Beasties.

Trader Joe's Folsom?
Wow, they do sell everything!

Interestingly enough I am teaching in my old classroom tomorrow. The seventh graders I left five years ago are now the seniors. It will be strange to see these faces I remember as adolescents now as young adults. I am excited and yet sad. Sometimes I miss my old job, the classroom, my fellow teachers, the wealth of knowledge. It doesn't hold a candle to my current job but there are days that I miss it all the same.

Dear Mrs. Negrete,
Thank you Lupe for calling me to sub.
I'm so glad to have this opportunity to see these students and teach them one last time before they leave campus. I'm looking forward to walking in your shoes for the day and remembering how my "work" shoes feel. I am very happy it is a Friday though, half day, because my beasties will be waiting for me to do my favorite job.
Love,
Dusty

Crisp Hope.

This morning the Honey Hut looks chilly in what is hopefully the last snow of Spring.
I am crossing my fingers and thinking positively about all things sunny.
The sky here is in fact the most incredible shade of blue, you should see it.
Oh Honey Hut, I have such fun things in store for you...

Somewhere It Is Sunny.

But not here.
It is snowing.
Again.

Mentally I am here. This day on Kings Beach.
It was a great sunny day.

Last Night,

we played in our garden until the late hours of the evening, knowing tomorrow would bring cold rain and perhaps a dusting of snow. Now that we've had this taste of warmer Spring weather, we weren't going to waste even one minute of it.

Weekend Bliss.

We took The Little Girls to see Oceans, something I wanted to do in honor of Earth Day but was too sick to do last Thursday. The movie was beautiful but the shhhhh...ing and questioning/answering was exhausting. I think the anticipation and treat of seeing a movie was more exciting for them than the actual film. Savannah was on the edge of her seat. Ivy well...

We so enjoyed our backyard these last two days. It is all the rage for the girls to play in the Honey Hut or on the play-set and perfect for Tim and I to work in the soft dirt, ripe for planting. My green thumb is proud of the work it encouraged to accomplish, and enthusiastic (for now) about the mountain of work yet to be done.

Oh but LOOK what we found while we were working outside.
BANDITS! or SUPERHEROS! or MASKED WRESTLERS!

Oh the things you'll find in the Honey Hut...

Covers.

Do you ever feel like hiding?

Today I am hiding. Hiding from the snow (though it is enchanting watching it fall just outside my window), hiding from dirty laundry and clean laundry too, hiding from the toys scattered on the living room floor, hiding from the dishwasher needing to be unloaded and the dishes waiting in the sink to be reloaded, hiding from as much responsibility as I can get away with...for five more minutes.

Did you see Oprah's interview with Nadya Suleman? Tim encouraged me to watch her nightmare of a situation in hopes it would put this baby-talk on hold permanently. It worked for now. I am content with my life. If you are interested in being satisfied with whatever trials you have by learning about another person's chaotic life, watch here. No wonder I want to hide by staying in bed all day, just watching a minute of that lady's life is exhausting.

We...

...get to spend the day with Jackson.
This much fun should be illegal.

This is potentially bad news for Tim and his comfort in "knowing" I am good with two little girls and not one more baby. Is having three kids that much harder than already having two? Don't start sweating yet Tim, it's just a question. Hmm...

Mulege, Mexico.

The Sattler Family used to spend Spring Break in Baja, Mexico on the beach looking out at the Bay of Concepcion on the Sea of Cortez. Yes it was a long road trip and no, you need not drive that far to find a piece of paradise but this was our tradition and the memories made kept us coming back for more. We had a soundtrack for each trip, simply because by the end of the trip you have listened to every CD in the car at least five times through. The last trip we all took was in 2003. Our soundtrack? Chris Issak: Baja Sessions. Tim and I had this album playing this weekend, the sun was out and I knew I needed a trip down memory lane.

The Beach.

An early morning search for dolphins.

Town.

Beach Baseball.

Dad, talking to the locals.

Camp at sunset.

The Little Girls.

Every morning they make me the promise to stay little forever,

they promise to always be this small.
It's a promise they can't keep.
Oh how I wish they could.

What To Do With Rhubarb.

Make this.

For those of you who would make this if the recipe was even
more simplified than Martha's, here's how I make it.

1 lb. strawberries cut up
2 stalks rhubarb chopped
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
boil in medium saucepan until broken down
refrigerate until cool

Somehow this sweet/tart sauce never makes it to a bowl of ice cream. Instead I put it in my oatmeal, on top of waffles and pancakes and my favorite is spooned over creamy Greek yogurt. I'm on my way to the frig...

Oh, have you ever considered pure maple syrup as sweetener in your coffee? A trick I learned on a visit to Vermont. Perfect on a crisp morning. Warning: you might get hooked.

Miette.

The next time you are in San Francisco,
head over to Hayes Valley (or the Ferry Building) and treat yourself to Miette.
It is the most cheerful, happy, deliciously sweet candy/pastry shop you'll find. Your senses will thank you.

Look at those Macaroons! I tried the Rose Geranium and the Lemon Tart (well, Ivy ate the lemon tart macaroon while I wasn't watching but I was still too intoxicated by the shop to care.)

A Date With A Redhead.

Lately Ivy is saying, "I wanna you carry me Mommy." She is becoming increasingly dependent on me. I love it and feel badly about it. She is aching to have some time alone with me, time she has really never had. I feel sorry for second born children. They never have the full two-parent attention experience. Tim always tells me, "You will have your 'IvyDusty Time', it will just have to be later than your 'SavannahDusty Time', it will have to be when Savannah starts school." Then he goes on to remind me that if we have a third child, I will never get 'IvyDusty Time'. (This is sort of a trick you see.)

Ivy and I had a date on Sunday. We left early for the Sacramento Antique Faire and then headed to Midtown to La Petit Paris for a little European experience.
Macaroons.
Delicious.

Pacific Heights.

My sister-in-law Jenny's birthday was Friday. She and I loaded up our little ones and headed to San Francisco to have a day in the city. We headed away from the hustle and bustle of downtown towards Pacific Heights where we found designer boutiques mixed with thrift stores and cozy sidewalk cafes. Here is Nest, a home accent shop and across the street...Crepevine.

Marc by Marc Jacobs...swoon.

Jigsaw

and Jonathan Adler.

The pillows, the candles and lamps? I love all of it.

SO cute they named a street after him.

New to me boutique, Heidi Says.

Spring Chickens?

Lately I've been thinking of raising chickens. Martha Stewart did a show last week about backyard chicken coops. Smart people everywhere are demanding cleaner, healthier food and since this cleaner, healthier food is often expensive, why not save some $$ and grow it yourself? My friend Tamber raises chickens. Her hens are so happy, I could tell when I tasted their eggs. We started buying our eggs from a local farmer last summer. So far, he is selling these delicious organic eggs (they taste like butter!) for a song and so I've put off building a coop and buying chicks because it is cheaper to buy his eggs and let him do all the work. I told Tim I was again thinking of raising chickens, he told me this; "My goal is to make our lives easier, raising chickens will not make our lives easier. If you do this, I will not help with the chickens." This is no surprise to me, it is Tim's standard answer to most ideas I have. So Tim doesn't want to help raise chickens, but I'm sure he'd help himself to their eggs.

Admit it, a coop like this one makes you want to raise chickens too.