Express Yourself Blog :: janenerenee.com

Blog News!

I've moved my blog over to typepad, which has some pretty cool features, so please visit me there! There will be lots of musings and photos centered around handmade things, food/cooking, family life, as well as lots of ideas, quotes, tutorials, and other fun things.

I've also started a new blog for our store, The Weed Patch, so please visit me there too! I'll be announcing store products for sale, events we're having, Country Village news and events, as well as photos, recipes, and musings with a focus on country life.

Technorati

This week I purchased Somerset Studio's newest special publication called Artful Blogging. If you love browing blogs for visual eyecandy and a peek into the lives of kindred spirits, you'll enjoy this magazine. I understand it is going to be quarterly. I recognized about a third of the artists featured - its fun reading about why they started a blog, and what it has done for their lives.

In the back of the magazine, they give you some blogging tips and tricks, many of which I was familiar with. I hadn't heard of Technorati, has anyone else? Apparently it is a search engine that specializes in blogs, so you can post your own blog in there, and search for other people's. I've just created a Technorati Profile. I don't really know what that means yet, but I guess I'll find out.

More Encyclopedia of Me Meme to come...I may not have all 26 letters done by my birthday, but that's OK. I'd rather have it late and genuine than on time and rushed/not really thought through.

B is for Ball, Birthday, and Benjamin

This has been a pleasant week so far - a good mix of productivity at home and at the store, one-on-one time with Ben, some visits with friends, and some artsy stuff done too. I always forget day to day what I've done, and thus can't recall what progress I've made on my to do list, so consequently I've started keeping a weekly to do list - each weekend I write up a list of things to complete during the following week. Sometimes in the morning each day I'll highlight what I'd like to get done that day, to help keep me focused, but I mostly like to keep things open because with the store, a baby, and the nature of life in general, you never know what kind of a schedule you'll have.

I love lists. I love to cross things off a list, even if it is "take a shower." The list for this week had a little bit of everything, like take a walk, vacuum, enter products onto The Weed Patch's website, crochet some flowers, play with Ben, cook dinner, etc. B is for Ball, because I crocheted Ben a ball to play with (see photo above). It is just plain Red Heart verigated rainbow yarn I have leftover with something else, but it crocheted up into a really nice big ball. It has a bell inside to give a little jingle, and I didn't fill it too full, so then he can grasp it. Earlier this week I had picked up the unfinished project to move it out of my way, when I noticed his eyes following it. He really stared at it! So, I finished it right then and there and gave it to him to play with. He grabbed it and put it in his mouth (well, not the WHOLE thing, as it is the size of a pummelo).

B is also for Benjamin, of course. I couldn't possibly do a B entry without including him. What kind of mom would I be?

This is Ben having a bath in our kitchen sink, about a week ago or so. I think these are all a week or two old.

This is him chillin' with Grandma at the family reunion two weeks ago. He does that a lot. Just chillin'.

He attended his first birthday party this last Saturday. Our goddaughter Elise turned two this last Friday, and there was a big fat party for her - with a Curious George Theme. Andy describes the party rather accurately and amusingly, so I'll let him tell the tale.

It occurred to me at the party that within a few years, if things go on as currently planned, our casual get-togethers with our two best friends are going to be just like that - a dozen children running around to keep track of. As there were about that many children at this party, and all under kindergarden age, it gave me a little taste of reality. I liked it, fortunately, but whew! Am I going to be tired. And BUFF.

But happy. :)

Labels: Artsy Fartsy Stuff, baby, daily life, encyclopedia of me meme

A is for Armadillo

Well, A is for Alphabet. I love the alphabet - what a great invention! Symbols that stand for certain sounds, that when you put them together in a myriad of ways, you can communicate with people. How cool is that? I wouldn't be able to blog otherwise, let alone share in the knowledge of peole I'd never met, except for whatever memorized stories had been passed down from generation to generation.

This alphabet card is part of a set that I received as a baby gift for Ben. I love them! The illustrator is Melissa Sweet - she does darling works that mix fabric collage with watercolor. I especially love how broad the animals for each letter are. C isn't for Cat, but for Camel; D isn't for Dog, but for Dragonfly. How fun is that?

Ben also has an alphabet quilt, courtesy of his aunty Holly, which I unfortunately haven't been able to hang yet. I knew she was makingme a quilt, but had not expected this - it just amazed me. She appliqued one object for every letter of the alphabet, with Dick & Jane and ABC fabric quilt blocks making up the rest. Some of the letters are what you'd normally expect, such as A for apple and B for ball. But with other letters she was even more creative. I found N is for Night, and Z is for Zipper to be among the most unexpected. A nod to the guys was T for Trogdor, a Homestar Runner character that they like, and Y is for MX + B (which is a mathmatic formula that eqals Y, which you probably recall fom high school). W is for Weed Patch, our store, and she appliqued our logo. I love this quilt. What a gift!

This is a letter A that I started in pen and colored pencil - I was going to do a whole alphabet, until I realized how long this A was going to take and I gave up for other things. I would love to do an alphabet book, in felt, like a touch and feel book, for Ben. I saw something like what I'm thinking on Flickr once, but now I can't find it at all. Oh well.

Labels: Artsy Fartsy Stuff, daily life, encyclopedia of me meme, friends

Encyclopedia of Daily Life

I have gotten a little behind in reading the blogs I enjoy keeping up with, and today I read a lovely blog from Bella Dia, who shared a wonderful idea for a series of postings. She calls it Encyclopedia of Me Meme - I have no idea what Me Meme is, so I'm just calling it an encyclopedia of daily life. Here's how she explains it: Starting tomorrow, August 1st, I'm going to make a post each day of the month beginning with 'A is for...' and on the 26th day, 'Z is for...' My posts will be different random topics that somehow relate to my life and at the end I should have something similar to Amy Rosenthal's Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life. "

I think this sounds just wonderful! I love questions and prompts like this, I always write better that way. I'm afflicted with this awful problem where I think of all kinds of interesting things when I'm out and about, no where near a writing instrument, but when I get to the computer or journal, I can't think of anything useful to say whatsoever. Or, if I can think of something interesting to say, I can't think of how to write it, so I sit there and stare at the screen or blank page. That's why some of my favorite books are those where the author has written about topics I think about, and I spend the whole time pointing in my head and saying "yes, I know exactly what you mean!"

So I'm really looking forward to this, although I'm hoping I can commit to it. Normally I wouldn't worry about it, and would just write as it comes to me, but she started this on August 1st and my birthday is on the 26th, so if I keep up that means I'll have a whole alphabet of life to look back on. I am also afflicted with a remarkably poor long-term memory (when it comes to my life experiences - I can remember numbers and what products we sold at the store two years ago, and things like that, relatively well. But I couldn't tell you what my childhood lunch box was, or what trips we took every summer as a family. Sheesh!), which is why I took up journaling, and now blogging, in the first place.

I don't really know what A is going to be tomorrow, or what any of the other letters are going to be, but I'll just go with the flow and see what happens. Let me know if you are participating, I'd like to read what other people are doing. Its not too late to join in!

Labels: daily life, encyclopedia of me meme, ponderings about life

I like this guy.

"In Seattle you haven't had enough coffee until you can thread a sewing machine while it's running." - Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder

Labels: daily life, quotes

Breakfast in Tub

I had a nice morning today. Well, at first it wasn't so nice - I kinda feel like I'm coming down with something, and I did something rotten to my neck because I can hardly move it. So I took a bath to see if I could loosen it up a bit. Aaaaahhhhhh.... I haven't taken a bath since before I had Ben. (Well, I've bathed, I just haven't taken a bath. So, here I am in this gloriously yummy water, complete with orange and peppermint essential oil, when Chris brings me my favorite tea, then proceeds to make me breakfast and bring it to me in the tub. He hands me this mess of eggs and veggies, which really didn't look all that good, but it was GOOD. Really good. He just brings it in, and says he hopes it tastes good, then "oh, and I took photos for your blog." That was the best part, it cracked me up. Now he's taking photos for my blog. I love it.

It's kind of hard for me to remember to take photographs of my life, which is especially unfortunate as I never seem to remember much of anything unless I have photos to remind me. Blogging has been a wonderful way for me to start taking more photos. So has having a baby.

We've been pretty busy around here, but pleasantly so. We're starting our most difficult and exhausting, but fun time of year - converting the store to fall! Within about two weeks we should have all the fall stuff out, and it is so much fun. I don't know what it is about September and pretty much the rest of the year - it's like a universally loved season. I really enjoyed spring this year. And I am thoroughly enjoying summer. But autumn....oooo, I can't wait...

Labels: cooking, For Sale, Home Sweet Home, ponderings about life

More crafty inspiration (but again, not from me)

I'm capitalizing on my friend's blog today, partly because I'm running out the door and don't have any photos of things handy, but mostly because I just LOVE the crafty things she's posted today. Like me, she has one child, but hers is running around, can get into things, and I imagine takes more time to look after than it does for me with Ben. Nevertheless, she has several crafty artsy projects she has finished and is working on. I'm encouraged. I'm also inspired to sew. Again.

Anyway, check it out!

Labels: Artsy Fartsy Stuff, friends

Baby Craft Inspiration

Baby Craft Inspiration
Originally uploaded by rusteddragonfly

I browsed around Flickr this morning and found some inspiring photos of baby crafts that I thought I'd share. Don't you just want to sew now? I do.

New Flickr!

I have a Flickr gallery!

Back again

We are back from the family reunion. It was an extremely pleasant time, as usual, and thankfully not too hot this year. It seems that people tend to dread their family reunions (at least that is what I hear most often from folks), but we look forward to our annual get-together with great anticipation. Although my family is rather large (extended family in the 3 digits somewhere), there weren't as many people in attendance this year. Sadly, this is due to a number of health issues. I hadn't realized just how many of my family are down for one reason or another. An aunt is likely soon to pass away due to complications from failed kidneys, a young cousin is fighting a brain tumor for I think the third time, and another cousin currently occupying a nursing home bed for 6 weeks awaiting a second hip replacement. Last year one of my sweet uncles, the first of his generation, passed away from Alzheimer's (and now an aunt is showing signs of it also), and the year before that a cousin lost her battle with lung cancer. Another aunt is currently dealing with a body that won't process any nutrients from the food she eats and is thus very very weak and frail.

I always thought of us as such healthy folk, with little to no complaints or major stresses in our lives. Now, as I tally them up, it hits me that we are going through a lot right now. Family is so important to me - I can't imagine not having all my aunts and uncles and cousins. I often lament the fact that I was born the last of my generation, and thus came in to things with everyone already advanced in age. I won't get to enjoy them as long, and my children may or may not remember most of them. And they have so much to teach us.

I have been asked on many occasions, since I had Ben, how many children we plan on having. A rather person question, but I haven't minded answering. We always said we'd start with one and see how that went, then go from there. We've never been parents before, we had no idea what it was like, so how would we know how many kids we'd want to have? Now that we have Ben, Chris' answer to that question has lately been 12. Of course I have no intention of bearing that many children, but I most definitely want more than one. I love the idea of being surrounded with family - I'd like my kids to experience what its been like for me to enjoy such a large extended family. So, God willing, if we are able to (physically, financially, and of course mentally!), we'd like several. Although, I've never had to care for more than one child at a time, so I guess we'll move on to two, and again go from there. :)

So, not that anyone is really interested in that much detail about how many kids I want to have, but that's just part of what I got to thinking about when musing over my weekend. I really just intended to pop in for a quick hello before heading off to bed. My brother and sister-in-law are watching Ben for the day tomorrow, so I'll have several hours to myself to get our house back in order, and hopefully get a few more things in my shop.

Nighty night for now...