durango mom

read aloud revolution

2012-05-26T19:14:00.001-06:00

If you are a longtime reader, then you know me pretty darn well. You know that I'm a wee bit odd, I adore my children, and that I'm trying to make sense of this fanciful job of mothering and life with a big dose of love and laughter. But I have confession to make. I've been holding out on you. I have hardly even mentioned one of the absolute most important things in our family life.

A word from my sponsors

2012-05-22T10:12:00.001-06:00

in their words: Make the Scene at the Beehive Spring Open House! Saturday, May 26th at 6:30 Beehive 128 Grand Ave. Mancos, Colorado Beehive is your spot for all natural skincare, unique home decor, and hip baby stuff will be celebrating Spring with a major throwdown! Take a sneak peek at our new mineral makeup, shop books, candles, scents, tees, toys and hand made soaps all at

hello and goodbye

2012-05-18T09:05:00.000-06:00

Will you forgive me if I check out for a few weeks? I have several scheduled posts, but will be radio silent, otherwise. There is the end of school, swim meets, a camp to plan and prepare for, a child leaving for sleepover camp, a river trip, another camping trip, a house and yard that need to be tamed, a garden that needs planting and two very special birthdays. I will be back on

thrifty thursday and more

2012-05-17T03:30:00.000-06:00

In the fall of 1985, my parents packed my considerable belongings and dropped me off at Brumby Hall, my freshman dorm, at the University of Georgia.* That makes it sound spontaneous, but believe you me, it was not. My roommate was pre-arranged. (Mom, how did you find this chick? Did you know that we were soul sisters? Did you know that she was insane and chain smoked and spent

valley camp

2012-05-16T03:30:00.000-06:00

Here is a sneak peak at a few of the plans in the works for Valley Camp 2012. dip dying...tie dying footprint robins rainbow out of paper plates and streamers home made chocolate chips... 1,000's of them local grape ice cream history in a graveyard trail tag the secrets of downtown fairies in a jar boat building water contraptions 'local' terrariums...cactus version and moss

rogue salad

2012-05-15T03:30:00.000-06:00

Is it just me? When I read the manual, it said that I was to 'eat what needs eating'. Those were the exact words. I know you saw that part. And I do. I mix together everything that 'needs eating' and put it on a bed of greens and eat it. Dutifully. hummus tuna eggs beets coleslaw {yes, you can put slaw on salad} steak refried beans chili rellenos cornbread sausage quiche fish kraut

happy day, girls!

2012-05-12T22:12:00.000-06:00

This cup is for you, girls. A double dirty mocha chai. That's left over cocoa from yesterday, a jar of zingy chai, that sweet Rachel brought me the other day, and a stiff coffee all simmered gently till they become one with my universe. It's a lovely thing to wake up to. If you were closer, we'd have one together! On Mother's Day Eve, my middle child shot me square between the eyes from

thrifty thursday and more

2012-05-10T04:00:00.000-06:00

Today I am joining Lady Cordelia again for thrifty Thursday. Where do we draw the line? We don't. Trash by the side of the road is absolutely fair game. I have been hankering for new dining room chairs for a long time. I say that like I have dining room, which I don't. We have had white plastic ikea chairs for many moons, and while they were nicely neutral, they were getting

A word from my sponsors

2012-05-09T12:42:00.002-06:00

Every other Wednesday I will offer my sponsors a chance to update us on their latest and greatest news! In their words... *** Sparkle Stories launched our first audio book, "How To Be Super"! It's a joyful (and really funny) look at the superpowers hiding inside us all. One Saturday morning, a seemingly ordinary husband, father and elementary school teacher learns that he has the "

500

2012-05-08T06:59:00.002-06:00

Holy Toledo. Today marks my 500th post. I just noticed that and it leaves me a little tongue tied. I really didn't have much to offer you and now I'm really feeling the pressure. 500. That's a bunch. Where do I plan on going with all this? Is this a hobby or a viable avenue for revenue? What is my damn meta tag? 500 posts later, I should at least know that, right? I don't really. I hate to

lavender blue

2012-05-06T09:19:00.002-06:00

oh the lilacs! the fragrance, the clusters of violets and purples and blues, they are scattered around the house...on the table and by the beds...everyone needs flowers. dilly dilly. my fabulous sister, nan, was featured in garden and gun magazine, she planned a very swish wedding. go here to check it out! quote from the peanut gallery (matt) "you take photos that make our house

this moment....{i can fly}

2012-05-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

They never. Not ever. Get tired or bored with the trampoline. They sweat. And laugh. And come in panting. They've taught themselves every trick in the book. front flip, cork, back flip, pike, misty, half twist, 360's..... They invent games and add the hose on hot days. The tramp is close enough to the house that they leap from the roof. And then when they're pooped,

thrifty thursday....the naked party

2012-05-03T04:00:00.000-06:00

Naked Party! You're Invited. It's actually not as exciting as it sounds. We also call it a clothing swap. Either way, here's how it works. Someone decides it's time for a swap. We all go through our closets and weed out what we are no longer wearing, stuff it in a garbage bag, haul it over to the hostesses house, dump it on the living room floor, and the fun begins. We all strip

de-cluttering

2012-05-02T08:54:00.002-06:00

these are lew's trinkys, a childhood collection Sorry for my sporadic attendance. (I have to say this to my childrens' teachers, too.) I've been cleaning out and getting rid of. Oh, this feels good. Before turning the garage into an art studio, it has required cleaning, and we did that in the form of a garage sale. It's easy for me to make a clean sweep, but kids are more attached to

always popcorn

2012-04-28T20:02:00.001-06:00

What is a weekend without popcorn? It's the most prolific snack coming out of my kitchen. I thought everyone knew how to pop popcorn, but a friend texted me the other day and said her husband was craving my popcorn, and she wanted to make it for him and needed the recipe. Recipe? For popcorn? I told her it was just popcorn, with lots of butter and salt and nutritional yeast. She

this moment...{the children have left the building}

2012-04-27T04:30:00.000-06:00

It has already happened. Like birds, my children have migrated. This is not a weekend thing or a summer thing. It's warm now and my children have moved outside. They sleep under the stars on the edge of the wild. I can only imagine what they must gain from this. Our night sky is so very black. The stars pulse with light, but also an energy. Often at night, Matt will have to run

thrifty thursday

2012-04-26T05:00:00.000-06:00

It's thrifty thursday again. The other day a friend told me that thrift stores make her think of lonely dead people. I get that. There is an art to thrifting that employs some 'blocking out' and, at the same time, some vision. This weird egg thingy probably belonged to a dead person. That person may have had some lonely days but this contraption rattled around in the drawer at the dead

summer program for kids

2012-04-25T05:00:00.000-06:00

This is a heads up to all of my Durango people. I am planning a Summer Program for Kids. I am so excited. If you have read here for a while, you know how I feel about children and summer and nature and art and mud and creeks and forts and well, the whole magic of being a kid. The long and the short of it, is this. Childhood is sacred. Summer is sacred. The two of those combined should

my baby

2012-04-24T05:00:00.000-06:00

When I talk about my 'baby', it could be one of four people. But in the depths of a mother's soul, there is one true baby. Her first born. I am not saying that I love anyone more than anyone else. I overflow for everyone, but the firstborn was first and that's special. They mark time for the entire family. They set standards and blaze trails. My baby is almost thirteen. Yesterday I was

in the kitchen

2012-04-22T19:57:00.000-06:00

flowers, painting, and phone courtesy of matt he's a keeper. she gets out of bed in the morning and curls up on the kitchen couch while i make coffee home made dirty chai {coffee + chai + soymilk} an orange and some eggs perfect breakfast for the girls a little baking after a day in the dirt chocolate chips, black bananas....this. max came in and said it

winner

2012-04-22T10:15:00.000-06:00

This should have posted from my phone on Friday night, but it was lost in transition, I guess. We have a Sparkle Stories winner! Congrats to Lisa Coffee! Email me and we will set you up! For those of you who did not win, I strongly urge you to dive into the one month for $1 deal. Go to http://www.sparklestories.com/trysparkle and choose one of the Sparkle Stories Packages. (

this moment....{vision quest...i demand a redo}

2012-04-20T06:59:00.001-06:00

I haven't been avoiding the topic. It was just too stupid to for me to completely synthesize. Here is the abbreviated version. For those who are just joining us, I decided to go on a vision quest for my 45th birthday. You can read about my plans here. It started out nicely. I left the house at about 9:00 am, after a lovely birthday morning celebration. I had a small pack with some

a simple birthday

2012-04-17T21:16:00.002-06:00

My middle child was born on tax day, bless his heart. All of our birthdays fall in a six week period, except for Matt, so we have officially entered the birthday season. We told our children that birthdays' would be very low key this year. That makes it sound like we are normally pitching circus tents, but that's certainly not the case. We are very simple and homespun. No themes,

sparkle stories and a give away

2012-04-14T05:00:00.001-06:00

I am so excited to introduce my newest sponsor, Sparkle Stories . I have noticed Sparkle Stories around the web for a while now because I fancy myself a bit of a storyteller. For years, I shared a made-up series of stories that I affectionately called Bird Stories. They all started the same way and involved my children and, in some form or fashion, a bird with a message. I told these stories

this moment....{the river}

2012-04-13T09:01:00.001-06:00

It's spring break this week and I'm thankful to live in a vacation destination. The river and our favorite creek are COLD, only a few degrees shy of their previous snowflake status.But the mud and the rocks and the song of the water,are all we need. I will tell you about the vision quest soon. One word for now.Ridiculous.