Monthly Archives: February 2009

false spring but I’ll take it anyway

02 . 22 . 09
I am so so tired today. A nutty week of work has come and gone and won’t be around again until next February. Whew. I am ssssllllloooooooow and so wish I had the sleep-in gene because the two martinis I devoured post-auction last night would have enjoyed a bit more rest this morning. But I woke early to a beautiful springy day. And while I know it will snow and freeze and gray-up for many more weeks, I got that welcome itch to be in my backyard. I nearly blew my knee out desperately trying to turn my compost. The frozen mass of egg shells, chicken poop, coffee grounds and leaves was unyielding despite my best efforts. I cleaned out the coop, made bread and drank coffee. Everywhere I glance, signs of spring abound. More eggs. Clem’s neck is fine. She moulted and got all scraggly and way more awful looking and now her shiny new feathers perk her right up. The hens are loving the warmer, longer days as evidenced by increased egg production and clicking of hen heels. We will be adding two more chicks to our urban flock this spring (don’t tell Andy). Crumbly, melty ice. Peek-a-boo green. Box elder bugs in my house. Hands without mittens. Kitties venturing outside. Wheel barrow tracks in mud. Next comes seed ordering, rain barrel installing and bare leg running. Yay spring. Read more on false spring but I’ll take it anyway…
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dig this: open for business

02 . 17 . 09
Ta da! Shucks, thanks for your inquiries about my postcards, aprons and other creative makings. And, now, I am here to tell you my etsy shop is officially hyperlinkable and open. I recently decided to cut my work hours a teeny bit to hang with my girl. Monday is our day and, while she naps and often while she’s underfoot, I am making stuff to supplement lost income, so, feel free to spend recklessly. Right now, ready to be mailed from blustery and *almost* springy western Montana straight to your mailbox (starting smallish…with plans to grow): :: Correspond with pals using postcards featuring my photos of organic, homegrown produce with a sweetly designed back on 130 lb, matte paper and charming rounded corners. I printed them locally. And, if you live hereabouts, the postcards are also available at the Good Food Store. Look at how excited Anne is to receive an oversized carrot card. :: Encourage little bug’s sashay in style in cute little skirts made for bare spring legs or over tights or leg warmer-clad winter legs. I can’t get enough of these skirts and they survive growth quite nicely. Elastic is a fabulous invention. Right up there with scissors, funnels and zippers. :: Paint or knit with abandon. Yours truly is making customizable paint brush/knitting needle holders/storers like I made my man for xmas. He loves it and I can say I haven’t seen anything else out there like it. The organizer is faced with flannel and functions as a travel storage diddy while also hanging handsomely on a wall in the studio. :: Bake frivolously donning a delightful apron. Gents: these are not just for the ladies. Ladies, wouldn’t you find it sexy if your man was baking in an apron? Maybe not this very one with pink pom poms, but maybe yes. I’ll get more in the shop within a few weeks. All of these items are available in my etsy shop with more to come soon. It’s all affordable and I guarantee your sweet satisfaction. I’d love e mails (digthischick at gmail dot com) regarding custom orders. For the moment, I am sticking with the kid skirts, aprons and paintbrush organizers in the sewing department. The quilt thing is kindof like childbirth–it will take me a few months to forget the mind-blowing pain and want another. Never say never to second children or quilts. Perhaps this summer for both. Read more on dig this: open for business…
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31

02 . 09 . 09
I turned 31 yesterday and my celebration began the night before when I wore an apron made of condoms in a sexual health fashion show with bug. And in a fit of we-love-our-town-and-each-other-and-who-cares-if-we’ll-all-be-up-with-kids-in-a-few-short-hours-woo! some girlfriends and I decided to take our pro-choice booties out on the town. We toasted the end of my 30th year at the stroke of midnight. And then yesterday started with a lazy, thick coffee morning that led into a lazy, thick breakfast. My little family unit ran a few errands and cuddled for a few hours just as the sun was exclaiming happy birthday! from behind a thick, gray cloud cover. By the time we met up with dogs and pals at Blue Mountain for our 2 o’clock hike, it was a regular ole spring day. Oh heaven, I hiked with bare ankles. They were cold, but they were bare. We hiked on crunchy snow through the shadows of ponderosa and, three hours later, landed at a pizza joint for shared slices and beer with 30 peeps. It was a perfect day. And I do believe this photo best captures the energy of the birthday pizza extravaganza: Last year, I wrote 30 things I was loving at the moment and so this year, my 31: 1. My new work schedule allows for Mondays at home with bug sans agenda.2. Spring always follows winter. 3. Dancing.4. Bug runs naked around the house holding only a maraca.5. My man and I love each other a whole lot.6. Bug’s going to have a cousin.7. A supportive bra.8. My cats hug. 9. Great art.10. All of the fabulous people I have found through blogging.11. My buff arms from schlepping bug around.12. Music that I can’t help but rock my hips to: MGMT and Citizen Cope.13. Cheese.14. Facebook.15. Designing and sewing kid clothes.16. Eggs from my backyard.17. I am a mama. photos by Casey 18. Short toenails.19. I can’t wait for two big weddings this year. I am completely in love with the men my favorite girls have chosen.20. Gin martini: tanqueray, up, dry, one olive an the teeniest splash of olive juice.21. My home is well-lived in and I am learning to love the chaos. 22. Showers with bug.23. Showers alone for an excessive amount of time.24. An exhaustive day of exercise in the mountains.25. My new quilt.26. The women in my life inspire me to be a better mama, wife, friend, daughter, professional, artist and woman.27. My new President.28. Our family bed: us, bug, Alice and most nights, a cat or two as well.29. My job.30. My dog. 31. My life. I am really happy. Read more on 31…
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blame it on the rain

02 . 02 . 09
Ah, Milli Vanilli. How I adored them and was broken-hearted to find out they were total frauds. Anywho, I have rain barrels! Thanks to dig this chick’s new sponsor, Clean Air Gardening. I have been in the January Missoula funk because I am wholly exhausted with the inversion. Every winter our sweet valley creates the perfect weather system to yield a perfect inversion. This means Missoula is brown and foggy for many weeks, sometimes months. Weather forecasters from all over get boners over the geography and layered-air system that makes Missoulians ready crawl out of their skin come March. Even the chickens are suffering from seasonal affective disorder. Sweet Clementine is missing some neck feathers which, according to several sites, could be molting or stress or mites. I think it is a bit early for molting (?). The girls have been confined to their coop a lot for the last few months because of the cold and wind. Last weekend I cleaned out the coop (long overdue) in an effort to perk Clem up with the cozy, fresh hay. So, when I was schlepping my kid and four bags into the house last Thursday, on day of the first peak at sunshine in weeks, I was pleased to discover I couldn’t get in my front door because my ruddy red, recycled rain barrels had arrived. The 55 gallon beasts brought a bit more sunshine into my foggy life. Their original purpose was carrying hot peppers from Greece and now they’ll catch rain water in Montana. Love it. Clean Air Gardening gave me the barrels and rain water diverters in exchange for my documenting the installation and use with photos and words.* I have yearned for rain barrels for many years and never made the financial plunge. Although I think I’ll discover that the cash money I’ll save watering my potted plants and low water vegetation that falls under my roof overhang and never ever gets any rainfall will pay for the barrels in no time flat. It is right now every year that I get itchy and twitchy for spring. Seeds and thawed soil. Rhubarb and pasty legs exposed to vitamin d. Rain. I feel like I got a tiny peak at spring when myself and fifteen women took a little hiatus to Jackson Hot Springs last weekend for a mama-sans-kiddo soaking and imbibing. The temperature wasn’t very spring like but the sunshine. Oh, the sunshine. Happy almost spring out there. * I am interested in other arrangements like this. E mail me at digthischick at gmail dot com. Read more on blame it on the rain…
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