Anyone still out there?

Oh, HI!

Forgive me blogger, it's been over 3 months since my last post. To be honest, I've been entertaining the idea of just closing this here blog down lately. Everytime I thought of posting, nothing would come to mind. You know how I said before I needed that first bit of inspiration? well...it finally came.

Today's inspiration to blog comes from Franklin and the following quote from The Panopticon (Thanks Franklin!):

You know how farmers rotate crops to keep the soil fertile? I have to do that occasionally with my creative focus to keep my brain from turning into a dustbowl. Put down the needles, pick up the camera. Put down the camera, pick up the pencil. Put down the pencil, pick up tomatoes.*

It's not like there's been a whole lot to write about though. Things over here on my end just seem, well, on auto-pilot lately. Work has settled into a nice easy pace these past couple of months, while we ramp up for another big project. With the exception of a couple of lovely reunions with my Boston knit girls, the summer's been pretty tame. Is it just New England, or is this summer taking forEVER to begin? If it's not cold, it's raining. Or both. Here we are more than halfway through June and I'm pretty sure it's rained every 3 out of 4 June days. On the fourth day though, here's what it looked like at our house:



If only it could look like that every weekend. But this week, we'll let's just say it doesn't feel like summer at all when you're still using your car seat warmer on the way to the gym in the morning.

So right, Franklin. I've been doing a little rotating myself lately. What with the whole lose-weight, eat-healthy, go-to-the-gym-daily thing that's been occupying my mind for the last 6 months, it probably goes without saying that I've been thinking about food quite a bit. These past six months, knitting has taken the Way Back seat (did you every use that phrase to identify the part of a station wagon that is behind the back seat? We did.), to collecting and trying out new recipes. Here are a few of my favorites - not all are super healthy, but what can you do when you come across a such gems other than just accept and incorporate? I do love my Paula Deen.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chunky-ginger-mango-barbecue-sauce-with-mixed-grill-recipe/index.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/israeli-couscous-with-apples-cranberries-and-herbs-recipe/index.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/broccoli-salad-recipe/index.html

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/posole-mexican-lasagna-recipe/index.html

On the toddler front, I am Very Pleased to announce that I have one fully potty-trained child. Miss Scarlet has fancy new mermaid underwear which she's been wearing proudly and without incident all week. One down, one to go. Blu and Scarlet's language development has blown up these past few months. Blu actually starts sentences with "I think," - which cracks me up. While I still try very hard to stick to the 7 pm -ish bed time, the truth is that they don't go to sleep until 9 or later. They just play in their rooms and have little parties amongst themselves. It's pretty awesome, if you don't mind the noise.

I had every intention of buying a fancy new SLR camera this summer, but instead, we are renovating our kitchen. Move over SLR. Enter new stainless steel Samsung Fridge which gets delivered here in less than 24 hours. SWEET. Other plans? Doors are going to be knocked down and boarded up. New cabinets, counters. New bathroom to replace the current toilet-in-the-pantry that we have now. The salvaged dishwasher that has been sitting in our basement for two years will be brought back to life. It's gonna be HUGE. There will be pictures - though sadly, not on an SLR. I may even make some reno blog posts to document the whole thing - you know, in the name of rotating my creative focus. Stay tuned.