Letterpress Octopus Perpetual Calendar $36

Tartine Bread $40

Cinnamon Chocolate Malt Biscotti $8.50

Living Things Series Books $23

Bicycle Pint Glasses $12

all photos were taken by the makers

photo by Alexi Kostibas

All of a sudden, it became clear on Thursday that this was more than just annoying. There was a tragic terrifying accident on Wednesday night. I read about road closures because of high water, warnings about stocking up on emergency supplies, having an evacuation plan, etc. I called John and asked him to come home early. I did not want him driving home in the dark and running into high water. I did not want him stranded at work. The Willamette River separates the town where we live and the one where he works.

The girls and I ran out to the store to grab some extra food and water. John got home. That night his university closed for the next two days. Parts of that town were underwater and closed off from the rest of the town. Bridges were under water. There was a landslide in town and evacuations. At this point, our neighborhood was holding up well. But we were a little nervous. We had a little stream of water in our basement. Our town’s sewer system was overloaded. We live 2 blocks from a canal that supplies our town’s drinking water. The river was rising faster than expected (I heard some reports that it was rising a foot an hour) and was now about 5 blocks from us instead of the usual 7.

photo by Tim Corban

In the photo above, we are 5 blocks from the bottom of the water. The large white circle is part of our water treatment plant (yikes -so close!). And under the water is a park. You can’t see the playground at all. The shelter has water up to the roof. We can easily walk to this park.

I took much comfort knowing that our house is 100 years old and has survived other floods worse than this one. Friday morning we had a break in rain and the river started to recede a bit. Most of the roads were able to open up again.

By Saturday morning, life started to return to normal. I took Ruby to dance class. John drove over the bridges to care for a friend’s chickens. I drove over the river on Sunday for a little alone time. The river was still very high – over the piers that usually stand maybe 15-20 feet above water.

We have a lot of rain in the forecast and much of winter to go. Hopefully things will become a little more normal. But we made it through this round unscathed. Thanks for all the people who checked in with us!

I grabbed my knitting and sat by the window to watch…

and listened to one of my favorite albums.

And then it was over. We didn’t get much snow, but we got outside in it, threw out our to-do list, made hot chocolate, mugs of tea and baked bread. This Florida girl loves any bit of snow I can get and was just about as excited as the girls. The snow didn’t stick at all, but we pretended.

May I suggest a few items to pamper those you love?

Spicy Bath Fizzies are a very popular and have an irresistible scent.

This lavender filled heart pillow is a sweet gift for a child to snuggle. Just tuck in a little love note for a comforting present.

I love this Bath Tea. My skin is so soft after using it and the herbs are so calming. Especially when you drink a glass of wine while you soak.

Of course, you can’t love anyone else unless you take care of yourself. Give yourself a little luxury this season as well.

I was attempting to make Ginger a super cute shift dress. But when I realized I wouldn’t have anything for Ruby, I decided to save the dress for another occasion and not stress about getting it done. I was running short on time as I was busier than expected with fulfilling La Petite Vie orders. (Yay!) I’ve been sewing little bits of the dress here and there and it is a disaster. I called it quits last night. I’m not quite sure where I went wrong on that one, but I’m blaming the pattern again. It really makes not sense to me.

My last couple of baking projects were less than thrilling. I had to frog the entire back of a sweater I’ve been knitting for John. I’m not sure what has happened to all my crafty mojo lately but I’m not liking this!

I need some success! Please point me to some simple no-fail projects! I’m hoping to knit some legwarmers for myself that look pretty straightforward. And a friend just had a baby, so I’ll be baking something for them. Maybe I’ll attempt this for Valentine’s Day gifts for the girls:

photo by purl bee

Or maybe I should set the craft projects aside and have some tea and chocolate.

This chocolate brown messenger bag would be perfect as a diaper bag, don’t you think? I love the pleats. And I love diaper bags that don’t look like diaper bags.

I love this rucksack – the leather straps, the stripes, the practicality of having a bag on my back so my hands are free to buckle kids in strollers. It’s just perfect.

all photos by infusion

Ginger is becoming her own little person. She chats away with us all day long, demands to wear particular clothes (how will I deal with two fashionistas?!), is crazy for oranges, pretends to fall asleep at the table, and loves her babies. I love getting to know her personality better everyday and I can’t wait to see who she will become.

But…

I miss this.

I mentioned the book Miette that I wanted badly. I had avoided this book for so long because I knew I would have to have it. But I finally looked it up online and watched the video trailer (scroll down and you’ll find it here) and I was lost in it.

But then. But then. My friend went to San Francisco, visited Miette, and brought me back some cookies! I’m embarrassed to say how quickly they disappeared and that I only shared one. I just couldn’t help myself. I visited the website and learned that they use local, organic ingredients as often as possible. We share the same favorite brand of butter, Straus. It was really all I could do to wait until Christmas for this book. I was hoping that John had picked up on my obvious hint (from the blog post) and when he got a box of books from Chronicle in the mail, my fingers were crossed that the cookbook would be under the tree. I was right!

I cannot wait to get started baking. The instructions in this book are detailed and thoughtful. I have gained much insight just from reading the methodology. I want to run a bakery! But for now, my happy place is flipping through the scalloped pages (!) and beautiful photos in this book.

At my last craft show and for the month of December, I shared that for every bar of soap sold, I would donate soap to our local shelter. So far, that has been 39 bars of soap sold! I will definitely be continuing this into the new year. It is one small way we can contribute and take care of our community.

Thank you all for your support. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Have a happy holiday season with your friends and family. See you in the new year!

This is her gift for Ginger – it’s going to be a bunny rabbit stuffed animal. She drew the bunny, I transferred it to the fabric and she and I embroidered it together. Ruby has done really well with the patience and fine motor skills needed for this. I’ve been really impressed. She is excited to sew on the sewing machine next.

We signed up to bring a craft to Ruby’s class on their last day of school before break. We made snowflakes with them. Ruby and I spent some time on Friday making a bunch more.

But before you think its all Christmas magic here in our house, let me tell you that while Ruby and I cut out snowflakes, Ginger was busy coloring with the art supply box next to us. She was by no means ignored, but somehow managed to eat a piece of chalk, get marker on a windowsill, write with pen on a dining room chair cover, and write on the floor with a marker. Multi-tasking with a 1.5 year old around is near impossible.