Wednesday, February 24, 2010

  1. For the past few nights after dinner, I have been retiring to the computer for a few moments after dinner while the kids have "wrestle time." They have outfits and everything. They occasionally bonk body parts pretty fantastically, but come back for more each night. The funny thing is, I'm not much for the rough play. But it's so cute to hear them say "wrestle time!"
  2. Magic shell. Organic mint chocolate chip ice cream.
  3. 6 to 7 eggs a day coming in right now, soon to be doubled by the dark and lovely young Rhode Island Red ladies.
  4. The sour plum trees are spilling over with delicate white blooms. No green leaves yet. Just bursting forth with white. The bees buzz.
  5. The kids did the dishes tonight, after a few sassy comments at dinner. They did a great job with almost no complaining and I got the rest of the living area straightened up. Huzzah!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

  1. Shopping at Ward's, a locally owned grocery store, makes me so very happy. Today I went all out. Lots of bulk foods, lots of produce and spinach pies still warm from the oven.
  2. I have unrealistic expectations for my time. What I thought would take a quick 20 minutes today took a solid three hours.
  3. The kids and I often play 3 goods and a bad when I pick them up from school as a way to get filled in on the other person's day. Yesterday Lily pointed out that my bad is almost always the same: I didn't get done all that I hoped I would. She told me that if I let go of my expectations and just did what I was doing, I would be happier. Perhaps a young Buddhist walks among us?
  4. Glass class needs new sparkers and glasses.
  5. I have also planted more seeds, because seedlings are my friends. Currently incubating are - Early Girl Tomato, Sweetie Baby Tomato, Bell Pepper, Scarlet Red Hibiscus, Florida Cotton (picked on a walk with my sister's family in Sarasota), chives and a beautiful marigold variety called butter and eggs. It's time for a garden plan!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

  1. Slept in until 11:30. 11:30!! I woke up with a big ol headache. I only drank 3 rum and cokes throughout the 8 hours I was out, and I told the bartender specifically to make them wussy drinks. I just have a sensitivity to alcohol, and can't handle any quantity.
  2. I checked the hive today. I found lots of brood and uncapped larva in a dense pattern. This is a sign of a good laying queen! But, I saw almost no capped honey, which makes me believe I may have harvested too soon. So I prepared a baggie feeder of 2:1 sugar water and put it in the hive. I'm hoping it didn't leak all over the bees. The baggie method seems kinda clumsy.
  3. During my inspection, I managed to squirt a bunch of sugar syrup on myself and almost set the yard on fire with my smoker. Patrick, working on his treehouse, got a good chuckle out of watching me stomping out the flames in the grass in my sugar coated boots.
  4. The Miller clan was here from about 4pm till 10pm last night. They are very sweet boys. We gathered up all the bows and arrows we could find (4 bows and about 25 arrows) and took to the archery range next door. The kids really enjoyed shooting each target and tallying their scores. There was even a 3D target- a huge foam bear. Yardley thought it was a real bear and raised his hackles and growled to protect his people! After we returned home, the kids headed to TV/ computer land and I fed them steadily- beans and rice, sliced cucumbers, mint tea, popcorn, more mint tea, more popcorn, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The idea of a sleepover lost popularity around 9:30 pm and their parents came and scooped them up.
  5. When Lotus and I cuddle, he calls me the "warm bug." Last night, he said "Warm bug in da house!"

Saturday, February 20, 2010

  1. A little guy puked on his desk during art yesterday. The smell almost caused 4 other kids to join him.
  2. The Expressions silent Gala was last night. I have a hard time coming up with nice formal wear. I wound up rocking a Frida Kahlo look, with a long black dress, black flower in my hair and my red "cape." It was fun and festive and well attended. I danced the cha cha and chatted with lovely folks like Kay Weigal, Donna Waller, Kana Handel, Olapatun, and more. Donna Waller is taking groups of anthropology students into Ecuador. I'd like to find out more.
  3. I was the head cashier again this year. This process must be streamlined! I think I've got a better way. One table for collection of bid sheets, one for payment. It was a pile up this yera.
  4. After the gala, I went to Juan and Amanda's bonfire potluck. It was heavenly. There I joined Ivor, Lisa, Amanda and many others singing under the moonlight. We had a 4 part string section for a while- mandolin, guitar, violin and stand up bass. We sang some slow gospel tunes and some classic songs lots of people know (Gillian Welch, Wagon Wheel, Neil Young) and some more chanty trancy stuff. It. was. heavenly.
  5. I need to try and sing every day. The skill of remembering lyrics sharpens the mind and the singing softens the soul.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

  1. On tonight's agenda is painting a ragged medieval tapestry to be hung in Fiona's castle for the set of the Shrek play. Aaah, procrastination.
  2. I had a lovely day of art today with a nice lesson from DeepSpaceSparkle. The K-1 guys made some beautiful cardinals in the bare branches of winter with a crisp blue shimmering sky.
  3. Tomorrow is the first time I've seen the 4th 5th grade in quite a while, due to holidays and the medieval fair. I painted cardboard canvases gold today for use in a lesson tomorrow about Gustav Klimt.
  4. Tonight's dinner was authentic matzoh ball soup, courtesy of Paul. He has a way of getting the kids excited about the meals he's cooking.
  5. I spent about an hour repotting tomato seedlings this afternoon and am still not done! Come to my house for salsa in a few months, k?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

  1. Gotta be quick- it's past the kiddos bedtime.
  2. I received a large bolt of ground cover/ weed barrier for the garden today. I'm going to use it in my experimental plot. Muahahaha for experimental plots.
  3. The Ones to Blame are playing at 8 seconds tonight- yep, the one that's painted like a cow. Sadly I must resist. First, Sky's still not home from Ornametalsmith Bill's house. Second, kindergarten art awaits me in the a.m.
  4. I must admit to being a fan of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew. And DVR.
  5. Lasagna is delicious and makes most people happy.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

  1. Great glass class tonight. Yes it was below freezing. Yes, there were only 4 of us. But it was awesome. I demonstrated crystal shaped glass stones with a mushroom inside and a frog on top. Everyone's frogs came out adorable!
  2. My toes are freezing. A warm bath and new book await.
  3. We got to bring home the awesome Mayan calendar project Lily did for her history project. I'll have to think about how to best display it.
  4. I get a lot of pleasure from growing baby vegetables.
  5. Paul Shatz, the quirky, cigar smoking, kid loving, booming photographer is back in town.

Monday, February 15, 2010

  1. Well, the fuddy duddy art show? Yep. Fuddy to the duddy x 2. Tumbleweeds. The University Club of Winter Park, the hosts of the event, were nice but unsupportive, clueless and extremely elderly. They did make us some nice pastries and coffee though. The show was so slow (how slow was it, Sarah?) that it only filled one trash can 3/4 full for the two days. Now that's slow! But, I had a few good books, long johns and gloves and by the weekend's end had managed to raise enough funds to pay for half of today's dentist visit. So, no whining!
  2. While in Winter Park, my sweet mother took me out to the nicest dinner I can remember having in many years. The restaurant was Mi Tomatina in Winter Park's trendy Hannibal Square. It is a small, locally owned place with a European feeling. Decorations were inspired by artist Miro, including original designs in mosaic upon the tables. But we weren't lucky enough to get a table so we snuggled into a corner of the bar. That wound up being just fine, as we had a front row seat of all the hectic interactions of the beautiful young staff. We ate paella and drank dark red wine. After our meal we were given warm washcloths to freshen up and Spanish coffee to round out our experience. I felt thoroughly spoiled after a fairly humbling day.
  3. Lotus, Lily and I all had dental appointments today. Lotus was a total champ and his sideways smile due to heavy Novocaine- priceless! One more $400 appointment will put us in the dentist's good graces, unless you include two orthodontists referrals!!
  4. I am ready for spring- dogwoods, azaleas, redbuds and warming days. I know it's coming because the robins are here. But right now freezing nights are still the norm.
  5. Lotus is an excellent lumberjack, wood hauler and fire starter, trained by his papa. It makes the cold nights much warmer.

Friday, February 12, 2010

  1. I'm packing the car and heading to Winter Park for a crappy art show. Why?
  2. Well, I don't have too much else going on this weekend and we could really use whatever few dollars result.
  3. Plus, I can chill and drink wine with my mama.
  4. Cold and rainy, my potato seed hunks sit unplanted.
  5. As much as I try to keep it positive in the cyberworld, I'm hoping this podunk art show and trip out of town will cure a persistent case of the blahs.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

  1. I went out with Leslie last night to the V.A.G.I.N.A. fest. We saw Feather and Hammer, Cassette, Three Legged Dawg and The Ones to Blame. It was nice to get out and shake it a lil. The evening ended with a long and deep conversation in the BP parking lot. I went on and on for a bit, and it left me feeling kind of raw.
  2. After arriving home at 3 and showering off the cigarette smoke from the bar, it was 4am before I got to bed.
  3. Lily had requested to be at school extra early (7:30) because she wanted to surprise her friends by decorating the classroom for Valentines Day with her friend Olivia. This sweet notion resulted in a whopping 3 hours of sleep for me.
  4. 3 hours of sleep make for poor coping skills, especially when the kindergarten class is sugared up on confectionery hearts.
  5. A nap helped.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

  1. That bright red pollen? Cypress.
  2. I collected my sticky bottom board that I had placed under the hive yesterday. Again lots of Varroa mites. I need to learn more about what is an acceptable level of mites, and if I can powdered sugar shake my colony tooooo much. Hopefully I'll have time to do a more comprehensive inspection this weekend.
  3. I cut up seed potatoes (thanks Callie!) for planting tomorrow.
  4. I sent in my cheek swabs to become a member of the bone marrow registry. We'll see if I match someone in need. If this is the case I'll give either platelets (sort of like plasma) or have marrow drawn from my spine. Yikes! Although this sounds unpleasant, many people are sitting in hospitals around the country right now waiting for "a match." One neat thing is that if you are found to have a match, this person usually resembles you, at least ethnically. Interested? Check bethematch.org
  5. I had a nice lunch with my dear friend Concha today, whose company is always a pleasure.

Monday, February 8, 2010

  1. I have carrots, albeit stubby, growing nicely in the garden along with curly kale, dino kale and arugula.
  2. I used my new electric chainsaw to cut down a tree today (a first for me). I'm not much for the chopping of trees, but this little-ish laurel oak was in the middle of my garden zone.
  3. I just gave my bees their 3rd installment of a natural varroa mite treatment. It consists of coating as many of the bees as possible in a fine dust of powdered sugar to encourage thorough grooming and thus mite removal. I'll check my hives bottom board tomorrow and see if my mite drop is decreasing.
  4. Upon hive inspection, I noticed some bees bringing home a bright red orange pollen. What is that?
  5. I'm now off to turn shovels of earth in a small section of my garden that I'm going to try Concha's way. Concha plants directly into turned earth that has been covered with a black plastic mesh weed barrier with small holes for the vegetables. We'll see!
Ahem. Well, Clearly I need a bit of practice at this new 5 a day concept. Practice makes perfect!

  1. While on a spiritual level, I find it righteous that we live without the energy sucking central heat and air, on cold mornings like today my cold toes dream of it!
  2. Lotus says he would sleep with me even if I was in a cave.
  3. Lily is collaborating on an impressive Mayan calendar with her Jordan Glen history group.
  4. Stayed up till 3am last night watching the Michael Jackson "This is It" movie, matting children's artwork and waiting for Sky to return from the Mt. Dora art show.
  5. That makes me sleepy right now, so I plan to go rake away the dead Seminole Pumpkin vines from the garden, preparing for spring and getting the blood flowing.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

  1. I want the old man at the feed and seed to think I know my stuff.
  2. I worked my hands raw today on a chicken coop rebuild. Beware foxes!
  3. Tomato and pepper seedlings reach for the sun.
  4. I'm hoping everything went through for Emma to be our NEW NEIGHBOR!
  5. Knock out roses on super sale at Lowe's- makes me happy.
See, there's 5 no problem!

5 a day

I'm going to try something new in the blog- o- sphere. Five a day. I don't have time for beautifully written and illustrated posts. As you can see, they died out on this blog years ago. But I'm hoping I've got time for five sentences a day- random or profound. We'll see if it adds up to a portrait of my day to day life. We'll see if I can keep it up!