Of Feeling Orange and Beverly Clairebillies

I'm feeling a bit orange today. Ambers, warm yellows, bright oranges, accented with glass. Perhaps not a palette for my home, but certainly delightful colors of summer days that will come soon enough...

Beverly and I also registered for the Urban Dare Race in May, as Team Beverly Clairebillies. This is our second year participating. With any luck, we should do much better than our placement last year, as we are better prepared and know what to expect. Wish us good luck!

Of Fairies

I played around with Photoshop Express on my IPhone today with one of the pictures I took outside. I like the picture, but it was taken at the end of the day and was very dark. I figured it wouldn't hurt to add a little bit of effect to it.
The effect reminded me of how fairies are depicted in the the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. So graceful, beautiful, pure.

My mind wandered to my children. In particular, I was reminded of my daughter when she was very young. I have always enjoyed dressing her up as a fairy princess in pretty flowery dresses. She happily obliged my fancies, spinning around in her dresses and clicking around in her patent leather shoes. My thoughts were pleasantly interrupted by harmonious giggles coming from the living room, where both of my children were playing. My babies...they may not be fairies, but precious all the same.

Watch Us Grow!

"Just take a picture, Mom..."

It's fun to scoop and pour..."Me and my Buggi"

I asked my son to make a funny face for a picture. His reply? "That's weird!"

He is trying to do a somersault in the ring. When I asked him why, he explained, "Because the other one is too high!" He was referring to a similar ring that was hanging on the opposite end of the playground. My reaction: "Huh?" My little girl is growing up too fast!

Yearning for Blueberries

I have always wanted a blueberry plant. Their plump purple fruits are available year round in the grocery stores, but they tend to be expensive. Besides, they taste best when they are in season.

We live near Apple Hill, and I take my children there every summer a few times each summer to go berry picking. We three enjoy these excursions. My husband doesn't understand this; he considers picking any type of fruit himself as work. The children love the experience: the more berries they find, and the fuller they make their baskets, the happier they are. They compete with each other in trying to find the biggest berry.

Personally, I feel grounded in Apple Hill. There, we travel the winding roads leading to private ranches, enjoy the fresh air, and visit the many acres filled with orchards and berry farms. Also, knowing that I am picking the freshest fruit I can for my family, and knowing for certain that they will be sweet and juicy. is satisfying. All the same, berry picking is expensive and I try to limit how full they make their baskets...my son is still little, so this is not a hard task; most of the berries he finds end up in his mouth. My daughter is much better, but she is so picky that it takes her FOREVER to fill her basket. We usually are able to get out of there without too much financial damage. However, you also have to take into account the gas and time.

Happily, I found that one of the farms sells blueberry plants. I purchased one a few years ago, envisioning fresh blueberries every summer in my backyard. I repotted it in a big wooden planter and placed it in the sunniest spot in my backyard. I gave it a trellis to help it straighten (I was horribly bent when I bought it). I water it religiously during the hot summers. I didn't expect much the first year; I was told by the grower that it takes at least one year for the new plant to acclimate to a new environment. The next summer, still no flowers or berries. I played with the pH in the soil to see if that would make any difference. I finally got the soil at the right pH, and this year I have hopes of seeing the (ahem) fruits of my labor. I plan on tying sparkly things and old CDs to the surrounding fence and trees to hinder any birds' attempts to peck at the fruit.

Wish me good luck and full bowls of fresh berries! This year, I think I might buy a thornless blackberry bush, to keep this one company...

Of STARs, Gymnastics, and Lent

My daughter has to take the STAR test in a few weeks. We started reviewing her school lessons this morning. In addition, because her teacher told me that third grade is the first year that the students use a Scantron, I explained to her how a Scantron works. After she completed her Spelling and Grammar lessons, I gave her the first few review questions to answer. Let's just say that I am glad that we are starting to review her lessons now, and not a week before the test begins...

My son had his gymnastics class in the afternoon, which meant a full hour of jumping and tumbling and playing with other children that are just as hyper as he is. I took the following video as he was waiting for his turn at tumbling down the mat. I think it is funny that he can't stay still...

Additionally, Lent started today. It is a period of fasting before Easter. Many give up overindulgences, like alcohol, chocolate, and social networks. I am celebrating Lent this year...Don't worry, I'm not giving up my blogging. (On a tangent, have the Sacramento Kings given up winning????? I mean seriously!) Anyway, I am giving up thrift store shopping, which is ironic, because it is one of the ways that I feel I am giving back to the community. However, my husband is thrilled about it. He thinks I overindulge in this area, so I am happy to sacrifice this for his happiness...

Despite this, my home improvement project continues. I will be buying a can of paint next week at Home Depot for one of the walls. It is moments like this that I am glad that you can't buy a good can of paint at the Salvation Army...Yippee?

Waiting for Spring

It's rare when I can snap a picture that captures the pure joy in my son. It makes me really happy when I do. I love his laugh. When he was an infant, one of his daycare givers told me that when she was tired at the end of the day, she would tickle him and his giggle would help her get through the day. He loves to play, in his very boyish way. Watching him punch the air and kick imaginary bad guys (with a look in his eye that tells you not to mess with him), you would think that he watches Power Rangers.

We were very happy to be able to spend some time outside in the backyard today. I figured that it was a nice reward for the spring cleaning that I started this morning.

After washing the pile of dishes that awaited me this morning, tidying up the living room, teaching my daughter about the parts of a circle, helping her with her Language Arts lesson, and attempting to teach her about the US Constitution, I cleaned the oven. It took a few hours (!) but it was worth it.

Ecstatic about the sun that broke through the clouds, I decided to take some pictures outside. I know that I have taken plenty of the plants in my backyard, but I have found that even in the same exact places, the light hits everything just a little different from the day before. I find the differences interesting.

I stepped out of the patio door and looked up at the sky. I couldn't help but take a picture. For dinner, I made Pizza Casserole. The family it, and although I made a major goof, it was a fairly painless and quick meal.

Tonight I am working on my Pinwheel Sweater. Getting an Addi Click set just for the 72 inch needle is starting to look really tempting right now...

Tulip Head

One of my friends is a teacher in a nearby school district. She received a lot of things from her students for Valentine's day: lollipops, sweetheart candies, and a felted tulip basket. She gave me the basket filled with these goodies for my kids. I told her that she spoils my kids, and for sure, my daughter would LOVE the basket. I was right:

I also have an update on my painting project. I visited Home Depot and grabbed more paint cards and paint booklets. Perusing through them gave me some "radical ideas". That's what my husband calls my brainstorms. Anyway, I convinced him to agree on 3 different but related colors. I even suggested that we can match the color behind the entertainment center to the new colors so that we don't have to repaint that wall. I have it all figured out, right? NO! He wants a darker color on that wall. D***!

Well, at least he is letting me pick the colors...