Thursday, October 22, 2009

creating



* sarah's posts over at bloom inspired me to get out the paper, the paint, the stickers. i haven't let the creativity flow for a while - my soul was starting to feel wilty and sad. for me, creativity is the antidote for the blues.

* henry and i had so much fun sponge painting autumn leaves onto tree silhouettes yesterday morning. i drew the trees; he sponged the foliage. tonight i packaged them all up to send to some lucky loved ones. now if we can just conquer the post office...




* yesterday was a looooonnng day. by the end of it, i pretty much wanted to quit my job. it wasn't bad for any particular reason; in fact, it was just like most other days, i think my capacity to deal with it was just diminished. this happens a few days each month, like feminine clockwork. i almost lost my cool when, after several minutes of looking for henry, i finally found him in my bathroom. he'd drawn himself a nice, warm, BUBBLY bubble bath. note: if you add bubble bath to a jetted tub - you get bubbles en masse. while i was fixing dinner, he just slipped away - i didn't even hear the water go on. funny little goat - i bless and curse his independence in the same breath. in retrospect, i'm glad i grabbed my camera before I pulled the plug on his fun. can you believe all those bubbles?


* mostly, i just love him with all my heart.

* anyway, yesterday evening nate swooped in on silver wings and excused me from my domestic duties the minute dinner was over. actually, i told him i was leaving. he looked at me with question marks in his eyes for a few seconds...until i clarified, "i just need to go somewhere by myself. you know...probably the craft store. i'll be back by 8:30 for our pow wow."
i needed to touch some paper, fondle some canvases, ogle the matboard, and buy a new bottle of mod podge (oh, blessed adhesive!)

* today in the car, i was listening to NPR and henry said, "i like this kind of radio, mom."
"you do?" i piped back, a little surprised.
"yea, it sounds nice. it's cozy."
i've thought Krys Boyd's voice has a certain soothe to it (I love "Think"), but NPR=cozy??? not sure about that.

* lily has started folding her arms for prayers. she just watched us do it the other night and decided she'd do it, too - cute enough to hurt your feelings. note: as soon as one of us starts praying, she unfolds her arms and starts eating...so she hasn't got it all figured out just yet :)

* as i alluded to above, we had a gigantic life pow wow/budget meeting last night. it got pretty tense. i left a love note in the toothbrush cup this morning, reminding nate that i really like him and that i'm on his team, come what may. tonight, he walked through the back door with a box of junior mints, a love note, and a copy of one of my favorite magazines.
(you knew this was coming) that kind of love will get us through long days with the children and uncertain budgets and disappointments and whatever else life throws at us for years and years to come.

* and finally, I thought I did not like pancakes. I thought wrong! This week I tried Dave Scott's pancake recipe - and oh my! these are like a whole different species of pancake! pancakes will be a regular fixture in the breakfast rotation from now on.
Here's the recipe, I think you should make them tomorrow morning. They are warm and fluffy and savory enough to make you want to curl up inside them and take a nap.

Happy weekend!

Perfect Pancakes
  • 2 Cups white flour (if wheat flour is used add more milk, see notes below)
  • 3 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 Teaspoon salt
  • 3 Tablespoons baking powder
  • 1 ¾ Cups milk
    1. For more moist pancakes use 1 ½ cups milk and ¾ cups sour cream (I did this, only I did not have sour cream, so I substituted plain yogurt - worked like a charm.)
    2. If one of the two cups of flour is whole wheat flour add an additional ½ cup milk
    3. If both cups of flour are wheat flour add 1 ¼ cups of extra milk.
  • 2 eggs, beat them separately before adding to mixture
  • ¼ cup butter, melted (1/8 of a pound)

Directions

  1. Mix dry items first.
  2. Combine the eggs and melted butter to the milk and slowly stir in the dry ingredients
  3. Let sit at least 10 minutes while heating the pan


6 comments:

  1. I love that henry drew his own bubble bath. what a kid! now I want pancakes for dinner but feel kinda bad about doing that on a night the kids aren't here to enjoy them with us.

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  2. Now if Henry had drawn a nice bubble bath for you, that would have changed everything! =)

    Thanks for the recipe. I've been meaning to ask for that!

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  3. Dave is flattered that you like his recipe so much. I thought I didn't like pancakes, too, until Dave decided to change my mind. I love hearing about Lily folding her arms. And I can't believe Henry did the whole bath thing on his own. He is so grown up!

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  4. I loathed pancakes for years until my husband won me over with a recipe from Better Homes & Gardens. plus who can say no to a plate of blueberry pancakes with fresh blueberry syrup? really, it's impossible.

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  5. What great art and food you have going on over at your place!

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  6. Dear Emily,
    Cousin Heather speaking. I check your blog daily. For the last...mmm...2 years? Just thought you should know who's been creepin'! I missed hearing about the Williams family this week. Love BLOOM though! Love you all!

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