forgiveness flour

i'm a cryer.

and this poem, this poem. it moves me every time. i'm sharing a png of the print i made for my mom for her late, late, embarrassingly late birthday gift. you can download it and print it on your own beautiful paper, if you wish. just click on the picture to enlarge. trim on the thin gray line for an 8x10 final size.

love to you all.

a birthday and a breather

good golly, things have been busy over here. today is the first day in several weeks that i feel calm. whew. ( i am taking an herbal supplement that has given me my mojo back. it is amazing. maybe more on that later?)

in the midst of repainting, redecorating, cleaning out a rental, writing a novel, finishing a basement, soccer games and various other homemaking-type duties, this little pearly girl turned 7.

she asked for crepes for breakfast and alphabet soup for dinner. she wanted to wear her "prettiest outfit" to school. she likes stuffed animals and anything that sparkles. her favorite color is aqua blue and she loves to snuggle.

she opted for a room makeover instead of a party. we're hoping to unveil the finished project sometime next week on the blog. the theme she chose: butterflies

she is more like me than my other children. she has a hard time falling asleep, she loves to create, to read, and she's a smarty pants. i love her so much it hurts. i think of the chinese word for mother's love teng ai. it is composed of two symbols. the first means pain; the second means love. that is a mother's love.

now i'm off to finish the ironing [which i pile up and ignore until the boys run out of sunday shirts. then i make an all day project out of it. fun, fun!]

oh, oh, OH!

if you don't want to look at more rugs, just ignore this post. anna! how could i forget overstock.com? they have more than 4,000 rugs in the 5x7 size and most of them are $150 or under. so fun to be in the market for one.

rugs

my sister anna (who is good at all the things i'm not) is looking for a rug for her new house. and she's, like most all of us, on a budget. this post is for you, anna. 5x7 area rugs for under $150.

from target (i think the last one is my favorite. from dwell studio):

and from IKEA (the first rug is one that i have in my own home. i bought for $19.99! it's an unbelievable price):

if i had no budget, i would buy one of these rugs. a girl can dream.

musical wanties

so many great albums out or coming out in the next weeks! here's a few i have my eye on.

arcade fire | the suburbs

ra ra riot | the orchard

the weepies | be my thrill

belle and sebastian | write about love (so excited for another album! i prelistened in npr and it's a beauty)

weezer | hurley (front man como has an english degree from harvard)

sufjan stevens: the age of adz (which sounds nothing like his previous stuff, but i love it somehow anyway)

what are you listening to?

st. george marathon + a warning to my peeps

friends.

i have returned from the valley of the shadow of death.

i spent the weekend in st. george with some friends who ran the marathon. no, i didn't run it. instead i made merry with friends who i can just be myself around. it was joyous and relaxing.

on the return trip i got a little sick. then sicker. i got home just in time because, well, let me tell you.

i have spent the last 24 hours shaking and sweating and reacquainting myself with the toilet on a face-to-face level if you know what i mean. i told mr. coleman i was dying.

i lost 7 pounds. which i could have done if i'd run the marathon. so, i'm glad i didn't and i'm glad i've lived to tell. i am feeling much better today except the weird newborn-giraffe-like legs.

a huge apology to all my peeps if i spread my germs to you. prepare for the worst.

photo swiped from flikr since i apparently had too much fun to take a single picture of st. george