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making music (and art) accessible
I’m tone deaf. It’s true. And it’s almost tragic. Just tonight, after leaving church, I asked the kids, “If you had to pick to be really great at singing or at acting, which would you prefer?” I think I’d pick singing. Because, even if no one else ever enjoyed it, you could entertain yourself. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to sing beautifully and on key and all that? Well, maybe you can already do that. But I sure can’t. And I don’t play any musical instruments either. Again – it’s a shame. But here I am, all talentless in these realms. Here’s a rabbit trail. (I’m excellent at…
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surprise & delight
About five or six years ago Kevin and I attended a conference in Chicago. (It remains one of my favorite memories of he and I. I don’t know how that part of my mind is supposed to work. I refuse to toss out the beautiful with the ugly.) The conference was cool and shifted my thoughts in lots of arenas, but one bit of magic that I took from there and have applied practically to where I am is a little term called surprise & delight. At the conference the surprise & delight was a part of the conference founder’s philosophy. In particular, that weekend, he used it as a guide to create…
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now available for you ….
I’ve watched Kevin’s hands with pencil in place for decades. Just over two of them now, in fact. I love his art. His style has really grown and morphed during these years. I’ve witnessed him engage in the struggle of The War of Art or The War with Art. And he has come out on another side and he’s a better artist for the battle and his art is better for the struggle. He’s often experimenting with how the art gets from his mind and his fingers to anyone else in real life. So – a bit of Kevin’s work is right now available at Society 6 – a website marketplace…
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When you stay inside for several days …..
I like the way snow days turn our house into a kaleidoscope of activity and creativity. It’s why I am reminded once again that these are the ages I will miss most. So far the kids have turned Bergen into some sort of square robot guy. Riley made us a sampling of Nepali food called roti that was simple, yet surprisingly addicting. The kids collaborated together to make miniature needletips from a Tiny Treats cookbook I pulled out from hiding for days like this. It was pretty refreshing to see them working together happily, as a matter of fact, because this event occurred in the kitchen just a short time after…
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how can I not share this stuff?
When I ask London Scout to write about a field trip we just took, she’ll give me a sentence or two. A drawing. Doodles around the corner of the page. After handing her the black notebook we use for our writing schoolwork and assigning her a written narration of a story we just read, she sighs a little and sometimes offers a compromise to try to avoid the task of rewriting a story from memory. But last night, when I was tucking her into bed, I saw a little notebook I had given her a while ago. It contained a plethora of short stories and cute drawings. I loved them…
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My Pinterest Test Kitchen. (Don’t) Cook This: Mini German Pancakes
In case you are delusional or I have misrepresented myself or you have never actually dined on fare I’ve prepared or all three – I’m letting you know – I am not an expert chef. I’m just this person who is nearing forty and has been in a kitchen since I was maybe eleven, prepping both boring and exciting dishes for people that I love. That’s all. And I decided to share with you guys the many potentially tasty treats I attempt from my Cook This Pinterest board. I’ve shared successes with granola bars and cinnamon rolls and blueberry frozen yogurt. It seems only right to share with you a…
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I’ll Call It A Craft.
The bare bobby pins had been resting in a wooden bowl on a stand in our bedroom for months. Purchased at Hobby Lobby in the fall or before for certain. The earrings were clip ons that belonged to my mom that belonged to her mom that maybe belonged to her mom, but no one remembers for sure. And I’ve loved those clip on earrings for decades. As a kid, I held them in my hand when my mom allowed me to peruse her old white fake leather jewelry box. I’ve worn them in my hair for a while now but they usually fall out quickly. After losing one of the…
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I Heart Productivity
Do you know what I really appreciate? Productive Saturdays that feel slow and enjoyable. It might seem like an oxymoron but sometimes, some days, it really happens. And last Saturday it happened at our house. The day just felt long – in the best way possible. I took the bigger kids to Lowe’s to complete their first Build and Grow project while Kevin enjoyed some Otto-Daddy time before Kevin had to go film a wedding. And the kids walked away with cute aprons, a fun patch and the sweetest little terrariums. A home I finally glued that bottom wooden piece of our staircase into place after four months of it…
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natural inspiration
Can one piece of art work be the sole inspiration for an entire room? I think the answer is yes. The kids and I have a joint creation we have been working on for several weeks now. London painted a black bird in the center of a canvas and I wrapped red burlap around the canvas and we knew we wanted something natural to frame out the bird but we just didn’t know what. So we left the unfinished project leaning against the bookshelf in our bedroom for weeks. Until today. A day in which the kids gathered four giant cupfuls of adorable miniature pine cones from the Balsam Fir…
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this little table o’ mine.
Back in the days when these girls were just teeny toddlers together, my mother saw a little oak table and thought our family just had to have it. And we did, of course. The girls have shared many a snack on that table. They have learned to use scissors there and played card games and have learned to sew and draw and create. It’s a table that Otto and Piper love to play on and under and around now too. And it’s been looking a little rough around the edges after all these years and all these sticky little hands. After our Georgia trip at the end of summer, the…
