Adventures in Living!

Sunday family fun

I just could NOT face a(nother) day in the house with the kids, nor did I feel like sitting on the deck and watching them play. It wasn't terribly hot, so we planned an outing to Pochahontas State Park . They have an incredible water park and pool complex there, so we thought it would be fun for all the kids.

It was.

 

 

 

 

 

It was so much fun! We brought a picnic, and everyone ate a good lunch and had a fantastic time. Conveniently, when we decided to leave (because Noah was turning blue and chattering), we had to get out of the pool anyway (emergency pool cleaning), so there was a minimum of fuss and drama.

I am seriously considering buying unlimited-visit passes next year instead of joining the neighborhood pool -- the price is cheaper AND there is something for everyone to do comfortably. It's certainly cheaper than Water Country, and closer to home, too.

Now we have to sneak in one more visit before the weekend....pools close on Labor Day!

A minor achievement in coffee

This morning began, as usual, early. Noah feels compelled to get up before dawn some days, and this day was no exception. I refrained from allowing him to get me out of bed at 4:30, though, so I have been listening to him fuss and sing for two hours. Now, finally, he is up and running around the house, playing and chattering away. Even though I'd much rather be in bed, I love watching him explore his world.

Of course, being up this early means that I require coffee. Usually Noah "helps" with that, putting scoops of beans into the grinder and then pressing the button to grind the coffee. Not today! I have been on a quest for a good iced coffee recipe, since I adore Starbucks frappucinos so much and am trying to reduce my nonessential expenditures (and excessive calorie consumption!). I figured it would be nice to be able to make 'real' iced coffee whenever I want, instead of just waiting for my cup to get cold and then throwing some ice cubes in it.

Quick! To the internet!

A Google search brought me many options, and the one I'd never considered before turns out to be the key: cold-brewing! Never even thought of it. Here is the recipe I used, which makes a boatload of concentrate, probably way more than I need at this point, but, heck it was a first experiment. I did alter things a little, and basicaly, because I didn't have a pound of coffee already ground, I combined about 12oz of Dunkin Donuts ground hazlenut coffee and about 6oz ground chicory coffee that had been languishing in the cupboard. Throw it in a container with about 3 and a half quarts of water, wait about 12-16 hours, et voila! Cold-brewed coffee concentrate. Well, you ahve to strain out the grounds first.

Straining the mix was the difficult part, and I definitely need a glass container or pitcher for the resulting brew, as it is staining my plastic milk jug horribly.

Mix about a cup of the brew with about three-quarters cup of milk, a splash of cream and maybe some chocolate syrup, stir and throw in ice cubes. That's it.

YUM.

Playing in the Kitchen

So, my kids really like to play 'kitchen' and use their (and my!) pots and pans and plastic food to make dinner and serve snacks and all that. We used to have a big, upright Little Tykes kitchen for Wren that we got from Craigslist, but over the year or so we had it, it got kind of trashed to the point that it wasn't fun to play with. Plus, it was a fairly good size, and took up a lot of room.

Once we started the remodeling of our living room/library area, it had to go. I kept all the nicer pots and pans and utensils and play food in a large fabric bin for the kids, and just ignored the fact that there was no kitchen. I noticed recently that both Noah and Wren were getting into kitchen play, and this time, they were using all kind of flat surfaces for their stove. I thought how nice it would be if they had a kitchen again, but there really isn't room for one, even in our larger living space.

Hooray for the internet! I found a blog, Balancing Everything, that featured a tutorial for making a fabric roll-up kitchen play mat!  It was really cute and looked like something the kids would love, so I read through the tutorial and adapted it for my own purposes.

Took me about two days and I am especially proud to say that I bought nothing to make it. All the fabrics and embellishments were already in my stash! Yay !

Anyway, here it is:

 

It has a grill in full flame, a sink, and four stove burners. I used bleached muslin for the top, with cotton fabric for the appliances and various ribbon and felt scraps. The electric burners are detailed using a big fat Sharpie marker, and there is dimensional fabric paint for the stove knob tops. I drew the sink drain with the Sharpie, added a few water droplets with a glitter paint pen, and used packaged tubular bias for the grill grate.

The whole thing is backed with a layer of cotton canvas and a cotton print. I sewed a strip of bias binding to one end to use as a tie when it is rolled up. The three layers of fabric have a nice weight, and it rolls up and stores in the fabric basket with the kitchen toys.

Best of all, the kids love it!

Here is a detail of the stove:

 

and a shot of the sink:

 

and the grill:

 

Noah really liked it; when I took this picture, Wren was busy gathering her 'gredients' for the lunch she cooked.

 

I have to say that normally I HATE machine applique, so in making this project, my skills were definitely tested. However, it really came out nicely, so I am not complaining. And it kind of encourages me to do a few more projects with machine applique.

Hmmm....maybe Noah needs a toolbench....or a soft busy book to practice dressing skills...

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To all of my friends who are traveling to Charlotte this weekend, safe travels, and give our love to Valharic. Please let him know we are thinking of him.

Summer season

The scenes of summer, here at our house.

riding on the Washington metro, June 09

  nasturtium flower

the herb garden, early July

Hershey Park, Hershey, PA with the Girl Scouts

playing in the pool

  gathering from the garden

tomatoes by the wagon-load this year

Wren goes adventure riding, August

Ah, summer. It's been a great one, and although I am seriously done with the heat, we have managed to ahve fun, grow vegetables, and travel a small amount. Fall is coming, and I am waiting.

Philosophy

"Life's too short to be taking risks on things that may be considered fun."

Illustrious wisdom from a family member of mine whom I love dearly, but who obviously has a much different perception of what living is all about.

I know what was meant in the above statement: that risk-taking is a dangerous thing, and life is too precious to just cavalierly participate in an activity that could end your life. I have much to live for, and people who depend on me and love me, and I cannot be selfish and do what I want without regard for them.

And that's true, for the most part.

I guess the part where I have a differing view comes in with the concept of risk-taking and potential selfishness. I see all of life as a risk-taking adventure. Especially in modern times, where we (literally) go faster, have developed more technology for adventure sports, and have conquered (we think) so much more of the natural world. The world itself is larger, more accessible, and the sense of community most of us has encompasses the 'global village', rather than just the folks down the road or in the church pews.

The old chestnut, used when talking about risk assessment, "I could get run over by a bus tomorrow!" still stands, although I am not sure how likely I am to get run over by a bus in an area that doesn't really have sidewalks to step off of, much less a proliferation of city busses.  Now, I am no adventure-sporting adrenaline junkie. I like my adventure relatively tame, on the whole. Riding horses, flying in small airplanes, moving to a new area without excessive amounts of research....you get the picture. Not exactly setting the world on fire, except in my own little corner of it.

Oh, I dream of learning to kayak the James River one of these days (but not the class V rapids), and of learning to rock climb (but not free-soloing), and one of these days, I am sure that I will. I also have an intense desire to travel, to get out and see the world for myself. I'll get to all that. I know I will.

It's been a long time since I fed my personal sense of adventure, and I don't mean by having another child. Lord knows, life can be enough of an adventure with my bunch! No, this time it won't be horses or airplanes or moving house, or joining the Peace Corps.

I'm going to get a motorcycle license.

It's something I never saw myself doing, not really ever, particularly since I am not much of a biker chick. But it will allow me to safely and legally operate a 125cc motor scooter on the non-interstate roads of the commonwealth. This one, in particular. 

Right now, I am going to take the Basic Rider Course from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, buy my helmet and gloves, shop for a motorcycle jacket that IS NOT PINK (or baby blue or white, for that matter), and save money like a crazy person.

Hopefully, I'll be scooting around town by next spring.

I can't wait!

There's a reason this blog is called Adventures in Living.....

I try, oh, how I try, to look at life as an adventure. There are so many things to do and try and see and people to meet and good food to eat and places to go that it would be impossible to get to them all in one lifetime. I try not to focus on that, because the possibility of missing out on some really cool stuff is depressing, but rather to make my little journey through life with a sense of wonder and uniqueness, and focus on the opportunities I have and the things and people around me. It's not always easy to remember that life is about the journey, that it's not about always doing the 'perfect' thing, or even the 'right' thing, or worse, the 'always expected' thing. You get bogged down in the dailies: money (or lack thereof), job (or lack thereof), raising kids, keeping the roof from leaking, taking the dog to the vet, buying groceries, paying the bills....you get the idea. Some days it's hard to remember that YOU are a real person with real, interesting ideas and desires. Some days it's hard to remember that your life is your own, and while it is important to take certain people and things into consideration, ultimately, YOU are the one who lives your life.

Picasso was quoted as saying, "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up." It's one of my favorite quotes. I think there are a lot of descriptive words that can replace 'artist' in that quote...'every child is a dancer'.....'adventurer'.....'is creative'....'is fearless'....'is non-judgmental'...

Lots of things.

Then we grow up, and Life takes over, and before you know it, we are all afraid. Maybe we don't call it fear, but that's really what it is. Afraid to take that trip, afraid to run out of money, afraid to get hurt, afraid to screw up your kids, afraid to climb that mountain, afraid to lose your job, afraid to be alone, afraid to die. The path you travel becomes straight and narrow and limited, and the journey is more about some 'destination' -- lots of money, prestige, power, material goods, 'making it big' -- rather than about what you encounter on the side of the road. Sometimes there's a big stinking hole, but most times there are so many interesting and wonderful things to be found....rose gardens, and picnics, and castles....people with courage and interesting stories and new ideas...art...languages...mountains to climb. Why miss out on all of that?

Life is about risk. Every single day is about taking risks....big ones and small ones. If you spend all of your time trying to figure out how to avoid all the risk, you remove yourself from the possibility of encountering real pleasure, and of finding out things about you that you didn't know.

Life is too short NOT to try out whatever you want to try. Someday you're going to be gone, and the best legacy is a life well-lived.

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Chocolate in one hand, strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO-HOO! What a ride!”

Amen.