Differences

My 3 year-old is starting to notice and ask about differences in physical traits. I get lots of questions about boys vs. girls and old vs. young. One recent question about crunchy eyes, or laugh lines, had us all in stitches and probably produced a few more laugh lines.

Do you eat a lot of sweet potatoes? We really don't. Today I grabbed a few of those instead of the yellow ones. I baked them and they made the whole house smell sweet. c.

Little

Like little hands sitting really still for a real manicure on the very last day of school. c.

A long weekend

It's Memorial Day weekend here. We are enjoying the nice warm days, the museums, the BBQs, and some gardening. c.

Curry!

I have been searching for and trying out some new recipes because I have been is a serious rut for a long time. I'm not the worlds best cook but I like cooking because I find it relaxing. The cleanup isn't all that relaxing but who's thinking ahead?

The Thai Red Curry I made last night was so incredibly delish. I followed this recipe with a few exceptions; to make it vegetarian I used firm tofu in place of the chicken, or you could use those tofu chicken strips (I am the next time I make it), I omitted the fish sauce and added in yellow peppers. I also went for the 3 teaspoons of the curry paste 'cause I like it spicy!

An exception to the policy

Remember my I don't care if it's messy policy in the craft department from yesterday? Turns out that does NOT apply to cooking. Apparently I can't handle the idea of flour and sugar getting all over or the accidental ingestion of batter due to raw egg factor. "No, Watch Out, OK That's Enough, Mommy's Turn!" Kinda takes all the fun out of it.

We did have lots of fun eating the banana muffins that we made. I used this recipe and adapted it to muffins by cooking it for 30 minutes, cutting the sugar to 3/4 cup and adding a few handfuls of semi-sweet chocolate chips to the final batter. They turned out supper yummy! c.

An organized mess

I had a laugh with my neighbor the other day because the ONLY thing in my house that is organized is my craft drawer. I guess that says a lot about me. This craft drawer in my kitchen functions so well. There is an anytime you want policy and an I don't care if it's messy policy (the unorganized side coming through). I got the pencil boxes from Walgreens. c.

Product love

I love the line of Klutz activity books because they are so super fun and clever. I've given them many times a presents. Today we are having fun with the stencil book. It gives g. the ability to put little scenes together. Tonight we will be working on some fashion design with my neighbor's crafty 6 year old. We will let you know how that goes tomorrow! c.

Happy faces

Mother's Day was relaxing. Our lilac bush is finally blooming. The best part of the weekend was that g. drew her first face. We've had nothing but random scribbles and then all of a sudden on Saturday she made people. This was my Mother's Day card, a drawing of me and g. c.

Mo drawing

Yesterday while I was driving in the car victoriously listening to NPR after a battle of wills over NPR vs. some high pitched repetitive kids cd, when the celebrated children's author Mo Willems was on All Things Considered talking about why we stop drawing once we are adults.

Willems tells Michele Norris, "is that people stop when they decide they're not good at it. Nobody stops playing basketball when they realize they're not going to become a professional. The same thing should apply to cartooning."

It was a great 5 minute segment you can listen to it here. You can check out Mo's blog here.

Why not look across the table tonight at your spouse, partner, kid, dog, cat or hamster and do portraits of each other? I bet at the very least you will have a good laugh!

Check out Mo's dedicated to drawing dining room. c.

Fear No Art

It's museum mania around here. This weekend we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. They are showing a fantastic exhibit by Olafur Eliasson. The 3D environments were quite something to experience. I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

There is also currently an exhibit on Buckminster Fuller that was fascinating.

"Does humanity have a chance to survive lastingly and successfully on planet Earth, and if so, how?" ~ Buckminster Fuller

And my salad by Wolfgang Puck was delish! c.