a robyns nest

i know, it's corny...

Almost as fun as sticking things up your nose....finding kernels of corn wedged behind your ears ranks pretty high too.  It's actually not that hard to accomplish, I've come to find out.  All it takes is some of this,

followed by a little of this,

followed by a sort of twisting and grinding motion.  Voila!

Corn angels are pretty fun too, and don't require the 30 minutes normally required to put on a snow suit.

(we were here, by the way.  SO much fun!)

saturday....

" Mama!   Mamaaaaaaa!  Mamaaaaaaaaaaghghghghgh! "

The house is burning down, right?  Or one of my angels only has 9 fingers left?  I mean...what else is a mama supposed to think when she hears that bloodcurdling cry from down the hallway?

I should have known better, though....after all, these are my children we're talking about here.

From the laundry room, where I was dutifully folding laundry (ahem),  I tear through the house until I'm looking down the hallway towards The Boys room.  There in his bedroom doorway I see both kids clutching each other....HUGGING each other in terror and emphatically pointing at the floor a few feet from where I'm standing.

" Kill it mama, Kill it! "  (is it sick that in this moment I had the clarity of thought to note "so this is what it takes for them to show each other a little love...)

Anyway... there, sprinting down the hallway towards my innocent children is the LARGEST spider I've ever seen.... at least as big as my neighbours dog (and no, there's no point in arguing with me about this, in case you were wondering).

Now we're all screaming...and I realize I only have  few seconds before it reaches them...and....and what?  Before it turns in terror and runs the other direction...towards me..??!!  So like any quick thinking mother, I grab my nearest weapon....a copy of The Essential Cuisines of Mexico (by Diana Kennedy,  truly a great cookbook, by the way, but also immensely useful for dealing with rogue mutant arachnids).

(This is my chosen method of insect assassination... it doesn't require that you get all that close to them, and most importantly, you don't have to feel or hear that crunch....you know the one....ugh.)

And so, I hurl the book down the hallway where it lands squarely on top of the eight legged marauder. (I've gotten quite good at my technique over the years ).  And (most importantly) where it still sits, several hours later.

I honestly don't know what my problem is.... I think part of me hopes that someone else will deal with the aftermath (maybe one of the kids, perhaps?  or the Insect Carnage Fairy?). It's pretty awesomely bad though.  More than once today, I walked down the hallway and caught myself muttering  "dammit!  who left this fricking book on the floor?  If I have to pick up one more damn thing in this hou....oh....right....hm."  

And there it sits.  I'm staring at it as I type this....working up the nerve.   Seriously, what's my problem?

wet poultry...

...sounds like a bad euphemism for something naughty, doesn't it?  As in,  "that's some nice wet poultry you've got there "...baaahahahaha!  okay, this digression can only go downhill from here .... on with today's ramblings.

After last nights rant, I felt like I owed you all a morning-after picture.  What's most hilarious to me about this pic is that when they're soaking wet, The Ladies are about half their normal size.  Talk about drowned rats...er...I suppose drowned chickens would be more accurate.

Oh, and seriously (for real? forealiously?), I feel like I have to mention that they DO have the option of staying dry and happy in weather like this.  I want you to know that chickens are some of the most stubborn creatures of habit I have ever met....they are choosing to be unhappy (and yes, as a matter of fact, I can tell when they're unhappy, thank you very much ).  Just in case anyone was thinking about reporting me to the SPCA....or whoever it is you call to report chicken-abuse.

Abstract...

The Boy and I attended a class this morning at a local art gallery...I should mention that this class was organized by a fellow homeschooling mama with a very  young baby...a heroic effort  when considering all the other things she has to take care of these days.  THANK YOU Jen :) 

The gallery has some great abstract pieces on display right now.  These were the guiding force behind the pieces the kids created later in the morning.

And of course, I had to get in on the action too....

Amazing what you can accomplish with some paint, yarn, and a little  glitter glue ;)

THE MANIFESTO OF THE IDLE PARENT...

We reject the idea that parenting requires hard work
We pledge to leave our children alone
We reject the rampant consumerism that invades children from the moment they are born
We read them poetry and fantastic stories without morals
We drink alcohol without guilt
We reject the inner Puritan
We don’t waste money on family days out and holidays
An idle parent is a thrifty parent
An idle parent is a creative parent
We lie in bed for as long as possible
We try not to interfere
We play in the fields and forests
We push them into the garden and shut the door so we can clean the house
We both work as little as possible, particularly when the kids are small
Time is more important than money
Happy mess is better than miserable tidiness
Down with school
We fill the house with music and merriment
We reject health and safety guidelines
We embrace responsibility
There are many paths

More play, less work

My man, Tom Hodgkinson, has been hard at work (if you're familiar with his ideas, you'll no doubt see the irony in that statement...).  If you are unfamiliar with his work...take a moment or two today to contemplate his (often) tongue-in-cheek truisms. 

Earlier today, I was laying on the floor snapping pics, desperately trying to figure out what is wrong with my beloved (and OLD) camera.  I'm happy to report that there's nothing wrong after all ....er, with the camera that is...although there may be a thing or two wrong with the picture taker...ahem.

Anyhoooo....I was looking through the aforementioned pictures just now, and noticed (with a laugh) what a great representation they are of a typical day in this house.

 

Children's toys, mixed with the mamas toys...all happily co-existing together in peace and harmony.  Although for the record, the kids toys hurt A LOT more when you step on them....

I guess T-Rex missed the memo about peace and harmony....

As far as I'm concerned.....this should be a national holiday.  Hell...while we're at it, let's just go ahead and make  ALL fiber festivals into national holidays.  Alpacapalooza anyone?

 

There is something magical about throwing a bunch of fiber addicts into a room together....fill that room with various blends and textures and colours (oh the colours!) of fiber and......well, let's just say I saw a lot of happy people today ;)  I heard more than one contented sigh as I watched people of all ages lovingly petting hanks and skeins of wool. 

The Sheep to Shawl folks were out in force again this year.  Read the rules on the website....this is serious business people.  

Aaannnnd....you didn't really expect that I would come home empty-handed, did you?  That's 4 oz's of goodness right there.

I stopped short of this guy though....please mom...can I have him?  Puuh-leeeaase?

nirvana...

Without exaggerating, I feel that I can safely say that The Boys entire life (all 5 years of it) has been leading up to this apex moment last week.  He and I took a solo trip up to Edmonton to visit my sister and family... while there, we took a day trip to the  Royal Tyrrell Museum .

(tangent alert...I HIGHLY recommend making a point of traveling solo at some point with each of your kids...or at least taking each child out individually on "dates"....it really was magical to spend time with this monkey one on one....)

I wouldn't be lying, either, if I mentioned that as soon as we entered the exhibits this Boy Child went FULLY into character, and began to stalk every human in the museum....he WAS a carnivorous dinosaur.  That's my boy :)  All those years (all 5 of them) of stalking his little sister have finally paid off ;)

Honestly, though...The Mama's favorite exhibit had nothing to do with dinosaurs (shhh...don't tell anyone...).

The Story of Life, by Lorraine Malach, hangs in the entry way of the museum.  Malach applied her unique talents to the creation of a series of large ceramic panels portraying life forms from the Precambrian to the Cretaceous. She used human-based figures to tell the story, linking the study of paleontology to the present day and intending visitors to develop their own personal interpretations. A total of ten panels, each four feet wide and eight feet high, it is simply stunning.  Malach passed away before finishing this masterpiece, but a few dedicated friends made sure it was completed in her unique style.

my top 10...

 

In honor of big sunhats, the approaching end of summer, and almost a year and a half  of blogging....today's post is a collection of my ten favorite entries from this bloggy adventure.

I hold the selected posts dear for a variety of reasons.  Some were selected because although they were written in moments of mama chaos when  I wanted to rip my hair out.... now, several months later, I can laugh.  And that is good.    Others were selected because they remind me of things I want to....well, of things I want to make sure I always remember, I guess.  And still others made the pick simply because they are pretty... :)  So there.  Enjoy the ride!!

*  My son is an addict...

* Where babies wait...

* Mixed media...

* The Mouse King...

* Two Haikus...

* Angry Chickens...

* Love ...

* T.V. free, Day 4....

* Hepin'...

* Can we talk for a minute? (scroll down to May 13th)

my new obsession...

 

I was noticing yesterday how flowery my blog is these days!  Funny, considering I'm not really a flowery kind of gal....

We're going to roll with this obsession for a while though...summer will be over soon enough, and I'm sure I'll find something new to focus on through the lens ;)