babyb 20 (turns 1)

baby sage turned one on may 15th 2009 and she officially started walking that week too. a last minute garden party with homemade cake, helium balloons, a hat, a few friends (her age) and some cocktails, led to a very nice day.

landscape design 26 (lesleigh's garden)

i finished lesleigh's garden yesterday. can't be just the sun, the place looks schmancy! patrick helped a couple days with runs to the dump and some shoveling but i was pretty damn accurate at my estimated 70 labor hrs. i came in at 74.5 and i wasn't even planning to do the stone path. it was a pretty perfect yard renovation scenario.
These are before and after images of the front yard only, back yard pix will be up when ben finishes staining the deck and lattice (which there is plenty).
BEFORE

AFTER (everything is now laced with soaker hoses)

BEFORE

AFTER (bulbs along the sidewalk strip will be added)

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

BEFORE

BEFORE

AFTER

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER (blueberries, raspberries and full herb garden w/ basil to tarragon)

AFTER

BEFORE


BEFORE

AFTER (that's ben)

BEFORE

AFTER

travel 53 (mazatlan, mx)

we're back! this was our view for the past week, not too shabby.



oops, if i hadn't quickly dropped the camera i would have record of her spitting out a mouthful of tequila. who knew she could use a straw.

mom brought a floaty for sage, which she l o v e d.

i brought the funny, yet very practical, swim ensemble; making very little left to slather with sunscreen.


mom was suckered again into listening to a condo sales pitch. i guess i was suckered into waiting around for 3hrs, i had visions of hanging by a fancy pool but no such luck. so sage and i crawled around trying to get this picture perfect, never happened. this was my last resort, dangling snacks over her head.

another time killer photo op, after they booted us out of the room at 10am we had to sit around with our stuff for hours until we shuttled off to the port for a 4pmish flight, dread. where... we were greeted by lots of folks in masks; made you feel like you should have one... no swine flu yet.

instead of working very hard today i "recovered" in my garden, clipping a nice bouquet of tulips for sage to immediately request and smear in our faces as she gums some filet mignon.




danielle, avery, megan, and new addition lola when we met up at the zoooo last week. the penguins are coming, the penguins are coming...

travel 52 (Idaho to Montana)

friday we spent the morning scrambling to get a last minute passport for sage since her and i are headed to MX on tuesday with my mom. quite a procedure to get a kid a passport but i am happy seattle is now a hub and withing 4 hrs we had it taken care of and it will be ready monday for pickup, not bad for the feds.
her (adorable) passport photo.

this week besides my regular gigs i have been renovating a garden for a new client/friend. i think i was testing with a friend to figure if i wanted to start a garden design biz. first thing i found out is no, i do not want to be the person to demo a garden, in the future i'll stick to project manager and hire some muscle to keep the thorns under my skin to a minimum. literally, they have "the dreaded roses". i am on target and thankfully demo is done, the project expanded a bit but it's gonna look reaaal good. i will share before and afters by the end of may. this times real nicely around the master gardener plant sale, first weekend in may, so i can be their personal shopper gratis and bank some volunteer hours at the same time. win win.
i am so happy to say after the plant sale i will have all my volunteer hours complete for 2009 along with make up from 2008. this checks one thing off the list!
about two weeks ago we headed out to idaho to schweitzer mountain to witness the bindings of pete and rebecca along with getting in some spring skiing, which is about the first time i remember enjoying skiing. i want to go back. lift about 20 steps away from my hotel, daycare another 10 steps away. had some great chilled huckleberry blush riesling by pend d'oreille winery. it was a real fun wedding weekend. already met up with some of pete and rebecca's friends for a poker game this week. rusty, i came in 4th but that's ok, greg was 5th.




this was about a 9 day trip where we continued on to visit bird, sira and dennis (their 2 dogs, 2 cats, chickens and 10chicks (in their living room) in whitefish, mt. our dogs were soo good. they were off lead the whole time just loving the freedom on their property. the ground was packed with snow so for me it just made it easier to let them free, less to smell or rub in and it slowed them way down. we had a fab time with the family.




so after whitefish we headed out to helena to visit adam and allison. adam had an extra condo in his building for us which was pretty cool (as fern peed all over it). a barbarian, she is! luckily he just sold it. he owns a piece of this 1913 building in the center of old town with the original bar found in the rubble, maze of the basement, very cool. we had a blast great food and drink even went to a thai place that let us bring in our own bottle of redbreast to enjoy with dinner. that's montana for you...







about 10minutes from leaving on our way home, our car sort of broke down but we were able to drive to missoula. where we sat in the sun with the dogs and baby for the 4 hrs it took to fix the girl back up and we headed out again. this was about the best roadtrip i had, vw's are suppose to break down so that's no surprise, we have had 4 of them so we know the drill. the key to my happiness this trip. 4 hr drives then chill in a sweet spot. okay it does not need to be "sweet" our first stop was in moses lake and based on a recommendation from the direct tv guy at the motel 6 we ended up at this bbq place for dinner. which karmically ended up being a converted seattle to edmonds train from the interurban railway, you know from right behind our house. so the place was filled with images from our own backyard. it was great -ribs, so so- but the stop was meant to be.

so yes, since we had 2 dogs with us we enjoyed the "comforts" of motel six (where they can stay for free) and got an extra queen bed for them (we didn't tell them that or thta we had 2 dogs...). when we were at the ski lodge we drove them 1.5 hrs out of our way to a kennel on the kootenai reserve for 2 days. different than a free range dog camp but they did just fine and about half the price and it was a gorgeous drive. this was the perfect time of year for this trip with fresh spring color popping out at you through the winter greys.

frenettik 51 (rmd, sage, doc challenge finalist)

could this be a sign that she'd like me to stop taking photos of her in the bath. she' s now standing quite independently, by the way... (6 teeth and has started the da da and pointing so the naming of everything has begun. which can be challenging like is it a toy or a lead free, sustainably harvested, german, wooden snake...)

we splurged for the woodland park zoo pass that well, really isn't a splurge at all; the cost of 4 admissions and anyone who comes with us gets half off.

the grizzly bears were quite entertaining since they seemed to be having a very good time, i wonder if it has to do with them being native vs an import. i have cleared my conscience about a few animals in captivity since it offers so much for education, awareness and respect; quite possibly since our zoo is outstanding.

kristin and andrew came into town and we spent a good 4 hrs in the zoo and it had nothing to do with the kid. he's in vet school so it seemed appropriate. ps greg would be happy i cut him out of this photo.

oh yeah and sage with her first reindeer around xmas that i found on the camera. they have reindeer every year at swansons garden nursery so really it was a sneaky trip for me.

this past weekend was spent at smoke farm wrapping up render me dead as tom and cass stayed over and watched our brood. i catered 4 meals for 40 to 20 folks per meal, exhausting amongst props, wardrobe and their continuity throughout, but it all turned out quite well, no disasters!
maybe if i write it here i will remember that making mole from scratch is a waste of time, sticky rice can not get cold or it will be as hard as a rock and people will eat less than you think...

great news, greg's film for doc challenge has been chosen as a finalist and already scheduled to be shown in portland and toronto... very exciting...
i have been in poor health for about a month that really makes me quite depressed and i have not been able to hear from my left ear for 2 weeks so right before leaving to shoot rmd on friday i had a little surgery where they cut a hole in my ear drum and inserted a tube. still not an instant fix but i can blow liquid and air out of it like a whale. neat. i also did not read the pamphlet before putting my head in the tub and damn that was painful. anyway i can now fly to mx in a few weeks but can't go underwater. i really have been hating life but get myself moving to go to my pd jobs or greg's projects but i just can't force myself to do it for myself unless i feel tip top but ofcourse if i did it would make me happy. ho humm...

productions 11 (doug yule doc film challenge)

check out this alphabet zoo great for kids and me too... www.bemboszoo.com

hatch show print designed these wine labels, thanks to john f aka grey haired john for bringing them over!

eating nanners which is also what i call her grandmas, we'll see what sticks! she currently is into any form of running water, eating toilet paper, accepting high fives, and to be pretend eaten...

greg is involved in the documentary film challenge this week th-mon and he along with dan, gabrielle and kyle are interviewing legend doug yule from the velvet underground. now a local guy and fiddle maker who has a red bone coonhound named little ann (which was the key connection for greg to approach doug).
for the documentary they set up a private show of doug's current band -red dog- in tom's huge photo studio last night at sand point ; where we had a sweet time. big thanks to viv for watching sage on the fly.

cary also has a fun day job where he designs sets or back drops for the marketing of toys (this is what i came away with) anyway he knew a lot about wooden toys so i enjoyed the conversation.

gabrielle as dp, dan taking some stills but he was monitoring audio and will be heading editing, kyle on the second camera for a wide shot, and greg is acting director aka he is interviewing doug as i type the rest of this and will sit by dan's side until they get the flick in the mail on monday...

frenettik 50 (amy butler comfy jumper dress-crochet pillow)

this took a day...

front view above and back button closure below. i used amy butler's comfy jumper dress pattern from little stitches for little ones (book). the way she explains things drives me crazy, it's just not clear, but i did it her way. although i don't get lining a dress, which is like making 2 dresses, that a baby is going to wear 1 month. why did she have one seam unfinished on the interior when she could have hidden it under the lining? what's up with the sort of piping piece/extra strip added to the bodice, was it just an embellishment? besides my flaw of the back flaps being a bit too geometric on the turn, i am pleased as punch (especially since this was made from the remnants of my skirt project and buttons recycled off a sweater from "aunt" nancy c).

and this took forever and a day... i have the blisters to prove it. yes, aggressive crocheting.

maybe it was because it was the final touch but i loved crocheting the two pieces together making a tidy, tactile seam.

travel 51 (seaside-OR-with the girls)

sage and i took the train to portland last week to be picked up by mom and meet erin, coming in by bus from the little applegate, to drive out to mom's time share in seaside. pretty chill but actually not so chilly, not that the adults swam and sage was in the pool for about a minute.
greg was home finishing up his 2008 movies...

the first train ride, 2 poops later.

sunny, seaside.

the girls.

the sand dollar then went in her mouth.

carousel was a hit but i don't remember being thissss happy...

all good until i stuck her under a swim fountain getting chlorine up her nose.

tillamook factory-open your car door to the ripe smell of manure but i still ate as many vintage extra sharp samples as possible-it was an unmanned table.

ostrich at the petting farm of blue heron cheese (and wine tasting even a maldovian port).


raspberries.

note to self: i am glad i am not a single parent cuz it's nice to clock out every now and again...
second note to self: it is very hard to go back to work. do i have to?

frenettik 49 (amigurumi-family-walls and trees)

i can't do it, i can't add faces-just not geek enough (although making a pear might say i dabble). but i can add detail. this leaf took me 20 tries (i was mistaking a double crochet -dc-for a decrease -dec-) but my pear is now complete. happily megan work joined our stitch and bitch this week, which starts with rum in your cider at 11am but tis the season... more eating an bitching happened this week than stitching but that's all well and good too. i need to find a project where i don't have to count each stitch so i am more successful at doing all three.


i have read up on felting now too (thanks to the excellent selection at the library i get stacks of 18 at a time, it's like christmas-below). i found i was using way too much water and soap, both can contribute to the felting taking a very long time, which i can attest to.

i was running another ridiculous (that's technically not complaining!) errand for my client to the mac store and felt home sick when i popped into anthropologie (which happens to be about the best store ever, but beware minimum of $188 per dress that my mom might say the cat got into -ahh the deconstructed, layered, look using vintage motifs) and found the most incredible dress for sage (which i did not buy) as i hear babies everywhere (it's u village, that's where rich moms hang i guess)and felt like something was missing. so i ran home and took sage to the park for her first ride in the old bucket swing. she l-o-v-e-d it!

i hear noises coming from the other room , it's 6am and sage is waking. this last week she slept through the night. greg tried the whole refusing to feed her when she woke at 3am but that did not work so now we load her up on tons of food at 8pm then put her to sleep, works!
aunt ginger came in from ohio this weekend and cousin bryan came over along with mom and gpa for dinner too.

sage scored some new toys from greeeeeaaaaat aunt ge ge. we met again sunday in the id to find goodies for her class that starts it's tour through asia (in books). we sadly could provide little information about our years in korea since our brains are old and the drinking stories seem to be all that's left in there! i thought i found the most adorable bug toothbrush at uajimaya but no, i come to find i bought a $3 clear toothbrush for sage. it was the damn genius of japanese pakaging.

i got hooked up with a great arborist through a friend which i imagined i would get a sweeeeet deal, who knows maybe i did ,i just knew i wanted to pay about $50 per her but 3 hrs ran us $200 and we had to get rid of our own debris. but patrick was fabulous and made lovely stacks of fire wood that i traded to viv for a couple hours of babysitting while greg and i did another chore for my client yesterday. he has no idea how i scramble for him, sadly he wouldn't even if i told him. anyway patrick gently climbed our trees and roped down debris to clean up all our snow damage 50ft up in our eucalyptus and fir trees. he then within a minute used the electric broom aka leaf blower to make my yard look snappy. i promptly used my amazon gift certificate to order an electric one since i labor for hours to do the same thing and sometimes use a lot of water to help. this will definitly be more efficient and surprisingly environmentally too. i may just be happy i did not have to buy diapers with my gift certificate!
oh... the living wall update. i set up the timer for it to water 1x a week for 60 minutes since it gets no other sources and is vertical so always draining. the timer failed and ran endlessly for a day , when i arrived water was pouring out of it. the timer says the batteries are low but they are brand new so i just have fears on how i can trust it to water or to turn the damn water off in the future. i have brought it home to test. uggggh. gardening remotely is not easy and sure if i went weekly no worries but that is not my plan nor in the budget. is that the kind of attention commercial properties usually get? weekly? wow- there is good money in that! anyway i feel like setting up a web cam.
the stink eye!

frenettik 48 (amigurumi-felting-sage)

latest amigurumi attempt (no, not the perfect pillow but the little dude). this is a combo of all the practice shapes i made, felted by hand then by the washer. still not as felted looking as i'd like (nor did it hide some of my loose crocheting in the arms). there were 3 brands of wool used and of course they all felted differently. the blue started to get very fuzzy, pretty much why i stopped (it has since had a shave) .

sage involved in the process.


this is sage's trademark crinkle of the nose with some snorts and heavy breathing when truly thrilled.

everything still goes in her mouth first and these days, stays while she crawls around.

i best log out we are listening to raising an emotionally intelligent child by local guru dr. gottman.

frenettik 47 (amigurumi-letterpress-living wall-snow storm)

i went and worked on the living wall. it was fine... just dirt popping out. not so much because it froze as i thought but more since it was bone dry... so i left a slight drip in the line so either that will work or they will all be slushing out by the time i get back there next week to add batteries to the drip timer. i purchased the rest of the panels so either i will sell them in time or plan something fabulous for my yard. it seemed like a good investment since the company had a 25% restocking fee and i already bought these for $50 vs list price of $70 basically i just couldn't do it!
i thought these were gorgeous... the old hydrangea blooms draped in snow.



the snow on sunday took down a couple 20ft eucalyptus branches, you know...the couple hundred lb type which now cover my large patio. until i find the energy to hand saw it into firewood for the neighbors. sounded much worse as they cracked in 2 than the actual damage, which was to other trees.
incredible news this week, the day after i planned to quit my job, which i did not. instead i have decided to not feel negative thoughts about the work and that will probably solve it (for a week or so). anyway, we received notice that we did get accepted into the wa state basic health program and all three of us are covered for $51 month and max out of pocket is $1500 per year- it's like a dream, i feel like getting sick...

here is the amigurumi octopus after felting -hanging out with my first project, a pear (which i am totally happy with but it still needs a leaf). i felted both by hand which maru then tells me i should i have just thrown in the washing machine since they were already formed. anyway, since my crochet holes/big stitches on the octopus were not completely hidden i added in some yarn then threw it in the washer. which did not felt the new yarn very well so then i hand felted it again. i was getting desperate and resorting to scalding water which my hands remember. needless to say this octopus, who now looks more like a squid, went through a lot.
below are a few of my latest letterpress projects...

frenettik 46 (amigurumi)

i haven't really worked in weeks (okay i have put in about 8hrs but that's without human contact so it seems alien). i have high anxiety of even stepping back into that f*ck*d up artificial world. not sure if i will make it but i don't really have a second plan right now.
i was feeling threatened knowing i was the only wage earner and feeling like the need to earn cash had control over my life but really it does not need to be. okay i must be in a daze cuz financially things do suck - we found out enrollment is closed for state health care so i applied to a couple more programs and have a failry humiliating appt. set for next week- suffering is healthy right?
we started 40 days to a personal revolution (yoga and meditation) which i planned last new year but now i have greg waking me at 630am-goodluck! the first day was me hung over after new years and screaming please no, don't do this to me!!!! but by 10am i was ready. i also said if our revolution takes 60 days, i am ok with that...
greg repeated something he read and couldn't really remember but it still resonated with me. something like- you can either have a job and a house or a home and a family. i really have been enjoying the latter.
here is sage playing with the amigurumi (retarded aka developmentally disabled) octopus toy right after i attached it's last leg. she actually liked it so i am encouraged to finish it and do something with all the other little shapes i made. i don't believe you are suppose to see the stuffing in the legs (aka beginner) so next step, felting the wool. maru promises me it will solve all my worries. then i may even geek out and give it a face so call this step one -crochet.




on a sh*tty note my mom's house was burglarized and they took all her electronics and jewelry which included everything of my fathers and all my mom inherited from both grandma's. it makes me feel vulnerable and i have 2 coonhounds let alone how she must feel, so it is officially shitty. love you mom.

babyb 19 (xmas in quilcene)

the snow did not stop us, we made it out to quilcene for xmas (tues-sat) which once you got off 99 the snow was off the roads, so we were just being hermits...

prepping sage's box aka sled.




this was about the only expression she offered while out there.



her first snow angel, made possible by greg.

this one was most fun for us (not her) -stuck.

butt print.

sage looking girlie on xmas (outfit c/o aunt ge ge).


it was a giftless christmas other than for sage and griffin and since griffin doesn't move on his own yet, it was all about sage, which she was fine with.
she does have another foot but she likes to sit in a z position vs the standard w.

papa tom made her a rocking horse which she loves already.

this week she started waving and clapping joined by endless babble.

teresa and baby griffin.

after our tradition of eggs bennie we walked down the trail from cass and tom's toward the cottage, for a little gun play.

there's the cottage on the right, below.

you can take the girl out of the hood but you can't take the hood out of the girl...

both eyes closed?

then came grandpa's turn...once tom got him to move the gun sight away from his eye (the hammer/cartridge kicks back so we would have been short one pair of glasses) then came the accidental trigger pull with grandpa saying "wow that's a light trigger i didn't mean to shoot".

leading to the family moving back a good 10ft as he sets up again.


this is the view off the cottage porch. we hosted steeza and chase (teresa and donnie's dogs) who were easily entertained by karmel and fern.

a view of the cottage interior-head through the front room to the kitchen, a bathroom on the left, stairs to the loft on right and straight back is the bedroom. the place needs to be funkified but it's clean and new for now.

sage with fern (in one of cass's latest creations w/matching mittens).


one, two sage is coming for you...

back at the house ken is working on some restoration to a turret.

we successfully created about the grossest ginger bread castle i have ever seen.

barely edible after all the man handling.

but it was fun...

we ended the evening with a tradition started last year where you put in a slip of paper with your new year's sentiment, light it up and hope that someone is looking out for you..


cast of characters: donnie, cass, tom, teresa with griffin, grandpa wayne, cheryl, greg with sage, stacey (me) and ken...

night, night.

babyb 18 (snow-standing-amigurumi)

we've had snow, ice, snow, i was really excited until i saw what it did to my vertical garden. chunks of frozen soil are popping out like ice cubes. the weeks before i had found out it absolutely needs the drip irrigation on year round, it was getting nothing from the rains. i am attempting to remain calm, it's all replaceable (plants and soil) but that's not a very good track record! but also people who don't garden aka my client thinks that plants can live through freezing weather, without water, light or attention and still look perfect year round you know because he paid for it and it came that way so it should stay that way, forever (this is baggage from oh so many circumstances).

sage upside down above the snow, the sure fire way to get a chuckle.


she now pulls herself up to standing and walks along holding the edge of anything and everything. she is terribly proud of herself and might i (and the dr) say far beyond her months (7 months-27.5" height-18lbs 8oz weight).

after her last set of vaccines she had a fever through the night which was paired with 24hrs of cranky pants and 2 hrs of nonstop crying at 2am and then she caught a cold...

the dr by the way had nothing to offer us, i could have done the exam. he couldn't even take a guess at her eye color (i am going with hazel for now).
i am furiously filling out the basic health application cuz i am wasting a week's worth of wages on these people per month and i have to work for the devil to pay them- oh such a vicious circle. i think working less hours gives me more time to stew and the work tends to interrupt what i'd really like to be doing with my time. anyway...
did i mention that laura, maru, lesleigh and soon to show, nicole had our 3rd week of stitch and bitch aka bring your knit or crochet project, the host makes a gourmet soup and then you chat for 3 to 5 hrs. it's been grand.
i just finished the pear body of my first crochet project, an amigurumi aka japanese cooky crochet doll, you know, for sage.
ooh another lovely thing that happened this week was the electrician saying our house was about to burn down since our wires dissolve in his hands and he really wasn't comfortable going forward. so, we are starting by rewiring the attic but they made it far enough to put in my new kitchen hood and give me a light in my closet. i no longer have to wear a head lamp to find clothes-it's been about 8 years so i am delighted.

frenettik 45 (the end of an era-start of something new)

Frenettik is no longer taking custom orders and just sold out of it's last typewriter key magnets and actually almost all other ready made items; which is a really good feeling something like... The last 7 years of making was not in vain but damn it was a lot of work for the return (I would never do it like this again). It is very nice to know though, if I needed to make a book from scratch etc... I could whip it up on the spot, I developed a very nice skill set that I haven't lost.
I am back to working on the letterpress and on whatever project inspires me that day. Which this week, was my latest batch of soap.
The recipe below made about 30 bars in this somewhat standard size. I personally like square, since I loath it when a rectangular bar breaks in half.
But this year I wanted to avoid making boxes and opted to design a sleeve.

I called this -orange essential oil- batch the TANGY WALLBANGER, Full-o-Zest, inspired by the drink of course and then played on the association of blue and orange on the color wheel and it's relation to emotion-aka orange is a pick me up. "If you are feeling the blues, orange is the perfect antidote."
I am quite pleased with the results and frankly my soap has been kicking ass over the slew that I test (when I run out of my own and it still needs a month to cure, like now).
Recipe (plus lye, water and instructions)
21oz coconut oil
9oz beeswax (i always add beeswax for color or it would be white)
16oz palm oil
20oz palm kernel oil
14oz olive oil
4oz orange essential oil (it's what i had in the cubby)
I chose the oils based on the effects they have on skin type, how hard of a bar it will create (gooey in the middle soap-sucks) along with factoring in the type of lather i'd like then there is a little bit of... how easy it is to get out of the tub based on if i prepped before starting to melt the oils etc...

Here is Sage almost 7months, who now gets into a standing position by holding onto the couch and is an overall very happy baby (still needs to learn to like puree and she seems to have given up on the boob as a meal but considers then a snuggle/snack).
She met 4weeker Griffin last week, which from here on out will be known as a cousin Griffin.
Both sides of our tiny families are spending Christmas in Quilcene, no gifts, but we will be exploring ephemeral art by building a gingerbread house, then eating it.
2009 is going to start out grand. I reduced my hours to 15 per week so I can basically become low income and get affordable insurance. otherwise it was me working just to pay for insurance and taxes, I see no point in that, better time would be spent enjoying life with sage.
Now, since I have my hours and pay set it will be easy to prove my income and have real data to use for quarterly tax returns etc... My client is happy too since he feels broke and I think he was concerned how we would survive if I wasn't working full time but I also think he was very happy I didn't tell him my rates went up another $5 this year. I am saving that for the next big project or annoyance.
Maybe the best news this week was that we lasted 2 years (without buying phones) and rcvd our new -free-phones in the mail. No more picking the pieces off the ground and trying to get the screen to be viewable ahh... I did just spend and hour typing in contacts d amn proprietary technology but I survived.