4.30.2015

currently... two days by the coast


The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you. Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host Randalin of Kale & Beans.

This week's themes: 
trying, eating, wearing, going, making

Oof, I am Trying to write this Currently post but I'm pretty distracted right this second by a beachfront view from our balcony, a box of Triscuits, and I AM IN MY OWN BIG WHITE FLUFFY BED AT 8AM ON A WEEKDAY. I'm spending a couple of lady days with my best friend and we are just talking our lives away, eating all the things, and enjoying the blissed out peace. This should restore my soul for quite a while and all the direct sunlight should kick my vitamin D deficiency's ass. I'm hoping to head home tomorrow rested, with a full belly, full heart, and probably a sunburn. I will succeed at all of these goals. So many Triscuits.

Back at the homestead, we have started Eating summer dinners. This is my favorite time of year. I feel like in summer you can just have bread, cheese, fruit, salad, or hot dogs or something and call it a dinner. We eat on blankets in the backyard. It's not fancy but it FEELS so great to just eat light and simple and let the kids run around being crazies.

I am ready to be Wearing summer clothes but I am not *ready* to be wearing summer clothes. I want to go shopping and Buffalo Exchange is calling my name pretty hard. I also think I'm going to take a ride on the Birkenstock train this year (it only comes around once every 15 years or so). It's so hard spending any actual money on summer clothes because I can't (or at least choose not to) wear casual weekendy clothes to work but those are my favorites. Oh well. These are not actual problems I'm just rambling.

Otto is Going to test for this orange headband in taekwondo tonight! I hate that I'm missing it but I can't wait to high five that kid. He works so hard and has become so much more coordinated and strong (pushups for days) since he started last fall.

Loretta has been Making us all smile lately with her extreme princess-ing. Layer after layer of princess jammies, dress up clothes, tutus, and magic wands. She zaps us with her Frozen powers (we freeze) and Pink powers (we have to pretend to fly). We told her that she would get to meet real princesses at Disneyland this summer and let me tell you... she's pretty excited. We all are. It's gonna be magic.

That was this week & here are next week's theme's:
bringing, running, listening, creating, buying 

4.23.2015

currently... phish food

The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you. Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host Randalin of Kale & Beans.

This week's themes: 
growing, playing, singing, choosing, looking

Both my little kiddos have spent the first part of the year Growing like weeds. Otto is six foot three. Just kidding but this kid will be towering over me well before he starts junior high. Someday he will have an ironic, or maybe even not ironic, mustache and Loretta will ask me to pierce her ears and I will lay down and die right there on the spot or hopefully I will spontaneously do 100 burpies because I'll be so fit by then (and who are we kidding, the second Loretta asks for earrings I'll be hopping immediately in the hot rod with my girl and dashing away to the mall because how cool will that be?!?!). Evidence of said growth, Otto was not going for the crop top look...


We have all been Playing "soccer" in the back yard which is really this sort of croquet mixed with h-o-r-s-e mixed with tag game we invented that doesn't have many rules, uses every ball we own, and lasts about four minutes. I love sunshine.

Loretta has been Singing the Uptown Funk. When it comes on the radio she screams, "Hey it's our song!" Otto remains deeply enmeshed in a Weird Al obsession and got some smiles at the grocery store last night singing Trapped in the Drivethru to himself.

Last night after taekwondo we ran by the grocery (as mentioned) and Otto was Choosing a special treat. That's definitely not a regular thing so he was super excited. We picked out two flavors of Ben & Jerry's and took them home. When Loretta heard that she'd be having a little strawberry ice cream before bedtime she ran into the kitchen and yelled, "I can't believe it!" Smiles all around!

I'm Looking forward to a nice weekend with visiting loved ones and also to getting back on track and back to my "real" self. So as not to bore you all with breaking news that I'm sleepy and grumpy all winter long, I try to brush over just how paralyzing my "winter blues" can feel. It ebbs and flows but it's also super real and as the days get brighter I can feel my energy come back in a real way. I'm looking forward to being super productive this summer. It always feels better once I'm doing... it's just hard to get the momentum going between January and April because I'd rather frown and hybernate.

That was this week & here are next week's theme's:
trying, eating, wearing, going, making 

4.21.2015

Loretta's street style c/o Petit Fashion


This girl of mine.

She is a fun one to dress and has such strong personal style. Very girly and very loud and a little bit tomboy rolled all into one.

Loretta's adorable outfit is c/o Petit Fashion (thank you - we love love love it!) and includes the sweetest Catimini scarf that I am tempted to steal except it's perfectly pint-sized. Tee & cuffed red velour shorts by Lili Gaufrette.

UK-based Petit Fashion carries European tops, bottoms, dresses, shoes, and accessories for babies, girls, and boys. They ship internationally and have so many items I've only seen on Pinterest including these little Mini Melissa rhino rainboots I would snatch up in a second if my kids' feet were still than teeny. xo

4.16.2015

currently... smooth criminal

The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you. Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host Randalin of Kale & Beans.

This week's themes: 
reading, eating, enjoying, learning, wishing

I am excited to start Reading our next book in The Ladies Who Book Club. If you are looking for a good read (this I cannot promise since I haven't read the book yet) and an AMAZING group of supportive, honest, wonderful, funny, empowering women to read a book with at a relatively slow pace and share your thoughts, inspiration, and sometimes links to emotionally powerful Dove commercials with... then girlfriend, step right up and join us. We start discussing Amy Poehler's Yes Please! on May 15th.

Loretta was the lucky recipient of a grocery bag full of play donuts, cupcakes, cakes, and fruits from her babysitter who is retiring in about a month. We are so sad to end this chapter in our lives that began when Etta was six weeks old. Although we are thrilled that Kristie gets to live her dream and retire to the coast. Anyways, we have all been Eating at Loretta's tea parties which are dictatorial affairs where she hogs all the pink and white play sweets and only shares them with her My Little Pony and sometimes she hands you a sizzling hot cupcake fresh from the toy oven and goes, "It's so hot! Szzzzzz!" and laughs when you play have to drop it. She's a nut.

I have been Enjoying Otto's performance of Smooth Criminal from last weekend's Montessori talent show. I'm so proud of him!



We've fired up the karaoke machine a bunch lately. I have been Learning Jay Z's portion of Empire State of Mind. Someday I will be at the receiving end of a duet karaoke challenge and I'm gonna kick some serious ass. Otto has been all over Weird Al's Trapped in the Drive Thru. That's an hour-long song that's difficult to listen to a six year old plod through 150 times, I'll tell ya. Loretta? Let It Go til the sun don't shine. And Rob surprised me (I'll tell ya!) by trying to get away with Drunk in Love the other night. Dying laughing for so many reasons. And he had to mumble the whole thing because children! Have we all seen these lyrics? I don't think I could handle a life as sexy as seems to be happening at the Carter-Knowles home.

I'm Wishing for a little burst of energy this weekend. I have new pants to add to the shop! I just need to get the pictures edited. And then... planning on doing a booth somewhere this summer which is exciting and scary to think about all at once.  

That was this week & here are next week's theme's:
growing, playing, singing, choosing, looking 

4.09.2015

currently... dude? really?


The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you. Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host Randalin of Kale & Beans.

This week's themes: 
spending, running, feeling, resisting, needing

Otto is looking forward to Spending all the money in his wallet (and I have to give the guy some credit, he's been saving up for months) on some piece of ::poop emoji:: night vision spy kids gadget. EvanTubeHD is a sweet kid, I'm sure, but he pimps out toys like it's a multi-thousand dollar business ::side eye emoji:: and my six year old, bless his gullible heart, is a sucker and a half. If these things had Predator vision I'd be jumping up and down but I feel like this is going to be a bunch of LED lights mounted on a headband and that I'm going to be waking up to this thing shining in my face for a few weeks. Still, the actual point of this is that Otto is a rad little human and I'm an old grumbly person.

Last night while Rob was Running Otto to taekwondo, I hung at home with Loretta and we played castle tea party. After having many plates of pretend "sugar and hot rice" she said, "Let's pretend there are monsters in the house!" So I said, "Ok. Oh, oh, look over there!" and pointed into the kitchen, "There's a big purple monster right there!" And Loretta got the most terrified look on her face and said, so seriously, "What? Where is it?" Seems that game escalated a bit too quickly for her taste. And that was the end of playing Monsters In The House at least for a little while.

I have been Feeling my annual winter blues a bit more this month than I thought I would. We've had some real sunshine days but there's also been a LOT of cold, grey, drizzly ones and I just shut down this time of year. When we first moved to Oregon I was fascinated that this seasonal affective thing hit me so hard but it's not even interesting to me anymore. There are a lot of things I wish I was doing, planning, and being peppy about but I just turn into a grumble blob this time of year and crave not moving. So if the sun would just come out, that'd be rad.

Otto has been Resisting during normal life conversation lately in a way that feels a LOT like a pre-teen and I'll tell you this, No Bueno! There will literally be convos that go along the lines of me saying something mundane like, "We're out of milk." And Otto saying, "No we aren't." When we in fact are so out of milk and why argue this?!?! Rob and I have instituted a rule that we fondly like to call No Talk Back!!!. Basically, chit-chat, questions, and actual clarifications that are clarifying and actually actual are welcome and encouraged. Arguing for arguments sake or because your evolving six year old brain compels you to repeat all statements in the negative will earn you a quite intense skunk eye and possibly we will say to you, "Dude? Really?"

What I'm Needing is a 2 1/2 day girls getaway with my best friend at a seaside resort in a couple of weeks and thank goodness that's what I'm looking forward to! I can't wait to laugh til we cry and sleep in and hopefully just enjoy some sunshine lounge chair action and sit and talk in utter utter restorative peace.

That was this week & here are next week's theme's:
reading, eating, enjoying, learning, wishing 

4.02.2015

currently... i forgot to tell you something


The deal: Use our themes or use your own - just let us know what is 'currently' going on with you. Be sure to stop by and say hello to the other bloggers linking up - especially to my amazing co-host Randalin of Kale & Beans.

This week's themes: 
eating, feeling, picturing, wearing, loving

I'm looking forward to Eating all the Easter eats this weekend. Otto has requested rainbow pancakes so we are planning a big fun breakfast on Sunday morning. And after eggs are properly hunted that morning, I will be making exactly 24 deviled eggs... and then personally eating something like 21 deviled eggs by Sunday night. Also, peeps in the house!

Loretta has been Feeling like she forgot to tell us something. All day long. It's the sweetest thing and I bet it's a phase that doesn't last long, but she's been introducing all kinds of insights this week by saying, "I forgot to tell you something," and then when she has your ear, she'll say something like, "my have long curly hair," or, "you wanna play castle with me?"

Otto has been Picturing himself growing up to be a double artist (dancer and drawer). And if he's anything like his weirdly talented father (and amazing freestyle dancer mother) I could totally see this happening. Yesterday morning he made some Weird Al fan art that (of course he did) and well, I'll just show you...
A photo posted by Lindsey Muth (@otandet) on

As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain I take a look at my wife and realize she's very plain. Ha... It is abnormal how many Weird Al lyrics I know at this point. Oh my gosh, boys.

I'm super looking forward to Wearing tank tops and cut offs, but we aren't quite there yet. I love summer clothes when it's actually warm and sunny. Last weekend was a tease of Spring/Summer but it's been cold and rainy again for days and cold and rainy is pretty much the forecast. So for now I'm just dreaming of sunshine and lazy summer outfits and maybe Birkenstocks this summer because they're finally, FINALLY cool again and that's fantastic.

Hmmm, I'm Loving my kids being 3 and 6. Like actively just loving the shit out of it. This is a magic age and I'm just loving it.

That was this week & here are next week's theme's:
spending, running, feeling, resisting, needing