the Fairy & the Pumpkin

breathing life: rock climbing in utah

We were in Utah over fall break and last week.  Do I even need to say that we had a blast?  It should go without saying.

Rock climbing in Red Rock, up in Draper across from the golf course, was a veritable highlight.  We went with Oberon's brother-in-law, R, who is an experienced climber.  Oberon's sister, L, and brothers J & T, also climbed with us.  Interestingly, the climbs were named by a dentist; the ones we climbed were named "Gum Cheese" (a 5.6 climb), "Dry Socket" (a 5.8 climb), and Facial Fracture" (5.7).  For anyone more advanced, there are other climbs that go up to 5.11.  This climbing spot is so perfect for a quick afternoon because the hike up to the climb is a short 5 minutes from the parking turn-off and there are benches and a fence at the base of the climb.  We even took the children for the hike and to hang out for a little bit. 

R took on the lead climbs for the 5.7 and 5.8 we climbed.  This one is "Facial Fracture."

Oberon did very well for his first time on real rock.

I was so nervous to climb on real rock but it ended up being the perfect location for learning.  The rock was so rough that I felt like a gecko, a very accomplished gecko.

Look at T go!  He did a great job!

I managed to sneak up for a shot of the beautiful L on "Dry Socket".

The view of the Draper Temple revealed its perfect situation amongst the mountains.

I debated putting up the photo below.  I love the duality of action and stillness but I hate the fact that you can tell I've had one too many slices of homemade bread and butter, home fried corn dogs, scottish shortbread, etc.  For the record, I do not advise climbing in anything that exposes your knees.  I frequently use my knees when I climb and like my climbing bottoms to reach just below them.  This was an impromptu climbing trip so I had to climb in my running clothes.  Mistake.  I was way underdressed.  Not to mention the unsightly mess that happens when a harness holds your body weight just across your bottom. (!!!)

Here is where it got really exciting for me.  R taught Oberon and me how to lead climb.  It was exciting and adventurous!  I won't say anything else about it though because my mother highly disapproves.

A successful first lead climb!

Oberon's lead climb put my own attempt to shame.

I will always remember just how radiant the day was and how the mountains were alive and vibrating with color.

Then we took the brood to Murray Park.  Oberon's parents have 9 grandchildren!  Murray Park in Salt Lake City is a lovely place for photos, we discovered. 

So it was my clever idea to throw leaves on onto the babies during a photo.  Let me show you what they thought about that.

Two of the babies make a blurry cameo in this photo below.

And here the older 5 go running to grandpa and grandma for hugs.

Then we went to the pumpkin patch at Thanksgiving Point called "Cornbelly's".  It is super fun and a great trip for the family.  No actual pumpkin patches and the petting farm is not included in the admission ticket, but there is plenty and more to do for all ages.

My Pixie is best friends with her cousin C who is only 4 months older.  They were inseparable!

I think the title for the one below is painfully obvious: "Children of the Corn??"

We even roasted hotdogs and marshmallows for smores in the firepit back at Oberon's parents' house.  It's a terrible picture because I only used ambient light but I loved the visual effect of how alive and magical fire can appear.

And, for a treat, head to Gourmandise or Tulie's.  Both restaurants were recommendations from my friend T and are amazing; the raw perfection of their food is beyond description.  If you like french bakeries and patisseries, food glistening with freshness, and croissants that crackle on the outside with buttery consummation, you'll need to try Tulie's.  I can't remember what is good at Gourmandise but T applauds their homemade yogurt.  Next time, we'll have to try Les Madeleines.

breathing life: beauty sleep

The most important beauty tip is not lipgloss, j.crew outfits or leg-slimming shoes (although those are very important); it's sleep.  Ha!  Ha ha ha!  Pardon the maniacal laughter but how, oh, sweet how, do you get enough sleep?  I don't know the answer.  But, would you believe there's an app for that?

Sort of.  It's called SleepCycle and it helps track your sleep patterns by using movement & noise throughout the night.  I originally bought this because it serves as an alarm clock that goes off during your most awake moment in your set window so that you feel more awake and rested instead of feeling like you've been clubbed and drugged from a far-away land.  This is coming from a chronic sleepy head who could sleep through 5 alarms sounding off simultaneously.  I once had an alarm clock that shook maracas while singing "La Cucaracha".  I woke up to it maybe once.  This is a disastrous quality for a mother whose child has to be at school by 8:30am.

There are dedicated sleep trackers that cost $120-300.  But, guess what?!  The iphone has the same quality of motion sensors and you can find an app that uses that for your benefit for $0.99.  Every night that you sleep with it (except for the first 3 when it is calibrating), it generates a sleep graph for you that looks like this:

Over time, you begin to pick up things that help or impede your beauty rest.  For instance, going to bed early leads to more quality rest; children crying "Mommy!  I'm so thirsty!  I need water!  Now!" is more on the disruptive side.  You also might be interested to know what your average amount of sleep is.  I'm getting under 7 hours of sleep!!  No wonder I see Cruella DeVille and Steve Buscemi staring back at me from my mirror.

And, to answer your question, yes, it is easier to wake up with this alarm.  Success!  (Mostly.)  But I have yet to see any increase in beauty.  I'll keep you posted on that.

breathing life: fall-ing

Yes, fall is upon us.  It doesn't feel terribly like fall here, but the cooler 80F weather, when juxtaposed against our recent summer weather, makes everyone here feel like fall.  I'm ready for apple picking, warm spiced ciders, lots of baking, wooly sweaters, caramel apples, and outdoor fall festivals.  I love this time of year!

(But I have some sad news if you're in the mood for apple picking.  Sunberry Orchard in Harrah, which is where I went to get peaches, was recently auctioned off and is currently closed.  Hopefully they will open back up with the new owners, but for now, all those beautiful apples ripening on the trees are not available for pick-your-own.  The next closest apple orchard is on the Oklahoma/Arkansas border which is nearly 3 hours away.  I'm very, very disappointed about this.)

For today's post, instead of talking about a cleaning schedule which is what I planned, I decided to show you some fun fall ideas for the kitchen that I think are exciting and inspiring.

Let's start with some new fall recipes from King Arthur.  If you haven't been to their website for recipes, it's time you tapped that resource!

caramel apple kit. pumpkin cheesecake bar mix. pumpkin whoopie pies. portable pumpkin mini pies. hot buttered pretzels. caramel-nut cinnamon buns.

 

 

Pretty exciting, huh?  I get this quivering feeling inside my torso seeing all of these pictures, kind of like I'm getting ready for an event and I'm really excited and ancy for it.  But now let me show you what Williams-Sonoma featured in their fall catalog.  Sometimes I feel lukewarm about their new products, but they really brought their game this season.  I'm excited.  And that's an understatement.

pumpkin carving set. remote control pumpkin glowing lights. kitchenaid 7qt stand mixer. thanksgiving turkey panini. pennsylvania dutch apple dumplings. vindaloo-spiced chicken thighs. sesame chicken stir-fry.

Suffice it to say that I plan on being busy for a while.  I love the high-quality pumpkin carving tools because we always get so frustrated with our $2 tools that break every year, without fail, and always in the middle of carving the pumpkin.  The remote tea lights can adjust brightness or be put on flickering mode so they seem like a fun option for lighting the jack-o-lanterns.  Although, I would miss the smell of opening the pumpkin to turn on the tealights; it's such a fall experience for me.  I am not-so-secretly lusting over that 7qt kitchenaid because it comes with lots of professional extras, like a quieter and more powerful motor, more efficient whisk, bowl lift, and don't forget its larger bowl.

I absolutely love le Creuset stoneware and am really hoping I can find some really important excuse to buy their 12-piece set in the Ocean color.  It's my favorite color they've ever made!

Can I be any more in love with the cocottes that can be used as ramekins for desserts or can be used to bake individual french onion soups with melted gruyere?  Tell me I don't need that.

I am drawn, visually and conceptually, to WS's new clay chicken roasting kit.  You wrap a chicken in parchment paper, fold clay around it, roast it, and get to break out your perfectly succulent chicken when it's ready.  Everyone at the table would think this was so cool!

Yes, I know it's a little silly and expensive, but it seems like a great family dinner that would be fun to try at least once. 

I hope you've seen something that gets you excited for fall too!  October is upon us!  I don't know about you, but these pictures and products have just fed my desire to get in the kitchen and do some serious fall cooking and baking.

breathing life: the dread budget Roberts

I am either very good with money or disastrously terrible and never in between.  There are only two modes: stoically saving or spending with panache, with the former being the more rare of the two.  This month I mirculously found my balance (get it?!!) so I thought I'd share my tip.  Although I'm sure I'm the only one who has this problem.

I know that the best thing we can do for ourselves apparently is to not spend money. Honestly, shopping is a form of therapy for me so that's just not going to happen.  The next most efficient option is to keep envelopes for each budget category and keep the cash allowance in each of those envelopes.  That way you never spend more than you've allowed yourself to spend and you literally have money carryover if you ever manage to stay below the budget limit.  

But you know what?  I just don't think that's very practical to be carrying around several envelopes stuffed with cash.  With children like mine, including Hairy Winston, that cash would be taken for pretend games or chewed beyond recognition.  Not realistic for me.  Besides, we use our CapitalOne credit card (I know, I know...credit cards equal evil incarnate) for all purchases and pay off our balance every month.  That way we save up lots of nice sky miles.  Both of our airplane tickets to St. Lucia were completely free because of all of those lovely little miles.  Isn't it great to get a little something for doing something you would do anyway, like spend money on groceries, gas and clothes?  Since there is no fee and we pay off our balance, it's almost the equivalent of paying cash.  (You should know, though, that we saved up our miles for over two years to get those two free tickets.)

I used to do excel charts, which are helpful, but lack versatility since I have to bring home receipts and enter them in one by one for this system to work.  Here is a rather crude budget sheet I made.  Feel free to use it if it helps; just enter in your own amounts and let the functions do the calculations for you. (Download Personal desktop annual budget sheet)  Apple's Number's version is very elegant (Download Numbers Budget Sheet) and there is always the uber-practical Excel template ( Download Excel Budget Template). (These are created by the programs and you will need the corresponding software to open it.)  I will still use my budget sheet to tally up annual totals.

I have decided to put my iPhone to work for me yet again.  PocketMoney, also available for Android and Desktop, seemed to fit my needs and is fully functional without needing password access to my bank accounts.  (There is a litePocketMoney app for free but I ended up buying the $4.99 version.)  I use it to enter every dollar I spend right awayRigh.  Before BeforeBefore BeforeBefore I usually enter it in within minutes before I forget and defeat the purpose of the budget tracker.

Ignore the numbers.  Yyou can see that the amount on the left is what you've spent, the amount on the right is what you have left to spend, and the green bar is the visual representation of the percentage used of your budget.  I really like this app.   There might be a better app out there that is free, and if you know of one, please share with us!  But, so far, I have actually stayed under our monthly budget (for the first time!!!for the first time in years!!) just because I could see how much I was spending.  It gives me the visual reality of using cash but without the inconvenience. 

The app can do more but I don't use it for that.  At least not yet.  Maybe somedaywhen we have more money.  Right now my primary concern is making sure I don't spend more than we budget so we can save up maybe just a little, like $10!

Oh, and if you're starting to think about Christmas, here is my Christmas budget planner.  It's not super-versatile, but it's a start if you don't want to spend the time to make your own.  (You just can't add any other items unless you change equations.   Download A Christmas Budget Planner)

breathing life: on the road again

Or at least on a simulated road.

In December 2010, Oberon and I decided it was time to get serious and combat some of that great middle-age weight that has begun to insiduously creep itself onto our bodies.  You're hard pressed to find something flexible and inexpensive that works your body all-over as well as running.  (Someday when I have more time it will be Latin dancing, kickboxing, and ballet.)  So, we voted and officially made running our new 2011 goal.  I made it my personal goal to get to the point where I can breeze through a 5K again.  Before I started, I couldn't even run two minutes without feeling like my existence and efforts are futile and why not end it all?  I was in need of more focus and, thanks to my friend R, was able to find it in this amazing book.

I won't actually review it now so that I can save that for another post, but just know that it's good.  I started with their "novice-5K" training program which is for people who rarely do more than walk.  The training program moves very comfortably and slowly over 12 weeks so that your body can gradually adapt to the energy and physical demands of running.  I won't lie and say I've breezed through it. Life, children, illness and my winning attitude have kept me at week 7 for over a month.  But, hey, it's a solid week 7.

Let me tell you what else has made this whole endeavor possible in case one of these things might be useful to someone else.  Terrible outdoor allergies and a difficult schedule (i.e. small children that don't nap) make running at home any easier.  Enter, the Sole F80 treadmill.  It's an amazing machine that has consistently been rated the best buy treadmill.  This was our christmas, birthdays, and anniversary gifts to ourselves for the previous and upcoming year.  (And, of course, so that we wouldn't have to stare at the wall, we added this equipment over the course of several months: a 32" tv from amazon's christmas deals, Netflix and Hulu through a Roku box also bought on an amazing amazon gold box deal around christmas, which by the way makes cable hook-up seem like a money guzzling dinosaur, the JayBird sport headphone and its bluetooth adapter.) 

And of course, proper footwear is key.  I constantly have an arthritic knee and was spraining my hip flexor muscle with my old shoes.  While running shoes are personal to every foot and body, I found that the Mizuno Wave Nirvana 6 with the blue Superfeet insoles are a good compensation for my flat feet and sore knees.  (I was fitted at Red Coyote, a professional running store here in OKC which is how I ended up with this combo.)  I also wear a knee sleeve for that tricky arthritic knee; my body has decided to skip middle-age and head straight on through to the geriatric years.

You should know that I really hate running.  Sad, I know.  I just don't have this intuitive relationship with running like some of my friends do.  The rhythmic pounding of my feet just doesn't do it for me.  When I run, there is no euphoria, I just feel tired and cranky.  Running in place on a treadmill only exacerbates the crankiness.  But, being able to watch "Glee" while I run has changed all that.  I hate to confess this, but I actually look forward to my time on the treadmill because it means I get to watch an episode of "Glee" and I hate it when I skip running because I missed my "Glee"-time.  Oh, sweet indulgence.

Oh, and let's not forget about socks.  The Balega Hidden Comfort running socks are, simply-put, the mind-blowing innovation of the sock world.  Since we only need two pairs, it's not a horrendous expense.  And, lastly, I'd like to tell you about The Stick.  You use it to massage sore muscles, shin splints, cramping feet...basically,you need it if you're a wimp like me.  Although I've heard it's also good for non-wimps.

Since I run in the comfort of my own bedroom, my attire isn't quite as important.  But, being a heavy, torrential-floods-style, sweat-er means I need light, inobtrusive and quick-drying clothes.  My favorite running outfit is a supportive bra-style top that doesn't look like an undergarment, like this, and a running skort bottom so that I can stay cool and feel dressed.  Both of these are from Athleta.  (This isn't actually my gear and I definitely don't look like this in my outfit.)   

There you go.  All of these things are what make it possible for me to tolerate repeatedly running 3.5 miles.  There is no way you can loathe running more than I do, I promise.  If it's something you've been wanting to do, just know that if I can pamper my way through it, I know you can too!  And you will beat me to the finish line!

7

My mind is like one of those merry-go-rounds, everything moving quickly and blurring past right away.  Seriously, if you had any idea how many times I end up in a room in the house knowing that there was a good reason I was there but wondering what that reason was and wondering how exactly I got there, you would worry.  Just a little.  But you would worry.  I'm afraid I translate too much of my internal disorganization and lack of focus to the blog.  Because, even though it's what's inside me, it's not who I am.  I crave organization and structure.  I am always engaged in hand-to-hand combat against my personal entropy because it just doesn't bring me peace. I can only imagine that nobody else enjoys my tendency towards chaos either.  So, the blog is being restructured to give me a more focused, organized approach.  I hope you like it better too!

In the interest of making the blog more accessible, organized, and directional, each daily post will fall into one of seven categories:

Sunday.  "letters from the coop": anything related to chicken or poultry or my feathered friends

Monday.  "a kitchen bewitching": menus, cooking, recipes, kitchen or cooking tips

Tuesday. "of fairies and tales": books, magazines, and probably my hard-core fascination with British period literature

Wednesday. "the 101's": projects, crafting, knitting, furniture renovations, jewelry, sewing

Thursday.  "breathing life": lifestyle, organization, shopping, style, fitness, health

Friday.  "for the love of home": home projects, home design, gardening, children activities and games

Saturday.  "moments": photography, places, events

So, what do you think?  I hope everyone will enjoy having at least one day a week of a different topic.  And, we'll see how I keep up with the new schedule!