mamaroots

herbal roots winner

congrats to Julie from This Cosy Life!  Enjoy the bergamot issue of Herbal Roots ZIne and thanks to Kristine for sponsoring the give-away.  Have a great Saturday everyone.  You might also want to check out Julie's shop- she has some wonderful toys!

this "we finally got rain" moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual via Soulemama that I was keen on doing this week- a simple sweet moment from the past week.

water picnic

You might think it would be pretty funny for a Midwestern girl to be talking about loving a new edition to our family being a boat.  Well you see that boat is a canoe and my state just so happens to be named after our heritage of rivers and canoes.  It is referred to “People of the Big Canoe” or “River of the Big Canoe” we even have a song about it!

We have 2 major rivers running through our state which you probably won’t find me on in our new canoe, but also a whole network of spring feed rivers and streams in the Ozark region of my state that you will find me on that is just a couple hours drive. 

My hubby has been thinking of getting a canoe for a couple years but I think our vacation this summer kinda sealed the deal on how much he enjoys being out on a beautiful body of water with his family. The top two pictures are from upper New York in the Andirondack Mountains.

We also found that in a just a couple minutes we can just load her up on the old Subaru and head to a little lake in our own town when we want to do something as simple as a little water picnic like we did last Sunday.

It reminded me of a cherished book Bear’s Water Picnic from my own childhood reading- do you remember those classic “Weekly Reader” books of the 70’s?  My boys enjoy it too and I thought one of you might like it as well. 

So just another fun little contest here at the end of July, we need some name suggestions for our boat.  Leave a comment between now and Saturday at midnight and I will draw a random person and send you your own copy of Bear’s Water Picnic.  I will give you a bonus entry if you share with friends on-line who want to stop by and leave a comment  and name suggestion too!

She is a lovely green Dagger boat with beautiful cherry wood trim.  We are all quite smitten by her and so far she has proven herself well!  What do you think a good name for her would be?  Let me know and maybe you will win this sweet kids read that shows just how generous bear is with his friends and he even learns a thing of two on a little boat ride for a water picnic!

sweet basil

For some reason my basil in my pot is growing much better this summer than in the herb garden.  Of course we partake in a caprese salad at least twice a week, but I was quite intrigued with this recipe for vanilla ice cream with peach and basil.  Just might have to try that one this week.  What are your favorite basil recipes?  I am interested in these fruit and herb combinations I am coming across.

give-away time!

It is the end of the month which in these parts means time for some give-aways!  Herbal Roots ZIne and I co-sponsor each other with a give-away each month.  Kristine and I are both midwesterners and someday I am sure we will road trip to her farm!  

She creates a wonderful zine each month and you get a chance to win a copy right here.  Just leave a comment between now and Friday night at midnight and you will be entered into the contest to win the August issue.  The winner will be announced on Saturday and e-mailed a copy- be sure to leave me your    e-mail.  Bonus entry points for following us on facebook:

herbal roots zine

mamaroots

Be sure to check Kristine's site today for a chance to win a wood skink made by me.  One of things we love about Herbal Roots and also making a wood critter each month is that is prompts us to learn more about that critter.  We focused on "Show Me Herps" sounds a little funky doesn't it?  My state is called the "Show Me State"- I think they chose the title to get your attention!  It was great to see my boys curled up at different times hunkered down with this great field guide done by our state Conservation Dept. Besides the books they publish like this that are for sales, they have lots of great free guides that are wonderful for using with your kids- here is a link.

Jasper made sure that the skink I made had 5 stripes like in the picture, and though we could not find too many pictures of skinks with their tales all curled up, we are pretty sure our little wooden one did not want his tail snapped off!

Hop on over to enter the contest at Herbal Roots Zine, and be sure to sign up here for the August Issue- all about Bergamot!  I just love the sound of that one!

Happy Monday and be sure to check back this week, I have a couple more give-aways to end July with!

party hats

well, we may not have had some festive party hats (fell off my list) but we had a fun little birthday party for the boys Oma- hubby''s mama who had a big birthday this month.  I will respectfully not mention her age but we had fun giving her the feel of still being a young chick!

It was not hard to do a few simple country-esque decorations, mason jars of flowers, party banners, chicken feeder candy dispenser, and of course a fun birthday candle holder!

Oma is quite the quilter and so I made her a nesting set of her as a quilted monster flanked by her 4 grandsons- yep 4 boys!  My boys and their cousins picked their colors for their monsters and Oma was like a big patchwork quilt!

Never underestimate how lovely a mason jar is in all it's glory for party decor.  I love the blue ones and usually have a couple laying around the house.  Also if you have a local farm and feed supply store you can get a new chicken feeder for under $5.  For this birthday I used lemon drops.  I also found this beautiful vintage inspired doll quilt that I used for table decor from this new Etsy shop- I recommend them, it came so quickly, well made, and sweetly packaged.

We topped it off with presents of a giant Bolga basket for her to travels to all her quilt meetings with some new pictures inside of her family- you have to love the new Kodak photo printing kiosks in a pinch for needing ultra fast picture printing!

Happy Birthday Oma- thanks for the best present you ever you have given to me- your son!  Now time to load up the boat and spend some time on the water!  Stay cool the rest of the weekend!

tomato red and pink!

One of the big benefits of a heat wave when you are in the midwest is oh how much the tomatoes love the heat!  Our bounty box had nearly a dozen lovely toms that are destined for some delicious caprese salad tomorrow in preparation for a special family birthday party for the boy's Oma.

Lovely mix of red and pink gives a little inspiration to some red and pink Etsy picks for this Friday- enjoy!

maybe a new camera strap!

or possibly a sweet bag for some jacks and marbles

or even a saucy little tea towel!

9 3/4

Did you cry- yep,  Did you like the final movie- yep,  Still LOVE the  books more- double yep yep!

9 ¾ means more to me than just the magical number of a train station where the train can whisk a young wizard, witch, or devoted reader to Hogwarts.  To say I am emotionally invested in the world of Harry Potter is really quite an understatement.

Yes I know that I am not the only one, with thousands upon thousands of fans in the midst of Pottermania, what I can say is that truly it has been an honor to have been around in the beginning, middle, and final end of what I consider to be one of the best written series for children.

You see I came into the series not as a child- reading each one imagining myself as a lucky recipient of a letter clutched in the claws of an owl.  No I was an adult- just starting on my book buyer career for the same indie store I still buy books for.  It was a curious little book at first just bought by teachers.  I would order a couple here and there.  That worked for HP1 then I read it at the recommendation of friend who read it while recovering in the hospital.  Then HP2 picked up steam and the simultaneous release of HP3 in the US and UK sent it on a flurry.

The midnight release parties that I coordinated for HP4,5,6, and 7 have been highlights of my book career, but none so much as having the opportunity to meet J.K. Rowling back in 2007, and then that being equaled if not shadowed a bit by my first born reading them one after the other 1-7 in about 4 months earlier this year.

And because I have had one movie vs. book rule in our home- read all HP before any of the movies are seen, my eldest got to go to the movie with his mama and daddy and take part in our little tradition of seeing the movies on opening weekends.  Liked most, disliked some, felt the last complete movie HP7 P 1 & 2 redeemed itself.  But best of all I asked him if he enjoyed reading the books first and the answer was yes! 

So it was a wonderful way to spend a blistery hot Sunday afternoon- on a date with a couple of my favorite fellas.  A bucket of popcorn, a sprite, and bag of skittles produced a pretty magical effect.

Of course I cried when Fred dies, of course I cried when Severus gives Harry his memories before he dies, and of course I cried when Harry unselfishly goes to battle Voldemort with the new knowledge that he gained from Severus.  I cried because above all of the other elements of the story; magic, good versus evil, etc . . . it is really a love story.  A love that a mother and father have for their child, a love that friends have for each other, and ultimately for me, a love of an amazing story and an amazing series of good old fashioned paper books- no wires required to make this magical.

So back to that 9 ¾ part- best of all I am still not at that level 10 because I get to do it all over again with Silas in just a couple years when he starts to read them and we will experience the magic with him, maybe then my HP meter will be at a level 10!

By the way- yes I do have my very own sorting hat that lives in my office- pretty sure I am a Ravenclaw- Luna and I would get along wonderfully!

weekend wishes

Wishing all of you a good weekend- our AC got fixed just in time for a great visit from a dear friend of my hubby's from college on a visit to the states from overseas.  It is a wonderful quality I admire in my hubby, these friendships he has keep for years.  He will say at times there will be spaces and places in between regular meetings and chats but it was great to see him get to hang out with his friend and his friend's wife.

Thank you to We Bloom Here blog for sending me this sweetest little wish maker ever that I won in a contest on her blog.  So far she is a wonderful little wish maker.  She came just before my weekend with friends, I am pretty sure she helped fix the AC, and is helping with a few little fixer up wishes I made for the house!

Here are a couple other lovely wishful dandelion inspired picks for a Saturday.

Dandlion Embroidery on Etsy

Bag Holder on Etsy

If you are needing some "dande" reads, you might want to check out:

A Dandelion's Life by John Himmelman

The Dandelion Seed by Joseph Anthony

Enjoy your wish making time this weekend! 

retreating

In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives we often forget what is right in our back yards.  This weekend I took a couple friends to a sweet little river town that was a bit sleepy from a swollen river but, we had a therapeutic night of enjoying local wine, local food, and staying at a friend's bed and breakfast. Thankfully the river has not flooded the town and we had a great weekend.  

Don't hesitate if you get a moment to take in your local landscape with friends, you won't regret it, even if that mean bopping around on bikes in excessive heat warnings!

Hope you are staying cooler than us at the moment- yep our air conditioner broke yesterday- thank goodness we had just loaded up on freezer pops!  If the AC gets fixed tomorrow I am making strawberry shortcakes to celebrate!