February 2008

“Our House…

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in the middle of our street.”
Ok, I know I promised photographs of our house millions of posts ago. Well, here they are. This is really our furniture rather than in this photo. I didn’t take too many, just of our favorite room and feature of the house. The windows.
Enjoy!

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Do you notice on of the photos from our Mexico trip?
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Do you like my newspaper fire? It was lit for a couple of minutes only. Now I’ve got to clean it out. Not sure it was worth it.

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This is the article I wrote for our neighborhood newsletter. I’m trying to get an interior in every issue… of course, being my idea, ours’ was the first house.

Be Mine

Can you believe that yesterday was around 70 degrees and today the snow is falling? Believe it. That’s how things operate here in Denver. Yesterday we ate lunch on the picnic table and played at the park. Today I’m sipping a cup of hot ginger tea and considering whether or not to take the sled to school for the V-day party.
I am also finishing up the teacher’s Valentine. There just isn’t enough time in the day… when mom has meetings most nights it makes completing projects difficult. Last night I met with the Slow Food group and had a blast talking school gardens and watching a slide show presentation of the Edible Schoolyard (out in Berekley, CA) along with UC Santa Cruz’s cool farm and kid garden. Lots of photos of really innovative structures made out of bicycle tire rims and trellises.
The Slow Food group is awesome. There is a small portion of the convivia (I think that’s Italian for chapter) that are interested in education. Their whole motivation is to get successful gardens into schools, and have the kids cook and eat the food. Most of the group are parents and teachers. How altruistic can you get??
Ok, I just finished the valentine. I hope it dries in time.
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I got this idea from Patricia who’s blog has several ideas on how to reuse items that are usually tossed.

Obama

Zach received an email saying Barack Obama was going to be in town the next day. Very close to our house, even. Once we arrived we were at the end of a 3-block long line. We were told by one of the volunteers that there were an estimated 34,000 people in line and we knew there was only space for 8,000. Shortly after that information was given, Ezra and I went on a walk. We saw the line was moving, but were also told that the fire dept. had cut things off. We went back to our place in line and decided to go home. But on our way to the car we saw a small line merging into the larger line, very close to the front. With only a moments hesitation and slight remorse, we got into the end of this line. Sorry to all who didn’t make it in! It’s a dog-eat-dog world.
Once we got in we were herded into the overflow room which we promptly left, following the folks in front of us. We made it into the main auditorium and were on the floor even. I shook Barack’s hand and Ezra affectionately calls him “Omamma” and waved goodbye as we left after the speech.
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Waiting at the end of the line
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Moving-in at the front of the line.
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My boys.
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Waiting for a little over an hour. No complaints here, just excited to be there.
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Shortly after this was when I shook his hand.

The Birthday Gift

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The latest trend in our home is to try and make gifts for each other and friends. Christmas was a mix of both; the list I made earlier doesn’t show the plastic, lead-painted toys the kids love so much. Anyway I saw this idea here. The same blog I found the painted house, posted earlier.
We added a few tricks to this box of fun. I had checked out an origami book from the library and India and I found a box to make. We made 4 and I reinforced them with stiff paper on the underside and glued them all together then reinforced the outer edge with card-stock and decorative paper. The whole thing was then super glued into the box… maybe overkill, but I know those boxes are pretty delicate on their own.
I think it was a hit. I hear our little friend has already made several cards. Now all I need to do is figure out how to seal it all with a clear-coat. Next time I’ll call dad or my sis. They know all about that stuff.
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India wanted to have the envelope holding the envelopes to be like a fish bowl. We used these fish here. We are now out of them… how can we live without a Papersource near by?
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Here are the boxes. I had to figure out a way to keep them closed. So I strung a button that has to be pulled back to open and pushed tight to close. I hope it works well enough for a 6 year old! India could do it, but it’s not the easiest thing in the world.
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Lots of little goodies in these boxes and scraps of ribbons along side.