Birthday for David

Today is David's 39th birthday. As of now, he is working on being 40 years old!

To celebrate the day that my beloved first took in a breath of air (at Woman's Hospital!) I spent the day stirring tomatoes and basil and oregano and parsley, layering it with noodles and ricotta cheese to make a wonderful lasagna...

I am just so proud of my eco-wrapping of David's gifts and am considering doing this for all of my family this Christmas. Nothing feels worse than balling up 40 pounds of paper and putting it curbside. I never have liked that part of any celebration.

Happy Birthday, David!

Pizza: The food that sustains families on the go

I make ALOT of pizza. Which I guess, translated, means that I eat a lot of pizza. Which means I have to keep that running thing up.

This summer, I've made a bit of a science out of homemade pizza. It's now gotten to the point where I refuse, absolutely refuse, to give Pizza Hut or the PaPa any more of my dough (ha ha ha ha!).

There are several approaches to making homemade pizza. There's the bread machine theory, wherein you throw all of the ingredients into a bread machine, let it knead it and rise it, then pull the mess out and throw on the toppings. But what's the point of making homemade dough if you can't be the one kneading it. I think I need to knead (OK enough with the pizza puns, now, please!).

There's the old-fashioned approach featured in The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook. This pizza doesn't even contain cheese(!) something I immediately amended.

Then there's Betty Crocker. Haven't I told you that my absolute favorite cookbook (aside from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking, of course) is the 1960's "Mad Men" era Betty Crocker cookbook my mom passed down to me? Its binding is held together with packing tape and I love it. The first time I took the notion to make a recipe, it was to conquer that book's galaxy cookies. I was about 10 years old. Of course, the whole thing ended with me in a puddle of tears and my dad patiently remaking the dough so I could form the cookies. Which, by the way, were absolutely horrible and looked nothing like the beautiful photo on page 146. But I digress.

Betty Crocker's pizza is perfect for those times when you're really running late and don't have time to let the dough rise. Throw in some baking powder and voila! You've got dough. It's somewhat like eating a biscuit topped with tomato sauce. But that can be really delectable.

Betty Crocker Pizza Dough (from vintage "Betty Crocker's Cookbook")

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup salad oil (Olive oil is healthier)
2 tablespoons oil to put on the crust before you put your toppings there...or you can put pesto on the bottom of the sauce. That is something close to heaven.

Blend it all in a bowl
Form a ball
Roll out the ball or just press it into a pan
Let the dough bake in a 425 degree oven for a few minutes
Add toppings
Bake for another 20-25 mins.

On to the gnoshing!

Birth education doll

This is about the most wonderful thing I have seen in a long time...

When I was pregnant with Ryan, I felt called to create a birth doll.

I had no idea how to construct her, but I knew I wanted her womb to be visible from the outside, and I wanted to be able to use the doll to visualize how labor would occur in my own body.

I created a womb of silk ribbon.

She is smiling and relaxed. She is in pleasure.

Shortly after my 36 hour labor (but natural!) I thought how naive I was in making this doll. But now, as I wind along in my journey as a mother and birth junkie (perhaps, one day a doula?), I know of many who have had relaxed, wondrous births. It is truly possible.

So perhaps others will see this doll and find inspiration in her wild hair, happy face, openness.

Back to Charlotte's doll.

Ah, the possibilities...Now the perspiration!

Just got this fabric lineup with the plans of making Charlotte (and maybe even Ryan) dolls for Christmas, with a quilt (if I am lucky and motivated!)

Is there anything as thrilling as a few bolts of brand new fabric?

Wish me luck!

The article...

http://www.225batonrouge.com/news/2009/aug/25/my-familys-walk-through-vegetable-garden/

Oh, faithful followers forgive me

We've been too absorbed in the beauty of summer to write. But I promise that will change. Until then...Here are some pictures of what we've been doing...

Fresh baked bread

I'd long been looking at the pictures of freshly baked bread in my mom's Betty Crocker cookbook. Then I thought, "Well...Why not try?" Bread has always seemed an impossible piece of heaven to achieve, something for other people to do. And then, just like that, I was doing it. It's strange how the kneading and the rising felt so right, as if my bones and muscles were doing something distinctly human. The dough rose on the porch, where it was a generous 90 degrees. The result was a little bit of perfection and, of course, I felt compelled to share. I delivered bread to neighbors with a feeling of joy in my heart. It is a lost art that I will be enjoying for a long time to come.

Fresh from the farmer's market

Shrimp and summer squash

Gardening

That is a cantaloupe. Right now it looks pretty edible. This was in its earlier stage of green.

Work in Progress

They walk by, they add a couple of strokes. A bit of color here, a solid line there or a blob. Then they get it wet and try out other techniques. I think art is never finer than when a child is making it. And doing it outside is even better.

A Bird for My Niece

Madison turned 9 last week and I made this bird for her out of felt, fabric and beads. She is a budding naturalist and it felt good to make a gift for someone.

A summer meal

Around here, summers mean "training races," twice-weekly 32-mile hurt fests on the bike. David always comes home starving, so I made him a lovely carb load treat. All from scratch.

My kingdom for a jug of fresh squeezed lemonade...

Who we are

We are Amy and David, Ryan and Charlotte. Ryan is 3. He'll be 4 in October. Charlotte is 2 in July. We live modestly but in riches beyond comprehension, getting by on equal doses of humor, exercise, goofing off, avoiding housework, plunging headfirst into inspirational home improvement projects and gardens, and trying to live, prayerfully, a more creative life in a city not necessarily known for its weirdness.

Living the Creative Life

I have started many blogs. And finished some. And left some just dangling. Because my life always shifts and moves and the blogs state things that might not be me anymore. And the blogs portray a certain shade of me, but not the real me. The real us. The real family we've become. And so here I am, with the goal to create a blog that reflects not politics or career aims or anything other than the creative and happiness pursuits of a stay-at-home mama of two.

Motherhood is like a pomegranate. Peel away the rubies of your soul to see more rubies. White skin looks like nothing. But beneath it are jewels.

This blog is a testament to the artistic life that lives within the walls of my home. The poems that pass between me, my husband, my children, the world. A collection of the glittering and the metallic, the small and the large.

A jar of buttons sitting on the shelf.