one full hour of pure lucas attention

dinosaur tee handmade by jen at beebee mod.





homemade play-doh
1 cup flour
1 cup boiling water
2 tbsp. cream of tartar
1/2 cup salt
1 tbsp. oil
food coloring
***
mix and knead together

writing prompt: ten years ago...

ten years ago the secret to life was in norm's virgin strawberry margarita's. i would have been wearing stretchy black pants and had jessie's borrowed snowflake sweater tied around my waist. i'd be sitting on a stool at the front desk of the golden gate restaurant in kennewick-town. bad eighties karaoke going on in the background. my car was a speedy silver honda prelude that smelled like mongolian beef from going on delivery runs for $5.25 an hour. i probably had a belly full of stale fortune cookies and leftover egg rolls.

jess and i would watch the clock for our shift to end, share one of norm's margarita's, count up our tips and collect the days fortunes. gross drunk old men would be trying to impress us with their skills at "the claw" and we'd anxiously wait around for lacie to show up with instuctions on how-this-night-was-going-to-go-down.

now it's your turn...

execute operation "this-kid-needs-his-own-bed"

this is what i found when i went to climb in my bed last night:
-The Mister wrapped up in ALL of our covers
-Mister Junior lying horizontal across the top of the bed. feets on The Mister's belly.

this is what i did:
snuck my red plaid blanket out from under the mister and tip-toed to the couch.
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i've been collecting my favorite images from some of my daily internet visits. inspiration to get lucas's room done. i've got quite a little gathering in my file folder marked "operation this-kid-needs-his-own bed." i had decided to break down this overwhelming house decor chore into rooms. and his will be the first. i can't believe this has become a chore. for years i have waited and waited for my own little box of a house to paint and fancy up. now that it's here the huge-ness of the project has caused the whole thing to come to a grinding halt. ending today. today, i will buy paint. today we will buy lumber. today this adventure begins.

i've weeded through the images and come up with this little bundle of inspiration:

1. rocket kids fabric (for quilt squares/a pillow?/toy bags)
2. huuuuuge metal alphabet
3. a fun lamp or two. this inspiration comes from ABC carpet and home
4. i love the idea of a map for wallpaper. this room screams adventure.
5. mister lucas jude himself. the bob dylan tee helps, too.
6. i love oscar's room. the paint color is perfect.
7. babar poster
8. oscar's room, again. i've seen quite a few of these bookshelves around. children's book's alone are works of art and this is a great way to display some of our favorites.
9. i love, love, love the idea of this eames rocker. and the chalk board dots are pretty smart, too.
10. oscar again. this is one lucky kid.
11. i have a small obsession with antique globes right now. if you happen to come across one in real life... snatch it up for me. i love the old school chalk board here. and the vintage desk.
12. the kip bed. i've been drooling over this since luc was just a bean in my belly. andrey is going to attempt to build a knock off for us.
13. i love the idea of these wool felt pouches by jennifer gibbs
14. i hate that i didn't save the link for this photo. a great collection of classic books and toys on display
15. what little boy doesn't wish for a chicken door stop?
16. the great wall of classic board games. think of this and me while you're out thrifting...

it's a bit of a mish-mosh of styles. but i love it. i love the colors and the imagination it all sparks. i think "boy" will love it, too.

any other good ideas?

"sufferin' til sufferage" - schoolhouse rock

i've started this post several times already. it seems i've got alot to say on this subject. i've deleted and started over... then deleted it all again. i'm afraid to offend. yet i keep coming back to the fact that i write these words weekly for my own benefit. to purge my own thoughts and hopefully you {the people that read me here} will somehow in some way find peace in them the same way that i do.
i realize that this is being plastered everywhere already. that i'm sure you've heard it all before. but i must say my piece before it eats me alive. this topic has been big discussion in my family as of lately. and let me remind you that we are a family of free spirits. i've been on a bit of a news fast {i'll tell you more of this some other day} for the past few months and i now seem to find myself back in the throws of debate and discussion after deciding to let some of this stuff back in.

a*love has a habit of patting my cheeks. when we first started dating i thought this was the sweetest thing ever. driving in the car. watching a movie. the first thing he does when he sees me. the sweetest thing ever until i realized that he would pat anyone's cheek that would let him. ask my sisters. he's well wore his cheek patting privledges. he says that he's done this since he was a baby. patted his mommas cheek to fall asleep at night.

i've never met her. we only have one picture of her. and no pictures of andrey as a wee boy. i imagine him as a baby snuggled up in bed with her patting her cheeks with chubby baby hands that look just like lukey's as she sings him a sweet ukranian lullabye. i imagine that she was some woman, as my husband has a heart of gold. he is bursting with a compassion that i'm sure she instilled in him. i also imagine her... armfuls of babies and blankets and all that she could carry, arriving in the united states with great excitement and a heart full of hopeful that this would be a safe place to rear her children in freedom and peace and love and god. and here andrey is now. asleep on my couch with a babe of his own and we are allowed to teach luc whatever we wish and however we'd like. and that lucas can grow up to be whomever he wishes because she was brave enough to leave everything she knew...everything... for someday babies that she'd never meet.

i can't help but feel the excitement at the upcoming change this election will bring to this country. what it means for us as a nation that we actually have a woman, a woman! running for president. what would susan b. anthony think???! and martin luther king? did he know 40 years ago when he boldly shared his dream that someday we'd see a black man on our ballots? it's so disappointing to me to see that this exciting change is still divinding us. that we're still pulling apart from eachother. don't we all want the same things? a safe place to raise our babes? a place of freedom and peace and love and even god, if we choose?

we get to choose.



come on. do the work, folks. study up. make up your own minds. go out and vote for heaven's sake. do something. there is a bigger picture. bigger than us even. {gasp!}

last night lucas was squirming around in his sleep. mumbling funny words that i didn't understand. trying to find me without opening his eyes. when his chubby hand finally found my face and sweetly patted my cheeks he quickly went back to sleep. i thought of andrey's momma and the gift of him that she gave me by being brave and how lucky i am that i get a voice in this.

a slice of peace and quiet

a*love and lucas jude got all bundled up and headed out the door a few minutes ago. off for a manly afternoon of football and buffalo wings. i have been tucked into my bed for the past few days - sicker than a dog. it seems like the raging sick germs have finally calmed themselves down a bit and i am going to snuggle up with my red plaid blankie and use these next few quiet hours to rest and recupperate.
i finally emerged from my bedroom last night and found that andrey and lucas had pitched our tent in the living room and were cuddled up watching videos through the window. our house was completely clean. dishes/laundry/the whole nine yards. there was evidence that luc had been bathed, fed three good meals and plenty of good playing had been done. an armful of fruit andrey had borrowed from my brother/neighbor and a bottled water was waiting for me on the counter. i am convinced my husband is a far better housewife than i'll ever be.
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last week was covered in snow. and slush. it came on suddenly (sort of like those pesky sick germs) and dumped and dumped this desert town with piles of the white stuff. more than we've seen around here in a long time. it was beautiful. i love going outside when the storm is finally over. just miles and miles calm. the quiet is almost overwhelming.

i loved tagging along with luc as he made his snowy discovery. he crunched and crunched his footsteps, clapped his mittens and threw the powder in the air, stuck his face in it for a taste and even braved a wild sled ride with his cousins.

the coolest thing in the world is to be in the company of your very own "little" when the earth shares one of her many talents with us. the wonder and amazement is a million times more than it would have been had i been by myself.


with the snow this week also came the news of my dear prophets passing. and just like the storm i was in awe at the calm that followed. i am thankful that my journey so far has brought me here to this week with a great understanding of the gospel and that i was at a place in my life to feel that peace.
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and now here we are. february. the calm after the storm. a beautiful fresh month full of celebrating.
we will celebrate amy and her bravery.
we will celebrate sweet amelia and how grateful we are that she was born.
we will celebrate miss natalie brynn... i was the happiest big sister on the planet the day she was born to us.
we will celebrate the marriage of my parents and the many years they have blessed us with how they love eachother.
we will celebrate love with the ones that mean the most to us.
we will celebrate the birth of little faith astoria, my first niece who will need to use both hands now to tell us how old she is...

happy february loves. i must now quickly crawl back in my bed and enjoy these final moments of quiet.
-lin

p.s. did you notice all the links.?.. there has been a sort of blogging revolution happening in my family this week and i must share!