moldy to magnificent

When we moved into this house, I couldn't find our shower curtain liner.  Did I go to the store and get a new one?  uhhmm, nope.  Instead, I did this to our shower curtain:

Yup, that is nasty mold.  This is what it looked like AFTER bleaching and scrubbing and washing.  I really like this shower curtain, plain as it is.  The fabric is a sturdy hemp/linen and it wasn't cheap.  So, I decided to repair it (it was either that or cut it up and use it for something else which would have been fine but then we would be out a shower curtain). 

Considering how much I liked it when it was boring & plain, imagine how much I like it now.
 

The fabric is from my scrap bin.  It's a simple project but gosh, I love how it has transformed our bathroom.  Who doesn't love some jewel tones sprinkled here and there?  And yes, I did go out and get a new shower curtain liner.

the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

The good:
It's a bit of a tradition to head to Leavenworth (more specifically, Icicle Creek Canyon) for Eric's birthday weekend.  The weather is usually warm and dry on the east side of the mountains come spring time - or, at least warmer and dryer than it is here.  We camped at 8 mile campground in a perfect spot near the river.  Andra, Steve, and Neve joined us - yay for good friends, campfires, great conversation, and fun times. Friday we climbed, Saturday we hiked, and Sunday brought more climbing.  Our hike on Saturday was magical.  As we were hiking up the canyon in t-shirts, we noticed some specks floating down from the sky.  When we stopped for a rest, I saw that the specks were MELTING!  It was snow...the sky was blue above us.  The snowflakes were drifting towards us from the clouds to the west and, although we were under warm sunny skies, there was snow falling on our heads.  The climbing was great - I was stronger than I expected...thanks to all the PT work I've done this winter. 

We had a great time and came home with raw fingers, sore bodies, happy kids, and feeling relaxed & rejuvenated. 

The bad:
In the midst of packing up from the picnic area, I left behind my festival quilt.  This is the quilt that has been everywhere with us since Rowan was born - beaches, camping, climbing, festivals.  I made it while I was pregnant with her.  I remember the thumping of the sewing machine next to my big belly - wondering what she thought of the rhythm of cut, sew, iron, sew.  I loved that quilt.  It's hard to part with it...another lesson in "letting go" - when will I learn that lesson so that I will stop losing things (isn't that how it works)?   Well, I'll be making another before summer...you can be sure of that!

See it?  In the background there?  (sniff sniff)

The ugly:
Millworks.  We found out right before our weekend trip that our appraisal came in low.  Way low.  Unrealistically low.  "There must be a mistake" type of low.  Without a reasonable appraisal, the bank won't (can't) lend us the money.  The bank is still reviewing the appraisal so we still don't have details - all they have told us is that it doesn't look good.  I'm somehow optimistic.  After all, mercury is in retrograde this week.  I'll blame it on that.

There is hope that we can somehow overcome this *HUGE* obstacle.  After all, we have overcome so many obstables over the course of this journey.  The power of positive thought is huge...so, think some good thoughts for us!

happy birthday my sunshine

:: 35 years and I'm lucky enough to have spent the past 13 getting to know you ::

(sweet song by Brett Dennen so turn your sound on)

His birthday is actually on Saturday but we'll be in Leavenworth: camping, climbing, enjoying the sun and relaxing.  Happy weekend everyone!

this moment

[A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - inspired by soulemama]

yet another craft I may one day need to try

I love fabric.  It's been a while since I have bought anything new since I have a huge shelf full of fabric awaiting projects in my craft room.  I haven't had much energy for creating lately either - which makes buying any new fabric completely out of the question.  I have two projects in mind right now - one is a repair job and the other is something I've been wanting to get to for ages.  But, instead of repairing or creating, I've been surfing.  I've been drooling over all sorts of new fabrics that are out there...I especially like all those little japanese & japanese inspired prints - you know, the ones with little houses and tiny mushrooms or unicorns and fairy tales. 

Then, today, I came across spoonflower - custom printed fabric.  Basically, you just upload a design and they print fabric.  You can even have it printed on organic cotton fabric.  How cool is that?  The catch? It's pricey.  Way over my budget.  Maybe, when I win the lottery, I can print my own designs.  Wow, another level of crafting has just been discovered.  

fields of color

The Tulip Festival.  Amazing color.  The pictures don't do it justice (do they ever?).  It's pretty incredible to see rows and rows of flowers extending for what seems like miles.  Here is a glimpse...

It was super windy... hair was blowing...Rowan took cover face down in between the rows of purple. 

computer free for a day

It's not easy for me to stay away from the computer.  I find myself reaching for the laptop whenever I feel restless or bored or like I need to reach out to an adult of some sort after a long day with the kids.  I also have one of those pesky little iPhones that taunt you with their "don't ya wanna check your email?" and "wonder who's been posting on facebook?" all day long.  It is amazing how much time I spend in front of a computer for someone who doesn't work (well, you know, in the traditional sense of the word anyway...the stuff I do is certainly work).  And sure, here I am right now, typing away as the kids sleep.

But, the other day I decided to take a vacation from my computer.  Let me clarify that a bit - a regular, ordinary day at home away from the computer...not while on vacation or out of wifi range.  One whole, ordinary day (24 hours which ended up being more like 36 - not that I am counting or anything). And, wow...it was wonderful.

I'll admit that the morning was hard.  I always check email in the morning.  Since there usually isn't anything of supreme importance in my inbox, it usually takes only a minute or two and I'm done.  Computer closed.  But, I still check it - every morning.   I think the need (okay, desire) to check my email in the morning is left over from my working days...which really, aren't that far in the past.  (uh-hmm, excuses, excuses)

But alas, I did it...I spend the entire day away from the computer.  No email, no facebook, no blogging.  Not even a second.  I found myself spending more time being in the moment.  I wasn't distracted by that thing that sits on the coffee table.  I didn't have anything I "needed to look up" and I never said to Rowan "just a second, I need to check the weather."  If I didn't know the answer to something, I didn't google it, I just wondered about it a while or I asked someone who might know the answer.  I experienced the rain and didn't care when (or if) it was going to stop.  I did some deep breathing at the park while watching one kid jump off high places and the other kid eat rocks.  After a while, I stopped thinking about it entirely and was here...mothering.  It was nice.  Very nice.

I'm certainly going to do it again sometime soon...like, perhaps tomorrow.  It was that nice.

mountain biking is to hiking as...

...skiing is to snowshoeing.  I don't like to snowshoe.  The reason why I don't like to snowshoe is because I am a pretty good skier.  On skis, I can get further out than I can on snowshoes and then I can get down much faster.  Not to mention, the getting down is the fun part when on tele skis.  Going downhill in snowshoes?  Not the case.  I do like to hike - at least for the time being - though the mountain bike has threatened that.

Eric got a mountain bike for his birthday this year (an early birthday present - his birthday isn't until late April).  In all honestly, I have never had any desire to try mountain biking.  He's been talking about it for ages and has been unable to get me excited about it.  Well, all that changed when I took the bike for a test spin last weekend.  It's amazing how easy it was to climb the hill...and then coming down was exhilarating! Lucky for me, we are about the same size and thus, use the same size bicycle. I went on a "real" ride this morning and fell in love with moving fast in the mountains.  I spent lots of time walking the bike up the steep parts but had an amazing ride down.  I was covered in mud and fell 3 times but managed to come back in one piece.  Now I am sore all over.  I love that feeling.

My question of the day - is 34 too old to start a new sport like this?  I am honestly afraid I might really hurt myself on the thing...and recovery is slow these days.  One thing I learned not to do was to take photos while riding.  Nope, not a good idea.

this moment

[A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - inspired by soulemama]