Ode To My Eyes

It's been a while...I have inspiration to be here today.  Mama Glow.
She says 'write a poem to a body part that needs LOVE...'

Ode To My Eyes

Your chocolate  brown center delights

Your brightness shines

You seek the divine

So you squint at every new line

You force our face into awkward angles

So it won't look like the 

Skin under our chin

Dangles

You summon my mind, thoughts powerfully shape...

My perception of my shape.

You see arms that grew wider

Breasts that hang longer

Thighs that touch beneath

My sacred yoni

Surely you'll let go of the bony girl of our youth

Surely you'll see that these lines, rolls & curves

Give me substance & strength & a purpose to serve

A temple for our baby

Ample hips for her

Journey

...passage safely

Milk flowing from the tissue within

My breast

To nourish & sustain

Our precious daughter

You'll see her wholesome & clean

The essence of 'Queen'

May your chocolate brown colour

& bright shining ways

bless her sight as she grows 

But may she know

From the start

To see beauty within

She'll use the eye of her heart...

High Moon

I didn't notice the moonshine until it was gone...

It inspired a piece.

Moon's bright and shinin' high

Clouds in the sky

Come and go 

'till the moon's so low

The coals are nearly out

I kiss your mouth

Hearts beat hard against chests

You've got the fuel

I've got the breathe

Let's stir it up and get these flames

Burnin' high all night again

The heat makes me glow

Toasted gold

Like the tone 

Of your face in this light

From this fire through the night

Hold me tight.

I'll keep you warm by my side 

A lioness I got pride

I can tell by your eyes

A flick'r of desire

There lies

Reflect the fire of my love.

Lets' rise above

Like the moon

I gravitate and soon

You have me 

Full. 

Bullying

Winston is watching a show this morning as I clean the house.  I hear a super hero say " If someone is picking on you, you don't have to put up with bullying!" I pay closer attention to the message my son is receiving.  "Don't get angry, don't fight back. You're the one who has the power."
I think back to my youth. I wasn't bullied.  But I remember the boy who was.  His name was Ben. His locker was close to mine.  He was raised in foster homes, and that's how he ended up in my town.  He loved KISS.  He drew their logo on everything he owned, and his art was decent.  His mental health wasn't as good as his art.  Once he came to school and his eyebrows were shaved off.  I can't remember why.  Maybe his foster brothers had done it, or maybe he didn't see the use for eyebrows. Either case would not surprise me.  I said hi to him more than once. But I yelled at him a lot on a number of occasions.
He was on my track team and he ran the 1600m.  Everyone would be finished the race, and he would still have a whole lap left.  I would scream "YOU CAN DO IT BEN!" or "KEEP GOING BEN!" He inspired me.  He was nobody's target on the track, and it showed.  He could have stepped off 11 minutes into a 6 minute race, but he always crossed the line.  His coaches, officials, spectators, opponents and teammates could have discouraged him, or become impatient, but we didn't.  He had grit. In sport, grit counts. Guys who would later torment him on the bus ride home from away meets would nudge him on the field " Nice finish Ben..." With his index finger, he'd push the bridge of his brown plastic glasses up, wipe his sweaty brow off with his jersey, look up and say " I know."

Travel Colorado

Copy 'cause it's right...on. But I got rights.

Sunshine in a Cup

I survived the first week of summer vacation and Canada Day long weekend! It has been very busy keeping the boys organized, meeting with doula clients, serving tables at The Bridge Bistro, and getting my lemonade stand ready for the first Mountain Market of the season. As I mentioned in my last post I'm determined to keep those boys busy this summer and so far I've been successful! On Friday we started the day with a gentle hatha yoga class from yogadownload.com The boys had so much fun. Grunting, during downward dog saying "I thought yoga was suppose to be relaxing!" It was a great way to set the tone for the day, and get them moving right away. The only thing I'll change, is getting some food in their bellies first, by the time the half hour class was over they were both pretty hungry.
I saw a great craft on Pinterest that just used scraps of paper and a hole punch! (That's my kind of craft)

The Virgo in me envisioned all the paper strips cut and ready to go, but my reality knocked that stars lined up vision outta my head, and I handed my boys their scissors. (Maybe this week I'll have all the crafts prepped ready to go) 

 I also added star and music note shaped hole punches to the mix, along with some silver glitter!

I even discovered a photo of myself enjoying this craft! Apparently Nesta has learned the art of elusive photography for blog purposes! I don't know where he could have learned that skill?

 I had so much fun! And my hole punch art is pretty groovy to boot!

 Lets see what's next? Oh yes! The boys got some media time while I cleaned up and got the kitchen organized to bake some cookies!

 Baking with the boys is one of my favourite things to do! Not only do you get baked goods out of it, but it's a great way to learn about measurement and fractions!
The rest of the day included a trip to the playground, and lots and lots of LEGO!

I had an appointment with one of my clients this week, and as we were discussing "Common Obstetric Interventions" I noticed the husband snap a shot of me rambling on! I asked him to text me the shot this morning and I just love it! I think it perfectly captured the way speak and depicts my passion for informed choice in childbirth! I can just imagine what I'm saying..."There's a vast amount of research that shows undisturbed birth is best for mothers and babies!" I LOVE my doula work!

The rest of the weekend I spent getting ready for another season of Mountain Markets!

You would think that after participating in the markets as a vendor every weekend last summer that I would have started preparing for the first market of the year ahead of time...that's just not my style...

I wanted to really jazz up my booth! Last year I decided my lemonade would be called Sunshine in a Cup! That much I had done! This year I really wanted to make some bunting for my tent, and make a new signt that looked a little more "crafty" I knew exactly the "look I wanted, the problem was when I went to get started on actually crafting these projects my desk looked like this...

So I got that taken care of...

 Then I could sit down and start crafting my bunting! I went to a wedding last summer and they had bunting strung across the reception hall, and the bride told me it was scrap book paper! I knew I wouldn't have time to sew the bunting so the weekend before I picked up a pad of scrapbook paper so I could try and figure out how to go about it...leave it to pinterest. I found great directions all over that site.

The only problem with scrapbook paper bunting, is that my lemonade stand operates rain or shine!
I decided to laminate the paper once I was done.  The following photos will give you an idea of the kind of crafting I did on Saturday...One day before the market!

And once that was finished I started on my sign! Which was extra exciting because I got to use MODGE PODGE...the best goo I've ever experienced!

Come and get'chya some SUNSHINE IN A CUP!

REDy or not... It's summer vacation!

I am so happy today! It's the last day of school and I get to have both my boys home for two whole months!
Nesta LOVED his teacher this year. I wanted to buy him a gift for being so darn awesome but I don't have a lot of extra money right now so I turned to Pinterest for an idea and found the cutest gift bag stuffed with all kinds of goodies that were orange and a gift tag that said "orange you glad it's summer?"

I'm too stubborn to use another persons idea so Nesta and I came up with our own twist...(no pun intended)

Yes, I'm that mother who has tears streaming down my cheeks at back to school time, but truth be told I have been experiencing a bit of anxiety about the summer time boredom epidemic. I remember being a kid and telling my mom I was bored. She would always tell me to draw, read, or write but she never offered to join me.  I would just roll my eyes and go back to watching the TV. I grew up watching a lot of TV in fact I can still remember the exact after school programming for the 3 channels I had. I guess I turned out okay, but there is a lot of literature that suggests we should limit our children's screen time to an hour a day. That includes tv, hand held devices, computers, and video games. I'm determined to have activities prepared for my kids when the inevitable words leave their mouths... "MOM! I'm bored!"
Again, I'm turning to Pinterest.  Some of the bloggers out there are so creative, organized and inspiring to me. I figured I's better start with the organizing thing...at the moment my favourite organizing blog is...i heart organizing I'm sure Jen would agree that the boy's room as it was, was not suitable for an organized summer. I live in a 3 bedroom 1500 sq/ft apartment, so we gave the boys the master bedroom, so it could double as their playroom, and we could still have a spare room/ office.  I'm not always thinking "I should blog about this", when I set out to accomplish a household task, so my 'before' picture is actually a '20 minutes in' picture...

Ughhh...it took a lot of nerve to actually post that shot! Don't judge me...this was a combination of a pre-existing disaster area...and the start of re-arranging the furniture. In the end though I think I achieved a more organized space for sleeping, playing, and crafting...

I found an awesome idea for taming the technology monster that is right in line with my philosophy on limiting screen time over at Organizing Made Fun! Check out these printables...

Just cut 'em out, and the kids get to choose their form of media in 15 minute intervals! GENIUS!

With Canada Day right around the corner, and 4th of July shortly after, I thought Winston and I would get right to it with the crafts after I saw this idea on...you guessed it...Pinterest

We're not celebrating the stars & stripes so here's our Canada Day version...

I've been pinning lots more 'boredom busting ideas on my board "Summer Projects" 

Let the boredom begin!!!