Pouring from the Pitcher

Wednesday marked the New Moon in Gemini, and with it a solar eclipse. It was a time to say good-bye to what we no longer need, and welcome the positive change we have been resisting. I embraced this moon with open arms. As I continue on the difficult but hugely rewarding path toward Organized Simplicity, I am forced to acknowledge that I have adopted a lifestyle which is no longer serving me. Too many things, too many obligations, too many yeses that should have been nos fill my plate. Slowly, day by day, garbage bag by garbage bag, I am removing each of them. During this process I am reminded of the willow, and intend to stay firmly rooted while allowing the winds of change to bend my branches toward the sun.

As I am forced to acknowledge my overflowing plate, I am also placed face to face with another harsh reality: I am not the only one who is being shortchanged. It is my responsibility (and honor) to position my children for smooth, happy sailing in these tender years. How can their sailing be smooth when their ship is often chaotic, cluttered, rushed, and driven by a sleep-deprived captain?

In the amazing culture study The Continuum Concept, Margaret Mead tells the author of her pitcher-of-milk theory: if you want to teach a child to pour himself a glass of milk, get up, get a pitcher of milk, and pour yourself a glass. If I want my children to sail smoother seas, I must sail smoother seas myself. As I am clearing away the obstacles and moving toward a simpler life, I will remember to fill my own cup, so that it holds plenty for others. My intention for this moon is to pour from the pitcher and fill my own cup.

As a reminder, I am filling up my favorite pitcher with water each morning, infused with something sweet (lime, cucumber, mint, etc.) and placing a small glass next to it. Each time I walk by, I fill my cup. Here's hoping your cup stays full as well. (Not overflowing. Just full.)

Simple Gifts

I have taken a longer break from this space than I had intended. A lack of camera and plate-too-full have made excuses easy, and I have seen the repercussions. This space is much more to me than an exhibitionist outlet or a pretty chronicle: it keeps me accountable to my own laws of nature. In my time away from it, I have seen its true value. And it is good to be back.

Recently, Mama Bird recommended a small, neatly packaged, seemingly innocent book. As I read (read: devour) its pages, nothing independently groundbreaking leaps up from them. But somehow, the path therein seems brilliantly and easily illuminated.

Organized Simplicity is more than a book to me now, it seems to be my mantra. Through the simple, grounding task of revisiting our family's purpose, I have been given a monumental gift. I now have a clear and ever-present filter for my words, actions, deeds, time obligations, and things. If any of the above do not fulfill the highest good of my family's purpose, they are OUT. And it is maybe the most refreshing feeling I've ever had.

I've even been able to use the filter for the book itself. Where the author is able to implement the system in 10 days, I am granting myself a generous six months, thereby removing all pressure and really making it enjoyable. The same principles and priorities are being applied to my body, my health, my parenting, my marriage--and for the first time in a long time, I feel there just might be time enough in my day to thoroughly savor all of these rich blessings on my plate.

It feels nice to be back here. All of these images were taken in my very own front yard. All around me, things feel clean, fresh, and washed brand new.

Camp B, Day Eight: Color Day

This morning was Big B and little b's morning out with Nee-nee. Little b was still under the weather when I retrieved him, so we shelved our plans once again and nestled in for the afternoon. Nee-nee noticed that Big B was wearing a yellow shirt, had seen a yellow butterfly, and was about to make banana bread with yellow bananas. Voila, Camp B, Day Eight: Color Day was born.

To celebrate Big B's transition into Kindergarten, we bought him a box of 64 Crayola crayons a week or two ago. He has taken very good care of them, and loves to hear the names of the colors as he's drawing. Color Day inspired a closer look, and Big B carefully pulled out every single crayon today.
I asked him, "If you were a Crayola crayon, which one would you be?" After much deliberation, his choice was solid: sepia. We looked at each other and almost simultaneously said: "Color Walk!" And so we did.After we returned from our walk, we grabbed the food coloring we had just bought for our ocean-in-a-bottle project, and created a little color mixing station. We filled three glass containers with water, and I asked Big B to start by putting a few drops of each primary color into each glass. After explaining that primary colors could mix to make any other colors in the rainbow, Big B was set free to play color scientist, and he kept busy for a very long time, mixing and even matching his creations.

To end our evening, we played in the boys' room while I finished organizing the books by color. I wanted to create a system that Big B would enjoy, as he sets out to explore the limitless world of independent reading, sometime in the very near future.

“The purest and most thoughtful minds

are those which love color the most.”
--John Ruskin

Camp B, Day Seven: House and Home Day

Camp B was thrown a curveball this morning by two leaky nostrils and a fever-y little b. Not to let this put a damper on the day, we decided to lay low and celebrate our home life with Camp B, Day Seven: House and Home Day.

While I was tending to little b this morning, I found a website for Big B that showcases houses around the world. We explored that for a little while, then I stumbled upon images from the 1937 edition of Shelter. WOW. A bit over Big B's head, but I'll be sure to remember this in a few years.

Little b would not cooperate with naptime, so we loaded up in the car in our pajamas and took a tour of our community's funkiest houses. I asked Big B who he thought built our house, and he answered, '"God?" which just cracked me up. We talked about how houses are built, and marveled at some of the unique details of these domiciles.For a quiet afternoon activity, I laid out simple building blocks and toy houses and left the rest to the imaginations of my boys.This evening, after little b was tucked in, Big B and I tried our hands at building a house of cards. We didn't get very far, but I was very proud of our patience and teamwork!
I have been cleaning and purging the boys' room in preparation for kindergarten, and serendipitously came across this book this morning. Building a House by Byron Barton is a simple, easy to understand, sweetly illustrated tutorial on how most American houses are built. Big B found it very interesting, and it was a great story to include in our bedtime trio.

“A house is a home when it
shelters the body and comforts the soul.”
--Phillip Moffitt

Camp B, Day Six: Day of the Arts

Today was a Camp B day I've been looking forward to all weekend. We live in a great arts community. Our city's art museum has an almost century-old collection of masterpieces from some of the world's finest artists. We have a solid local and classical music scene. We have many theaters large and small. Today, we decided to experience the arts, kid style, for Camp B, Day Six: Day of the Arts.

We set the tone properly as our chariot arrived with Mama Bird at the helm. We headed to a local wellness community for an inexpensive children's music class. Along the way our big kids named musical instruments and we introduced the idea of the groups they belong in, much like the food groups Big B liked so well last week. Rose and her monkeys met us there, and the kids got their wiggles out before heading to the museum.When we arrived at the museum, the first (and last) place we visited was this darling circus dwarf statue exhibit. The little guys were nestled among the banyan trees, much like our own little guys were.Mama Bird had the brilliant idea to visit the gift shop before we set out through the museum, and buy a handful of postcards depicting masterpieces that we'd find inside. The big kids each took a few and made it their singular mission to find 'their' paintings.Architecture is the mother of the arts, and this loggia surrounding the museum's pallatial courtyard inspires me every time I visit. The kids had a brief reprieve between museum wings to rediscover their outside voices.After a lovely picnic back at the Dwarf Garden with the rest of our village, we headed to our next destination: our family office. Grammy took the boys on their beloved golf cart ride, and Big B found this unripe baby papaya. We cut it open to examine the inside. Its unique texture plus an old office inkpad created an impromptu art project.After we got settled in back at home and dinner was cooking, we gathered the two large boxes of art we'd collected during Big B's preschool years. This was my hidden agenda for today's Camp B theme. While I can't yet bear to throw these works away, as Big B transitions to kindergarten next week, I find the need to celebrate his sweet past in an organized way, a way that will remind him of his creativity and perhaps encourage deeper creative exploration in his future. Inspired by the re-discovery of nine identical small square frames, we decided to select snippets of nine of Big B's most favorite works to create The Preschool Years Collection.

"All children are artists.

The problem is how to remain
an artist once he grows up."
--Pablo Picasso

Creating an Outdoor Classroom : Day 2

We spent almost the entire morning in our developing outdoor classroom. The find of the day came from right next door: our wonderful neighbors were discarding an old toy bin storage system, with just one broken rail and a few missing bins. Perfect for an outdoor organization station. We started filling it with bug collecting gear, chalk, and various water table supplies.Our outdoor music station began taking shape today, as we collected all of the 'drums' we could find from the garage and backyard, exploring the tones they produced. We also found lids to two old dutch ovens, perfect for cymbals to accompany the drums. (I'm sure the neighbors agree...)And of course, more water table action today, this time with the inclusion of spray bottles, play sand, and ice cubes. The boys played outside nearly all morning, enjoying the summer sun, the new (but almost entirely recycled) play space, and being with each other.

"Help your brother's boat across,
and your own will reach the shore."
~Hindu Proverb

Mission Organization: Sewing Station

I have finished organizing my disaster of a sewing space, in honor of the new fabric chest I scored a couple of weekends ago. It was so much fun. I organized every notion and tool. I organized the buttons, the ribbons, the rick-rack, the thread. I personalized the lid of the chest with the fabric I won from Sew, Mama, Sew. I can't stop opening up the drawers.I organized the fabric by type, size and color. I have several drawers for cotton fabric, a drawer for flannel, a drawer for corduroy, and a drawer for upholstery fabric. I even have a drawer for tiny scraps and selvages. Oversized backing, batting and polyfill are neatly stored in stacked bins next to the desk, creating a bit more surface area.
This move may be detrimental to my career--all I want to do is sew. At least I'm making an effort to sew responsibly: I have joined Spring to Finish at Tallgrass Prairie Studio, with the goal of finishing half-completed projects before beginning new ones.

For now, I am satisfied with a workspace that is efficient and lovely, the perfect environment for my chosen creative outlet. On a child-sized desk, I have enough space for one current project, my iron, my sewing machine, my cutting mat, and my knitting basket. I owe it all to the fabric chest. Thank you, yard sale gods. Thank you.