Wednesday, March 31, 2010

life is a verb: Give Away!

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count.
It's the life in your years." - Abraham Lincoln

I'm finding it very difficult to write something that describes just how beautiful this book is. I can tell you that I had to put it down several times to let the stories simmer in my soul. I can tell you that I went back to read the entire book a few more times. I can tell you that it made me laugh so loud once (toast rules) that a certain neighbor shot a curious glance at my hammock and of course I had to share the book with her. I can also tell you that I dropped more than a few tears into its folds. Patti has a gift for illuminating the messages woven into ordinary moments. Written as a manual for a full and happy life, from a Mother for her two daughters, Patti unravels the luminous threads that connect us all.

It's Spring...the season symbolic for the renewal of life! If you would like a gentle nudge to live your life with intention and awareness, then grab yourself a copy of this book...grab a copy for someone you love.

The generous folks at Globe Pequot Press is allowing me to give away a copy of this beautiful book to one lucky reader. Kindly leave a comment at the end of this post by midnight on Monday, April 5th and the winner will be picked by random generator on Wednesday, April 7th!

Patti's new book will be in stores this Fall. I can hardly wait!

*Please provide a means to contact you. If you comment anonymously, I will be unable to notify you if you win...you will need to check back for winner information.

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posted by Wendy at 5:23 AM 16 comments

Monday, March 29, 2010

Most Alive Monday: Wanderings & Ponderings

(Egg Hunt, Kite Festival, Cherry Blossom Festival)

Mama, how do you make shoe laces?

















Mama, what are peppercorns?






















Mama, what does the tooth fairy do with all the teeth?






















Mama, did you see any dinosaurs when you were a little girl?
















*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.

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posted by Wendy at 5:10 AM 2 comments

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Weathering a Day...

or the part where I confess how I keep my wee boy entertained when I'm under the weather...

Watercolors, breakfast cereal, pajamas 'til noon if possible...
Temporary tattoos, body markers, mac n' cheese...
Comb-overs and foam soap beards. Kipper and Quiet-Time....
































*Forts, battery operated candles and snacks.


* We make forts from a sheet and use clothes pins to attach it to the back of the sofa or clipped to his stage curtains like tent. We recently purchased these toy bins at Ikea. I like them, even though they're plastic, because they are light, stackable, translucent AND have WHEELS so he can move them to where he wants to play. They also make great walls for forts! And believe it or not, they sort of blend right into our living/play area, see here. Our fort making history is here!

and last, but not least *Peace Potion and pizza for dinner...

*On the kitchen floor for easy clean-up: Add food coloring to some vinegar and set out a small cup of baking soda, a tray to catch foam overflow and a towel to catch spills. Give the wee one a tiny measuring spoon, an eyedropper, medicine cups, some tiny squeeze bottle to package the potions and enjoy a moment of peace while waiting for the Dada to bring home pizza for dinner.How do you while away the hours on such days?

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posted by Wendy at 5:40 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Beauty!

or why I can't wait until April 1st! Head on over to Maezen's site and gassho...

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posted by Wendy at 6:35 AM 0 comments

Monday, March 22, 2010

Most Alive Monday: Forgetting If, Remember Yes


We picked the first flowers of the season.





















We took an earlier bus to OT for a mushroom cheese melt and a malt in town. We took our minds off the lack of air on the bus by writing funny words and trying not to laugh. There was a wee girl sitting across from us with a runny nose, so I wrote SNOTS and scored a reward of laughter. Satch wrote BUM and other words associated with BUMS, you can imagine.
















We worked in the garden, ate all our meals al fresco (before the skeeters hatch) and we climbed trees.





















We held an art class in our dining room and a pizza picnic dinner on the hill.
















We roasted marshmallows with our neighbors.





Happy
Spring!














*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.

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posted by Wendy at 5:38 AM 1 comments

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Seasonal Book Basket: Spring

A warm day and a walk to the vernal pool...


To celebrate the arrival of Spring we began migrating appropriate books to our seasonal book basket. Along the way, we had the opportunity to review and discover some new favorites:

A wonderful story about how a young moose finds his way home after wandering into a nearby village. Little ones experience what animal instincts may feel like.


We're completely smitten with this book about the wonders of animal migration. The lyrical text will captivate the wee ones and the factual blurbs will fascinate "big kids". I especially love the map on the last page which gives one a sense of just how far some animals travel.


Under One Rock explores the interconnectedness of all living things, told in a similar cumulative format as the Mother Goose classic, This is the House that Jack Built...only what could be better than bugs and slugs!

All that mud around the vernal pool had us thinking about animal tracks, so we revisited this old favorite that we found at a used book sale. Later, we did some stamping with our animal track stamps.

*More faves from our Spring Book Basket here!

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posted by Wendy at 5:58 AM 1 comments

Monday, March 15, 2010

Most Alive Monday: Wabbit Season

I like Rabbit, because he uses short, easy words like,
"How about lunch? - Winnie the Pooh

I'm being treated by a chiropractor with hopes of preventing anymore migraines. While my neck was being adjusted, he told me that his daughter's rabbit had babies and I swooned. So, he offered to stop by our house with some bunnies for us to hold. How cool is that?!?!


His first rabbit encounter...














and mine circa 1960something....

















My wee boy helped me to make some felted Easter eggs and we took them to the local Kiddie haunt where they are now on sale!

If you live in our hood and loathe plastic eggs and want a cozy earth-friendly alternative, go check out our eggiwegs.

We took advantage of the warmth before the rain, spending lots of time outdoors. A pack of neighborhood kidlets flocked to our fort...they added a moss carpet and a pine bough roof. A mum and son nature walk revealed 1 salamander and a small herd of very large deer...we backed away from our fellow herbivores and they did the same. On Saturday we took a stroll in the drizzle to see a play performed by our local Young Actors Theater. They were terrific!

Lastly, I was delighted to see my Lola Hair Clip Tutorial on one of my favorite blogs, Kids Haus!

*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.

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posted by Wendy at 5:26 AM 0 comments

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Branchworks

Let me stop to say a blessing for these woods:
for crows barking and squirrels scampering,
for trees and fungus and multi-colored leaves,
for the way sunlight laces with shadows
through each branch and leaf of tree,
for these paths that take me in,
for these paths that lead me out. - Michael S. Glaser

So happy to be feeling like myself again. Inspired by Patrick Dougherty and Roxaboxen, we spent the afternoon building a fort from fallen branches. We used three trees as supports to build this circular fort. Too hard to photograph - WAY cooler in person. You'll have to take my word for it.




Some tree lubbin' adventures we hope to do this upcoming warm season...
And I know I've posted this before, but it bears repeating...

Diego Stocco - Music From A Tree from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.

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posted by Wendy at 5:49 AM 1 comments

Monday, March 08, 2010

Most Alive Monday: Happy Mom

"Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous!" - Willy Wonka

I want to take a moment to thank everyone for their support, well wishes and resources. I feel so blessed that my diary has enabled me to connect with so many kindreds and even more blessed to have developed friendships with some of you in person. I've said it time and again, I'm the luckiest person on Earth.
I received a comment last week that gave me pause and I wanted to take a moment to respond to it because I don't want anyone thinking that I'm something I'm not. For the record, I am an oridinary person. I have good days and bad days just like the rest of the world. I get tired, I get frustrated, I lose patience, I get annoyed with my husband, I get sick and that is pretty darn ordinary, isn't it?

Last week, I received a comment from happymom which read:

"Wow - what a bummer. I am amazed that you can suffer migraines, and still find the energy for Most Alive Mondays and crystals, and chocolate strawberries. You are an amazing person."


And here I must respond and dispel any myths and snark that I'm an "amazing" person...

My migraines lasted approx 10 hours each, though I would have to confer with my husband as I lost track of time due to the pain. The next day or two after the migraine, I felt pretty much like crap, exhausted and achy, but I couldn't flop because I have a 4 1/2 year old son who wants to do stuff.

This blog is my diary and very much a part of my own self care...especially Most Alive Mondays because it reminds me to be aware of the beauty in the ordinary. Each week I look for a moment that felt special to me in some way and then I add it to the queue to post automatically on the following Monday. So, as the new week unfolds, I have that moment from the prior week to reflect upon as a buoy for the week ahead. Something light to float on in the event of a crappy day that we all have from time to time, but rather not cling to.

My son was extremely excited about the crystal growing kit that his dad bought during their trip to the museum (while I rested from the postdrome aka migraine hangover) and heartbroken when we realized how toxic the kit was. Thankfully, crystals don't require any energy on my part, short of boiling some sugar syrup and pouring it into a jar. The rest is up to evaporation which I have nothing to do with. To his credit, my wee son agreed to wait until the following day to give me just a bit more recovery time before our Rock Candy experiment.

With regard to the chocolate covered strawberries, it seemed like a simple request. Melt some chocolate in the microwave, let cool and enjoy the hush while the wee boy is dipping berries. A moment of sweet peace from a very patient boy waiting for his mama to get better.









Indeed, the 3 migraines I've had were a bummer, in fact, they down right sucked. But what sucked even more than the pain was not being able to enjoy my son. You see, if given a choice, I would much rather be on the floor playing Legos with my son than barfing in the back of an ambulance. I am grateful for those moments when the pain ebbed...those moments when something so simple and effortless like making rock candy or dipping strawberries became an absolute wonder and delight to my son.

I'm not amazing, that's "crystal" clear! Yet the world is amazing to one little boy who just discovered that he could grow candy on a stick.

*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.

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posted by Wendy at 5:36 AM 4 comments

Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Insane in the Membrane

So we've been having a bit of a rough patch over here. I had what appears to be three migraines in two weeks. Each one waking me from sleep at 3 AM and torturing me for the entire day. I had no aura or advanced notice that it was a migraine...only the left side of neck felt odd and swallowing felt difficult. I just assumed I was getting some sort of virus, but woke up instead feeling like my head and neck were being bludgeoned. The first one landed me willingly in the ER where the CT scan was thankfully normal, and meds were administered. They medicated me, then sent me home with an Rx for Compazine, if needed. I spent the entire next day on the sofa feeling like I had been hit by a truck.

The second migraine was like the aftershock and that arrived two days later. This time I made an appointment with a neurologist. He asked a lot of question and did some poking. To his surprise I could not feel the pin he was jabbing me with above my left knee. I explained that the numbness in that leg arrived after my unplanned c-section and 2 subsequent blood patches due to a loss of CSF from the epidural for C-Section. Even so, he ordered an MRI of the brain. It too, is thankfully normal. There were two small patchy areas noted. One, he explained, is typically seen in people who have suffered severe migraines. The other, is kind of like scarring, and likely the result of the migraine. Migraines are not headaches...migraines are so extreme that they cause damage. He prescribed Ultracet for pain, Skelaxin for the spasms in my neck.

When I got my energy back a few days later, I tried to get our neglected nest back in order... I cleaned the house, did the laundry etc. Then exactly two weeks later I got a third migraine. I told Satch he could watch tv, then phoned the Great Robinsky to come home, then took half the dose of Ultracet as I was afraid to be loopy when I was home alone with Satch. Robert called the neurologist and said that the doctor suggested I take Skelaxin, Ultracet and Compazine. I protested that it seemed like it was too much medicine to take all at once, but I did what was recommended. I just don't understand how meds are dosed the same for adults. Though I am 46 years old, my body is the size and weight of some 12 year old boys. Would you give a 12 year old and adult dose?

Some time after, I began feeling a very strong vibration in my toes and traveling up my body. It literally felt like someone was holding a buzzer to my body...and the next thing I knew my feet and hands twisted up in spasm and I couldn't turn my head. Robert offered to take me to the hospital, but I couldn't move. I suggested he call 911.

I don't know how many people were standing around my bed because I could hardly see. My left eye didn't seem to be working right and I couldn't move or turn my head to get a look. One of the medics asked, "are you having anxiety" and I said, "I wasn't before, but I'm scared right now". There were lots of hands and voices and I was hoisted downstairs like Shamu and placed on a stretcher where I proceeded to toss my cookies. Then I was in the back of an ambulance with oxygen and an IV. I think he said he was giving me Zofran for the nausea. I barely remember the ride to the hospital. I only have snippets of scenes in my head, but not a complete memory.

I was wheeled into the ER, and remember lots of questions from many faces, one of which was a very hostile nurse. I'll never forget her and how nasty she was. I actually remember saying to her, "Trust me, I don't want to be here any more than you want me here". Questions, lots of them, followed my snippy interjections by the hostile nurse, "ONE WORD ANSWER YES OR NO".
Then I heard the doctor say to Robert, "I can tell you EXACTLY what happened to her... after she took the Compazine... Dystonic...Dystonic... I heard this word over and over. Then the hostile nurse came to inject meds into my IV and I asked for the name of the mediation. She wouldn't tell me. She just kept saying, "it's an antidote that will stop the reaction you are having to all the meds". Then she came to inject another med and I asked again. She wouldn't answer. I said, "I need to know because I don't want narcotics...I want to know that you are not giving me a narcotic because I don't want to be spaced out". She said, "I don't think you could be anymore spaced out than you are right now". (Oh, she was so lovely) Robert chimed in and said, "My wife requests the name of the medication", and then the hostile nurse turned and said, "It's Methocarbamol, do you even know what that is?" Robert said, "Yes, actually I do...I practice judiciary law and read medical charts all day". Then sometime after that, she picked up Satch very abruptly and said curtly, "LOOK AT ME". He turned his whole body away from her. He did not want her to touch him (partly because of his tactile defensiveness and partly because of bad vibe). I tried to say something, but I was so out of it. I was hoping Robert would stop her, but I think all three of us were stunned into speechlessness as her actions were so inappropriate, aggressive and utterly shocking.

*Note to self, remind Satch that he can say no to anyone that he doesn't want touching him and we will insure that his boundaries are respected.

Shortly after the meds took affect, I had some relief but was completely out of it. I don't remember the ride home, but I do remember getting out of our car and barfing in our parking lot before finishing the walk to the house. I remember I had no shoes on because sidewalk was darn cold. I remember only snippets.

I had a follow up appt with my neurologist yesterday about the dystonic reaction that landed me in the ER. It turned out that he did not instruct Robert to give me Compazine because it was prescribed by the ER not him. Robert made a mistake. The neurologist told Robert to give me Skelaxin and Ultracet. I nearly broke down and cried, but kept it together because Satch was sitting beside me. I told my neurologist that feel exhausted and that my left arm, neck and back are extremely sore. He said that I should rest and that I may feel this way for up to a week after one migraine. I've had 3 in two weeks and I can tell you I feel pretty terrible....I'm exhausted, queasy and the left side of my body aches so badly that it's actually hard to keep my left arm up to type this.

I need to find out more about my headaches and how to stop them. The pain defies description. I had migraines as a child, but never had them as an adult. As an adult, I only had headaches and they would go away quickly after taking a Motrin. The migraines are quite different...they come out of nowhere and are intense and debilitating. I can't stand up. The left side of my body becomes weak with sort of a numb/tingly/achy sensation. It is horrific. I need to find the right treatment because I need to be functional for Satch, not doped up. I also need to find a babysitter who is loving, fun and trustworthy and would be willing to step in and watch Satch if I have another migraine.

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posted by Wendy at 5:38 AM 16 comments

Monday, March 01, 2010

Most Alive Monday: Crystals, Confections, Critters

"It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all" - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Last week while I was resting from the aftermath of a severe migraine (a story for a different post), Robert took our son to the Chinese New Year Parade and then to a museum where our son went loco over a little crystal growing kit. Our son is interested in so many things...insects, volcanoes, robots, marine life, and crystals (to name a few). So the boys came home with a little kit and when I peeled myself off the sofa to help our son with the preparations, I noticed that it was highly toxic. Apparently my husband didn't read the fine print on the kit. Our son was terribly disappointed, but I explained that I knew a way we could grow crystals that weren't toxic, and were actually edible. I told him we would make Rock Candy the following day. I explained how as the water evaporates from the syrup, the sugar crystals grow on the stick. You can imagine how excited he was...what could be better than a rock you can eat!

The instructions are below. I added 1/2 tsp of peppermint extract to give it some flavor. Here is a photo of the crystal growth after just a couple of days.






















  • 1/2 cups water
  • 1 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/2-1 tsp flavoring extract
  • glass jar
  • wood skewer
  • clothes pins
1. Place the water in a medium-sized pan and bring to a boil. Add sugar slowly while stirring. Continue to stir and boil the syrup until all of the sugar has been dissolved. Remove from heat.
3. Allow the sugar syrup to cool for approx. 10 minutes then add extract and pour it into a clean jar.

4. Dip the tip of the skewer in the syrup then into a tiny bit of sugar to create a little coating for the crystals to cling to. Hang the skewer with the clothes pins so that it hangs about 1 inch from the bottom.
5. Place your jar in a cool place, where it can sit undisturbed. Cover the top loosely with plastic wrap or paper towel to protect from dust.
5. Sugar crystals forming within 2-4 hours. Allow it to grow as large as you want then remove it.
I guess the delayed gratification of waiting for Rock Candy began to trigger some interest with his sweet receptors because he then asked if we could make chocolate covered strawberries like the ones he saw at the sweet shop in town. So, I tempered a small bowl of chocolate, gave him some organic strawberries and he had a blast. In his own words, "This is the best thing ever!"











In other news, our Katydid that our son found after the first frost has died. I am surprised that it lived as long as it did because the lifespan of an adult Katydid is brief. It lived out it's lifecycle in the lap of luxury dining on baby greens, and sipping fresh water from a bottle cap. It was certainly the only Katydid who has seen a blizzard and lived to tell the tale while warm and safe in it's home on our window sill. We had a little burial ceremony in our snow covered garden. Farewell, little Meadow Dancer...thank you for all that you taught us!

*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.

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posted by Wendy at 5:30 AM 2 comments