And Lastly...

 I owed my Mom a Mother's Day Dinner, so we headed to River Street in Savannah.

 So, yeah. 

 I totally want to live in that apartment!

 Waving Girl Statue. Bittersweet.

 See the drink? It was supposed to be a Long Island Iced Tea. We all know it just takes one of these to make me tipsy. Brent used to tease me that it was cheap to get me, ehmmm. dazed. I realized too late just how strong it was. My brother had already ordered me a second one! (My brother & his lovely girl-friend in the background there.)

 Nuriel in her Toadstool skirt. I started it, Mindi finished it. It's supposed to be her "birthday skirt," but I couldn't resist putting it on Nuriel for this outing.

Last, but not least. Here's part of the sweet gift I received from the Indy Waldorf group. A lovely handcrafted yarn bowl and handspun yarn from local sheep. So beautiful! 

~

Heading home tomorrow.

~

Summer Tripping

Nuriel and I took a trip to Indianapolis to visit my wonderful friend Mindi. I also taught a Waldorf summer camp there. Nuriel and I had a great time!

 A cookie at the farmer's market.

 An amazing "monster"party...
 

 ... with her hair sister (the birthday child) and...

 ... a monster cake...

 ... and monster muffins.

 Looking just like Brent, only his belly was slightly bigger than that & he had a hairy chest. ;-) The swimtrunks are my statement against sexy swimwear for toddlers. (She does not need a thong!)

 Waldorf camp beauty and...

 ... felting soaps. 

Then another birthday party! This one had a "The Keeping Quilt" theme. The guests were asked to bring a scrap of quilting fabric instead of a gift. I'm considering doing something similar for Nuriel's 2nd birthday. We'll see.

 Nuriel is wearing a skirt I made! My friend Mindi, who has sewn many fabulous things for Nunu, showed me how to sew a skirt. I named it Kibiflopple skirt because I used four different fabrics: Kiwifruit - Birds - Flowers - Apples. I'm very proud of it. It was cut out & sewn after some major wine consumption!

 A yummy peach fresh off the tree.

Semi-naked chef!
 ~
Nuriel does not like air travel! Also, something happened on the way home... During our visit Nuriel's heard her friend call her Dad "Daddy." On our flight this afternoon, Nuriel decided that the tall, muscular African-American man with the long braids in the seat next to us was her Daddy. She said, "Hi Daddy!" over and over again. I apologized, but it's hard to get a 22-months old child to stop talking! When the guy fell asleep (or pretended to do so... Ha!), Nuriel said to all the surrounding passengers: "Shhh. Daddy is sleeping." I was so embarrassed, especially since the guy didn't seem to have a sense of humor about it and the more I tried to divert her attention , the more persistent she became...
~
That's all. It was a really nice trip.

On Trying & Failing

There's been a strange restlessness in me these past few days. Astrologers might point to Mercury going retrograde or Moon & Mars activating the T-square. A shrink might simply label me as being nuts. :-)

I'm trying hard to live in the moment without being plagued by never-ending what ifs. It's hard to arrive at a sense of, "I'm moving on..." with things still pending in the court system. I don't like being at the mercy of others. Will there ever be an end? I've had strange nightmares. I wonder what would happen to Nuriel if something were to happen to me. I look at Nuriel and feel blessed to have her in my life, yet it seems I'm constantly falling short of being the centered, striving, in-the-moment-living parent she deserves.

A Socking Hot Summer

Yarn & pattern details blogged here. 

Now I must go find some yarn to knit myself a pair as my mother would like to have this pair...

On My Needles...

 I'm knitting a pair of Lotus Heart Socks. I wanted to knit something in a color I normally wouldn't choose. Orange! I'm using a yarn that has 10% nylon in it, which is a stretch for my yarn-snobbish self. Alas. Durability matters when you invested this much time in knitting a pair of socks!

Leaf lace cuff. I really like this pattern as it is written for multiple sizes, not just the usual "woman's medium size 8." (I wear 11.)The yarn is from Zarzuela's Fibers. 

I'm often reading this lovely book to Nuriel. She loves books. It's sort of like the African version of "The House That Jack Built." The illustrations are so beautiful as well. 

Dear Spammers,

I changed my settings to allow anonymous comments so that a very sweet person from far away can comment on my blog. Guess what? - I get an e-mail message when you spam my blog and I hit the delete button with speed.

So, p-p-please don't waste your time, and most importantly don't waste my time.

Trust me, none of my readers needs a bigger penis! We'd all rather use the money to buy wine or yarn or fabric...

Warmly,
Cadi

A Confession

It's time for a confession. 

After all, confessions are the first step when seeking improvement.

This will be bad. You might not want to read on. If you do, you have been warned!

Maybe you already know this about me. I have been in denial about this issue for so very long that it borders on being a disease. 

I'm lazy. (Apparently.)

Lazy as in sluggish, slothful, idle. Unwilling to work or use energy. Characterized by lack of effort or activity. 

I've always been this way. (Apparently.)

I got my first job when I was 15-1/3. I worked in a nursing home for the summer months and continued to work there two weekends a month thereafter, all while attending school and maintaining a GPA that placed me in the top 10% of my class. Since I came from a low-income family, this meant that the government sent me a check every month just for keeping my grades up!

My head hangs in shame. What a lazy 15-years-old I was. 

After Noah was born, I had a part-time government job that allowed me to take him to work with me. When a second position came open, I was offered a second part-time position. I worked 50 hours a week while mothering an infant who never saw a minute of childcare. 

This is outrageous laziness. I may be too embarrassed to go on. 

Fast forward to now. I just want to make it as painless as possible for you to read about someone like me who is just so extremely lazy. (Apparently.)

I'm a single mother two three children with a full-time job as a Waldorf teacher. I'm known to ask my teenagers to babysit the toddler, so I can take a shower or use the bathroom. [Gasp.] I think taking the trash out and loading/unloading the dishwasher are reasonable chores for teenagers. I don't always cook dinner. At times my children have to eat Evol burritos or [Gasp so big I'm almost choking to death.] a bowl of cereal & fruit. 

Laziness is apparently very common in Pisceans. Pisceans also tend to have substance abuse problems. (Apparently.) I think I might need a bottle glass of wine to swallow this confession... 

Hi. My name is Cadi and I'm extremely lazy. This is my confession. 

[I think you're supposed to applaud now.]    

Her German Heritage

I just had to share this photo. Nuriel received the Dirndl as a hand-me-down from a very good friend. On a hot day like this one needs a mug of cold beer! Prost!

The Essence

Living from the core.

For a long time now I have been standing, mourning over what has been lost. Life is not how I wanted it to be, but life still is. I have wondered how to go on from here and in the midst of  this wondering have lost sight of the fact that the answer to that question lies within me. It is time to move on in a different way. I must turn within.

I am still here and this is my life.

If I operate from the consciousness that I have chosen this life, then I must accept that I have also chosen this event. This week I have been reminded of the fact that life is fragile, there will always be painful events, broken hearts, wounded souls... 

It is life.

I'm going to nurture myself and allow life to flow through me... joyfully.

Happy 4th of July!

 We even managed to find the "right" colors for the day!

It's hot. Very hot. As Grandpa fired up the grill, Nuriel played with water. We are all so very stuffed now. We hope you, too, are enjoying the day!

What Chickens Need

 38 C outside. Braving the afternoon heat.

 Humans need water when it's hot.

 Lots of water...

 Chickens need flowers and wooden acorns.

Oh... And tea! (Apparently.)

Hot. Hot.

Lil' Midi Bean Pilot - Pui

At the end of the school year the parents of my students gifted me with chocolate & a yarn gift certificate. Yes! They know me well. Such a wonderful gift to receive! One of the skeins I purchased was Malabrigo Sock in colorway Solis. Even though her noggin' isn't the smallest, I still like the pilot-style hat a lot on her.

Hester

 Hester by Susanna IC in Little Red Bicycle Tandem Sock

 Originally intended as a knit for myself... Alas.

"The Scarlett Letter" club was a gift to myself for Christmas. The kit arrived on my birthday. Two gifts in one. Very efficient. I might still block it & wear it myself!