help me!

my husband has a mustache! what do I do?
I hate mustaches. I don't like kissing the walrus. I am getting totally creeped out by wet mustache fur. but he loves it. he stands for hours in the bathroom mirror making funny faces. Long minutes warming up the wax to groom the darn thing. many passes of the hand to create just the perfect part in the middle. He calls this cat mouth. Hate to break it to you dear, but cat mouth is soft and precious, not wet and pokey!

at this point i am praying for a razor mishap!

photo property of phaedra phoenix

For some of you this photo is probably getting a little worn! I have used it a few times. But for today's post it is perfect! You see my Aunt has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. She has to have a double mastectomy and all of the yucky chemo that goes with with it. So I thought I would knit another prayer shawl like the one above. This way I will be able to wrap my sweet aunt in all of my love, even though I am three thousand miles away. A weak substitute for being there but better than nothing.

Anyone interested in knitting the prayer shawl above can follow this link to the
prayer shawl ministries. It is a lovely project to participate in.

waldorf style modeling wax

in a back issue of Living craft, my most favorite magazine ever, they had a lovely idea for making wax snails with real shells. I don't know about you, but I would love to make some of these for our nature table. My problem is the darn modeling wax is just to expensive. Well wait no longer, here is a recipe for Waldorf style modeling wax!

happy snail making!

one cup of beeswax

2 tbsps olive oil

2 tsp lanolin

In a double boiler or a can in a pot of water melt your beeswax

Mix the lanolin and the olive oil together and add to the beeswax til its melted - remove from heat and keep stirring and pour into a walled cookie tray you have lined with tinfoil. Let it cool until you can tear it into small pieces. Let these cool completely. Take a piece and warm it in your hand and roll it into a ball, then knead it like bread. if you are able to manipulate the wax it is ready.

If it is flaking apart or crumbling then you need to add a bit more wax. If its too hard to work, add more oil or lanolin.

If you want colored modeling wax melt crayon shavings in with small batches of your quarter sized pieces and pour out to re-cool.

If you need a beeswax source, let me know. I have tons!

v-day aftermath

i set a lovely table for the kids, complete with new heart plates and little red boxes of chocolate. very special around here. sadly i forgot to capture the before pretty photo. Itsn't that always the case? So my friends, you are left with the aftermath. They thoroughly enjoyed it!

hope your valentines day was lovely!

happy valentines day

even though I believe valentines days to be nothing more than a crummy scheme cooked up to make more money off the masses, it is hard not to get just a tiny bit mushy! especially when my man is so darn cool!

he is a wonderful father, an amazing husband and my very best friend!

i love you darling

real life conversation....

with an almost three year old.

mom, what are you doing?

driving fast!

no, no, no mom! slow, slow, slow.

why?

because the world will crack open and suck in the car!

really?

I swear this happened tonight, on the way to Chinese restaurant!

yep, it's raining!

I can't tell you how happy the rain makes me. I am sure I have said that before! Since there will be no Disneyland today or going anywhere for that mater,
I decided to indulge my latest obsession.
For a while now I have been singing bizarre Free To Be You & Me songs in my head.
Do you remember that movie? It came out in 1974 courtesy of Marlo Thomas & friends.
So this morning I surrended and started a youtube search. Follow the link if you dare! I was sweep right back to third grade. Any bad weather days (i lived in Minnesota then, they were all bad!) they would play this movie for us.

Oh the memories!

one would think...

a lovely rainy day would provide the perfect opportunity to snuggle up on the couch with all of the current WIPs i have, a cup of tea, maybe some snacks and have an all out marathon of Anthony Bourdain. God bless my tivo:) I could finish up these prayer flags that I have in process.

or maybe these cupcakes for the shop. they have only been cut out since last august!
maybe I could knock a few of those out?

get a good start on this little beauty.


one would think, right? Wrong, i have two children bouncing off the walls in here. I keep trying to set them up with cool activities, but they aren't falling for it. What they want, is to drive 1/2 hour away to our favorite Japanese market (it is raining, remember?) and shop for things that we can't read. It is one of our favorite games. Thing two (the 10 yr old) is a very adventurous eater. She loves all things from the ocean making Japanese food very easy for her. Seriously her favorite thing in the whole world are muscles???? I really love this about her but it baffles me! Thing one (the almost 3 yr old) won't eat anything but air! He loves the game but he's not eating it.


anyway, I don't feel like braving the freeways of southern california in the rain for said fun, not even with the bribe of lunch at the japanese food court. So i spent my morning browseing the internet for onigiri making tutorials. Found the perfect one over at cooking cute. I followed both the sushi rice tutorial and the onigiri tutorial and they worked like a charm.



we added this rice seasoning mix? at least that is what we think it is. The kids loved it and it took me all of 15 minutes to make them. If you have a rice maker, this would be even easier!



Don't even ponder the handmolded onigiri, the only thing they have going for them is that they can be larger. I say go for the plastic onigiri molds! Traditionally triangles, but you can now get them in all sorts of whacky shapes!

It's raining, It's pouring!

so it must be time to make soup! This recipe came to me via swap, but I have had to totally re-write the cooking instructions. They were very inefficient! No longer, I have streamlined the prep and made it a one pot meal. Tonight it was served with homemade foccacia bread, feta cheese and the first strawberries of the season.






this soup is simple, inexpensive, healthy and good!
so here is the recipe. give it a whirl and report back.

Calling All Artists

Finally a swap for the little people! I have been involved in swapping for a few years now, and it drives my children crazy to watch me receive all these cool packages in the mail. They lurk about with hang dog little faces hoping for a cast off bit or bob.

This cool swap has been set by wisecraft and one of her friends. It seems to be wildly popular, as I am seeing it spread across the web like wildfire! the cool part about it, all ages are welcome. If you would like to join us, click on the picture above and it will take you to the information page! Sign-ups end this friday, 2/6.

don't miss the boat!

shenanigans shop news

just added to the shop are these two new items no fairy lover should be with out! The first is a lovely little toadstool table and stools. I can hear the fairies getting the tea kettle on as we speak, can't you?

the other new addition is this more complete play set. Complete with two hand painted trees and a few fairy glass stones, it is ready for loads of fantasy play. On a nature table, felted playscape or your favorite doll or borrower house, this set is calling your name. Really I can hear it.


In honor of Valentines day,
I will be extending free shipping on any order from my shop.
From Feb 2 - Feb 20