suziebeezieland

♥3 things i love♥

{image from susyjack* contemporary paper}

1. the susyjack* 2010 desk calendar

2. this sweet garden

3. He's a lover, not a fighter. But he's also a fighter, so don't get any ideas.
People hang on his every word . . . even the prepositions.
He can speak French . . . in Russian.
The police often question him . . . just because they find him interesting.
He lives vicariously . . . through himself.
He is . . . The Most Interesting Man in the World.

aby's autumn organizing workshops

I cleaned my closet in honor of Aby's new "organize your closet" workshop that begins on September 22.  Just hearing about it made me feel excited to organize.  She always has really good ideas. I'm going to take it.

The following workshops are also open for enrollment right now:

Organizing 101: Learn How to Get Organized
beginning on September 8

Organize Your Paper Clutter
beginning on October 6

She will also be offering "Get Organized for the Holidays + Clear Out the Holiday Clutter!" beginning November 3.

Also check out Aby's organizing tips and ideas (she offers advice for home, office, life, and scrapbooking -- her thoughts on time management , especially, have been so helpful to me), her blog (her current post about "getting organized for back-to-school" is helpful), and sign up for her newsletter and weekly tips if you'd like. (I look forward to seeing those in my inbox.)

better living in five minutes a day #16:make your dishwasher work for you

The air in southern California is a lot better than it was when I was younger, but we still live in a major metropolitan area, and our house dust here is sticky and grimy.  Some stuff needs a bath rather than just a dust.

Also, I'm very lazy about dusting things that aren't furniture.  And hand-washing things.

So about once a month or every six weeks, I do a weird dishwasher load.  I just walk around the house and grab stuff that is dirty and dishwasher-safe*, and throw it in. (I don't do food-related items in this load.) Here's an example of the types of things I throw in the dishwasher periodically instead of dusting or handwashing:

• Plastic bathroom trashcans
• Plastic drawer organizers
• Thick ribbed plastic drawer liners (you buy it in rolls and cut it to size . . . it specifically says "dishwasher safe" on it . . . the one in the cupboard under our trashcan is always disgusting, and the one in the utensil drawer gets grubby, too)
• Glass candle votives (pop the wax out first by putting the votives in the freezer for a few minutes)
• Ceramic, glass, or stoneware flower vases, pitchers, and other decorative items
• Storage containers from the craft room (canisters, colanders, jars, etc.)
• Storage bowls
  
• Plastic lemons :)

*I determine this by putting it in the dishwasher. If it gets ruined, it wasn't dishwasher safe. :D

"oh, canada! oh, wednesdays!"

JanSport's limited edition Heritage series includes this nifty O'Canada backpack. :)

the town

Today Claire and I started wondering what the town looks like where this house is.  This isn't the exact street, but we're wandering in that direction. :)

♥ 3 things i love ♥

1. Horse Feathers

2. this quilt

3. bagels with sliced tomato and muenster for breakfast

jody's bento

I got the coolest email from our Jody today. She said:

Byron & I were totally inspired by your Bento post and he begged me to make him one for his school lunch the next day (it was Sunday night and I wasn't really prepared. I was just happy to find a lunch box that had dividers in it LOL). Anyhoo, this is what I came up with...

Sushi rice made into a shape (which he thought was amazing LOL), Japanese sweet biscuits, teriyaki chicken, apricots, carrot, cherry tomatos, "happy egg" and grapes. He came home from school soooooooooooooooooooo happy :) He loved it, his friends wanted one and he wants more!

Jody, I thought this was so cool, and it made me, in turn, very excited to start bento-ing when school starts. Thanks for the fun ideas (I love, love that smiling egg! and how cozy it looks with the tomatoes and grapes) and the great photo.

impulsive dining room tweaks

Last night at around six o'clock, I got a bee in my bonnet that the shelves in the dining room were too cluttered.  (Here's the old shelf on the left and old shelf on the right.)  This happens sometimes, where I love something and love something, and then all of a sudden, I've had it. (With things. Not people. ♥)

So I rearranged a bit and removed a lot and put more of my white dishes in them so they'd look calmer. It's weird how happy I felt doing this. I like arranging things. So this is how they look now.

Then I realized that I really wanted to finally get something up on the wall that is across from these shelves. It was blank for so long, and then I had a piece of scrapbook paper hanging there (from a thumbtack) just to hold the space. Ha. So I grabbed my chalkboard paint, because apparently I live by the idea that there is no such thing as too many chalkboards in one house.

First I used a level and drew a square. Then I taped off the square.

I gave it a couple coats of chalkboard paint and let it dry between coats. It dries very quickly.

Then I grabbed the Paper Source catalog to see if I could find a pattern in it to draw.  There was a simple tree I liked, so I drew a tree. :)  The whole thing took less than twenty minutes. 

I still want to color in the leaves and berries, but we're out of colored chalk.  It's nice because when I'm sick of it I can erase it and do something else.  It balances out the shelves on the other side of the room.  And it was free because I already had the paint. :)

I'm sorry about all these bad photos, but you know I have never taken a good picture in my dark dining room.

speech

I've watched "Jon & Kate Plus 8" two times. I TiVo'd it the beginning of last year some time after I heard many people talking about it and got curious. 

I didn't care for it, because I didn't like how Jon and Kate talked to and about each other on national television.  That seems like a really bad idea, to diss your spouse before four million plus people.

I've mentioned before that I'm not really a fan of reality television. Discretion doesn't seem to be something that is big on these shows.  I know some of them must be good, but the few I've peeked at seem designed to bring out the worst in human nature. The shows also seem edited in a way that overemphasizes adversarial relationships.  I guess this makes for good ratings? I don't know.

Drama doesn't seem to bother me in scripted television, however, so maybe I'm being hypocritical. I'm not sure. It seems less offensive to me when it's not real.  :) But I'm trying to be more discerning about what I watch, and how much.

I remember someone telling me a long time ago not to mistake sophistication in teenagers for maturity. I think about this idea a lot in relation to the kind of people Hollywood holds out for us to admire. There's a lot of sophistication, and not much maturity.

I have tried extra hard to surround myself with mature women, so that my head gets filled up with good stuff instead of junk and fluff.  I'm really influenced by who I hang out with. Garbage in, garbage out. :)

I'm not very tolerant of chronic whining or complaining (it's like fingernails on a chalkboard), because it seems like those things come from a fundamental ungratefulness for life, and a princesslike sense of entitlement.  I really enjoy being with women who have a foundational thankfulness for the blessings in their life. It seems like there are a lot of whiners on reality t.v.  Is this true?

And I hate gossip, and hate myself when I mess up and do it, so I try to steer clear of that, too.  (It really takes two people to gossip.)  If I hung out with a pack of gossipy women, I'd just get pulled right down into it (it's good to know yourself), so for me it's good to just stay away from that whole scene.  (Although I do keep checking the online news to find out if Rob Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are really dating or not. Why do I care about this? I do not know.)

Actually, when I think about it, I've never gone in for group gossip. I don't remember ever doing that. But if I get really frustrated with somebody, I'll do that mumbling complaining thing.  And that's gossip.  And it just makes me feel yuck.  I'm really thankful for the non-gossipers in my life who make it easy for me to not get going.

Whining and gossip are just two of so many ways to really not make the most of the gift of speech.  There are other categories such as "shrieking at your husband like a banshee" and "lying unto death to get out of trouble" and "being snarky" and "talking just to hear the sound of your own voice" and . . . oh, you know. 

I want to be a wise speaker.  I want my words to be encouraging, and discrete, and gentle, and God-honoring.

I have a lot to learn.  When I'm comfortable with people, like my family, I tend to just say whatever random, irrelevant, or even unkind thing floats into my head.  So lovely.

Somebody said, "if you want to be wise, read Proverbs."  (Actually, I think Solomon said it. In the beginning of Proverbs. Ha.) 

I would add, "if you want to get really convicted about how you speak, read Proverbs."  There are so many verses in it about speech! Here are a few that I've been really thinking about lately. 

Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. (Prov. 4:24)

When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. (Prov. 10:19)

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. (Prov. 12:8)

Leave the presence of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.(Prov. 14:7)

The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouths of fools pour out folly. (Prov. 15:2)

The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips. (Prov. 16:23)

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. (Prov. 16:24)

An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue. (Prov. 17:4)

A man of crooked heart does not discover good, and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity. (Prov. 17:20)

Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding. (Prov. 17:27)

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. (Prov. 18:2)

A fool's lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating. (Prov. 18:6)

Death and life are in the power of the tongue . . . (Prov. 18:21)

Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool. (Prov. 19:1)

Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble. (Prov. 21:23)

She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. (Prov. 31:26)

♥ 3 things i love ♥

1. the daily strip at Rhymes with Orange

2. Elliott Brood

3.US Marshal Marshall Mann (who won't be back until next April)

your blogs

If you have a blog and would like me to link to it in the sidebar here in suziebeezieland, please leave your name and the blog's URL in a comment on this post. :) (I will continue to bump this post up top every now and again to catch anybody who didn't see it or has changed her mind.)

the suziebeezieland {bento!} bookstore

{image from amazon.com}

I haven't updated the suziebeezieland bookstore in quite awhile.  But I looked on Amazon tonight to see if they had any bento stuff, and . . . they do! Lots of it! Lots and lots! Who knew?  There are some cookbooks, a few food-cutter thingies, and some really cute bento lunchboxes.

So I thought I'd share 36 (!) of my finds with you on the bookstore's welcome page. :D I think a few of the items are unavailable, but I wanted you to see what they look like, anyway. :)

ps I also added the books we've been reading in the summer book club at my house on Mondays.

bento lunches

{image from luckysundae @ flickr, used with permission}

Do you bento? :)

If you are not familiar with bento, it is a little Japanese compartmentalized boxed lunch filled with lots of interesting and often beautiful foods.

I do not make bento, but have been wanting to do this for Claire's lunches this coming school year sometimes, just to break up the old sandwich or Thermos routine.

I should clarify that my lazy American version of bento will include small amounts of lots of different foods in compartmentalized containers, but will not include kyaraben, which is the elaborate and artful bento sculpted to look like various popular characters, pretty flowers, etc. That's way over my crazy-school-morning-get-lunch-ready patience level. (You will recall that I often drop Claire off at school while I'm still wearing my pajamas.) I think I would have a nervous breakdown if I had to sculpt Hello Kitty out of rice and sesame seeds every morning.

Here's a little video of a very nutritious bento lunch. It appears to be narrated by a talking dog.  Again, I do not see myself spending anywhere near this much time making bento, but it's fun to see what a pretty art form this is. And wow, wouldn't that be a cool lunch to open up? Maybe I could handle the apple bunny and the Vienna sausage octopii. They're so cute!

Here are a few links I have enjoyed.

Anna the Red's Bento Factory (her blog), and her Bento sets! and How to bento! photo sets at flickr

An article at Gourmet Magazine about bento (the lunch shown looks pretty ambitious!)

Bento Boxes photo pool at flickr

Photo gallery at Laptop Lunches (These are a little more doable for those of us who are not particularly high-functioning in the morning.)

Here is a little Apartment Therapy article about bento for little kids with some good links. Look at the photos . . . that's the level of bento I'm talking about doing. :)

And here is another handy little article about getting started with bento.

I'm surprised there isn't a big article on Martha Stewart about bento (or if there is, I'm missing it), but there are a few good lunchbox ideas here and here that would work in bento lunches. And it seems like you could do something cute in a bento box with these lunch stickers.

Here's a video with photos of the kyaraben bento I mentioned. Very elaborate! And cute.

If any of you make bento lunches and have posted photos of lunches you've made online, link us up here in comments! Or tell us about any other nifty bento sites or photos online that you enjoy.

the italian tree tomato

The wife of one of Bob's friends at work grows prize-winning tomatoes. We have benefited from her giftedness and generosity for a few summers now. 

Last year she sent me home a sweet little green heirloom tomato seedling that I killed right off in no time flat.  Later on, she even sent some special seaweed concoction to fertilize it, and it was then I had to admit (via Bob, via her husband, back to her) that I'd burnt the plant right up.

I felt so ashamed.  This is no way to treat a gift.  I have the touch of death regarding vegetables, I've decided.

So I was excited this week when Bob came home from work with the biggest tomato I've ever seen.  Off the vine and technically already dead, so I couldn't mess it up.

"It's an Italian tree tomato," he said.

The inside was almost seedless, and had that soft, warm, watermelon-looking flesh that real, homegrown tomatoes have. 

I'd been thinking BLTs, but ultimately we just cut thick slabs and ate them on good bread, straight, with nothing else. The bread absorbed the juice.  There is still half a tomato left over.

And oh, my goodness. 

Those sour, bland, air-pocketed, orangey-green items they try to pass off at the grocery store as "tomatoes" should be illegal after you taste something like this.

1 peter 1:3-9

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

According to his great mercy,

he has caused us to be born again to a living hope

through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading,

kept in heaven for you,

who by God's power are being guarded through faith

for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

In this you rejoice,

though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,

so that the tested genuineness of your faith—

more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—

may be found to result in praise and glory and honor

at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Though you have not seen him, ♥ you love him.♥

Though you do not now see him,

you believe in him

and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

"i got curious" has been getting me in a lot of trouble lately

First I "got curious" about the Twilight craze, and you know what happened there.

So then I started playing "Bejeweled Blitz" on Facebook last week right before I go to bed at night, when I'm waiting for my turn at the sink to brush my teeth and wash my face, because I saw that one of my fellow school mom friends plays, and I got curious. 

She's a really neat woman, and I thought that if she were playing, there must be something worthwhile to this game.  Each game takes exactly one minute, so I thought, no harm.

And then I was so impressed by her awesome scores. I wondered if I could get a score somewhere close.  It gave me a little bedtime goal, to see if I could reach her score.

Five trillion games later, I'm nowhere NEAR her score.

Today I found out that it's her seven-year-old son who plays Bejeweled Blitz on her account. Not her.

I can't stop laughing. :D

ps My mom used to ask, would you go jump off a bridge just because everybody else was doing it? I might, mama. I might.  I get curious.

you barely even notice the gigantic phone pole, right? right?

This year I finally found something that will scramble up the trellis on its own . . . morning glories! I just threw a handful of seeds in a pot and they've taken off. Every morning it's covered in purple flowers.

Can you see me in this photo? I just noticed. :)

hugo's new favorite nap spot

the back patio

I am never inclined to do much gardening in August because it's so hot.  But Claire has soccer camp in the mornings this week, so today while she was gone I went to Home Depot and bought ten dollars worth of impatiens (for the shady bits) and vincas (for the sunny bits), plus a bag of fresh potting soil, then spent some time tidying up the patio. The seat on our old wicker loveseat finally rotted through from all the years of exposure and use, so I dragged that off to the driveway and now we have the four adirondacks, which I think will work just fine, and maybe even better.

Our back yard looks really bad right now because the hydrangeas are done blooming and have started to die, and the lawn sprinklers are broken so our grass has died. 

But a sprinkler guy is coming, and we've got another guy scheduled to finally get rid of the big old peach tree and dig up some old stumps that are in the way and keep sending up shoots. And I got the biggest bunch of hydrangeas trimmed back. (If you want to prune them to clean them up, you have to do this as soon as they finish blooming.  If you wait, they'll start setting their buds for next year, and you don't want to cut those off.)

So it should start shaping up again soon.

And now at least the part I can see straight out the kitchen is looking less dead, which is always cheering. :)

madmen yourself

Our Jenny L. made a cute little retro cartoon version of herself over at Madmen Yourself, and I think she has started a little Facebook fad, because now we're all doing it! It's so fun!

I should note that in real life, I never wear lipstick, but it's fun to be more glamorous as a cartoon.