Operation Orcas Take 5: "Closing"

Let me introduce you to our forest!

Operation Orcas Take 5 begins today, . . . we "close" on our new home and Gary leaves to make his first drive up to Washington!  Holy cow!  WE ARE DOING THIS (that's me telling myself that this is actually happening)!  We have talked about it for years and now that it is in our near future, it's all becoming a bit surreal for me.  I'm excited, but there is a LOT to be done to wrap things up here.  

A little blurb about our new abode, . . . the house is on a parcel of land that been assessed by the state of Washington and put on a plan to help keep the "forest" maintained and "kept".  You heard me right, . . . "forest", . . . we are now, well, will hopefully be later today, proud owners of our own little forest.  Wether or not we continue the current plan or begin a new one remains to be seen at this point, however, we do hope to jump on the bandwagon.  This is one of the reasons why we wanted to move in the first place, to find some land and to "work" it. 

So, as you may have inferred, I'm going to be at home with the two kids all by my lonesome this week.  Eeeek.  I would be very surprised if you heard much from me, but who knows, perhaps in the wee hours of the night I will be craving a little blog time.  Anyway, that's all of my free time for the moment, I must get the day going (dishes washed, laundry, bla bla bla). My goals for the week, . . . try to remain sane, relax, have fun with my kids, make sure to get some sleep, keep everybody fed and hydrated.  I think that's a good plan!  That's all folks!

The Pink With White Polka Dotted (And No Butterflies) Dress..

"But Mommy, I don't want butterflies!"


Yargh, here's an amusing story with a sad end.  About a month ago, the little one and I happened to walk by a fabric store and I thought it would be fun to go in and have her pick some fabric.  The girly-girl that she is, she picked out some pink fabric with while polka dots.  Later that night, eager to find something cute to sew for her, I scoured the internet to find an easy and fun pattern to follow. After a while, I came across From and Igloo (love this blog!), and found this amazingly adorable dress.  I was ready to put my skills to the test.

Now really, in retrospect, I think I should have just listened to my daughter better.  She wanted a pink dress with white polka dots--nothing else, no matching fabric, no buttons, nothing.  After all, she did only pick one fabric, not two.

I got way too excited after finding this dress and got ahead of myself.  I didn't think she would mind if I threw in a second coordinating fabric, especially because it was purple (her second favorite color) and had butterflies on it.  Determined to make the dress, I got to work.  As she came in to watch me sew, she saw that I was working with both fabrics and she kept admiring hers, "Yay!  Pink with white polka dots!"  One evening, as the dress was very close to being done, I asked her to try it on so I could adjust the straps.  She looked down at the dress and back up to me with a very disappointed look on her face.  "But I don't want butterflies, I just want pink with white polka dots" she said to me.  My face dropped and I quickly tried to talk her into the second fabric, "But look," I explained (in a desperate attempt to lift her mood), "it's purple! And see, . . . there are pretty butterflies!"  Nope, no such luck.  My poor sweetie was just not into it and so very sad.  :(

So, I finished the dress anyway, with the hopes that it might grow on her.  To get her to try it on, I admit, I bribed her with a piece of chocolate.  She wasn't very happy about it.  Sorry the pics are a bit dark, I wanted to re-do them but Serafin has not been at all interested in modeling the dress again.  

Sorry kiddo, . . . I owe you a pink dress with white polka dots!  I promise!

"Hmmmph."

"Are we done yet?"

"Can I have my piece of chocolate please?"

Food Fiesta!

My sweetie loves her "compartment plate", after-all, it does have fairies on it.  This morning she made "strawberry heads with big ears".  Ok.  Sounds good to me!

Serafin is not always easy when it comes to food.  When she was really little she would eat everything, EVERYTHING!  Now, she definitely expresses her dislike for certain foods, even before she has tried it (go figure!), which can be kind of frustrating.  Lately I've had a bit of a different approach to the whole food issue, . . . I'm trying not to be so darned uptight when it comes to her eating! 

My mantra, . . . "let go Jessica, . . LET GO!" (In fact, that's a mantra I repeat to myself daily in many other circumstances--go ahead, try it, it helps).

"Let go" of control, I mean.  As long as it's not getting out of hand, so what if she wants to stick her spoon in her cup and drink flavored water?  Who cares if she wants to take her Cheerios out of her bowl and make "funny face" designs out of them, who am I to discourage her creativity?  Why not put raisins on a pizza?  Although I now there are times when table etiquette is needed, there are also times when I need to just let her lead the show.  As a result,  although she isn't necessarily eating more, we seem to be having more fun at the table!  Here are a few fun food things we've done!

A meal during "Rainbow Week" when we learned about the colors of the rainbow.

I was missing the beach the day I made this--that's peanut butter in the middle and raisins for coconuts.  The trunk of the palm tree is a piece of cheese.  Mmmmm.

Peas and Sausage for breakfast, strawberry eyes and a string cheese nose.  Why the heck not?

Here's our raisin pizza face!  Serafin rolled the dough herself!

 And a picture of my little doll, I love her so much.

"Yes, I'm much happier when Mommy chills out!"

Operation Orcas: Take 4

Hi friends!

So sorry for the long absence, there has been good reason for it!!!  I have been busy busy busy!  With what, you ask (or you may have inferred from the title of this blogpost)?  With trying to purchase a home on Orcas!  Wahooooooooo!  We have finally managed to find a spot in which we want to call home, and, if all goes as expected, we will be "closing" very soon!   YAY! YAY! YAY!  

The scoop, . . .basically, we ended up bidding on a beautiful home that we found last year.  We had put in an offer last summer on the house, which, at the time, was not accepted.  Since then, it was pulled off the market and then put back on, at which point we thought it was fate and decided to go for it again.  The home is beautiful, it has land around it, good play space for the kids (no sheer cliffs, ha ha), it's well built and will fit our needs well.  The above picture is a glimpse of the perspective home, more details about the house when we have the keys in hand, I hate to tempt fate too much!

So, I'm sure you've gathered, literally and figuratively, my hands have been very full.  On top of taking a sewing class, practicing, dealing with two kids and buying a home, I've been knee deep in packing.  It's amazing how much stuff we have accumulated over 10 years of being in one spot.  I feel that I haven't even grazed the surface of our packing situation and am already amazed at how much I have gotten rid of and how much I have already put in boxes. 

We hope to be moved out by the end of the summer, possibly beginning of fall.  The task ahead of us is, hmm, well, don't know the exact word, overwhelming?  Daunting?  Exciting?  Adventurous?  Crazy?  All of it!  We have to figure out how to get our stuff, ourselves, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 birds and a lizard up to Washington.  Holy cow!  I've been "oming" a lot lately and taking a lot of deep breaths.  Not only that, just to throw it out there, we hope to rent our current place once we are out, which entails its own set of challenges and demands.  So, . . . if you know anybody who is looking for a charming Oakland home, please keep us in mind.  ;)

All in all, we are ready for this new adventure.  After all, that's what it is, and you only live once, so why the heck not!  Yack!  Eeek!  Weeee!  Here we go!!

Dandelion Greens

My mom taught me to recognize a lot of what are called "weeds".  You might be surprised at what is growing in your backyard that is of medicinal use for you!  We have everything from wild blackberry, ribwort plantain, to my favorite, . . . dandelion.  Why pay $3.00 per bunch when you can go pick your own greens??  Ok, so that's not really true here, . . . I actually don't pick my dandelion greens from the yard unless I know the dog hasn't peed on it, which is not really ever the case in our house.  Still though, their appearance give me the inspiration to write about them, they are everywhere these days.

Dandelion greens are wonderful.  I never knew about their magic till I was pregnant with Serafin and dealing with some very uncomfortable constipation (darn babies get you all plugged up!).  These greens will get your bowels moving for sure!

In my opinion, the greens are too bitter to eat raw, sometimes I throw them in soups or stir-fries, but my favorite way to eat them is the greek way.  When I was a little girl my Dad used to make Horta (stewed greens).  You can make this with many different types of greens, in Greece they make Horta according to whatever greens were currently coming up that season.  Since you can find anything in the grocery store these days, my Dad seemed to always settle on dandelion greens.  


Honestly, I never liked Horta as a child, but as my palate changed, I have grown to love this yummy dish.  So y'all, . . . another greek dish from my childhood, to honor the greens of spring, . . . and it's simple to make, . . . enjoy!

Horta (stewed greens)

Steam greens till well wilted.

Drizzle with olive oil and juice of half lemon (or to taste)

Add salt. 
Done!

That's all! 

Now, chow down!

Yum!

Tasty Teas #5: Roobois

We don't do all loose leaf teas in this house. Choice Roobois tea is one of our favorite bagged teas. Roobois is a red tea, it's caffeine free and is packed with anti oxidants. They use it in South Africa to help in calming children. It's a very relaxing, deliciously tasting tea. Mmmmmmm. 

 I used to love to drink black tea during my "England Days", but I'm pretty much a no caffeine girl  now.  Roobois is a nice alternative and you can add milk and sugar just like you might to a cup of "English Breakfast" tea. You get a nice nutty flavor, mild, but just strong enough. We've tried many different types of Roobois and have found that the Choice bags are good for the price you pay. For my British hubby, I have to say, it is his tea of Choice (ha ha, pun definitely intended!).  We by them in bulk, six boxes at a time, that's how much we love it!

The Sewing Machine, . . .

Ladies and Gentleman!  I am happy to announce that I have gotten over my fear of the sewing machine!   I figured it was about time to get over my phobia of needles and presser foots and get down and dirty.  I want to be able to make curtains, clothes, bed sheets, halloween costumes, yada yada yada.

I've had my mom's machine for a very long time now.  It's a Singer Genie from the 60's, note the decorative flower pattern on the casing, . . groovy dude!  I've been shown how to thread it a number of times, but for some reason, I always left it and then forgot how to do it.  

I think I was kind of intimidated by the thought of sewing "properly".  I never took the time to learn about patterns and fabric and whenever I thought about it, there was always a way to get around it.  What was my breaking point?  I guess I just got sick of looking for ideas online that re-quire the words "no sew".  Plus, I HATE the smell of a glue gun.

So, a few weeks ago I began a basic sewing class.  We've learned about fabrics, how to pick and follow a pattern, how to pin, and use our sewing machine.  You know, the basics.  I'm working on a dress, no buttons or zippers, nothing too fancy, but nevertheless, it's a start!  Plus, I love that I'm learning on the same machine that my mom worked on.

Oh yeah, speaking of groovy things, . . . the other day I decided to put my knowledge to the test and ended up making these cute pants for Miss Serafin!  Love it!  Can't wait to learn more and explore my new (but not very new) toy!