I Do Still Have Children

It's funny how things develop without deliberate intention sometimes. For example, when I started my blog I never intended for it to become completely overrun by food. I thought I'd post things about family life, pictures of my kids, the occasional recipe. Imagine my surprise when a total stranger saw the pictures from my NY trip and asked if I wrote a food blog. Huh. Things do seem to have shifted a bit, and I'm sure the grandparents are wondering what, exactly, their grandkids have been up to while all this lamb and vinaigrette have been underway. I'm not sure what direction this blog will ultimately take, if I should focus exclusively on food or keep things more general; food is always going to be a passion and will no doubt continue showing up here, but without my family I'd have no real reason to cook. Well, I'm sure I'd still cook, but it wouldn't be as much fun. I've also been thinking about the title of my blog. My original title was "Domestic Paradise," which I chose based on where I felt I was in my life at the time. Jack was old enough that he was becoming less and less a baby and more and more a buddy I could hang out with, our house in Brier was really beginning to feel like home and I was enjoying making things cozy. Then I got pregnant. I panicked. I felt like I was finally getting on top of things after Jack and I didn't really ready to go through it all again, this time with a toddler in tow. Then I miscarried. Then I got pregnant again. "Domestic Paradise" didn't seem right. "Domestic Turmoil" was more accurate, but not very catchy. "Body of Work" popped into my head and I liked it because it conveyed both a sense of effort but also a sense of artistry, more of an "in progress" feel than a finished product. I still like it, but with all the food running around here it doesn't seem to tie in to the actual content of my blog. I thought about starting a separate blog, one about family stuff and one about food, but I know myself well enough to know that I will only update one of them. Then I thought about re-naming my blog, but nothing seems to really fit. Suggestions? As the holidays approach, the cooking around here is only going to get more out of control. To balance things a little I signed up for a holiday traditions exchange(which does involve a recipe, but only in part) so I can focus a little more on creating, but I feel like I can't really focus on crafty stuff until our bedroom is finished and our current bedroom can become my studio. It's really hard to keep the boys out of my fabric/thread/yarn/paints/canvases, and I'm really excited about designating a specific space for the storage and use of all those things. In the meantime, below is a picture of Jack's self-portrait from school. While this year's portrait enjoyed the addition of a functioning penis, we did celebrate a small success with regard to the number of butts featured; that circle with the line down the center on Jack's chest is his butt. It was the only way he could figure out how to draw a head-on portrait and still work his butt in. Last year's portrait had three butts.