Watching my daughters grow up.

A Study in Peach

Last week, I stopped at Fresh Fields market and picked up some glorious peaches and nectarines.  There were multiple varieties so I picked up a few from each pile. Last year I learned how to grill peaches, which renders them tender and delicious.  I didn’t feel like firing up the grill just for dessert, so I decided to do some indoor peach cooking.

Arty, arty music fun.

I Didn't See It Coming (Richard X mix) from Belle & Sebastian on Vimeo.

Take a break with Thurston Moore

A lovely way to spend 15 minutes. Who knew Thurston Moore could be so soothing? You can put it on in the background or watch the film, which is very relaxing, by the way.  I must check out this website... La Blogotheque.  Meet you there?

Start of Summer

It's going to be a busy, busy summer. I'm going to stay busy and not let the days fade away with regrets of unfinished projects. I have one I can cross off my list. Although-  it did take the sacrificing of an entire morning/afternoon. Mostly what took so long was my printer, which needed new ink, head cleaning, etc.   And yes, I got distracted by looking at "Stars without Makeup" and ended up watching a few things on Funny or Die while waiting for my printer to fix itself. Also, add to that the fact that 2 little people totally destroyed the house around me, because I was too busy to monitor them.

Here it is- I made a task chart for the girls. I decided to call it "tasks" instead of "chores" or "jobs"- it just sounded friendlier. I remembered seeing one in one of the Martha Stewart publications a while back and looked it up.  I found this one (she has many versions, of course) and remembered I had magnet sheets that I had purchased many years ago when Hazel was in Preschool. (This is my usual M.O. buy things, plan projects, never do them.)

The actual process was very easy in Pages on my iMac. (Surely, there is something similar in the PC realm.) I simply made shapes, filled in colors, pictures, or text. And, yes, I did copy the color scheme from Martha, she does have a good eye for color. The task board was printed on a separate sheet from the tasks. The tasks are on their own magnets and can be changed each day.  When the girls are finished they move the task to the "tasks completed" list.  I was pleased with how it turned out and it sticks beautifully to my blackboard/magnet door in the kitchen. The girls are so inspired they ran off and did two tasks and are working on their third.  We'll see how long that lasts. Maybe I should make one for the husband too?

April Garden

April Garden, a set on Flickr.

What's been going down in my garden, you ask? Well take a look...

Nellie McKay-One of a kind...

We are the silent majority! Not so silent, just quiet and tasteful!

New or Old Music???

I'm having major flashbacks. I found this song, Un Soir, Un Chien the other day by Stereolab's lead singer, Laetitia Sadier. I immediately bought it without even listening. It is a cover of Les Rita Mitsouko's original from 198?- which is a very awesome song and totally reminds me of when I first met Mark. I also bought a song by Everything But The Girl's Tracey Thorn the other day. It's a new song, but her voice remains the same from the 80's- some things never change or they change slightly and oh, how comforting that is! I like to move on with music- but I also like little tastes of my youth peppered into the mix.  Also, I just plain love these two women's music very much.

To me at age 43

I wish I had written a letter to myself at age 18, writing down my hopes for the future- asking my 43 year old self - what's it like? I honestly don't remember what my hopes were at 18. I think I was too involved in my hair, listening to records and getting into car accidents.  My own mother was only 39 at the time.  Did I think of a future with a husband, a home and children? Did I want to be a woman of the world, traveling, with some sort of high powered career?  Did I just want to be liked and fit it?  I did get married rather young at 22- but even then I don't think I was really thinking of what the future would be like.  I was blessed with that youthful ignorance of time.

So, here I am at 43.  Forty-three.  I have to keep saying it so I can remember when people ask.  That whole thing about "age is just a number" really does start to become real as you age.  These days, 43 could be any stage of a person's life-  just starting a family, seeing kids off to college, starting a new career, living an established life or not-  I know someone in every category that's my age. The 40's are the new 30's, the new 20's, the never-gonna-grow-ups for some people.  I would say the main difference after age 40 is the total awareness of time passing, the days, weeks, months and years seem to get shorter the older you get.

My body has changed after two kids, my hair is going grey, and I don't feel comfortable hanging around 20 somethings for an extended length of time.  This is the aging part of me.  I have two young children, I am heavily invested in the under 12 psyche, I still enjoy hip music and culture from my safe perch at the computer- this is the part of me that yearns to stay young.

I do fear aging, I can't help it, I have to be honest.  I fear my changing body, the aging of family, the tragedies of life that are sure to come. But I try to keep that fear down and revel in the daily madness of my current life.  I sometimes long for the day when I can put something down and it will still be there two days later, undisturbed.  When I can clean the house and it stays that way for more than two hours.  For the day when I cook what I want to eat for dinner and don't hear "Ewww." when I place it on the table. But I know with certainty that when that day comes, I will be longing for this current life to come back again.

We can only live the day as it comes, I'm trying to enjoy every moment.  I may set myself up to do too much and I often don't accomplish the things I've set out to do- but It keeps me going till the next day.  Sure, I'm tired now, but I'll have plenty of time to rest later.

Something to aspire to... ageless beauty

All the beauty creams in the world can't make you beautiful on the inside. While the video is a little heavy on the symbolism- this song is great.

In Between Days

Waiting., originally uploaded by bossamama.

One of those days. It's raining, it's Thursday. The month of February lost to flu, pneumonia, fleas, (slight) flooding. It seems everyday someone breaks something, something falls apart, a flea appears and ruins everything. March opens out in front of me- birthdays, parties, growing up, growing old.

This is a moss terrarium that I've made and a photo I took. I like it.