a day in the life...

So far, despite the previous posted finger mishap, the week has gone surprisingly well. I even managed to plan five meals out and shop within 10 bucks of my allotted budget, hooray me! So what are we having for this weeks nosh?

Last night was... Pork Chops (pan fried), duchess potatoes and broccoli & cauliflower florets in butter. The duchess potatoes (recipe from my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook) turned out delish!

Tonight I am trying a crock pot recipe called 3 beans & Sausage. It has red kidney beans, black beans and great northern beans with smoked sausage. This will be served over wild grain rice with corn cakes.

the rest of the week will play it by ear with these dishes;

• Pulled BBQ Chicken sandwiches with pomme frites (ok just french fries).
  
• Spaghetti Pie, a family fave, but I am substituting whole grain whole wheat noodles. This will be served with garlic toast.
• What week would be complete without Pizza? It is a must in the Novus house. Italian Sausage & Pineapple (the grown ups are throwing on some green chile too).

Can't wait for leftover night :)

I even managed to sqeeze in some crafting with the kids. They each made grandma a fimo picture fram with a pic of themselves. See the completed project below. I think it is starting to sink in that we won't be seeing grandma everyday come September. I really want them to enjoy this time with family because the adventure is just around the corner. If you have any moving tips to lessen the stress on the kiddos feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email.

CB's soccer '09 pic in his handmade fimo frame.


EmBea's soccer '09 pic in her handmade fimo frame.

Tonight is looking promising. We are going to an art opening reception to see a friends work. Any outing with art and friends is sure to be a winner. We also have friends in town from Sacremento. I can't wait to meet their scrumdidlyumptious daughter! Life seems to be moving right along and quite nicely I must add. For added kicks I have thrown in the picture of my kids dancing crazily to the JoJo's Circus theme song. Yes it's supposed to be blurry they were really rocking it out.

"hey hey it's JoJo's Circus" (p.s. this link is in Italian)

PLGC- pizza lovers

those moments.

As a parent there are those moments. That sort of Wow and holy poop moment all wrapped into one. Below is a picture drawn by my son, he will be 4 this month. If you look closely near the bottom of the page is what looks like a a male uhm part. I say to my son is that a "tinky" ? (sorry it's what we taught him to call it, I think it originated from grandma, but I'm not sure) He smirks and says yes. Then he says:

CB: Mom did you know that a tinky is called a penis?
Me: Uhm, yes. Who told you it was called that?
CB: Embea. (his sister)
Me: Okay, well she's right.

I really didn't know how to respond to that. I am pretty sure EmBea picked that one up at school, she is on the playground with 5th graders.

This is CB Novus under an umbrella


CB Novus-bourgening controversial artist.

Since I am showcasing the art of CB, I should give you a look at EmBea's too. She was watching Mirrormask today, at her own behest. As a patching activity she decided to create her own world, like the one the girl draws in the movie. Here is her world below and I am quite impressed.

My little fairy watching Mirrormask.

EB Novus and her family in her world.

So there you have it. My day as Mom with all of the good parts and none of the bad.

PLGC Blogiverse -out

All images in this post are the express copywrite of NovusArts and may not be reproduced in any way.

We temporarily interrupt this mommy blog...

We temporarily interrupt this mommy blog for a brief moment of sanity vs. insanity.

So i have been pushing beyond a lot of boundaries lately; Personal, business, art, mommy-hood.

On the personal front: i find myself pushing who I AM. Am I the witness as Ken Wilbur suggests? i think, yes. I observe my daily surroundings but I am not my daily surroundings. I do not live in the Cartesian Dualism that Wilbur purports in his anthology "The Simple Feeling of Being". I am, I AM the witness. I step inside and outside of the dual, the opposite, this IS. My spirituality bounds beyond those celebrated this last Sunday. My spirituality does not exist.

On the business front: my superiors throw quixotic equations that momentarily float above the realm of my brain. i snap, grasp, calculate and breathe a sigh of relief that i can actually sum up the anathema. (thank you CS)

On the art front: i am pissed the FUCK off that I have been in a dentist's office for more days than necessary to deal with a root canal among the other umpteen million things they want to do to my mouth! What has that to do with art you ask? Every, Fucking, Thing. If I am not making my art then I may as well not breathe. Thank goodness that i am being the great I AM as stated above or this Shit would totally knock me off my rocker.

On the mommy front: i love my kids, DID YOU GET THAT? i LOVE 'em!! they are completely obnoxious, utterly adorable, totally interrupt the focus that i try to achieve on a daily basis and (ignoring the serial comma here) love them! Each day proves to me more and more that i need to be who I AM to help them be who they are.

So if you think I am completely nuts, don't write me off just yet. it is simply the creative genius of my right brain cataloging what you and I already know to be true. WOW, you really can compose everything out of nothing, and so on (serial comma included).

PLGC to you all, EVOLVE DAMMIT!

the one where she flips grammar the bird!

I could title this blog how I went from NABLOPOMO to 1 post per month, but I won't. I get home at the end of the day and the last thing I want to do is log into the computer. My ass is up at 5:00am these days to get into the office on time. I leave work drive around for two hours, with a purpose mind you. Drive, pick up the BG, drive, pick up the BB, drive home. Cook dinner, settle the kids down, eat dinner, kids play time/mom art time/clean time/whatever really needs done time. Bedtime business for the kids, the regime of face care for mom. Story time, lights out? Nope the BB usually sticks in as long as possible. I realize this blog doesn't even contain complete let alone grammatically correct sentences.

I want to sit here and write something witty, something that makes you say hey I will come back to read that. BAM! It seems as if I have not done that in a while y'all. I am just so fucking tired lately, and tired of my excuses too. <--look I used a serial comma.

Well I am in the process of getting an attitude adjustment. I really hope that comes with an increase in energy level too. A friend recommended an herbalist that she sees, I am going to call. I need something right now to help my body match the OOMPH going on in my brain. The time is now, if I don't get off my ass soon I will be 10 months closer to 34, SHIT I have got to get his going!

Go to sleep DAMMIT!

My 2 year old is still awake. I guess that could mean I am a bad mom, but I really don't think so. I have pondered the day trying to remember if there was any sugar in it. I can account for my time and affirmatively say, no. He was with Dad for a few and G-ma another few, but they are both pretty aware of my son's reaction to sugar, so. What reaction you ask? Bat-Shit-Crazy! He's not exactly hyperactive just busy. Thus I think I can rule out the evil that is sugar.

CS brought the turtles some glow sticks home since they cleaned their room without a fuss and the kid has been playing with them for two hours straight. I am so getting his ass up early tomorrow, this is not a schedule I am going to make a habit of.

On other fronts the HD and myself are still working and whatnot, but we are coming up on a new sort of crunch! We have gotten a show at a local stomp and they want 35 pieces. So for us that means get your Asses in gear! We have to revamp the website, get some new work going and hopefully earn some extra cash in the process. I am secretly uber excited to have the additional motivation in my life. Oh wait I told y'all so I guess it's not so uber secret.

The band marches on...and on and on.

Sunburn city and other musings.

We are living in Sun Burn City! I think if this well reputed sunscreen says SPF 50 and water proof then it uhm, well it should be. (I did reapply before the stated two hours, and after a dip in the pool) We went to the pool yesterday, completely covered in sunscreen. The water was temperate, BG was playing with friends, and BB was clinging to me for dear life. I was considering getting ready to leave because BB wasn't having any fun and then he says "get in big bathtub?" Meaning he wanted to get back in and try again. He went from don't put me down to, hey you crazy lady can't you see I can do this myself. So we stayed.
We decided to take a break to have some watermelon. I noticed that BG was looking pink. So I dried her off and re-applied the sunscreen. I slathered the three of us once more, but it was already too late. We splashed around for another hour or so and headed home. By the time we settled in for the night the three of us were wincing into our pj's.
This was the first sunburn for both of them and I am feeling like the worst mom on the planet. Yes I made the efforts, but those weren't enough. I imagine that I should be some super mom -da.da.da! Able to block sun-rays in a single bound, able to turn the swimming pool floor into pillows and avoid those nasty scrapes. Alas, I am just mom, yes Caliente too, but mom all the same.
Beyond the sunburns, and scrapes we had an absolute blast. It hits like me like a brick how much I love my family. I woke up today sunburned and bouncy, maybe a bit manic but in a good way. I would totally do anything to move us forward and keep us happy. The superfluous concerns just fade.
On another note, I got a call from my ex-boss. She is in the running for a job in Taos. She said that if she was brought on, she'd want me there with her. Did I mention TAOS! I love Taos, NM. I was there for the first time last week on a car delivery with HD. It was so-freaking-awesome! The air was fresh, it was green, vibrant and artsy. I know It's just me dreaming again, but without dreams... HD has also received a job offer, though not the money he is looking for , so he is entering the negotiations faze.
Whatever happens I am sure it will be interesting. We tend to be a bit bohemian like that. I worry about what an abrupt change will do to the kids, then again. In these last 2 years we have gone from running a Frame Shop and Art Gallery where we could bring the kids to work, to Mommy working and Daddy staying at home, back to Daddy working and Mommy staying at home. My kiddos seem remarkably well adjusted, so maybe I should be less worried about that and excited about the changes in our future.
Well thanks for tuning in, any changes happening in your lives? Have a wonderful weekend! PLGC -out

Self reflection, & maybe an expletive

What the fuck is wrong with me? Am I missing some uber secret mommy/wife/female/human gene that allows for good housekeeping and motivation to do such said? Every morning when I wake up I swear that this is the day, this will be the one where I get it all right. Then 8:00 p.m. rolls around, HD is heading home and nothing is done, Again.
I don't even make excuses anymore. I just don't do what I know I need to. I would love to say the kids keep me too occupied, but most of the time they do a pretty good job entertaining each other. I feel like I am always whining in these blogs, like I need to get a life, and entertain you with something more amusing than my shit rabble.
I am completely honored to be a wife and mother, yet I feel like I purposely screw it up on a daily basis. I am asking the hubs to work so that I can stay at home, but thus far I don't feel I have done my part. Anyone out there dealing with this? I know most will think that I am stressed and depressed, but dammit I don't want to hear that. I don't want to make excuses anymore, I just want to pick up the pieces and roll on. It is time to suck it up already! Get your stuff together Mamacita! Get it together.
I feel like I have taken this year long hiatus off into someone else's life. When I was living crazy and irresponsible everything was great, somehow this responsible adult me just isn't getting it. Yeah so maybe I stopped pursuing my loves, and dreams. Maybe I did settle a little to quickly for the easy corporate climb, [a perilous, shit-paying climb at that].
So I am back to making lists, back to planning, back to being a little more me. This week is almost up, and it is time to give myself three things. 1. Get the Kids room cleaned, disinfected, and organized. 2. Create a work space of my own for sculpting, writing, blogging, and painting. 3. Find out how to move forward with the department of Ed. so that I can get back into school (and do what I want).
"I think it is time to be career thinking, not job thinking. " HD said this to me on Sunday night. I had thought that we were career focused but it was not the path that we wanted, we weren't walking in our own shoes. So here we go folks, holding my breath, jumping in, remembering that I am old enough to know how young I really am! Oh, and if I wake up tomorrow morning then I am not dead. PLGC-out