{this moment}

{this moment} -  "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." --  Soule Mama

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quest for the perfect pair of specs

In case anyone is interested...

I saw an old acquaintance at a friend's kids birthday party with an AWESOME pair of glasses on.  Cat Eye glasses.  Very bold.  They were perfect for her.  Everyone was asking her where she got them... and she let us in on the ClearlyContacts.ca secret (they were giving away 10,000 pairs of glasses FREE - and they did three rounds of that!). 

I used more than half of our insurance coverage to buy prescription sunglasses last year, and couldn't afford a new pair of everyday glasses.  Hearing about this new company got me really interested, especially when I saw the frames are all 50-70% off, and learned that the lenses and coatings are included for free, plus free shipping, plus free return shipping! 

This was one pair I thought I'd like.  Its got green on the inside, though, which makes me look sick.

I found three pairs I liked, and couldn't decide.  Luckily insurance would cover all three combined, if I chose to keep them all.  So I ordered all three, hoping that trying them on would help me pick a favorite.  Unfortunately (the downside of online shopping), none of them look great on me at all.  I'll be returning them shortly.  I'm currently shopping for another couple to try on.  (Seems not so environmentally friendly to me - to waste all those custom made lenses, plus shipping back and forth... but I really do want a new pair of glasses, so I'm letting the wastefulness slide this time). 

Now, there is a serious problem with their website, which I really hope they'll realize and fix at some point.  You cannot open up the detailed page of a particular pair of frames in a new 'tab.'  And that means that I can't click open all the ones I want to see, and then compare between tabs to see which one I like best.  I have to click into one, then go back to the main search page, wait for the search parameters to narrow down again, and then find my next pair to click on.  Clearly a pain. 

I've devised a not-so-clever way to keep track of which frames I like most, without having to do all that clicking around to find them each time.  Here's what I do.  I use Pinterest (it's really cool, check it out) to save all my favorite frames, and then when I want to, I can go there and open each of the frames in its own window with a direct link, to compare them.  Here are my favorite frames.  I basically use Pinterest as a visual bookmarking tool (as opposed to the artistic way others use it, which is so much cooler).  Here are braided hair-dos I want to try out, clothing I wish I could buy, and sewing patterns I might like to try.

So, while this post started off about Clearly Contacts... I think its diverted off track in order to showcase Pinterest.  And while I really want this blog to have some serious substance, and write about delicate or meaningful topics... so far I haven't found it in myself to write that way.  So, some more fluff for you.

If anyone wants to try Pinterest out, its membership is limited... but apparently because I'm already a member, I can send out invites to anyone I want.  So if you want to sign up, contact me and I'll send an invite over to you (after I figure out how, of course).

a homeschool playdate

Last week on Friday we went out for a playdate with some new-to-homeschool friends.  Aiden is four years old (I think or maybe three?) and Angela is planning to homeschool him.  I had a great time talking about parenting, homeschooling, unschooling, and plenty of non-serious subjects as well... barefoot shoes, designer fabric sources, etc.  Thats Aiden's brother, Donovan (I hope I remembered correctly, because I'm horrible with names).



Our kids played well, sometimes crossing paths but often just doing their own things.  All of everyone else's kids were very into our sand-toys.  I'm not always sure how to address that, so I just try to gather them up in one spot once in a while.  Temima spun around in this spinny thing a few times.  I absolutely LOVE spinning in this thing.  It is SOOOO cool.



Angela was nice enough to take a photo of what I thought was a creative hairdo.  I've been looking at photos of creative 'dos for long hair, and a lot of them involve braids.  So I've been experimenting.  I don't think it looks great, but definitely interesting.  If anyone is interested, I got these beautiful earrings, made from vintage buttons, from Timeless Trinkets.

{this moment}

{this moment} -  "A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember." --  Soule Mama

 ............

attempted DIY fashion

I've been trying to create some clothing for myself this last little while.  I haven't braved a pattern yet, just experimenting with wide elastic waists and thrifted skirts or random fabric.  This was my second attempt.  My first being a very embarassing circle skirt that I will never post until I remake it into a better a-line skirt - Note to self - thick fabrics don't make flattering circle skirts.  This skirt was a Goodwill find.  The fabric looked very summery and light to me.  I liked the pattern enough.  It was one of those aweful skirts from who knows when, where the waist is teeny tiny but the skirt is a ton of fabric gathered up into that small waistband.  That meant there was plenty of fabric to play with.  I cut off the waist band first of all.  Then I cut out an a-line skirt shape, preserving as many seams as I could, plus the hem.  I cut the fabric so that the waist part would be only as wide as my hips.  Then I sewed it to a waistband elastic (exposed elastic is so easy!) which I first wrapped tightly around my waist.  I pinned it to the skirt at four points and just stretched as I sewed.  I should have have made it smaller, though, because the elastic stretched out a bit with wear.  Next, I unpicked a bit of stitching at the hem on each side, trimmed the fabric to give it a bit of curve upwards, and then folded over and restitched the hem.  That was it!  Now, the real test.  Is it at all stylish?  And what do you think of my corny modeling and self-photography via remote control?  I think I need to figure out what poses are flattering for me.  This was the best of the bunch.

temima turns five

We celebrated Temima's birthday on Sunday.  I originally planned on a park party, but the weather didn't agree.  I think it went really well, despite the rain!  I didn't plan any particular activities, thinking the kids were still young enough to just play with our toys.  I was right about that.

My brother made Temima's cake.  Pink, Pink and moooooooore Pink.  Pink cake.  Pink icing.  Pink M&Ms.  Pink sprinkles.  Just as Temima requested.   Her birthday crown was made by me for her birthday last year!  I'm trying to start a tradition - each of our children will have their own birthday crown.  If you want to start a similar tradition in your own family, check out my shop for some lovely crowns.

Temima was very excited to open her presents.  I'm not sure if we've done that as part of a party before, but it sure was exciting.

Peter, my brother, and our mutual friend Zared, spent most of the party working on the TV system that Peter has loaned us.  We're trying out a full-size screen, and streaming video from the internet.  Kind of an awesome gift for Temima, who really likes a lot of kid shows these days.  I enjoy watching with the kids as well.  We often eat meals at our little-kid table while we watch. 

I think everyone had a good time!

japanese knotweed dessert squares

On Tuesday, Temima attends a class called Coyote Pups, run by The P.I.N.E. Project.  Its a natural history class (that's how I would classify it, anyhow) run for kids age 4-8.  Andrew is the instructor of Temima's class.  He also runs the whole PINE Project.  The program is wonderful.  About 8 children arrive at 1PM on Tuesdays.  Andrew and his assistants do an opening circle time, which involves talking about their surroundings and anything else that cute little kids like to come up with.  And then they are off on an exploration of High Park, walking along the river, through the woods.  They look for animals and tracks, mimic animal sounds, learn about invasive species and wild edibles (often those are one and the same), and much more.  Andrew is charismatic, and talks to children like they are real people.  The children adore him.  He is a wonderful teacher, along with his assistants as well.   They spend three hours exploring the area, and then we go back to meet them and have a closing activity, which is writing in their giant nature journal.

This week they had collected something called Japanese Knotweed, which is an invasive species, and also edible.  Its something like rhubarb.  When the class ended, Temima, Shua, I and another mother followed her son over to where he said it was growing.  As we walked, she told me about how muddy her son had gotten on his first day in the fall session of this program.  She was amazed at how pristine Temima's mud gear was... and I explained how Temima really doesn't enjoy getting dirty.  I don't know why.  When her son brought us to the riverside area with the patch of knotweed, I got all excited about foraging, and didn't think to warn the kids about the extremely muddy area they were standing in.  Both kids fell into some really really wet mud and it was funny, but Temima panicked from it.  I calmed her down though.  I thought it was funny because the other mom had been saying how surprised she was at how clean the kids still were.

The reason I wanted to post about that day is because I harvested quite a bit of knotweed.  I had no idea what I was going to do with it.  I found a lot of ideas for recipes online, but one in particular looked easy and quick.   I followed this recipe exactly, something I never do.  It came out really good!  I've included some of my own photos of the process below.  Unfortunately I forgot to photograph the finished product.  Maybe next week.  It was a big hit when I brought it to share at our homeschool drop-in this week.

Japanese Knotweed Dessert Bars - Courtesy of The 3 Foragers

makes a 11" x 7" pan

Crust:
1 c. flour
1 c. confectioners sugar
6 T cold butter

Filling:
2 large eggs, beaten
2/3 c. white sugar
1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. grated fresh nutmeg
3 c. chopped knotweed stalks, leaves removed

1. Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease the 11" x 7" baking pan.

2. In a food processor, pulse the crust ingredients together to resemble coarse crumbs. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan evenly. Bake the crust for 12 minutes.

3. For the filling, combine the eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla, and spices with a whisk. Stir in the chopped knotweed pieces and coat them evenly. Pour the filling mixture over the warm crust and spread it evenly.

4. Bake 30-40 minutes, until the egg mixture is set and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool. Cut into 1" squares and serve.