Breakfast

This week our schedules were a little wonky.  Dinner together, and at home, was hard to do.

 

So instead, we made breakfast-time a big deal.  I like breakfast.  I am generally a morning person anyways, so it makes sense to linger a little over whipped cream.  The kids went to town with the sprinkles...I, however, did discover that I love whipped cream twirled all atop my strongbrew from the stove-top espresso maker.  The challenge now is to keep it an occasional treat vs a beloved daily ritual that you wake up thinking about and longing for at 4:30am!

 

Being the first one up is a privilege for me.  Not only do I appreciate the quiet, but I like to fuss over breakfast.  I like to carefully measure, scoop, butter, set, and pour all the trimmings.  This cannot be said about dinner when there are usually little people under my feet and a day's worth of dirty dishes cluttering up my counters.

 

(scone recipe found in this book- super yum!)

Setting the morning table is like putting out little edible gifts. One by one my Sleeping Sweets stumble from their slumbers to embrace me and answer the question I pose to them each morning, "Did you have any dreams last night?  Their gazes quickly turn to the table with hunger and hopeful expectation. Some of the Bigger and Very Late Sleeping Sweets just offer a quick kiss make a beeline towards the hot coffee.  I love starting out the day with smiles and full bellies.

 

You have to try steel cut oats with pineapple, shredded coconut, almonds and a tiny sprinkle of brown sugar! A heavenly way to pass the time between 7 and 7:30am! So, who needs dinner really?  I mean those calories just camp out on your booty after 7pm anyways right? 

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day!  The loveliest meal of the day!  My favorite meal of the day.

10 Happy Things

 

1. Basil growing in my window.

2. I haven't shoveled the driveway in over a week.  No snow!

 

3. "Late-night-after-the-kids-have-gone-to-bed-healthy-dinners."  Conversation uninterrupted.

4. This book.  Several projects waiting in the wings.

 

5. An afternoon with friends sharing paints.

6. Listening to Elizabeth Mitchell while sharing paints.

 

7. Boden spring catalog, and sailor pants, and bright red shoes and belts.

8. Soft boiled eggs . More pretty eggs here.

 

9. Mixed metal jewelry. Gold is the new platinum for me.

 

10. These four faces. Together every day. Growing, and learning and loving each other.  What could be better? (taken last winter... but one of my favs)

**More happy things in the lower left sidebar.  Please don't think of these as things that i am coveting.  I have everything that I truly need.  Just pretty things to look at and be inspired by :)

Tuesday, January 13, 2009 at 11:22 PM

Is is really mid-week already?  I meant to check in here on Monday...never quite made it. Thank you for all for kind and understanding words about the messes around here.  I hate it when it gets that bad...its hard to know where to even begin. I don't function very well in a really messy house.  Thankfully, my girls are getting really good at helping out.  We tackled it together and had it all cleaned up before Carl came home. Whew!

So with all the chores behind me...I had PLENTY of time to relax over the weekend.  I took in Season 2 of The Tudors. All 10 episodes in two days! I always vow to pace myself, but I just have to watch the next episode.  A whole lot of sitting. I cringe when I admit to watching that show.  I find it to be a bit racy, but the time period fascinates me.  I don't think it is super accurate in terms of actual historical record...but the costumes and jewels alone are enough to keep my attention. I think that we should all start wearing crowns and corsets again.  Don't you?

 

My hands kept busy during the movie making a few happy little green coasters. I made and gave away a bunch of these coasters at Christmas.  I wanted to make some for myself...but you can't sit on the couch watching TV and sit at the sewing machine at the same time.  The beauty of crochet- totally lazy.

Have I told you that my brother and his wife are expecting their first baby in June?  This is beyond exciting for me.  I have to keep my cool though...not everyone enjoys discussing birth as much as I do.  All you have to do is say the word "cervix" and my brother will leave the room.  He's pretty cute.  I'm not sure that they are going to find out the sex of the baby before it arrives, so I'm doing my best to keep things neutral.  I used up some of the left over celery yarn on this little hat.

   

(Thank you Laurel for sharing your baby with me.  She is a perfect sized model)

 

I sort of made up the pattern for the hat. The pattern for the Mary Jane shoes can be found in this booklet.

Speaking of babies, December was a very quiet month at the birth center- an aptly timed respite.  January and February promise to be filled with a bit more action. Just have a look at all these bellies waiting in the wings.  (My winter quarter childbirth class- 2 couples not pictured). 

 

Hope your week is going well and I hope your messes are disappearing!