The Red Teapot Diary

January 31st

2012-01-31T11:26:00.001-08:00

January 30th

2012-01-30T06:09:00.000-08:00

January 29th

2012-01-29T09:19:00.000-08:00

January 28th

2012-01-28T06:56:00.001-08:00

January 27th

2012-01-27T06:41:00.000-08:00

January 26th

2012-01-26T20:07:00.000-08:00

January 25th

2012-01-25T09:14:00.001-08:00

January 24th

2012-01-24T11:31:00.001-08:00

January 23

2012-01-23T18:33:00.000-08:00

January 22

2012-01-22T15:19:00.000-08:00

January 21

2012-01-21T05:53:00.001-08:00

January 20th

2012-01-20T09:25:00.000-08:00

January 19th

2012-01-19T09:17:00.000-08:00

January 18th

2012-01-18T03:18:00.000-08:00

January 17th

2012-01-17T08:42:00.000-08:00

January 16th

2012-01-16T11:25:00.000-08:00

January 15th

2012-01-15T08:43:00.001-08:00

January 14th

2012-01-14T14:17:00.001-08:00

January 13th

2012-01-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

January 12th

2012-01-12T19:08:00.000-08:00

January 11th

2012-01-11T15:49:00.001-08:00

January 10th

2012-01-10T19:15:00.000-08:00

January 9th

2012-01-09T14:25:00.001-08:00

January 8th

2012-01-08T12:39:00.001-08:00

January 7th

2012-01-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

January 6

2012-01-06T13:42:00.001-08:00

January 5th

2012-01-05T08:57:00.001-08:00

January 4th

2012-01-04T08:17:00.000-08:00

Instagram with iPhone

iPhone

January 3rd

2012-01-03T08:22:00.001-08:00

January 2nd

2012-01-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day

2012-01-01T11:48:00.000-08:00

More Pinterest Play

2011-11-09T10:36:00.000-08:00

Things that caught my eye and used up craft supplies left by my college-bound kids are my post this week. I made the Shrinky Dink bracelet, but added teapot, hand and other charms to the original design found on Country Living's site. The framed letter K is old scrapbooking paper and an empty frame one of the kids left behind.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-26T01:31:00.001-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-12T02:00:00.000-07:00

Raiding the Button Stash and Other Pleasures of the Empty Nest

2011-10-06T07:23:00.000-07:00

Button shop in York, UK

Button purses in a shop in Notting Hill

J Jill bracelet on top and my versions below.

Now that the nest is empty and I've spent a month organizing the house, I've found other things to occupy the time I used to spend driving kids to and fro, sitting through sports events, or hanging out in school parking lots waiting for the kids to be done with school or practice.

One of the treasures I unearthed in the re-organizing was my youngest's button stash. She collected buttons, beads and other shiny objects like a magpie. I even bought her buttons as bribes to buy more time in quilt shops and fabric stores when I was caught up in a quilting frenzy about 10 years ago.

I, too, have a weakness for buttons and was in button heaven while in the UK a few years ago where I found an entire shop of buttons with every wall covered with them. Buttons were sewn on bags and clothes in vintage shops, too.

I found the bracelet how-tos on Pinterest and spent several evenings raiding the button stash. Then I found a tutorial on making beaded bracelets like my favorite J Jill bracelet.

So, yes, there are times when the empty rooms fill me with grief for their childhood's end and I have panic attacks when I think of them both gone to strange cities far from home, but sometimes I also feel overwhelming guilt when I spend hours sewing and beading in the stillness of a clean and quiet house. Such a strange mix of feelings in this new phase of life.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-10-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

Summer Scenes

2011-07-18T04:48:00.000-07:00

Silent Saturday

2011-06-11T10:28:00.001-07:00

Spring

2011-03-31T06:13:00.000-07:00

What to Tell the Children in Times Like These

2011-03-07T12:40:00.000-08:00

By the artist in the family

We just returned from our yearly scolding at the accountant. Self-employed writers with degrees in art and history, we somehow managed a comfortable income until the last few years. The automotive industry's troubles became our troubles and of course food writers don't get paid. As my husband was finishing an article he says that he "used to get $1000 for a long, research article like this." Now, he tells me he is lucky to get $250. Jobs that I am qualified for are now taken by interns who work for free and I get offers from major publications to blog for them without pay.

The thing is that our friends who chose safe, responsible careers in the eyes of our aging and parental accountant are suffering too. Our middle-aged friends have seen their safe, responsible retirement accounts through safe, responsible corporations lose most of their value. They are delaying their retirement dates. Our safe and responsible younger friends find their safe, responsible teaching jobs are on the line. Most have mortgages on homes that they may not be able to afford if the economy gets worse or they lose a job. The one thing we did that has softened the blow was to down-size from the Barbie's Dream House to a smaller, cheaper house about 15 years ago and to pay off that 15 year mortgage. At least we have a roof over our heads and the accountant argued that it was the wrong financial move and we should have invested the cash in the stock market. One thing I came away with after today's appointment is that the government does not support the small business owner, the creative, renegade who wants to color outside the corporate lines. When I asked about continuing education credits, I was told my classes won't qualify, but they would have if I had chosen a teaching profession or healthcare profession. Even the professional development of a freelancer is not allowed.

So what do we tell our college-aged kids about success. One wants to study history and art and the other really wants to go to culinary school, but is a math and science whiz and girls like that get counseled to go for engineering. What do you tell them about taking on debt for an education? Both are frugal and refusing to take on debt and working the system to avoid it all costs. Both their parents avoided education debt. Maybe that is the answer. Follow your dreams, but pay as you go and don't expect help from the government when you chose the path of creativity. It may be tougher, but it is more satisfying to be self-sufficient and follow your dreams. Despite the game-changing economy, the friends who chose the safe path are having sleepless nights and challenges, just like us.

Lost on the Path to Reinvention

2011-02-03T09:46:00.000-08:00

There's this funny thing about reinvention. When you get on the path and move over to the fast lane-there isn't always time to blog, or be creative, or even smell the roses let alone photograph them. Perhaps it's time for a little course correction to see how creativity and down time can be incorporated into the reinvented life. The good news is the plan for self-education and reinvention is working and proving successful, just need a few tweaks and maybe a tougher skin to cope with the setbacks and rejection and more courage to say yes to the successes when they come.

Silent Sunday

2010-10-31T10:52:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday-San Francisco

2010-10-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

Silent Sunday

2010-10-03T06:36:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday-Seasonal Transition

2010-09-22T03:33:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday-Seasonal Transition

2010-09-15T01:12:00.000-07:00

Saturday Market Shots

2010-09-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Thirty-Thirty One

2010-08-31T01:21:00.000-07:00

I have always been someone who peeks into kitchens. Now that I carry a camera with me, I am often mistaken for an industrial spy or a health department inspector. That snoopiness around kitchens and cooking won me a Shun chef's knife at the International Blogger Conference in Seattle this weekend. This was one of the winning photos in a contest judged by Penny De Los Santos, Molly Wizenberg, and Kathleen Flinn.

The photos were shot at a food truck lunch at the International Food Blogger Conference in Seattle. Just down the street from Theo Chocolate where the conference was held was the Fremont Street Market. As locals were walking to the market, they came upon a couple hundred food bloggers eating lunch from the best food trucks in Seattle. I was attracted to the little boy's boots(I obviously have footwear issues) and snazzy wooden bike, but as his dad tried to convince the food truck vendor to sell him lunch despite not being part of the food bloggers, the curious little boy was peeking into the food truck. I know just how he felt. They contain a kitchen and a whole world of activity and mysterious cooking, wonderful smells, noise, excitement.

I learned that I need to follow that curiosity that has me peeking into back doors and snapping pictures with the point and shoot I keep attached to my purse, to follow the story behind the food-not just the food, to back up and get the sense of place, and to never lose my sense of wonder and joy. It shines through the camera lens and into the picture.

August Break-Day Thirty

2010-08-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Twenty-Nine

2010-08-29T05:56:00.000-07:00

More boots of Seattle.

August Break-Day Twenty-Eight

2010-08-28T04:28:00.000-07:00

After a long, hot, humid Ohio summer, I found the boots of Seattle a refreshing change.

August Break-Day Twenty-Seven

2010-08-27T04:22:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Twenty-six

2010-08-26T02:46:00.001-07:00

August Break-Day Twenty-Five

2010-08-25T01:25:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Twenty-Four

2010-08-24T00:02:00.001-07:00

August Break-Day Twenty-Three

2010-08-23T05:42:00.001-07:00

August Break-Day Twenty-Two

2010-08-22T04:25:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Twenty-One

2010-08-21T01:24:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Twenty

2010-08-20T01:01:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Nineteen

2010-08-19T01:05:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Eighteen

2010-08-18T01:43:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Seventeen

2010-08-17T01:05:00.001-07:00

August Break-Day Sixteen

2010-08-16T01:48:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Fifteen

2010-08-15T01:40:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Fourteen

2010-08-14T02:21:00.001-07:00

August Break-Day Thirteen

2010-08-13T06:12:00.003-07:00

August Break-Day Twelve

2010-08-12T04:02:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Eleven

2010-08-11T03:24:00.001-07:00

August Break-Day Ten

2010-08-10T02:26:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Nine

2010-08-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Eight

2010-08-08T04:32:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Seven

2010-08-07T15:34:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Six

2010-08-06T15:29:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Five

2010-08-05T04:47:00.001-07:00

August Break-Day Four

2010-08-04T06:07:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day Three

2010-08-03T04:57:00.001-07:00

August Break-Day Two

2010-08-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

August Break-Day One

2010-08-01T03:11:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-07-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

Silent Sunday-Small Town America-July 4th

2010-07-04T01:19:00.000-07:00

Silent Saturday

2010-07-03T11:12:00.000-07:00

Silent Sunday

2010-06-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Silent Saturday

2010-05-29T01:51:00.000-07:00

Stumbling on the Past

2010-05-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

"That would be a great shot," I tell myself as I walk by the playground. I climb on the slide and point my camera.

That looks like a good one too.

And then it hits me that 18 years ago, I pushed my two-year-old in these swings and then his little sister a year later. I watched them dangle from these monkey bars.

I caught their wriggling summer sweaty bodies at the end of this very slide.

How many hours did I spend reading the latest fiction from the weekly library trips on the end of this bench while they buried dinosaurs in the sandbox and fought over trucks and shovels and buckets.

How many feathers and shells and bugs and wildflowers were placed carefully into my hand?

How many hours did we spend examining and exploring?

I suppose it's no coincidence that my conversation with the youngest on the school run this morning was buying a car so she could drive to her college classes this summer. Two weeks early and two hours of labor and that one shot into the world. I shouldn't be surprised she is taking college classes the summer between her sophomore and junior year of high school. Her exit strategy is pretty clear.

I suppose it's no coincidence that the eldest told me not even an hour later that he was moving out and going to college this fall. He needed to live apart from us. He was born a week after his due date and took his sweet time making an appearance. It's taken him a year to decide about going off to college.

So there I was taking pictures for a new class and watching the light and the textures and looking for great shots and then there were tears rolling down my cheeks at the thought of those diapered bottoms in the baby swings. A pretty big leap from the woman who was asking their father last night, "When are they going to leave the nest. They're killing me with the drama and the unreasonable requests. I do have a life. Don't they know that?"

And then the thought of them gone makes me ask what will my life be like and I get weepy over baby swings.

Silent Sunday

2010-05-23T13:03:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday-Garden Bits

2010-05-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

Silent Sunday

2010-05-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom

2010-05-09T05:22:00.000-07:00

Dear Mom,

It's been 15 years since you left us and I think of all the things you have missed. Last night was Prom Night and it had me remembering my first prom and how you had to cut the hot rollers out of my long, straight hair while my date waited nervously in the living room. Oh, the drama. It's also track season and my baby is proving to be as fast as her mama, but fiercer, and braver. I think she gets that from you. I remember how many track meets you had to sit through and the drama of injuries and shin splints, and keeping me fluffed up and out there competing. All the firsts these two grandchildren have experienced since you left and all I have are the memories of how brave you were to do many of our firsts alone as a single mom.

You are also missing the journey I have had the last year uncovering our family past. You would have loved finding your ancestors were some of the first Quakers to settle Pennsylvania. You would have been proud to know all your male ancestors fought in the Revolutionary War, even if it meant leaving their pacifist religion. To find that your 4th great-grandfather was one of the first settlers in your home state would have filled you with pride. The strange and convoluted path that had your ancestors and my father's ancestors intermarrying in colonial Virginia 200 years before you met in Germany would have delighted your history-loving soul. And the Cherokee princess, you know the one everyone says they have? Well, you really did have one. Not on the side you thought, but on your great-grandfather's side. There is documentation and a few of your great-great uncles on that side married Cherokee women. There are pictures. I'm still looking for Pa's mother, who was the Cherokee you thought you had all along. You would have loved the mystery and the searching for clues and connecting to long-lost relatives.

Or maybe you haven't missed all the firsts and the front row seat to me living down some karma as I raise teenagers. Maybe you aren't missing the fun and the pride and the searching for clues of my genealogical journey. Sometimes I almost hear you laugh when the teens get the best of me. Sometimes I almost feel you looking over my shoulder when I make another discovery in our family past. There are times when I would swear I still hear your voice fluffing me up so I can get back out there after an injury or humiliation or a really bad day.

Wherever you are,

Happy Mother's Day

Wordless Wednesday

2010-05-05T05:38:00.000-07:00

Silent Sunday

2010-05-02T10:21:00.001-07:00

Opening Day of the Farmers' Market

2010-05-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

The first lady of our state rang the opening bell and the first farmers' market was officially open this morning, bright and early before the thunderstorms hit. Spring is truly here when I can buy ramps, asparagus, radishes, greens, and plants grown by local farmers. I have been a regular visitor to the chiropractor this week-- all the gardening blew out my back. I was not alone in my suffering as two other gardeners (ladies of a certain vintage as well)were treated to ice packs, electric stimulation, massage, adjustments, and stretching exercises due to garden related injuries. I guess I can no longer say raising my own vegetables saves us money after all those trips to the doctor. Maybe I should just rely on the market vendors.

We will once again be eating food from happy farmers and their happy hens.

The General kept an eye on the proceedings. I guess he thinks our farmers' market has hit the big time if the Governor's wife shows up on the opening day.

Silent Saturday

2010-04-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

April is also...

2010-04-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

Dogwoods blooming amongst the buds and new leaves.

Coltsfoot flowers gone fluffy on the roadside.

Spring beauties blooming in the mossy ground.

Rewarded for an afternoon's digging in the chill fall air.

April is...

2010-04-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

Ferns unfurling.

Mayapple umbrellas popping up out of the leaves.

Pots of Johnny-Jump-Ups welcoming me home. Sugar snap peas pushing through the soil ready to climb.

Inspiration Day 6

2010-04-11T01:46:00.000-07:00

I was standing on the shifting ground of midlife, having come upon that time in life when one is summoned to an inner transformation, to a crossing over from one identity to another. When change-winds swirl through our lives, especially at midlife, they often call us to undertake a new passage of the spiritual journey:that of confronting the lost and counterfeit places within us and releasing our deeper, innermost self -- our true self. They call us to come home to ourselves, to become who we really are.
Sue Monk Kidd-When the Heart Waits

In the News

2010-04-10T03:26:00.000-07:00

I've been watching the news this week as the story of the tragic mine explosion in West Virginia unfolds. I've written here of my journey on Ancestry.com to discover my heritage and the cousins I've met from my Appalachian roots. I had a message from one of those cousins telling me that one of her cousins had just walked out of the mine before the explosion. His brother had died just last year and the family would have suffered another loss if he had remained in the mine only a few more minutes.

That hits pretty close to home. As I watched the news reports and saw the maps, the same places that are on my family tree are on the TV screen. Clear Fork, Marsh Creek, Whitesville where my grandparents were married, where my great-grandparents took in Greek boarders who worked in the mines. The mine where my grandfather died is just 13 miles from the Montcoal mine. So this morning when I read the news that the last four miners were found and the miracle the families were praying for had not come to pass, I can only imagine the loss they are feeling. 29 men and their families in a very small community.

Accessorize for Spring

2010-04-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Since I am known for my fashion savvy(cough, cough), I thought I would share my favorite spring accessories. Smart Wools socks are my favorite and the only kind I wear in varying weights according to the weather. There are fuzzy snowflake socks for winter and lightweight florals for spring. Oh, and medium weight stripes for anytime. On My trip to Seattle last April I found them for $5 a pair at the Nordstrom Rack and scooped up a bunch. That was one of the highlights of the trip!

The gardening gloves are Liberty of London for Target. Hot pink leather with a black and white floral print. I love the bicycle from this line.

Muck boots are essential around here. I do have my eye on a pair of pink houndstooth. I bought these a few years ago at the local farm store. They didn't have the pink or purple ones.

My Baggallini purse has been around the country and on my shoulder everyday for over a year and half and I still love it. I especially love the cell phone pocket with the magnetic snap. I found this at the Container Store. I also love the little, lime green(I know. It doesn't look lime green in this photo) neoprene camera case with the caribiner clip that goes everywhere with me. That was a Walmart purchase when I was there searching for gluten free food.

Of course my new necklace from Lori's Etsy shop goes with everything, including Muck Boots. That is all the fashion advice I have to offer for now.

A disclaimer:All of this high fashion merchandise was purchased by me and the Amazon links below are for informational purposes.You do not have to purchase these lovely items from Amazon. I didn't. I am part of the Amazon Associates Program and have earned $1.06 in the past year which they have not paid me because it is not worth sending, I guess. :)

Inspiration Day 5

2010-04-09T03:36:00.000-07:00

For some months I had been lost in a baffling crisis of spirit. Back in the autumn I had awakened to a growing darkness and cacophony, as if something from my depths were crying out. A whole chorus of voices. Orphaned voices. They seemed to speak for all of the unlived parts of me, and they came with a force and dazzle that I couldn't contain. They seemed to explode the boundaries of my existence. I know now that they were the clamor of a new self struggling to be born.

Sue Monk Kidd-When the Heart Waits

The End of a Very Long Day

2010-04-08T18:08:00.000-07:00