Naps

Do you remember how soothing falling asleep in the car was when you were a kid?
I do.
I recall road trips with my Dad and Stepmom, heading home I'd be exhausted. Seems the best sleep I've ever had was as a kid in the back of the car, getting lulled to sleep by the song of the tires against pavement and the breeze of the wet Texas air.

These are ADORABLE!

I just saw these bloomers on the purl bee blog and I have to make them. They are so divinely cute. Evs will love them. Once I finish my scarf (pic below), this will be the next project.

Scratch

Today was a lovely day here in San Diego. Well, when is it not? Anyhow got some great news about my little Evs. Took him in to be re-tested for having a peanut allergy and this time he came up negative, phew.Life could have become much more complicated, which definitely goes against my "big-plan-for-how-it-is-all-supposed-to-work-out."
Is that strange, I thought everyone had one of those?

I've Bought a Trailer!

Well, ever since I sold my glorious, celeste green Bianchi road bike, I have been in mourning. However, recently I purchased a trailer and I have a renewed sense of hope. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a buy-and-return problem with strollers. I am always looking for the perfect one and it is one of my obsessions. My newest acquisition is a Chariot double trailer, which holds my two kids and not only acts as a bike trailer, but converts to a stroller, a jogger, if you wish a cross country ski trailer and yet one more thing, you can lug it while hiking. Amazingly adaptable to all sorts of adventures. The verdict as a bike trailer, AWESOME! Have yet to try it out as a stroller. My vision for reclaiming some of "me time" has evolved into a compromise, lug the kids along and get some biking/skating in along the way. For instance, bike to the zoo, lock up the bike and turn it into the stroller. Or bike to Mission Bay, lock up the bike, turn the trailer into a jogger and start roller skating with the kids in the trailer.Oh the possibilities!

Well, yesterday I went for a ride with the kids in tow, our virgin voyage. We rode up to the coffee shop for a smoothie and hung out there for a while and then continued on to our neighborhood park. At the park we played for a good 2 hours. Was such a blast. Rode home just before it started to get dark and felt such elation. I can't wait to have more of these kinds of adventures with the kids. Will keep you posted.

Guess Who's Crawling!

As painful as it is to hear the sound of my youngest Evs cry, it is with sheer joy that I announce the reason his crying. He bumped his head on something while crawling! That's right, big announcement folks, "MY BABY IS CRAWLING!"
Gees, life happens so quickly.

Knit Night

This past Thursday was knit night. Sounds thrilling, I know, but it actually is a blast! The hubs and even our babysitter joke about how knit club is a bunch of old ladies sitting around, well I always have so much fun whenever I go. Lovingly referred to as "stitch and bitch" we basically get together, have dinner, drink wine and, more often than not, talk about the dirtiest stuff imaginable. They may be old ladies, dear hubs, but they've been around the block once or twice and have some great tricks!!!



One knit night I brought along these cards my mom had given me called "conversation cards". The ladies and I were going through the cards and asking the questions one by one and an interesting card surfaced. I read it aloud, "what is the most daring place you've had sex". Some folks said the car, lots of car answers, someone said they were hiking and just pulled off the trail, but the most daring answer came from the oldest lady there! She was 80+ and she said, "under the boardwalk in the daytime". Ooooh, what a little silver fox! The funny thing was that it had just happened the previous week, kidding, but thought it was so funny that out of all these ladies, that the oldest, most poised and unassuming person there came up with the most daring answer. Of course, she had many more opportunities than the rest of us, being 80 something.

This past week's knit night was at my friend Marie's back cottage. She just had it rebuilt and it is DARLING! Painted yellow and surrounded by roses, it was a total respite from the world of mommy-dom and wife-dom. A place where I could just be me, and for four hours, no responsibilities. I sat there with all of my lady friends, pulled out my yarn and needles and started to knit, something I hadn't done since before Evs was born 7 months ago. The yarn felt so good between my fingers and the rhythmic beat of the pattern settled in my hands. yo, k2, yo, k3, yo, k2tog, s1, psso, k3, yo... and so the beat goes.

Canning Season

Yesterday afternoon was gorgeous here in San Diego! Em and Evs and I spent the majority of our free time outside in the backyard, but while Evs was napping, Em and I found something so cool!

A bright green grasshopper, the exact color of our backyard. He was very comfortable being held by me or Em. We grabbed a jar and the hubs poked holes in the top, put a leaf in that we knew he'd like, clue: the plants that had big holes eaten out of the leaves, and then we saturated a cotton ball with water and threw that in too! Anyhow meet Chewy, a.k.a Chuy the newest member of our family. We took Chewy out to dinner (Gaetano's Italian for Delicious) with us and then over to the GrandP's house. I mentioned to Em that we should let Chewy go the next day and he exclaimed, "NO, He's my first pet!". So with that, he earned a couple of extra days in the house. How could I resist? After all, I remember when I caught my first batch of fireflies, rolly-poleys, hermit crabs, brought them home and my folks obliged. Have you had any interesting backyard creatures as pets?

San Diego's Newest Hot Spot

My dear old dog whom I adopted 10 years ago, named Charlie by the pound, but nicknamed C-Toast by the hubs and I, has a hot spot. This is the third bout this year and I swear, one of these days his tail is going to fall off from his obsessive licking! We wash him with the special soap, put the flea deterrent on him, give him his thyroid meds daily, love on him and eventually some punk of a flea gets him and it is all over, the inevitable placement of the cone arrives. You know,
THE cone.
One of these:

Lately his totem pole placement has dropped several rungs since babies started making appearances around Casa de Flohr
and I have to wonder, is the obsessive licking out of sheer desperation for attention? In any event the poor guy's tail is a cry for help. The fur around the base of his tail still looks like a lion from the last vet's visit, it has just started to grow out and I fear if we go to the vet again, they will humiliate him further. Even though Halloween is months away, he has donned the cone again. The last time he wore it, someone boldly yelled over our front fence that it was animal cruelty to put a cone on a dog, that we should be ashamed of ourselves! Now, I agree it is not the most comfortable canine accessory, however neither is a raw tail. I chose the lesser of two evils. Hopefully C-Toast will understand.

Pool Party Baby

Yesterday was our first official pool party. A rite of passage for kids and parents alike. The weather was perfect and the mood was pure parental bliss. So much fun floating, splashing, cannonball-ing and sunscreen! Seeing your children so incredibly happy that it can't possibly be contained in their little bodies, well, the only place that kind of happiness finds rest is in the knot of your throat.

It took almost 3 years until Em finally learned to adore water. Evs is a natural water baby, but he didn't experience the "wave incident of Maui" like Em did. Fortunately everyone was okay, but the hubs had to dive under a rouge wave with Em in his arms when Em was only just over a year old. (We think that is what spoiled the water fun for a while). When the hubs and Em came up out of the water once the wave had passed, Em was NOT happy. And he had a great dislike for water for some time.

To see him jump in the water now and sport a smile that is wide and gleaming, is quite an accomplishment.
Time does heal most things.

Origin

Today my eldest son Em learned where juice comes from. Simple, right? I thought it was an important lesson that he learn that all of this stuff we consume, both physically and monetarily comes from somewhere, it doesn't just appear. 

The morning coffee that the hubs and I drink comes from the earth. Someone probably very far away woke up one morning and went out to pick it, or turned on a machine to harvest it, a machine which was created by someone. We forget so easily when we head to $tarbucks and lay down our money for that warm, chocolate-hued elixer, all of the effort that went into making it, all of the people involved and employed to produce 

one. 

little. 

cup.  

So Em and I grabbed a bag of apples, washed the wax off of them, sliced them so that we removed the seeds, and placed them one by one into the juicer and made our very own, very tart, apple juice.

Ahhhh.

Saying Goodbye to an Old Friend

I just sold my Bianchi, "Celeste" green, gorgeous, vintage road bike. I rode it this morning and it brought back all those old feelings of comfort. After I accepted the cash for it, I went into the hub's studio and cried. Crazy, I know but it was like saying goodbye to an old friend, and a part of my past that I for some reason, held on to. You see, before kids, before the hubs, I was an avid cyclist. I rode my beautiful pale green Bianchi halfway across the United States by myself, just me, my bike, camping gear and the pavement. Selling it was accepting that my life has changed, not in a bad way, however just in a different, forward kind of way. I guess I was secretly hoping that I would one day be able to re-experience the kind of freedom that my bike afforded me. I love my current life, I wouldn't change it, but no one ever said it was easy to say goodbye.

Get Outta My house

For the past two days the hubs and I had our nanny come and watch the kids so we can, er....

clean! Probably not the best use of a nanny, however in order to have a proper garage sale we needed some privacy so we could secretly collect two thirds of the mountain of toys that our kids have acquired and never play with and get rid of them! I have this frantic desire to shed all of the excess stuff in our home that has been making up the soundtrack of our lives; the sound of something falling onto the ground. There is so much clutter, and I crave clean, organized living.

Listen folks, it is not easy having that kind of life with not one, but TWO artists in the household.

The time has come for a revolution! If we are questioning keeping it, then it goes in the garage sale! Some items for instance: the portable wind up victrola that I never use, the antique tin pie safe that holds no pies, my bianchi road bike (celeste green, ah) which I rode solo from the west coast to Jackson Hole, and last frontier of random items, tire chains for the snow that fit my long gone, paid off 4runner, which I sold earlier this year.  May they all find new homes this weekend and get outta mine!

Progress

Today my in-laws were to come over to watch Big and little E. The hubs was out of town and I had planned a day of mission organization. Unfortunately my plans changed the minute I fell down the stairs at dark a.m. to check and see why Big E was crying. I skipped some of the important steps and landed very un-cat like. Twisted my ankle/foot and knew faster than you can say sh!t that something had gone wrong. Fast forward: urgent care went something like this after the x-ray...
Dr.: "I want to you wear a boot and use crutches as you may have a hairline fracture."
Me: "Uh, I have two kids under the age of 3. But all I really do all day is sit and watch soaps and eat bon bons."
Dr: "Oh, not gonna happen. Whelp, here is an ace bandage, good luck."

I managed to pack up the dish set. Progress, albeit slow.

Cleaning House

I have gotten to the point of being SO overwhelmed by my clutter that I am ready to donate it all! Today I made headway. The hubs is out of town and I do my best work then, not sure why? Anyhow, I booked my sitter and made progress. First off, I boxed up all the superfluous plastic toys. There were so many toys everywhere! There are still way too many, but at least I've narrowed it down to a toy trunk and the drawers beneath the train set. YAY! Next up on the list, my vintage robin's egg blue and brown floral plates. A set that could serve about 25 people! There are serving platters a many, casseroles, gravy boats, sugar jars, etc, just too darn many taking up space, and guess how often I serve 30 people at once? Once every two years. My friend Jora gave me a great idea and I am ever so happy to steal it; if I need plates for 30, I can buy some nice Bambu dishes and flatware. Chic and eco-simple! Gotta get back to work, wish me luck!