Lust

Pronunciation: \ˈləst\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English; akin to Old High German lust pleasure and perhaps to Latin lascivus wanton
Date: before 12th century
1 obsolete a: pleasure, delight b: personal inclination : wish
2: usu. intense or unbridled sexual desire : lasciviousness
3 a: an intense longing : craving [a lust to succeed] b: enthusiasm, eagerness [admired his lust for life] (from Merriam-Webster.com)

"Of all the worldly passions, lust is the most intense. All other worldly passions seem to follow in its train." ---Buddha

“The Bible and several other self help or enlightenment books cite the Seven Deadly Sins. They are: pride, greed, lust, envy, wrath, sloth, and gluttony. That pretty much covers everything that we do, that is sinful... or fun for that matter.” ---Dave Mustaine

A few items I can't get off of my mind lately....





Isn't this baby quilt divine? No, I'm not pregnant. I'd just like to make this for someone special! The listing is for a kit to make this quilt. All of the pieces are cut and ready to go. Since that is the most tedious part for me, the rest should be a breeze. Be sure to check out Amy Smart's shop, Bits and Bobs, on etsy. She also has a fun blog, Diary of a Quilter, that I have been following for a few weeks.




I can across this woodburning/painting the other day and was struck by how unique and beautifully simple it is. Apparently, there's a whole art form out there that I didn't know about. Shocking, I know. It's called pyrography (sounds like it should be in the lust category, doesn't it?) and is finished off with casein paint. Check out The Haunted Hollow Tree (my mother-in-law is going to love that name) shop on etsy for prints and more original pyrography (I'm probably going to try to work this word into conversation several times today).




I love the simple elegance of this sterling silver mobius bracelet. The seller will oxidize or antique it for you, but I think it's perfect just the way it is. Check out her shop, Riverside Jewelry, for plenty of other lust-worthy things.

Brennan and I are off to Ohio again today. In a weak moment, my mom was able to convince me to go on my nephew's school trip to the zoo with him. I'm sure we'll have fun, but it's going to be a lot of driving and a lot of loud second grader's!

A Little Bird House in Your Soul

The title of this post has absolutely nothing to do with the post itself. I just can't get this song out of my head, which is a good thing because I always think of this song when I'm feeling great. It's from an old "They Might Be Giants" album that I love and have been listening to for ages. They make some awesome kids music these days. I really love that I can share this band with Brennan already. She is always talking about the "two Johns." You can download free podcasts on iTunes for kids and they have an album, "Here Come the 123s" that just won a Grammy.

So, anyway, I have been absent for a while. Sorry! Although, I have to say, none of you wrote to check on me or called missing persons. I mean, what kind of stalkers are you anyway? I was actually out of town for a little while and, before we left, had the usual days upon days of trying to get some laundry and housework done, as well as filling etsy orders and making cards for my personal use. It's funny that I never seem to have one lying around when I need it.

We went to Willow Wood, Ohio to my mom's and stepdad's farm to help them with some work they are doing on the farmhouse. They are involved in an extensive remodeling project that has been going on for about seven years now. I know, it sounds crazy! They are a bit crazy, but they are also doing almost all of the work themselves. Thus far, they have added a huge section to the house (about half is unfinished), put a neato new metal roof on the house, barn and garage, resided the house, barn and garage, resculpted some of the landscape (the previous owners used a hillside for a trash dump, which was revealed when it all started slipping), improved pastures and re-fenced, added an Alpine garden, cutting garden, herb garden, perennial garden, two annual beds, as well as putting in flocks in front of the barn, sedum, Jacob's Ladder and Bleeding Hearts around the huge porch, Mondo Grass on a hillside beside the driveway and Lariope just next to the driveway. Whew! That's not all, but that was becoming a HUGE run-on sentence and I felt like you might need a break. Check out the pics showing some of the work and progress and then come back for the remaining laundry list of progress they have made. BTW, you might be wondering why I am giving you all of this information. The main answer is, "Because I want to." However, I think it will help my mom feel a little bit better about how long they have been working. Also, I helped a lot and want to pat myself on the back...publicly. Kudos to me (and Tim)!These photos were taken in 2005, around the time they started reshaping a bit of the area around their house in preparation for the remodel. Fortunately, my stepfather is good with heavy equipment. Then we move on to pics of the addition and the new roof. I've got many, many more pics, but we'll stop there for now. I also need to ask my mom if she has pics from when they very first moved out there. There has been a dramatic change. I'm leaving you in 2005 for now. Back to the list: They have also completed the new garage, family room and kitchen, which looks awesome, as well as a new bathroom for the first floor (Tim designed he tile arrangement for the shower). Now they have moved upstairs and are finishing Clay's room. While we were there last week, Tim designed a loft bed and built-in bookcase for the room (let's just say he's living vicariously through Clay). He and John built it, but didn't have a chance to stain and paint. My mom and I went to the Amish garden center in Jackson, Ohio and bought plants to replenish her gardens and fill in some places where a few didn't survive the winter. She also bought some plants for me, an early birthday gift. I'll tell you more about them in a later post. We spent a ton of time, weeding, replanting, adding some plants and mulching all of the gardens. I also planted a couple of Weeping Willow trees along a bank that is starting to slip. It was unseasonably warm, super sunny and in the 90s. It was super hot, dirty work and I got a sunburn despite 50 sph baby sunblock. However, it was lots of fun and I would've loved it had it been about 10 degrees cooler. If you can believe it, I took absolutely no pictures while we were there, so I don't have much to share. Tim took a couple of pics of his projects on his iPhone, so I'll have to get him to email them to me. They won't be awesome shots, but will suffice. As we finish, we'll update you. I think that's enough for now. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to get some new stuff on etsy soon and will post pics here.

New Little b Bunny Cards on etsy

Here are the additions to the shop from the last couple of days. Remember: I am always happy to do custom orders.

Giveaway

Caitlinesque is doing an awesome giveaway, but you have to hurry! You must submit today! Here's the link:

giveaway

What Do Vegans Eat?

People are always asking vegans like us what we eat. Typically we try to respond with a short list of what we don't eat (meat, eggs, dairy), but that usually leaves them unsatisfied. In addition to being vegan, we try to avoid processed foods and have been attempting to eat more seasonally and locally. Admittedly, it is a lot to think about and can be cumbersome. However, we think it is totally worth it. We are about to enter the farm stand season, which always makes it much easier. Until then, we are relying on the grocery stores. I thought I'd share a couple of our recent faves, one a very healthy dinner and the other a slightly less healthy :) dessert.

We had an amazing main course salad last week that is so simple to make that it doesn't feel like I even cooked.



This is our version of a taco salad. It is so simple and yummy. You can definitely make this in under 30 minutes, probably less if you don't have a toddler. I simply sauté some crumblers in a bit of olive oil until browned and then add granulated garlic, onion powder, ground cumin, oregano, ground cayenne, salt and pepper to taste. Occasionally I add a bit of chili powder as well. I'm sorry that I don't have measurements. I've never measured the spices. I just keep adding until it seems right. Start small and add more because you can always add, but can't take away. To assemble the salad, I put some blue corn tortillas chips on the bottom, followed by torn romaine or leaf lettuce. Then I add the cooked crumblers, sliced black olives, roughly chopped avocado, sliced cucumber and grape tomatoes (I cut them in half if they are on the large side). You can throw in whatever fresh veggies sound good. Sometimes we add some drained and rinsed canned kidney or black beans (get the ones without added salt and preservatives). We top the salad with a good salsa and some Tofutti Sour Supreme (a vegan sour cream alternative). If you want to be extra fancy, squeeze some fresh lime over the top. When preparing LB's plate, I don't assemble the salad. She prefers to eat her salad components individually.




Amy Karol, aka angry chicken inspired me to make a cobbler this past weekend. I've been following her blog for a few months and, apparently, has a sweet tooth that rivals my own (I should blog about this sometime. I never had much of a sweet tooth until I became pregnant. I thought it might go away after LB was born, but it never did.). Anyway, she made a rhubarb cobbler that looked awesome and really got me in the mood for some warm fruit. I happened to have some blackberries, so I had no option but to make a cobbler. I used the link to the same recipe that Amy used, but I veganized it, of course. I have to admit a dark secret, I did use white flour. I was feeling like a particularly bad girl that day. We ate it on the deck while watching fireworks Saturday. It was delicious. Mmmmm. I have to say though, we had some more last night and it wasn't as good. I don't know if it is because of the veganization or if it was just particularly humid, but is was a bit too moist and didn't have quite the same flavor. So, I would recommend the cobbler, for sure, but you might want to make it when you have enough people around to eat it the same day. If you try either of these, let me know how you liked them!

A Beautiful Day

We had a lovely day today and I expect another tomorrow. LB and I read books and played and cleaned and played and talked and laughed out loud. I worked on some cards, the Molly dog played on the deck and Brennan continued to pretend that any object in front of her (including her old burp cloths she is forever dragging out) is a dog. Tim has gotten to ride his bike to work for the last two days and rode around on his lunch breaks as well. We are definitely digging the nice weather. In case you hadn't heard, today was the official start of the Derby Season in L'ville. There was a gigantic celebration downtown tonight, a yearly event called "Thunder Over Louisville" (referred to simply as "Thunder" by the locals). There have been flybys and practice formations over our house for the last two days in preparation for the air show. I think there were something like 60 aircraft involved in the show. The big capper of the night is a huge fireworks display. It goes on for 30 minutes and is allegedly the largest in North America. One of the bridges is closed, as well as parts of the interstate. Apparently, there is a shower of fireworks off of the bridge. So, anyway, we had a late dinner on the deck and watched the show. Although we aren't downtown, we have a perfect view of the fireworks from our house. I made a blackberry cobbler (I'll post pics and a link to the recipe tomorrow) before dinner and, after LB was in bed, Tim and I enjoyed a little cobbler with soy milk outside. A lovely end to a lovely day....

I wanted to share a few pics with you from our day:

Works in Progress-

This is some of the laser cut paper that I was using today. I typically don't cut sections out, as it is a big pain, but I wanted some individual butterflies and didn't have any others.


This is part of a small set of "thank you" notes that I am making. I think I need to do more sets. They seem to fly off of the virtual shelves.





These are some recently quilled items. I used one on a birthday card today. I hope to get it photographed and in the shop tomorrow. I have yet to decide what to do with those remaining. I was going to add a new heading for the pics of Tim, LB and I, but then I got all deep and philosophical and realized that we are works in progress as well. Mmmhmm...go ahead, bask in the glory of my evolved state.LB was loving the braids today, for some reason. She usually tries to take them out, preferring instead to have her usual comb-over style that she is constantly brushing out of her face. I can't believe how grown up she looks in these pictures!The second pic is of her Pippy impersonation. Perhaps this would be a good idea for a Halloween costume. We could paint some freckles on her and gel out her braids. She already dresses like Pippy half the time. The child would like nothing better than to wear mismatched pajamas every day.I need to photograph all of the silly faces she makes on cue. She added a new one yesterday, "pouty." She has been doing "cheesy smile," "angry look," "thinking face," and "surprised" for some time now. It's adorable, even if you're not related to her.

The first outdoor photo is dinner on the deck in the aforementioned mismatched pajamas. As you can see, she likes to wear a little dinner as an accessory to her ensemble.She's watching the fireworks quite seriously. It took her a while to decide that she was enjoying them. I thought Molly might freak out, but she handled it like a champ.

















I tried to get some pics of the fireworks, but you see how well that turned out. You can see our bat box in the first one.The second one is as good as it gets. I guess it does a nice job of representing our view, but the fireworks were amazing and I was hoping to capture some of it for you.

Etsy Treasury

My etsy shop was featured in a treasury this week. You have eleven hours to check it out before it expires! I feel like Cinderella.

"Send Your Mother a Card"