Happy Me, in my Specks

After years of squinting on purpose, (helps to simplify what you see in your subject when you are painting), I finally have the advantage of losing my eyesight! I think I can credit all the hours that I am spending staring at my computer monitor (learning new graphic design skills) on sites like Lynda.com and Skillshare.com. I have wanted to need to wear glasses since I can remember, along with wanting braces, a cast and a tattoo. I have never done the later, though I have found and love Tattly tattoos (not permanent) and I will be attempting, in this graphic design art-venture, to create my own line. Presently, painting and learning surface pattern design in higher on my teuxdeux list.

Wood type and letterpress

When I lived in England I bought some old wood type letters that I found on Ebay. I believe the seller was from Sheffield. I had to have them. I did not know why really, but I was not going to allow anyone to outbid me for these, they would be mine. AND, when we were headed back to live again in US, getting the moving boxes packed with the assistance of a crew of many handy helpful men, my husband asked why we had spent money for a huge box of inky old stinky heavy wooden letters and I could not articulate anything better than "I wanted them?" Well, I have finally had an epiphany and connected the dots. 

I love everything paper, always have. Inks and paints and pens and brushes. Letters and flourishes and swashes. I have discovered recently how to incorporate my painting and drawing background and combine it with Type. I guess you could say it is my new found passion. 

So for now these lovely little antiques are for my inspiration and my collection. I am currently designing stationary utilizing digital and hand created letters and I am also creating hand lettered art pieces. The next step is to market what I am creating. I adore these little pieces of history and want to work with them and bring them back to life by letting them touch ink again. 

Chocolate Sandwich Creme Cookie Smoothie

Blending in a Blendtec blender, a Vitamix or something similar is essential, these ingredients will not break down properly in a regular blender, so just keep that in mind.

And here is the result of unbelievable speed and blending capability of this type of machine. I would bet that any child, or for that matter, a particular adult would be hard pressed to notice much difference between this smoothie and a cookies and creme type milkshake at any fast food type place or your own kitchen.

 This smoothie is out of this world and loaded with so much goodness.

List of the ingredients

Chocolate sandwich Creme cookie smoothie

8 oz. low fat milk or milk substitute like almond milk or soy

2 oz. coconut water

1 scoop protein powder (36 grams)

1 scoop Greens Superfood (8 grams)

1 banana

1 T peanut butter

10-15 Dark Chocolate nibs

1 T little date chunks

1-2 good squirts of flax oil

1 chocolate sandwich creme cookie

approximately 450 calories

(good substitute for a meal or a treat after a hard workout)

she's 11 and she's a chef

One of my best New Years resolutions was to get over myself and allow my kids to learn to cook. I used to hold all my cooking utensils and equipment so precious that no one was allowed to touch them for fear that they would be somehow destroyed or damaged, what was that about???

so,

I decided to make change, and ask them to join me in one of my favorite places in the home,

the kitchen.

This is the room where families join to nourish, sustain and feed their love for each other. 

If you have little cooks in your house you are ahead of the game, if not, consider it for your family too. Wonderful and lasting memories are created in this warm place, not to mention, good healthy habits can be formed as well and it is just a great place to get closer.

She is 11, and she is a chef, I am so proud.

Blending in nutrition

all the ingredients you see went into these yummy bright red/purple smoothies

and the best part is,,,

all these healthy ingredients ultimately went into my twins tummies

coconut water

frozen beets

banana

grapes

bee pollen

flax oil

spinach

kale

orange juice

lime juice

carrot

this may very well be the first time my boys have ever had

 kale, flax oil, bee pollen, beets, coconut water

and all of this is a"Victory" 

leading to a future of good healthful eating

this blending of whole foods is a new practice in our home and so far we are blending something up at least once a day. 

look for more recipes to follow

Ride your bike to school day

 Our children's elementary school has special days that encourage everyone to ride to school on their bicycles or scooters. Fall, thus far, has not been too cold here in Colorado, and the participation is still going strong! Here on this day, almost all the children walked, biked or scooted to school. We feel so very privileged to live in a community where kids can safely make it on their own, with parents lending a watchful eye,

  The boys had a great time during this event, stopping at the park along the way, and then headed home.  They have since travelled on their bikes with their sister many days to school.

 Soon, it will be snowing here, the "ride to school" days will be few and far between. Bermuda shorts will be replaced with long trousers, tennies with snow boots, short sleeve tops with layers and coats, mittens and scarfs.

pumpkin patch

a trip to the pumpkin patch every fall is a lovely tradition

kids go with their schoolmates and learn about the circle of life in the garden

a pumpkin seed becomes a pumpkin plant, and a pumpkin plant becomes a pumpkin

the pumpkin has seeds, and so on and so on

we watched a video in the old schoolhouse, called the pumpkin circle narrated by Danny Glover, before heading out to the fields

and seeing this film, I found myself wanting to grow my own pumpkins next year with the kids

We really enjoyed going through the corn maze

then we proceeded towards the pumpkins to select our own special treasure to take home

Overall a wonderful fall day spent with my son

in the high plains of Colorado

cream of mushroom soup

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 stick of unsalted butter

1 small onion

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup beef broth

2 cups half-and-half

salt

pepper

1/4 teaspoons nutmeg

1 bay leaf

Thinly slice the mushrooms.

Melt the butter in a heavy saute pan

Add the chopped onion and saute until golden

Add the mushrooms and saute until brown

Stir in the flour, and them slowly add the broth, stirring constantly

Warm up the half and half very slowly in a saucepan

Add to the the mushrooms, along with the nutmeg, 

Add the bay leaf

Cook gently over low heat for 10 minutes, do not boil

Remove bay leaf and add salt and pepper to taste

Serve

This is the perfect soup for fall

a wonderful way to bring comfort to a rainy or cooler day

I had mine here with a spanish tapas olive salad

deliciously satisfying and healthy