A Visit to Great-Grandma's House

If you go to the Midwest, you have to eat jello salad at least once. My grandma's favorite: green jello and canned pears.


The Sprout, her Grandma Rose and Great-Gramma Kulp. We all have the same eyes. Or so we've been told.

Summer Camp

This week the Sprout and I are in the middle of the country enjoying time with our family. My sister and her five children also converged on my parent's house for the week. This convergence we're calling Grandma and Grandpa's Summer Camp. Keeping six kids 8 and under supervised and entertained every day can be quite a task. Fortunately, my mom planned some activities in advance and my sister and I added some too.

So far we've:
--visited Great Grandma
--played outside a lot--swing, wading pool, bubbles
--visited my aunt and uncle's dairy farm to pet the calves and climb on the tractors
--went to an Amish zoo (no, not Amish in cages, but a zoo run by an Amish family on their farm)
--watched the Ramona and Beezuz movie
--the Big Kids went to Vacation Bible School every night in the best Midwestern summer tradition

I brought along a personal crafty project--a little quilt top to piece that has been niggling around in the back of my head for awhile. Ha ha. I forgot how much energy keeping up with a pack of kids requires. When they sleep, all the adults sleep too.

Just like Summer Camp.

Hello, Summer Deb!

I know there are a few other teachers who read this blog and will understand when I say there is a rocky transition from School Deb to Summer Deb every year. Most years it takes me about a week to move from full-press Go mode to a more relaxed summer pace and routine. This year I felt like Clark Kent whipping on his cape when I made the transition in record time--one weekend.

On the last Friday of the school year, I worked all the way to 5:00 pm tying up the last loose ends. Then I went to Birthday Party #1 at a friend's house (a barbecue, the perfect summer activity). Saturday morning we helped host Birthday Party #2 for our little housemate (sitting on the front porch in the sunshine, the second most perfect summer activity).







Then I had a haircut (summer hair) and a pedicure (summer sandal feet) before Birthday Party #3 for my dear friend Stacey at our favorite Mexican restaurant (which, of course, included a margarita, the perfect summer drink).



Sunday was Fathers Day so we slept in most deliciously, and then the Sprout and I took the Wise and Bearded One out for his favorite coffee (Stumptown). Then we roamed around the Pearl District and checked out Salt and Straw, the much-hyped fancy ice cream shop in town. If you're a Portlander and haven't been there yet, let me say the hype is well-deserved. Salted caramel ice cream (the pinnacle of summer desserts).


And that's how I transformed from hyper-focused School Deb to mostly-relaxed Summer Deb in the blink of an eye. I feel a tiny bit like Superman.

Back to Blogging

The last few weeks of blog silence can be directly attributed to the intensity of the end of the school year in my district. I work as a Teacher on Special Assignment (TOSA) for the director of special education in my district coordinating the high school and post-high special education programs. That means I work beside the teachers on the cases of complicated students and oversee a lot of legal paperwork. The end of the school year is always busy but this year was even more so with shrinking budgets (again) causing the closing of some schools and a reconfiguration of buildings that means my office needed to be completely packed up before I left for the summer.

Whatever. This blog isn't about my job, but I thought you deserved an explanation for the absence. So let's get on to the real business of this blog, alright? Pictures of the Sprout for her adoring fans (aka grandparents)









In the midst of the end-of-year stress, the talented Rachel Austin and family invited us out to the Oregon coast for the weekend. Miss A. and the Sprout are good playmates and friends so it was a restful break for me and gave me the energy I needed to power through the end of the year.

Made: Personal Pan Oatmeal

I saw these Personal Sized Baked Oatmeals on Pinterest and promptly made some.  They are deeee-lishous!  The recipe is from Sugar-Free Mom and I am posting the recipe with only slight revisions to reflect how I made it and so I can find the recipe again next time!  This link will take you to the original recipe.




Personal Pan Oatmeal

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups applesauce
• 1 banana, mashed
• slight 1/2 cup honey
• 5 cups, Old Fashioned rolled oats (I ran out and had to sub in some steel-cut oats and it was ok)
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• toppings: raisins, chocolate chips, pecans, blueberries

Directions

•  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Mix eggs, vanilla, applesauce, banana and honey together in a bowl.
• Add in oats, flax, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and mix well with wet ingredients.
• Finally pour in milk and combine.
• Spray a 12 and 6 capacity muffin tin with cooking spray or use cupcake liners.
  Pour mixture evenly into muffin tin cups.
• Add toppings.
• Bake 30 minutes until a toothpick in center comes out clean. Cool and enjoy or freeze them in gallon freezer bags.

The Sprout had great fun personalizing her own muffins--raisins and chocolate chips for her.  I made mine with blueberries and pecans.  They are a great grab-and-go breakfast.  30 seconds in the microwave and we are out the door.  Of course, the Sprout prefers to just eat the chocolate chips off the top.  Sigh....  three year olds!

Favorite Things: Anthology Magazine

Last week, I posted about my new favorite magazine, Kinfolk.  This week, I'm posting about my tried and true love, Anthology: Living with Substance and Style.  While Kinfolk nudges one toward a quiet, austere asthetic, Anthology indulges in wildly divergent styles of homes.  Each home tells the story of the home owner's life experiences, interests and personal style.







While I love me some clean white modern styling, real life is messier than that.  Real homes are welcoming because there is an embrace of the messiness of life, of well-traveled objects, of furnishings collected over the years.  Anthology inspires me to hang a really crazy piece of art, paint a worn piece of furniture and unexpected color and embrace the chaos of a household that contains three adults, two toddlers, and two naughty dogs.

There are three more weeks left of school around here.  My job is a little hectic trying to jam in all the things that need to be done, but my head is dreaming of tackling a fun house project this summer.  While my house will never be featured in a design magazine. But, if I have my way, it will continue to look more and more like OUR house that tells OUR story and where we feel most ourselves.




Question: I used to read a lot of shelter magazines but most of them bit the dust.  I'm still looking for some print magazines or blogs that inspire.  Any suggestions?

Flora

When we are hiking, I'm usually lagging behind looking at all the wildflowers and taking pictures.  
At  home I pull out my Pacific Northwest wildflower books and try to figure out what I saw.  Plants here are so different from my childhood meadows and woodlands in Indiana that I am learning so many new-to-me plants.

Above:  Bear Grass in bloom (xerophyllum tenax)
Below: Vanilla Leaf or Deer Foot (achlys triphylla)







Above:  Under the towering Douglas firs, I love the understory of vine maples (acer circinatum) and Pacific dogwoods (cornus nuttallii, not pictured).  The dappled light under these trees reminds me of my favorite Japanese gardens.




Above: Evergreen violet or redwood violet (viola sempervirens)--somewhat rare

Below: A bad picture of a fairyslipper (calypso bulbosa, but in this case I happen to love the common name more than the scientific name)

Fall Creek Falls

Sometimes, I feel a little guilty raising a child in the city. I have fond memories of growing up in small Midwestern towns where we were allowed to roam outside by ourselves.  Where our backyard butted up against woodland (or swampland, in my case).  Where we built fairy houses under the trees and pretended we were the Box Car Children or Swiss Family Robinson.

And then I take my child an hour out of the city and we are in the most enchanted forests in the world, and my guilt instantly dissipates.




This weekend our favorite William L. Sullivan hiking book pointed us to Falls Creek Falls in the Columbia River Gorge not far from the town of Carson, Washington.  At 3.4 miles round trip with gentle terrain, we thought the Sprout might be able to handle it.  She regularly runs the .8 mile to the park, plays, and runs back home again so we know she has some endurance.  But still hiking with a three year old is always a gamble.  Heck, hiking with a thirty-eight year old is a gamble!








This was our first time hiking this trail, and it's definitely one we'll be repeating. The trail follows the creek that has hollowed out a mossy canyon, and the pleasant sound of rushing water accompanies nearly the entire length of the hike.  Most of the trail is wide enough to keep my mom-panic from kicking in.  There were only a few places that I demanded the Sprout hold onto an adult hand because my over-active imagination could not help but see her slipping over the side of the trail and tumbling to the rocky river below.





The same strategies that keep a thirty-eight year old hiking also apply to a three year old:  comfortable shoes, frequent water and snack breaks, and some tomfoolery keep us all happy hikers.






These pictures do not do justice to the gorgeous, moss-covered punchbowl at the bottom of the falls.  I've taken to leaving my big camera at home and using my iPhone for quick photos, but next time I think I'll lug the camera along.



3.4 miles seems like a good distance for a three year old.  On the way back out, I did give her a piggyback ride for about .2 mile but other than that she hiked it all herself---and kept up a continuous patter of conversation and nonsensical songs.  We stopped to gather mini pine cones, Special Rocks and Sticks, and moss.  Our pace was slow, but we all had a great time.




So, no guilt for this mama. My city kid can out-hike your city kid any day.

Favorite Things: Kinfolk Magazine

I used to be a voracious reader.  These days it can take me months to get through a book unless I'm on vacation.  Part of that is being a mother, and part of that is having an iPad and checking Facebook, blogs, and Pinterest when I would have been reading a book in the "olden days".  Although I don't make it through whole books, I do read a few magazines cover to cover.  They are like a mini-vacation from my real and digital worlds.




Kinfolk magazine is what I buy my housemate when I want to make her exceedingly happy.  She totally geeks out over this magazine and blog.  I, not too secretly, buy her issues just so I can read them too. Kinfolk is a beautifully curated collection of photos and essays about building community through small gatherings.

I love their manifesto:

"Kinfolk is a growing community of artists with a shared interest in

small gatherings. We recognize that there is something about a table

shared by friends, not just a wedding or once-a-year holiday

extravaganza, that anchors our relationships and energizes us. We have

come together to create Kinfolk as our collaborative way of advocating

the natural approach to entertaining that we love."

There is a very distinctive Kinfolk aesthetic that features traditional materials like natural wood, linen, leather, and simple dishes in desaturated photography.  It inspires me to invite a few friends over, put some flowers on the table and serve dinner.  It creates that quiet, intimate, calm world that seems like such an unattainable goal most days.

I'm curious if others have read this magazine and what you think of it.   At $65 (yikes!) for a year's subscription, I haven't jumped for it yet.  Although I've liked the issues I've read,  I'm not sure if their limited scope of subject matter and style will continue to appeal to me or if it will somehow seem predictable and boring.  I'm interested enough to buy the next issue to find out.

Made for Alissa's Bridal Shower

My sweet teacher friend, Alissa, is getting married this summer so I was privileged to attend her bridal shower on Sunday.  I know some people lament that they pin all these ideas on Pinterest and then never make anything.  I don't seem to have that problem.  Half the food I cook comes from Pinterest and whenever I'm in need of a fresh crafty idea, I just visit my Make It board on Pinterest.

I saw the sweetest Bride's Kit (for getting hitched without a hitch) on Pinterest and decided to make my own version of it. 

I thought of all the mini-emergencies that have happened at weddings I've been in, and bought out the travel-sized section at Target and the drugstore.  I was too lazy to paint and decorate a wooden box like the inspiration photo above, so I bought a little cardboard suitcase to tuck all the goodies into.  I wish I had a better photo than this one because it turned into a super adorable gift.  One I plan on repeating.

Ingredients: mints, tums, ibuprofen, eye drops, deodorant, tape, superglue, tissues, first-aid kit, sewing kit, static guard, safety pins, lint brush, spot-remover pen, clear nail polish, lotion, granola bars, Sharpie, and bobbie pins.  Items I wish I would have thought of and included: fashion tape and matches.  Can you think of anything else that is commonly forgotten on wedding days?

Since I spent all my energy packing the suitcase of wedding essentials, I didn't have any energy for making food for the brunch.  Fortunately for me, Staccatto Gelatto in Sellwood makes the most amazing cake donuts on Sundays only.  I bought a mixed dozen of ginger, cardamom and honey donuts and stacked them on a plate.  They were delicious!  And to make it look like I'm not TOO lazy, I made a little garland with twine, paper straws, and washi tape with the bride and groom's initials. 

Here's the beautiful bride on a grey rainy day brightened by friends, food and spring flowers.  Best wishes, Alissa!  May your wedding day be emergency-free and may your marriage be filled with joy!