total immersion

i am feeling completely overwhelmed this last week. an emergency at work has had me at the studio every day for the last 8 days for up to 12 hours. too much. out the door as my babes awake and back home in time to bathe them and cuddle them to sleep. i miss my kids so much. i have a newly confirmed resolve that i am not interested in a full-time job. (and so grateful for the situation i normally find myself in.) a new found respect for those women who choose to work full time plus outside the home. and a new compassion for those women who don't have the choice.

hanging out

a wonderful (but hot) weekend here in the southland. temps in the high 90s. perfect for trying out our new solar clothes drier! I had been going on to d about how much i wanted a clothesline. how perfect this climate is for it. he was a little apprehensive about having our skivvies hanging around the backyard, but after drying 3 loads of laundry in one day he was impressed. (that and the announcement from our 83 yr old neighbour that she has been married 53 yrs and has never owned a conventional clothes drier. 53 yrs of hanging it out on the line!)

of course the clothesline purchase was debated with my dear friend before i settled on make and model. sam and i are usually on the phone or email to each other at least once a day. (though we live in the same city we are at opposite ends - 30 miles - and about 30 degrees F apart.) we are usually conversing about various "mom" issues including separation anxiety; what kind of toothpaste the kids like best, and meets our requirements as well; where to find a kid-friendly restaurant near downtown; the pressure to have a huge blow out bday party for a child's 3rd birthday; and just how to raise socially and environmentally conscious kids, by example, on a budget. we decided a little while back to put down some of our "findings" on a blog. another way to keep our conversations going. at first it was just us, then a couple of others stumbled across it, and now we thought we would open it - hang it out there so to speak. please come by for a visit. we would love to hear your comments and suggestions on what is on our minds. you can find us here at www.twogreenchickens.blogspot.com.

happy monday!

what i have done on my summer vacation (so far)

1. travelled home.
2. fell in love again.
3. found out that i am not alone in this love. (listen to "brandon")
4. missed a tornado.
5. helped make a tornado.
6. admired our new front door. (oh d i do love it so!)

7. dug in the dirt.
8. began a neighbourhood friday happy hour / playdate group. (mmmm raspberry lemon drops.)
9. started some neighbourhood co-op childcare.
10. realized i am happiest at home with a house full of kids.
11. taken to cooking and eating dinner outside in our swimsuits.
12. slowed down.

to be continued...

what have you been up to?

tech assistance

any blogger users out there who can tell me how to get "jumilla bugs" to disappear at the top of this page?

thanks!

found it! thanks a!

peace

thank you all. it really means so much.

i am feeling at peace. sorting through photos of our recent trip. and working on new projects. all good. more soon!

::

thanks for all your support and understanding.

flickr has apparently closed down the perpetrator's account. thank you flickr.

for those of you asking, i was made aware of this by another flickr user - a professional portrait photographer specializing in kid and family portraits - who noticed a lot of pics being "favourited" by this particular user. on further investigation it was found that hundreds of photos of young girls had been favourited by this user, and looking at them it was clear that the intention was not a good one. (most were of young girls at the beach.) the photo of one my girls was among them.

i highly recommend you to make all photos of your children open to friends and family only. and to check into any being "favourited" by someone you don't know. because you just don't know.

i am going to close things down here for a while. this has all really thrown me off. not sure what i want to do. i know you will understand. thanks again.

sick

i just received an email linking me a flickr user who had favourited a pic of one of the girls. this person is clearly NOT the kind of person i would want to have looking at pics of my kids. i thought i had kept photos of the girls private but somehow this one missed out and fell into the hands of someone unwelcome. i have blocked the person, and rechecked that all pics of the kids are private, but i remind you all that the bigger flickr (and internet) world isn't as kind and safe as the little piece we frequent...

home {sweet} home

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

we are
back home in california.
after a wonderful 10 days
back home in manitoba.

more soon...