angry chicken

house plants

I finally made it over to Solabee after seeing some lovely images of it on IG. it's a dreamy little floral shop that sells lovely pots and crystals along with house plants. I have a mixed relationship with house plants. I have a few sedums, succulents, and airplants and over the years I've kept an orchid or two around, but for the most part, I don't have any. My cats pee in them. Also, when I had a lot of plants in college they seemed to get small spiders in them, or would weep and get strangely sappy. I recently bought a deer fern that I have hanging on the wall and I love it so much. It's out of the way and also is safe from pee. I have a pinterest board started with house plants, mostly mounted vertically, which is where I'm at right now.

I asked a good friend about book reviews on you tube, I subscribe to a few for YA books for homeschooling, but for myself, I didn't have a go to channel and she directed me to some really goods ones that have me all excited. Well Done Books, and Savidge Reads are the ones I'm stuck on right now. I'm trying to read a bit in the morning and at night instead of doing my normal internet/phone trip of IG, and the news, which I check a few times a day anyway, so why do I need to check it one more time? So, I have a few real books and books on my phone I can jump into. It's making me feel better when the news is so intense right now. I also have been listening to more podcasts while I work. Music can be hard for me, I feel like I need the perfect music when I work and that search becomes a whole thing, so podcasts are easier. I've been enjoying the Nerdist and Women of the Hour.

I have been reading chapters of Me Talk Pretty One Day to the girls and it's so flippin' great. I need to edit a little bit for the 9 year old and some chapters I just can't read, but it's our sense of humor so much, it just warms my heart. And speaking of warming my heart, my 14 year-old discovered Ghostworld.

portland 1985

We were in NW in between snow episodes and I took the girls to Escape to NY pizza. I have been taking them there since they were little because that's where I always went. It's exactly the same. Exactly. Like the same stickers and posters and all that. And the same pizza. The downtown location is the one I went to the most, but it closed when I was away at college, but the one on 23rd is still there. So much is gone on NW 23rd from when I was little, so I am very comforted that this is still there. And the same owner was still working the counter and I heard him talking to a customer asking her how her Christmas break was and how college was going and it just warmed my heart.

I'm doing a little better, but the flu Pete and I got is a real bad one. And then life on top of that. And I feel like the animals save up all their personal needs for when we are sick. Do they really go to the bathroom that much when I am healthy? I don't think so.

In the Sunday paper I always read Parade magazine. Always. It's comforting and amusing. There was a recipe in it that Pete made and it's been the only thing that has made me feel better. Spicy Thai Coconut Chicken Soup. Delicious and so easy! And on the same page as the recipe was a weird add for dry foot skin or something gross, because it's Parade magazine.

coffee break

This was taken from before all the crazy. Before the weather and the travel and the bad head cold (flu?) I currently have.

A bit of a gripe—I've noticed at very fancy coffee shops, which I LOVE, often my drinks aren't hot. No big deal. I don't like them scalding. But sometimes they are like, not hot at all. Almost room temp. Which this one was. I was going to take it back but didn't want to wait in the very long line again, and also had a suspicion that I would be told they were made that way on purpose and then might be educated as to why. I'm not a fussy coffee person, but I do like cappuccinos (5oz) and for them not to be room temp. I had a barista gig in college and I know that if you use previously steamed milk you can make the drinks faster, but they aren't usually hot enough and this one came to me suspiciously fast.

I think I am feverish as I write this. It's before 7am and I am getting ready to do Delia's hair in Dutch braids before she leaves for school which starts so early. 7:40! for 6th grade!

Random Links:

I can't stop watch this video of the cutest porcupine. The sounds it makes!

 

yummy rice

I got this rice seasoning at Uwajamiya a bit back and it is delicious and so cute! see the little purple flowers? Adorable.

So, the snow has been crazy. Pete was in China all last week for work so when we lost power for 2 days I was cooking outside on the camp stove and trying to bundle us all with blankets as a single mom. We made it to my mom's, who had power, in the 10" inches of snow thanks to my brother and his awesome truck and stayed there with the dogs. It was crazy. Then we came home and then drove to Seattle for ballet auditions in the snowy ice. Once we got out of Portland, it was an easy drive and so beautiful. Snow on the trees, but none on the roads. I felt so free getting out of town after feeling so trapped. Plus, I had a fight with my frozen garbage can lid which didn't go well and at that point I had to get out of town.

Pete came back from Shanghai just two days ago and brought some cute little gifts and amazing stories that involved lots of karaoke (john denver songs are very popular) and eating chicken feet, jellyfish and duck heart. Life has been busy. I have been working on some embroidery projects for an upcoming book I am contributing to and also painting barrettes with nail polish in my spare time. Why have I never done this before? It's so satisfying! I will show the results soon.

 

the oregon coast

These photos are from our beach trip right after Christmas. The tide was so far in there wasn't much beach for walking. There were my favorite fish tacos from Local Ocean Seafoods however, which has the best seafood in Newport, in my opinion.

That trips feels far away, but also close, because we are in the middle of another weather episode here in Portland so things are shutting down again, which always feels like a beach trip to me. Everything slows down and is stuck in molasses. Or, I guess stuck in snow. We have food and power, so that's all good. And I can walk to the store. Having one child in school and two homeschooled makes "snow days" interesting. We have already had a few and probably will have one tomorrow.

• I have been trolling the amazing embroidery work over at ant sally on instagram. I am going to stitch something similar soon—they are so beautiful.

• Sadie and I watched The Fundamentals of Caring on instant Netflix and she liked it a whole lot. I saw it over the summer. Lots of swearing and older teen issues, and very well done.

• I'm between books so that means I pick up what we having lying around which is a lot of YA horror and paranormal. That's the trend over here right now. So, I am almost done with Frozen Charlotte and enjoying it quite a bit. Who doesn't love creepy little dolls that can eat flesh? The middle-school-aged V.C. Andrews fan in me is very excited by this book.

 

and even more holiday stitching

Happy 2017!

I stitched this little Gudetama when we were in Japan. He was the mascot of our trip and I'm going to try and be a little more lazy like him in 2017. He also suffers from chronic depression (seriously) so I will skip that part.

Looking at 2017 I realize we are at the height of activities in the house now with the girls all getting older and doing so much. I just wrote our the weekly schedule and I can't really hold any of in in my head more than 2 days at a time and even then I forget what I am doing. I think have two girls at home and one at school is also a bit crazy making. It is all is working out pretty good, but balancing the time in the car and schedules has been the biggest challenge.

My New's Years Days plans:

I'm going to throw out some stuff today. And do some stitching. And listen to some podcasts. We had a great holiday and New Year's Eve. We all saw Rouge One and loved it, but seeing Princess Leia at the end was so sad. We did a lot of reading on the sofa with blankets and hot coco. I read the wonderful cookbook, Small Victories, I nabbed and devoured Sadie's copy of I'll Give You the Sun, and also read cover-to-cover the newest The Gentlewoman Magazine. All with two very lazy and dogs and a cat here and there.