molly irwin

right now I'm ...

• Hearing: Norah Jones, The Nearness of You, and the tappity tap of small-scale furniture being re-positioned in it's wooden doll house
• Smelling: rosemary bread in the oven
• Touching: chopping freshly rinsed basil for pesto penne alfredo
• Seeing: a yellow no. two pencil with a fat nub eraser scratching out spelling words on double-ruled paper
• Tasting: iced ceylon tea

I've seen these five sense posts before and I just have to say, when you take a moment to stop and check your senses it can be very gratifying indeed.

in the kitchen

I have a new post over at One Good Loaf today.

To all of you who have been so supportive of my desire to live a more healthy life, I want you to know I'm not eating them. Seriously, I'm not. The family's got to eat though and I like making homemade things from real ingredients as often as I can. It's not a perfect system and I do buy those quick easy shelf stable things at times, but I have recently (and over time as we ran out) switched our baking cupboard over to natural organic sugars and unbleached flours. It seems like a simple way to make a big impact on the way we eat. I added flax seeds to the kids oatmeal cookies last night.

As for me I'm already feeling physically better, just three days into a 'white stuff' elimination plan. No rice, breads, flour, sugar -- for a while. No beer. No wine. I'll know when I feel better. When it's right to re-introduce things.

It's kind of crazy how much time I'm spending between the kitchen and the garden today. The place is a mess as I make space for the canned vegetables, jam and apple butter I've been preparing over the last few weeks. It all seems so old fashioned (in a really good way) to take the time to make these basic foods. And I'm feeling a strong connection to my Grandma of late as I move around the kitchen table attending to the necessities of nurturing our family. 

 

It takes a long time ...

... to gather a good sized produce sticker collection, when: A) you're only including unique stickers, B) you buy the same kind (limes, lemons, bananas, avocados ...) over and over, and C) foods from the garden, farmer's market and orchard don't have stickers.

Cardstock sure beats the inside of my cupboard door when we lived in Vermont. Started in June; think I'll keep adding until that right side is full.

File under: utter frivolity, needless visual projects, OCD, engaging children in ridiculous collection activities.

weekend inspirations

Thought I'd share a few lovely places from around the web today. You really should see:

• This long photo frame [pictured above] from Toast
• Mollie's poetic post at Royal Buffet (and her bird mobiles)
• Jill's start to a series on meals-for-a-month at Grey Cottage Studio
• The storybook imagery of this long exposure by Sue H.
• Emma's farm animals storage/display
• Blair's Halloween projects from thrift shop finds

-- Happy weekending!

wellness diary printables

Thank you so much for the support and empathy about maintaining a wellness diary. I think a commitment to a healthy condition is like anything else, either we're moving toward or away from it, but never really remaining static. It's like I tell my daughter about guitar lessons: everyday you practice you get better; when you don't practice you actually lose ground and won't perform as well the next day. This journal is my practice book to mindful habits.

For those who would like to print a title sheet and journaling pages to make a wellness diary, here are the links. They're sized for a standard 8.5x11 page to be cut in half for a small-scale binder. I provide them in two color ways because some people will feel connected to bright cheery colors (I almost went that way myself) and others may want the soft subtle hues. Let me know if you make yourself a journal. I hope it's helpful for you.

Subtle colors: gold, soft blue, sage green

• all in one title page - subtle 
• mind, body, spirit underlay (for use with transparency) 
• journal page - subtle

Bright colors: orange, turquoise, goldenrod

• all in one title page - brights
• mind, body, spirit underlay - (for use with transparency) 
• journal page - brights

The text transparency layer is here. When printing on transparency, remember to set your printer priorities to mirror image and place the rough side facing the ink. A practice run is always helpful.

well, ok now

 

I haven't been feeling quite right for some time now. Not in the sense that I'm coming down with something, more just an overall sense of the blahs. My weight isn't where I want it to be. My energy is lagging. I'm tired. I just don't feel right in my own skin and it's not like me.

This could describe half of us probably, but I'm not willing to believe that this a natural part of aging. It's NOT. And I know many, many women older than myself who are in fantastic shape, running marathons and taking cross-country bicycle treks, and I just know that it won't take long on a regimen for me to regain a sense of well-being.

Since I'm the introspective type, a diary for this journey was in order. I wanted something with inspirational imagery and space to monitor progress. It's not a place for harsh criticism, only brief statements on what I'm thinking, doing, and how I'm feeling along the way.

  

The 5x8 (thrifted) binder is covered in book cloth from Hollanders. Consider it practice for projects to come. And that it was, because this is definitely not my neatest quality work. Irksome, but lessons learned and I'll live with it. I drilled a couple holes in the center back cover to feed the ribbon through, which is generally used as a bookmark and can be tied to secure the binder for travel.

 

A transparency on the front page is a bold reminder of the real focus here. In the past I've had a tendency to obsess about weight control, and if I were to be completely honest I would love to return to my control mindset just for the benefit of being slim. I need a visual reminder that this needs to be about overall self awareness.

This is a six-month diary with tabbed pages covered in patterned papers.

The back side of each tabbed page has photos chosen to reflect self-care/self-kindness rather than more obviously fitness oriented, though action/activity is a big piece of the picture for me.

 

All of those gorgeous photos are from the Toast Home [Autumn/Winter 08] catalog. Behind the formatted grid pages are several sheets of general ruled paper for longer entries.

If anyone is interested in making a similar binder I would be happy to share a file of the title sheet and journal grid page. They are 5.5 x 8.5 in size. Just let me know in the comments.  PDF printables are posted here.

Item number one from my fall project list accomplished; now the plan begins. I wish you well. 

looking ahead

[sunflowers near the orchard]

I've read other blogger's post recently about this month being a classic time for change, and I have to admit: I'm feeling the pull myself. This was a good long weekend. A weekend of de-cluttering and dropping off donations. Organizing closets for fall. A little rain and hanging in. A little gray sky and getting out. Picking apples and what seemed to be the last remaining raspberries.

[jonathon apple in season]

All weekend I turned over ideas in my mind; things that I want to do, or make, or accomplish in the coming weeks. If writing them down can help keep my on track, then writing them here can help keep me accountable.

This fall I will:

• Find the perfect mid-calf boots, not pay too much for them, and live in them
• do something for Pattern Builders each and every day
• make a tote bag (seeking a coordinating fabric to my green)
• make and freeze several apple pies (we picked 5 bags yesterday)
• make the cape from Sew Everything Workshop
• design a Christmas CD template (put what's in my head on paper)
• finish the summer album
• make a garden journal (thoughts on this year/plans for next)
• run alongside Marty in the mornings as he rides his bike
• make a couple sets of smallish, kid-sized napkins
• make a personal wellness journal and work that plan
• continue scaling back our household possessions to streamline day-to-day activities

Of course there's more on my actual 'to do' list, but these are some personal creative goals. I'm ready to move on this. Starting now.

what today feels like

It's quiet around here with the girls back to school. Do not worry though, blog friends, it's not entirely melancholy. I'm not crying in my tea. In fact I'm looking forward to using this quiet time to advance several professional projects.

And there was plenty of this today as well.

  

All in all a really good start for all of us to the fall '09 school season.