{this moment}

 I'm joining Soulemama today.

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Under the sea or upcycle part three

Lately it seems that I can't focus or get inspiration. As if my positive attitude has a bit faded away for no evident reason. I'm functioning really undertone in these days, hence my silence here in blogland. But I still menage to make some pretty things ... another jar cover, with a bit more character this time ....

leftover blue cotton, sequins and a humble pickle jar ...

Not bad in the end ;)

Happy Birthday Milla

Eleven years ago today I gave birth to my fourth child and second doughter, Milla. She was born by a (unnecessary ) c-section and she was born laughing. Yep, this child of mine, as soon as the doctor pulled her out started laughing surprising all the doctors and nurses and midwife in the room '' the baby is laughing'' they wishpered to each other, reduced to silence by this tiny being. My sweet girl as lost a bit of her smiling habit in last years, moving here unfortunately contributed big time in quench her smile and easiness at laugh, but still I love to tell her the story of her happy and peculiar birth.
So today we celebrated her special day. Gaia organized all the party, decorations and such, I cooked a storm and we let her just have a special day filled with laziness and presents and smiles and love. Here some pics from today ...

 

Tha table is set for the day since the night before

Gaia made all the decorations and hand-sew the nice cotton bags filled with candies

 

Milla opening the morning presents 

( as family we prefer to keep the presents small but more of them, than one bigger )

 

Getting ready to blow the candles

(Milla asked for tiramisu')

I love them, their silly faces, their growing together and becoming the woderful persons they are.

 

 My people, the best sight on earth ( and beyond )

 

James helping Milla blowing the candles.

Happy birthday my sweet Milla

I wish you a lifetime of love and happiness.

Thank you for being yourself and bringing joy o this family.

{this moment}

 I'm joining Soulemama today.

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Work in Progress : crocheted bag

You might rememer I got myself a special gift for my birthday back in january, this Attic 24 chunky rainbow pack. At the beginning I just wanted to follow the original pattern intended for that pack but somewhere along the way ideas started popping in my mind so I first changed the edging and then I decided to add a nice and resistent cotton lining to the bag, to make it more durable and suitable for everyday use. Today, when I started to cut the lining I decided to add some pockets on the inside too, to store the cell phone, pencils and a bigger pocket for all that little stuff that a mama always keep in her bag ( you know, few candies, small toys, little shiny stones ... ). To top all of this, since I still don't have a functional corner for my sewing machine and I didn't want nor to wait or drag the machine back and forth from the craft\school room to the kitchen table, I decided to hand sew the lining and the pockets. I actually LOVE handsewing, few years ago I sewed skirts for me and dresses and trousers for my children and curtains all by hand, I find it relaxing and meditative. So I just cut the fabric and started sewing. I could finish the first pocket, the one for keeping the cell phone. I'm pretty satisfied of the outcome and can't wait to continue. Here a few pictures from today...

 It fits !!! And coffee is helping me  ;)

Here a detail of the pocket, I'm very happy of the way it looks !

And of course James has been there with me all the time, providing entretainement, love and laughs while sewing. Here he was jumping from the stroller wheel to the floor and kept asking me

 'take a pic of me while I jump ! '

I love him !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Restaurant day

Last sunday we joined in once again in the international Restaurant Day . For those who are not aware of this event, 4 times a year it's possible to open a pop-up restaurant or cafeteria or .... the limit is the sky :)
We joined the first time last november and it was an exciting experience, my children loved to help, loved all the excitement, all the people coming to taste the food we had prepared. It was such a good experience that it was obvious for all of us that the one in november would have been just the first of many more restaurant days. So last week was very busy, getting the kitchen ready to become a restaurant for one day and planning, buying and cooking all the food. When sunday arrived, of course we experienced the usual panic, we opened at 11:00 am and after half an hour we didn't have any custumer ... but from around 12:00-12:30 people started arriving with a peak beetween 15:00 and 17:00 when we had always two or more people waiting because we had run out of chairs and places at the table. At 17:30, when we served the last meals basically all the food was finished, we only had few leftovers. It has been incredible, so many lovely people, most of them trying their best to use italian language ... what a great experience !!!!! But here a few pictures...

See you at the next restaurant day !!!!

Chocolate book TAG

Here again with another book tag along with my dear doughter Gaia . The book tag today is as sweet as Valentine day can be .... btw Happy Valentine Day
So here we are :

Dark Chocolate : a book with a hard content ( death, loneliness, depression ... )

Torey Hayden's One Child. I read this book when I was little more than a teenager and it was one of the reasons why I studied in university to be a early intervetion therapist. Beautiful book, but very hard to bear as all the Hayden books, since they are about her experiences with 'difficult' children .

White chocolate : an easy read

When I just want to relax  I usually ask my doughter for one of her book of this dance series ''Scuola di danza''. They are meant for a very young target, but I find them really nice and very well written, so my favourite easy read indeed.

Milk Chocolate : a book everybody's talking about and you can't wait to read

Oh, I have to skip this one, I have a very personal way to chose a book, and the sinply fact that a lot of people is talking about a book it's an enough good reason for me to read it.

Caramel Chocolate : a book that made you feel 'sticky', you couldn't part with it until it was finished 

Probably most of the books I read made me feel like this, the one that comes on my mind now is Shantaram from Gregory David Roberts whih I read in very few days, considering how big is the book.

Kit-Kat without wafer : a book that surprised you

Maybe Doris Lessing's Diaries of Jane Somers. My mother gave this book and she was all hype about this, and somehow this made me feel a bit skeptical about it ( We usually don't have matching literary tastes ), but then, of course it was really good ( well we're speaking about Doris Lessing ! )

Snickers : Crazy for that book

There is this book that I bought probably more than 10 years ago, and as it very often happens because it has a cover that could really catch me ( a red barn, with blue sky in the italian translation ), that turned out to be a real gem : Robert Boswell's 'Mistery Ride'. Beutiful book, incredibly beautiful.

Marshmellow hot chocolate : a book you'd choose for a relaxing reading

The first Harry Potter books. Especially the first three books are quite 'easy' to ready.  

Chocolate box: a series good for everybody's tastes

Fred Vargas Adamsberg series, nice books, a little of mistery, a little of detective story, a little of love, very well written, I think by now I read it all at least three times. Highly recommanded.

If you want to join us in this book tag just leave a link in the comment and we will very happy to visit you !

Have a nice sunday everybody ! 

{this moment}

 I'm joining SouleMama today.

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Many hands make the work lighter

A couple of days ago we've been delivered 4 cubics of wood. Yesterday there was a terrible wind so my husband was the only one brave enough to venture outside and put some of it in the old barn outside ( not a barn anymore nowadays-unfortunately-just a huge multi-purpose storage room ). But today we woke up with a blue sky, shining sun and +5 degree !!! So when my husband said he was going out to put inside some of the wood we happily decided to skip any attempt to academic work or read aloud and headed out with him. It was 4 of us at beginning, me. hubby, Gaia and Jimmy. Later also Leo joined us. It was a pure pleasure. Working in the sun, the noise of the drops falling from the roofs as the snow was melting, some chit-chatting among us and the sight of the youngest of the family catching up with the meaning of 'family' itself, living together, working together, sharing and caring with and for each other. What an incredible joy for this mama heart to see her children helping with the task of daily living in this old house all together, including the little one and showing him the right direction, either metaphorically and in the reality. A truly joyful morning.

 

p.s. There's no picture of Leo because he doesn't like to be photographed ( unfortunately )

Crocheted Jewelry

I have been working on some crocheted jewelry (among other things ) lately. Now I have few items, but I'm especially proud of the earring I have done. Today I will post some of the pictures and tomorrow the others. I am wondering if I might open an oniline shop or something like that. It would be great to find a way to support a bit my family money-wise and still being at home. What do you think ? Do you like them ?

All of them

Tiny blue flowers

Indian style

Exotic, in the shades of purple

I'm in love with all of them!

Chocolate boy

This little boy of mine seriously stole my heart. He is a funny little boy, altruistic, joyful, helpful and yet stubborn and indipendent. It has been quite fun for me to witness his growth and think to some of the comment I got for my parenting ways. Co-sleeping, breastfeeding ( 2 years and 7 months now ), carring him in slings and carriers for around one year ( then HE decided it was time to walk ) had to lead this little boy to be selfish, despot and forever dependent on me for whatever need or whim. To my delight this little one is always eager to help ( mom wait, I come and help - it's usual wording in every circumstance of daily life, from cooking, to laundry, to cleaning ... ), to share, to hug and kiss and play, and to do by himself. At 2 and half he can use a knife ( a real one, not very sharp but just a regular IKEA knife ), scissors and teeth brush and get himself a sendwich with chocolate spread or butter. Definetly I'm happy I followed my heart once again, more deeply and more freely than with my other four older children; this allowed us freedom, joy, peace and of course didn't hurt the personality of the chocolate boy :)

{this moment}

 I'm joining SouleMama today.

{this moment} ~ A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Upcycle part two : crocheted jar covers galore

Ok, when it comes to crocheting and decorating, things get very easily out of hand. So after my first jar cover I was so excited that I had to make another one, and another one,and another one ... I'm very satisfied, two of the jars are the one I use for flour and sugar. The third one, smaller, doesn't have a use already, but I have few ideas buzzing in my head for it ( and the others I might do ... ups ... ). ut here few pictures ...

Here the four of them on the kitchen cabinet

The smaller one, made with some leftover yarn (baby bamboo, my favourite ) in shade from red to yellow

And the bigger ones, on the left with the pinkish string  for sugar, on the right with the white string for flour. In my opinion they look very nice and give the kitchen a much cozier feeling ...

Do you like to make beautiful things for your home? Let's share few ideas !