A Mindful Life

Scene: Dinnertime, 6:30 p.m. I am standing at the kitchen counter, Husband is leaning against the sink.
Me: I swear, Claire seems hungry every hour lately. I’m chopping up some vegetables for her. [Claire is clinging to my butt, whining in hunger.]
Him: What did you make for dinner?
Me: I made chicken ratatou–ee-yOUCH!
Him: Did you cut [...]

This is one of three pinwheels I stuck in a flower pot in our back patio. Claire loves to watch them spin, especially when sunlight causes them to reflect light into the house.

For reasons I don’t want to go into (mostly because they’re boring), the past couple days have been rough for me. I am raw and short on energy and patience. At a stoplight, I had my right turn blinker on. It’s an option to turn right on red (unless there’s sign prohibiting it). I was [...]

In an attempt to break out of my safe little rut, I tried a new pattern. It’s not as though the stitch is difficult; it involves binding off and picking up stitches, but I’d never tried changing directions before. This is an accent scarf, and it’s intended to be worn to jazz up an outfit. [...]

I made Claire’s hat and trusted the pattern. It’s very cute!

The model is also quite charming and cute.

Cooler weather is on the way, so I’ve decided to make Claire a winter hat. I’m trying to experiment more, and I found a pattern called a Ball-Band Toddler Hat. I used a larger needle to get the gauge right and the darn thing came out too large for her. It’s a bit small for [...]

I’ve discovered a new blog and resource portal that will become a staple of my reading: The New Homemaker. I was doing research on the origin of “Susie Homemaker” (which I’ve not yet found because I wandered off into this new discovery). From the About page:
Who is the New Homemaker? She is the person who [...]

Peas, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and corn (with green beans soon to be pureed). I did this because I can’t find the variety of veggies I’d like to offer Claire in brand name baby foods, and actually, I think this might be cheaper! It wasn’t as hard as I’d imagined it would be.

That’s the temperature right now and it’s only 2:45. Little Miss is not napping well today. But she’s cheerful for the most part. She has begun pulling up in earnest this week and uses me often as a climbing wall. The other day she pulled up using the ottoman; there’s a blanket with fringe that [...]

At the yarn store I started realizing the enormity of the project. I was going to need almost thirty balls of wool. That’s a lot of yarn. That’s so much yarn that when I told the yarn store lady what I needed, she let out a low whistle and gave me a look that told [...]