The Lucy Ricardo School of Unemployment

Welcome to the Lucy Ricardo School of Unemployment.  You remember Lucy Ricardo don't you?  She was the lead character in I Love Lucy -- a classic 50's sitcom that I used to watch in black and white re-runs as a kid.

Lucy was always coming up with some ditsy scheme for making money or becoming famous.  Usually the scheme turned into a disaster and much slapstick & merriment ensued.  

Since becoming unemployed I feel like Lucy Ricardo sometimes as I brainstorm different ways to generate income to keep my family afloat.  Sure I'm doing strategic things too -- looking for consulting gigs, expanding my search to include teaching jobs at universities, but lately it's the crazy pursuits that are keeping me busy.  Here are some of the wacky/off-beat money-making projects I've done since losing my job last summer:

You Ought to Be in Pictures -- Part 1 -- Last September I read an article about how our city is seeing an increase in movie and television productions due to some attractive tax incentives.  I thought that I could jump on this gravy train.  So I contacted the local film office and submitted the Hen House to their location library.  I had to submit a photo portfolio of the house from all angles -- both inside and out.  The locations librarian sent me a note thanking me and commenting that it looked like a great house.  Now, I just need a Location Scout to come to the film office and say, "I'm looking for an Arts and Craft bungalow with nice gardens and a sweet homespun feel."  And voila --  The Hen House can be a star  -- while its inhabitants make some greenbacks.

You Ought to Be in Pictures -- Part 2 -- Later in the Fall,  someone told me about a casting call for extras for a movie.  That opportunity had already passed, but I took the time to submit Libby Doodle Doo and Little Zo Peep to the most respected casting agent in the region.  

I'll be honest, I did this with some trepidation.  I want the girls to have childhoods -- not careers.  But I rationalized that if they were only being extras in movies/TV, that we wouldn't have to come into contact with  that crazy stage mom world.       Quickly I started to think that this entire undertaking was a scam, to boot.

For their applications  I had to submit two photos of each girl and give their basics vital statistics --- age, hair color, height, weight, sizes, etc.  As I was submitting the online application, I kept getting pop up windows urging me to take my data entry to the next level -- for a modest monthly fee.  No thanks.  I'll just do the free Basic application.  

After I completed the online sign-up,  I started getting emails every week telling me how my daughters' profiles were not optimized and not search-able by national casting agents until I signed up for the Premium Service.  Talk about bait and switch.   I was about to pull both girls' profiles when I got my first call to have Little Zo Peep come for an audition for an ice cream commercial.  So maybe this is legit afterall.

The audition required Zo Peep to speak on camera. They want her to speak!!  Yikes!! If you've ever looked at my YouTube videos in which Miss Peep talks (Referral Day, 3 Little Christmas Trees), you know that she has a tiny little voice that I think only Horton the Elephant can hear (and maybe me because my ear is used to it).

Zo Peep did a great job at the audition -- not too nervous.  She spoke the lines like a champ -- honestly I was quite surprise how expressive -- yet natural-- she sounded.  Problem is -- no one could hear her but me.  The panel asked her to repeat the lines as loudly as she could -- and the second time she reached a volume that was barely audible.  Hey, it was an experience.

Just last week I got a call for both girls to audition for a TV ad for a hospital -- no speaking lines required.  YEAHHH!  When we went into the audition room the agency person commented on how beautiful the girls were.  One of the casting agents said they looked like angels from heaven (wasn't that nice).  Zo Peep answered their questions politely and without a hint of nervousness.  The Doodle was uncomfortable with the bright lights and the row of people sitting at the table and -atypical for her -- shy.  She did muster a really cute and really loud "Bye, Bye." at the end.  

We'll find out if they got a part this week or next.  If they do get any work, I'm planning to put the income into their college funds -- I haven't made any contributions to that since last summer.  Once I get a job, I'm planning to have them retire from acting.

Contest. Sure I Can Enter A Contest  -- The week before last I found out about a video contest sponsored by Johnson & Johnson and YouTube.  The purpose of the Big Bubblin Star contest was to create a short video of a parent and happy baby  interacting during a bubble bath.  Grand Prize is $10,000.  Wouldn't that be a nice addition to the college fund?  When I found out about the contest there were only 5 days left to submit the video.

So I got cracking.  For my submission, I rewrote the lyrics to some famous old time songs that are in the Public Domain (Take Me Out to the Ballgame, I’m Just Wild About Harry and Toot, Toot Tootsie Goodbye) and created lyrics having to do with bubble bath time. Then I put my video camera on a tripod, plopped Libby Doodle Doo into the kitchen sink filled with bubbles and hit RECORD.

To avoid any other copyright problems (a big no-no in the contest) – I sang these songs a cappella.   Trust me, this is not a pretty sight or a delight to the ears.    What I lack in vocal talent, I try to make up through volume and enthusiasm.  Here's the video:

I find out tomorrow if we made it to one of the top 9 semi-finalist.  The next phase of the contest is a public voting component.  If we make it that far, I'll be begging all of you and your friends and their friends to go and vote for us.

Lucy Ricardo would be so proud of me.

UPDATE -- My video did NOT make one of the top 9.  Maybe I wasn't telegenic enough, maybe Libby Doodle Doo didn't seem happy throughout (she did get a little PxxxxD when I tried to put bubbles on her chin and in her hair).  Whatever the reason -- sometimes you hit a home run; sometimes you strike out.  Lucy Ricardo always tried again and so will I.

Spring Has Sprung

My front garden peaked this week and looks spectacular.   Every time I've looked at the garden this week, my heart has been filled with such joy.  

I'm re-editing all of my gardens this year.  I'm getting rid of plants that are either too big or not thriving.  I'm adding a perennial cutting garden next to house.  And I'm re-engineering the back garden to make it feel more zen-like.  It's a big project, but it is extremely therapeutic.

And as an extra bonus both Zo Peep and Libby Doodle Doo have wanted to help me work in the garden this Spring.  Zo Peep has never shown any interest in the past.  This year she wants to know the name of the plants and keeps asking me a million questions.  The Doodle wants to gently touch the flowers and feel their textures.  She also isn't afraid of getting her hands dirty and wants to scratch in the dirt like mommy.

Perhaps I'm raising two budding horticulturists.

Here are some photos I took today.  I've tried to name the plants and varieties in each picture.  I'm a little rusty on the varieties of bulbs and perennials I have here (much better on the trees and shrubs).  If anyone sees something that they want to know more about, feel free to ask and I can go back in my records and find out what it is.  

#1 The entry to the garden.  Most trees are still in bud stage, but the cherry (Prunus 'Hally Jolivette') on the right is in full flower.  Next week the redbud (Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy') next to the front porch will be covered in pinkish buds.  The small greenish tree on the left is a dogwood (Cornus mas) and was covered in lovely yellow flowers only a week ago.

#2 -- Hellebores in bloom.
#3   A collection of tulips, muscari, and dozens of varieties of daffs and the base of my Baldcypress ( Taxodium distichum'Shawnee Brave')
#4  A close-up of the muscari -- with a little tulip and coral bells (heucheras)
#5 Another close-up showing a hosta in lower right  unfurling its huge leaves.   Such a nice contrast to the bulb foliage and boxwood (Buxus microphylla) on the far left.

Gotta love Spring!!

Spring Makes Me Daffy

I love Spring. It's my favorite season. And it's because Spring is also daffodil season.

When I designed the gardens at my home in 2002, I selected plants that would give me Four seasons of interest. Bulbs, flowering trees and Ephemerals pop up in the Spring, Showy perennials (Lilies ,Peonies Day lilies, Hostas etc) take center stage for the Summer. Shrub and Changing Tree Leaves are the highlight in the Fall. And in Winter I have tall ornamental grasses, berries on shrubs and tree bark that is mottled or exfoliating.

All of these seasons have their merits, but none rivals the exhilaration I feel when the daffodils start making their first appearance every April.

I fell in love with Daffodils when I designed my first garden back in the days when I was still married. We lived deep in the suburbs and had a very wooded lot. I planted thousands of tulips and crocus and scilla and snowdrops and hyacinth and you name it. Deer, moles, bunnies and other woodland animals ate almost every bulb I planted. But they never touched my daffodils.

So I became a connoisseur of these indestructible beauties. I discovered that I could get a full Spring of color by planting different varieties. I discovered that not all daffodils look the same. There are miniature ones and tall ones. Ones with large cups and ones without. Ones in yellow and cream and coral and orange and salmon. Ones with one bloom per stem and ones with multiple blooms. Ones that are highly fragrant and ones that are not.

When I moved to an older city-type neighborhood and no longer had to worry about so many hungry woodland critters (well bunnies, moles and chipmunks still wreak havoc on my garden), I still decided to use daffodils prominently in my design. My entire front yard is devoted to daffodils in the Spring. I have other bulbs too -- but daffs are the anchor in the design.

When Spring peaks, the yard is exquisite (if I do say so myself). In fact last Spring during the garden's best week, a woman knocked on my door and told me that she was a freelance writer for Better Homes and Garden and wanted to pitch them a story about my Spring daffodil garden. I was very flattered, but declined.

Although the daffodil garden still has a few weeks to mature, I took some photos yesterday to capture what it looks like now. I still haven't done my Spring Clean-up so grasses are still up and perennials from last fall look quite haggard. In spite of those distractions, the daffodils still shine and still evoke smiles and comments from walkers and drivers who pass by.

The weather forecast is calling for a drop in temperatures and the possibility of snow in the next few days-- so this garden may never reach its potential this year. Even if it doesn't it has already brought me (and my neighbors) a lot of pleasure in the last few weeks.

I recommend daffodils to anyone who is planning a garden. They multiply like crazy as the years go on. They are one of those perfect flowers that anyone can grow. If you are inclined to plant some bulbs this fall, think about putting in some daffodils. I promise they will bring you years and years of joy.

Whatever Happened to.......?

When I read blogs, I sometimes wonder how some things that the blogger wrote about ultimately turned out.

So here are some quick update of subjects I’ve discussed in previous posts to keep everyone informed of what’s happened since I first wrote about them:

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Videos from my China Trip.

When I first got back from China, I discovered that my brand new IMovie Mac software program would not import my hours and hours of High Definition video that I had taken with my brand new video camera during my trip. Net, net I can’t edit any of the video that I shot.

After a couple attempts to work around this issue and after talking to some people who are much more tech savvy than me, it looks like I have to go and get another editing software program. Some friends of my babysitter are figuring out the best one for me to use (not so sophisticated that I won’t be able to self-teach myself how to use it, but not so unsophisticated that I’ll have the same problems I have with IMovie).

This setback has been a real bummer. I spent a lot of money on the software program in December and LOTS of money on the High Definition video camera in January – I’m still amazed that these two items aren’t compatible – shouldn’t a brand new Apple editing software program be designed to work with High Definition???

Are you reading this, Stephen Jobs?

The Beach Bead Chain

In an attempt to get my chickadees out of the door by 7:15AM each morning, I instituted a Beach Bead incentive on Feb 25.

Every morning that we make it out of the door on time and without any hassles (whining, pouting, arguments about what to wear, etc), Zo Peep gets a bead that she adds to a string. When she accumulates 100 beads, I’ll take her (and Libby Doodle Doo and myself) on an incremental vacation to a beach.

We’ve been doing this for 14 days. So far, Zo Peep has earned 8 beads. Even on the 6 days in which she hasn’t earned a bead, we’ve gotten out of the house much earlier than we were before and with much less contention. So I think it’s been a great success.

I’ve counted out the 100 beads with her when we started and put them in a glass jar in the kitchen. When she earns it, Zo Peep really takes pleasure in picking her bead out of the jar and stringing it on her string. We have the string hanging on the back door of the kitchen.

When my sister came to visit us for Libby Doodle Doo’s birthday on March 2nd, Zo Peep told her about the Beach Bead Chain.

“And when I get 100 beads, mommy is going to take us to Hawaii.”

WHAT!!! Who said anything about Hawaii? I’m trying to manage Miss Peep’s expectation of exactly where this beach will be.


My Obsession with Teeth

For someone who is not in the dental profession, I write a lot about teeth – losing teeth, cutting teeth, brushing teeth etc.

Zo Peep still is waiting for her second tooth to fall out. I think we have about two or three more weeks to go before we face another traumatic night with the tooth fairy.

Maybe I can time the loss of her tooth to Easter and our annual visit from the Easter Bunny. That way I may ask Mr. Bunny to pick up the tooth and deliver it to the Tooth Fairy – so that the Peep doesn’t have to freak out again that Ms. Fairy is reaching under her pillow as she sleeps.

Libby Doodle Doo is still in cranky teething mode. Even daycare personnel - who usually talk about how pleasant she is - have been commenting on the Doodle’s very cranky behavior. Gee I hope these two lower teeth erupt soon—we could use the peace at home.

Miss Peep has fully embraced the need to brush and floss since learning about it twice in school last month. We are using individual flossers and she is doing it every morning and evening like clockwork. I still haven’t purchased a fluoride rinse for her yet. I always think about it at home, but never put it on a grocery list.

Friday Fish Fry

We’ve gone back once to the local church’s Lenten Fish Fry. The second time was even more pleasant than the first. My sister met us there and we had a really nice time. We were put at a table with a really nice lady and her daughter (age about 8 I’m guessing). They were a very nice family and we enjoyed getting to know them.

Libby Doodle Doo was in rare form that night and entertained the crowd a lot. One volunteer came over to talk to me about her and about adopting from China. She told me that she always dreamed of adopting from China, but with 7 children (yes, you read that correctly – 7 children) she was never able to save enough money to do it. God bless her – 7 children.

And I think 2 are overwhelming at times.

The Hen House on TV

Late last year I wrote a posting on how the HGTV show, “What you get for the Money” came in 07 and filmed the Hen House – plus the Peep and me – for a future segment of their show (I think it’s going to be the show about what you get for VERY LITTLE money – since it seems most of the homes featured on that show cost in excess of $500 thousand).

The production company wrote to me and told me that they aren’t going to air the shows in my series (My episode is 702) until 2009!!! I’m trying to convince them to send me the video (ideally the raw video, too) before then. They shot for 9.5 hours and took lots of video of the Peep who was very, very hammy that day. I’d love to see that.

Hey maybe I can edit it with the new software I’m getting!

A Look Forward; A Look Back

Goodbye 2007. Happy 2008! At the juncture between these two years I want to review the year that has just ended and preview the one that has just begun.

Although 2007 was NOT the year I received my Libby Doodle Doo, many important milestones/achievements did occur. I want to pause and remember those. After all, 2007 was the year in which:

***Little Zo Peep learned how to read and how to organize her thoughts and compose it into words.

***She first danced on a stage in front of an audience (5 times) and showed a natural ability to connect with the audience and sparkle.

***Zo Peep began to learn to speak Mandarin.

***She lost her first tooth.

***In spite of encouragement from Mama Hen, Zo Peep ended her violin lessons. Later in the year, she seemed to display a new interest in music with a shiny pink electric guitar.

***Mama Hen visited Spain for the first time in her life.

***Mama Hen was approached by 2 garden writers – one from a local paper and one from Better Homes and Gardens – who both wanted to write a story about her gardens. She was very flattered, but turned down both offers. However,

***The Hen House was filmed for the HGTV show “What You Get For The Money.” An airing date has not yet been confirmed.

***Mama Hen got involved in some exciting work projects that were innovative, challenging and fun.

***She volunteered to work with an Asian Film Festival – her first attempt to do volunteer work again since becoming a single mom. She learned from the experience and now know not to stretch herself too thinly when accepting volunteer responsibilities.

***But Mama Hen was able to help out 2 friends -- one who was opening a new business and one who was applying for a Grant. These volunteer projects were do-able and satisfying.


. . .BUT MOST important of all:

***On March 2nd, a beautiful baby was born somewhere in the Jiangxi province of China. This baby was destined to become Libby Doodle Doo.

***In November, Mama Hen and Little Zo Peep looked into the photographs of this little baby girl for the first time and took her into their hearts and into their souls forevermore.


The big event for 2008 will be meeting Libby Doodle Doo, bringing her home and incorporating her into our family.

Any year that contains such a monumental milestone will be memorable, but I suspect that other amazing, unpredictable, and wonderful events will also occur for each of us separately and for our family collectively.

How exciting!

I can’t wait to savor every morsel of this year.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Part 2

Actually it is overcast and pouring here today. It looks like a monsoon outside -- not exactly the White Christmas that I had hoped for.

But I wanted to share pictures of my interior Christmas Decorating. I haven't done as much decorating inside as I usually do. For example, I usually go out and get a lot of different greenery -- e.g. holly, cedar, ground pine, roping etc -- and put it all over the house (staircase, archways, mantels, etc). This year I took the extra branches I had trimmed off the tree and found some last-minute white pine and decorated the living room mantel only. There are also a lot of decorations that didn't even make it out of the boxes this year. Between impending travel to China, busy times and work and the usually Holiday madness, I'm more behind than I usually am (and being behind is my holiday norm).

I have 2 collections that I love to put out every Christmas. My largest and most beloved are my hand carved wooden Santa's. Way back when I first got out of college, I started to buy these Santa's from a man named Tom Niles. I have purchased one (and sometimes 2) each year. Tom is taking a break this year and didn't make any for sale. He promised me that he'll be back in production next year. I put these Santa's on my Dining Room mantel and surrounding built-ins.

My second collection is a collection of exquisite needle points. I used to buy one of these each year too. I so admire the craftsmanship of these pieces, just exquisite. One is pictured at the beginning of this post. I haven't bought any for the last few years because some of the women from whom I purchased have retired. I'm always on the lookout for new craftsmen (or women).

I decorate the upstairs much more formally than our basement family room. Zo Peep rules in the basement. She gets to decide how to decorate her tree, what other decorations to include and what goes where. She was most meticulous about putting out a toy creche set that her aunt in Texas sent to her last year. She also creates a kid-friendly tree. I get a small fir (no taller than 5 feet ) so that she can reach the entire thing. This year we got new personalized stockings for the basement and got one for Libby Doodle Doo, too.

Upstairs is more formal, but I try to infuse a little whimsy into that decorating too. This is the place where Zo Peep comes down on Christmas morning to get her gifts. It needs to feels welcoming and family-friendly -- not like a Hands Off Magazine spread. With the exception of my Tom's Wooden Santa's -- most of my color palette upstairs this year is gold, white and silver. This year I decorated the upstairs tree with those colors. Other years I choose other themes for my upstairs tree. In the past I've done Red/Green/Gold; All Veggies and Fruit; Angels, Bulbs only, etc.

We have a wonderful wide, dark oak door on the front of our house with a great leaded glass window. The door is so beautiful, I don't need to do much to make it look festive. So on the door I hang a gold wreath that I made myself years ago. I am NOT a crafty person so this is wreath represent my one foray into the world of do it yourself.

The downpour has slowed down a bit. Zo Peep and I will probably take advantage of this respite from the rain and go out for a couple of hours.

Have a lovely Holiday Season. I'm working on another video to post for Christmas day.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas - Part 1

I love Christmas. I love the sights, the smells, the traditions and the memories. I just started my Christmas decorating today. I know many of you are thinking -- decorating this late? Actually, decorating for Christmas on December 15th is quite early for me. You see, ideally I don't want my Christmas to happen in November or October or even at the very beginning of December for that matter.

I think that each person's traditions around Christmas are at least partially influenced by what their family traditions were as they were growing up. When I was a kid, we never decorated for Christmas until around the 20th of December. I even have some vivid memories of decorating our tree on the afternoon of Christmas Eve.

So for me to start decorating on the Dec 15th seems very, very early . Why the change in my family tradition? I guess I've come to accept that the rest of America has had their Christmas stuff up for weeks and weeks. And Little Zo Peep has been asking me daily when we were going to start decorating. So finally, today was the day that I started my annual transformation of the Hen House into a sparkling Winter Wonderland. And how nice that Father Winter cooperated and sprinkled the house and trees with a frosting of snow just as I finished getting the lights hanging from the eaves.

Enjoy the photos. First, here's the house from across the street at dusk. The lights are the white icicle kind. I love the snow outlining the trees and shrubs.

This year I bought a large wreath (at least it looked large in the store) to hang on one of the stone chimney on our house. Once I got it home it looked so plain. So last weekend Zo Peep and I bought a lot of gold plastic ornaments at Home Depot and spent last Sunday night wiring them to the wreath.

Once the wreath was hung on the chimney it looked so, so small. I'll have to search for a larger one at the After Christmas sales and transfer the ornaments to that wreath for next year. So even if the scale is a little off, I still like the look of the green wreath and gold ornaments against the sandstone of the chimney.

I put 2 spotlights in the garden to uplight the chimney and wreath.

Originally I thought I'd be in China for the Christmas holiday, so I needed to decide what I was going to do about a tree this year. Typically, I get a 8 foot Frasier fir for the living room. I decorate this tree with all of my most fragile ornaments. I also purchase a second 6 foot tree -- some type of fir -- for the basement family room. This is Zo Peep's tree (soon to be the Kid's tree when Libby Doodle Doo joins us next Christmas). On this tree we put all of my ornaments that are unbreakable as well as any ornaments that Zo Peep makes. This is the tree that Zo Peep can touch and play with without having me freak out.

So 4 weeks ago when I thought I would not be here for Christmas, I decided to buy some -- AHEM -artificial trees for this year's holiday. They arrived at the same time I found out that I WOULD be here for the season. and would be travelling in January to China. I decided to keep the trees (I had purchased pre-lit trees that could be used inside or out) and set them up in the corner of the front porch. You can see the tops of the trees in this shot on the left side (as well as Miss Zo Peep gathering snow for a mammoth snowball to throw at me).

I'll end with a photo of Little Zo Peep bundled up enjoying the wet and clumpy snow -- great for snowballs and great for sledding. Let's hope we get more for tomorrow.

I'll move my decorating to the inside tomorrow . I hope to get the trees up and put the lights on -- I'll put on ornaments throughout the week. I also want to buy some greenery -- cedar, holly, winterberry, etc to put around the house. I love the smell of greenery at Christmas time. I'll post more pictures in a few days.

Hope all of you are having a happy holiday season.

The Hen House

I love my home. From the moment I first walked in during an open house in the summer of 2000, I knew that this was a place where I could raise children and create a family.

It was built in 1913 by a man named Walter Straw. He was a builder by trade -- so this house was his Dream home for his family. It's construction is a little unusual. The foundation, basement and first floor are constructed of reinforced concrete -- about 1 foot thick. The second floor and finished attic are balloon framed and finished off in cedar shingles.

The layout is classic Arts and Craft -- with an inglenook, a large great room, a nice sized dining room and small kitchen. The house boasts 6 fireplaces, 3 chimneys, a deep stone front porch and numerous built-ins -- including window seats (that are my personal favorites). The house is perfect for kids with lots of places to play and hide. It also has this wonderful feeling of warmth and belonging.

I've done some work on the house since moving in at the end of 2000. I've renovated the kitchen (see pix at right) and turned the basement into living space. With the changes I've made, I've always tried to respect the pedigree of the house without become a slave to the past. I've spent a lot of time relandscaping too -- my primary hobby before becoming a mom. Both the inside and outside still have lot of project for me to tackle. With time and money I'll address these areas in the future. But I know today that if I never begin another project -- this home is just fine just the way it is.

That's because I've watched Zo Peep take her first steps in the kitchen, cuddle with me on a windowseat, splash in the bathtub, creep down the staircase on Christmas morn. I look forward to watching these same events with Libby Doodle Doo someday. It may not make the cover of House Beautiful, but this is a home where a lifetime of memories will be made for my girls and me.