bloomin' june

not to be constantly griping about the weather, (the local news DID call the month we just had "mayvember" by the way, AND area billboards have taken to suggesting we take a break from the "sweltering 68 degrees" --with a beer, and that "who needs the sun?" because we already GLOW --when we drink vitamin water, just sayin'...) i thought it only fair to document that our struggling rose buds have finally opened. we used to have such gorgeous roses right outside our window; we quickly got used to the parade of legs, and the sight of people bending down, not to peek into our apartment, but to: stop and smell the roses. our yellow rose did not bloom at all, but there are thankfully a few others to spread the cheer...







i also tried transplanting my purple clover (that i have had for 13 years, and greg believes it is a weed simply by the fact that it is still alive). i was hoping it would take over the slim dirt garden that lines our building, but it is a struggling little patch.





in an effort to focus on the positive, i thought i would post some sunny pictures. i like to follow the sun around, so here we are catching some rays at greenlake...



around 4pm, the sun starts to dip behind phinney ridge, so it's the perfect time to catch "tea-time" at Perche No Italian restaurant (stone way and 50th). they've just opened, people don't show up for dinner til 6, so we've got the little patio and tinkling water fountain all to ourselves. the sun sticks around here til 6, so we're leaving just as the dinner crowd rolls in...



and many days, even cloudy days, the sun will tease with an appearance just in time for sunset. at home, it makes our bedroom especially inviting, and i love taking a cat-nap on our bed, with the sun full on my face. it starts at the pillow, and gradually moves across the bed...









family, friends, good food, sunshine.
and raindrops on roses.
just a few of my favorite things...

september sun

well, here's counting. a seattle record, i believe. it has to be. has it really been two weeks of daily sun? too good to be true! and "blazing hot" 72 degrees? oh joy! i would have preferred it in actual summer, (our summer was so gray) but i'll take it whenever i can get it. a good dose of vitamin D is always welcome... and it's making me a little lazy on the homefront. chores are being neglected in favor of a good book in the sun. or a walk. or a nap in the grass. or even indulging in happy hour with greg while francis is at soccer. anything! just anything! get it now, while it lasts!

ready or not...

what can i say? somehow the time has just flown, and francis is done with school in 6 days. crazy! and yes, he is counting down! i think we are ALL ready for a summer that will hopefully dole out some sunshine, because, let me tell ya: it's been scant around here!

we've had weeks and weeks of gray, and rain, and baseball games rained out, and then the make-up games rained out...i don't know if seattle knows that it's actually june, i think it thinks it's still april, and May wasn't much better. (sigh) but one good thing was we didn't feel guilty for all the movies we've been seeing! perfect for rainy days! iron man, prince caspian, indiana jones...all in one month, and summer not even officially here yet! what a summer for the kids! we thoroughly enjoyed these movies along with francis, who was literally on the edge of his seat, every time!

i'm trying to wrap things up before school is over, and that means: all my spring cleaning that i procrastinated on is now a mother-lode chore! i've got post-it notes cluttering up the kitchen, and when i get to take one down and throw it away: success! you'd think that with all these gray days we've been having, that i'd be done by now, but no: when it is gray outside, it does not inspire me to clean. it inspires me to read and drink coffee and be lazy, and so i did manage to finish the lord of the rings trilogy. but when it is sunny, and the apartment is bright, THAT is when i get the gumption(sp?), the energy, and the will to get some things done. strange, i know. most people like to go outside when it is sunny, and i do too. but i also like to clean when it is sunny. so, i finally cleaned our bedroom, where the dust had been forming a nice solid layer (so gross!) and it felt so nice to sit and read in a clean, and tidy room, with the sun shining. francis was in a reading marathon, and could not put down "the Hobbit" until he was done. that's been so nice to see: him getting so into reading a book that he doesn't want to do anything else. he is now halfway done with "the fellowship of the ring" and wants to finish all three books this summer!





francis helped me spray-paint a big iron outdoor coffeetable, that we collected for free off the side of the road. it was rusty, but we cleaned it, and sprayed it down with this rustoleum paint, and now it looks as good as new. when the sun shines in our "back yard", we like to sit back there and eat and drink and read and play... (more pics on flickr)





on memorial day, after a glorious sunny saturday and sunday (it was a 2 day special only) it was back to gray, so i thought going to the zoo would be a nice distraction. i naively thought it wouldn't be crowded; wouldn't everyone be at home, enjoying their families and having BBQ's? nope! everyone was at the zoo, too! not our cup of tea. we like the zoo all to ourselves, so we did not stay too long. too crowded. too loud. even francis commented on it. we must have tainted him with our own preferences, because pretty soon, he wanted to go home, too. but we did get to visit the new creatures at the zoo: the flamingoes. they cracked francis up. you'd think they'd be a nice, quiet, regal bird, as beautiful as they are, in their familiar one-legged stance. but no. we were shocked at how noisy and feisty they are (they honk like geese), fighting constantly for food, and their whole area stank like a cooped-up bird house, even tho it was a brand-new habitat, and outside. startling. but they were still beautiful. i think it must be God's sense of humor to give such a boorish, pushy bird hot-pink feet.



and maybe it's because he's an only child, or maybe it's because he's still really just a kid, francis really wanted a stuffed flamingo. huh? i was suprised because what 10-year old boy wants a pink stuffed animal? but i caved, because first thing that popped into my head was suprise, and then "he's probably not gonna be asking for stuff like this very much longer." so many times he can get under my skin, acting like a pesky wannabe teenager, trying out attitude to see what it does... that when he is acting like a kid: i just want him to be a kid! and do kid things.so i said yes. and of course, he carried that flamingo around all day. (someday: he's going to be really embarrassed by these pictures! haha! but thankfully, not yet...)

when the sun shines

when you have a weeks worth of rain in the forecast, it is imperitive that you get out when the sun is shining.

monday afternoon was sunny!

i dropped francis off at tennis lessons, and picked up greg from work; we now had an hour to kill together, which had a 2-part requirement: caffeine and sun.

many of you know: seattle has turned me into a sun-craver. at any time of the day, if it is out, i want to be where it is. this involves moving. following it around. where it is in the morning isn't necessarily where it is in the afternoon. i have learned that if you are on lake washington when the sun is shining, by 4 o'clock you will be in shade, as the sun slips behind beacon hill.

and if a restaurant is on the wrong (ie: shady) side of the street, i won't go there.

i want to be where the sun is. period.

so, off we go for coffee and our sunshine; we knew where to find it. at 4:30 in the afternoon, it is pouring onto rainier ave. south, on the east side of the street. we go to tutta bella, in columbia city. our initial plan to sit outside in the sun was halted when we saw there were no outdoor tables set out. oh yeah! it's only march! but there was a table for two inside, a little nook of an alcove, full of beaming sun. no one else wanted that table; it was waiting for us. the waiter went to draw the blinds for us (something else i've noticed in seattle: that when the sun shines, it's too bright, apparently!) and we said: no! no! we want the sunshine! this is why we're here.

so we sat, and talked, and enjoyed our coffees. a lovely little date. it was roasting in that corner. i was blinded by the sunshine and had to wear greg's hat. it was wonderful! now here's hoping it's sunny next monday...and we'll do it again.

to sew or not to sew...

the week went by with gray clouds, and almost continual rain, so i am thoroughly enjoying this burst of sun shining thru my window. i'd be tempted to go outside, except it's freezing out, and francis is (no school today) happily humming away in his room, contructing his newest star wars lego acquisition. on sunny days like these, i like to migrate around the apartment, following the sun like a cat: coffee in the kitchen, reading in the living room, and then sometimes just curling up for a mid-afternoon nap, just to feel the warmth beating on my face.



i've just had my coffee (in the sun!)and after this, i'll be on to my project: making flaxseed warming pillows, which i thought i'd share with you. i made these for christmas presents for the women in my family this year, and did not blog about it because i wanted the gifts to be a surprise. but i have alot of supplies left over, and i've decided to make some more. i thought i should also let you know: i am not a sewer. (according to webster, a "sewer" is: a person or thing that sews. a thing?!! alarmingly enough, a "sewer" is also: an underground pipe to carry off water and waste matter. hmmm...i am not either of these, but for the purposes of this blog, i will be referring to definition #1.) i am also not a knitter; i prefer the paper end of crafting: cutting and glueing, collaging, making my own cards,etc. about as handy as i have been regarding fabric in the past, has been to make iron-on t-shirts. and even they frustrated me.



i grew up with a mother who knew how to sew, made her own clothes when she was young, and then made alot of clothes for us when we were kids. she made all my prom dresses. she made my wedding dress. she is a very accomplished sewer.( person who sews!) so it made sense that i should learn, (and i assumed i could), and she DID try to teach me. she really did. she was really patient. however, i was not. i did not like all the steps: pre-washing the fabric, and then all the ironing; i just wanted to cut. and the pinning of all the pieces! i just wanted to sew. and then, when i was sewing, i had a problem with the pedal. (in drivers ed, my instructor called me "lead foot") i could not keep it from going too fast and zipping away with my fabric. grrrr! and then all the seam-ripping my mistakes and starting over. !!! it was really more than my 20-yr-old-self could bear. my mother, on more than one occasion, had to rescue her sewing machine FROM me, and i think my dad observed that if i COULD have lifted it, it might have been in danger of being thrown. i was a very angry sewer. it was not relaxing. i decided it was not for me. and i haven't done it since then. even sadder was the end result: it was not the heirloom piece i had been hoping for. unfortunately, the project that i was so laboring to complete was: first a quilt, that became, in one of my "genius" ideas, a quilt dress. i do not know whatever possessed me to make a quilt dress. and my mother let me! of course i didn't start with an easy project, like a pillow, or an A-line skirt. i HAD to make a quilt dress. piecing all the squares together to make the strips, sewing all the strips together to make a large enough block of fabric to cut the pattern out of. i must have been having a vanity trip, or going thru a very sad fashion phase, because the only thing that kept me going on this ridiculous project was: how awesome it was going to be when it was finally done. no one else would have anything like it! (ain't that the truth!) and i will tell you: i did finish it. i triumphantly put it on only to discover two things. two things that made me want to cry. 1.) it was ugly. (whose bright idea was it to make a quilt that was a dress?) however, in my vanity, i ignored this point, (afterall, i did not want to seem unappreciative of all my mother's time and labor spent with me) and instead, focused on 2.) it weighed about 80 lbs. my shoulders ached after wearing it for awhile. i think i forced myself to wear it a few times, so that all my efforts weren't a complete waste, but, it soon found it's way into my closet, never to again see the light of day. my mother rescued it many years later, and now it is stored in her closet. she tried to wear it once, out of nostalgia i think, but confessed later, in the kindest way possible, so as to not hurt my feelings, that it WAS a bit heavy. and i had to laugh. so we just laughed and laughed and laughed. and there it stays. in the closet. it stays there for a good laugh.

so, that is why, this undertaking of even making a pillow, was a bit daunting to me. my friend karen made us a warming pillow last year for christmas, which we use all the time. this year, i saw them at all sorts of places, selling for like $40! and i thought to myself (in my usual DIY fashion): i could make that. then, my friend melissa blogged about how to make them, and where she had gotten her idea from, and i thought: good. i'll just copy them. but: i couldn't copy them. they were sewers. i was not. i couldn't make fancy little pillow-cases for my flaxseed pillows; i just wanted to sew four straight lines and be done with it. so here it is: and they cost less than $10 a piece to make, so enjoy! now go make your own.

HOW TO MAKE A FLAXSEED WARMING PILLOW: FOR THE NON-SEWER:

1.) get your fabric. (i tried Jo-Ann's before a friend told me about this little gem of a shop in seattle, the quilting loft. very very cool fabric!)

2.) sad to say, you must then wash and iron it. a very boring step.

3.) determine your size, and cut, with fabric scissors. (remember, it needs to fit into a microwave, so you can't make 'em too big. i made mine 7.5 inches by 18.)

4.) place the outsides on the inside, and pin: a 1/4 inch in on all four sides. you don't need alot of pins. just enough to guide your eye when you're sewing. (and don't forget: remove them as you sew.)

5.) and now: to sew! there is hope if you do not have a machine. i do not own one, but have many friends who do. just ask a friend if you can come over for coffee and borrow their machine! (haha) if your friend does not trust your sewing skills, maybe see about trading something: they sew four straight lines, you bring a cake? or even, see if a local shop does what the quilting loft offers, a sewing lounge: machines available to use in the store, for $10.)

i sewed at my friend keri's house, and at my friend jennifer's. i got some tips i didn't previously know:

backstitch to start your sewing, and backstitch to end it.
start in the middle of one of the small ends: this will be your opening (to pull the pillow thru.)
sew all three sides, and finish the fourth with about a 2 inch hole. (my 1 inch holes were too small; i could barely pull my pillow back thru! much frustration!)

6.) cut the corners at an angle, and then pull your pillow inside out. now the outside fabric should be on the outside.

7.) iron it again.



8.) stuff it.



use the back of a cardboard cereal box to make a funnel, and pour in the flaxseed. mine was trial and error, and i ended up using 5 cups of flaxseed, and 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. dried lavender, with a pinch of chamomile. (it does not need chamomile, only i had already bought it, and was trying to use some of it. my first try was way too much, and our apartment was reeking like a field of weeds, and i was sneezing for days, so you don't want to use chamomile if the person you're giving it to gets allergies easily. just using lavender is ok. and you could use more than i did. mine is a faint smell, not overpowering. and i used dried lavender, not the essential oil, because with the oil, you needed to make a pillow cover, which i did not know how to do. the dried lavender works fine. i also found flaxseed very cheap at the old weird fred meyer at 85th and greenwood (seattle) for only $1 a pound! half the price than at whole foods! so it can be found at reasonable prices...)

9.) sew your opening shut. by hand or machine. i tried the first one by hand, and it looked sadly as if a 5 yr. old had done it. so i machine-sewed not only the hole, but the whole end for uniformity. and it looked very nice.

10.) voila! you have a pillow!



to heat: place on a paper towel in the microwave and nuke for 1-3 minutes, depending on your microwave. do not overheat or it can scorch! for moist heat: sprinkle with a little water before microwaving. to chill: place in a ziploc bag and store in the freezer 2 hours or overnight, to use as a cold pak.

uses: fold in half lengthwise and use around your neck to relieve muscle tension and stress. fold in half width-wise and place behind your back for aches. lay it on your lap for warmth. stick it under your covers to warm up your bed at night. or sleep with it at your feet!

i made one for greg this christmas, because he saw me making them and said, "which one is for me?" i said: "oh. none. you want one?" luckily, i had gotten one kind of non-feminine fabric: a vintage-looking western print. so i made one for him. he uses it all the time. i use it all the time. francis tries to, when he can get a turn. there just isn't enough pillow to go around for the three of us. now, francis wants his own. i want my own. so, i'm off again to make some more: one for francis, one for me, and then some...

ready for summer

i know it's not officially summer until june 21, but with today being the fourth day of sunshine in a row, it's hard to not get excited. so you don't think i'm a complete grump, i'll post some sunshiney pictures. i take different routes to and from bringing francis to school in the morning, depending on my mood. on sunny days, i like to walk down this street, past these misplaced palms, and feel the sun on my face... they really get me in the mood to be warm. i'm ready for heat!