Be Home

cardboard cut-outs

Need a Christmas gift idea? Have I got the thing for you!

Over the weekend George was pleading with me every hour to get out the box that had been sitting in the corner for weeks. The picture on the front of it was hard to resist such begging. But it also would involve some specific moments carved out to accomplish.

Thus on Saturday morning we were ready. We cleared out a nice space on the living room floor and went to work. The more directions I followed the more enamored I became with such an incredible design. George and I were creating our very own Great Wall of China.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been a wild success since its creation. Turrets have been claimed as personal houses and battles have been fought the like of Narnian epics. We've even had a few levers and pulleys devised for authenticity. My only problem...

I'm not quite sure where it's going for the holidays.

{?} sense

When you spend money on anything you hope that the investment is worth the temporary cost. That's common sense. Unfortunately, it was probably more common a generation ago and would be more app ely called uncharacteristic sense in most of the debt induced mindsets of our time, to which I vow not to subject myself. In that hope, I cringed the day we moved our piano. We had to pay for professionals to move it from the living room to the bed of the truck. Because I place a high value on such an heirloom I swallowed the cost at best as a necessary evil but delighted in the hired men doing a job well. However, no such professionals were employed on the opposing end of the trip. So we purchased two objects to which common sense would hardly define. To move the piano a short, oh so short, distance we needed two furniture dollies, for a total of $60.00.

It took barely five minutes to use them and the wheels looked like they never knew the likes of any pavement. I debated very, very hard to return those two dollies for a full refund. But in the end I could only imagine a girl who wore a dress to prom only to return it the following morning. No, I'm more the type to have the dress neatly folded in a storage box for decades after wearing it a total of two hours. This is called non-sense. Thus the two dollies sit in my garage waiting for some fine usage to pay their way to a worthy investment. In the meantime, we have less of a need to pay for any more outdoor play things of the wheeled variety. For the dollies seem to have enjoyed a new found way to be usable. Reusable ingenuity of a previous generation has apparently briefly resurfaced. Let the races begin!

observe

Doing a bit of sketching today. The world is full of inspiring still-life right now. Today it was nature right outside our door. Observation is instantly caught when trying to draw something real. I love the way you can discover new features about the simple things you look at everyday yet often missing its beauty. Leaves are an important part of the beauty this season. This morning was the first morning that I looked out my window to find the concrete parts of my view sprinkled with the tree's lovely colors fallen from their lofty places. I enjoy the imperfections that wind in autumn creates, especially for an {sub}urban setting trying it's best to maintain order. It makes me giggle with a sinister grin.

vintage love

I love pulling out old toys. Each time the baby rattles and shape sorters make another round in the house it refreshes what it means to carry childhood within your home. Even more than the occurrence of passing down these objects from sibling to sibling, is the passing down of a vintage toy, one of a memory buried even deeper within.

I have many of these "vintage" toys. I use that word with much discretion because they are in fact my childhood toys and frankly I'm not that aged to be quite in such an esteemed category. However, that fact still remains that what was once a novelty for the young is now making a comeback to the market shelves, thus it is descriptive of vintage. {sigh}

Slowly I have introduced my daughter to the world that I once knew. Of course stuff, simply as material worth has small meaning, but when coupled with the happy times and the places it was once played, the meaning can be richly fulfilling. One of my favorites is my first dollhouse. Maybe you had this one too! My cousin had the same one, only in different shades and it was wired with the ever-coveted electric lights as well. Hours upon hours we spent rearranged that furniture, acting out scenes, and making miscellaneous extra props for our "homes". Unpacked and reassembled it is still a magical place for the imagination.

 

 

Even the Storm Troopers seem to be relaxing in their newly claimed abode...

cut and paste

Annika and I had some precious moments in the house all to ourselves the other day. I decided to pull out some of the preschool stuff that I have stowed away with far too little time to use it all. I think this was, sad to say, the first time we have attempted scissors and a bit of glue. The cutting part was a challenge. But the pasting was a total delight. The funny thing was, I'm not sure who enjoyed it more. Do you ever grow out of the simple pleasures found in the basics?

a little project

This is my little crafting project for Annika's room. Each one's small personal space needs one or two homemade details! So let's call this a little preview of the finished room. 

I bought these paper cutouts while I was in China two years ago. Knowing that I would want to incorporate these into my daughter's room when the time came I've been waiting ever since.

 And of course I have my little helper with me.

13 days left!

magazine art

Simple and fun. 

With oh so many catalogs and magazines filtering through this house on a monthly basis it's nice to put some of their lovely pages to good use. By request, everyone gathers at the table with glue, scissors, paper, stacks of pictures and a lot of imagination! 

When I was a girl, my sister and I would make "rooms" in our dream house by cutting out furniture and accessories that we thought most fitting and then glue them in place onto large sheets of white paper to create thee most perfectly decorated arrangement. My boys didn't go with the decorating theme this time but they pieced together quite the masterpieces nonetheless. They are especially impressed however with mom's art work. So glad that those fine art classes taken at the university produced something that's impressive...at least that is through the eyes of a 9 year old!

scarves

This year for Christmas I really wanted to be able to make something for someone. I wanted to participate in that beautiful exchange that happens when you invest in a gift for another. Of course the right bought present can say a lot as well but I didn't want all of my expressions of love to be in terms of shopping. 

Knitting is the great outlet of my life these days. Through different seasons of life there should always be found something that brings rest, delight, and a sense of accomplishment to your days. Knitting right now is mine. My grandma is the grand patriarch of knitters in my family. I remember as a kid asking her to show me how every time we visited but of course by the time we saw her again I had forgotten. It wasn't until college that I really started pursuing the love of knitting in the capacity to actually enjoy the process. I lived with my grandma during this time and the two of us would enjoy knitting together while watching the latest pbs concert special, this old house, or a jeopardy/wheel of fortune combo. (I always choose to retreat to my second story living quarters before grandma's favorite show made an appearance, the black abyss of Charlie Rose). 

These scarves were my pursuit of the handmade. I made them for my nieces. All sisters ranging in age from 16 to 4. I tried to think of what colors and patterns would best reflect each girl. And in the end I was happy with the result. Not only did I get to think about them as I put my hands to the knitting needles but I also made the great exchange complete as each girl thanked me and then went on and on about how they love anything handmade!

Yes, I know there are six scarves. I also made one for my mother-in-law.

a touch of wall art

Andrew and I had a chance to go out on a date night last night, with many thanks to Miss Elizabeth. We had a wonderfully romantic time of dining and conversation at Pei Wei. Followed by browsing around Dean & Deluca along with many other young couples I observed. We found ourselves chatting with the salesman at the new Leawood Mac Store. Then of course we made our way to the only place that if you aren't in for bar hopping is open after 9 - Barnes & Noble. To which having a few extra frivolous spending money left from my birthday I came home with two new books. (Ignoring the fact that I just started 3 other ones last week, O well)

One of those books was called The Family at Home. And today it proved to be worth its means. Through its inspiration I added art to our walls. Not anything of spectacular presence. But something of OUR presence. Nicholas' drawings were hung as a piece of wall art above his bed. To which a room was transformed in to "his space". When Nicholas was younger, much younger, 2 maybe, I bought alphabet cards to put up in his room. Today George was all excited to receive them up0on his walls as a token of art. Both rooms instantly felt much more cosy. But better than that they felt like the children that inhabit them. In other words - The Family at Home.