added sugar. though i shouldn't have been--the apples were downright delicious eaten out of hand.

my friend molly was working alonside me in the kitchen. this time, the house didn't get destroyed, as we chose to do the slicing and the cooking during naptime. novel idea, no?

when the girls got up, molly helped them put together an apple crisp for dessert. she brought along an amazing tool--the apple peeler/corer/slicer. if i ever come across one of these in my thrifting adventures, you'd better believe it's going in my cart. the only question is to why molly let me core and slice all the applesauce apples by hand when she had this tool sitting in her bag. ahem. molly?

the girls loved taking turns spinning the crank, which ran the peel off of each apple in loooooong shoestrings. too fun. and their apple crisp was delicious. i should know, i ate most of it myself! in related indulgent confessions, if you are local, do yourself a favor and pick up a quart of the straus organic eggnog. i am not an eggnog person but this stuff is pretty divine. i've even been using it in place of cream in my tea. yum!

pretty little things...

2010-11-30T22:17:00.000-08:00

aren't these sweet little jars? a thrift store score at something like five cents each (part of a much bigger haul of regular canning jars which were also insanely inexpensive). the little lids on these cuties pop on and off, making them perfect for kiddie hands to manage. for about 2 seconds, i planned on reselling them, but immediately talked myself out of it. they're just too cheery to pass up!

how it's done...

2010-11-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

two moms. four kids (all under the age of three). 20 pounds of organic, local pears. a short window of time--after breakfast, but before lunch--to turn that bounty into 18 pints of honey syrup-packed goodness. can it be done? yes. but not without some serious upheaval of the valley girl home. all's fair when it comes to unsupervised playtime, i suppose!

yes, that is sidewalk chalk in a mama's tea...

all's well that ends well?

my thredup experience...

2010-11-22T22:22:00.001-08:00

have you heard about the clothes-swapping site thredup? it's fairly straightforward--members list standard size boxes of children's clothing. boxes can be searched by gender, size and season. if you come across a box you like, you pay for shipping only ($15). then, to fufill your end of the "swap," you list a box of clothing on the site. membership is free. it sounds good enough--despite the fairly high shipping charge, boxes usually contain between 10 and 15 items. boxes are sent priority mail, so they arrive quickly after purchase.

i'd been wanting to try out the site for awhile and finally sprung for a box a couple of weeks ago. after reading the details of quite a few boxes, i chose one that seemed pretty perfect for lucy--mostly 3T winter bottoms with a few summer dresses in size 4. higher end brands like gap and roxy. no mention of any of the disney princesses or dora the explorer. i waited super impatiently for my box to arrive and....

eh. this is a common case of "one man's trash..." but in this case, the situation was reversed. i was underwhelmed by the contents of my box to say the least. the majority of it just wasn't stuff i'd put on my kid. written descriptions can make things sound better than they are, obviously, even when they're staying pretty close to the truth. a picture is worth a thousand words, anyone? out of 12 pieces, i think i kept 5, 2 of which are pending some alterations. most of it, while true to style description, just looked a little worn out. and while i'm all about second (and third) hand, i do try to only buy stuff that looks fairly new.

another cause for complaint was the smell coming from the box. no, it wasn't cigarette smoke or animal fur or food. it was fabric softener. oh my goodness. it's funny how when you stop using something you become re-sensitized to it, don't you think? i used to buy my laundry detergent according to smell--the stronger the better. then i'd sweeten the deal by adding not one, not two but THREE dryer sheets to the mix. i thought my clothes (though kinda slick from all that chemical coating) smelled pretty great. what a difference a couple of years makes! at first whiff (i could smell it at the mailbox) the fabric softener on these clothes transported me right back to my laundry-folding self of yester-year. the act of opening the box gave me an almost instant headache, and prompted lucy to ask what spilled. no kidding. 3 washes and i can still smell it. i'm thinking a soak in vinegar may be in order.

anyway, that's my teeny experience with thredup. i certainly don't want to deter anyone from using the site, so i'll disclaim that i am picky and hard to please and have a high sensitivity to synthetic fragrances. if you are without these issues, you will probably love the site. especially if you are shopping for a girl and have a penchant for princesses.

:)

this moment...

2010-11-19T22:49:00.000-08:00

inspired, as always, by soulemama.

a bit of beaching...

2010-11-18T21:16:00.001-08:00

hard to believe that the weather was nice enough for a bit of beach action this late in november. the kids even did a bit of bare-bottomed wading. shrieks of (chilled) delight echoed from end to end of heart's desire beach, much to my own personal enjoyment.

we've been off trying to make the most of these glorious autumn days. days which, though short, actually feel more like the summer we didn't really have. the holidays may be lurking, but i'm trying to ignore them for time being--except for a whole lot of crafting which has recently taken place in my sewing studio. partially for upcoming craft fairs, partially for some special birthday presents. along with a ton of other random projects on the pile--i' m hoping to share more as time allows.

thanks for hanging in.

gathering...

2010-11-13T21:33:00.000-08:00

friday lent us nice enough weather to take a little daytrip to samuel taylor state park with friends. we recently camped there, but this time spent time exploring new paths and woodsy areas. in anticipation of our day out (and because we've recently been reading lots of books about autumn, the change of seasons and animals that live in the forest ), i sewed a gathering apron for lucy. it was a quick little project that involved a vintage pillowcase and some scrap fabric. no fussy pockets, just a large bag-style compartment perfect for collecting pebbles and leaves and acorns. which, by the way, she did very little of. too much other good stuff to see and do, i guess.

oh well. she liked it well enough and looked sweet in it. it should fit for years--and there are many return trips to the woods in our future. back to work on the concept of collecting...

a walk in the woods...

2010-11-12T23:05:00.000-08:00

the key term here, of course, is walking. happy weekend!

we had a picnic...

2010-11-10T07:54:00.001-08:00

the weather was lovely, the kids were in great moods. and so, come noon, we headed outdoors for a picnic. spread out a big blanket, brought out the dishes. thinking that the slight chill in the air could be combated with some hearty autumn fare, chili was on the menu.

ahem.

my mistake. i now understand why picnics are usually relegated to handheld food. at least when a couple of toddlers are on the invite list.

it started innocently enough. a big bowl of chili for the three of us to share, plus some fruit on the side.

aaaaand.... it went downhill from there.

as with any good outdoor meal, there was lots of what i refer to as "picnic shrapnel." crumbs and spills, miscellaneous tiny utensils and hunks of uneaten foods. only this time, lots of it was smeared across faces, mashed into the picnic blanket, stuck under fingernails and wiped across my jeans. i make a fabulous (and eco-friendly!) napkin.

the good news is that cookies do, officially, make everything better. especially when consumed with a beer while ill-mannered toddlers are napping.

27 pints...

2010-11-04T22:14:00.000-07:00

i wish i could take credit for all of the chopping that took place in our house last weekend, but alas, i cannot. jeremy put in almost all of the work required to turn 22 pounds of organic summer squash into bread & butter pickles.

we got the squash from the food preservationist csa put together by happy girl kitchen. they work with local farms to provide bulk organic produce directly to the food preservationist at lower costs. had i bought this squash at the market today, it would have cost me $66.00. we paid $35.

still, making these pickles was much more costly than i figured it would be. 12 cups of organic sugar. 16 cups of organic apple cider vinegar. organic (and conventional) spices. it all added up to be a somewhat costly endeavor, especially if you count the cost of jars and lids. only jeremy can tell you if he had a good time making the pickles. i kind of think not. it's a lot more labor intensive than stirring a pot of jam.

we eat a lot of bread and butter pickles around here. our favorite brand is locally handcrafted and costs $8 per jar. more often than not, we get the $3-4/jar brand from trader joes or whole foods. these particular pickles are destined to be given away as favors at hudson's first hoedown. it's true--he's a day away from turning one. yee-haw!

new uses, old things...

2010-11-02T22:57:00.000-07:00

i hadn't been planning on any halloween decorations for the yard besides a carved pumpkin, but scored a bag of tealights at a garage sale that morning and felt compelled to put them to good use. this is one of my favorite uses for vintage jars--simply lining up a mismatched group and dropping a candle into each one. i came up short on jars (and time) and didn't want to dig through boxes, so i few a couple of our everyday drinking glasses into the mix. so pretty!

lucy found them pretty enough, though she was more interested in a baking sheet holding the remainder of the candles. probably because the open flame was just that much closer. anyway. the jars look so pretty on the railing, they're staying put until after hudson's birthday party this weekend. i might even find some pretty little things to stick inside of them--we're taking a quick trip to one of our favorite farms tomorrow morning to pick up a truckload of birthday things. should be fun. we just can't get enough of all things autumn this year. stay tuned!

happy haunting. and harvesting.

2010-10-31T22:58:00.001-07:00

we spent much of our halloween day out with friends at a small, organic u-pick csa farm in marin. just imagine--a sweet, 1-acre farm in a regular neighborhood, completely tucked away and unexpected. run largely by a very nice, and very generous 87 year old man and his 84 year old wife. a u-pick farm that works on the honor system--pick your produce, weigh your produce, leave your money in the cash box.

really.

we weren't really there to do too much harvesting, as the farm is mostly in transition from summer to fall. tomatoes are rotting on the vine, while winter veggies are just getting going. we were mostly there to celebrate autumn, let the kids run wild, and meet the farmer jerry, the man behind the place.

of course, we had to feed the chickens...

play a bit in the squash pile...

and do a good bit of serious searching for things to take home.
there was good old fashioned farm fun (real lizzards are always a treat--especially to little witches playing tricks)...
we got good & dirty, like all good farmers should...

and channeled our inner raccoons by crawling around on all fours as much as possible. ahh, dirt is so good. hope your halloween was not too tricky!

a pretty lil' pumpkin...

2010-10-28T20:42:00.000-07:00

isn't she sweet? pumpkin decorating, farmers market style! we hit up our favorite market this morning with friends, and were able to squeeze ourselves into the kiddie crafting booth amongst lots of school-aged kids (more field trips to the market!). vendors had donated all kinds of fruits and veggies, and each child was able to pick a small pumpkin and decorate it. lucy was up to the task, hudson was pleased as punch to crawl around on the ground, searching out dropped food.

alright, as you can probably tell, i helped lucy LOTS with this craft since we were short on time and the booth was crowded. hudson was making a break for it while lucy was still trying her darndest to push the first toothpick into her pumpkin--that part proved pretty difficult for a 2.5 year old. she was, however, into the creative part, and insisted that her pumpkin needed a tail (a radish and a long lettuce leaf).

too fun. and so easy to just keep a few fruit & veggie pieces on hand for a quick decorating session here and there, don't you think?

home again, home again...

2010-10-25T20:57:00.000-07:00

well, we've actually been home again for a few days, but the weather has been so winterlike there's been a whole lot of nothing going on. which includes wading through photos. nine o' clock bedtimes are surprisingly refreshing... and addicting!

the same terms can be used to describe our short getaway to the lagunitas redwoods last week. such a short drive from home--a mere 45 minutes--but really a world away. we were surrounded by ancient, hollowed out trees, tons of wildlife (20+ raccoons was actually too much wildlife for me, personally) and a lovely, sparkling clear creek that was the perfect depth for wading.

we went with my friend molly, who has children the exact same ages as lucy and hudson. automatic playmates! the kids were never bored and rarely squabbled--there was simply too much to do.

from crawling around in the dirt...

to gathering dirt...

to eating the dirt... dirt was the #1 toy of the trip. we hardly needed to pack anything else.

lucy kept herself busy gathering "fairy wood" for the evening fire. we hadn't brought enough wood to last the entire stay, but were luckily able to pillage empty sites for logs left behind by other campers instead of paying $7 a bundle. this girl was a true worker, hauling BIG logs up BIG hills! i couldn't believe it.

we spent lots of time hiking the paths around the campgrounds...
and sought out the sunshine wherever we could find it...

shade comes early when you're surrounded by trees!
from-scratch chicken noodle soup was a good "warm up" meal...

our last day lent a bit more sunshine (plus short visits from some very special daddies) and we were able to hop down to the creek for some wading and rock-collecting. empty beer bottles = good toy #2-perfect for holding all of those tiny stones.

we were (mostly) packed up before the rain rolled in. the "soggy six" pulled away from camp taylor with promises to come back often in the spring.

all in all, a fabulous trip. the kids were fantastic, we were pretty much warm and very well-fed despite brazen raccoons who opened our coolers and made off with a pound of bacon, a half pound of salami, and a half pound of turkey. in addition to a container of sweet potatoes, a jar of oats and other bits and pieces--an egg here, a snack bar there. i did not see them make off with any cash from my wallet but in truth, i would not have been surprised! we drank lots of tea and even got to enjoy a few glasses of wine while the kids slept soundly in the tents, no doubt plum tuckered out from all of that dirt. i was even able to sit 'round the fire with another special visitor (my brother--and king raccoon shoo'er) and listen to the giants win game #4 on a crank radio. perfection.

so much fun was had, and yet i will say this: it's always nice to come home from camping. especially from a cool-season trip. we got home and i herded the kids into the bath and we just--soaked ourselves back to reality. ahhh!

food for thought...

2010-10-19T10:44:00.000-07:00

this recent post on the soulemama blog has me revisiting the idea of raising chickens to provide food--not only eggs, but meat as well. having just paid $22 for a 4.75 pound pastured chicken, i can tell you that while we eat good meat, we don't eat too much of it. that chicken will likely provide protein for 2 dinners and one small lunch, with the addition of the carcass which is now simmering away on the stove (yielding around 10-12 cups of broth for soup).

earlier in the year, we brought home 5 baby chicks. my original intent was to try our hand at chick-raising (we'd only ever bought "teenaged" chickens before that). if all went well, we would raise another batch of chicks specifically for food.

in all, i can only say it was a true learning experience. having lost 3 of the 5 babies to predators, we've come away with some insight on just how vulnerable an 8 or 10 week old chicken is, as compared to the rest of our flock, which runs around the yard daily without incident.

it's time to start thinking about getting another batch of birds. first and foremost, of course, i've got to learn how to properly cull and clean a chicken. thankfully i've got a friend of a friend who does this professionally and is willing to share his secrets when i'm ready. then comes the hard part, i guess. the darker side of "urban homesteading" that is met with gasps of disgust and the question of, "why would you possibly want to do that?"

i think the better question is "why would you want to buy a foster farms chicken from the grocery store," but i guess that's just where i am at this point in the journey. more to come as it all unfolds!

in much lighter news, we're off for a mini vacation--camping in the redwoods. having never done cool-season camping, i'm positive i've overpacked on blankets, sleepsacks, outerwear and the like. the kids will probably be sweating as though it were 110 degrees outside. ha. stay tuned for photos!

hudson is 11 months old!

2010-10-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

seems like we took a trip to the beach around this very time last year. oh, that's right. we did. what a difference a year makes, hmmm???

anyway, hudson has just had his last monthly mini-birthday before turning 1. don't ask this mama where time goes. i have no idea and quite truthfully it makes me a bit sad. the days are long, but the years are short. so very, very true.

thankfully all i have to do is look at my BIG boy--trying to walk, babbling his little head off, chasing the cat, eating sand--and all is well. here are the photos:

new talents include:

~ taking steps! mama happened to miss it, but daddy and lucy both attest to FIVE steps taken last weekend
~ otherwise navigating the world via the "mowgli crawl." (see photo #3)
~ says "thank you" when handing something over. how polite!
~ practically convincing mama that five a.m. is a proper rising time
~ snuggling. the calendar might say otherwise, but he is still very much my baby (see final photos as proof!)
~ pointing out objects in books when asked
~ inching his way towards a first haircut
~ charming lucy daily. in her eyes, he's the best toy EVER.

gotta love him. cheers!

keeping busy...

2010-10-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

having opted not to enroll lucy into her (parent-attended) preschool this session, i am, as of late, searching for ways to give her a bit of structured-yet-unstructured lesson time here at home. i stumbled across the idea of tray activities somewhere on the internet, loosely based on the montessori approach of having age-appropriate crafts and learning toys set out a the child's level to work with as they desire. i liked the idea of going beyond what's sitting in the toybox (the stuff that gets played with day in and day out) to "special" little activities that are a bit more engaging and conceptual.

our interpretation is a tray set out each morning for lucy to work with & explore. when she's done, the tray gets tided up and set back on the table, just in case she wants to come back to it later. she often does.

favorite activities so far have included water pouring, button art and digging for treasure (bottle caps!) in a bowl of flour. tools have included glass jars, bottles and bowls, items from the cooking drawer and one of my favorite china pitchers--in lucy's eyes this makes everything all the more interesting. it's all fun and games till something breaks, kid!

of course, i'm the mama with tons of ideas and a little one who wants to do the same three activities over and over. oh well. i guess that's part of being two--they learn through repetition, right?

making memories...

2010-10-06T15:21:00.000-07:00

just an out-of-the-ordinary day for our little family. which turned out so fun, perhaps we'll make it a more regularly-occurring-occasion after all.

an early morning ferry ride across the bay...

having missed our first ferry due to traffic, we docked at the san francisco ferry building just after 10:30. lucy was thrilled to be in "THE CITY!!!!" where a few of her favorite books take place.
little girl, big city...
the ferry building is, of course, home to one of the most fabulous farmers markets in the bay area. the tuesday and thursday markets are only a fraction as large as the one that takes place on saturday, but no matter. we were surrounded by plenty of good stuff!

i was also delighted to see something i have never seen before in all my years of farmer's marketing--elementary school field trips to the market. there were at least 4 separate field trips going on, with children as young as kindergarten all the way up to sixth grade. these kids were amazing--running around the market sniffing and tasting different fruits and veggies, interviewing farmers and making purchases with their own money. amazing. i actually had tears in my eyes--how's that for sentimental?

we were on a bit of a time crunch not wanting to miss our return ferry, so we grabbed a quick lunch at gott's. gott's is formerly taylor's refresher--click link for a real flashback!!!

of course, no trip to the ferry building is complete without a stop at ciao bella for gelatto...

we grabbed a chocolate cone to share between the four of us and jammed back to the ferry terminal. boarded and were pleasantly surprised to see that we had the entire lower level to ourselves! luck of the draw? or maybe other patrons were scared of our chocolate-wielding children? you decide!

having our "own private ship" left plenty of room to explore & wreak general havoc...
a bag of farmers market grapes gave the perfect opportunity for a quick signing lesson...

and we were back in marin before we knew it. only a little stickier than when we left. an added bonus to busy outings is the silence that comes 2 & a half minutes into the car ride home, wouldn't you say?

a vintage version...

2010-10-04T20:54:00.001-07:00

of the pint-sized potty seat:

we already have a wooden potty chair, but i've had my eye out for a seat that makes sitting on the big toilet a bit more comfortable for a tiny tush. i've recently passed on many a seat decorated by dora the explorer and elmo--i just couldn't bring myself to buy something so... enhanced by cartoons. glad i held out. this vintage potty seat (complete with pee guard!) set me back $15 at the alameda antique fair. i held myself to only one purchase--we're there to make money now, not spend it!

month number two of "our shop" at alameda went very well, despite a bit of unexpected rain in the morning. no matter--we had umbrellas for sale! and guess who bought them? one of my favorite bloggers--she made the trip all the way from southern california with her lovely family and happened upon our booth! small world, right?

ah, it was good. we get lots of people shaking out heads in disbelief that we're out there with our two small kids in tow. as far as an answer is concerned, jeremy says it best--something along the lines of us being out there, together as a family, having fun. making money is just an added bonus. so true!

quote of the month...

2010-09-30T22:04:00.001-07:00

okay, there won't be a "quote of the month" installment or anything, but as i flipped through the pages of the october issue of real simple magazine, the following saying jumped out at me:

"use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

and it's been on my mind. so much of who we at the valley girl home are slowly becoming can be summed up with this simple little phrase. of course, to make it work for us even better, it needs an addendum of sorts. something along the line of "and don't forget to donate the excess." anyone care to work that into the cute little rhyme?

early this week, we spent a couple of sweltering afternoons parked in our backyard, just making do. lots of icewater and watermelon. our $3 garage sale slide was transformed into a "slippy slide," by simply propping up the hose in one of jeremy's (secondhand) shoes and turning it to the "mist" setting. viola. instant fun. but don't forget a towel at the bottom to prevent grass-burn!

their good fun afforded me a bit of time to tackle a project i've been "meaning to get to" for just about 2 summers. i bought these sandals in spring of 09, and after wearing them only a couple of times, the strap broke. company couldn't replace them for me, as they were sold out. so i kept them around, always meaning to fix the strap. in my past life, i would have simply tossed them. now, i'm making them do so i can wear them out. provided that my sewing holds, of course.

in use it up news, i just finished slow roasting a bunch of tomatoes from our garden. they turned out fantastically, and i'm planning on doing at least a couple more batches. don't want any of those long-awaited tomatoes to go to waste. i'm now looking forward to my lunch tomorrow, as i have goat cheese and fresh bread to pair with my bowlful of tomatoes. a photo may be in order. yum!

the poor man's play dough...

2010-09-28T21:44:00.000-07:00

is nothing more than a hunk of pizza dough taken from the fridge. rolled in a bit of flour to prevent sticking, then handed over to eager hands, along with some cookie cutters and a pair of rolling pins. it bought me a total of 17 minutes--just enough time to fix a real pizza and slide it into the oven.

we have made play dough in the past, but had neither cream of tartar or food coloring on hand. truth be told, i'm a little reluctant to use food coloring since hudson (obviously) likes to eat the dough. at least we know that this stuff is 100% edible!

when it's hot...

2010-09-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

the temperature inside of our house has finally gone down from 95 to a much more comfortable 80 degrees. of course, comfortable is a relative term. nothing like a summer-style heat wave to kick off the first week of autumn. hello, california. nice to see you again.

nights like these, we're doing pretty much everything outdoors. cooking, eating and even bathing. well, as far as the kids are concerned, anyway. though if the neighbors weren't a factor, you'd totally find my tush in that tub. it looks quite nice.

an added bonus to all the outside activity is that the inside stays relatively clean. there are fewer dishes, no floor to mop and the ring around the bathtub is non-existent. i'm a full believer in the notion that ring around the bathtub is a sign of great parenting (the dirtier the kid, the better the day!), but seriously, lucy & hudson's bathwater is more like pondwater by the time they hop out of the tub. thankfully, i've found that the homemade laundry soap battles the ring left behind quite nicely. when i get around to it, and all.

three cheers for the heat wave...

trading up? trading down?

2010-09-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

we've swapped out a few new items for old items. i'm digging the trade, especially since the vintage stuff was given to us for free by a wonderful and generous family friend. here's how it worked out:

the new (soon-to-be-donated) stuff--acrylic turkey baster, meat thermometer and (cracked) acrylic cookie press.
the old: an aluminum "cooky" press...

the old: meat thermometer and candy thermometer...

the old: glass turkey baster...

all the old stuff still in its charming vintage packaging--too cute!

a little something...

2010-09-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

i hadn't sewed for lucy in awhile, and was looking for an easy project. this little smock from my bend the rules sewing book was the perfect thing--i knocked it out in an afternoon, using vintage sheets and bias tape. lucy threw on the smock and we got down to business making dinner--baked egg cups inspired by a "muffin tin meals" article in a martha stewart magazine. see below for the how-to:

for some reason i stopped taking pictures? must have been hudson up from his nap, broken egg on the floor, dog barking at the mailman, washing machine making a funny noise, phone ringing but nowhere to be found, chickens getting into the house through a hole in the screen door. look at that, i'm practically a country song! anyhow, season with salt & pepper, top with cheese. bake at 35o until eggs are set. mine were overdone. go figure.

fun times!

my baby has sextuplets...

2010-09-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

i say this joking only partway--we quite literally can't leave home without at least one baby doll in tow. the girl who never got attached to a binky or a blanky now has her babies. she picks out their outfits, she feeds them, she shushes them. we all go for walks in the morning and they ride along. she wants them strapped into carseats. she wants them tucked into strollers and buggies and cradles. at night they all get laid out, one by one, and covered with a set of small blankets. "you go sleep now, little babies."

and then we got this book, which quickly became a favorite of lucy's. i found it at a garage sale for a quarter and figured it was a good buy, since lucy's favorite doll is a black baby she's named cookie. cookie came from the thrift store and cost 69 cents. in lucy's eyes, cookie gets major bonus points for the battery pack in her chest--cookie says mama, night-night, and yipee! she also has 2 different crying sounds (kids need to know early on how to decipher full-blown cries from plain old fussing, apparently).

as it turns out, elizabeti lives in a remote african village and doesn't have a cookie-baby. she has a smooth rock--which she bathes, cloth-diapers, and wears in a sling on her back. sounds familiar.
elizabeti has a rock. and we have just shy of 10 baby dolls. or, i should say, had. lucy was brave enough to cut loose 3 of her least-loved babies: sinatra (legs didn't move), tiny (too small, mommy!) and colin (totally looked like a sumo wrestler). we talk a lot about giving toys to children who have none, and lucy seems to understand the concept for the most part. she hasn't mentioned the donated babies but once, and i gently reminded her that she had decided to give those babies to other children. if she sees her babies sitting on the shelf at the thrift shop, it might be another story altogether. which very fondly reminds me of the thrifty chicks blog post do you shop where you drop?

back to the babies. after reading about elizabeti, my providing lucy with 9 babies just seemed a little... over-the-top. gluttonous? the opposite of have less, value more. so, we've pared it down. lucy did her part, and she did it well. which leaves me to hold up my end of the bargain: even though it's cheap and secondhand, we don't necessarily need it.

don't get me wrong--i'm not against rewarding good behavior (a.k.a. bribery) from time to time. but on the same note, i want my kids to appreciate and love the things they have, and not to become apathetic to or desensitized by stuff. i'm personally in the process of getting rid of a lot of things i've been hanging on to for years--and am now questioning why i've kept them this long.

lucy is a fine mama to six babies. six is my limit. any more than that, and i'm trading them all in for a rock!

the new best way to cook kale...

2010-09-21T21:49:00.000-07:00

i thought it was this. but (thanks to my friend molly) i now stand corrected. the very best way to cook kale is as follows: 2-3 tablespoons of coconut oil, melted in a frying pan over medium heat. a teaspoon of finely minced ginger, and 1/4 a small red onion, minced. both tossed in to saute for 2-3 minutes. 1 large bunch of kale, thick stems removed, torn into bite-sized pieces. thrown in to pan, and left to cook until wilted but not mushy. seasoned liberally with salt.

my somewhat-picky-when-it-comes-to-veggies girl devoured half the plate while the rest of dinner was cooking. not wanting to miss out, i devoured the most of what was left. there was, in actuality, very little kale left by the time we sat down to the table. no matter--we had roasted carrots too. enjoy!

hudson is 10 months old!

2010-09-20T22:42:00.001-07:00

can you see him??? we finally got around to finding ourselves a "10." let's just say it was a tough shot--though hudson put up with being stranded on a random sidewalk pretty well. tiny guy, big world!

"huddie is this many!"

new talents include:

~ standing on his own
~ eating with a fork and spoon (prior to throwing food all over the floor)
~ spitting out the foreign objects he's stuffed into his mouth when asked to do so
~ feeding mama
~ second word: chicken. no kidding!
~ entertaining lucy. this two-kid thing is really starting to pay off.

it's almost time to start planning a birthday party. say it isn't so! this guy keeps us on our toes, but we're head over heels in love with him just the same. happy 10th month, hudson!

cheers!

this moment...

2010-09-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

inspired by soulemama...

super simple dinner...

2010-09-16T08:54:00.000-07:00

oh, yum. california's tomatoes were a definite late start this year, due to record-breaking cool weather. now that the tomatoes are finally ripe, we're able to enjoy them for a bit before they disappear for yet another year. this meal was super simple to make (an adaptation from a martha stewart recipe). scooped out tomatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper. minced onion, finely chopped spinach, a half cup or so of fresh corn kernels. all whisked together with a few fresh eggs, and poured into the tomato cups. topped with a flavorful cheese (we used a dry goat's milk ricotta). bake at 375 until eggs are firm. delicious!

new shoes...

2010-09-13T21:56:00.001-07:00

we've been running around barefoot all summer, but autumn seems to be lurking not so far in the distance. so when lucy pointed out these sweet little shoes on the thrift store rack last week, i snapped them up. a perfect fit! for 99 cents, it would have been practically impossible to leave them sitting there. she likes the bows on the toes. "bow toe, mommy! that's a good joke!"

i also scored a pair of leather ballet slippers in very good condition--again priced at 99 cents. they've been tucked away for what will probably amount to six months or so while her feet grow. shoes in lucy's size seem hard to come by--they're often too beat up or plastered with disney characters. so when i see plainly-styled shoes in like-new condition, i'm thrilled.

school's been back in for awhile now, but we're just now getting around to taking inventory on what's needed for the coming months as far as clothes are concerned. going through dresser drawers, making donations, figuring out what seems to be fitting well and what's not. lucy has sprouted--tummy hanging out of tops and dresses that used to hit around mid-calf now hitting her knees. can you say growth spurt? or maybe it wasn't a spurt so much as slow and steady growing. at either rate, she's gonna need some winter clothes!

thank goodness it's almost time for the twice-yearly kids clothing consignment sale put on by our local moms of multiples group. the lovely thing about shopping the cast-offs of moms of twins and triplets is that, if you love something, there's usually more than one! which means that my shopping buddy molly and i (who have kiddos in the same size) don't have to fight over our finds! i'll be digging for jeans, hats, long-sleeved shirts. a jacket. and maybe even a warmer pair of shoes... ahh, what fun!

bounce, bounce...

2010-09-12T20:49:00.000-07:00

people often ask me how i manage to go garage sale-ing and thrift store shopping with the kids in tow. well, the true answers are as follows: i bring lots of food. i bring another grown-up whenever i can. i cut it short when things aren't going well. and, well, i buy them things while we're out and about. call it bribery if you will, but they seem to enjoy going along on these thrifting trips. and lucy's pretty clear on the "one toy in, one toy out" rule, so our house hasn't (yet) imploded from too many toys. she also knows the difference between garage sales and estate sales. pretty decent for a two year old, no?

here are their big treats for this weekend--both were of the bouncy sort. see below!

1970's hoppity horse in great shape (once i gave it a good scrub-a-dub-dub). $5.

vintage johnny jump up "baby exerciser." in the original packaging,
with postmark oct. 17th 1969. can you believe i put my baby in this?!?! after a couple of bounces, i relaxed a bit--this thing is sturdy! $2.

we are bouncing off the walls here at the valley girl home, people. literally!

winner!

2010-09-11T20:29:00.000-07:00

winner of the fuzzibunz one-size diaper and inserts is sarah, who said,

"I love love love fuzzibunz. We have a big set in size small for the early months but I've been drooling over the one size for awhile now. It'd be great to try one out and see if it's worth selling my one size BG to get a new stash!"

congrats sarah! i left you a comment on your blog as notification--send me your address! to all those who didn't win--look for another reuseit giveaway coming soon!

diaper giveaway!

2010-09-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

the fine folks at reuseit.com are now carrying cloth diapers! to get the word out there, they're sponsoring a giveaway here on the blog. one lucky reader will receive a fuzzibunz one-size diaper, along with an extra package of inserts. sweet, right?

when i 'fessed up to their promotional department that i had (in 2 years of cloth diapering) never tried a fuzzibunz diaper, they sent one my way. in a charming shade of blue, no less, for the little guy in my life. check it out below:

as far as pocket diapers go, this is a pretty nice setup. leg elastic is easy to adjust and replace if need be (replacement elastic included with each diaper). the microfleece inner is super soft (i prefer it over bumgenius suedecloth). bonus points for snap closure, as hudson has mastered the undoing of hook & loop. thanks reuseit.com! hudson loves his new diaper and was sure to "break it in" for me.

to enter into the fuzzibunz giveaway, simply leave a comment here on the blog. i'll use random number generator to pick a winner. comments will close on saturday evening, around 8pm pst. winner will be posted and notified shortly thereafter. and if you've got the time, head over to the reuseit website. in addition to carrying an impressive array of eco-friendly products, they've got a plethora of good information, links, DIY projects and more.

good luck!

where i've been...

2010-09-07T20:31:00.000-07:00

remember awhile back when i said that jeremy and i were undertaking new venture that's been keeping us pretty busy? well, i finally get to share just what i'm talking about. after many years of walking (and shopping) the alameda point antique fair, we opened up our own booth. lucy charmingly refers to it as "our shop." too cute. here are some photos from our "grand opening."

it was a great (though ever-so-exhausting) time. the kids were fantastic which came as a great relief. you don't see too many sellers with little ones in tow out at the fair. the 4 a.m. start time probably has something to do with that, no? check out hudson, tucked in with all of the goodies, ready to roll at 3:30 in the morning...

bacon breakfast at 7:

demonstrating proper use of the merchandise...

this little chickadee came out to keep us company, too, with grandma in tow. ah. it was a lovely day. no major mishaps, beautiful weather. family and great friends dropping by our booth to say hello. both kids napping on the floor of the suburban at the same time. a bit of a dream come true. and the money wasn't bad, either!
thanks for hanging in here at the abandoned blog while we were off getting "our shop" going!

this moment...

2010-09-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

yeah, it's supposed to be a friday thing. better late than never, right?

just like magic...

2010-08-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

best served with a glass of milk... enjoy!

this moment..

2010-08-27T22:26:00.000-07:00

inspired by soulemama...