June is Mine

Obviously I'm not posting like I used to. But, I'm just going to keep this up for now to track my projects progress.



This first painting is mixed media with watercolor, watercolor pencil, gouche, collage, and embroidery.

This second is of my daughter, Maia, using only gouache.

I'm continuing to learn about these paints and having a good deal of fun. My knitting is suffering, of course, being just the one person that I am. And next month I have to buckle down and get school plans rolling for next year. I have most of it planned; just need a few things ironed out.

But June is mine. :)

You Can Tell It's Summer...

... more painting!

Yesterday fruit, today peppers!

I'll have to get to back to a few more chores tomorrow, but next week I'm hoping to start some portraits. Fun!

A Day for Art

After a few days of cleaning and de-cluttering, today is for playing with paint! I did the pear and apple this morning in watercolor. I thought about adding more to the background, but I like the simplicity of it better. I'm working on some peppers now.

I did this sketch of my husband on Sunday night as he worked in his puzzle book with our daughter, Eve. I was going to draw her too, but she was just too wiggly as usual! I am SO disappointed though in the ink from the other side of the page that crept through. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this journal now... I reeeeeallly don't like that things are bleeding through. I also hate leaving things undone and I've already started in this book. :( I could just use if for collage, but I'm not much of a collage artist. So, what to do? I could also use it as a primarily written journal. *sigh* It's not what I originally wanted, so I'll have to see. I definitely have learned that I prefer using watercolor paper. So much of what I do is with watercolor or watercolor pencil or gouache. I don't know what I was thinking... I guess I was thinking that at least the ink or markers wouldn't bleed through, but they do. Grrr. Live and learn.

Finally, below the sketch of Paul is one of my dog, Lucy. She is lying like that right now. She's always snoozing somewhere nearby me. And nearly always with a bit of her tongue sticking out! :)

Hope you're have a good Thursday!

Summer Plans

Maia loves to bake. Her interest has been growing for some time now, as well as her ability. In the past year or so, she would pull out the cookbook she got a few years ago at Christmas and would make one of her old favorites. She's gotten old enough and familiar enough with kitchen basics to handle all that baking entails - including kitchen cleanup!

Unlike her mama, she actually enjoys wandering into the kitchen to throw something together just for fun. I know that plenty of folks unwind in the kitchen by making goodies for their families and friends, but I am just not one of them. I do it, but it is not the thing I think of and turn to when I want to have a good time. I head for my art and knitting.

So, we were talking about summer plans the other day and it dawned on me to mention to her that she could bake us things all summer long. To all of our delight, she was thrilled!

I confess that a teeeeeny part of me has to let go of that mystique that "all good things come from Mama." I have been doing this for 12 1/2 years now and I do love being the one to feed my family yummy dishes and treats that they cheer to have and that they now connect with tradition and memory.

But part of that memory will be me passing on all that I know in the kitchen to my girls. A few days ago I sat them down as I planned my menu for the week and explained why I chose certain meals for certain days: We'll eat this meal first, because it's got corn on the cob and you need to eat that quickly so that it doesn't get starchy and stays nice and sweet... The zucchini dish will be next, because the zucchini is fresh too... We usually have one day of soup a week; we'll put it here... Let's not have two days with pasta too close to each other... We're busy this day, so we'll have an easy meal... and on we went.

The girls will be helping me with one meal a week just as they did two summers ago. This year, though, they will be making copies of recipes they like the best and will begin filling their own recipe binders. They will definitely include the incredible peanut butter chocolate chip cookies Maia's making in the photos here from The Joy of Vegan Baking! I'm putting that one in my recipe book too!

It didn't take me too long to decide that me not spending an extra hour in the hot summer kitchen was really quite okay with me. Both Maia and I were more than satisfied with the plan of her perusing the cookbook for treats, coming up with a list, and I would buy the ingredients. Especially when I can use that time sketching in my art journal or playing with my yarn!

And that leads us to some of my summer plans. We'll not be traveling anywhere this summer, as we are still trying to move forward with our plans to save and move back home to Minnesota. A lot of my time will be spent de-cluttering closets and under cabinets. The craft closet, for instance, has bags of embroidery projects, bags of fabric, puzzles and games and a shelf of pet supplies. As it turns out, my girls are not nearly as crafty as I am and so those bags of scrap fabric that I have saved for rainy days are not viewed as a bag full of possibility, but instead, just a bag full of fabric that needs to be moved every time we open the closet door! :) So, out it goes. And the same will go for things pushed under the t.v. cabinet, into the coat closet, etc.

For fun, I have started a new art journal and will be filling its pages with an odd assortment of things that make me smile. I've written a story that I plan to illustrate and we'll see where that goes. It's just for fun - no pressure.

I'm unravelling another two sweaters - white and off-white - for dyeing. So far, the one sweater I've started on is actually coming apart pretty easily. A few sweaters I've tried recently have been nightmares of frustration and it's tempting to quit trying, but it's just golden when it does work and I know I can make something for so little and be recycling at the same time.

Between these things and planning and organizing for our next school year, they ought to keep me pretty busy and pretty frugal all summer long. I plan to begin posting some of my art journal work here from time to time and will certainly post other projects we're doing. Do you have summer plans in and around your home? What do you do for inexpensive enjoyment? Hope you're all having a great week, and here's to summer!

Vegan:Extreme?

Last night, an old friend of mine responded to this video that I'd posted on Facebook:



She wrote,

I'm glad when anyone is happy and healthy, but my non vegan children are also happy, healthy, veggie loving kids who don't live on diets of Happy Meals and white flour. Not letting the child have a cupcake at a one off birthday party seems a little extreme in my book. I think there is a happy medium to be found in most things, and extremes at either end.

I didn't really feel I'd have enough room to respond the way I'd like over on FB, so I am posting my response here, because I'm sure there are others out there who feel just as she does.

First, I do believe that your children are happy and healthy. But I also believe, from the huge number of studies out there, that a plant-based, whole foods diet, is the best one for us. High cholesterol is being found more and more in younger and younger children (another friend of mine has a son who was diagnosed with high cholesterol when he was four) and heart disease and others are diseases that develop over a long period of time. I believe they are diet related. Heart disease, various cancers, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. have been called "diseases of civilized man." They are highly preventable and many doctors (Dr. Joel Fuhrman, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, and Dr. Neal Barnard are some )believe the best way to do this is through a plant-based, whole foods diet.

As for extreme diets, if one is defining "extreme" as "going to great lengths" or "far from a normally practiced standard," I think there are a few things to consider regarding this matter. One, is that the American diet is culturally and habitually based, rather than being based on health or necessity. Using it as a standard of normal is not one that I want to choose.

In the video, they talk to a little girl (around age 4) who says that she thinks a vegan diet is hard because she sometimes doesn't get to have cookies or cupcakes at a party. While I know that it may be challenging for a 4 year old to see brightly colored, frosted goodies at a party and want them, I think there are a few responses to this:

1) The parents have the responsibility, same as the parent who brings the cupcakes for the celebration in the first place, to provide a vegan alternative. There is absolutely NO reason for that child to feel left out, because there are amazing baked goods and other treats available to vegans. I make a number of these snacks myself for my family and friends and regularly get asked for recipes, including some awesome cupcakes! :)

2) There are plenty of other people, for various reasons, who also cannot or do not, eat all the food this particular culture uses for its celebrations. For health or allergy reasons, there are those who avoid all sorts of things and have dairy-free, peanut-free, shellfish-free, gluten-free, tomato-free, etc. diets. There are others, such as Orthodox Jews or Hindus, who, like vegans, avoid certain foods by choice. I wonder if all of these people are considered extreme?

If, on the other hand, we are thinking of word, "extreme" to mean, "existing in a very high degree," then I would consider a meat-based diet to be extreme in regard to risk. There are the health risks inherent in consuming animals that are not only dietary, but also sanitary. The conditions of the slaughterhouses are to be considered. The sanitary habits of the low-wage, slaughterhouse workers ought to be considered as well.

Then there are the preparations necessary for cooking the meat to be sure that it has been cooked well enough to destroy the various bacterias that live in animals, ie. salmonella, e. coli, mad cow, influenza, and many, many others (have a listen to the latest Vegetarian Food For Thought Podcast in my sidebar for further and fascinating information). Then, of course, while one shoud be careful not to under-cook meat, one also should not over-cook the meat, because then carcinogens are know to form.

Finally, I guess I would like to say, that yes, I have an agenda. That agenda is one for promoting the best diet I believe is available to everyone as well as the most compassionate to everyone, human and non-human as well. When I share this information here on my blog, on Facebook, or with my family and friends, it is not meant to insult or judge anyone, but instead inform. I do this because I care about the health of family and friends and because I feel deeply about the unnessecary pain and suffering of the animals that occurs daily on a global basis. It seems illogical to me that the diet that is the best for our bodies, for the environment, and for all life, should be seen as something less desirable, lacking in flavor or nutrition (consider, for a moment, that we use primarily plant food to flavor all our dishes, including meat ), or extreme in any way.

So, I will continue to share here and there from time to time and I hope that we can continue to engage in discussions as friends regarding these issues that seem to ignite such passion.

Color, Color, Color!

Oh, gee, it's just been TOO long since I've posted. But, I guess that's what can happen when you've been at this blogging thing for nearly 3 years. I know others are much more prolific than I, but this is what it is and I just haven't felt up to it of late. That said, here I am!

I hadn't felt inspired by too much of late - not enough to post anyway, but color always inspires me and I came across this fantastic deal today and it just made me SMILE.

I was out running errands in the rain and stopped in at Goodwill to pick up some sweaters for unravelling when I spotted this wonderful valance:

Yay for color! It really livens up our little eat-in/schooling area and was an inexpensive addition at only $2.99 per valance. I actually thought it was homemade due to the fun color combination. It kind of put me in mind of Anna Maria Horner's things. Seeing as I don't sew, none of her fun fabrics have found their way into my house, but I can tell you I was thrilled with these! At home I finally found a tag: JCPenney Home Collection. Hmm. Who knew? I'm impressed, JCPenney!

More color, but this time we're wearing it! I gave myself a couple of blue streaks in my hair this weekend and then got it cut on Monday. Just needed something different... something unusual... something more me.

You can see a little of the front blue streak by my left ear in the picture here.

And then the bigger one in back.

Eve got in on the fun too. She was so excited with my color and wanted to do it too. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of us both having blue at the same time and I also told her that she'd need to pay for the color herself. I had bleach leftover from my kit, so that wouldn't be a problem.

She was disappointed until I remembered that you could dye your hair (as well as yarn!) with Kool-Aide. At .25 a packet, that was something she could afford and so she's got a strawberry streak now too! Fun, fun. It fits her sweet personality to a 'T' and will go with nearly all her pink, pink clothes! :)

I finally finished my Kepler sweater about 2 weeks ago from the yarn I recycled in February. It fits beautifully and I'm so pleased with it. Of course, now it's way to warm to wear it, but it gives me something to look forward to this autumn.

Here is the sweater the way it was before. It was a man's sweater, so that I could ensure I would have enough for a sweater of my own. And indeed I did; I have a bunch of it leftover.

And here's the finished product. I may get around to putting it on for a picture one of these days, but this will have to suffice for now.

I'm currently working on a tank top out of some bamboo yarn I bought about a year and a half ago at a yarn sale. And I just picked up those sweaters at Goodwill to unravel today. One is brown with some other colors laced through it - kind of a heathered brown with little flecks of reddish orange. The other two are white which I'll use for dyeing this summer. Two different fiber blends, so it will be interesting to see how the colors take. Fun for experimenting!

Hope you're all well. I haven't even been out in the blogosphere much of late. I've just been popping into Facebook for a few moments. I'm okay with that; it means I'm busy in the "real" world and that makes me happy too.

VEGANniversary!

It's my 2 year "VEGANniversary!" :) There are SO many reasons I am vegan: humane treatment of animals, animal's rights as sentient beings, the concern I have for the people we pay to do the dirty deed of slaughtering 10,000,000,000 animals a year to feed a gluttonous appetite, concern for the environment, and the care and keeping of our bodies (which God has called our temples and house the Holy Spirit).

So many of the diseases our nation faces are often called "Western diseases," or "diseases of 'civilized' man." If you have 14 minutes I would highly, HIGHLY encourage you to watch this video, featuring Dr. T. Colin Campbell. Give it some thought. And have a happy May Day!