Seeing the Everyday

Satch has given up his afternoon nap which renders the afternoon a bit dramatic. He gets irritable, frustrates easily...well you can imagine. I can no longer read him a book in bed (he's on to me) as he knows it is likely to induce a nap. So, at around 3pm, we head for the sofa to recharge. Satch picks out a movie (he likes the Nick Park stuff) and I pick up this magazine.

Seeing the Everyday is the only magazine I subscribe to. It's Ad free and very inspiring. My husband wanted to know why I felt so passionate about this magazine, why I immediately called our local book store and library. I explained, "it reminds me of when I was a child at a family gathering and everyone was sitting around sharing their stories".

Seeing the Everyday celebrates the family experience by sharing seemingly ordinary moments of extraordinary beauty.

I would like to thank my dear Antje for her gentle reminder to see the everyday and the creators of Seeing the Everyday for adding a bit more beauty to the world.

Have a good weekend everyone. See you Monday.

Snow Day 2009

Finally! We've waited all winter for a good snow and we finally got it. So, I filled our thermos with organic hot cocoa and headed for the hills. (We have a golf course next to our home). We were joined by the Goodhart family whom I'm pretty certain would agree, we had a spankin' good time!

Watch!

"Mama, watch me do sumpin AMAZING!" - Satch











I wonder what other amazing things I'll see today.

What wonders have you seen?

Most Alive Monday: Shadows

Deep in the woods on the coldest day of winter a little boy drops his mitten...

The Shadow Puppet Workshop was magical. After watching a puppet show, the children chose an animal from the story, "The Mitten" and created (with their mama's help) a shadow puppet. Satch was a hedgehog.

After some practice at the screen, children lined up and waited for their cue, " a______came along and asked to squeeze into the mitten and the other animals said -you can try".

*About Most Alive Monday: I've decided to make at least one "most alive choice" each day and post my favorite each Monday. This, of course, is to motivate me to consciously "live juicy"! I hope you'll join me and share your "most alive moment" in the comments section so we may inspire each other.

Vintage Royal

Satch has been feverishly typing "imbuhtayshunz" to tea parties and puppet shows on his vintage Royal Futura.

We're heading out early this morning for a shadow puppet workshop based on a story we love and know by heart, "The Mitten". We've been looking forward to this for months.

Here's some free printable animal masks to make the story come alive.

Thanks, Jan!

Have a good weekend. See you Monday!

Spinning

"We come spinning out of nothingness,
scattering stars like dust" - Rumi

After one week of careful observation, Satch declared, "Mama, chopsticks do not grow", and removed the stick from his experiment.

Fireball

Satch: Mama, what's that?
Me: It's an Atomic Fireball left over from Halloween that I meant to throw out.

a few moments later...

Satch: Mama, I'm hiding under the table so I don't get in trouble.
Me: Are you trying to open the fireball?
Satch: Yes
Me: Satch, It's a very spicy choking hazard.
Satch: Please may I have it?
Me: Ok, but I will need to break it into small pieces first.
Satch: (excitedly) OK OK OK
Me: Now here's the deal...when you see how hot this is I don't want you to get upset since I already warned you about it...just spit it out in this bowl and drink some water, ok?
Satch: YES! (takes it and goes back under the table)

a few moments later...

Satch: YOU'RE RIGHT IT'S HOT!
Me: Then spit it out.
Satch: No, I'm on the verge of enjoying a snack.

Most Alive Monday: New Terrain

" Time and again you'll be stripped of your preconceptions, judgments, ideas, theories and opinions of motherhood and left to go straight on through the inexplicable experience itself"
- Karen Maezen Miller

Three years old is a whole new terrain. When things get bumpy (oh and they DO get bumpy), I try to hold a happy moment in my mind. Like this one above...watching Satch and R sharing a pizza together.

I made soup for dinner and since we didn't have any crusty bread in the house to go with it, I figured I would crumble up some soy bacon to sprinkle on top. Little did I know this would prove to be an unthinkable horror to my son who, upon my placing the bowl on the table, screamed and wailed, " NO NO NO it's broken...I don't eat broken...broken doesn't taste good". It was an unbelievable scene.

Note to self, add "broken things" to his list of loathes:

• anything green
• anything that has so much as a speck of tomato sauce
• taking a bath
• wearing his coat
• using the potty

*AND remember anything that he loves today may be loathed tomorrow!

He insisted that we had more soy bacon. I begged to differ and pleaded my case. I validated his feelings. Still, he was inconsolable. This went on for some time until I completely lost my mind (as well as my hearing) so I went to the kitchen and nearly tore the freezer door off in anger and frustration looking for more soy bacon. Thankfully, I found another package of soy bacon (so now he thinks I'm a liar) and cooked a piece for him.

Then after listening to his lengthy monologue about how broken pieces don't taste good, he picked up his perfect and overly processed soy bacon slice and accidentally dropped it on the floor. It shattered into a million pieces and the whole ugly scene made an encore performance.

By the time I returned with yet another piece of perfectly formed soy bacon, my soup was cold. I kept wondering why the situation became so unnerving and what I could have done differently. Then I decided that instead of beating myself up over it, I would hold a thought of something that made me smile...Satch and his friend sharing a pizza.

*About Most Alive Monday: I've decided to make at least one "most alive choice" each day and post my favorite each Monday. This, of course, is to motivate me to consciously "live juicy"! I hope you'll join me and share your "most alive moment" in the comments section so we may inspire each other.

And the Winners Are...

We got up a bit late this morning because Elvis the cat was howling. I thought it was early morning because our room was so bright, but realized it was the moon. It took me a long time to get back to sleep, hence the late rise and subsequent late post. I used a random number generator that I found via google, and punched in numbers 1-10, (obviously omitting my own comment). Here are the winners.
(Drum Roll)....

Granola Girl

and
Shelley

Thank you for your comments. See you Monday.

Ahoy!

"Pan who and what art thou?" Hook cried huskily.
"I'm youth, I'm joy," Peter answered at a venture. - J.M. Barrie

We've been sailing the seas of our bathroom sink with our tiny pirate ship made from a walnut shell , toothpick and paper. Of course, Satch LOVES using the nutcracker.

And after breakfast we'll be heading out to see Rocknoceros at Jammin' Java with some new friends and then to Noodles & Co for lunch.

Explorer of the World

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." - Joseph Chilton Pearce

The high winds over the holidays knocked a lot of branches down. We found one with some buds on it and brought it home to see if we can get the buds to open and reveal leaves or flowers.

Satch added to the experiment by placing a chopstick in the glass because, he said, "chopsticks are wood and wood comes from trees".








And without any information on my part, Satch has figured out that there may be a way to hoist himself with the pulley that Santa brought him. I wasn't planning on showing him that trick until he was a bit older.



His explorations are getting more complicated and I can't help thinking about some early Satch science.

This post is dedicated to Keri Smith. She surprised me with a copy of her new book over the holidays and I'm seriously loving it.

(Thank you, Keri!)


If you don't already have Keri's book, GO GET IT!

Mom to Mom: Carrol Caldwell

I had the good fortune of crossing paths with a creative mama who recently made my life a bit easier. You see, I love painting quotes on walls. On the bedroom wall of my former NYC flat, I painted a quote by Colette, "It is beyond dispute that I can fly in dreams".


And I once manifested a major quote painting fiesta at this OB/GYN's office in upstate NY. It was a rewarding, yet arduous task even with my old Astroscope opaque projector and a crew.

So you can imagine my curiosity when I stumbled upon Wall Words. I contacted them regarding a custom quote for above our fireplace.
















The product reminded me very much of the Letraset press-type rub on lettering that I used in art school back in the 80's. However, Wall Words are pre-spaced. No measuring! No aligning! And here's the kicker...it took me less than FIVE minutes to put up. Less than FIVE MINUTES and just in time for our solstice celebration!!! Seriously, my husband timed it. The quote would normally have taken me an entire afternoon to align, draw and paint above our fireplace.

So I decided to chat with Carrol, the mama-inventor of Wall Words about motherhood and the launch of her business. Dare I mention that she is also giving away two ready-made quotes? Simply leave a comment at the end of this post (specify which quote you would like) and I will use a random generator to pick the winners on Thursday.

• Every time a child is born... the world lights up with new possibilities
• Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away

*Carrol is also giving a generous 25% discount to Mother Rising readers until January 31, 2009. Click here to receive a discount code for 25% off your order.

It is my pleasure to introduce to you...


Mom: Carrol Caldwell
Mom to: Adam (37); Suzy (35)
Grandma to: Mira (1 mo)
Where: California
Site: Wall Words


1. In what ways has becoming a mother changed you?

It made me think outside of myself and put others before me.

2. What is one tip you would like to share about mothering?

Mothering doesn’t stop when their 18. In fact, I think that’s when they need you most because their facing so many choices and they need your input.

3. What is your creative outlet/medium?

I raise love birds, paralets and finches. Also I enjoy painting murals.

4. How do you orchestrate motherhood and your creative passion?

I found it hard to have time for my artwork when the kids were small, but as they grew I could include them and teach them. Today my daughter is a graphic designer and my son is a musician and sells fine wine. They are both creative and understand that they have to love what they do in order to live a happy life.

5. What inspired you to launch your business, Wall Words?

I'm a graphic designer and I hand painted signs as part of my job. I used to enjoy hand-lettering quotations on the walls of my home. I had found a wonderful old print from the 1800's of a half submerged mermaid hugging a lad who was standing on some rocks in the ocean. I thought it would be fun to have the print across from the commode and then have this poem start in the corner and run around the bathroom.

"A mermaid found a swimming lad and took him for her own. Pressed her body to his body, laughed; and plunging down, forgot in cruel happiness that even lovers drown." - Yeats

One using the facilities would see the print, then start reading the poem and (hopefully) chuckle. But painting this long quotation by Yeats in my bathroom while tottering on a stepladder was agonizingly slow. In 8 months I had only painted 5 words. I decided there had to be a better way, so designed the text on my computer and had vinyl letters made by a display company. It took me 20 minutes to install. It was quick and easy to apply, and people thought it was hand painted.

6. What grounds you, moves you, fills your well?

I like to come up with new and creative ways of putting art on walls. I also love when customers send us photos of what they created with our products. We've received so many wonderful photos that we started “Photo of the Week” so that we could inspire others with our customer's creations. In addition, we award a $30 gift certificate for the best “Photo of the Week”.

I would also like to say that I have a wonderful staff who helps me with the creative process and helps to manifest the creative vision of my customers. I couldn’t do this without them. Then there’s my husband whom, while making a kit car, does ALL the cooking in our home. I get home late most nights and he has a glass of wine waiting for me on the counter and dinner is ready. You have to love a man like that!

*Most Alive Monday will resume next week.